PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller Day 1: Sandor Demjan Leads
Season 10 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour kicked off on Friday with the €50,000 Super High Roller in Barcelona, Spain. Registration for the event remains open until the start of Day 2, so official numbers are yet to be determined. That said, 39 unique players accounted for 10 re-entries on the first day of play, bringing the total number of entries up to 49. That is down slightly from last year's 55 entries, but that could change given that registration is still open.
After eight one-hour levels of play, the man leading the 37 survivors is Sandor Demjan, who bagged an impressive 1,037,000. Others who thrived on Day 1 were Fabian Quoss (813,000), Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu (619,000) and November Niner David Benefield (552,000).
Here's a look at the top 10 chip counts at the end of Day 1:
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandor Demjan | 1,037,000 |
| 2 | Fabian Quoss | 813,000 |
| 3 | Daniel Negreanu | 619,000 |
| 4 | David Benefield | 552,000 |
| 5 | Philip Sternheimer | 540,000 |
| 6 | Steve O'Dwyer | 528,000 |
| 7 | Salman Behbehani | 514,000 |
| 8 | Erik Seidel | 445,000 |
| 9 | Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier | 441,000 |
| 10 | Daneil Alaei | 428,000 |
Denjam got off to a bad start and ended up being one of the first to bust, but he opted to re-enter and things turned around in a big way when he was relocated to the feature table. It was there that he won a decent pot against Negreanu, but it wasn't until the last hand of the day that he solidified his chip lead. It happened when action erupted on a board reading 3♣10♠7♦Q♦ and Igor Kurganov ended up all in for 236,500 with the 10♣10♥ for a flopped set. Unfortunately for him, Demjan had turned a bigger one with the Q♠Q♣. The 8♥ river wasn't the case 10 Kurganov needed, and he was sent to the rail on the last hand of the evening.
As far as Quoss was concerned, he got a lot of his chips in Level 7 (2,000/4,000/500) thanks to a couple of decent pots. The first one was against Dani Stern, and the second one was againstOle Schemion.
In the first, Philip Sternheimer opened from early position to 8,000, and Quoss made the call from the cutoff seat. Stern was in the small blind and reraised to 34,000 when action folded to him. Sternheimer folded, but Quoss came along to see the A♦Q♥4♣ flop. Stern bet 36,000 and Quoss called to see the 3♠ fall on the turn. Stern checked, and Quoss fired 65,000 into the pot. Stern folded and Quoss won the pot without further resistence.
On the next hand, Quoss opened with a raise from the hijack seat to 10,000 and Schemion reraised from the cutoff to 25,500. Action folded back to Quoss and he made it 65,000 to go. Schemion folded, and Quoss won yet another pot. They weren't huge wins, but they added up quick.
It took a while for the first elimination of the day to occur, but it finally happened in Level 4 (1,000/2,000/300) when a preflop raising war saw Sternheimer shove all in from the button and Max Lehmanski call from the big blind.
Lehmanski: A♦Q♠
Sternheimer: 8♥7♣
Sternheimer knew he'd been caught even before the cards were tabled, but even so he was drawing to two live cards. Unfortunately for him, the Q♦A♣9♦ flop gave Lehmanski two pair. Sternheimer needed running cards to stay alive, and he found one when the 5♦ turn gave him a gutshot straight draw to a non-diamond six. The dealer burned one last time and put out the 2♦. Lehmanski made a flush to win the pot while Sternheimer rapped the table and quickly exited the tournament floor. He later re-entered the tournament.
Others who busted and re-entered were Richard Yong, Tobias Reinkemeier, Jeff Rossiter, Timothy Adams, Paul Newey, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Martin Finger and Philipp Gruissem.
The field will return at noon local time on Saturday. At that time registration will be closed and official numbers, including the number of entries and the prize pool, will be released. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as they bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the floor of the Casino Barcelona.
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