The European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona is currently underway at the Casino Barcelona and will run till 1st September. The first headline event of the festival was the €1,100 EPT National, which is done with its all 4 starting flights. Many Indians were seen in action at the event, but only 5 could progress to Day 2. While Jai Saha (556k) and Bharath Janardhan (114k) advanced from Day 1A, Raman Gujral (255k) who is also known as the father of Indian poker industry progressed from Day 1B.
The €1,100 EPT National featured 4 starting flights. After 1,240 entries from Day 1A and 606 entries from 1B, the third flight – Day 1C smashed all previous records, drawing a huge 1,872 entries to become the largest of the 4 staring flights. It was Frenchman Jonathan Therme who ended the day as the chip leader with a stack of 757,000. The other big stacks were Sorin Flutur (672k), Navot Golan (660k), Gregor Prizmic Martini (652k) and Thierry Mesquida (638k) who rounded out top 5 stacks.
A total of 281 players progressed from a field of 1,872 entries on Day 1C. The day did not go well for the Indian challengers. Several Indians like Kartik Ved, Siddhanth Kapoor, Rakesh Lalwani, Ankit Ahuja and others joined in the action, but none of them could advance to Day 2 of the event.
Coming to the final starting flight – Day 1D, it attracted a total of 964 entries to take the total number of entries to a staggering 4,682, which smashed all previous records in EPT history. Out of those 964 entries, only 195 managed to survive and moved into Day 2. French player Romain Vial emerged as the chip leader with a stack of 700k, followed by Hafthor Hlynsson (667k) and Luis Hernandez (624k).
Day 1D turned out to be a good one for Indian players as two of our players Sumit Asrani (109k) and PokerStars Pro Muskan Sethi (90k) progressed. Asrani has plenty of live cashes to his name. The player has already bagged two live titles and final-tabled three marquee events in India. As for Sethi, she is one of the best female players from India with $87,112 in live cashes. She has already won a live title, plus she has made several deep runs in domestic and international tournaments. Both of these players will be eyeing a score when they return today for Day 2 play of the event.
702 players return for Day 2 of the record-breaking EPT National in Barcelona today and among them are five Indians, namely Jai ‘Joey’ Saha, Bharath Janardhan, Raman Gujral, Sumit Asrani and Muskan Sethi. All the Indians remaining in contention are talented players and have proven their mettle several times. We wish them good luck for Day 2 starting at 3k-6k blinds with a BB ante of 6k.
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 2 Start
- Dejan Jakovljevic – 915,000 (Day 1A Chip Leader)
- Alen Alencar – 830,000
- Jonathan Therme – 757,000 (Day 1C Chip Leader)
- Romain Vial – 700,000 (Day 1D Chip Leader)
- Diego Falcone – 676,000
- Sorin Flutur – 672,000
- Hafthor Hlynsson – 667,000
- Navot Golan – 660,000
- Gregor Prizmic Martini – 652,000
- Thierry Mesquida – 638,000