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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October 26 2011, Donnie Peters

The final table was set on Wednesday night for the 2011 PokerStars.it European Poker Tour San Remo, Italy. It was another short day as the field of 24 players got down to eight in very little time.

At the end of the day, Australian Daniel Neilson led the way with 6.7 million in chips. He quietly chipped up throughout the day before ending the night by sending Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden home in ninth place. Neilson has been on a nice run in Europe recently. A few weeks ago, he placed 45th in the EPT London Main Event for £13,000 and is now set to make a lot more cash as he eyes the “800,000 top prize.

When the day began, Chris McClung had the lead with 3.148 million. Instead of writing about how he ran over the field, all we can do is wonder where all his chips went. McClung, with his ultra-aggressive style, had his foot on the gas all day. In fact, it seemed like he never slowed down from the start of play on Day 1. On Wednesday, that style seemed to get the best of him. It allowed him to grant numerous double-ups to his opponents before he was eliminated in 14th place.

One of the players McClung doubled was Kevin MacPhee. MacPhee was all-in before the flop for 1.742 million, and he was tangling with McClung. MacPhee showed and McClung turned over .

The flop reversed the outs for the two men, and now McClung was looking for one of MacPhee’s kings to make Broadway. The turn was a blank, though, and the river was even blanker.

Although that hand described above did give MacPhee the lead, he went on to lose a big one against Dimitar Danchev. MacPhee raised to 110,000 from under the gun with the blinds at 25K/50K/5K and Danchev called from the cutoff seat to see the flop come down . MacPhee stayed on the gas and bet 125,000. Danchev called.

The landed on the turn, but MacPhee didn’t slow down. He fired a bet of 275,000. Danchev stuck right with him and made the call. The river paired the board with the and MacPhee bet 460,000 rather quickly. Danchev double-handed a raise to 1.2 million. Only a few seconds passed before MacPhee announced a call.

Danchev tabled for a full house, queens full of aces. MacPhee sprung from his chair and slammed over the for a straight that was no longer good, losing about half of his chips in the hand.

MacPhee will enter the final table with 1.115 million in chips and has a shot at becoming the first two-time EPT champion. In 2010, MacPhee won EPT Berlin. His work will be cut out for him on Thursday, however, after he finished the day dead last in chips.

Fourteen other players fell short of this final table besides Lodden and McClung. Team Pro Lex Veldhuis hit the rail in 15th place, former EPT champion Mike McDonald went out in 18th and 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champion Elio Fox fell in 23rd.

Final Table Seating Assignments

Everyone left has locked up at least “63,694, but there’s still plenty more to play for. The title and first-place prize of “800,000 still hangs in the balance, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the live coverage starting Thursday at 1400 CET (0500 PDT).

Don’t forget to tune into the Live Reporting page on Wednesday to follow along with the action. And speaking of following things, our Twitter stream is the best place for up-to-the-minute poker news right in your timeline.

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters