Salamone Dominates Day 1c; Jacobson Enters Late and Spins Up Stack
Another starting day, another Italian chip leader at the 2019 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event! As expected, the biggest starting field emerged in the third and final flight of the flagship tournament of the festival at Casino Barcelona and essentially doubled the field size thus far thanks to 270 entries.
Many of those entries were multiple bullets, as the notables arrived, left and re-entered in quick succession with several hopefuls joining the mix three or more times in order to spin up a decent stack for Day 2. Ultimately, it was Andrea Salamone that topped the counts of 81 survivors when all chips were bagged and tagged, as he claimed 302,500 to his name. Fellow countryman Italo Martin Palao Modena advanced with 256,500 and Roger Castells bagged up 256,000.
Several other big names were among the big stacks after 12 levels of 45 minutes such as €2,200 High Roller champion Jesus Cortes (218,500), Claudio Di Giacomo (212,000), Francois Evard (193,000), Tom-Aksel Bedell (185,500), Raul van Boxtel (184,000) and €2,200 High Roller runner-up Sonny Franco (144,000) and Daniel Rueda Merino (127,500).
Defending champion Adrian Costin Constantin fired three bullets on Day 1c and ultimately made it through with 173,000. The 2017 champion and 2018 finalist of this very event, Luigi Shehadeh, was less fortunate as he also entered three times and was sent to the rail in each of his attempts. Shehadeh sent chips over to 888poker ambassador Martin Jacobson, who entered in the penultimate level of the night. Shehadeh then doubled Alberto Flores Trujillo before his jacks were cracked by Jacobson's tens in the very next hand. 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Jacobson ended Day 1c with an above-average stack of 152,000.
Shehadeh may still enter again before the cards get back in the air for Day 2 at 3 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 2nd, 2019, and that also applies to all poker enthusiasts that want to take a shot at the guaranteed prize pool of €550,000. On top of that, there's an additional prize up for grabs as WSOP sponsor 888poker will add a package worth $12,600 for the eventual champion in order to participate in the 2019 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas!
Among those to bust throughout the day were the 888poker ambassadors Vivian Saliba and Kara Scott, Jesper Hansen, Milad Oghabian, Sergio Alonso, Mladen Ivanov, Pedro Lamarca, Daniel Juncadella and Lucia Martinez to name just a few. Hansen was part of likely the most memorable hand of the day when his pocket tens failed to hold up in a four-way all in. In fact, the Dane rivered a set of tens which turned the best hand preflop into the worst one when all was done and dusted.
As far as Salamone is concerned, the Italian showed up with a big stack mid-way through the day and consistently continued to add more chips to his stack as time passed by. Be it with ace-nine fora rivered full house against an opponent with ace-queen or with sheer aggression. he will be second in chips when the action recommences after a good night's sleep, as Demetrio Caminita remains atop the leader board with his massive stack of 426,000 from Day 1a.
2019 888poker LIVE €1,100 Main Event at a glance
| Day | Date | Time | Entries | Survivors | Further Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1a | May 30th, 2019 | 18:00 | 109 | 31 | Play 12 levels of 45 minutes; unlimited re-entries until Day 2 |
| Day 1b | May 31st, 2019 | 18:00 | 163 | 45 | Play 12 levels of 45 minutes; unlimited re-entries until Day 2 |
| Day 1c | June 1st, 2019 | 15:00 | 270 | 81 | Play 12 levels of 45 minutes; unlimited re-entries until Day 2 |
| Day 2 | June 2nd, 2019 | 15:00 | tba | 157 | Level duration increases to 60 minutes; registration closes at start of day |
| Day 3 | June 3rd, 2019 | 15:00 | - | - | Play down to a champion! |
With all three starting days now completed, a field of 541 entries has emerged and at least 157 players remain in contention. All those that wish to enter with a fresh stack of 30,000 have to do so before the first hand is dealt on Day 2 and the blinds will continue at 1,000-2,500 with a 2,500 big blind ante.
The live stream with hole cards displayed on a 30-minute delay will pick up once again after the first break on Day 2 and can be followed on the 888poker Facebook page and YouTube channel. All the action from the outer tables will be provided by the PokerNews team until a champion is crowned in two days from now.
