Robert Leads Trio Atop on Day 1b; Potential Record on the Horizon for the Winamax Poker Open
The second starting day of the 2022 Winamax Poker Open €500 Main Event has concluded and it was a busy day at the tables in the Casino Gran Madrid in Torreledones, situated in the outskirts of the Spanish capital
After a strong start on Day 1a, another 533 entries emerged to increase the total attendance so far to 902 entries. Another two starting days remain and that puts the popular live poker tour on the verge of aiming for a new record.
That one thus far stands at 1,389 entries and was set back in 2019 when the French online poker and sports betting operator headed to Dublin.
Upon completion of level 20, the field was thinned down significantly and 83 survivors emerged. In a very close race for the top spot, Julien Robert claimed 768,000 to his name. That put him narrowly ahead of Jean-Charles Remaud (762,000) and Hayg Badem (748,000). Other notables such as Omar Del Pino (666,000), Victor Salinier (663,000), Alexandre Dana (635,000), and Franck Carpentier (630,000) follow not far behind.
Mikael "ShiShi" Busto from ClubPoker radio also made it through with a decent stack as well as he advanced with 574,000 in chips. Set to host a show this weekend, Busto may have to postpone the plans for the time being if he makes it all the way to the final day on Sunday, May 15, 2022.
None of the big stacks came close to topping Day 1a chip leader Pierre Calamusa, who remains the only contenders thus far with a seven-figure stack. Calamusa's fellow Winamax sponsored pros were all on board for Day 1b but none of them made it through. Mustapha Kanit, Davidi Kitai, Romain Lewis, Guillaume Diaz, François Pirault, Adrian Mateos and Gaelle Baumann all came up short. The same also applied for Alejandro Romero, who delivered the shuffle up and deal on home soil.
Once the live stream action started in level 13, Romain Lewis was on the main feature table while several other brand ambassadors were also moving over to the Mandalay Room as well. Diaz flirted with the lead and accumulated plenty of chips but it all came to a crashing end when Jean-Charles Remaud had the best of it on multiple occasions. Likewise, Lopes, known under his moniker of "Kool Shen" was sent to the rail as the last Winamax Pro when his move with a pair was ahead but didn't prevail in a clash with Mehdi Violleau.
The last two levels of the night certainly belonged to Julien Robert, however, who went on a rush from a middling stack to top spot in quick succession. He first knocked out Nicolas Millaud, then doubled through Aurelien Villesuzanne in a preflop contest before spiking a flush on the river to knock out Villesuzanne. Robert also won a large pot off fellow big stack Ionut-Gabriel Andrei to cement his status as one of the chip leaders.
With more than two thirds of the field filled gone featuring plenty of Winamax online qualifiers, Red Diamond status players and recreational poker enthusiasts from Spain and France, another busy day can be expected on Friday, May 13, 2022. Two chances remain for players to take a shot at the 2022 WPO Madrid €500 Main Event as Day 1c is scheduled for noon and the turbo heat 1d with 15-minute levels follows as of 9pm local time.
The entertainment program by Winamax contained the popular Beer Pong Open, which has become one of the most popular activities ever since the live poker tour existed. In the afternoon, the Team Winamax Master Class follows and will involve Adrian Mateos and Leo Margets as the hosts for a high-quality poker workshop. The day is then rounded up by the Friday the 13th party with two themes: luck (or the lack of it), and fear.
