Haci Bayram limped under the gun and Daniil Kiselev raised to 3,000 from the cutoff. Action folded back around to Bayram and he shoved for 31,000 total. Kiselev called to put Bayram at risk and hands were revealed.
Haci Bayram: J?J?
Daniil Kiselev: A?9?
The board ran out 3?10?9?7?7? — keeping Bayram's jacks best for the double-up.
Kiselev was left with just 1,200 following the hand.
Ren Lin opened to 2,400 first-to-act and was called by Ugnius Simelionis in the hijack. Sebastian Henao squeezed to 9,000 on the button and just behind him, Kelvin Kerber shoved for around 45,000 from the small blind.
Lin and Henao folded, but Henao called all in for approximately his last 30,000 after a lengthy tank.
Sebastian Henao: A?Q?
Kelvin Kerber: Q?Q?
Henao grimaced after seeing the bad news, and the J?K?K?3?2? runout was of no help — sending him to the rail in the late stages of Day 1a.
With 12,800 chips left, Arden Cho moved all in from the small blind and was called by Jose Rodriguez who opened from middle position.
Arden Cho: Q?J?
Jose Rodriguez: J?10?
When she flipped her cards, Cho left the table, saying that she knew she was going to be eliminated. She came back to see the flop J?6?5?, then asked for "a ten" on the turn that would make her lose. And the 10? came, giving a pair to Rodriguez.
Dan Djorno opened to 2,600 on the button and was called by Andrey Andreev in the small blind and Zihan Cong in the big blind.
It was checked to Djorno on the 8?3?7? flop and he continued for 4,300. Andreev then shoved for around 10,000 and Cong raised to 20,000. Djorno responded by shoving for 65,100 and Cong called all in for for slightly more.
Andrey Andreev: 3?3?
Dan Djorno: K?K?
Zihan Cong: J?J?
Andreev was well in the lead with his flopped set and the 5? turn and 7? river changed nothing — awarding Andreev the triple up and sending a large side pot Djorno's way.
Cong was left with just 7,000 following the hand and busted shortly thereafter.
If you can't get the time off to fly down to Spain for the EPT Barcelona, don't worry. PokerStars is running a Mini EPT Barcelona online.
This fun and affordable online series runs parallel to the live EPT Barcelona, with 25 online tournaments held over eight days.
The first events kick off on August 27, starting with Event #1: $11 Deep Stack, 3 Re-entry. Before then, players can get in on the action with online satellite events on PokerStars.
In addition to big prize pools throughout the series, winning Event #25 — or its sister Event #24: $5.50 Mini EPT Barcelona Main Event - L — will net you a ticket for the $1,050 WCOOP Main Event. This also comes with a Gold Power Pass package worth $10,300 that will cover your travel, accommodation, and tournament buy-in for EPT Cyprus.
The magnificent €5,300 EPT Main Event is upon us at 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona and saw 791 players registering for the Day 1a flight. Just 260 players remain after ten one-hour levels of play and leading the way is Finland's Toni Kaukua with 346,000 and big stacks Julio Chia Cabrera (290,000), Stanislau Shylkou (247,000) and Benjamin Lebor (231,000).
Several big names found bags during the first starting flight of the EPT Barcelona Main Event, including 2022 GPI Player of the Year Stephen Song and EPT champions Noah Boeken, Dominik Panka and Anton Wigg.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
RANK
PLAYER
COUNTRY
CHIP COUNT
BIG BLINDS
1
Toni Kaukua
Finland
346,000
231
2
Julio Chia Cabrera
Peru
290,000
193
3
Stanislau Shylkou
Belarus
247,000
165
4
Benjamin Lebor
United Kingdom
231,000
154
5
David Docherty
United Kingdom
221,500
148
6
Dominik Panka
Poland
221,500
148
7
William Hani
France
221,000
147
8
Andrea Dato
Italy
214,000
143
9
Anton Wigg
Sweden
214,000
143
10
Petr Bartagov
Russia
211,000
141
Plenty of Names on Day 1a
Hundreds of players made their way into Casino Barcelona on a rare rainy Sunday as Day 1a got underway. It didn't take long for the highlights to add up as big names like Erik Seidel, Maria Ho, Peter Jorgne, Samantha Abernathy and €25,000 No-Limit Hold'em winner Tom Orpaz took their seats.
In an early highlight, PokerStars ambassador Jen Shahade flopped a full house before check-raising the turn and getting paid on the river.
Jennifer Shahade
Another player who flopped a big hand was Ren Lin, who used his bluff-heavy reputation to get value from Tarash Chazmava after flopping a set of sixes.
Speaking of sixes, Dan Heimiller won a hand at showdown with six-high as he pipped the five-high of Lucheng Liu. Heimiller has had a strong summer of poker and is after his first EPT trophy.
Some players who weren't fortunate enough to survive the Day 1a flight including Daniel Rezaei, Kitty Kuo, Fabrice Bigot, Anthony Zinno, Kenny Hallaert, Uri Reichenstein, reigning PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) champion Aliaksandr Shylko and PokerStars ambassador Alejandro Lococo.
Kitty Kuo
The second and final starting flight of the EPT Barcelona Main Event will kick off Aug. 28 at noon local time and will follow the same structure as Day 1a with starting stacks of 30,000 and blinds beginning at 100/100/100. Registration will remain open until the start of Day 2.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow to provide more updates in the EPT Barcelona Main Event. Be sure to check out the EPT Barcelona live reporting hub in the meantime.
