In half an hour from now at 1 p.m. local time, the second of four starting days of the 2019 888poker LIVE Bucharest €888 Main Event kicks off at the five-star Intercontinental Bucharest hotel and a bumper field is expected. Yesterday's first flight attracted a field of 67 entries, of which 17 bagged up and advanced to Day already.
At the same time, the €230 Opening Event played down to a champion and many of those that cashed are expected to now focus their attention on the flagship event of the festival, that is hosted in cooperation with PokerFest Romania.
The €888 Main Event comes with a guaranteed prize pool of €300,000 and each Day 1 will feature 12 levels. Day 1a to 1c provide levels of 40 minutes each, while the turbo heat 1c on Friday has a level duration of 20 minutes.
All participants receive 30,000 in chips and the late registration and unlimited re-entry is available for the first eight levels. Furthermore, the tournament also features the popular big blind ante and a 30-second shot clock throughout the entire event.
Day 1 Level Structure
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Big Blind Ante
1
100
100
0
2
100
200
0
3
100
200
200
4
100
300
300
5
200
400
400
6
200
500
500
7
300
600
600
8
400
800
800
9
500
1,000
1,000
10
600
1,200
1,200
11
800
1,600
1,600
12
1,000
2,000
2,000
On top of the bragging rights and juicy payday, the winner can look forward to another special prize, as WSOP sponsor 888poker will award a package for the 2019 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas worth $12,600 to the eventual champion.
The chip leader thus far is Marian Virlanuta with 284,500. Will anyone be able to overtake the Romanian today? Make sure to tune back in, as the PokerNews team will provide all the action from the floor.
The €230 Opening Event champion Sorin Radulescu has taken an early hit to his stack after a failed bluff attempt was snap-called by Michalis Konstantinou. On the turn, Konstantinou checked and called a bet of 4,000 by Radulescu before doing so again for 8,300 on the river.
Radulescu tabled and Konstantinou had the for the rivered nut flush.
The tournament takes place in Bucharest, however, three Spanish players ended up on the same table. It was Ana Marquez that raised to 900 and fellow countrymen Ramon Roig Mateu and Pedro Gabriel Andrada Martin came along to the flop. Even the dealer announced all the action and bet sizes in Spanish and one check was followed by a continuation bet of 2,800 by Marquez. Roig Mateu raised to 6,000 and Andrada Martin check-shoved for more than 28,000.
Marquez folded and Roig Mateu used one time bank chip and plenty of table talk before calling it off for his last 18,400.
Ramon Roig Mateu:
Pedro Gabriel Andrada Martin:
The turn and river were blanks and Roig Mateu doubled.
"I had a straight and flush draw," Marquez admitted in English in table chat after.
Ana Marquez was eliminated early on Day 1a after running with ace-queen into pocket queens and the Day 1b can be summed up with two words: Copy paste.
After a limp under the gun and a call in middle position by Pedro Gabriel Andrada Martin. Cornel Stan raised on the button and Marquez jammed the small blind, which only Stan called with a slightly superior stack.
Ana Marquez:
Cornel Stan:
The board came and Marquez missed out on the overcard and gutshot to bow out. She will likely enter for her third bullet in the event on day 1c.
With more than 50,000 already in the middle and the completed board showing , Gennaro Proscia bet 26,000 and Sorin Radulescu used one time bank before making the call.
Somehow it was Radulescu that showed first, revealing , and Proscia had that beat with to further add to his massive stack.
The cards of Chris Moorman, which happened to be , were all but rushed away while Sorin Radulescu dragged in the pot. Radulescu had held and won the flip on a board of .
Marian Strachinescu opened and received two callers to the flop, on which Michal Lubas in the big blind checked. Strachinescu continued for 4,200 and Pedro Gabriel Andrada Martin called on the button. Lubas then check-raised all in for 22,600 and Strachinescu folded, Andrada Martin quickly called.
