Gray Bags Big in Day 1a of EAPT Madrid Main Event
After nearly 15 30-minute levels of play the action has come to a close for Day 1a of the EAPT Main Event at the Casino Gran Via here in Madrid. The inaugural starting flight attracted 36 entrants, of which only five players managed to find a bag at the end of the night, advance to Day 2 and make the money.
Anonymous player Luigi bagged the chip lead, finishing the night with 413,000 chips after scoring the final knockout of the night. Luigi is most closely followed by the United Kingdom's Matthew Gray, who held the chip lead for nearly the entirety of the last two levels and finished the night with 394,000. Gray enjoyed a stellar poker year in 2023 after taking down the WSOPC UK Main Event in March for £100,000 and his first circuit ring. Spain's Francisco Fernandez rounds out the top three with 253,000.
EAPT Madrid Main Event Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luigi | Spain | 413,000 |
| 2 | Matthew Gray | United Kingdom | 394,000 |
| 3 | Francisco Fernandez | Spain | 253,000 |
| 4 | Alexey Neofitov | Russian Federation | 221,000 |
| 5 | Angel Potrero | Spain | 109,000 |
Alexey Neofitov got off to a good start today after taking down a four-bet pot in the second level of the day. Neofitov would ride that momentum all the way to the end of the night, eliminating several players along the way including Jimmy Zahn, who fell two spots shy of making the money after Neofitov held with pocket-jacks in a massive three-way all in.
Francisco Fernandez emerged as one of the bigger stacks midway through the day and was active from that point on, employing an aggressive style of play that consistently put his opponent's to the test. Despite the common saying that a deuce on the river never helped anybody, Fernandez proved to be the exception to that rule when a two on the river gave him aces up to score the biggest pot of the tournament at that point.
Gray flew under the radar with an average stack for most of the day but by the time the field had been whittled down to nine players he found himself with one of the biggest stacks in the room. He took a dominant chip lead after being on the right side of a flush over flush cooler against Fernandez and held onto that chip lead until the final hand of the night.
Romania's Madalin Ciulpan would become the unfortunate soul to burst the money bubble. Ciulpan got his last chips in good with ace-queen only for Luigi to spike a three-outer to take the final pot of the night.
Two more starting flights are set to take place tomorrow, February 16. Day 1b begins at 1:00 p.m. local time and features 40-minute levels while there is also a turbo Day 1c flight beginning at 8:00 p.m. featuring 20-minute levels. The final two starting flights will take place on February 17 and the field will combine for Day 2 on February 18, at which point all players will be in the money.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action throughout this tournament until a winner is crowned on February 19.