On Friday, Season XI of the World Poker Tour rolled on with Day 1a of WPT Barcelona at the Casino Barcelona. Of the 106 entrants only 59 survived the flight, and no player accumulated more chips than Manuel Bevand.

The Frenchman bagged 141,200 in chips with help from a three-handed pot he played against Scott Baumstein and Artem Litvinov. Bevand fired bullets on the flop and the turn, forcing out Baumstein on the flop, but Litvinov called both times. On the river of a king-high board, Bevand opted to check, prompting Litvinov to bet. Bevand tank-called with a pair of kings, Litvinov tossed jack-high into the muck, and Bevand crossed the 100,000-chip threshold.

Kevin MacPhee also survived Day 1a with a healthy amount of chips, bagging 95,400. He eliminated WPT Champions Club member Philippe Ktorza when the two got all of the chips in the middle on an flop. Ktorza had a pair of aces, but MacPhee held queen-six for bottom two pair and held.

Gaelle Baumann, who bubbled the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event final table, survived Day 1a despite taking a big hit. She lost a very large pot against Lauri Varonen, where Baumann held pocket kings, and Varonen pocket jacks. The board ran out with four spades, and Varonen held the lone spade to double up.

Baumann bounced back, and ended the day with a knockout of her own. In one of the final hands played, Baumstein three-bet shoved with five-four off suit only to be called by Baumstein, who held queen-jack suited. Baumann won the hand, sending Baumstein packing.

Faraz Jaka came out of the gates strong, but lost a big pot to end the night, leaving him with just 14,000 chips. After firing out a bet on the flop (), and the turn (), Jaka was faced with a check-shove on the river () from David Konstandoff. Jaka tank-folded, and Konstandoff tabled for the nut-flush.

Frustrated, Jaka took to Twitter:

Other notables able to survive the day include Marcin Wydrowski, Bryn Kenney, Toby Lewis, Steve O’Dwyer and Daniel Cates.

Frenchman Guillaume Darcourt has had a tough few weeks, busting in the early levels of both Day 1a and Day 1b of WPT Venice. It was more of the same on Friday, as Darcourt found himself on the rail by Level 4. He lost a large pot with pocket queens against an opponent’s pocket aces, and was eliminated when he flopped trips on a board only for his opponent, who held , to fill up.

Joining Darcourt on the list of casualties were Lukas Berglund, Matt Salsberg, Michael Benvenuti, Arlo Dotson and Davidi Kitai.

Day 1b begins on Saturday at 14:00 CET. Stay tuned to PokerNews for a recap of the action once play has been completed.

Data and photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.

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September 17 2012, Donnie Peters

Sunday marked the kickoff of the 2012 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open. After eight 75-minute levels of play, Day 1a ended with Robert Boyko as chip leader. He bagged up 173,100 in chips, and from the starting field of 374 players, only 200 remain.

In an interesting twist to the WPT, rebuys have been allowed at this event, making things slightly different than the more common reentry format the WPT often uses. On the two starting days, Day 1a and Day 1b, players are allowed to rebuy as often as they’d like throughout the first four levels. Those not making it through from Day 1a can also reenter on Day 1b.

Because of this rebuy format, not many notables hit the rail on Day 1a; however, a few did. WPT Champions Club members Gavin Smith, Andy Frankenberger and Will “The Thrill” Failla were all eliminated, and joining them were Jeff Madsen, Steve Dannenmann, Jesse Sylvia and Matt Glantz.

Another notable player to hit the rail, Mike “Little Man” Sica, was eliminated in a three-way clash between Jared Hamby and Richie Marshall during Level 5. According to the WPT Live Updates team, the blinds were at 100/200/25 and a board of was in the middle between the three players. The three players got all the chips in, and Hamby revealed and was ahead of Marshall’s and Sica’s . After the completed the board on the river, both Marshall and Sica were headed out the door.

Failla was eliminated during Level 6 with the blinds at 150/300/25 when his lost to Jake Schwartz’s after the board ran out .

There were plenty of well-known players who made it out of Day 1a and did so with healthy chip stacks. WPT Champions Club members Barry Greenstein, Shawn Cunix and Carlos Mortensen each bagged over 100,000, and the WPT’s own Tony Dunst concluded his day with 125,000.

Others who advanced were Allen Kessler, David Williams, Eric Baldwin, Vinny Pahuja, Matt Affleck, John Racener and former WPT Borgata winner Dwyte Pilgrim.

The cards will be in the air at 1200 EDT (1700 BST) for Day 1b, and another few hundred players will be in the mix. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap and the progress toward another WPT champion takes places.

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Data and photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.

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