EPT Barcelona Main Event Sets New Attendance Record on Day 1b
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While a much-anticipated announcement dominated headlines in Barcelona, there was still a bit of poker to be played as well.
Day 1b of the biggest-ever €5,300 EPT Main Event in the 16-year history of the PokerStars European Poker Barcelona has come to an end after 10 one-hour levels. The busy starting day attracted 1,234 entries (including 144 reentries) to bring the total number of entries for the 2019 edition to 1,960.
Day 1b Highlights
Out of those Day 1b entries, 508 have made it through to Day 2. Timur Margolin bagged the Day 1b chip lead by bagging 261,800 in chips.
Margolin has almost $2 million in lifetime earnings according to The Hendon Mob. He has won two PokerStars events before, the most recent one being the $2,200 No-Limit Hold'em event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January for $73,960.
The Israeli player slowly built up his stack throughout the day and will be starting Day 2 with more than 160 big blinds.
Also bagging big on Day 1b were Alen Alencar with 248,800, Kacper Pyzara with 228,600, Kully Sidhu (221,500), and Gianfranco Iaculli with 219,600. Alencar has been doing well here in Barcelona, collecting three cashes which are also his first outside of Latin America. Pyzara had a bad start to the day but managed to do much better on his second bullet. With almost a million in cashes, he will be looking to cross that mark by running deep right here in this record-breaking event.
The Israeli player will be starting Day 2 with more than 160 big blinds.
Other notable players making it through to Day 2 include Martin Jacobson, Mustapha Kanit, Shannon Shorr, Sergio Aido, Patrik Antonius, Alex Foxen and PokerStars Ambassador Andre Akkari.
Akkari's PokerStars colleagues Ramon Colillas, Steve Enriquez, and Muskan Sethi all tried to make it through the Day 1b field but couldn’t make things work. If they haven’t used their second bullet yet, they can still enter before the start of Day 2.
They weren’t the only ones to fall at one of the many hurdles today, players like Maria Lampropulos, Michael Soyza, Andras Nemeth, Ryan Riess and Nick Marchington found the rail during the course of play.
On to Day 2
Together with the 259 Day 1a survivors, this means that at least 767 players will return to battle it out on Day 2. With registration still open, the record numbers will likely swell even further until everything locks up at the start of play.
Level duration will be increased to 90 minutes from Day 2 onwards with a break after every level. When the players return for Level 11, it will feature a small blind of 800, big blind of 1,600, and a big blind ante of 1,600.
As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the updates from Casino Barcelona throughout the Main Event and the many side events.
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