€2,200 EPT National High Roller
Day 1a Completed
2019 PokerStars.es EPT Barcelona
€2,200 EPT National High Roller
Day: 1a
Vamshi Vandanapu Leads 152 Day 1a Survivors to Day 2
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Day 1a of the €2,200 EPT National High Roller is in the books at the 2019 PokerStars.es EPT Barcelona held in the beautiful Casino Barcelona. No less than 1,012 entries were made on Day 1a of the tournament and 152 of them made it through to Day 2. Vamshi Vandanapu holds the chip lead for the flight after bagging almost 30 starting stacks, 898,000 to be precise. Others with a big stack are Tomasz Pajak (877,000), Yudong Yang (820,000), Jonas Palsgaard (683,000), and Mark Metsla (565,000).
All of the remaining players are in the money as they start Day 2 combined with the survivors from Day 1b but the prize pool information has yet to be announced.
Day 1a Action
The day started with about 200 players in their seats and EPT Main Event champions Michael Tureniec, Jasper Meijer van Putten, and Kalidou Sow, already started early in the day at noon. PSPC runner-up Julien Martini, Jack Salter, Sonny Franco, and Vojtech Ruzicka also joined the fun early in the day, but most of them failed to make it through the long 14-hour day.
The total number of entries stood at 1,012 when late registration was closed and the field size got up to 1,491 players which is a little bit less than last years 1,527 entries. The tournament staff announced that 15% of the field would make it through to Day 2 and into the money and that number was 152 for flight 1a.
The first twelve levels were in the books when 350 players enjoyed their dinner break before returning for the final stretch. Plenty of familiar faces were still in the tournament but some of them couldn't make it to the second day. One of those players was David Peters. Peters ran up a stack early in the event and was spotted with ten times the starting stack of 30,000. It is unclear how Peters was eliminated but he failed to make the money despite starting out great.
Others that didn't make it through the day include Conor Beresford, Jean-Noel Thorel, Sebastian Malec, Kenny Hallaert, Bart Lybaert, Anatolii Zyrin, Maria Lampropulos, Ognyan Dimov, Viliyan Petleshkov, and Angel Guillen. Most of the busted early enough to still have a shot at glory in Day 1b as there was only one reentry allowed in the tournament and that would be in the next flight.
The Bubble
The tournament directors decided to go hand-for-hand with 155 players remaining. That would mean that three more players would need to be eliminated for them to reach the money and bag up. The first hand of the hand-for-hand play saw two players eliminated from the tournament. One of them was Anton Bergstrom who was forced all in for his last 2 big blinds from the big blind with pocket fours. He, unfortunately, ran into pocket queens and was eliminated from the tournament. Julien Loire was the other player eliminated in the first hand.
It took another couple of hands and multiple double-ups before Matthew Moss ended as the last player without any money. He had ace-ten and had to win against the pocket nines of Rodney Lawrence. The flop immediately brought a nine and Moss wasn't able to catch up and he bubbled the tournament.
The other players will continue and play down to a winner on Day 2, starting at noon, Monday, August 26. PokerNews will provide live coverage until a winner is crowned in Barcelona.
End of Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
An end of day recap will be posted shortly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
898,000 | 73,000 |
|
878,000 | 178,000 |
|
820,000 | 820,000 |
|
727,000 | 427,000 |
|
683,000 | 683,000 |
|
601,000 | 186,000 |
|
565,000 | -135,000 |
|
529,000 | 529,000 |
|
504,000 | -11,000 |
|
485,000 | 85,000 |
|
479,000 | 479,000 |
|
477,000 | 227,000 |
|
455,000 | 279,500 |
|
436,000 | 436,000 |
|
436,000 | 436,000 |
|
429,000 | 429,000 |
|
424,000 | 424,000 |
|
410,000 | 40,000 |
|
388,000 | 388,000 |
|
364,000 | 124,000 |
|
351,000 | 9,000 |
|
350,000 | 350,000 |
|
345,000 | 345,000 |
|
332,000 | 332,000 |
|
318,000 | 318,000 |
Matthew Moss Bubbles Day 1a of the EPT National High Roller
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Matthew Moss open-shoved 104,000 from middle position and Rodney Lawrence instantly called from the big blind. With hand-for-hand in play, it took a while before the cards were opened up and Moss found himself in a race for his tournament life.
Matthew Moss: 
Rodney Lawrence: 
The 
flop put Lawrence in a commanding lead, leaving Moss only with running cards to survive. The 
on the turn opened up one of the backdoors, but the glimmer of hope for the British professional faded on the 
river.
With Moss' elimination, the remaining 152 players all made the money and will bag for Day 2.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
342,000 | 102,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 18
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 8,000
Yildrim Makes Wrong Call but Stays Alive
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
The board read 
with plenty in the middle and Mahmut Yildrim checked from the big blind to Ramon Miquel Munoz in the under-the-gun position.
He fired a bet of 85,000 and Yildrim had 112,000 behind. He tanked for multiple minutes before he called it off and Munoz opened 
for a Broadway straight. Yildrim showed a 
before mucking the other card.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
400,000 | 260,000 |
|
27,000 | 27,000 |
Timofeev Bluffs Nearly Everything Off
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
With the 
board completed and around 160,000 in the middle, Vamshi Vandanapu and Denis Timofeev were locked in a blind battle with action on the latter. Timofeev carefully cut out a bet of 83,000, leaving himself with a mere 10,000 behind.
Vandanapu spent ages in the tank, all while a sizable crowd of onlookers was gathering to watch the action unfold. After about five minutes, Vandanapu called it off with and was good as Timofeev couldn't muster up more than 
.
Timofeev folded the small blind in the next hand and has just 7,000 left.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
825,000 | 155,000 |
|
7,000 | -448,000 |
Loire Down; Bubble-Time
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
In the first hand played during hand-for-hand, three players were all in and at risk. Renato Ribeiro was the first one at risk, but his prospects were pretty good as he held 
versus Paul-Francois Tedeschi's 
.
The board came down 
to give Ribeiro a double-up with tens over kings.
Anton Bergstrom was the second player who was all in and he got eliminated as written below.
Julien Loire was the third one to see his hand come to a showdown, and he was involved in the biggest pot of all against Vamshi Vandanapu. On a 
flop, there was a pot of almost 200,000 being contested with Loire being the one at risk.
Julien Loire:
Vamshi Vandanapu: 
Vandanapu had outflopped Loire and eliminated the Frenchman after the turn and 
river to bring the field on the stone bubble.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
670,000 | 85,000 |
|
175,000 | 131,000 |
|
80,000 | 20,000 |
|
Busted |
Bergstrom Eliminated
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Claudio Baldini raised to 12,000 and he was called by a third player. Anton Bergstrom was forced all in from the big blind for his last 11,000 in total.
The flop was dealt 
and Baldini pushed the third player out of the pot. Bergstrom was dealt but he was no match for the of Baldini.
The on the turn and 
on the river didn't help him either and he was eliminated.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
515,000 | 487,300 |
|
|
Busted |
Hand-for-Hand Three Off the Money
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
With 155 players left, the clock has been paused and hand-for-hand play has been initiated. Three more players need to be eliminated before the money is reached.