€8,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event Day 1a | 2009 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona

€8,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event

Day 1a Completed

09-05-2009 00:56 UTC+3

Day 1a in the Books

donpeters

Carlos Lopez had a great day on the felt

That's a wrap folks! The first flight of competitors from the EPT Barcelona have finished up their day with 117 players remaining. The day began with 207 entrants and saw the likes of Jason Mercier, Jesper Hougaard, Atanas Gueorguiev and Luca Pagano sent to the rail. Even last year's champion, Sebastian Ruthenberg, became a victim towards the end of Day 1a.

With slightly over half the field bagging up chips, there's still plenty of big names left. Some of those names include Freddy Deeb, Claudio RInaldi, Alessio Isaia and Leo Margets. Jonathan "FatalError" Aguiar had a roller coaster of a day, but managed to get his stack back up towards the top of the leaderboard by day's end. Carlos Lopez, David Robinson, Jorn Walthaus and Malte Strothmann are also making bids for the overnight chip leader, but it looks to be Spanish player Diego Arias holding the lead with around 190,000 chips.

With this being only the beginning of the action, we're in for a great ride here in Barcelona. Tomorrow's field should be larger and contain a hefty amount of professionals and notable players that held off to play Day 1b. The event was planned to be capped at 700 players, so there's still plenty of room left to fill up the tournament area.

As always, same poker time, same poker channel. We'll see you tomorrow at 12:30 PM local time for the action.

09-05-2009 00:37 UTC+3

Winding Down

[user76023]

Players are just finishing up now on the last level of today.

09-05-2009 00:37 UTC+3

Some New Fame for Leo Margets

donpeters

Leo Margets accomplished the feat of being the last woman standing in this year's WSOP Main Event that took place over the summer. Margets earned a very nice payday of over $350,000 for placing 27th in the Main Event, after having not cashed in a WSOP event prior to that. Margets is now enjoying playing her first EPT event here in her native Barcelona while trying to juggle the responsibilities that come from her new found fame in poker. Here's Melissa getting the rundown from Leo herself.

Tags: Leo Margets

09-05-2009 00:35 UTC+3

Goodwin Helped By The Turn

[user76023]

Marc Goodwin raises to 2,500 and Julien Nuijten made it 7,500 behind him. Goodwin called and they saw a {K-Spades}

flop, Goodwin check-called a 10,000 flop bet before check-calling all-in for his remaining 28,000 on the {5-Diamonds}

turn.

Nuijten fliped {A-Hearts}

but Goodwin turned over {5-Hearts}

for the turned boat which held on the {4-Diamonds}

river.

The Brit is up to about 92,000.

09-05-2009 00:32 UTC+3

The Champ Falls

donpeters

Last year's champion, Sebastian Ruthenberg, wasn't able to get much going all day long. Tournament poker can do that to you and Ruthenberg elected to take his last stand with {A-?}

. An opponent had him on the ropes with a slight lead in the hand holding pocket sixes. All of the money went in preflop.

Ruthenberg's overcards failed to connect with the board in any sort of fashion to keep him alive and he was eliminated from the event. Ruthenberg didn't seem too upset and understood that sometimes it's just not in the cards. Overall though, he was happy with his play.

Unfortunately for Sebastian, the EPT Barcelona's title will be captured by a new face this year.

Tags: Sebastian Ruthenberg

09-05-2009 00:28 UTC+3

Freddy Loses Some Chips

donpeters

The player under the gun raised to 3,000 and Freddy Deeb made the call from the cutoff seat. The flop came down {A-Hearts}

and the original preflop raiser made a bet of 5,000. Deeb called with position.

The turn brought the {K-Hearts}

and Deeb's opponent slowed down with a check. Deeb also checked.

The river completed the board with the {7-Spades}

. A bet of 6,000 was laid out in front of Deeb. Freddy wasted only a moment before tossing in the chips to make the call. The under-the-gun player tabled {A-Clubs}

and Deeb mucked his hand.

With only a few hands to go in the day, Deeb dropped to 49,300 chips.

Tags: Freddy Deeb

09-05-2009 00:22 UTC+3

Langman Doubles

[user76023]

Florian Langmann raised to 2,500 but found the big blind reraising to 7,175. Langmann called and they saw a {K-Clubs}

flop.

The big blind lead out for 8,575 and Langmann reraised all in for around 35,000. The big blind called showing {Q-Spades}

but was way behind the German's {K-Diamonds}

which avoid the two remaining queens in the deck on the {5-Diamonds}

turn and

river.

Langmann now has about 85,000.

Tags: Florian Langmann

09-05-2009 00:02 UTC+3

Nuijten Bests Margets

donpeters

On a board of {Q-Clubs}

, Julien Nuijten bet 3,000. Leo Margets raised to 7,000 and put some pressure back on Nuijten. He made the call.

The turn brought the {10-Diamonds}

and both players checked. The river was the {8-Hearts}

and Nuijten led for a smallish bet of 2,000. Margets called.

Margets held pocket sevens with the {7-Hearts}

, but lost to Nuijten's pocket nines -- {9-Clubs}

.

Nuijten won the LAPT Rio event back in May of 2008 to the tune of nearly $223,000. He currently sits with 100,000 chips. Margets slid to around 27,000.

Tags: Julien Nuijten Leo Margets

09-04-2009 23:55 UTC+3

De Wolfe Continues To Climb

[user76023]

De Wolfe pointing his fickle finger of fate.

After becoming only the second person to complete the so-called live "Triple Crown" at the WSOP earlier this year. Roland de Wolfe expressed his hope of becoming the first player to win 2 EPT's.

A slow start today has gradually seen the Englishman jump up towards the upper echleons of the leaderboard.

De Wolfe recently 3-bet preflop against an Italian opponent, following with a continuation bet of 8,500 on a {Q-Spades}

to win another pot.

De Wolfe is on 98,000.