WPT Spanish Championship Day One (B) Recap129 Players Take to The Felt on Day 1B of WPT Spanish Championship |
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As expected, day one (B) of the WPT Spanish Championship at Casino Barcelona featured a slightly larger field than the day before. Given their choice of starting days, 129 players decided to play on Friday, nearly 33 percent more than the 97 who played on Thursday. With both days completed, it provides a first look at the entire field.
A total of 226 players entered this event, creating a total prize pool of 1,695,000 euros. The top 27 players will reach the money, guaranteed at least 10,050 euros each. First prize is worth 537,000 euros. (For those Americans in the audience, that translates to a total prize pool of approximately $2.4 million, with a first prize of $762,217.)
Following recent trends, there were far more professional players on the second starting day, including top players from both sides of the Atlantic. The field was so thick with pro players that table No. 2 featured one of the most difficult lineups we've seen in a long time):
Seat No. 1 - Pascal Perrault
Seat No. 2 - Tom Schneider (2007 WSOP Player of the Year)
Seat No. 3 - Adam "Roothlus" Levy
Seat No. 4 - Brynjar Valbimarsson
Seat No. 5 - David Daneshgar
Seat No. 6 - Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad (2007 WSOP Europe Champion)
Seat No. 7 - Eric Hershler (winner, 2007 WPT LA Poker Classic)
Seat No. 8 - Juha Helppi (winner, 2002 WPT Aruba Poker Classic)
Seat No. 9 - Allen Cunningham (2005 WSOP Player of the Year)
As you can see, the table included two WPT winners, two World Series of Poker Players of the Year, and Obrestad, the 19-year-old online player who recently won the WSOP Europe main event. Her £1,000,000 prize was the largest payday for a woman in poker history (worth slightly more than Annie Duke's $2 million victory in the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions).
Several of the other players at that table were also worthy opponents. Perrault is a top French player with more than $1.4 million in career earnings, Daneshgar finished forth at the 2006 Barcelona Open, and Levy is a notable online player.
Mirroring Thursday's schedule, Friday's field played six 60-minute blind levels. Between the two days, there were 151 survivors, and they will return Saturday to resume play at 5 p.m. Central European Time. Day two is scheduled for six or seven blind levels (increasing in duration to 75 minutes each), and the goal is to play down to the money - 27 players. It's an ambitious goal, and odds are against the field shrinking that much.
Here are the top 10 chip leaders headed to day two, along with a few of the notables who finished with more chips than the average stack of $22,450:
1. Maurizio Carra - $59,975
2. Carl Hostrup - $55,750
3. Adolfo Balado - $55,025
4. Angelo Magro - $50,650
5. Guillaume De La Gorce - $50,450
6. Farzad Heyati - $47,600
7. Mark Teltscher - $47,300
8. Eric Da Silva - $46,500
9. Marc Marciano - $46,300
10. Fabrice Soulier - $45,750
13. Max Pescatori - $44,400
15. J.C. Alvarado - $42,275
25. Freddy Bonyadi - $34,300
28. Patrick Bruel - $34,200
32. Barny Boatman - $31,250
35. Gus Hansen - $30,575
36. Eric Hershler - $30,350
38. Ozzy "Ozzy87" Sheikh - $30,000
39. William Thorson - $29,725
43. Christer Johansson - $28,850
45. Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis - $27,875
51. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad - $24,600
Action resumes Saturday at 5 p.m. Central European Time (11 a.m. Eastern, 8 a.m. Pacific). Return to CardPlayer.com for live coverage of all the action.
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