It's so busy here in Casino Barcelona, that not all players are seated right now. There's an alternate list where at least a hundred players are on, and they'll have to wait till seats free up before they can play.
There's also a qualifier to the Main Event going on at the moment on the main casino floor. But those tables weren't to be used for the Main Event in the first place, according to the organization:
@scott_seiver The sat. is being run in the casino on casino-owned tables, never intended to be used as tournament tables. They are on lease to us for exactly four hours, at which time they revert back to cash game tables. Were we to use them as ME tables they wouldn't finish within 4 hours. The sat was always on the sched., so by running in casino, we create more room 4 ME
Every year, one of the biggest stories to come out of the summer and lead into the next poker season is who makes the World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Since the inception of the "November Nine" concept in 2008, the months between the reaching of the final table and the finale a few months later allow for heavy focus on the players that make it.
This year is no different, and the poker spotlight is strongly focused on Jorryt van Hoof, Felix Stephensen, Mark Newhouse, Andoni Larrabe, Dan Sindelar, William Pappaconstantinou, William Tonking, Martin Jacobson, and Bruno Politano.
Here at the European Poker Tour Barcelona, five of the nines players have already gotten down to action in the Main Event — Jacobson played Day 1a and bagged up 34,800, while van Hoof (currently an alternate waiting to get his seat), Stephensen, Larrabe, and Politano are all playing Day 1b.
Newhouse, Tonking, Sindelar, and Pappaconstantinou have yet to be seen, and it's interesting that those four are all the players from the United States, so the long-distance travel might be something they simply opted to pass on.
At any rate, having five of the November Niners in the field for this Main Event is great to see, and it shows the majority of the bunch aren't simply going to take it easy during the hiatus. Furthermore, van Hoof and Jacobson also played in the €50,000 Super High Roller a few days ago, albeit without a cash result.
As a little bit of fun, van Hoof — who is the chip leader of the WSOP Main Event final table — took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge yesterday with a little help from our very own Remko Rinkema, and he challenged the other eight final table players to do the same. Check out the video below:
Niall Farrell faced off against one player who fired a bet of 475 on the turn of a board reading . Farrell decided to raise it up to 1,550 and his opponent put in the extra chips.
The river was the and the big blind checked it over to Farrell who threw out a bet of 2,000. His opponent chuckled and put out the calling chips. Farrell and made his straight on the turn with and the reason for the chuckle was explained when his opponent showed . Pot to Farrell.
With a raise to 300 in front of him, Jake Cody three bet to 900 from the hijack. The cutoff, button, and both blinds folded, but the initial raiser four bet to 2,300. Cody made the call after some thinking.
The initial raiser made a 2,800 continuation bet on , and Cody again called.
The fell on the turn and Cody's opponent now checked. The Britisch Triple Crown winner made a bet of 4,200, and received a quick call.
The hit the river and again a check from the player who had four bet before the flop. Cody contemplated what to do, but eventually checked behind.
Cody got shown , and the Team Pro silently mucked.
The second tournament room has around 15 tables which are all being used. Among those playing are PokerStars sponsored player and former PCA winner Dominik Panka, WSOPE Main Event Winner Annette Obresad and EPT London champion Benny Spindler.
Just after the introductions here today Alex Goulder tweeted, “#EPT100 is kicking off! The montage was chilling! So pumped, let's go!” To prove just how pumped he was Goulder got involved in an early hand.
Goulder led out for 475 from the big blind on a flop of and got called by two opponents. The turn card was the and Goulder continued the betting for 1,400. This whittled the opposition down to one player and the dealer put out a river . A bet of 4,100 from Goulder saw his opponent sigh and reluctantly release his hand.
On the flop, Andrew Pantling checked. Jorge Carvalho also checked, and then Olov Matias Jansson bet 1,500. Pantling check-raised to 4,100, Carvalho folded, and Jansson called.
The turn was the and paired the board with fives. After Pantling checked, Jansson bet 5,500. Pantling again opted to put in a check-raise, and this time he made it 13,000. Jansson tanked for a bit, but eventually folded, and Pantling won the pot.