€888 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2020 888poker LIVE Festival Madrid
€888 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2020 888poker LIVE Festival Madrid
Buy-in
€888
Prize Pool
€800,000
Entries
1,067
Level
39
Blinds
800,000 / 1,600,000
Ante
1,600,000
Entries
180
Players Left
93
Jose Carlos Garcia Tops Day 1a of Inaugural 888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
The first 888poker LIVE Main Event in Madrid has attracted a field of 180 entries for the first of four starting days and around 100 players bagged up their chips in the early morning hours at the stunning Casino Gran Via Madrid. While most of the participants hailed from Spanish-speaking countries, it was a player from Poland that topped the counts at the end of 11 levels of 50 minutes each.
Jose Carlos Garcia may indeed sound very Spanish but the former online and live poker prodigy is in fact from Poland. He had not been spotted on the live circuit for some time and just played his first four-figure buy-in in three years. Garcia still sits in 9th place on the all-time money list of Poland with more than $1.1 million and steam-rolled through the day to claim 505,200 to his name.
Others that came close to the bragging rights for Day 1a include his countryman Rafal Nikiel (330,100), Francois Robert (320,400), Marjan Mitrovski (305,900), and Yimin Yang (302,600). Mitrovski had to crack aces with kings in the second level to avoid a re-entry, then had the better and of a set-over-set battle with Marcin Jaworski to become the first player above half a million. After running extremely hot in the first half of the day but slipped towards the end, still bagging up an above-average stack.
The rise to the top of the leaderboard of Garcia kicked off in the fourth level when he four-bet ace-jack suited and flopped two pair, his opponent called down all the way to the river with ace-king and hit the rail. From there on, it was a grind and Garcia never left the top five stacks anymore.
But not just locals and online qualifiers battled back and forth at the tables, team 888poker was also well represented after bowing out before the money in the €2,200 High Roller. Among the ambassadors, Martin Jacobson made the most of it after his late entry and bagged up 194,000, narrowly ahead of Vivian Saliba (190,700), Chris Moorman (170,400), and Ana Marquez (167,800). Dominik Nitsche also joined the mix and missed out on a trademark stack for his sponsor by two chips as he advanced with 78,800.
Other notables that have already secured a bag for Day 2 include Fernando Pons (247,800), Ori Hasson (239,600), Francis Foord-Brown (228,000), Carl-Fredrik Tingvall (205,300), Jorge Ufano (121,300), and popular vlogger Brad Owen (28,000). All those that busted or are unhappy with their stack thus far can participate in as many of the three remaining starting days as the best stack will go forward to Day 2.
Familiar faces that are very likely expected back at the tables are Nikolay Ponomarev, Tom-Aksel Bedell, Andrey Demidov, Paul Lozano, and Antonio Smeraglia.
103 Entries in €2,200 High Roller, Nine Remain
Day 1b will kick off at 5 p.m. local time with the same structure as the first heat. One hour prior than that, the final table of the €2,200 High Roller recommences. Only nine players out of 103 entries remain and bagged up for the night once the final table was reached close to 4 a.m. local time, resulting in the need for an additional unscheduled third day of the event.
The current average with 18 minutes left in level 23 at blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a big blind ante is nearly 40 big blinds and 888poker ambassador Sofia Lovgren is among the finalists. Ignacio Molina, who headed into the second day as one of the big stacks, has retained his top spot and will be the man to beat. The current guaranteed payout is €5,700 and the winner will take home €52,000 for the efforts.
€2,200 High Roller Final Table Line-Up
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ignacio Molina | Spain | 1,895,000 | 63 |
| 2 | Dmytro Yevseienko | Ukraine | 1,450,000 | 48 |
| 3 | Leonardo Mancuso | Italy | 1,000,000 | 33 |
| 4 | Arie Zilberman | Israel | 695,000 | 23 |
| 5 | Sofia Lovgren | Sweden | 1,690,000 | 56 |
| 6 | Valeriano Toledano | Spain | 905,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Daniel Tafur | Spain | 1,470,000 | 49 |
| 8 | Jose Manuel Planells | Spain | 130,000 | 4 |
| 9 | Andrey Golubev | Kazakhstan | 1,025,000 | 34 |
Stay tuned for all the action here in Madrid as the PokerNews team will be there from start to finish in the days to come.
