After covering Day 2 of the 2015 European Poker Tour Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller, Remko Rinkema and Donnie Peters discuss languages, autocorrections, and the great deals at T.J. Maxx.
Yes, really.
They also find some time to preview Monday's final table.
And don't forgot, fans can call in and leave a voicemail for the crew at 774-77-PNPOD.
After two days of high stakes action in Barcelona, the Super High Roller crowd of 99 is down to just 9 players. Already well into the money, the finalists will battle it out for the €1,224,000 first place prize at 12:30 pm (in about 75 minutes).
Yesterday's day was an exciting one, with most of the drama coming from the bubble. Viacheslav Buldygin was the unfortunate player to go out in 16th place, guaranteeing the remaining 15 layers a pay day of at least €80,800. For some, that didn't get them even for the tournament just yet, as more than one player had invested 2 bullets to get where they were.
Where most tournaments see lots of players fall after the bubble bursts, this Super High Roller continued for quite a while without any new casualties. Eventually, players did go broke and Igor Kurganov (15th, €80,800), Stephen Chidwick (14th, €80,800), Max Altergott (13th, €87,900), Mike McDonald (12th, €87,900), Fedor Holz (11thth, €99,800), and Ben Tollerene (10th, €99,800) eventually fell before play was halted after the ten levels scheduled were played out.
The remaining nine players will battle it out this afternoon for that first place prize of €1,224,000. Australian Michael Egan, who's live cashes all have come from tournaments in Australia, is on the verge of beating his best live result to date. Unless he finishes ninth, he'll beat his old record of $144,000 - the sum of money he received for winning the Victorian Poker Championship in Melbourne back in 2010. JC Alvarado, who finished runner up in the inaugural EPT Barcelona Super High Roller back in 2012, is back and placed in the middle of the pack this time. Here's the starting line up for todays final table:
Seat
Player
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dzmitry Urbanovich
4,325,000
72
2
Steve O'Dwyer
2,450,000
41
3
Christoph Vogelsang
4,765,000
79
4
JC Alvarado
2,485,000
41
5
Byron Kaverman
495,000
8
6
Sylvain Loosli
1,200,000
20
7
Ivan Luca
2,580,000
43
8
Paul Newey
1,035,000
17
9
Michael Egan
5,410,000
90
The 2011 edition of the PokerStars EPT Barcelona festival had a €10,000 single reentry tournament, won by Philipp Gruissem. The 2012 edition featured a €50,000 Super High Roller, a first for the tour's stop, and the tournament has been a fixture on the schedule ever since.
Season
Year
Entries
Super High Roller Champion
Super High Roller Runner-Up
2012
9
64
Dan Smith
€962.925
JC Alvarado
€788,674
2013
10
51
Vitaly Lunkin
€771,300
Erik Seidel
€557,100
2014
11
77
Olivier Busquet
€896,434
Daniel Colman
€843,066
2015
12
99
--TBD--
€1,224,000
--TBD--
€841,500
Before play starts, and you keep your fingers on the refresh button to check all the updates right here on PokerNews.com, check out the interview we did with EPT debutant Ben Tollerene:
Play at the final table of the €50,000 Super High Roller has been delayed for at least a few minutes, since Polish pro Dzmitry Urbanovich has failed to show up on time.
The other eight finalist are present, and play could be underway as soon as the youngster shows up.
The first hand of the day, with Urbanovich still missing, saw Paul Newey raise it up from early position and he took down the blinds and antes.
Action folded to JC Alvarado on the button the second hand of play, and he raised it up to 125,000. Byron Kaverman in the small blind pushed all in and the big blind folded. Alvarado made the call.
Kaverman:
Alvarado:
The flop came about as good as they could come for Kaverman: . The on the turn and on the river didn't change a thing, and Kaverman doubled.
Dzmitry Urbanovich just came strolling in, as if he didn't have a care in the world. Urbanovich chatted with his good friend Jose Carlos Garcia, who's playing the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event, before walking to his own final table.
Urbanovich was just in time for the fourth hand of the day and now finally the final table is complete with all nine players in attendance.
JC Alvarado raised from he cutoff to 140,000 and Ivan Luca called from the big blind, creating heads-up action.
The flop came down and Luca check-called, rather quickly, a bet o 240,000.
On the turn the hit and Luca checked once again. Alvarado gave it some thought before betting 425,000, and Luca called.
The river completed the board with the and Luca quickly checked again. Alvarado went into the tank for about two minutes before he announced, "all in."
Alvarado's shove was for 1,205,000 into a pot of 1,730,000, and Luca went into the tank for well over five minutes. Ultimately Luca folded and Alvarado dragged in this big pot.
Byron Kaverman, who's still the shortest stack at this final table, just moved all in under the gun plus one. Kaverman did not get called, and he chips up ever so slightly by picking up the blinds and antes.
Dzmitry Urbanovich raised it up to 125,000 from the cutoff and Steve O'Dwyer on the button made the call. JC Alvarado in the big blind came along for the ride and the three of them saw a flop of .
Alvarado checked to Urbanovich and the Polish player made a bet of 180,000. O'Dwyer was quick to call but that wouldn't be the end of it just yet. Alvarado check raised to 540,000 and both Urbanovich and O'Dwyer folded rather quick.
Christoph Vogelsang raised from the button to 125,000 and Byron Kaverman defended his big blind. The flop brought out and Kaverman checked to Vogelsang who bet 115,000.
Kaverman went into the tank for quite some time before making it 310,000 to go. Vogelsang did some tanking of his own before ultimately letting go of his hand.
![[user68268]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. The 
on the turn and 
on the river didn't change a thing, and Kaverman doubled.
and Luca check-called, rather quickly, a bet o 240,000.
hit and Luca checked once again. Alvarado gave it some thought before betting 425,000, and Luca called.
and Luca quickly checked again. Alvarado went into the tank for about two minutes before he announced, "all in."
.
