€10,300 EPT High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2018 PokerStars.es EPT Barcelona
€10,300 EPT High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 PokerStars.es EPT Barcelona
Buy-in
€10,300
Prize Pool
€4,258,300
Entries
439
Level
31
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
200,000
Justin Ligeri Bags the Day 1 Chip Lead
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Day 1 of the €10,300 EPT High Roller has come to its conclusion after nearly 12 hours of poker with 151 players progressing to Day 2. The entrants total hit 419 players, but late registration will remain open until the Day 2 action begins.
Justin Ligeri bagged 375,000 to take the chip lead and is closely followed by Gianluca Speranza (373,500), Marc MacDonnell (365,000) and Daniel Neilson (358,000).
Other familiar faces who will be back for Day 2 include this week's €50,000 Single-Day High Roller champion Andras Nemeth (290,500), Adrian Mateos (238,500), Benny Spindler (204,000), Will Kassouf (188,000) and Team PokerStars pro Jeff Gross (187,500).
Niall Farrell (154,000), Byron Kaverman (142,000), Byrn Kenney (140,000), Paul Newey (135,000), Stephen Chidwick (130,000) and Max Silver (110,000) will also be in action.
Action of the day
James Chen lasted just 15-minutes in the opening level when he lost his stack to Xixiang Luo who had hit a straight with six-four on a seven-deuce-eight-five-jack board with Chen holding pocket sevens for a set.
Jean-Noel Thorel, who made several deep runs in the EPT Barcelona High Roller events over the course of the last ten days, started well and doubled his chip stack but was unable to carry on his momentum and exited before the dinner break.
Later on in the day, the action got fast and furious with the 30-second shot clock putting more pressure on the players to make the right call.
Will Kassouf was one of the most vocal players in the room throughout the day but also fell victim to the pace of the shot clock. After Kassouf was check-raised by Daniel Neilson from the big blind with the flop down king-six-five, the former called, and the turn was the eight of hearts. Neilson bet 80,000 with seconds left to act and Kassouf, who had earlier told Neilson his hand was pocket aces with the ace of clubs, needed to use his final time bank to think.
Kassouf was still talking to Neilson but as the seconds ran down he was unable to make a decision, and his hand was declared dead when the shot clock hit zero.
Kassouf was true to his word and tabled the ace of clubs and the ace of spades, and told Neilson he believed he wasn't betting with a bluff.
Players who came and went throughout the day included Team PokerStars Pros Maria Konnikova and Leo Fernandez, Maria Lampropulos, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, professional golfer Sergio Garcia and this event's 2015 champion Mustapha Kanit.
PokerNews will be back at 12:30 pm local time on Saturday, September, 1 to provide all the Day 2 action as the High Rollers return to the Casino Barcelona.
End of Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
375,000 | |
|
373,500 | |
|
365,000 | |
|
358,000 | |
|
329,000
134,000
|
134,000 |
|
328,000
88,000
|
88,000 |
|
323,500
113,500
|
113,500 |
|
319,000
268,000
|
268,000 |
|
299,500
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
298,000
298,000
|
298,000 |
|
290,000
290,000
|
290,000 |
|
270,000
270,000
|
270,000 |
|
269,000
34,000
|
34,000 |
|
262,500
217,500
|
217,500 |
|
259,500
-10,500
|
-10,500 |
|
256,000
256,000
|
256,000 |
|
251,500
251,500
|
251,500 |
|
251,000
251,000
|
251,000 |
|
242,500
242,500
|
242,500 |
|
241,000
86,000
|
86,000 |
|
238,500 | |
|
||
|
225,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
215,500
215,500
|
215,500 |
|
213,500 | |
|
211,500
96,500
|
96,500 |
Assorted End of Day Chip Counts
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
375,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
373,500
271,500
|
271,500 |
|
|
365,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
|
358,000
38,000
|
38,000 |
|
|
290,500
241,500
|
241,500 |
|
|
238,500
88,500
|
88,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
213,500 | |
|
204,000
87,000
|
87,000 |
|
188,000
58,000
|
58,000 |
|
187,500
137,500
|
137,500 |
|
186,000
136,000
|
136,000 |
|
168,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
154,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
|
||
|
142,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
140,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
135,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
|
130,000
81,000
|
81,000 |
|
110,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
109,500
109,500
|
109,500 |
|
95,000
67,000
|
67,000 |
|
74,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
71,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
69,000
19,000
|
19,000 |
|
69,000
44,000
|
44,000 |
|
4,800
-125,200
|
-125,200 |
Final Four Hands
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
The clock has been stopped and the players will have four more hands in the day.
Kassouf Folds Aces to Neilson
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Will Kassouf raised from middle position preflop, and Daniel Neilson called in the big blind. The flop came down 
, and Neilson checked before Kassouf bet 12,000.
"I've got aces with the ace of clubs," said Kassouf to Neilson. But that didn't stop Neilson raising to 36,000.
"I've got aces with the ace of clubs," Kassouf repeated.
"I should raise here, but I'll just call" before he did indeed call Neilson's raise.
The turn was the 
and with the shot clock nearly down to zero Neilson announced 80,000 as his bet amount.
"Now we have a situation," said Kassouf, before he went silent for 15 seconds to think.
Kassouf looked at Neilson's stack to see how much he had behind after he requested to look and used his last time bank card to give himself 30 more seconds of thinking time.
"Big blind special is it?" Kassouf questioned.
The clock was running down on Kassouf, and he was yet to make his action, and with no time bank cards remaining the clock hit zero, and his hand was declared dead.
Kassouf said he did not think Neilson was bluffing and revealed 
to the table as Neilson picked up the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
320,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
130,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
Monster Pot as Ligeri Cracks Katz's Queens
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Nan Hong raised to 5,000 from under the gun. Nick Petrangelo was all in for less than an ante and Justin Ligeri and Juha Helppi both called Hong's open.
Cary Katz then three-bet to 17,400 and Hong four-bet all in. Ligeri flat-called and Helppi folded. Katz then used a time extension before five-betting all in.
Ligeri thought for a while. "F*ck it," he said. "I call."
Nan Hong: 
Nick Petrangelo: 
Justin Ligeri: 
Cary Katz: 
The flop came 
and Ligeri clapped his hands together. "Two pair!"
The turn was the 
and the river the 
. "Full house baby," said Ligeri.
"How do I lose that hand?" bemoaned Katz. "He called it off with ace-four.
"It was suited!" said Ligeri.
"I built up a stack all day..." continued Katz.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
350,000
230,000
|
230,000 |
|
45,000
-105,000
|
-105,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Updated Chip Counts
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
300,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
|
270,000
-88,000
|
-88,000 |
|
|
240,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
|
240,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
215,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
|
199,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
|
180,000 | |
|
170,000
170,000
|
170,000 |
|
150,000
67,000
|
67,000 |
|
|
120,000
-135,000
|
-135,000 |
Level: 11
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 2,000
Lampropulos Falls To Toma's Kings
Level 10
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Tsugunari Toma raised to 3,500 and Adrian Mateos three-bet to 10,500. Maria Lampropulos then four-bet all in for 34,100. Toma flat-called and Mateos folded.
Tsugunari Toma: 
Maria Lampropulos:
The board ran out 
giving no help to Lampropulos who was eliminated.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
220,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
Busted |