Welcome to Day 1cd of the 2022 Winamax Poker Open Madrid €500 Main Event
It may be Friday the 13th, a date widely feared for bad fortune but that won't stop poker enthusiasts from Spain and France to take their chances at the 2022 Winamax Poker Open Madrid at the Casino Gran Madrid in Torrelodones. Two starting days remain for the marquee WPO Madrid €500 Main Event and a field of 902 entries has emerged in the previous two flights. This puts the popular low-stakes live poker event on track to potentially set a new record attendance and the number to beat is 1,389 entries from back in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Day 1a, 58 players punched their ticket for Day 2 and another 83 contenders followed last night as around one in six participants made it through. All those who weren't as fortunate can enter on either Day 1c as of noon or in the final turbo heat 1d as of 9pm local time. Coincidentally, this will likely be the time when the former flight is about to enter the dinner break upon completion of level sixteen.
Day 1c awaits with 20 levels of 30 minutes each and there will be a break every four levels. The late registration and single re-entry period remains open until the start of level 17, giving recreational poker enthusiasts, Winamax online qualifiers and aspiring poker pros on the European circuit plenty of time to join the fray. More than 500 of them won their seats on the platform of the poker and sports betting giant in Spain and France, while all those with Red Diamond status are automatically invited by the operator.
So far, former WPO Main Event champion and Winamax Sponsored Pro Pierre Calamusa leads the way with a stack of 1,023,000 and he is the only one to turn his starting stack of 50,000 into a seven-figure amount. All those jumping in right from the start will have 250 big blinds at their disposal for one of the most popular six-handed competitions in the world of live poker.
Team Winamax is expected to have a strong showing in the last two starting days as besides Calamusa, only Top Shark winner Loic "Winda" Debregeas has advanced to Day 2 so far. Mustapha Kanit, Davidi Kitai, Romain Lewis, Guillaume Diaz, François Pirault, Adrian Mateos, Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, Alejandro Romero, Leo Margets, and Gaelle Baumann will very likely attempt to join Calamusa and Debregeas for Day 2.
Mateos and Margets will also have other duties on their daily agenda as well. As part of the Winamax entertainment program, the two Spanish poker pros will be hosting high-quality poker workshop in the afternoon as of 4pm local time. The side activities are then rounded up by a player's party in the evening with two themes: luck (or the lack of it), and fear.
It will certainly be a busy day in the poker room of the Casino Gran Madrid as not just the two flights of the WPO €500 Main Event but also various other six-handed side events are slated to take place. Stay tuned for more right here on PokerNews as the live reporting team will focus on the action of Day 1c from start to finish.
, Rami Iskandar bet 2,000 in the big blind. Jeremy Tan raised to 7,000 from under the gun and Fernande Vazquez folded while Iskandar reluctantly called.
followed on the turn and Iskandar checked, then tank-called a bet worth 15,000 by Tan to see the 
on the river. Iskandar tanked for nearly one and a half minutes before moving all-in and Tan snap-called.
of Iskandar were tabled and Tan gasped "quel chattard" = what a luckbox" in French as he flashed the 
for the flopped nut straight to hit the rail.
flop, Cassagne check-called a bet worth 10,000 by Fernandez and they checked down the 
turn and 
river. Benitez rolled over the 
.
to deal the final blow.
for everybody to see and the floor was called. Eventually, it was ruled that the hand was live and Budia Alvarez had just called the four-bet with all options still remaining for both players.
, Budia Alvarez had already pushed all-in and Guidez folded the 
river. Guillaume Giraudeau pushed all-in for what appeared to be 75,000 and he was snap-called by the only player who covered him, which was Gino Cardenia.
for an underpair and Cardenia dragged in the huge pot with 
flop, then check-called the 
flop.
face up.
turn made things official as the 
river became a formality.