Kitai and Foxen Among Leaders After Day 1 of €10,300 EPT High Roller
It was an action-packed opening day in the €10,300 EPT High Roller that saw more than half of the field fall by the wayside. There were a total of 521 entries and only 218 players bagged chips to move on to Day 2.
Leading the pack is Ignacio Molina who bagged up a whopping stack of 347,000. He was sat at the same table as Kristen Bicknell (93,500) and Adrian Mateos (222,500) for the majority of the day and was able to hold his own. Some other big stacks advancing include Davidi Kitai (346,500), Julien Martini (318,000), and Alex Foxen (311,000). All three players finished the day on a high, accumulating the majority of their chips in the last level.
There were four PokerStars Ambassador's to move on to Day 2 including Ramon Colillas (206,000), Kalidou Sow (177,000), Maria Konnikova (151,000), and Fatima Moreira De Melo (27,000).
The tournament kicked off with 40 players taking their seats at 12:30 pm local time but that number quickly escalated and continued to do so throughout the entire day. Even with only a single re-entry format, the tournament still attracted a whopping a 521 entries on the opening day. Late registration will remain open until the start of Day 2 as the record of 557 entries is in jeopardy.
As most other tournaments are winding down at Casino Barcelona, the field was filled with notable names across each and every table. Unfortunately for some, things didn't go their way today and they will not be returning tomorrow. Ryan Riess, David "ODB" Baker, Sam Higgs, Jean-Noel Thorel, and last year's runner-up Norbert Szecsi all burned through both of their bullets.
A few other notables that will be moving on include defending champion Max Silver who quietly went about his business on Day 1 to bag a stack of 226,500 chips. Juan Pardo has had a succesful week at Casino Barcelona, winning a €25k single-day high roller, a €50k single-day high roller, and finished fourth in another €25k single-day high roller last night. Pardo has collected over €1,750,000 this week and will be looking to add to that. He will have his work cut out for him after only bagging up 25,500 chips.
For those that only fired off one bullet today, they will still have the chance to re-enter before the action kicks off tomorrow at 12:30 pm. The blinds will begin at 1,000/2,500 with a 2,500 big blind ante. The levels will be 60 minutes in length and the scheduled plan is to play 10 more levels.
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team for all of the continued coverage throughout the 2019 PokerStars EPT Barcelona.