Record-Breaking EPT Barcelona Main Event Has Margolin Chip Leading Day 1B; PSPC 2020 in Barcelona Announced
Day 1b of the biggest-ever €5,300 EPT Main Event in the sixteen-year history of the PokerStars European Poker Barcelona has come to an end after ten one-hour levels. The busy starting day attracted 1,234 entries (including 144 reentries) to bring the total number of entries for the 2019 edition to 1,960 with the 726 from Day 1a. Out of those, 508 have made it through to Day 2 and Timur Margolin has claimed the Day 1b chip lead by bagging 261,800 in chips.
Margolin has almost $2 million in lifetime earnings according to The Hendon Mob, he has won two PokerStars events before, the most recent one being the $2,200 NLHE event at the PCA in January for $73,960. But the double bracelet winner is no stranger to the circuit as his earnings show. The Israeli player slowly built up his stack throughout the day and will be starting Day 2 with more than 160 big blinds.
Also bagging big on Day 1b were Alen Alencar with 248,800, Kacper Pyzara with 228,600, Kully Sidhu (221,500), and Gianfranco Iaculli with 219,600. Alencar has been doing well here in Barcelona, collecting three cashes which are also his first cashes outside of Latin America with his best run in the €2,200 EPT National High Roller where he finished in 17th place for €20,500. Pyzara had a bad start to the day but managed to do much better on his second bullet. With almost a million in cashes, he will be looking to cross that mark by running deep right here in this record-breaking event.
Other notable players making it through to Day 2 include Pim Gieles, Arsenii Karmatckii, Samuel Gagnon, Martin Jacobson, Mustapha Kanit, Shannon Shorr, Sergio Aido, Patrik Antonius, Leo Margets, Steven van Zadelhoff, Uri Gilboa, Aymon Hata, Alex Foxen, and many many more.
PokerStars Ambassador Andre Akkari lost his last 15 big blinds on his first bullet to Thomas Eychenne when his nines couldn’t beat the ace-king of Eychenne but did better on his second bullet as he made it through with 49,900. PokerStars Twitch Streamer Steve Enriquez took 61,400 with him to Day 2. Fellow PokerStars colleagues Ramon Colillas and Muskan Sethi all tried to make it through the Day 1b field but couldn’t make things work. If they haven’t used their second bullet yet, they can still enter before the start of Day 2.
They weren’t the only ones to fall at one of the many hurdles today, players like Maria Lampropulos, Bruno Politano, Michael Soyza, Andras Nemeth, Jon Turner, Anson Tsang, Demosthenes Kiriopoulos, Adam Hendrix, Parker Talbot, Alexandre Reard, Ryan Riess, Sonny Franco, Mihai Niste, Benny Glaser, Joris Ruijs, Nick Marchington, Jake Schwartz, Chris Sly, Marc MacDonnell, Michael Tureniec, Teun Mulder, Ali Reza Fatehi, and Jasper Meijer van Putten for example all got eliminated before the end of the day.
But it wasn’t all about the Main Event today, the “Chase your Dream”-promotion also came to a conclusion with a special announcement in between. The PokerStars Players Championship was announced for 2020 to take place in Barcelona from August 20 to 24. And the winner of the promotion would walk away with the first Platinum Pass. But when Clement Eloy was crowned as the winner, Adrian Garcia, Danielle Summer, Christoph Walkenhorst, and Daryl Inglis were called upon the stage too, they were surprised with a Platinum Pass of their own.
Back to the Main Event; together with the 247 Day 1a survivors, this means that at least 755 players will return to battle it out together with the late entries as late registration is possible until the start of Day 2. Level duration will be increased to 90 minutes from Day 2 onwards with a break after every level. When the players return for Level 16, it will feature a small blind of 800, big blind of 1,600, and a big blind ante of 1,600.
As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the updates from Casino Barcelona throughout the Main Event and the many side events so keep coming back.