Cate Hall in Charge on Day 2 of 888Live Barcelona Main Event
After a gruelling 10 hour-long levels on Day 2, just 25 players remain in the inaugural 888Live Barcelona Main Event. The chip leader at the end of play was the American professional Cate Hall with 2,467,000, but she was followed closely by Marco Regonaschi in a sprint for the chip lead throughout the day and the Italian bagged up an impressive 2,130,000.
Day 2 got underway with those who would end in charge very active from the start. Regonaschi busted two players when he spiked a six on the river to eliminate Ange Besnainou who held the dominating hand of Ace-Nine against Ace-Six when the chips went in. There were other unlucky players who busted early, with late entry Ramon Miquel Munoz and Dominique Terzian both departing before the first level up. Kimmy Kurko, Simen Gulbrandsen and Gregory Torrents all followed those players out of the door, but others were more successful.
Kelly Kellner brought a particular brand of optimism and sparkle to the tournament and would finish in the money with ease after an odd misclick from Lucia Martinez led to him getting all of his chips into the middle with pocket aces against her pocket fives and surviving. He was one of the first to crack a quarter-million, but would end the day with the roundest number of all.
Two players who had a whole lot of history in the WSOP Main Event of 2016 avoided each other but could not steer clear of drama. Stacy Matuson once again rode a rollercoaster of premium hands, all-in confrontations and suck-outs as she rocketed her into the money but would be denied a final day spot when she flopped top two-pair against a low set that held when the chips were committed.
William Kassouf, Matuson’s conqueror in Nevada, entered play with enough chips to battle and that he did, as a series of confrontations saw him reach for the chip lead before dropping dramatically before the bubble. Kassouf would ride out that particular period of Day 2, after bouncing back from each successive setback with a lower pair by holding the bigger pair in his next all-in, holding each time. A play with pocket threes on the river of a board containing the rest of a wheel straight gave Kassouf a massive hand and control over his fellow feature table players just when he needed it most. Kassouf bagged up 902,000, well clear of the 730,800 average at close of play.
The bubble boy took just one hand to arrive, when David Murillo Parda, who hadn’t played a hand in an hour went all-in with King-Queen and was called by Jose Manuel Planells Castillo’s pocket sevens. Those held to send Parda to the rail, and he was followed by a flurry of players while a handful profited.
With just a few levels to go, it the American Cate Hall who went into overdrive, and perhaps taking advantage of the post-bubble euphoria put players to the test time and time again. Hall got several key calls correct to give her the kind of stack she could attack with and there was no holding her back. In three hands, she took apart Jaime Puig’s tournament hopes, before moving into a lead she would not relinquish.
The last levels saw Cate Hall maintain her lead even when Marco Recognaschi moved to her table, and it is Hall who will be the player to beat on the final day. Should she win, then Hall's live tournament results would go over the million-dollar mark...but only a win will do for that inevitable landmark to be reached tomorrow evening.
We’ll be back in action from 2.00pm tomorrow as we play down to a winner at Casino Barcelona and find out who will win €110,000 and the title of 888Live Main Event champion!
888Live Barcelona €1,100 Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Luigi Shehadeh | Italy | 964,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Marco Regonaschi | Italy | 2,150,000 |
| 1 | 3 | William Kassouf | UK | 902,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Carlos Garcia Rodriguez | Spain | 810,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Hamza Miri | Germany | 392,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Chuc Khuu | UK | 320,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Alessio Sardone | Italy | 975,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Besmir Hodaj | Italy | 690,000 |
| 1 | 9 | Stefan Eriksson | Sweden | 958,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Jaime Rueda Sampedro | Spain | 611,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Jaakko Wilska | Finland | 1,069,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Jose Alberto Lopez Gonzalez | Spain | 254,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Fernando Campomar Concha | Spain | 600,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Jose Manuel Cesepimps | Spain | 359,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Do Chung Tran | Germany | 1,237,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Giovanni di Ceglie | Croatia | 138,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Francesc Mateu Munoz Bieto | Spain | 258,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Filippo Lazzaretto | Italy | 465,000 |
| 3 | 2 | Jonas Kannosto | Finland | 925,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Cate Hall | USA | 2,467,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Francisco Jose Garcia Martin | Spain | 677,000 |
| 3 | 5 | Javier de Vicente Miquel | Spain | 515,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Marco Hakli | Spain | 267,000 |
| 3 | 7 | David Xarau Navarro | Spain | 200,000 |
| 3 | 8 | Marwan Salamoun | USA | 116,000 |
on a flop of 
and Besmir Hodaj looked him up with the 
. The 
turn instantly left Vazquez Gomez drawing dead, and that rendered the 
river to a minor formality.
. The flop came 
and we both checked. On the turn, which was an off-suit four, I made it 28,000 and the big blind called. On the river, I bet 156,000 and he called, he only showed a four, but I took it down." 
. Regonaschi continued for 67,000 and Ciuperca called before the remaining chips of the Romanian went in after the 
river was a blank and Ciuperca headed to the rail.
ket Dogra Dogra ahead, even making him a set. The 
river gave Castillo an unlikely straight and sent Dogra Dogra out of the 888Live Barcelona Main Event, a bee-line made for the cash desk before Castillo could even begin stacking up his chip leading pile. 
river saw an overbet worth 140,000 by Martinez for the remainder of her stack.
, Martinez only had 
for the inferior straight.
and that was it for Escote.
river bricked and Regonaschi stood up to tell the good news in Italian to some friends on another table. With that, Regonaschi jumped into the lead.
