August 20 2012, Chris Hall
On Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event, 403 players bought in for the “5,000 requisite. On Day 1b, however, the Casino de Barcelona was overrun with players – 670 of them – taking the total field over the one-thousand mark and making this tournament the biggest EPT ever held in Spain.
After eight hard-fought levels, 370 players remained and the chip leader was Guy Bachar who finished with 193,100 in chips. Samir Hadad (169,200) and Hila Dan Ionut (168,400) follow in second and third respectively. Bachar made a late charge to the top when took the chip lead in the last level of the day after knocking out Team PokerStars Pro Sandra Naujoks with 
against 
. Bachar’s finish was still not enough to overtake Day 1a’s Aku Joentausta who will head into Tuesday’s Day 2 with the overall chip lead of 236,200.
Over 20 Team PokerStars Pros took part on Day 1b and the majority of them fared very well. Those who made an early exit include Dario Minieri, Jonathan Duhamel, Christophe De Meulder, Nacho Barbero and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who got it all in on a flop with a set of eights only for his opponent’s pocket aces to outdraw him by the river. Johnny Lodden was forced to grind a short stack for most of the day but fell near the end of the day when he lost with 
in a flip against 
.
Theo Jorgensen (129,000), Ivan Demidov (100,800), Ville Wahlbeck (89,600), Joao Nunes (79,500), Daniel Negreanu (48,500), Ana Marquez (45,000), Luca Pagano (35,000), Martin Staszko (33,400), Rino Mathis (26,900), Barry Greenstein (20,800), Jude Ainsworth (12,100), and Jason Mercier (8,500), navigated their ways through the minefield of a day and will return to Day 2. They’ll be joined by Team SportStars Fatima Moreira De Melo (89,100), and Boris Becker (42,700).
The field on Day 1b was stacked with notables at every table. Of those making it through to Day 2 were EPT Grand Final runner-up Lucille Cailly (131,400) Gus Hansen (103,500) Jonathan Karamalikis (102,500) Nicolas Levi (48,600) and former EPT winner Roberto Romanello (31,400).
There were also a number of eliminations including Chino Rheem, who barely lasted a level; Dan Shak, whose kings were no match against Eddy Sabat’s aces; and Praz Bansi’s, whose return to poker after a five month break didn’t end well – he lost with queens twice in quick succession and was sent to the rail. Chris Moorman, JP Kelly, former EPT winners Rupert Elder and Kevin MacPhee, Sam Chartier and Sunday’s “50,000 Super High Roller runner-up JC Alvarado were also part of the eliminations on Day 1b.
The combined surviving players from the two starting fields will create a field close to 600 – will begin play at 1200 CET (0300 PDT). Follow along with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team for all of the live updates from this record-breaking EPT.
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May 14 2012, Martin Harris, Mickey Doft
There weren’t any champions crowned on Day 8 of the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) at PokerStars, but Sunday’s action did set the stage for a big Day 9 that will see 15 winners determined. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb and Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom already have two SCOOP wins apiece this series and they’re in good position for a third title. They’ll begin Day 2 of Event 20 – H in fifth and sixth place, respectively, out of the 53 returning players. Meanwhile, Stefan “I’am_Sound” Huber commands the biggest stack in Event 21 – H with 60 players left.
PokerStars SCOOP 20 – H – $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em ($750K Guaranteed)
| $2,000+$100 | 782 | $1,564,000 |
Sunday saw another two-day $2,000 no-limit hold’em tourney arrive on the SCOOP schedule, and many of poker’s elite were among the massive field of 782 players. The prize pool more than doubled the guarantee, and practically every table was filled with recognizable usernames and avatars.
After six hours the field had been trimmed to 250 players, with David “Betudontbet” Emmons, Brian “brianm15″ England, and “Milana Jones” having pushed to the top of the leaderboard as the only players over 100,000. Ivan Demidov and 2012 SCOOPerstar Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom were right there on the front page of the counts as well, both sitting inside the top 20.
As play continued and the field fell below 200 players, Demidov and Blom joined the growing group of players in the 100,000-chip club despite being seated side-by-side. A little while later another familiar name appeared to occupy the seat on the other side of Blom – current SCOOP Player of the Series leader Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb. Deeb arrived sporting a hefty stack of better than 170,000, good enough for second position at the time.
