Chang Tan Grabs Chip Lead on Last Hand of Day 1a of the 888poker Live Barcelona Main Event
The title of chip leader on Day 1a of the 888poker Live Barcelona Main Event waited until the last hand of the night to be awarded before Chang Tan snatched it in dramatic fashion.
Tan spiked a one-outer to make a full house and stun Koen De Visscher, who was left holding a smaller full house in a pot worth more than 500,000. Tan ended up with 574,000 and a commanding chip lead over the surviving 10 players.
Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chang Tan | Hong Kong | 574,000 | 115 |
| 2 | Eric Sucias | Spain | 378,000 | 76 |
| 3 | Ariel Faskowicz | Israel | 367,000 | 73 |
| 4 | Antonio Lopez | Spain | 341,000 | 68 |
| 5 | Alin Grasu | Romania | 315,500 | 63 |
| 6 | Joan Morgo | Spain | 282,000 | 56 |
| 7 | Aliaksandr Posled | Belarus | 277,000 | 55 |
| 8 | Guillem Nuez | Spain | 190,000 | 38 |
| 9 | Jesu Rozat | Spain | 156,500 | 31 |
| 10 | Jonathan Levy | Australia | 71,000 | 14 |
Eric Sucias busted three players on the last level to bag up 378,000, good for second place behind Tan. The 21-year-old personal trainer first filled up with pocket sixes to take out Adrian Ibanescu, then came from behind with ace-queen against ace-king to bust another player. He finally silenced the gregarious Norwegian Aleksander Falch with ace-high.
Local favorite Ariel “Galactico” Faskowicz (367,000), Antonio Lopez (341,000), and Alin Grasu (315,000) round out the top five. Other players to advance include Joan Morgo (282,000), Guillem Nuez (190,000), and Jonathan Levy (71,000).
A total of 59 players came to Casino Barcelona for the first starting flight today. Among those to hit the rail were Gabi Livshitz, Darya Hulyk, Harcharan Dogra, former chip leader Nil Esteve, and Alexander Sokolovsky. They still have three more starting flights to go if they want to take another shot at the title.
Day 1b begins tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time, followed by Day 1c on May 16. There is also a turbo Day 1d flight at 11 a.m. on May 17, with all surviving players combining for Day 2 at 5 p.m. later that day. Late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, with unlimited reentries allowed. None of the 888poker ambassadors joined the field today, Ian Simpson, Vivian Saliba, and Lucia Navarro all making the final table of the High Roller which was taking place at the same time in another part of the casino. They’re expected to hop in over the coming days.
PokerNews will be back providing live updates from Day 1b tomorrow.