The Final Table of the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona Main Event is Set
After nine levels and some on Day 3 of the record-setting 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona €10,300 Main Event, the eight-handed final table has been set and all finalists have €225,000 locked up for their efforts. With the lion's share of the €11,397,500 prize pool in the 1,175-entry strong field still up for grabs, all eyes are set on the trophy and €1,700,000 payday that comes along with it.
Another record may be set at one of Europe's favorite poker destinations, as the biggest prize in a poker event to be awarded at Casino Barcelona thus far stands at €1,361,000 back in 2008. Even the second place comes with a consolation prize of hefty €1,300,000.
Best-positioned for the big showdown on Sunday, April 15th, 2018, is Pascal Lefrancois, who already led the field before the cards got back in the air. Lefrancois bagged up 248.4 million, but won't have an easy ride to possible victory with plenty of big names still left in contention.
Four-time WSOP bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche, who currently stands on 5th on Germany's all-time money list, follows in second place with 232.9 million and fellow countryman Jan-Eric Schwippert is in third with 216.3 million. The other finalists include Diogo Veiga (213.8 million), Triple Crown champion and €25,500 Super High Roller II winner Davidi Kitai (91.1 million), Thomas Boivin (66.5 million), €101,000 Super High Roller runner-up Stephen Chidwick (65.2 million) and mixed game specialist Adam Owen (41.6 million).
Final Table Seat Assignments
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan-Eric Schwippert | Germany | 216,300,000 | 108 |
| 2 | Davidi Kitai | Belgium | 91,100,000 | 46 |
| 3 | Pascal Lefrancois | Canada | 248,400,000 | 124 |
| 4 | Adam Owen | United Kingdom | 41,600,000 | 21 |
| 5 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 65,200,000 | 33 |
| 6 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 232,900,000 | 116 |
| 7 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | 66,500,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Diogo Veiga | Portugal | 213,800,000 | 107 |
Action of Day 3
The early stages of the day were dominated by the run good of Dominik Nitsche and Pierre Calamusa, who sent several opponents to the rail. Among others, Calamusa claimed the stack of partypoker sponsored pro Johnny Lodden when his ace-trey outflopped Lodden's ace-king. The fortune of Calamusa came to a crashing halt when he got it in with pocket aces against the pocket queens of Anton Wigg and he departed in 45th place.
Patrick Bruel (pictured above) and Sergey Lebedev, who started the day in second and third place respectively, also bowed out much earlier than expected and hoped for. Lebedev lost one pot after the other and had to settle for 40th place, while Bruel exited soon after in 37th place. In a four-way pot, Bruel flopped a gutshot and turned a flush draw to improve on the river, only for Pascal Lefrancois to turn over a flopped full house and send the well-known French singer to the payout desk in 37th place.
Sam Trickett bowed out in 35th place and Mustapha Kanit lost a flip with ace-queen suited against the pocket aces of Davidi Kitai. Sam Greenwood, who won the €51,000 Super High Roller earlier during the festival in Barcelona, never recovered from losing with pocket tens against the pocket kings of Diogo Veiga, and was eliminated just shy of the last three tables in 26th place.
The last partypoker team member, Philipp Gruissem, had a flip with ace-king against the pocket nines of Pascal Lefrancois and was left drawing dead on the turn despite flopping top pair. Other big names such as Jack Salter, Anton Wigg, Byron Kaverman, Sean Winter and Morten Mortensen all followed to the rail while the field was trimmed down further.
Once the unofficial final table was set at the start of the last scheduled level, it was New Zealand's Honglin Jiang (pictured above) who missed out on more camera time and claimed €150,000 for his 9th place finish. In a battle of a blinds with Dominik Nitsche, Jiang flopped second pair with jack-ten and Nitsche was not in the mood of folding top pair with queen-six.
The remaining players bagged up and will return to the feature table at 12 p.m. local time with 46 minutes left in level 32 at blinds of 1,000,000/2,000,000 with a button ante of 2,000,000. The feature stream with hole cards displayed will be on a delay of 30 minutes and the PokerNews live updates will be published accordingly.