2022 PokerStars EPT Barcelona

Day 1a of the €5,300 Main Event of the PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour has wrapped up.

The first of the two starting flights attracted 749 runners, of which 227 have secured themselves a place in Day 2.

Leading the way after ten one-hour levels of play is Anthony Cierco who built his stack from 30,000 to to an impressive 322,000 on the first day. Cierco was slowly building throughout the day but he moved to the top of the counts during the last level of the night when he managed to get full value after flopping a set of queens against David Yan’s aces.
Other players that are in prime contention after Day 1a include Youness Ait Hssain (297,000), Dimitrios Angelakos (296,000) and Jack Salter (282,500)

Top 10 Day 1a Chip Counts

Some of the well-known names who took their chance and will also return for Day 2 include PokerStars Ambassadors Alejandro Lococo (165,000) and Ramon Colillas (93,500), as well as Julien Martini (148,000), defending champion Simon Brandstrom (142,500), and Kitty Kuo .

Notables who failed in their attempts to make Day 2 include PokerStars Ambassadors Parker Talbot and Sam Grafton in addition to Vanessa Kade, Jason Wheeler and Dominik Panka.

For those who haven’t used their single reentry, they will have a chance to register on Day 1b on Tuesday, August 16, which - in terms of the structure - will be pretty much an exact replica of today, or until the start of Day 2.

As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the updates throughout the Main Event and the many side events so keep coming back.

The remaining players have bagged and tagged for the day with the tournament clock showing 227 players left. End-of-day chip counts and a recap will follow shortly.

Dimitrios Angelakos opened to 3,600 from early position, Daniel Rodriguez Carballal jammed for roughly 18,000 on the button, and Harry Lodge rejammed for 31,600 in the small blind. Action folded back to Angelakos who thought for a bit but folded.

Daniel Rodriguez Carballal:
Harry Lodge:

The board ran out and Lodge collected the pot to chip up near the end of the night.

David Yan raised to 2,600 under the gun and Anthony Cierco three-bet to 8,000 from the cutoff. Action folded back to Yan who four-bet to 22,600. Cierco went deep into the tank, then added the remainder to call.

The flop came and Yan threw in a bet of 16,000 that Cierco called.

The turn brought the and Yan continued with another bet of 30,000 that Cierco called again.

The river filled up the board and this time, Yan thought for a long while, then moved all in for about 130,000. Cierco snap-called with his last 86,200. Yan showed , but that wasn't good enough as Cierco turned over to take down the pot with a set of queens.

Tournament officials have just announced that five more hands will be completed before players bag for the day.

With roughly 30,000 in the pot on a completed board, popular French poker vlogger Johan Guilbert was on the button and contemplating a decision against a bet of 20,000 by Marcin Horecki in early position.

Guilbert tried to talk to his opponent several times, but his attempts were met with silence, as Horecki stared at the board. Guilbert put his hands on his face as he continued to deliberate, and eventually, a player at the table called the clock. Before a countdown could begin, Guilbert threw his cards into the muck and shook his head, as his opponent's holdings were left a mystery.

Pavlos Xanthopoulos raised to 2,500 from mid-position and Julian Adamson called from the cutoff along with Simon Mattsson in the big blind.

The dealer spread a flop of and Mattsson checked. Xanthopoulos bet 2,800 and Adamson called but Matsson responded by check-raised to 11,500. Both of his opponents let it go.