In a preflop confrontation Rony Halimi was all in from middle position for around 45,000 and up against Antoine Saout who covered him from the button.
Rony Halimi: K♦10♦
Antoine Saout: A♠K♥
Things looked grim for Halimi who had kicker problems against Saout's ace-king. He found no help on the J♦K♠7♣ flop but the 9♣ turn gave him a gutshot which came right in on the 8♣ river. Halimi scored a full double up through Saout six eliminations away from the stone bubble.
In a preflop confrontation Tom Vogelsang was all in from the button for around 100,000 and up against Bradley Harwood who covered him from early position.
Tom Vogelsang: J♠J♥
Bradley Harwood: A♦A♥
The best preflop hand held up on the 9♥Q♥6♣10♣2♥ runout and Vogelsang was sent to the rail three spots shy of making the money while Harwood took the pot.
Meanwhile at another table, Eric Joss was all in from under the gun for around 75,000 and up against Dominique Franchi who covered him from the big blind.
Eric Joss: A♠J♠
Dominique Franchi: K♥Q♥
The board ran out 8♥Q♣6♥6♦3♥ giving Franchi queens up to send Joss to the rail two spots shy of making the money.
Players are now hand for hand on the stone bubble.
There were two all in and calls during hand for hand play. In the first one, Hon Cheong Lee opened from middle position to 15,000 and Ange Besnainou called on the button, as did Thomas Lilamand from the big blind.
After it checked to Lee on the Q♥8♦3♣ flop, he fired out a bet of 20,000 and was met with a shove all in for 105,000 by Besnainou. Lilamand folded, but Lee made the call for his last 60,000.
Hon Cheong Lee: A♣A♦
Ange Besnainou: Q♦Q♣
Besnainou had flopped top set and had Lee drawing to just two outs. The 9♥ turn and 9♦ didn't give Lee the ace he needed to stay alive, and he had busted just shy of making Day 2.
At the same time on another table, Fredrik Andersson got his 185,000 into the middle preflop with Salvatore Camarda making the call to put him at risk.
Fredrik Andersson: A♠K♥
Salvatore Camarda: 8♣8♠
The flop of 8♦K♣5♥ gave Camarda a set of eights and Andersson had to hit running cards to make it to Day 2. The 9♦ turn and 10♣ river sealed Andersson's exit from the tournament at the hands Camarda.
Play has ended for Day 1a and the remaining 211 players have bagged up the chips for Day 2 tomorrow. A full recap of the day's play will follow shortly.
The first of two starting flights for the €2,200 Estrellas Poker Tour (ESPT) High Roller has reached a conclusion here at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona hosted at Casino Barcelona.
Day 1a attracted 1,410 total entrants with only 211 players finding a bag and advancing to Day 2 where they will be guaranteed at least a min-cash. Meanwhile the second starting flight attracted 654 entrants, bringing the total field size to 2,064 and prize pool to €3,962,880.
Peter Kvisthammar of Sweden bagged the Day 1a chip lead, finishing with an impressive 806,000 chips. Kvisthammar is well ahead of the rest of the Day 1a field, with his closest rivals being Robbie Bull (589,000) and Ermo Kosk (586,000).
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Counts
1
Peter Kvisthammar
Sweden
806,000
2
Robbie Bull
United Kingdom
589,000
3
Ermo Kosk
Estonia
586,000
4
Andreas Moser
Switzerland
573,000
5
Bernat Carreras
Spain
547,000
6
Davide Schianchi
Italy
545,000
7
Cedric Schwaederle
France
543,000
8
Eric Sfez
France
530,000
9
Claudio Baldini
Italy
517,000
10
Mathew Frankland
United Kingdom
516,000
Bull has been no stranger to tournament success in 2024 having already enjoyed two five-figure scores this year including a seventh place finish in the €1,100 FPS Main Event at EPT Monte Carlo this past April.
Other notables to make it through the day include Leo Margets (437,000), Cherish Andrews (332,000), Daniel Rezaei (267,000), Antoine Saout (199,000), Bart Lybaert (115,000) and Jason Wheeler (112,000).
Maria Konnikova was the sole PokerStars ambassador to find a bag at the end of the night, finishing with 224,000. Konnikova recently enjoyed a second-place finish in an €1,100 event at EPT Monte Carlo this past april for €52,000 and will be looking to top that with a deep run in this event.
Maria Konnikova
Among the notable players who busted before the end of the night were Maria Ho, [Removed:553], Lucia Navarro, Lucien Cohen, Ankit Ahuja, Stephen Song, Ramon Colillas and PokerStars ambassador Benjamin Spragg.
Day 2 starts at noon local time tomorrow, September 1 and features 60-minute levels. Payouts will be announced at the start of the day. Everyone who has made it through is guaranteed at least a min-cash.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for all your live coverage needs for this event from the moment cards are in the air tomorrow until a winner is crowned on the third and final day taking place on September 2.
