€10,300 High Roller
Day 2 Completed
2017 PokerStars Championship Barcelona
€10,300 High Roller
Day: 2
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
A 10-hour Day 2 in the €10,300 PokerStars Championship Barcelona High Roller saw a field of 266 hopefuls being whittled down to just 34. Although everyone already has a sweet payday of €25,380 locked up, each of them still has a shot at the massive first-place prize of €1,036,800 that awaits the victor on Sunday night.
In an exceptionally strong field, it was EPT8 Tallinn champion Ronny Kaiser who bagged the overall chip lead with 2,696,000. After grabbing the chip lead earlier in the day, Kaiser applied a lot of pressure in the bubble phase to build his stack out even more. After cracking pocket jacks with pocket eights, the Swiss grabbed a commanding lead and never looked back. In the last level of the night, Kaiser spun it up even further to end the day with a substantial lead over his nearest challengers.
Kaiser is followed by Luis Rodriguez Cruz (1,893,000), who sits in second place. Rodriguez, known under his online moniker "Turko_man", is one of the 12 players that has won the Sunday Million on PokerStars twice. Boris Kolev (1,370,000), Parker Talbot (1,358,000) and recent WSOP Main Event final table participant Benjamin Pollak (1,353,000) round out the top 5. Notables still in contention are Conor Beresford (1,033,000), JC Alvarado (840,000), Christoph Vogelsang (739,000), Sam Grafton (658,000) and Christopher Kruk (510,000), although nearly everyone left at this point could be considered a notable in this stacked field.
Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody will be the sole representative of the red spade on the final day. The Brit bagged 1,080,000 and sits in 10th place after two days. His teammates Bertrand Grospellier, Felipe Ramos and Jeff Gross all busted in the early stages of Day 2 and went home empty-handed.
The same fate befell Robert Mizrachi, Kitty Kuo, Isaac Haxton, Byron Kaverman, and Anton Wigg, who all busted close to the money.
The bubble phase lasted more than an hour, and the dubious honor of eventual bubble boy went to Raul Martinez. After seeing multiple people double up already, Martinez went for it with ace-queen suited after Markus Durnegger had raised early. Durnegger held ace-king and won to secure all players of at least €18,400.
Once in the money, Govert Metaal, Benny Spindler, Ben Tollerene, Andrew Chen, Philipp Gruissem, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, John Juanda, Jasper Meijer van Putten, Ari Engel, Julian Stuer and Steve O'Dwyer all added another money finish to their already impressive poker resumés. Kyle Bowker became the latest casualty of the day and received €25,380, while the remaining 34 bagged up their chips shortly after.
Sunday at 12:30 p.m. local time, the third and final day will kick off. With levels scheduled at 60 minutes for the remainder of the tournament, an ultra-long day is to be expected, although level time might be shortened later during the day by tournament director's discretion. Play will resume in Level 21 with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a running ante of 3,000.
Follow PokerNews throughout the day for updates on this gigantic event, that will make one player a millionaire on Sunday night.
High Roller Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sergio Cabrera | Spain | 846,000 | 42 |
| 1 | 2 | Benjamin Pollak | France | 1,343,000 | 67 |
| 1 | 3 | Davide Marchi | Italy | 716,000 | 36 |
| 1 | 4 | Quan Zhou | China | 1,189,000 | 59 |
| 1 | 5 | Marc-Olivier Perrault | Canada | 375,000 | 19 |
| 1 | 6 | Conor Beresford | UK | 1,033,000 | 52 |
| 1 | 8 | Timur Margolin | Israel | 255,000 | 13 |
| 2 | 1 | Joaquin Walter | Uruguay | 310,000 | 16 |
| 2 | 2 | Jakub Michalak | Poland | 579,000 | 29 |
| 2 | 3 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | 739,000 | 37 |
| 2 | 4 | Francis-Nicolas Bouchard | Canada | 157,000 | 8 |
| 2 | 5 | Jens Lakemeier | Germany | 695,000 | 35 |
| 2 | 7 | Parker Talbot | Canada | 1,358,000 | 68 |
| 3 | 1 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 824,000 | 41 |
| 3 | 2 | Ronny Kaiser | Switzerland | 2,696,000 | 135 |
| 3 | 4 | JC Alvarado | Mexico | 840,000 | 42 |
| 3 | 5 | Stefan Schillhabel | Germany | 230,000 | 12 |
| 3 | 6 | Markus Durnegger | Austria | 1,258,000 | 63 |
| 3 | 7 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | Greece | 498,000 | 25 |
| 3 | 8 | Tomi Brouk | Finland | 747,000 | 37 |
| 4 | 1 | Jake Cody | UK | 1,080,000 | 54 |
| 4 | 2 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | 381,000 | 19 |
