Boeree Among Nine Finalists; Chobineh Leads After Day 2
Day 2 of the opening €10,300 High Roller at the 2018 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona is in the books and there are nine players remaining, who are all guaranteed at least €30,100. However, all eyes are set on the spadie trophy for the champion and the payday of €302,500 that comes along with it. After Day 1 saw a field of 117 entries emerge, the registration remained open until the cards went in the air for Day 2 and another seven hopefuls jumped in to create a prize pool of €1,202,800.
Leading the field after the penultimate day is Iran's Bahram Chobineh, who bagged up 1,320,000. Malaysia's Michael Soyza follows in second place with 1,235,000 and Finland's Kai Lehto (965,000) rounds up the international podium. In fact, the final nine players hail from nine different countries and among them is also PokerStars Team Pro Liv Boeree. One year ago, Boeree finished 8th in this very event for €46,980 and will aim to better that result this time, she will enter Day 3 fourth in chips with 685,000.
The defending champion, Croatia's Goran Mandic, has also made it back-to-back final tables and advanced with a stack of 295,000, good enough for 15 big blinds when the action resumes in level 21 with blinds of 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000. The other finalists include Luc Greenwood (590,000), Dario Sammartino (490,000), Orpen Kisacikoglu (425,000) and Denys Shafikov (195,000).
All nine remaining players will return to Casino Barcelona as of 12.30 p.m. local time on Friday, August 24th, 2018 in order to play down to the champion and the seat assignments can be found below.
Seating Assignments for the Final Day
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luc Greenwood | Canada | 590,000 | 29 |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 490,000 | 25 |
| 3 | Michael Soyza | Malaysia | 1,235,000 | 62 |
| 4 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | 425,000 | 21 |
| 5 | Goran Mandic | Croatia | 295,000 | 15 |
| 6 | Denys Shafikov | Ukraine | 195,000 | 10 |
| 7 | Liv Boeree | United Kingdom | 685,000 | 34 |
| 8 | Kai Lehto | Finland | 965,000 | 48 |
| 9 | Bahram Chobineh | Iran | 1,320,000 | 66 |
Action of the Day
Among the early casualties were late registrant Jan-Eric Schwippert, Timothy Adams, Sergio Aido and James Romero. Thomas Muehloecker ran with pocket tens into the pocket kings of Mustapha Kanit and Patrik Antonius was sent to the rail soon after. Kristen Bicknell lost a flip with pocket nines, as Niklas Astedt turned the nut straight with ace-queen to leave Bicknell drawing dead.
Several other big names of the international high roller circuit failed to make it to the money such as Sam Greenwood, Ryan Riess, Bryn Kenney, Dan Smith, Preben Stokkan, [Removed:17], Anthony Zinno, Stephen Chidwick and Benjamin Pollak. Aforementioned Astedt, also known under the online moniker "lena900", also ran out of chips just before the money and it was Belgian's Gary Hasson that ended up as the bubble boy. Hasson defended his big blind with ace-queen of spades and flopped the nut straight on a king-high all diamond board. Hasson's jam was called by Orpen Kisacikoglu, who held pocket aces with the nut flush draw, and a diamond on the turn burst the bubble and the hopes of Hasson.
Kenny Hallaert was the first casualty in the money after a three-way all in with ace-ten suited against the pocket queens of Goran Mandic and the ace-king of Kai Lehto, the latter spiked a king on the river to more than triple up. Filipe Oliveira also had to settle for a min-cash and it took another two hours before the field was reduced further.
Mustapha Kanit check-called a shove of Lehto on a king-high river with pocket jacks and was shown pocket sixes for a full house, and Adrian Mateos failed to hold up for his last five big blinds with king-five suited against the nine-six suited of Denys Shafikov in the big blind. Lehto also sent Ivan Luca to the rail when his flush draw got there against the top pair of Luca, and the final level of the night brought three further casualties to reduce the field to the unofficial final table.
Daniel Dvoress was the first to go, his king-eight suited stood no chance against the ace-jack suited of Luc Greenwood. Joao Vieira three-bet all in with ace-ten and Michael Soyza called with pocket eights, which ended up flopping a full house. Last but not least, Cary Katz also fell victim to the hot run of Soyza with ace-jack versus sevens, as a seven on the flop was all it took. Dario Sammartino doubled in the last hand of the night and the remaining nine players bagged up.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back to provide all the action of the final day from start to finish, so make sure to tune back in and find out who will claim the title in the €10,300 High Roller here in Barcelona.