Julio Arocena Bags Day 1b Chip Lead; Only 86 Remain Heading to Day 2
All of the starting flights for Day 1 of the PokerStars Festival Uruguay Main Event are now complete and the overall chip leader after the two flights is still Halysson Sala. Sala played on Day 1a and was able to bag up 240,000 chips. The chip leader at the end of Day 1b though was Julio Arocena. The Uruguayan player was able to bag up 223,000 chips, but that was only enough for the second biggest stack in the tournament. Arocena has several live recorded cashes under his belt, all of which are from Uruguay.
Day 1b’s flight drew in 156 entries, which brought the total number of entrants to 261 players. With the 33 players who bagged up last night, and the 53 players who bagged up for Day 1b, there are a total of 86 players remaining. A total prizepool has not been posted yet, but when it becomes available it will be updated in the payouts section.
Tuesday saw many familiar faces re-enter the tournament, such as Andres Korn, Jose Ili, Mark Scacewater, Matias Gabrenja, Ezequiel Ferretty, and Juan Marquine. Of that list, several didn’t make it through the day. Notably, Andres Korn fell after losing a coinflip with ace-king against an opponent’s pocket tens. Others to fall include Gabrenja, Marquine, Ferretty, and Ili. Some of those making it through to Day 2 from Day 1b include Julio Belluscio, Fabio Colonese, Leo Fernandez, and Brett Trevillian.
Two popular sports stars also joined the field today. One was Argentinian rugby player Lucas Gonzalez. Gonzalez entered the tournament twice but was unable to find any traction and was eliminated twice. He chose not to enter a third time. Diego Veronelli who was a former Argentinian tennis pro also entered, but he also didn’t make it through the day despite winning a couple pots early in the day.
There were, however, some notable success stories for Day 1b. One that comes to mind is that of PokerStars Team Pro Leo Fernandez. Fernandez got out of a hot start in the tournament, employing a strategy of limping into many early pots. He was able to grow his stack significantly throughout the day. In one hand in particular, Fernandez flopped a straight and got his opponent all in only drawing to a chop. By the end of the day Fernandez had amassed 131,900 chips and was one of the largest stacks in the room.
The remaining 83 players will return tomorrow at 12 p.m. local time where they will play ten more 60-minute levels. PokerNews will be back with them and we’ll be covering all the action so make sure to stay tuned.