Aaron Barone, Vivian Saliba Fly the Flag For the Team on Day 1b of the 888poker Live Barcelona Main Event
The team was out in full force on Day 1b of the 888poker Live Barcelona Main Event, but only two members managed to find a bag by the end of the night.
Aaron Barone doubled up with aces against Jordi Conejos’ ace-queen right before the last break of the day, then made a full house to bust Pol Vila as the new father ended the day with 349,500, good for fourth place on the leaderboard. “My first bag of the year. Write it’s more than Vivian Saliba,” Barone said at the conclusion of play.
Saliba was behind Barone on the leaderboard, but she was still among the top stacks among the 24 surviving players. Saliba was down to her last card near the end of the day in a classic preflop race against Vila’s queens, but she found an ace on the river to double up on her way to bagging 299,500.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Hoidahl | Norway | 451,000 | 90 |
| 2 | Tiago Luis | Portugal | 428,000 | 86 |
| 3 | Razvan Morar | Romania | 396,500 | 79 |
| 4 | Aaron Barone | United States | 349,500 | 70 |
| 5 | Iwan Molina | Spain | 337,500 | 68 |
| 6 | Vivian Saliba | Brazil | 299,500 | 60 |
| 7 | Pol Bellmunt | Spain | 276,500 | 55 |
| 8 | [Removed:516] | Belgium | 270,000 | 54 |
| 9 | Koen De Visscher | Belgium | 221,000 | 44 |
| 10 | Bogdan Pop | Ireland | 215,000 | 43 |
She and Barone are both looking up at chip leader Dan Hoidahl. Hoidahl began his ascent to the top when he hit quad deuces to score a knockout. He turned a set of tens to beat Alberto Gago’s rivered pair of kings for another knockout, then spiked a set of nines to bust Yakiv Syzghanov. “It’s your day,” tablemate Bogdan Pop told him as Hoidahl finished with a massive stack of 451,000.
Tiago Luis (428,000), 888poker Live Bucharest champion Razvan Morar (396,500), and Iwan Molina (337,500) round out the top five. Others to book their tickets for Day 2 included Pol Bellmunt (276,500), Koen De Visscher (221,000), who managed to avoid losing a massive cooler right at the end of the day this time, Pop (215,000), YouTuber Inaki Angulo (197,500), High Roller champion Sergi Escote (145,000), and 2017 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Marti Roca (145,000).
Players to bust over the course of the day included 888poker team members Nick Eastwood, Ricardo Mateus, Jack “Jaack Maate” Dean, and Ian Simpson, as well as Brazilian brothers Leo and Lua Jokura, 888poker Live Madrid runner-up Alvaro Murciano, David Hu, and Jack Hardcastle. They’ll have to try again on another flight if they want to take a shot at the title.
Day 1b attracted 102 entries to Casino Barcelona, bringing the total field up to 161 through the first two starting flights. A total of 34 players have already advanced to Day 2. Day 1c begins tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time and is expected to be the biggest flight. There is also a turbo Day 1d flight at 11 a.m. on May 17, while late registration remains open until the start of Day 2 at 5 p.m. that day so the field is likely to grow much larger before the prize pool is confirmed.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow for what promises to be a packed third starting day.