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Alvaro Murciano Gets a Shot at Redemption at the Final Table of the 888poker Live Barcelona Main Event
A year ago, Alvaro Murciano came agonizingly close to hoisting an 888poker Live Main Event trophy when he lost a tough heads-up match against Ian Simpson in Madrid. Now Murciano has a chance to do it all over again, and perhaps change the outcome this time.
Murciano will take the chip lead over the nine players who return tomorrow for the final table of the 888poker Live Barcelona €888 Main Event, bagging up 4,765,000 after a lengthy day that went past 3 a.m. at the Casino Barcelona. Murciano did most of his damage against former big stack Terry Jordon, doubling up off Jordon with a set against two pair. He then turned a straight and moved all in on the river as Jordon called for his last 320,000 with another beaten two pair.
Final Table chip counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alvaro Murciano | Spain | 4,765,000 | 79 |
| 2 | Jordi Conejos | Spain | 3,365,000 | 56 |
| 3 | Michael Falcon | Denmark | 2,555,000 | 43 |
| 4 | German Zafra | Spain | 1,975,000 | 33 |
| 5 | Jesus Ramos | Spain | 1,700,000 | 28 |
| 6 | Pol Silva | Spain | 1,130,000 | 19 |
| 7 | Florens Feenstra | Netherlands | 855,000 | 14 |
| 8 | Mateo Flament | Spain | 785,000 | 13 |
| 9 | Ryan Dansie | United Kingdom | 490,000 | 8 |
Jordi Conejos is Murciano’s closest challenger, ending Day 2 with 3,365,000. Conejos earned two late bustouts, first spiking a set of jacks to crack Audrius Budzinskis’ aces and then picking up two tens against Alexander zur Linden’s nines to bust Zur Linden in 13th.
Start-of-day chip leader Michael Falcon brought the night to a close when he turned a flush to bust Albert Grane in 10th place, bringing him up to 2,555,000 and in third place heading to the final table. The rest of the final table lineup includes German Zafra (1,975,000), 888poker streamer Jesus Ramos (1,700,000), and Pol Silva (1,130,000), while the short stacks are Florens Feenstra (855,000), Mateo Flament (785,000), and Ryan Dansie (490,000).
A total of 135 players began the day out of a field of 350 entries. Only the top 47 would make the money and secure a piece of the €263,424 prize pool, and Lucia Navarro, Ricardo Mateus, Day 1a chip leader Jenny Westerlund, and 888poker Live Glasgow champion Martin Lechner were among those to miss the money. Ramos burst the bubble when he won a race with ace-queen against Gleb Novick’s jacks.
Inaki Angulo (42nd), 888poker Live Madrid champion Gorka Akerreta (38th), and Jordon (33rd) were among the post-bubble bustouts. Simpson, meanwhile, doubled up with Broadway, then picked up kings a few hands later to jump up past 600,000 and spark hopes of another deep run. It was not to be, however, as Simpson lost a three-way all in when Martin Fernandez spiked an ace on the river to beat Simpson’s eights. Simpson was then racing again with ace-king against Zur Linden’s sixes, but he couldn’t connect with the board and fell in 28th place.
Final Table payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | €50,000 |
| 2 | €30,000 |
| 3 | €20,000 |
| 4 | €14,500 |
| 5 | €11,600 |
| 6 | €9,880 |
| 7 | €8,400 |
| 8 | €7,100 |
| 9 | €6,100 |
The remaining nine players will return tomorrow at 4 p.m. having already locked up €6,100 for making it this far. The champion will take home €50,000 and the 888poker Live championship trophy. The action picks up with 31 minutes remaining in Level 26 with blinds of 30,000/60,000 and a 60,000 big blind ante. Levels will be extended to 60 minutes at the final table.
A champion will be crowned tomorrow, and PokerNews will be following all the action and providing live updates throughout the final table.