Day 1b is Done
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Once again, the Team PokerStars pros were out in swarms. Names you know like Alexander Kravchenko and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier joined some names you may not know. The new Team Portugal was well represented with Nuno Coelho, Luis Medina, and Henrique Pinho.
Also coming out to play today was Huck Seed, though he couldn't last through the first few levels. Sam Chartier was another one who exited early, and Sorel Mizzi also arrived and then departed a bit later in the day.
The start of play saw a stacked table right in the middle of the room. Team PokerStars Pros Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, and Vanessa Rousso were all together, along with perennial performer Julien Brecard. None of them would fare well today, all meeting their demise within six levels. Luca Pagano was moved to the former seat of Eastgate later on, and he managed to hold his ground and survive his opening day.
A few players did better than just survive, though. Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy just flew into town this morning from the U.S., and there was still sleep in his eyes for the first few hours of play. He woke up quickly though, and his trend moved consistently in the right direction throughout the evening. He finished up with a top-three stack of 122,400, but that's not quite good enough for the top spot. That honor appears to belong to Jeff Sarwer, the Canadian chess prodigy who has been running as hot as lava lately. Sarwer was the chip leader for the final day of the EPT Warsaw a few weeks back, riding his monster stack to a deep run at the final table. And he's back at it again here in Vilamoura, bagging up the most chips with 143,400.
The big board shows 104 players left in Day 1a, though that will likely drop a bit when the bags are counted. Regardless, those who did survive today will join the survivors from yesterday's Day 1a as a unified field for Day 2 on Tuesday. The action kicks off at high noon local time (WET).
Fresh Atlantic seafood is calling us, so that's all for tonight. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.