| 4 | 4 | Alexandre Reard | France | 340,000 | 17 |
| 4 | 5 | Oliver Weis | Germany | 806,000 | 40 |
| 4 | 6 | Luis Rodriguez Cruz | Spain | 1,893,000 | 95 |
| 4 | 7 | Pascal Hartmann | Germany | 531,000 | 27 |
| 4 | 8 | Emil Patel | USA | 1,222,000 | 61 |
| 5 | 1 | Christopher Kruk | Canada | 510,000 | 26 |
| 5 | 2 | Shawn Buchanan | Canada | 383,000 | 19 |
| 5 | 3 | Marius Gierse | Germany | 1,292,000 | 65 |
| 5 | 5 | Franz Ditz | Germany | 605,000 | 30 |
| 5 | 6 | Fabrice Maltez | France | 184,000 | 9 |
| 5 | 7 | Sam Grafton | UK | 658,000 | 33 |
| 5 | 8 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | 1,370,000 | 69 |
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,696,000
696,000
|
696,000 |
|
||
|
1,893,000
278,000
|
278,000 |
|
||
|
1,370,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
||
|
1,358,000
128,000
|
128,000 |
|
||
|
1,353,000
163,000
|
163,000 |
|
1,292,000
312,000
|
312,000 |
|
1,258,000
108,000
|
108,000 |
|
1,222,000
382,000
|
382,000 |
|
1,189,000
314,000
|
314,000 |
|
1,080,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
|
||
|
1,033,000
-17,000
|
-17,000 |
|
846,000
-54,000
|
-54,000 |
|
840,000
-160,000
|
-160,000 |
|
824,000
334,000
|
334,000 |
|
806,000
276,000
|
276,000 |
|
|
||
|
747,000
617,000
|
617,000 |
|
|
||
|
739,000
134,000
|
134,000 |
|
716,000
411,000
|
411,000 |
|
695,000
340,000
|
340,000 |
|
|
||
|
658,000
83,000
|
83,000 |
|
|
||
|
605,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
579,000
99,000
|
99,000 |
|
531,000
246,000
|
246,000 |
|
510,000
-140,000
|
-140,000 |
|
498,000
273,000
|
273,000 |
|
||
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
Players will bag up if they can make it through the next four hands.
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
Markus Durnegger and Conor Beresford each put in 118,000 on a board of 
, and Durnegger, who was in the big blind, used a time extension on the 
river. He covered his face and then slid in 225,000. Beresford tanked and muttered something about being happy he checked the flop. He decided to call.
Durnegger showed 
but it was no good against 
.
After the hand, Sam Grafton teased Beresford about his reluctant call.
"Beresford Slowrolls or Beresford Nitrolls," he suggested as the titles for this post. "Pressure Getting to Beresford."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,150,000
-450,000
|
-450,000 |
|
|
1,050,000
560,000
|
560,000 |
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
Steve O'Dwyer raised to 180,000, keeping 3,000 behind. Franz Ditz shoved behind him, and with the looming payjump O'Dwyer used up all his time bank chips before committing the final chips.
Steve O'Dwyer:
Franz Ditz: 
O'Dwyer flopped a flush draw on 
but wouldn't get any more help on the 
turn and 
river. The accomplished high roller, who already amassed an astonishing $18M+ in lifetime winnings, added another €22,150 on top of that for his 40th place finish.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
560,000
277,000
|
277,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
In a Spain vs. Spain clash, it was Sergio Cabrera who bet 105,000 on a 
board. On the button, Luis Rodriguez made it 330,000, and Cabrera called.
Cabrera checked the 
on the river. Without hesitation, Rodriguez bet 350,000, which proved too much to be for Cabrera who folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,615,000
215,000
|
215,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
900,000
-250,000
|
-250,000 |
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
Emil Patel defended his big blind from an under-the-gun open to 33,000 by Samu Riihela. Patel check-called 25,000 on the flop and checked the 
turn. Riihela barreled much bigger for 100,000. Patel again called. He checked the 
river and Riihela said he was all in. It was about 250,000 effective.
Patel swore softly but called before his 30 seconds were about to be up.
Riihela showed for top pair, but Patel had 
for backdoor two pair after he missed a flush draw.
"Sorry to nitroll you," he said.
"Brutal," was all Riihela could muster.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
840,000
550,000
|
550,000 |
|
|
50,000
-540,000
|
-540,000 |
Level 20
: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante
Jens Lakemeier has been joking that he wants someone to end the pain, and Toby Lewis just tried. However, his 
did not prevail against Lakemeier's 
as the German flopped trip jacks and doubled up for about 160,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
358,000
-236,000
|
-236,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
355,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
|
||