Michal Lubas:
Pedro Gabriel Andrada Martin:
The turn gave Lubas some more outs, and he indeed got there with the river to double in spectacular fashion.
Liviu Catalin Toderita glanced at his first card and moved all in from early position and Ramon Roig Mateu went over the top in late position to isolate successfully.
Liviu Catalin Toderita:
Ramon Roig Mateu:
The board came and that was it for Toderita.
Shortly after, Johan Guilbert got his last 12,700 in and again the Spaniards reshoved to get heads-up into showdown.
Johan Guilbert:
Ramon Roig Mateu:
"That's how I busted on my first bullet, but I had the jacks," Guilbert said while filming the hand with his smartphone. He found no help on the board and bowed out, too.
On the three-way flop of , Angelos Valilis check-shoved into a bet of 20,000 by Pedro Gabriel Andrada Martin on the button and the Spaniard called it off with another 36,000 behind.
Pedro Gabriel Andrada Martin:
Angelos Valilis:
The turn was a blank, but Valilis went ballistic when the river saved his opponent and the most common Greek swear word followed more than once: Malaka. A potential chip leader pot slipped away from Valilis, while Andrada Martin recovered from a previous bad beat story.
The second of four starting days of the 2019 888poker LIVE Bucharest Festival €888 Main Event promised a bumper field and had already eclipsed the Day 1a field in the second level of the day. Once the registration closed at the end of level eight, a field of 133 entries had emerged in the ballroom of the Intercontinental Bucharest Hotel and that field was cut by more than half at the end of 12 levels of play.
With 200 entries in total after two flights, the flagship event of the festival, in cooperation with PokerFest Romania, is on track to surpass the guaranteed prize pool of €300,000 and the eventual champion can look forward to the coveted 888poker LIVE trophy, a hefty payout and a 2019 WSOP Main Event package worth $12,600, provided by WSOP sponsor and host 888poker.
In a tight race for the Day 1b lead among the 47 players that bagged up, it was Aldo Monteleone who claimed the top spot with 206,000 in chips. He is followed by Gennaro Proscia (196,000) and Radu Lungu (185,800). Proscia skyrocketed into a massive stack early on and dominated before and after the dinner break, but had to settle for the second-biggest stack eventually.
Other notables that bagged up on Day 1b were Zhiping Zeng (166,900), Sergiu Cornea (162,400), Marius-Alexandru Gicovanu (105,300), Danut Chisu (89,500), €230 Opening Event champion Sorin Radulescu (86,800), Jason Gray (84,700), Narcis Gabriel Nedelcu (82,900), Ozgur Arda (71,800) and Ramlal Basdeo (57,800).
Defending champion Andrei Racolta, who had been eliminated on Day 1a, gave it another shot and advanced with a stack of 50,600 to keep his title defense alive.
For the 888poker team, it was a rough day at the tables, however, as Ana Marquez, Chris Moorman and Sofia Lovgren all ran out of chips. Marquez had a nearly identical bustout hand as the previous day when her ace-queen came up short against pocket queens. All three are expected to join again for Day 1c, along with fellow 888poker ambassador Martin Jacobson.
All of the busted still have another two shots at making Day 2 with Day 1c kicking off at 1 p.m. local time and the turbo heat, 1d, scheduled for 9 p.m. local time.
Estonian Victory in Ladies Event
Siiri Saar has a few cashes on home soil and other destinations to her name already and is part of the Estonian live stream crew. She was sweated by her colleagues on the way to claiming the title in the €60 Ladies Event, taking home €403 in a field of 19 entries. Saar entered heads-up against Mirela Marin with a massive lead, but was at risk once before a crucial double sealed the win.
On top of the money and bragging rights, she also received a package for the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event at the end of May 2019 and may need to look for a replacement for the livestream duties. Carmen Zainescu and Aleeyah Jadavji round up the money spots, earning themselves Romanian flags on their Hendon Mob profile.