"No Nerves" as Ambassador Chris Eubank Jr Bags Big in 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event
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It's been less than six months since professional boxer Chris Eubank Jr joined 888poker as Cultural Ambassador, and he's now in Barcelona enjoying the sun, sea and sand that comes with the 888poker LIVE Barcelona festival.
Related: Former World Champion Boxer Chris Eubank Jr. Joins 888poker
"Great Atmosphere" at 888poker LIVE Barcelona
"I'm happy to be here," he told Tiffany Michelle. "The weather's beautiful and everyone's looking good. I'm ready to play. I want to experience everything. It's a great atmosphere with a lot of good people here. I obviously want to challenge my energy into the tournament, but outside of that we're going to have a lot of fun."
Since joining, Eubank Jr says that he has been working on ways to improve his game, and playing in Barcelona is just another tool he is using to get better.
"My competitive nature forces me to become better. I'm always trying to learn and find ways to improve. By being in these tournaments, playing online, studying and looking at strategies that better players use — I'd like to think I'm getting better as time goes on.
Michelle asked the former world champion boxer whether he had any nerves ahead of the €1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event.
"Nervous, no. I fight grown men for a living so the nerves are steel at this stage in my life!"
Eubank Jr Bags Top 10 Stack in Day 1c
And there were certainly no nerves on display on Day 1c of the €1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event, with Eubank Jr bagging the seventh-biggest stack.
In the biggest flight thus far, 110 entries emerged to boost the overall field to 276 entries with the turbo heat 1d to follow on Sunday, May 22, 2022 at Casino Barcelona.
Upon completion of ten levels of 45 minutes each, more than half of the contestants were gone without anything to show for. Just 48 players bagged up chips and Alejandro De Lucio Sanchez (pictured) topped the leaderboard with a stack of 199,100. The lead was the direct result of a three-way all-in during the final hands of the night in which a roller coaster runout saw the best pocket pair preflop prevail eventually.
888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event Day 1c Top 10 Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alejandro De Lucio Sanchez | Spain | 199,100 | 166 |
| 2 | Carlos Fernandez Delgado | Spain | 178,000 | 148 |
| 3 | Simone Ricci | Italy | 139,900 | 117 |
| 4 | Alin Grasu | Romania | 133,000 | 111 |
| 5 | Bernat Carreras Moragrega | Spain | 131,600 | 110 |
| 6 | Gerard Carbo | Spain | 114,800 | 96 |
| 7 | Chris Eubank Jr | United Kingdom | 114,300 | 95 |
| 8 | Carlos Diez Martinez | Spain | 112,400 | 94 |
| 9 | Guillermo Nuez Escribano | Spain | 107,200 | 89 |
| 10 | Jorge Ufano | Spain | 99,500 | 83 |
For Eubank Jr, Day 1 seemed to be destined for an early finish after he lost a flip with queens versus ace-king to be left with fumes. Eubank Jr then re-entered and scored a double-up during the final hand of the night to bag up the seventh-biggest stack.
Day 2 is scheduled to play a total of ten levels of 60 minutes each or down to the final table, whichever of the two comes first. Returning blinds will be 600-1,200 with a big blind ante of 1,200. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to provide all the action and the live stream feature table on the 888poker TV YouTube and Twitch channels gets underway after the first break.
