Stephen Kehoe Dominates from Start to Finish, Heads into Day 2 with Chip Lead
After an exciting 10 hours of Day 1b play, the field for Day 2 of the €5,300 Main Event of the PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour is just about set.
After 227 of 749 runners qualified from the first flight, the surviving 493 players from the 1,485 entries in the second flight have now created a Day 2 field of 720 players that have made their way through the first day. These 720 runners, in addition to last-minute registrants, will play for the title of EPT Barcelona Main Event champion and the prize pool of €10,834,900 so far.
Players who did not get through the first two flights may register once more before the start of Day 2 and begin with 20 big blinds in hopes of spinning their way up to glory.
After Anthony Cierco took down the Day 1a chip lead with 322,000, it was Ireland’s Stephen Kehoe who dominated the second flight as he had 150,000 chips by the third level and finished the day with a whopping total of 331,500.
Rounding out the top-five are Andre Moreira Marques (315,000), Paulo Rodrigues (283,000), Felipe Ketzer (282,500), as well as Emanuel Lopez (272,500).
Top 10 Day 1b Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Kehoe | Ireland | 331,500 |
| 2 | Andre Moreira Marques | Portugal | 315,000 |
| 3 | Paulo Rodrigues | Netherlands | 283,000 |
| 4 | Felipe Fontoura | Brazil | 282,500 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Lopez | Argentina | 272,500 |
| 6 | Vincent Mozgawa | France | 259,500 |
| 7 | Stanislav Urodlivchenko | Ukraine | 255,000 |
| 8 | Jonathon Darling | Italy | 242,500 |
| 9 | Maher Nouira | France | 231,000 |
| 10 | Peter Jaksland | Denmark | 229,500 |
PokerStars Ambassadors Rafael Moraes (155,000), Andre Akkari (68,000), Sam Grafton (58,000), and Benjamin Spragg (42,000) will return on Wednesday with the opportunity to make a run at EPT glory.
Some of the other names coming back for Day 2 include Chino Rheem (215,000), Ghattas Kortas (210,000), Patrik Antonius (189,000), Jason Wheeler (159,000), Daniel Pastor (147,000), Gaelle Baumann (138,000), and Stephen Chidwick (134,000) on top of many others.
Those who gave it their all but fell short despite some firing multiple bullets include Dario Sammartino, Timothy Adams, Robert Mizrachi, Henrik Hecklen, and Vanessa Kade.
Players coming back to Day 2 will begin at Level 11 on 1,000/1,500/1,500 blinds. Six 90-minute levels will be played each day until the conclusion of the tournament, with 20-minute breaks taking place after every level. A dinner break will take place at the discretion of the tournament directors.
Keep it tuned right here as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand providing all the spectacular action all the way until the tournament concludes on Day 6 on Sunday, August 21st.
, Fred Coranson faced an all-in bet for his last 20,000 chips by Stephen Kehoe.
for a set of kings with a jack kicker. 
, for the final king in the deck, but only a 
for his kicker, ending his day short of its completion, while Kehoe is now solidly among the chip leaders.
board, Gaelle Baumann opened to 6,000 from the big blind and Josef Blazek was rather quick to call.
and Baumann took nearly 90 seconds before checking over to Blazek. Blazek needed about 90 seconds himself before putting in a bet of 30,000, which was equal to 60% of Baumann's stack.
and Baumann turned over 
and Vallinas continued for 1,500. Procida called while Liu tossed her cards away.
flop, both players checked to see the 
on the turn. Watson now bet 16,00 and was called by Kamel.
and Jeremy Saderne checked from the cutoff over to Cantea Marian-Catalin on the button, who bet 5,100. Saderne made the call.
river, which put four hearts on the board, both players were content with checking.
but it was no good, falling to Saderne's 
on the turn gave him a set of queens.
river, Liu put out another large bet, this time for 12,000. Vallinas would go into the tank for nearly two minutes before finding a call.