A new record for the Winamax Poker Open €500 Main Event is already locked up and the question now remains whether or not the operator will also set a new overall record. The other popular live poker festival, SISMIX, had created a field of 2,036 entries in the last edition in 2019.
It is not out of reach that this will be surpassed here in Madrid as a long registration period on Day 1c as well as the entire turbo heat 1d are still available for poker enthusiasts from near and far to join upon.
Abraham Benitez had lost the vast majority of his stack very early with Clement Cassagne benefitting from it as the chip leader on the table.
The action then saw a squeeze to 4,000 by Cyril Fernandez and Benitez got the last 6,475 in with Cassagne and Fernandez both calling.
After the flop, Cassagne check-called a bet worth 10,000 by Fernandez and they checked down the turn and river. Benitez rolled over the for king-high and Fernandez had that beat with the .
However, it was Cassagne who had the best of it again with to deal the final blow.
At almost the same time, Jorge Ufano was eliminated from the very next table and both Benitez and Ufano are expected to re-enter shortly.
Day 1c is using the full capacity of the Casino Gran Madrid and a new record has already been set thanks to an enormous field of 520 entries in this flight alone. With such an early lead, it has nearly reached the heights of Day 1b and will likely pull in several hundred more players en route to create an incredible turnout for the first Winamax Poker Open in three years.
With 5,500 in the middle to the three-way flop of , 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.
The 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.
The 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.
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.
Tournament Room at Casino Gran Madrid
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.
flop, Cassagne check-called a bet worth 10,000 by Fernandez and they checked down the 
turn and 
river. Benitez rolled over the 
for king-high and Fernandez had that beat with the 
.
to deal the final blow.
, 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.
