Adrian Mateos and Marti Roca Advance to Winamax SISMIX Day 2
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Defending champion Adrian Mateos navigated a late spell on the feature table in the Winamax SISMIX Main Event here at the Gran Casino Costa Brava to make it to Day 2.
However, after defeating 1,252 on his way to the title last year in Marrakech, it looks like Mateos will have to defeat substantially more if he is to defend his crown after 547 entered on Day 1b. Coupled with entries from Day 1a, that makes 949 unique entries with both Day 1c and the Turbo Day 1d still to come.
In total, around 120 players made it through Day 1b.
Mateos Takes Center Stage
Mateos was responsible for the shuffle up and deal earlier in the day, which he called a pleasure and an honor on his home soil in Spain.
"Today went smoothly for me," he said. "There were no big pots or all-ins. All pretty smooth. I've been lucky because the table was pretty tight."
Mateos has been a Winamax Team Pro since autumn 2017 and was fortunate to take down the SISMIX last year, just nine months into his tenure.
"When I signed I thought they wanted to make a tournament in Spain, but I'm surprised at how big this tournament is," he said. "I expected more people than [last year] in Marrakech, but this is crazy. They've completely sold out and they expect 2,000 people and they get way more. Both Winamax and I are pretty happy and we hope that everyone enjoys the tournament."
But the Spaniard reiterates that the SISMIX is a special kind of tournament, one not just about poker and bagging up for the next day. Instead, its focus is perhaps away from the felt and among the other activities on offer.
"This type of tournament is one where people are at the pool, in the parties, playing in the beer pong. It's like a holiday with poker than a poker tournament. It's way different compared to EPTs or big tournaments. Here people want to have fun and they want to enjoy.
"For the last four years, the SISMIX are the only €500 tournaments that I've played. It's nice to come back and see that people are here to enjoy [the poker]. When you play €10K or €25K people are really focused and want to win, but it's fun and really good to come here and see people just enjoying the moment. I really enjoy playing this type of six-max tournament. There's a lot of action and you play a lot of pots. The people are good to talk to and you have a good time in the tournament."
Players Advancing to Day 2
Leading the Day 1b field is Vincent Cavailles who is the clear chip leader with 870,000. Behind him Pawel Zawadowicz (673,000), Carl Dobrzelewski (618,000), Ali El Alj (589,000), Thomas Baron (565,000), Thomas Rahaba Risoa (526,000) and Guillaume Gomez (514,000) are the only players above 500,000 in chips.
Former WSOPE champion Marti Roca (242,000) is also advancing to Day 2. Roca took down the 2017 WSOP Europe Main Event for over a million euro and will join his compatriots Mateos and Leo Margets, who advanced from Day 1a, in the Day 2 field.
Winamax Team Pros Aladin Reskallah and Bruno Lopes will have to jump into the Turbo Day 1d flight which gets underway at Friday night.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of the Winama SISMIX festival.
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