Shortly after Deeb sat down, Demidov was explaining to a railbird how he is currently in Kiev, Ukraine for the Russian Poker Series, although his short-term plan was to be otherwise occupied. “Day two is tomorrow,” typed Demidov, referring to this event’s two-day structure.
Ivan Demidov: soooooo i ll be busy trying to take one from shaun
shaundeeb: Ive had enough
shaundeeb: you can have one
Ivan Demidov: 
Blom would see his stack start to slide while the other two maintained their chips, but the Swede was eventually moved to another table, this one featuring fellow Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel.
Indeed, every table in this one was a tough one. As they approached the nine-and-a-half-hour mark, 100 players remained, led by “scout326,” “micide,” and “SUNDAYKING.” Deeb was right there in fourth, with “ekziter,” Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, “THEDUTCH414,” and Duhamel all in the top ten.
The money bubble was soon approaching, with Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (98th), Andrew “foucault82″ Brokos (95th) and Taylor “tRaMp$d0PrAy” Paur (93rd) among those just missing the cash. Finally, “TheMatadorCC” was the unfortunate 91st-place finisher and the bubble had burst.
Among those hitting the rail over the next couple of hours and realizing a profit in this one were “kirbynator” (82nd – $4,066.40), McLean “PureProfitFo” Karr (81st – $4,379.20), David “Betudontbet” Emmons (80th – $4,379.20), George Danzer (76th – $4,379.20), “THEDUTCH4141″ (75th – $4,379.20), “bar-bar9999″ (67th – $4,992), and David “CrabMaki” Shallow (65th – 4,692).
That’s when a big hand developed in which “K_0_S_T_Y_A” six-bet shoved a stack of 142,163 (more than 70 big blinds) with 
and Demidov called with 
. The Russian’s hand held, and soon thereafter Deeb knocked “K_0_S_T_Y_A” out in 64th ($4,692).
As the final levels played out, Ken “kenny05″ Smaron moved up into the top spot with more than 400,000, with Demidov his nearest challenger hovering just below 300,000. Duhamel, Deeb, O’Dwyer, and Blom jockeyed for position in the next four spots. Meanwhile, the final eliminations of the night took place, including Giuseppe “Ansgar2000″ Pantaleo (63rd – $5,004.80), Andre “aakkari” Akkari (60th – $5,004.80), “KaptianKush” (57th – $5,004.80), and “jonwayne69″ (54th – $5,474).
Just 53 remained when play was stopped for the night. Here’s a look at the stacked top 10:
| $200+$15 | 5,516 | $1,103,200 |
Just 63 players survived to return on Monday in this one, with $172,575.88 awaiting the player who manages to survive Day 2.
“Pvd170590″ was the first player to a million chips, getting there after a little over nine hours of play when less than 200 players remained, though would ultimately fall in 82nd place ($1,412.09). Others lasting until almost night’s end on Sunday included “Unicum next” (70th, $1,720.99) and “rabbit195417″ (64th, $1,720.99).
Here’s what the top 10 looked like when play was stopped on Sunday night:
| 1 | The Giggy | 2,146,557 |
| 2 | bostanu24 | 2,057,153 |
| 3 | holyguacmole | 2,010,653 |
| 4 | MD IACONI | 1,878,346 |
| 5 | Fairy verde | 1,674,918 |
| 6 | Ryan “Daut44″ Daut | 1,546,463 |
| 7 | IraiseYouUp | 1,432,104 |
| 8 | yugurt1961 | 1,428,648 |
| 9 | ShippityShip | 1,428,356 |
| 10 | JC “PrtyPsux” Alvarado | 1,424,064 |
PokerStars SCOOP 20 – L – $25 No-Limit Hold’em ($250K Guaranteed)
| $25+$2 | 22,013 | $550,325 |
Another big field in the “Low” version of Event #20 meant all three of the event’s guarantees were more than doubled by the prize pool. As in the “High” version, 53 players made it through to Monday’s Day 2 in this one. A cool $55,048.04 awaits the eventual winner.
Here’s what the top of the counts look like heading into Monday:
