Joentausta Leads the Pack After EPT Barcelona Day 1a
It’s hard to believe the beginning of another PokerStars.com European Poker Tour is upon us. The reduced season schedule, the pairing with sub tours, and the increased number of events has meant that every EPT cannot be missed by any of the top players from around the globe. The Estrellas Poker Tour Grand Final obliterated expectations and records by attracting more than a thousand players.
The EPT main event Day 1a kicked off today and a total of 403 players entered, and with around 600 more expected tomorrow; meaning this event could well pass the magic four-figure mark as well. Top of the pile at the end of the day with around 226 players remaining was Aku Joentausta. The Finn quietly amassed an impressive 236,200 chips. He’s followed by Guy Thomas (211,100) and Emanoil Savin (190,600).
Team PokerStars Pro had a ten-pronged attack coming in to today and three of them fell by the wayside. Liv Boeree and Martin Hruby both slipped up with big-slick, with the former running into aces and the latter failing to hit against pocket queens. Arnaud Mattern busted way back in level one when his triple barrel bluff failed to dislodge an opponent with an over-pair.
Lex Velduis (148,800) was the first player that we saw break the 100k-mark and although he slipped back somewhat he steadied the ship and sailed through to day 2. Marcin Horecki’s (14,200) stack was yo-yoing all day and he’ll be happy just to survive the draining battle he faced. Juan Manuel Pastor (72,400) was as steady as ever, Pius Hienz (72,400) got up 60,000 early on but spent most of the day hovering between 35-45k, before he finished strong. Matthias De Meulder (29,900), Sebastian Ruthenberg (95,700), and Henrique Pinho (77,800) will also be back for day 2.
In with a shout of not only being the first double EPT champion but also the first double EPT Barcelona champion are Martin Schleich and Kent Lunmark. The two previous champions were sat with each other for a time today and made it through with 81,000 and 76,300 respectively.
Those who came with high hopes only to see them dashed included: Chris Brammer, Scott Seiver, Jannick Wrang, Ben Wilinofsky, Vladimir Geshkenbein, Sorel Mizzi, Anton Wigg, Nicolas Chouity, Benny Spindler and Michael Tureniec.
We do this all over again tomorrow, you know? We’ll have new faces in a field that is expected to be stacked with stars. Apart from that everything else is the same as today. Play will do its best to start at 12:00 PM CET, and eight 75-minute levels will be played out. The PokerNews reporting team will be there as ever to capture as much as we can for you reading pleasure.