On one of the first hands of the day, Pablo Aranovich moved all in from the big blind and Fahredin Mustafov snap-called on the button.
Pablo Aranovich: K♥Q♥
Fahredin Mustafov: A♥A♠
Mustafov had woken up with aces as Aranovich couldn't connect with the 7♦8♦3♦6♦2♥ board. The stacks were counted down and Mustafov had 51,500 remaining, while Aranovich was covered by just 1,500 and sent to an early Day 2 exit.
Andres Korn opened to 3,500 from middle position before Bekim Murtezi three-bet to 10,000 from the hijack. Sandor Hadnagy cold-called out of the big blind and Korn also stuck around.
Murtezi continued for 12,000 on the A♠10♥9♥ flop. Hadnagy then moved all-in for 33,500 before Korn rejammed for around 60,000. Murtezi snap-called as the bigger stack and the cards were tabled.
Sandor Hadnagy: A♣Q♦
Andres Korn: 7♥6♥
Bekim Murtezi: 9♣9♦
Each player had a bit of something, but Murtezi was the favorite with his set of nines. The K♦ turn gave Hadnagy a gutshot to Broadway while Korn still had his combo draw.
The 10♠ completed the board to fill Murtezi up and he downed two opponents early on in Day 2.
Welcome to Day 2 of the €5,300 Main Event at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona, hosted at the magnificent Casino Barcelona. Leading the pack is France’s Jeremie Zouari, who built an impressive stack of 402,500 during Day 1b last night, making him the only player to surpass the 400,000-chip mark.
Bringing in the second largest stack after bagging the Day 1a chip lead is Joost Hollak of the Netherlands, with 364,500. Just shy of making the top ten is the EPT Barcelona reigning Main Event champion Simon Wiciak with 212,000. The PokerStars Ambassador might start to experience a bit of déjà vu, having lifted the trophy in this event exactly one year ago today.
So far, there have been 1,891 entries from the two opening flights, with 628 having managed to bring a stack through to Day 2 today. Late registration remains open until the start of play, so that number is expected to grow. The official prize pool and payouts will be announced shortly after registration closes.
Top 10 Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Jeremie Zouari
France
402,500
268
2
Joost Hollak
Netherlands
364,500
243
3
Jorge Artiga-Pacheco
Canada
306,500
204
4
Georgios Zachmanidis
Greece
304,500
203
5
Ram Sanati
Australia
303,000
202
6
Yevhenii Kuzmin
Russia
300,500
200
7
Yuan Li
Hong Kong
286,500
191
8
Andrea Salamone
Italy
275,000
183
9
David Miscikowski
United States
271,000
181
10
Matteo Orchide
Italy
263,000
175
Also in the hunt today with 122,000 chips and positioned in the middle of the pack is Derk van Luijk from the Netherlands. Luijk is no stranger to success, having already feasted on EPT Main Event glory earlier this year when he lifted the trophy at the tour's most recent stop in Monte Carlo just a few months ago.
An array of notables will be in the field today, all in the hopes of building up a stack to bring through to Day 3. Some of those include Stephen Song (230,500), Mark Teltscher (199,000), Maria Konnikova (128,500), Uri Gilboa (120,000), Davidi Kitai (122,500), Patrik Antonius (51,000), Tom Middleton (50,000), and two time EPT winner Mike Watson (47,000).
Cards will be in the air at noon local time, with play resuming at Level 11, featuring 1,000/1,500 blinds and a 1,500 big blind ante. Levels will now be extended to 90 minutes each, with a 20-minute break after every level and a 75-minute break after Level 14.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you live coverage from the tournament floor throughout Day 2 of the highly anticipated Main Event here in Barcelona.