Leo Margets and Juan Macieras are stand out characters in the Spanish poker scene, but both have gotten off to bad starts.
Margets, the last lady standing at the 2009 WSOP, lost the two pots we saw her play. She was raised by Bichuch Oleksandr on a flop, and called before they both checked the turn and river through. Oleksandr opened and took the pot as Margets mucked.
A few moments later she opened from under the gun and was called in three spots before a flop came down. She continued and was only called by Mikhail Vladimirovich Alexandrov in the big blind. Both checked the turn to see the river where the Russian led for a pot-sized 2,100. Margets Folded.
In between these two hands Macerias, who came 5th at the Gran Final here last season for $467,532, was losing chips at the next table along. He tried a check-raise on flop and it managed to oust one player, but not Mikalai Pobal who had bet on the button. Both players checked the turn before the Spaniard check-snap-folded on the river.
Simon Ravnsbaek and Jason Duval were just involved in a pot that we didn't see much of, but the story that came from it is worth passing along to you. It comes courtesy of Neil Stoddart, who's trying to show us up by taking photos and recording hands.
In any event, Ravnsbaek was the one leading the betting on a paired board that contained . He had a made flush with , and Duval flatted his last bet on the river with a flush of his own. He knew his was better than Ravnsbaek's, but he didn't realize just how good it was. The appeared face-up on the felt, and when the table all reacted, Duval realized that he'd accidentally flatted with a Royal Flush!
The floor was called over, and Duval explained that he knew he had the nut flush, but he didn't realize it was the nuttiest of the nut flushes. The paired board mistakenly scared him off a raise, and he was apologetic as he explained his error. Intentional or not, that's a penalty, and Duval will have the next orbit off.
It was his first live Royal Flush, and it's come with a one-round penalty.
We've ticked up to 294 players registered for this Day 1b flight, and more are coming.
My blogging mate MarcC just told you about the tough Table 21 (Table Toth/Jaka), so we'll tell you about Table 9 instead. In Seat 3 there is Michel Dattani, who finished second in the most recent WSOPE Six-Max PLO event. David Vamplew won an EPT title in London a couple seasons ago, and he's joined Dattani in the five seat. Just as we were watching, Caio Pimenta slid the nine seat out from under the table and plopped himself down in it.
As we scan through the room a third and fourth time, we spot another batch of faces, most of whom are expected additions to this field. Players like Juan Manuel Pastor and Leo Margets from right here in Spain, and EPT regulars like Nick Yunis and Dominic Nitsche. No surprises there.
One man sticks out as particularly notable in this field, a figure we didn't expect to see. Vincenzo Gianelli is a Venezuelan who mostly frequents PokerStars' sister tour, the LAPT. He finished as the runner-up in the Season 2 LAPT Vina del Mar, and just last month, he ran deep to 13th place in the Grand Final in São Paulo, Brazil. Gianelli is one of the most imposing figures in the room, towering over his table, but a one-sentence conversation with him is all it takes to find he's a truly gentle giant. We can't do much better than Brad Willis did telling his story, so have a read through this piece from Brazil if you want to know more about the man behind the turtle figurines.
James Sudworth hasn't had the greatest start today, he was tanking against an 8,000 bet on the river of a board. Finally, Sudworth made the crying call and simply said, "Nice hand," when his his opponent turned over for aces up. Sudworth has dropped to about 16,000 as a result.
A flop of was checked around to former EPT finalist Rasmus Nielsen who fired out a bet of 1,125, the big blind made the call before John O'Shea check-raised to 3,550. Nielsen flicked out a call and the big blind folded to see the turn.
O'Shea didn't let up with the aggression and bet 6,500, Nielsen made the call for a sizeable portion of both players' stacks to see the river. The Irishman thought for about fifteen seconds and then moved all in for his remaining 20,000 or so, Nielsen snap-folded without even so much as a second thought.
Richard Toth has position on former EPT winner Anton Wigg, but when he looks to his left he sees the in-form Faraz Jaka and Kevin Iacofano lying in wait for him.
He avoided those two to win a nice pot to get him off to a good start. Jose Luis Cordero opened to 250 and called when the Team PokerStars three-bet to 650. The flop fell and Cordero check-called a 800 bet. The turn came and Toth bet 1,750 when the action was checked to him again. Call. The river was and both players checked.
An arbitrary photo of Madrid, including another pair of familiar faces
The upstairs room, scene of Ivan Freitez' triumph last year in the Grand Final, is also in use today. It's a little difficult to get to behind a queue of about 20 to 30 players still registering to get involved but we've spotted Olivier Busquet, the pink-haired Guillaume Darcourt and former EPT Copenhagen winner Michael Tureniec. There's already over 300 players invovled and still people are registering.
Most of the tables have started five- or six-handed as the empty seats continue to fill in. Even with the sparse crowd, though, a number of interesting table pairings and trios have already appeared.
We start with Table 5 along the far side of the room, and there we find Walid Bou Habib in the five seat and Mickey Petersen in the seven. Petersen is the tour's most recent champion, besting the 299-player field at EPT Copenhagen to win his first live title. He's looking for an unprecedented double-dip here in this encore event.
Across the aisle is Table 11, and it contains Joep van den Bijgaart (Seat 2) and Tristan Clemencon (7). At Table 17 are Theo Jorgensen and Andrey Pateychuk sitting next to each other in the two and three seats, respectively. Jorgensen is a Team PokerStars Pro from Denmark, and Pateychuk wins (or nearly wins) practically everything he plays. In 2011, he finished 15th in the WSOP Main Event, won EPT San Remo, and won WPT Prague. Yikes.
And a pair of trios, too. We find a very tough table over by the windows, Table number 14. The hot-running Steve O'Dwyer is in Seat 1 there, and he's joined by Fatima Moreira de Melo (3) and Todd Terry (6). And near the exit door is what looks to be the toughest table in the room, Table 15. EPT6 Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity is in Seat 3 there, joined by two familiar members of the high-stakes community. Eli Elezra and David Benyamine have both made the trip over to Madrid, and they're sitting there in Seats 5 and 7, respectively.
button in Safari
flop, and called before they both checked the 
turn and river through. Oleksandr opened 
and took the pot as Margets mucked.
flop came down. She continued and was only called by Mikhail Vladimirovich Alexandrov in the big blind. Both checked the 
turn to see the 
river where the Russian led for a pot-sized 2,100. Margets Folded.
flop and it managed to oust one player, but not Mikalai Pobal who had bet on the button. Both players checked the 
turn before the Spaniard check-snap-folded on the 
river.
. He had a made flush with 
, and Duval flatted his last bet on the river with a flush of his own. He knew his was better than Ravnsbaek's, but he didn't realize just how good it was. The 
appeared face-up on the felt, and when the table all reacted, Duval realized that he'd accidentally flatted with a Royal Flush!
board. Finally, Sudworth made the crying call and simply said, "Nice hand," when his his opponent turned over 
was checked around to former EPT finalist Rasmus Nielsen who fired out a bet of 1,125, the big blind made the call before John O'Shea check-raised to 3,550. Nielsen flicked out a call and the big blind folded to see the 
turn.
river. The Irishman thought for about fifteen seconds and then moved all in for his remaining 20,000 or so, Nielsen snap-folded without even so much as a second thought.
