Max Silver had the cut of a tired man before play began. He was supposed to fly in yesterday but was deep in a tournament in Dublin so put his flight back to 6am this morning. He went onto soft bubble that tournament (annoying) before getting up for his red-eye flight (still annoying)
His stack has dropped to 10,350 already after he had to fold to a Eros Nastasi river raise after he flopped the nuts (really annoying). While we were there Nastasi said he had the nuts by the river and that made Silver feel better (not so annoying).
We just caught the tail end of the preflop action, walking up as Fatima Moreira de Melo was making a four-bet from the hijack seat, and Kambiz Kashi was making the call next door in the cutoff. We were too late to see the exact amounts, but it looked like ~3,100 chips apiece went into the middle as the two battled toward the flop.
The dealer spread out , and de Melo continued out with a bet of 3,500. Kashi flatted, and they'd both check through the turn. On the river, the drew another check from the lady, and Kashi took his cue to make a 6,500-chip bet of his own. De Melo spent a couple minutes making sure, then slid in the call for nearly half her remaining stack.
Kashi showed up for top pair, but de Melo could beat it. Her was the best, and that pot moves her up over starting stack to about 36,000 now.
We've unofficially crossed the 800-player mark here at EPT Barcelona as the board tells us 455 players have registered for this Day 1b. This is indeed the largest-ever EPT Barcelona, and it has the added distinction of being the largest poker tournament Spain has ever hosted.
Registration is closing in just about 20 minutes, so we'll have some final numbers for you shortly thereafter.
Kevin MacPhee raised to 350 from middle position and the cutoff seat called. Leandro Csome also called from the button and the three players took the flop. MacPhee continued his aggression with a bet of 725. The cutoff seat folded and Csome raised to 1,625. MacPhee called.
The turn was the and both players checked to see the fall on the river. Both players checked again.
Csome turned over the for a flopped combo draw, but lost to MacPhee's .
In this battle of Team PokerStars Pros, Jason Mercier from the USA was pitted against Juan Manuel Pastor from Spain.
With the board reading , Mercier fired 2,325 and Pastor made the call to see the land on the river. Mercier fired again and wagered 4,400 with 16,875 behind. Pastor raised to 20,125 and Mercier went into the tank. Eventually, he folded and didn't look too thrilled about it.