2022 PokerStars EPT Barcelona

The 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour continued today, and the first of two starting flights for the €2,200 Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller saw 1,500 entrants flock to the felt.

Emil Bise bagged the chip lead of Day 1a with a solid stack of 823,000 chips. Bise is coming off a deep run in the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event where he finished in 18th place in a field of 6,313, and he will be looking to best that result soon.

PokerStars Ambassadors Sam Grafton (101,000) and Andre Akkari (218,000) will be bringing a stack into Day 2, and so will a few well-known French players who made it through the day, albeit with shorter stacks, including Antoine Labat (95,000), Julien Martini (61,000), and Gaelle Baumann (31,000).

Other players to bag for the night include Johnny Lodden (477,00), Sirzat Hissou (430,000), Andras Nemeth (378,000), Tsugunari Toma (341,000), Darren Rabinowitz (246,000), Martin Jacobson (189,000), Joey Weissman (181,000), Daniel Rezaei (139,000), Nacho Barbero (131,000), Norbert Szecsi (103,000), and Padraig O'Neill (36,000).

€2,200 Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller Day 1a Top Ten Counts

Players played until the money, which paid the top 225 people, representing 15% of the flight. Players from this Day 1a flight will combine with the survivors from the ongoing Day 1b flight for Day 2, which will restart at 12:00 p.m. local time on Monday, August 15, and is scheduled to play to the end.

Stay tuned as the PokerNews team continues to provide updates until a winner is crowned, along with coverage of other events from the coast of Catalonia at Casino Barcelona.

Claudio Baldini had gotten his 42,000 chips in from middle position and was at risk against Stipe Orec on the button.

Claudio Baldini:
Stipe Orec:

Baldini was in good shape for a double, although the flop provided Orec with a gutshot draw. The turn changed nothing, but the spiked the river to eliminate Baldini on the money bubble, prompting cheers from the room. Baldini tapped the table and fist-bumped his opponent as he made his exit, while the 225 survivors bagged for the night.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day and end-of-day counts.

The board on the river was and three players were still in the hand, with Jason Wheeler all in.

Wheeler was instructed to turn over his cards first, and he revealed for 10 high. The other two players then turned over their hands.

Andras Nemath:
Gergely Kulcsar:

Nemath won the pot with his pair of kings, and therefore Wheeler was eliminated two spots away from the money.

With 228 players remaining, play has slowed as the players are three eliminations away from being in the money and bagging up for the night.

The 230 remaining players are now on a 20-minute break. They are scheduled to play tonight until 225 players remain.

Lucas Monnier ended up getting his 81,000 chips in from early position and was at risk against Hugues Mazerolle under the gun.

Lucas Monnier:
Hugues Mazerolle:

The flop gave Monnier more outs, and the turn gave him a straight. Monnier still needed to avoid the board pairing, and the river confirmed his double.