€10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha
Day 1 Completed
2018 PokerStars.es EPT Barcelona
€10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha
Day: 1
Chris Dowling Leads Last 17 of the €10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller in Barcelona
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
Day 1 of the 2018 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona €10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller is in the books and 17 players remain out of an 80-entry strong field, consisting of 62 unique players and 18 re-entries. The money spots are still six eliminations away, as only the top 11 spots share a portion of the €776,000 prize pool. A min cash is worth €19,400 and the winner takes home the trophy and a payday of €213,400.
Leading the field after Day 1 is Irishman Chris Dowling who bagged up 509,000. Denmark's Alexander Petersen was one of the hopefuls to enter twice and managed to spin his second attempt up to 417,000, good enough for second place. Laszlo Bujtas (393,000), Dan Shak (387,000) and Anson Tsang (349,000) round up the top five after Day 1.
Further notables still in contention include Seamus Cahill (329,000), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (190,000), Martin Kozlov (173,000), Felix Stephensen (172,000), Alex Lindop (142,000) and Cord Garcia (104,000). All remaining 17 players will return to Casino Barcelona on August 30th, 2018, at 12.30 p.m. local time to play down to a champion and the action resumes with blinds of 4,000/8,000.
Among those to bust throughout the day were Sylvain Loosli and Pedro Zagalo, who finished 1st and 2nd respectively in this very event under the umbrella of the PokerStars Championship in 2017. They were joined on the rail by such big names as Jan Suchanek, Niklas "lena90" Astedt, Sam Greenwood, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Max Silver, Alex Komaromi, Ryan Riess and Cary Katz.
Zagalo was eliminated by Alexander Petersen when he got it in after a jack-high flop with suited queens, Petersen looked him up with kings and queens as well as the spades flush draw and locked up the elimination with another spade on the turn. Cord Garcia scored a rare triple elimination with trips only and among the casualties in that hand were Silver and Jan-Peter Jachtmann.
Dany Chidiac was the first player to bust after only 15 minutes, but his second bullet appeared to be deemed for success after he quickly claimed the top spot. However, things went downhill from there and Chidiac was eliminated by Seamus Cahill. Another Irishman then made headlines in the late stages of the day and Chris Dowling took over the lead after sending €50,000 Single-Day High Roller runner-up Jean-Noel Thorel to the rail. Dowling and Thorel both turned the nut straight and had a flush redraw with clubs and diamonds respectively. A club appeared on the river and Downling jumped into the top spot, which he didn't surrender anymore until bagging and tagging.
Late casualties on Day 1 included Cary Katz and Shyngis Satubayev, while Laszlo Bujtas, Felix Stephensen and Martin Kozlov scored very late double ups.
Day 2 Seat Assignments
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Chris Dowling | Ireland | 509,000 | 64 |
| 1 | 2 | Alexander Petersen | Denmark | 417,000 | 52 |
| 1 | 3 | Murad Akhundov | Azerbaijan | 122,000 | 15 |
| 1 | 5 | Martin Kozlov | Australia | 173,000 | 22 |
| 1 | 6 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | 393,000 | 49 |
| 1 | 8 | Panagiotis Sotiriadis | Greece | 149,000 | 19 |
| 2 | 2 | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | Ukraine | 190,000 | 24 |
| 2 | 4 | Hon Cheong Lee | Hong Kong | 98,000 | 12 |
| 2 | 5 | Alex Lindop | United Kingdom | 142,000 | 18 |
| 2 | 6 | Dan Shak | United States | 387,000 | 48 |
| 2 | 8 | Samuli Sipila | Finland | 138,000 | 17 |
| 3 | 3 | Felix Stephensen | Norway | 172,000 | 22 |
| 3 | 4 | Niko Soininen | Finland | 175,000 | 22 |
| 3 | 5 | Cord Garcia | United States | 104,000 | 13 |
| 3 | 6 | Ville Mattila | Finland | 153,000 | 19 |
| 3 | 7 | Seamus Cahill | Ireland | 329,000 | 41 |
| 3 | 8 | Anson Tsang | Hong Kong | 349,000 | 44 |
End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
The remaining 17 players have bagged up and will return as of 12.30 p.m. local time to play down to a champion. A recap of today's action is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
509,000 | -61,000 |
|
417,000 | 97,000 |
|
393,000 | -11,000 |
|
387,000 | 42,000 |
|
349,000 | 19,000 |
|
329,000 | -56,000 |
|
190,000 | 20,000 |
|
175,000 | -40,000 |
|
173,000 | 3,000 |
|
172,000 | 22,000 |
|
153,000 | 13,000 |
|
149,000 | 39,000 |
|
142,000 | -28,000 |
|
138,000 | -32,000 |
|
122,000 | 2,000 |
|
104,000 | -26,000 |
|
98,000 | -12,000 |
Kozlov Doubles in Last Hand
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
Felix Stephensen doubled over on table three when flopping a set of queens and Martin Kozlov did so on table one.
