Minyan Bags 888poker LIVE Barcelona Day 1c Lead, Talbot Survives
The third and final opening flight of the 2018 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event at Casino Barcelona was a massive success. A total of 322 entrants participated in Day 1c, joining the 382 entrants on the first two opening flights to bring the total field size to 704 entrants.
The field will continue to grow as late registration remains open until the start of the first level of play on Day 2.
All eyes were on Norway's Jon Kyte throughout the day as he eliminated two opponents during the first blind level and seemingly never looked back. In fact, until the final hands were dealt, he was one of four players that were deadset on bagging the lead for the day.
While he bagged a healthy top 10 stack, in the end, it was Israel's Netanel Minyan who finished on top of the Day 1c chip leaderboard with 300,100 in chips.
Bagging the second most chips was Minyan's countrymate Roni Tal with 272,300. Just 700 chips behind Tal was Kyte's friend from Norway Stian Knutsen with 271,600.
Even though Minyan bagged a ton of chips, he will head into Day 2 in fifth place. Turkish high roller Day 1b chip leader Orpen Kisacikoglu will be the player on the top of the leaderboard heading into Day 2's play with 381,900 in chips followed by Day 1a chip leader Gianny Dominique Morano in second place with 363,000.
Top Five Chip Stacks Heading into Day 2
| Player | Day Qualified | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Orpen Kisacikoglu | Day 1b | 381,900 |
| Gianny Dominque Morano | Day 1a | 363,000 |
| Jhen Siang Jian | Day 1b | 333,500 |
| Joel Isla Gonzalo | Day 1b | 323,900 |
| Netanel Minyan | Day 1c | 300,100 |
Also bagging chips was 888poker Ambassador Parker Talbot (lead image) with a stack of 71,500. This appeared very unlikely to happen after Talbot fired two bullets and shared he was likely to sit out until the start of Day 2 to fire a third one. However, he got into the action near the end of the day and managed to more than double up with pocket nines.
Fellow 888poker Ambassador Fernando Pons survived the day with a stack of 82,800. However, fortunes were less good for 888poker Ambassadors Natalie Hof, Sofia Lovgren, and Vivian Saliba, who all hit the rail near the end of the day.
The action resumes on Sunday at 2 p.m. CEST with Day 2 before concluding on Monday with the final.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you coverage of the rest of the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event.
