After a mammoth 12 levels of play on Day 1a, and with 34 players remaining, Lucia Martinez has the chip lead with 268,000 chips in the 888Live Barcelona €1,100 Main Event.
Day 1a welcomed 104 entries (including re-entries) across the day, with the early pace-setter the entertaining Canadian player Kelly Kellner. He won some big pots early to run up a stack of over 100,000 chips at one point, but just like in yesterday's High Roller, he couldn't hang onto them and this time in unfortunate fashion. He was ahead of Alessandro Predaroli all-in pre-flop but couldn't hold on. Instead of 100,000, Kellner suddenly had half that stack, which all went to Lucia Martinez when her kicker was enough to topple Kellner's when both players hit top pair in the next hand.
Elsewhere, others were running into trouble. Sally Stephens couldn't win a flip with pocket jacks when she saw an ace on turn and river end her first bullet, but she later re-entered. Hacharan Dogra Dogra ran short then ran it up, but couldn't survive the final cut-throat levels. Others were more successful, with Hristian Panchev (222,900) Alejandro Vazquez Gomez (184,400), Gabriel Podovei (180,700) and Vitaly Tevis (179,700) all harbouring hopes of taking over the chip lead when Day commences.
Ema Zajmovic made just 600 chips profit on her starting stack, bagging up 30,600, but she survived when needing to hit with two cards to come, so can count herself lucky rather than the opposite to have gone through on her first bullet.
Day 1b will start at 6pm local time later today, with another 12 levels to see if more entries can get closer to breaking through the incredible €500,000 guarantee.
Pre-flop, Carlos Avila Ortega, one of the chip leaders in the room made it 5,000 from the cut-off. Balazs Somodi raised to 13,000 and Ortega made it 25,000. Somodi called.
The flop of saw Ortega bet 20,000 and Somodi shipped it all-in for around double that. Ortega called.
Avril Ortega:
Balazs Somodi:
The turn was a blank, but Avila Ortega was shell-shock when the appeared on the river to give Somodi trips threes for a huge upset.
Kelly Kellner in action during the High Roller. He's now second in chips in the Main Event.
Kelly Kellner and Javier Sanchez went to war in a battle of the big stacks here late on Day 1a in Level 9 of the Main Event in Barcelona.
Kellner was one of four callers to an opening bet of 2,200 pre-flop, and that came . Kellner led for 5,500 and only Sanchez made the call. On the turn of , both men checked, but on the river of , Kellner bet 11,600. Sanchez thought long and hard, but eventually made the call.
Kellner turned over for the winning hand, but while that vaults him over six figures, Sanchez still has him covered with his chip leading stack.
Harcharan Dogra Dogra is short-stacked but remains in the Day 1a Main Event field
Kelly Kellner opened to 1,400 from early position and was called in three places. On the flop of , he bet 7,500 and called off his stack when Harcharan Dogra Dogra moved all-in over the top.
Harcharan Dogra Dogra:
Kelly Kellner:
the turn of was followed by the river of and Kellner survived to double up at the perfect time. the average in the room is 46,000 at blinds of 400/800/100 (57.5BB) .
Sally Stephens picture din action during the High Roller
Sally Stephens has busted here on Day 1a of the Main Event, part of the 888Live Festival. Stephens was down to around 17,500 and moved all-in pre-flop over an opening bet with . She got a call from a player with and although the flop came seven-high, an ace on the turn and river saw her exit.
Stephens, who busted the High Roller yesterday, has the option of re-entry right up until the first deal on Day 2, along with everyone else here in the Catalan casino paradise of Barcelona.
MrPaulSeaton
The famous tournament room at Casino Barcelona, where a bumper field is expected
We're here in the stunning Catalan capital of northern Spain, Barcelona, where players will take to the felt for the first flight of the €500,000 guaranteed Main Event. With huge fields and massive top prizes in previous 888Live events in London and Rozvadov, Barcelona is expected to once again fill the tables and give players from across the world all the fun of 888Live events with the chance of bagging a major title all for just €1,000+100 entry.
Each level lasts 45 minutes on Day 1, so we expect to see plenty of players taking no time at all in pushing for an early lead. With play due to begin at 6.00pm, here are the levels players will play across Day 1a, with an hour-long after Level 6.
Day 1 Level Structure
Level
Ante
Small Blind
Big Blind
1
50
100
2
75
150
3
25
100
200
4
50
150
300
5
75
200
400
6
75
250
500
7
100
300
600
8
100
400
800
9
100
500
1,000
10
200
600
1,200
11
200
800
1,600
12
200
1,000
2,000
With unlimited re-entries until the first hand of Day 2, plenty of big names will be expected to fall out of the High Roller and into the Main Event, with 31/65 players still remaining. Catalin Pop, the defending champion from 88Live's Rozvadov Main Event, at King's Casino is still in with a chance of winning that event before taking to the felt in the Main Event.
saw Ortega bet 20,000 and Somodi shipped it all-in for around double that. Ortega called. 
appeared on the river to give Somodi trips threes for a huge upset.
, both men checked, but on the river of 
, Kellner bet 11,600. Sanchez thought long and hard, but eventually made the call. 
for the winning hand, but while that vaults him over six figures, Sanchez still has him covered with his chip leading stack.
, he bet 7,500 and called off his stack when Harcharan Dogra Dogra moved all-in over the top. 
was followed by the river of 
and although the flop came seven-high, an ace on the turn and river saw her exit. 