Murad Akhundov opened to 16,000 in the cutoff and Kozlov raised the pot on the button. Akhundov moved all in and Kozlov called for 82,000.
Martin Kozlov: 
Murad Akhundov: 
The board came 
and Kozlov doubled just before bagging and tagging.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
170,000 | 75,000 |
|
|
150,000 | 70,000 |
|
|
120,000 | -85,000 |
Shak Sends Satubayev to the Rail
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
Alex Lindop raised and Shyngis Satubayev three-bet the pot for 58,000 out of the blinds. Lindop moved all in for 115,000 and Satubayev glanced at the tournament info screen several times before folding.
Soon after, Dan Shak raised to 15,000 and Satubayev moved all in, Shak quickly called.
Shyngis Satubayev: 
Dan Shak: 
The board came 
and Satubayev was eliminated towards the end of Day 1.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
345,000 | 100,000 |
|
|
170,000 | 50,000 |
|
Busted |
Sotiriadis Doubled Through Kozlov
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
The cards of Martin Kozlov were already in the muck and Panagiotis Sotiriadis doubled with 
thanks to hitting two pair on a board of 
. Kozlov held 
and lost one third of his stack.
Over on table three, Cord Garcia has taken a toll to his stack as of lately while Anson Tsang chipped up significantly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
330,000 | 95,000 |
|
|
130,000 | -110,000 |
|
|
110,000 | 57,500 |
|
|
95,000 | -85,000 |
Bujtas Scores Big Double Through Sotiriadis
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
Laszlo Bujtas made it 14,000 to go on the button and Panagiotis Sotiriadis three-bet out of the small blind to 50,000. Bujtas four-bet the pot to 150,000 and Sotiriadis eventually called. Bujtas made sure that he was not all in yet and they headed to a flop of .
Sotiriadis checked and Bujtas moved all in, which sent the Greek into the think tank as he asked for a count. The jam for Bujtas was for 49,500 and Sotiriadis called after more than three minutes of consideration.
Laszlo Bujtas: 
Panagiotis Sotiriadis: 
The turn locked up the double, the 
river was a formality.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
404,000 | 214,000 |
|
|
52,500 | -255,500 |
Shak Folds to Timoshenko
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
Yevgeniy Timoshenko raised to 15,000 and Dan Shak defended the big blind. They checked the 
flop and the turn. On the river, Shak bet 20,000 and Timoshenko raised to 60,000. Shak gave it some thought and folded the 
face up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
245,000 | |
|
|
170,000 | 30,000 |
Petersen Doubles Bujtas; Busts Katz
Level 15
: 3,000/6,000, 0 ante
In the last hand of the previous level, Alexander Petersen hit bottom two pair with the 
on the 
flop and had Laszlo Bujtas all in and at risk. Bujtas had 
for middle set and the turn and 
river brought no miracle.
As soon as the blinds went up, Petersen min-raised to 12,000 and Katz got his remaining few chips in, Petersen snap-called.
Cary Katz: 
Alexander Petersen:
"Oh my god, that's horrible," Katz said as soon as he saw the cards of Petersen. He found no help on a board of and joined the rail in the final level of Day 1.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
320,000 | 14,000 |
|
|
190,000 | 100,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 15
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 0