Jesse Lonis opened to 17,000 from under the gun on the stone-bubble, forcing folds from all other players to steal the blinds. Lonis showed that he had opened 9♠7♥ from under the gun. Jack Hardcastle, who was seated immediately to Lonis' left, voiced his disapproval over the open as Lonis scooped the blinds.
Davide Muccini open-shoved for 65,000 from the cutoff and was called by Domenico Casalnuovo who covered him from the button.
Davide Muccini: K♥Q♣
Domenico Casalnuovo: A♦A♠
Muccini was in dire shape against Casalnuovo's aces until the J♣7♣9♣K♣2♣ runout gave Muccini a flush to score the double up and prolong his tournament life.
As hand-for-hand play got underway, just one more player needed to be eliminated for before the flight could come to a close. Players needed to make Day 2 in order to make the money, but for two unlucky souls, their hopes of cashing came crashing down.
Firstly, Jack Hardcastle limped in for 8,000 from middle position and Victor Hugo Goncalves Martins was forced all in from the big blind.
Victor Hugo Goncalves Martins: 8♠5♠
Jack Hardcastle: K♣Q♦
No surprises came on the 6♣A♠K♥3♣J♥ runout which meant Martins was one of the day's bubble boys.
On the adjacent table, Lucas Rocha had raised to 16,000 from under the gun and Ignacio Sanz three-bet to 40,000 in the hijack. Shuangyi Ye then shoved from the big blind which got Rocha to fold, but Sanz called off the remainder of his stack which put him at risk.
Ignacio Sanz: J♥J♠
Shuangyi Ye: Q♠Q♦
Again, the board delivered nothing out of the ordinary as the 10♦2♠4♠9♣A♠ runout meant Sanz was the second player to be eliminated on the bubble.
The 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona continued today with two more flights in the PokerStars Estrellas Poker Tour (ESPT) Main Event playing out at the Casino Barcelona. Day 1d drew a sizable 382 entries and reached its conclusion during Level 18 when two players were eliminated during the same hand, which left 56 players who all advanced to Day 2.
Turkey's Abdullah Turan sits on top of the leaderboard after he bagged up 453,000 chips in his pursuit of European Poker Tour (EPT) glory. Turan has six EPT cashes under his belt and has added a seventh here in Barcelona, & with the potential of a deep run on the horizon there will be eyes on the Turkish player when Day 2 gets underway.
Day 1d Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Abdullah Turan
Turkey
453,000
2
Jesse Lonis
United States
434,000
3
Andreas Berggren
Sweden
428,000
4
Rafael Coutada
Spain
390,000
5
Eduard Barsegian
Russia
365,000
6
Renat Bohdanov
Ukraine
360,000
7
Axel Bayout
France
331,000
8
Kevin Hasler
Switzerland
325,000
9
Shuangyi Ye
China
323,000
10
Ermanno Di Nicola
Italy
316,000
Sitting second in the counts is none other than the number one ranked tournament player on the Global Poker Index (GPI), Jesse Lonis, who managed to accumulate 434,000 chips throughout the day. The American player has been playing exceptional poker as of late and will be looking to use his vast experience to navigate his way through another bumper field.
Another player to break into the top ten stacks was France's Axel Bayout, who ended the day with a respectable 331,000 which is good for seventh in the counts. It seems that this is the first EPT cash of Bayout's career, and would be an incredible story if he could run deep.
There were a total of 57 players up for grabs on Day 2 but a dramatic double elimination on the bubble saw both Ignacio Sanz and Victor Martins leave empty-handed. Sanz ran his pocket jacks into the pocket queens of Shuangyi Ye, while Martins was forced all in with eight-five and didn't improve against the king-queen of Jack Hardcastle.
Kenny Hallaert
Team Pokerstars' Kenny Hallaert also managed to make it into Day 2, albeit with a short stack of 72,000, and will have his work cut out for him when Day 2 arrives. Hallaert's stack was up and down throughout the flight and the Belgian professional did manage a double-up late in the day but could never build on that momentum.
With four of the eight opening flights already in the books, a total of 1,782 entries have already been recorded for the ESPT Main Event and 267 players have already booked their seat in Day 2.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we continue to provide live updates from the Main Event and many others here at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona.
