Yesterday, I referred to the Day 1A field of the 2015 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event as “solid,” with 459 runners. Yeah…solid. Well, Tuesday’s Day 1B was just a *smidge* better than solid, coming in at a staggering 1,214 entries. The total field of 1,673 players set a new European Poker Tour record, beating the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure from Season 7, back in early 2011. Taking the chip lead into Day 2 of the kickoff event of EPT Season 12 is Samuel Bernabeu with 203,000 chips, the only player with over 200,000.
According to his profile on GlobalPokerIndex.com, Bernabeu has racked up over $1.3 million in live tournament earnings in his career. That number is buoyed primarily by two tournaments. In 2013, he finished fifth in the big $10 million guaranteed Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, winning almost half a million dollars. Most recently, he won a $5,000 event at the Deep Stack Extravaganza III at the Venetian in July, good for $537,017. He is 608th in the GPI, ranking sixth amongst Spaniards.
As one might expect when one starting flight is almost three times as large as the other, the overall leader board is dominated by players from Day 1B. Day 1A’s chip leader slipped to third, while the second place player from the first flight is down to sixth. And that’s it. Those two men – Imad Derwiche and Martin Vallo – are the only players from Day 1A in the top ten.
Though the two starting days are complete, the payout schedule is not known just yet, as registration is still open until the start of Day 2 on Wednesday. If nobody else registers and the field remains at 1,673, the prize pool will be €8,114,050 (1,673 x €5,000 buy-in, less 3 percent for staff).
795 players survived from Day 1B; all told, 1,081 players will return to the Casino Barcelona for Day 2. The action will begin at noon and conclude after six 75-minute levels are completed. With two 20-minute breaks, the night should end around 8:15pm.
2015 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders
- Samuel Bernabeu – 203,000
- Jonathan Concepcion – 187,200
- Irimia Marius – 164,700
- Milan Rabsz – 163,900
- Mick Graydon – 160,000
- Simeon Naydenov – 157,000
- Jude Ainsworth – 155,800
- Niels van Alphen – 154,450
- Andras Nemeth – 154,000
- Jose Besalduch – 153,500
2015 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event – Combined Day 1 Chip Leaders
- Samuel Bernabeu – 203,000
- Jonathan Concepcion – 187,200
- Imad Derwiche – 170,000
- Irimia Marius – 164,700
- Milan Rabsz – 163,900
- Martin Vallo – 163,300
- Mick Graydon – 160,000
- Simeon Naydenov – 157,000
- Jude Ainsworth – 155,800
- Niels van Alphen – 154,450
