2011 European Poker Tour Grand Final Madrid

Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2011 European Poker Tour Grand Final Madrid

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
109
Prize
€1,500,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€6,860,000
Entries
686
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000

Main Event

Day 1a Completed

End of Day Chip Counts (full)

Player Chips Progress
David Sonelin se
David Sonelin
275,900 169,900
Brian England us
Brian England
238,300
Ben Wilinofsky ca
Ben Wilinofsky
233,400 203,400
Alex Gomes
Alex Gomes
225,900 195,900
Lucien Cohen fr
Lucien Cohen
EPT 1X Winner
201,500 171,500
Garbar Geir Hauksson
Garbar Geir Hauksson
176,600
Allen Bari us
Allen Bari
172,900 142,900
Hugo Lemaire pr
Hugo Lemaire
172,300
161,000
Daniel Weinman
Daniel Weinman
159,000 27,000
Dean Lyall gb
Dean Lyall
153,300
Francois Billard
Francois Billard
147,200
140,000
Alvaro Velasco
Alvaro Velasco
135,400
Juan Maceiras es
Juan Maceiras
126,000 96,000
124,500
120,000
116,000
110,500
Denys Chufarin
Denys Chufarin
110,000
Leo Fernandez ar
Leo Fernandez
107,400 77,400
Faisal Alfasali
Faisal Alfasali
106,700
Georges Dib
Georges Dib
106,400
Grzegorz Cichocki
Grzegorz Cichocki
105,100
Aviv Meiri
Aviv Meiri
104,400

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David Sonelin Finishes the EPT Grand Final Day 1a at the Top

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
David Sonelin
David Sonelin

The first flight here in Madrid has taken wing, circled around the room as the field dropped from 302 to 132, and finally come to roost for a day until the survivors of Day 1b can be determined.

Leading the field is David Sonelin, who rose to chip dominance around Level 6, and stayed there until end of play was called. He has 275,900 chips - a formidable stack with which to return. Also well-off are Canadian EPT Berlin 2011 champion Ben Wilinofsky (233,400) and American Brian England (238,300). England steadily progressed through the day, while Wilinofsky's 100,000 suddenly became near double that when he eliminated Fabrice Soulier after many a battle with this particular tablemate. Joining Soulier on the rail include Barry Greenstein, Andre Coimbra, Jan Skampa and Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst and JP Kelly, just to mention a few.

In fact, the bustout list would itself make a tough tournament - the field here, as always, for this €10,000 buy-in Main Event is packed with pros from the live and online worlds and every table has an interesting story to tell from today's play.

The field is expected to be even larger for tomorrow's starting flight, which kicks off at midday local time. Join PokerNews for live coverage throughout the day, and throughout the tournament.

Tags: Ben WilinofskyBrian EnglandDavid Sonelin

As Long as it Matterns

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Arnaud Mattern, by now reduced to just 18,800, open-shoved from the cutoff. Michael Pesek in the big blind looked as though he was seriously considering a call, but in the end he folded instead.

Mattern is still hovering around the 20 BB mark - not his happy place.

Tags: Arnaud MatternMichael Pesek

Wilinofsky Wins Wilinofsky vs. Soulier Duel

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
Ben Wilinofsky, ending Day 1a on a high
Ben Wilinofsky, ending Day 1a on a high

Ben Wilinofsky, Berlin EPT winner, has won a huge pot mid level 9, busting long-term table antagonist Fabrice Soulier in the process. Soulier was the preflop raiser (to 2,400 from the cutoff), called by both blinds. On the {3-Spades}{10-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds} flop, Soulier bet 3,700 when it was checked to him, the small blind folded but Wilinofsky bumped it up to 8,200. Soulier called. The turn was the {J-Spades} and now Wilinofsky led 15,800 (checking out Soulier's 62,000 remaining stack after he made the call once again).

The river: {4-Spades} and a fatal card it proved for the French EPT regular. Wilinofsky, sunglasses off, simply set Soulier in - and he was called in a second. Wilinofsky showed {A-Spades}{8-Spades} for a perfectly rivered flush, and Soulier calmly took his leave, bumping Wilinofsky up to over 170,000.

Tags: Ben WilinofskyFabrice Soulier

Easy Double Up for Carson

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
Russell Carson
Russell Carson

Russell Carson was very short-stacked when we found him all in with {a-Clubs}{a-Hearts}; this is the only explanation we can think of for him being up against {8-Hearts}{9-Spades}.

Board: {a-Spades}{k-Clubs}{4-Clubs}{k-Spades}{3-Diamonds}

Carson doubled to 18,700. We're not actually terribly sure who was holding the {8-Hearts}{9-Spades} as all the chips were already in the middle when we got there, but by the look on his face and the mere 15,000 in his stack, we suspect it might have been Jude Ainsworth.

Tags: Russell CarsonJude Ainsworth

Rupert the Bare

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

San Remo champion Rupert Elder is out, according to his twitter he had {Q-}{J-} on a {J-}{4-} X {4-} board against {4-}{2-} and couldn't catch another Jack to survive on the river.

Tags: Rupert Elder

Gustav Ekerots Away

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
Fatima Moreira de Melo
Fatima Moreira de Melo

Gustav Ekerot was all in with {a-Spades}{6-Spades} when we got there, up against the {q-Diamonds}{q-Hearts} of Fatima Moreira de Melo. The board ran out {k-Clubs}{5-Diamonds}{3-Diamonds}{3-Hearts}{j-Clubs} which was no use to the Swede who shook his assassin's hand before heading out into the night.

De Melo is at around 85,000 now.

Tags: Gustav EkerotFatima Moreira de Melo

I Juan to Win

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
Juan Maceiras
Juan Maceiras

We arrived to find the flop reading {2-Hearts}{a-Hearts}{8-Diamonds} and Juan Maceiras all in to cover Luca Cainelli, most of whose chips were already in the middle - there was what looked like over 80,000 in the pot, and Cainelli had less than 25,000 remaining in front of him.

Cainelli tanked up long enough for the clock to be called, but within seconds of floorman Clement arriving for the countdown, Cainelli had folded. The Italian is now at less than half the average stack; the Spanish Team PokerStars Pro meanwhile is at roughly 125,000.

"Ace eight or a set?" asked Cainelli sadly. Maceiras' reply suggested that it could have been either of those things, or a flush draw.

Tags: Juan MaceirasLuca Cainelli