EPT10 Barcelona Attracts 1,234 Runners; Piqué Among Those That Fell on Day 2
The European Poker Tour Barcelona continued on Tuesday as the surviving 697 players from the two starting flights combined under one roof for Day 2 action. Joining them were a few latecomers, who had the option of registering right up to the start of play. After six 75-minute levels of play, 235 players remained with Pablo Alexander Tavitian, who won the 2013 PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour Chile National Poker Championship Main Event earlier this year, and his stack of 465,000 leading the way.
After registration closed, the numbers were tallied and a staggering 1,234 players – the largest in EPT Barcelona history (second largest on European soil) – had turned out for the first stop of Season 10. That created a prize pool of €5,984,900 to be distributed to the top 183 players with €1,067,000 reserved for the eventual winner.
One of the most talked about stories on Day 2 was that of famed footballer Gerard Piqué, who began with 23,100 and began to run it up. Unfortunately, Piqué was stopped in his tracks in Level 10 (500/1,000/100) by PokerStars qualifier Carlos Mora Alvarez. The duo had taken a flop of 
, and it appeared as if there were some big bets before Piqué got the last of his chips in on the 
turn.
The 
ended up completing the board on the river and Piqué turned over the 
, revealing that he got the majority of his chips in on middle pair and a gutshot straight draw. Alvarez then tabled the 
, showing he was willing to get chips in with top pair and a flush draw. Alvarez hit the flush on the turn to seal the deal, and Piqué wished the table luck before taking his leave.
Others who hit the rail throughout the day were Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Kai Herold, Dan Smith, Ignat “0Human0” Liviu, Mark Newhouse, Stephen Chidwick, James Dempsey, Daniel Alaei, Scott Seiver, Jens Kyllonen, Fabian Quoss, Jonathan Little and Vitaly Lunkin.
A couple of days ago, Lunkin topped a field of 51 entries in the EPT10 Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller to win €771,300. Lunkin was well on his way to a cash here in the Main Event, but an unsuccessful bluff in Level 13 (1,000/2,000/300) greatly diminished his chances.
It happened when Bulgaria's Aleksandar Denishev raised from the cutoff only to have Lunkin three-bet to 10,200 from the button. The blinds folded, Denishev four-bet to 22,000 and Lunkin ended up making the call. When the flop fell 
, Denishev fired out 14,100 and Lunkin made a relatively quick call. After the dealer burned and turned the , Denishev slid out a bet of 31,000 and Lunkin snap-shoved for roughly 125,000.
Denishev, clearly distraught, shot back his chair and put his hands on his head. He then removed his sunglasses and stared down Lunkin for well over three minutes before calling off for 117,300 total. Lunkin sheepishly turned over the 
for a bluff, and he seemed none too pleased when Denishev tabled the 
. Lunkin, who speaks limited English, expressed his displeasure and asked what took Denishev so long to call. Whether or not it was a slow roll was a moot point as Denishev was shipped the double after the meaningless 
completed the board on the river. Lunkin was eliminated a short time later.
Likewise, Team PokerStars Pros were reduced as Jason Mercier, Eugene Katchalov, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Jonathan Duhamel, Liv Boeree, Jake Cody, Rino Mathis, Maxim Lykov, Marcel Luske, Vanessa Selbst, Jan Heitmann, Luca Pagano, Nacho Barbero and Theo Jorgensen all fell on Day 2.
Even so, some still remain including Victor Ramdin (156,600) and Angel Guillen (62,500), just to name a couple. Other notables who will return on Day 3 are defending champ Mikalai Pobal (71,200), Marvin Rettenmaier (90,800), Erik Freiberg (114,500), Byron Kaverman (122,600), Shannon Shorr (123,100), Grayson Ramage (158,700), Kitty Kuo (177,000), Andrew Moreno (202,300), Yann Dion (293,000) and Niall Farrell (444,000).
Day 3 will kick off on Wednesday at 12 p.m. CET at the Casino Barcelona. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews' live coverage as we bring you all the action and eliminations from the tournament floor.