End-of-Day 1a Counts (full)
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
The full chip counts will be published when PokerNews receives them and a recap of today‘s action is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
505,200 | 115,200 |
|
330,100 | -4,900 |
|
320,400 | 145,400 |
|
307,000 | 307,000 |
|
305,900 | 305,900 |
|
305,900 | -14,100 |
|
302,600 | 32,600 |
|
|
300,000 | 300,000 |
|
290,000 | 40,000 |
|
|
278,800 | |
|
277,000 | |
|
|
275,300 | |
|
|
273,200 | -26,800 |
|
269,800 | 59,800 |
|
|
267,000 | -3,000 |
|
261,400 | 261,400 |
|
257,400 | 167,400 |
|
247,800 | 127,800 |
|
245,000 | |
|
239,600 | 162,600 |
|
|
235,900 | |
|
228,000 | -32,000 |
|
225,000 | |
|
|
222,100 | 32,100 |
|
|
220,000 | 115,000 |
Scanlon a Late Casualty
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
John Scanlon was eliminated just before the end. The tournament director of the Aspers Casino was stuck around 80,000 to 100,000 all day long and eventually got it in preflop with 
against the 
of Juan Ares.
The board came 
to send Scanlon from woes to woes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
270,000 | 270,000 |
|
Busted |
Final Four Hands
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Former big stacks Marjan Mitrovski and Ivaylo Panev took a major hit to their stacks and no longer compete for the overnight lead on Day 1a. Kfir Ivgi departed, as did Nikolay Ponomarev for a second time.
Another four hands will be played for today.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
335,000 | 335,000 |
|
|
320,000 | -230,000 |
|
|
110,000 | 78,000 |
|
|
90,000 | -120,000 |
|
40,000 | -305,000 |
|
40,000 | -55,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Monton Departs In Last Level
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Miguel Monton quickly left the tournament area as he ran out of chips.
Francois Robert doubled through him when a flush draw got there against top pair. Monton doubled once, then got the rest of it in with the 
and faced Robert with 
. A nine and an eight appeared on the flop, leaving the Spaniard drawing dead on the turn.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
175,000 | 175,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Late Casualties and Counts
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
240,000 | 160,000 |
|
|
210,000 | 60,000 |
|
200,000 | 40,000 |
|
160,000 | 72,000 |
|
|
120,000 | 55,000 |
|
|
80,000 | -2,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Game Over for Da Rocha
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Francis Foord-Brown has completed a magnificent comeback after he was down to 40,000 not that long ago. He doubled twice, the second time against Frederico Da Rocha, who was left with a chip and a chair to bust shortly after.
According to the Brit, he opened with 
and received two callers including Da Rocha on the button. On a flop of 
, Foord-Brown check-raised from 10,000 to 50,000 and called the shove of Da Rocha with his pair and huge draw. Da Rocha had the 
, the 
turn and 
river bricked off.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
260,000 | 135,000 |
|
|
Busted |
The High Roller Bubble Has Burst
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
There are 10 players remaining in the €2,000 High Roller as the bubble burst not long ago. Sonny Franco was then left with a chip and a chair after losing a flip with ace-queen versus jacks, a queen on the flop and river was not enough as his opponent flopped a set of jacks.
Franco jammed the button for the rest of it with 
and the very same player called in the big blind with 
. The 
board left the Frenchman second-best once more and he min-cashed for €4,500.
Even More Counts on Day 1a
Level 11
: 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Jose Luis Rodrigues Garrido has been eliminated and Chris Moorman has taken his place after entering late in the penultimate level of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
550,000 | 50,000 |
|
|
390,000 | 45,000 |
|
|
270,000 | 90,000 |
|
|
173,000 | |
|
170,000 | 5,000 |
|
150,000 | -190,000 |
|
|
150,000 | -10,000 |
|
125,000 | -5,000 |
|
90,000 | 15,000 |
|
88,000 | |
|
80,000 | 80,000 |
|
75,000 | -13,000 |
|
|
65,000 | -5,000 |
|
58,000 | 23,000 |
|
42,000 | -23,000 |
|
|
Busted |