The field size has grown to 172 entries and there are 125 players remaining at the end of level eight. Another three levels of 50 minutes each are scheduled for tonight and no further break will take place.
Level: 9
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 1,200
888poker LIVE London finalist Nikolay Ponomarev sent Iaron Lightbourne to the rail with ace-king, had essentially doubled his stack only to then bust against ace-king. Other recent casualties are Carmen Zainescu, Kfir Ivgi and teresa Gutierrez Ramos.
Lightbourne has already re-entered and currently enjoys a red wine, Ponomarev has not opted to buy back in yet.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
490,000
125,000
|
125,000 |
|
150,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
130,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
130,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
120,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
80,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
77,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
|
||
|
65,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
||
|
62,000
17,000
|
17,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
||
|
|
Busted | |
Courtesy of 88poker / Gema Cristobal.
Tom-Aksel Bedell had been forced into a fold by chip leader Marjan Mitrovski in the late stages of the previous level and he was down to just 40,000. However, the Norwegian and Spain resident moved back above the starting stack right before heading into the previous break.
On a multi-way flop of 
, Alberto Blanco bet 10,000 and Bedell jammed for around 85,000 to win the pot uncontested.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
500,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
105,000
28,000
|
28,000 |
|
77,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
With 42,000 in the middle and the turn showing 
, Ion Tabacaru made it 18,000 to go and he quickly called the shove of his table neighbor in the one seat.
Tabacaru was ahead with 
for trips, as the player at risk only held 
for aces and fives. Nothing changed on the 
river and the pot was shipped to Tabacaru.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
160,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
Alessandro Borsa has been steadily building an above-average stack and just pulled in another pot to further climb on the leaderboard. On a completed board of 
, Borsa made it 8,000 to go and was called by his sole remaining opponent to reveal 
for top pair.
That was enough to win the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
260,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
Dominik Nitsche has eventually late-registered and took a seat on the table of his better half Morgane Portier.
In the meanwhile, Elena Litvinyuk has disappeared from the secondary tournament area. According to Ana Marquez, Litvinyuk's aces were cracked by trips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
345,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
||
|
|
260,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
190,000
31,000
|
31,000 |
|
|
180,000
115,000
|
115,000 |
|
|
165,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
160,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
160,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
130,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
|
130,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
|
120,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
|
110,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
106,000 | |
|
||
|
95,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
80,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
75,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
70,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
65,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
|
||
|
50,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
35,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
Iaron Lightbourne in the small blind called an open-raise and big stack Rodrigo Corzo came along out of the big blind to see the 
flop that was checked through. After the 
turn, Lightbourne bet 2,800 and was called, the preflop raiser upped it to 10,000 and was called both ways.
The 
then fell on the river and that slowed things down, not a single further chip went into the middle. Lightbourne was first to show and flashed the 
for a pair of fours, which Corzo had beat holding 
. That won the pot and Lightbourne nodded "why you are so good."
During the hand, Lightbourne had jokingly said he will be playing tomorrow, taking advantage of the re-entry and multi flight entry chance, and even hoped that Corzo would win the pot. At least one of the two things happened, and Corzo joined the bigger stacks towards the end of Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
300,000
300,000
|
300,000 |
|
|
47,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
|
||
Jose Luis Rodrigues Garrido had two players at risk as Alberto Blanco and David Chaparro Pena had gotten their stacks in.
David Chaparro Pena: 
Alberto Blanco: 
Jose Luis Rodrigues Garrido: 
Chaparro Pena came up blank on a 
board while Blanco nearly tripled up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
120,000
43,000
|
43,000 |
|
|
55,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
|
Busted |
