€50,000 Super High Roller Day 1 | 2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Barcelona

08-22-2015 21:44 UTC+2

Chidwick Leads After Record-Smashing €50,000 Super High Roller Day 1

donpeters

Level 8 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Day 1 of the 2015 European Poker Tour €50,000 Super High Roller was all about the numbers. An astounding 93 entries were generated from 81 unique players and 12 reentries. That proved to be a new record by a large margin, topping last year's 77 total entries that came from 58 unique players and 19 reentries. At the end of play, 66 remained.

What's even more remarkable is that the registration and reentry period will remain open until 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, so there is still plenty of time for new players to dive in or eliminated players to reenter.

Topping the pack at the end of the night was Stephen Chidwick, as the British star ended the day with 1.052 million in chips.

One hand that gave Chidwick a nice boost came back in Level 6 with the blinds at 1,500/3,000 with a 400 ante. He was involved in a pot against Chang He on the board of , and He fired a bet. Chidwick raised to put him all in, and He called off with the for top pair. Unfortunately for him, his hand was behind against Chidwick's . The river was the , and He hit the rail.

Other big stacks to wrap up Day 1 were Christoph Vogelsang (1.002 million), Mike McDonald (855,000), Jean-Noel Thorel (775,000), and Steve O'Dwyer (686,500). They'll be looking to continue their upward trends on Day 2, but there is still a very long way to go in this event. With the first-place prize likely well over €1 million, all of these big stacks will be looking to keep their focus as play continues on Sunday starting at 12:30 p.m. local time.

With that, we'll leave you with a lovely video from our own Sarah Herring as she gets out the sights around beautiful Barcelona.

Tags: Chang He Christoph Vogelsang Jean-Noel Thorel Mike McDonald Stephen Chidwick Steve O'Dwyer

08-22-2015 20:38 UTC+2

Mercier Folds to Fight Another Day, All the Money Once Again Flows to Tollerene

Webjoker

Level 7 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

On a board of we saw Jason Mercier in the big blind check call a bet of 50,000 from Ben Tollerene on the button. The river came the and Mercier checked. Tollerene tossed in two 100,000 chips and Mercier huffed and puffed facing the all in. Mercier, with under 150,000 behind, tanked for several minutes before releasing his hand. Tollerene, who busted but bought back in today, is up to over 500,000 on his second bullet. Tollerene, who already collects all the money in the high stakes cash games online, got over to Europe to collect some more here it appears.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ben Tollerene	525,000	275,000
Jason Mercier	147,500	-82,500

Tags: Jason Mercier Ben Tollerene

08-22-2015 15:25 UTC+2

Kabrhel Doubles with Aces

Webjoker

Level 3 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Charlie Carrel limped in from the cutoff seat. Martin Kabrhel was on the button and slid 8,000 forward with a little under 50,000 behind. Both blinds folded, and Carrel tanked for a bit before tossing in four 25,000 chips to put Kabrhel all in. Kabrhel double checked his cards, then moved a small stack of T100 chips in to indicate the call. Carrel showed the and was trailing Kabrhel's .

The flop was , just about sealing the deal for Kabrhel. The on the turn made it official, and the on the river was there just for good measure. Karbhel doubled to just over 100,000, while Carrel is still up for the day with about 260,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Charlie Carrel	262,000	-36,000
Martin Kabrhel	114,200	62,200

Tags: Charlie Carrel Martin Kabrhel

08-22-2015 08:37 UTC+2

Season 12 of the European Poker Tour Is Here!

donpeters

Welcome to Barcelona, Spain, and the kickoff event of Season 12 of the European Poker Tour!

Nestled on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, looking out towards the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, the City of Counts has been a home to the EPT since its inception. Only three times in the history of the tour was Barcelona not the starting event of season, but we find ourselves here once again for another exciting poker offering.

This year's EPT Barcelona festival plans to be bigger and better than ever, evidenced by the large expansion of playing space added for both cash games and tournaments. It's those tournaments that PokerNews is here to focus on, specifically the €50,000 Super High Roller, the €5,300 Main Event, the €25,500 Single-Day High Roller, and the €10,300 High Roller, and today is the beginning of the biggest buy-in of them all.

The first time the €50,000 Super High Roller appeared on the EPT Barcelona schedule was in Season 9, three years back in 2012. That tournament proved to be an impressive affair with 64 total entries, a prize pool of nearly €3.1 million, and one of the brightest young stars of the game, Dan Smith, taking home the top prize of €962,925.

The following year, Vitaly Lunkin topped field of 51 total entries to claim the €771,300 top prize, and then in last season's event, 77 entries and a prize pool of just under €3.7 million was produced. Heads-up play came down to the mentor and the mentee, with Olivier Busquet taking on Daniel Colman. In the end, it was the teacher that emerged victorious after the two struck a deal, and Busquet took the title and the €896,434 first-place prize.

Guesses pertaining to the field size have been circulating more and more in the lead up to this event, and right now it looks as though we should see something in the realm of 60-70 entries. Of course, it could be more or it could be less, but seeing just how big this one will get is all part of the fun.

Another part of the guessing game has to do with which players will show up to compete. We do know that Dominik Nitsche, David Peters, and Dzmitry Urbanovich all won a seat to this event via a satellite tournament last night, so they should be in the mix. We also know that JC Alvarado, who finished runner-up to Smith in 2012, is already in Barcelona, along with Max Altergott, Igor Kurganov, Philipp Gruissem, and Ole Schemion.

Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier has already arrived from across the pond, too, coming off a big win of more than $500,000 in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $25,000 High Roller. That marked his fourth six-figure score of 2015, and those have been the last four cashes he's recorded in a year that's already seen him earn more than $2.1 million.

On the flip side, one person that we know won't be here is Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu has been going hard all around the globe for several months now, and he's finally taking some time for a little break from poker following conclusion of the World Series of Poker and wrap up of the PokerStars Pro Tour.

The cards are scheduled to be in the air at 12:30 p.m. local time. Each player will begin with 250,000 in tournament chips, the levels will last 60 minutes, and the blinds will begin at 500/1,000 with a 100 ante. Eight levels are on the slate for Day 1, and participants will be allowed unlimited reentry up until registration closes at 12:15 p.m. on Day 2.

According to the official EPT structure sheet, there will not be a dinner break on Day 1. That should see play end right around 9:30 p.m. local time — enough time to head out into the city or down along the beach for some food, drinks, and smiles.

The anticipation is high and growing by the minute, so stay tuned right here to PokerNews for live coverage that will begin shortly.

Tags: Dan Smith Daniel Colman Olivier Busquet Vitaly Lunkin