Today is Day 3 of the 2012 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event. The first event of Season 9 has shattered records and the Main Event has kept up that momentum with a field of 1,082 players coming out. Just 207 of them remain and it's none other than five-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner John Juanda topping them all in a big way with 732,400.
The top finishers from Day 2 include many other notables. Ilari Sahamies bagged up 535,500, Lucille Cailly finished on 360,700, Xuan Liu wrapped up with 326,200 and Jonathan Karamalikis has 317,600. The top member of Team PokerStars Pro is Daniel Negreanu and he'll be returning to action with 248,000 in chips.
Other Team PokerStars Pros remaining in the field include Henrique Pinho, Juan Manuel Pastor, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Matthias De Meulder, João Nunes, Ana Marquez, Theo Jorgensen, Angel Guillen and Barry Greenstein.
With such a packed field still left and the money bubble set at 160 players, it's going to be a great day of poker today that you won't want to miss. The cards are scheduled to be in the air at 12:00 PM local time, so stay tuned right here to PokerNews for all of the live coverage!
The tension here in the tournament room at Casino Barcelona has reached its highest point as the field got down to just 161 players, meaning the first player to bust from the tournament would become this year's EPT Barcelona bubble boy. Play was stopped for a few minutes by the tournament director to make sure that all the tables had finished their current hand and from that point, all tables would continue with hand-for-hand action.
Soon after play resumed, the dealer at Table 8 announced an all in and a call. In just a few moments, the table was surrounded by the media, film crews, as well as a huge number of players from other tables.
The hand was not played until all the rest of the hands were finished. The action was between Australian Jonathan Karamalikis, who called Aliaksei Boika's all-in bet of 37,500 from the cutoff.
Showdown
Boika:
Karamalikis:
The dealer burned the first card and put out the flop on the felt, leaving Karamalikis in the lead. The on the turn and on the river were no good for Boika making him the official 2012 EPT Barcelona Main Event bubble boy — the first of such this season. All of the players have now locked up €8,400 in prize money and 160 remain.
Daniel Negreanu has been eliminated from the feature table.
He lost most of his chips to Mads Amot when his pocket kings failed to stay ahead of the latter's ace-king (ace on the flop), and Amoth finished off the job on the next hand. Negreanu shoved for 3,500 with ace-six but was flushed out by Amoth's nine-three suited.
RealKidPoker Daniel Negreanu@dnchips KK vs AQ and AK for monster pot. Ace hit the flop I have 4k left lol. Blinds 2500-5000. Oh well.August 22 2012
Ilari Sahamies is one of the best known online high stakes cash players in the world. He's also the chip leader at EPT Barcelona, so we've taken time out to follow an orbit of poker with him at the table.
Hand #1:
Sahamies was on the button, he looked fed up, probably wishing he was out partying but still decided to raise to 11,000 and everyone folded. He almost smiled for a second, then didn't.
Hand #2:
Pascal Hartmann raised to 10,000 from the hijack, Sahamies, looking nonplussed, made it 23,000 from the cutoff and Hartmann quickly backed down.
Hand #3:
Sahamies was in the hijack, it's folded to him and he somehow folded with a confused look on his face as if he's never experienced the feeling of folding during an unopened pot. Ugnius Simelionis raised the button to 10,000 with and called Dennis Otten's all in, the latter's doesn't get there.
Hand #4:
Sahamies is UTG+2, he folded, perhaps daydreaming about whether it would be possible to build a house made out of bottles of Cristal.
Hand #5:
Sahamies is UTG+1 and, still thinking about his champagne bottle house, he folds preflop.
Hand #6:
Sahamies raised to 10,000 from UTG, mortified that he has folded three hands in a row. Ugnius Simelionis made the call to see a flop. Sahamies bet 21,000 and Simelionis made the call.
On the turn, the Finn looked down and grabbed a 100,000 stack of blue chips and shoved it in the middle. Again Simelionis called. Both players checked the river and Sahamies said, "Sixes, a pair of sixes." Simelionis showed to win the pot. Sahamies looked unimpressed, but that might be down to thinking about the logistics and structural problems of building a house made out of bottles of Cristal.
Hand #7:
Ugnius Simelionis raised to 10,000 on Sahamies' big blind, "Zigmund" is more interested in his head massage and mucked his hand.
Hand #8:
Anders Hansen raised to 11,000 from the hijack and Sahamies made the call in the small blind. The flop came and Sahamies check-called a bet of 13,000 from his Danish opponent. On the turn, Sahamies checked again and Hansen bet 29,000, the Finn looked momentarily perplexed but then made the call to see the on the river.
Sahamies thought for about a minute then moved all in, covering Hansen's remaining stack of about 160,000. Sahamies looked sleepy. Hansen tanked for several minutes and Sahamies, clearly wanting the action to keep moving, called the clock.
