partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Surpasses �10M Guarantee; Zinno Leads
By the time the registration for Day 1c had closed, and level four was underway for Day 1d, it was clear that the ambitious guaranteed prize pool of �10,000,000 for the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona �10,300 Main Event was surpassed. What followed was the confirmation of Casino Barcelona as one of the hotbeds of tournament poker in Europe, and the fourth and final starting day closed with 304 entries to boost the field to 1,175 entries total. This has created a prize pool of �11,397,500 ($14,055,486). The payouts will be announced when play for Day 2 gets underway.
After 12 levels of play on Day 1d, only 86 players bagged chips, and a very familiar face of the international poker circuit claimed the overnight spotlight in Anthony Zinno. The American poker pro advanced with 8,95 million, while fellow countryman Kenneth Smaron follows not far behind with 8.525 million, narrowly ahead of Marco Fontanella (8.48 million), Teun Meulder (8.37 million), and Zhong Chen (8.285 million).
Sam Trickett advanced with very healthy 7.8 million and Dominik Nitsche turned his fifth bullet into 7.275 million. Besides Trickett, partypoker sponsored pro Roberto Romanello (3.6 million) also made it through while team online's Renato Nomura and Dayane Kotoviezy, Jason Koon and Joni Jouhkimainen were not fortunate enough to advance.
A plethora of well-known names of the international poker circuit took to the tables. Some of those that were sent to the rail throughout Day 1d included Reiner Kempe, Steve O'Dwyer, Bryn Kenney, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Chino Rheem, Dario Sammartino, Jake Cody, Chris Moorman, William Kassouf, Felipe Ramos, Ludovic Geilich, and Michael Gathy.
The early eliminations weren't quite pouring in, especially compared to the consistent flow of new entries that emerged in the first nine levels. Only in the last third of the day, the chips went flying, and the pots became significantly bigger.
Jack Salter's turned straight was good enough to beat the trips tens of Michael Mizrachi and "The Grinder" bowed out after a roller coaster day. Pavel Plesuv was all in and at risk with pocket kings but failed to hold up against pocket jacks. A risky move by Farid Jattin all but paid off if it wasn't for running hearts in back-to-back hands with Bryan Ruiter and partypoker ambassador Sam Trickett.
In the last two levels of the night, three-way or even four-way all in showdowns were not unusual, and Zinno claimed the top spot after taking revenge on Carlo Alteri. The Canadian had first doubled with pocket aces for the overpair against top pair before a squeeze with top pair only saw Zinno snap-call with bottom set to gain back the chips with fees on top.
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morten Mortensen | Denmark | 11,655,000 | Day 1c chip leader |
| 2 | Sergey Lebedev | Russia | 11,350,000 | |
| 3 | Philipp Gruissem | Germany | 10,970,000 | Day 1b chip leader |
| 4 | Preben Stokkan | Norway | 10,740,000 | |
| 5 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | 9,970,000 | |
| 6 | Michel Dattani | Portugal | 9,415,000 | Day 1a chip leader |
| 7 | Taylor Black | United States | 9,300,000 | |
| 8 | Anthony Zinno | United States | 8,950,000 | Day 1d chip leader |
| 9 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 8,540,000 | |
| 10 | Kenneth Smaron | United States | 8,525,000 |
With all four starting days now complete, the remaining field stands at 329 hopefuls out of 1,175 entries. When returning to the tables for Day 2, the blinds will recommence at 35,000/70,000 in level 13, and as of Day 2, the level duration increases to 60 minutes each. At least eight levels are scheduled and depending on the progress and bubble period; this may be subject to change. The Day 2 seat draw can be found in the PokerNews Live Reporting section. Head to the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona Live Updates page for all updates.
