Mikel Gurrea Bags the Overall Chip Lead Heading Into Day 2
It was an exceptionally busy day at the Casino Gran Madrid for Day 1b of the �1,100 888poker Live Madrid 20th Anniversary Edition. There were a total of 204 entries recorded over the course of nine levels and only 133 players bagged chips to advance forward to Day 2.
Leading the way was Mikel Gurrea who bagged an impressive 420,000 chips, good enough for the overall lead when the players return to the felt for Day 2. Gurrea is a regular on the Spanish poker circuit but rarely travels outside of the area when it comes to playing cards. Not far behind Gurrea was Martin Alcaide (331,500) who will join Gurrea at the top of the leaderboard when the action resumes.
It was also a big day for the 888poker team as a number of players found a way to put chips into a bag at the end of the night. Leading the charge is Caue Moura who had a rollercoaster of a day but managed to finish on an upswing with 216,500 chips. He will be joined by professional boxer Chris Eubank Jr (158,000), Jack Dean (98,500), Alexandre Mantovani (80,500), Ian Simpson (66,500), Ricardo Mateus (64,500), and Josh Manley (50,500) all of who advanced on just one bullet.
It wasn't as fortunate for the women on the team as Kara Scott, Vivian Saliba, and the newly announced member Lucia Navarro Martinez all busted out in the latter stages of the day. All three players are expected to make a return to the felt tomorrow with late registration still open for a good portion of Day 2. It was still a special moment for Navarro Martinez as she was joined by her fellow team members to congratulate her on joining the group and she was given the privilege of announcing the infamous "Shuffle up and deal" at the first break of the day.
The action is slated to resume at 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday with the blinds resuming at 1,000/2,000 and a 2,000 big blind ante. The levels will remain at 45 minutes throughout the day with late registration open until the end of level 13. The number of levels to be played is still up in the air as the tournament staff will be looking to dwindle the field down as much as possible.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates throughout the day as players look to reach the money and position themselves for a final table appearance.