Hansen then made the call and Sahamies turned over for the rivered full house and Hansen flashed for the turned straight before leaving the table.
So there you have a round with Sahamies, he three-bets casually, turns pairs into bluffs and then overbet jams all in to force other players into leveling themselves, and he does this all while looking as though he'd rather be anywhere but here. Having started with 1 million chips, he finished with over 1.3 million and nearly broke into a smile after that last hand.
Action folded around to Xuan Liu in the small blind, she peeked down at her cards, eyed up Jake Cody's stack in the big blind, and then moved all in. Cody only had around 40,000 and opted to commit.
Showdown
Cody:
Liu:
Cody was drawing live, but the flop was a dagger through his heart. The turn left him drawing dead, while the river gave Liu quads and officially put an end to the Brit's tournament.
Clement Bonin raised to 12,000 from middle position and received a call from Australian Jonathan Karamalikis, who was directly to his left. A short-stacked Konstantin Puchkov called from the big blind, and it was three-way action to the flop.
Puchkov was first to act and moved all in for 36,000, which Bonin raised to 73,000. Karamalikis responded by moving all in, and Bonin called off for 291,000.
Showdown
Bonin:
Karamalikis:
Puchkov:
It was an action flop to say the least as all three players hit big. Puchkov flopped top pair with a flush draw, Bonin a set, and Karamalikis the nuts. The turn gave Puchkov the said flush, while the blanked on the river. Puchkov tripled, though he is still short, while Karamalikis eliminated Bonin and collected the sizable side pot.
Back on Day 1b, Guy Bachar did better than any other players and finished as chip leader. He carried that momentum into Day 2 and continued to add to his stack. He was going the same here on Day 3, but he recently hit a major roadblock.
We're not sure of all the betting, but we do know that Bachar six-bet all in preflop and Antonin Duda called off for 574,000, creating a pot of nearly 1.2 million. Showdown
Bachar:
Duda:
Bachar sat stoically as the TV cameras swarmed. He seemed content with the possibility of cracking kings, but when the flop made that highly unlikely, he cracked. Bachar mumbled a bit, rose from his seat and walked away from the table. He returned in time to see the turn give him a gut-shot straight draw, but the river would not complete it.
With that, Bachar sent more than half his stack to Duda and was knocked down to average.
The 2012 PokerStars.comEuropean Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event continued today as the final 207 from a 1,082-player field returned to the Casino Barcelona for Day 3 action. After five levels of play, the money bubble had burst and just 61 players remained. Leading the way into Day 4 was Antonin Duda, who bagged up 1.47 million.
Duda got the vast majority of his chips by battling Guy Bachar, the Day 1b chip leader. The latter carried his starting-flight momentum into Day 2 where continued to add to his stack, and he was trending upward early on Day 3 until he hit a major roadblock when he sent over half his chips to Duda. A short time later, Duda finished the job and sent Bachar to the payout desk in 77th place.
Long before Duda went on a tear, the field was set to lose 47 players in order to get down to the money. Barry Greenstein, Sebastian Ruthenberg and Theo Jorgensen were among the Team PokerStars Pros who left empty handed. Saar Wilf, Elisabeth Hille, Ronnie Bardah and Sam Holden joined them as other notables bounced to the rail before the money.
On the money bubble, and only a few minutes into hand-for-hand play, Australian Jonathan Karamalikis called Aliaksei Boika’s all-in bet of 37,500 from the cutoff seat. Players, media and TV crew members surrounded the table to catch the action as the hands were tabled:
Boika
Karamalikis
The dealer burned the first card and put out the flop — nothing for Boika. The on the turn and on the river were no good, either, and he became the official 2012 EPT Barcelona Main Event bubble boy, guaranteeing the remaining field at least €8,400.
After Boika bubbled, the eliminations came fast and furious. Team PokerStars Pros João Nunes (157th - €8,400), Angel Guillen (153rd - €8,400) and Henrique Pinho (137th - €8,400) were just a few of the players to notch min-cashes, while Daniel Negreanu (118th - €9,950), Ana Marquez (115th - €9,950) and Juan Manuel Pastor (92nd - €11,550) finished with higher pay grades.
Other in-the-money finishers included Jason Wheeler (141st - €8,400), Petter Northug (136th - €8,400), Mohsin Charania (123rd - €8,400) and Jake Cody (113th - €9,950).
Day 4 of the 2012 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona Main Event is set to kick off at 12:00 CET (06:00 EST). The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand at the Casino Barcelona to bring you all the hands and eliminations as they happen as the field plays down to the final 24 players.
To hold you over until tomorrow's action, check out the latest edition of The Straddle with Kristy Arnett and Lynn Gilmartin.