Photos of Some of Today's Players
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2011 European Poker Tour Grand Final Madrid
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011 European Poker Tour Grand Final Madrid
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€6,860,000
Entries
686
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000
Levi-tation
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Nicolas Levi is out of his seat, out the door and out of the EPT Grand Final. As the blinds went up, a preflop monster pot was created by what looked like four big hands. There was an early-position 1,500 lying across the line, and a mid-position raise to 5,100. The cutoff (an as yet unidentified Spanish player, chewing what looked like one of those plastic coffee stirrers) then moved all-in, for just under the 30,000 starting stack.
Then Nicolas Levi called all in (25,000).
Then the 1,500 bettor started to work through his timebank! This hand had exploded out of the starting gates and had created the biggest pot so far today, and it was with a headshake that this gent finally released his hand. The re-popper folded much faster, and the two all-in players flipped their hands up:
Levi: 
Coffee-Stirrer Gentleman: 
The board brought the outdraw: 
and when the queen came on the flop it also brought a noise like, "Oh-ah-eee!" from the outdrawer. Levi just stood up and said, "That's that," walking calmly off.
Still They Come
Erik Cajelais has now sat down at a table with Toby Lewis and Ted Forrest; EPT Prague winner Jan Skampa is spending the day with Chris Moneymaker and Michael Tureniec.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Early Excitement
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Until the arrival of player lists (registration is still open if you're in the neigbourhood with a spare €10,000) we don't quite recognise the full field, but this hand courtesy of Dutch PokerNews' eagle-eyed reporters deserves a mention... Player A and Player B see a flop of 
. The betting reaches the five-bet all in stack at risk stage (full stacks for both A and B) and while Player A, the eventual caller of the shove, shows for the flopped boat, player B, described only as 'young, of indeterminate country' shows an offsuit 
. He exits after the fives make quads on the turn.
Arnaud Warm-up
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern is already in the thick of Level One, a few thousand ahead after half an hour's play. We spotted him raising under the gun to 250 just now, finding a raise to 750 and a call behind him. The blinds passed and Mattern thought for a while, quiet behind his aviators, before popping in a four-bet - 3,225 total. His initial re-raiser folded but the caller was not to be budged.
The flop came 
and Mattern quickly bet out 1,650. After some consideration, the in-position caller laid his hand down and the aggressive EPT title-holder took another one.
Early Tables of Doom
We're nowhere near full yet, and already some extremely interesting tables are emerging. Check these out:
- Maria Maceiras is sharing a table with EPT Dortmund winner Mike "Timex" McDonald, Russian Poker Series Grand Final finalist Sergey Altbregin and EPT Deauville champion Lucien Cohen.
- Vitaly Lunkin has found himself at a table that also features Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo and EPT Prague finalist [Removed:197].
- Liv Boeree is today neighbours with fellow Team PokerStars Pro Dag Palovic, EPT Snowfest runner up Kevin Vandersmissen, French poker legend Michel Abecassis and recent EPT San Remo 20th place finisher Fabrizio Cataldi.
- World Champion Jonathan Duhamel has just now sat down at a table that also features EPT Berlin 16th place finisher Jeffrey Hakim, Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth, WSOP bracelet winner Konstantin Puchkov and EPT Snowfest runner up Russell Carson.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
More Patches than a Professor's Jacket
The tables continue to fill, the space easily accommodating the large numbers expected today and tomorrow. There are so many patched and capped and logo-ed players around it's hard to know which table to watch. There have already been two cries of, "Seat open!" and we expect this tournament in particular to be action-packed right from the start.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
The Hordes of the Punctual
Players are still pouring into the cavernous tournament room, but we've already got a field to make your average poker fan's mouth water.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Room Fills as if with Treacle
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
I.e. slowly... There are several tables playing rather short handed in this first level. Stacks of 30,000 lie quietly waiting for the bus-loads of players to drift into the spacious Casino Gran Madrid and put them to work. With a ride of up to 40 minutes starting everyone's tournament day, it's hardly surprising that the late risers haven't quite made it for the start of play. They have plenty of time, though, the hour-long levels and deep stacks making this tournament one of the best on the continent. Nine levels are planned for today.
Among the early birds are Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo, Manuel Bevand, Daniel Negreanu, Joao Barbosa, Jani Sointula, Leo Margets and Dermot Blain.