button in SafariAndoni Larrabe Bursts the Bubble to Bag the Chip Lead
After the last break of Day 1a of the €1,500 World Series of Poker Circuit Madrid Main Event, three players were battling for the chip lead. And at Casino Gran Vía, all three were seated at the same table!
Matevos Isaakyan initially held the biggest stack, but he allowed Antonios Onoufriou (171,000) and then Ryan Plant (182,000) to double up during the last minutes of the day, leaving him with 521,000 by the end of the night. Borja Camara was also in contention but lost a flip to Terje Bengtsen (155,000), dropping back in the standings with 628,000.
Meanwhile, Cesar Montanes Alonso was the only one of the three to maintain his stack, finishing with 728,000. However, that wasn't enough to claim the chip lead, which belonged to Andoni Larrabe Sanchez with 764,000. At another table, the Spaniard found aces on the bubble to send Denis Karakashi home empty-handed and bag the chip lead.
He leads the 23 players who qualified for Day 2 from the 152 entries recorded in this opening flight, which has already brought the total prize pool to more than €200,000.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andoni Larrabe Sanchez | Spain | 764,000 | 76 |
| 2 | Cesar Montanes Alonso | Spain | 728,000 | 73 |
| 3 | Youssef Aboussaad | Morocco | 677,000 | 68 |
| 4 | Borja Camara | Spain | 628,000 | 63 |
| 5 | Matevos Isaakyan | Georgia | 521,000 | 52 |
| 6 | Mario Ramirez Padilla | Spain | 489,000 | 49 |
| 7 | Roman Skudar | Ukraine | 462,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Marcus Stein | United States | 356,000 | 36 |
| 9 | Tom-Aksel Bedell | Norway | 349,000 | 35 |
| 10 | Thomas Collenot | France | 335,000 | 34 |
Youssef Aboussaad also enjoyed a very good day, bagging 677,000. The same goes for Mario Ramirez Padilla (489,000), Roman Skudar (462,000), Marcus Stein (356,000) and Tom-Aksel Bedell (349,000), who had to double up several times to finally get things back on track.
In the mourning Spanish capital, it comes as no surprise that the majority of players to qualify for Day 2 are locals, including Santiago Bascuas Meliz (305,000), Miguel Sanchez Rodriguez (280,000), Jose Martinez Martinez (242,000), Juan Placer Rueda (207,000), David San Roman Cembrero (161,000), David Algarra (155,000) and Alvaro Serrano Ruiz (64,000), who bagged the shortest stack of the field. Pyeongkang Kim (128,000) and Roman Serko (85,000) will also return with short stacks.
Following this opening flight, the tournament continues on Thursday, October 29, at 12:30 p.m. with Day 1b. It will follow the same structure as Day 1a, with a 50,000 starting stack, 40-minute levels and late registration open for 12 levels, closing at approximately 10:20 p.m. The day will end once 15% of the field remains and the qualified players will reach the money.
PokerNews will be on site in Madrid to bring you all the action from this second flight of the WSOP Circuit Madrid Main Event!