Gabriele Nigro in middle position had gone all in for 100,000 over an earlier open. Michael de Jonge also jammed on the button with a slightly larger stack, causing the initial raiser to fold.
Gabriele Nigro: K♦Q♠
Michael de Jonge: A♥A♦
Nigro stood no chance against De Jonge's rockets on the 8♥8♣J♥7♦2♠, as he was left drawing dead after the turn.
Deepak Wadhwani open-raised to 16,000 in early position and Evert Bos jammed in his stack of 69,000 from the hijack. Wadhwani deliberated for a few moments until he flung in a calling chip.
Evert Bos: A♠J♠
Deepak Wadhwani: A♦9♦
Bos dominated Wadhwani, but the latter made a flush on the 3♦10♦4♥2♦8♣ board to lock up the pot and send Bos back to breakfast.
Grigory Zima opened to 16,000 under the gun, only to be faced with a three-bet jam to 158,000 by Ruizhong Chen in the small blind. Action folded back to Zima, who made the quick call with the covering stack.
Ruizhong Chen: 3♠3♦
Grigory Zima: A♥Q♣
Chen's pocket threes were ahead in a race, and remained so after the J♣J♠7♥2♥6♦ runout.
The €550 Estrellas Cup has been nothing short of a roaring success at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona . The lines for late registration slithered throughout Casino Barcelona on Day 1 of the event, eventually resulting in a total entry number of 2,175, nearly double that of last year's event.
At the end of the day, 326 players made it through to the second and final day of the tournament, which is due to begin today at 11 a.m. local time.
Among those returning today is the newest PokerStars Ambassador, Kenny Hallaert. Hallaert's unique influence as a PokerStars live events advisor has already brought forth some changes at EPT Barcelona, but the Belgian proved he is also still more than competent at playing the game by bagging 283,000 chips on Day 1, an above-average stack.
Hallaert is still some ways away from being the chipleader, however, as that honor was bestowed upon Brazil's Edgar Ishida, who amassed a whopping 888,000 on Day 1, good for 111 big blinds at the start of Day 2.
Ishida is closely followed by Kian Kiani from the United Kingdom, who will start today with 865,000, while Portugal's Diogo Simoes occupies third place on the leaderboard with 859,000. The best Spanish player was Jose Herrera in fourth with 674,000, while Josep Ruiz (566,000) and Juan Gonzalez Suarez (489,000) also made the top ten in their efforts to keep the trophy at home soil.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Edgar Ishida
Brazil
888,000
111
2
Kian Kiani
United Kingdom
865,000
108
3
Diogo Simoes
Portugal
859,000
107
4
Jose Herrera
Spain
674,000
84
5
Nils Veipans
Latvia
583,000
72
6
Axel Hamou
France
571,000
71
7
Josep Ruiz
Spain
566,000
70
8
Mihai Costiuc
Romania
562,000
70
9
Juan Gonzalez Suarez
Spain
489,000
61
10
Jukka Hopearuoho
Finland
487,000
60
Other notables who captured a seat on Day 2 were British grinder Scott Margereson (393,000), runner-up in the 2023 EPT Barcelona Main Event Joao Sydenstricker (277,000), rising star Bixi Yao (180,000), and Triple Crown winner Jake Cody (155,000).
Joao Sydenstricker
Day 1 played until the money, so they have all guaranteed a slice of the massive €1,044,000 prize pool. Although each player can add the sum of €840 to their bankroll, the grand prize of €155,840, the only six-figure payout of the tournament, will only be awarded to the eventual champion.
Final Table Payouts
Place
Price
1
€155,840
2
€97,170
3
€69,410
4
€53,390
5
€41,070
6
€31,590
7
€24,300
8
€18,700
9
€14,390
Day 2 will restart in Level 18: 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante. All levels will remain 30 minutes in length, with a break after every four of them. A long day is ahead of the players as the tournament will conclude only when a winner is crowned.
Stay tuned as the final day of the €550 Estrellas Cup promises nothing but explosive action throughout the day. Meanwhile, do not forget to check out the other EPT Barcelona events PokerNews is live reporting, including the prestigious €100,000 Super High Roller, over at the EPT Barcelona hub.
