High Roller Guarantee Crushed; Sergi Escote Bags Lead After Day 1 in Barcelona
After 10 levels of 45 minutes each, the 2017 888Live Poker Festival Barcelona €2,200 High Roller generated a total of 65 entries and 31 hopefuls bagged up chips. More than half of the field left the Casino Barcelona empty-handed and five players fired a second bullet, while Hubert Stachowski even bought in for a third time without advancing to the final day.
Sergi Escote ended up as the dominating chip leader with 811,000 and Ema Zajmovic described him as "terminator, he busted like eight players on this table" when the time for bagging and tagging came. Escote established a decent lead over second-placed Peter Jaksland (475,500) and Aleksei Istomin (441,000), while the two Scotsmen Fraser MacIntyre (426,000) and Gordon Huntly (405,000) round up the top five overnight. MacIntyre, CEO of MainEventTravel.com, arrived late and immediately more than doubled up in the very first hand in a three-way pot before cruising through the rest of the day.
888Live Rozvadov Main Event champion Catalin Pop advanced to Day 2 with a very healthy stack of 353,000 and Ema Zajmovic also made it through with more than average, claiming 238,500 to her name. Other notables that bagged up include Daragh Davey (158,000), Josep Maria Galindo Lopez (112,500), Guillem Cusco Bach (100,000) and Harcharan Dogra Dogra (100,000), while Kimmo Kurko (95,500) and Aku Joentausta 70,500) are among the short stacks.
888poker was represented by two ambassadors. Nicolau Villa-Lobos busted early in the day when he was all in short with jack-eight suited and didn't hols up against eight-five off suit. Bruno "Foster" Politano had a roller coaster day. The Brazilian lost a massive pot in a three-way all in with kings versus ace-queen suited and jack-ten suited, then doubled up his short stack twice and advanced to Day 2 with 114,500.
Among the big names and notables to fall on Day 2 were William Kassouf, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Patrik Antonius, Sebastian Langrock, Kelly Kellner, 2016 November Niner Fernando Pons and local legend Sergio Alonso Camunas. Mizrachi joined half way through the day, at almost the same time as Antonius, and lasted all but one hour. Kassouf was sent to the rail in a memorable hand with Ema Zajmovic when he three-bet pocket queens preflop, bet a ten-high flop and jammed when a jack appeared on the turn, having claimed to have top pair and a redraw on the flop. Zajmovic called with exactly that combo, tabling king-queen suited for the nut straight and flush draw, and Kassouf's queens were no good anymore.
Patrik Antonius ran up a big stack until the end of level nine, but lost several pots in the last level of the night before falling in the second-last hand. On a three-way ace-high turn, he shoved with king-five suited for second pair and was called two ways. Sergi Escote eventually ended up as the winner with ace-jack for top pair and Antonius will have to re-enter for a share of the juicy prize pool.
All players that busted throughout the first 10 levels can still re-enter before the first card is dealt on Day 2 as of 5 p.m. local time at Casino Barcelona, and they will receive 20 big blinds worth when the action resumes at blinds of 2,500/5,000 with a running ante of 500.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor tom provide all the action until a winner is crowned, and Day 1a of the €500,000 guaranteed Main Event kicks off one hour later as of 6 p.m. local time.
2017 888Live Barcelona €2,200 High Roller Seat Draw Day 2
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 1 | Peter Jaksland | Denmark | 475,500 |
| 42 | 2 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | 96,000 |
| 42 | 3 | Daniel Gomez Anadon | Spain | 231,000 |
| 42 | 4 | Aku Joentausta | Finland | 70,500 |
| 42 | 5 | Francois Evard | Switzerland | 90,500 |
| 42 | 6 | Bruno Politano | Brazil | 114,500 |
| 42 | 7 | Valerie Ross | Canada | 149,000 |
| 43 | 1 | Israel Oliver Carriazo | Spain | 128,500 |
| 43 | 2 | Ema Zajmovic | Canada | 238,500 |
| 43 | 3 | Carl Ohlund | Sweden | 140,500 |
| 43 | 4 | Guillem Cusco Bach | Spain | 100,000 |
| 43 | 5 | Gordon Huntly | UK | 405,000 |
| 43 | 6 | Ramon Miquel Munoz | Spain | 325,500 |
| 44 | 1 | Fraser MacIntyre | UK | 426,000 |
| 44 | 2 | Oleg Egorov | Russian Federation | 341,000 |
| 44 | 3 | Josep Maria Galindo Lopez | Spain | 112,500 |
| 44 | 4 | Federico Cirillo | Italy | 81,500 |
| 44 | 5 | Sergi Escote | Spain | 811,000 |
| 44 | 6 | Kimmo Kurko | Finland | 95,500 |
| 45 | 1 | Sergio Fernandez Bernal | Spain | 133,000 |
| 45 | 2 | Harcharan Dogra Dogra | Spain | 100,000 |
| 45 | 3 | Xavier Riera Tayeda | Spain | 170,000 |
| 45 | 4 | Carlos Egea Hernandez | Spain | 237,500 |
| 45 | 5 | Michael Matsioukkou | Australia | 122,000 |
| 45 | 6 | Aleksei Istomin | Russian Federation | 441,000 |
| 46 | 1 | Kim Sanchez | Spain | 112,500 |
| 46 | 2 | Marti Roca de Torres | Spain | 84,500 |
| 46 | 3 | Catalin Pop | Romania | 353,000 |
| 46 | 4 | Francesc Xavier Guixeras Giner | Spain | 97,500 |
| 46 | 5 | Hampus Persson | Sweden | 69,500 |
| 46 | 6 | Daragh Davey | Ireland | 158,000 |