Luigi Pignataro raised from early position and Sergio Contreras reraised from the big blind. Pignataro moved all in for 40,800 and Contreras called to put Pignataro at risk.
Luigi Pignataro: A♠K♣
Sergio Contreras: Q♥Q♦
The board ran out 6♠7♥4♥10♦K♦. Contreras pocket queens held all the way to the river when Pignataro hit a pair of kings to scoop the pot and double up.
Marcos Thielke raised to 7,000 from middle position and was called by Samuel Ju, Jeppe Bisgaard, and Mounir Tajiou on the button.
The flop came 10♦4♣J♠. Thielke continued for 8,000 and was called by all three other players.
The turn was the 9♦. Thielke made a large bet of 36,500. Ju made the call and Bisgaard and Tajiou bailed.
The river came the J♥ and Thielke led again for 35,000. Ju made the call. Thielke flipped over 10♣8♣ for two pair with tens and the jacks on board. Ju flipped over Q♠10♠ for two pair, his queen kicker playing to give him the pot.
Following an under the gun raise to 9,000, Aiguo Xu called in late position and Lukas Hafner three-bet to 35,000. The original raiser folded and Xu called the bet.
Two players went to the flop, which came 6♦8♦10♥. Hafner pushed all in to put Xu at risk for his stack of 87,000 chips. Xu made the call and players flipped their cards.
Aiguo Xu: 8♥6♥
Lukas Hafner: A♥Q♥
Hafner had ace queen high and Xu had two pair with eights and sixes.
The turn came the K♣ and the river was the 5♥. Xu held to double up to nearly 300,000.
Miklos Banyasz raised to 8,000 from middle position and was called by Gabriel De Medeiros on the button and Nicolas Nabet in the big blind.
All three players checked on the 2♦9♥3♠ flop and action checked to De Medeiros on the A♥ turn, who fired 13,000 into the middle. Only Banyasz called.
The Q♣ completed the board and Banyasz checked to De Medeiros again — prompting a 33,000 bet from De Medeiros. Banyasz decided to look him up after a bit of thought and De Medeiros turned over K♣J♠ for a bluff. Banyasz tabled A♠7♠ for a pair of aces and collected the pot.
Camilla Reventlow raised to 10,000 from under the gun and Maoz Tenenbaum called on the button. Roberto Sanchez Trujillo then moved all in from the small blind for 48,000, Reventlow made the call and Tenenbaum folded. Two players flipped their cards, with Trujillo at risk.
Gurgen Arsenyan shoved for his last 74,000 first-to-act and action folded to Ruben De Sousa in the cutoff, who also went all in for more. Everyone else folded and hands were revealed.
Gurgen Arsenyan: A♣A♠
Ruben De Sousa: K♦K♣
It was a classic Hold'em cooler for De Sousa, and the 4♣3♥6♣7♥A♦ runout kept Arsenyan best with a set of aces for the double up as the Day 2 bubble approaches.
Mykola Serhiienko shoved for his remaining 36,000 from early position and action folded around to Jeongwoo Lee in the big blind, who called to put Serhiienko at risk.
Mykola Serhiienko: A♦Q♣
Jeongwoo Lee: A♣K♠
The Q♠9♣J♣ flop looked as though the bubble would continue, as Serhiienko improved to a pair of queens. However, the 6♣ turn gave Lee additional outs to a superior flush, and the 10♠ river improved Lee to Broadway to end Day 1f and burst the Day 2 bubble.
Play has concluded for Day 1f of Event #1: €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event here at Casino Barcelona during the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona with Marcos Diego emerging as the chip leader after bagging 767,000 in chips through 18 levels of play. In a distant second is Aristidis Theodoridis with 595,000 and rounding out the top three is Bulgarian poker pro Petar Kalev, who ended with 518,000.
Kalev is a regular in Europen Poker Tour events and had his largest cash to date after getting seventh place in the EPT Prague Main Event last year for €164,750. Kalev steadily built his stack throughout the day and is well-positioned to make another deep run.
€1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event Day 1f Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Marcos Diego
Spain
767,000
2
Aristidis Theodoridis
Greece
595,000
3
Petar Kalev
Bulgaria
518,000
4
Dorin Omilescu
Romania
512,000
5
Vincent Pahon
Switzerland
504,000
6
Lukas Hafner
Austria
495,000
7
Lorenzo Suprani
France
487,000
8
John Farrell
Ireland
486,000
9
Quentin Laugt
France
470,000
10
Anh Do
Czech Republic
454,000
Play began on Day 1f with 335 entrants, and by the time late registration ended, that number had swelled to 936. As with all starting flights, play concluded for the day after the field was reduced to 15% of the total entrants (141 players). The Day 2 bubble burst in dramatic fashion after Jeongwoo Leerivered a Broadway straight against Mykola Serhiienko. All the remaining players have secured a min-cash for making it to Day 2, and the amount won (so far) will depend on the total number of entrants across all starting flights.
Team PokerStars ProIrene Albarran also earned a Day 2 berth. The poker coach and Twitch streamer, who often goes by "Frogy", bagged up a respectable 146,000 and will be looking to secure her largest live-tournament cash to date.
Among the less fortunate were Michael Wang, William Kassouf, Stephen Song, Dan Heimiller, Ren Lin, and Dara O'Kearney -- all of whom busted out before the end of the day.
Any players who didn't make it to Day 2 still have two more flights available on Thursday, August 23 starting with Day 1g at 11 a.m. local time. Day 1h, which is the eighth and final flight, will begin at 6 p.m. All the surviving players from all starting flights will convene for Day 2 on Friday, August 25 at noon.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action from the Pokerstars Estrellas Poker Tour (ESPT)!
