Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona
Buy-in
€10,300
Prize Pool
€11,397,500
Entries
1,175
Level
42
Blinds
6,000,000 / 12,000,000
Ante
12,000,000
The second starting day of the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona €10,300 Main Event at one of Europe's hotbeds of poker, the Casino Barcelona, attracted a field of 150 entries. After 12 levels of 45 minutes, that number was cut down to 40 survivors who already have their seat for Day 2 on Friday, April 13th, 2018. Along with the 93 players out of 338 entries that bagged up on Day 1A, that makes for 133 players that don't need to take another shot at the juicy guaranteed prize pool of €10,000,000.
Once all was done and dusted, a very familiar poker player was sitting at the top of the count. Team partypoker's Philipp Gruissem edged past Preben Stokkan after winning a big pot off Aristeidis Moschonas in the final hands of the night to claim the top spot with 10.97 million, while Stokkan advanced with 10.74 million. Stokkan, who won the MILLIONS $10,300 High Roller and finished 6th in the Main Event at the 2017 Caribbean Poker Party, went through his table like a wrecking ball and busted several opponents in the late stages.
Other big stacks and notables among the Day 1B survivors are Thomas Muehloecker (8.54 million), Joe Serock (7.915 million), Mikhail Rudoy (4.81 million), Pierre Calamusa (4.8 million), Joey Weissman (4.61 million), Albert Daher (4.33 million), €101,000 Super High Roller runner-up Stephen Chidwick (3.815 million) and 2018 MILLIONS Germany Main Event champion Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (3.765 million).
Besides Gruissem, only one further partypoker ambassador made it through in Joao Simao (2.755 million), while Isaac Haxton was eliminated. Other big names that left without anything to show for were the likes of Timothy Adams, Alex Foxen, Max Silver, Anthony Zinno, Felipe Ramos, David Laka, Mustapha Kanit, Juha Helppi, Steve O'Dwyer, Martin Jacobson, and Rainer Kempe. Adrian Mateos fired two bullets on Day 1A without success and the third time wasn't a charm either when his pocket nines were no good against the pocket queens of Aristeidis Moschonas.
Many pocket aces were cracked within the last few levels of the day, among others it were Bryan Piccioli, Artem Metalidi and Florin Tirtea that failed to win with the best hand preflop. Tirtea got it in against the flopped top two pair of Blom, who added further misery by improving to quads queens, while Piccioli was all in preflop and Stokkan flopped a set of jacks. Metalidi was poised for a comeback in the penultimate level, but his aces couldn't hold up against the ace-queen suited of Sofian Benaissa.
While Day 1B was smaller than the first flight, the tables at times featured no fewer well-known poker players and even ended up in battles of eight pros with millions of dollars in earnings between them. Fewer than one third got through and all those unfortunate enough not to claim a stack yet have another two chances to do so.
Day 1C starts at 12 p.m. local time on Thursday, April 12th, 2018, with six levels of late registration while the final Day 1D kicks off at 5 p.m. local time and offers nine levels of late registration. Both days feature a single re-entry option during the registration period and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to bring you all the action from the tables.
The full counts of the 40 finalists of a field of 150 entries are to come, same applies for a recap of today's action.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
10,970,000
3,170,000
|
3,170,000 |
|
||
|
10,740,000
540,000
|
540,000 |
|
8,540,000
8,540,000
|
8,540,000 |
|
7,915,000
715,000
|
715,000 |
|
|
||
|
6,570,000
6,570,000
|
6,570,000 |
|
||
|
6,375,000
6,375,000
|
6,375,000 |
|
6,330,000 | |
|
6,045,000
6,045,000
|
6,045,000 |
|
4,810,000
610,000
|
610,000 |
|
4,800,000
900,000
|
900,000 |
|
4,610,000
1,110,000
|
1,110,000 |
|
||
|
4,330,000
4,330,000
|
4,330,000 |
|
3,815,000 | |
|
||
|
3,765,000
665,000
|
665,000 |
|
3,685,000
-315,000
|
-315,000 |
|
3,565,000
-2,935,000
|
-2,935,000 |
|
3,455,000
-545,000
|
-545,000 |
|
||
|
3,440,000 | |
|
3,410,000 | |
|
3,100,000
3,100,000
|
3,100,000 |
|
2,960,000 | |
|
2,770,000 | |
|
2,760,000 | |
|
2,755,000
-445,000
|
-445,000 |
|
|
||
|
2,750,000 | |
Joey Weissman finished second to Ludovic Geilich in the Open Event #1 and claimed €155,000 for his efforts. The American grinder is back at it again with an above-average stack at blinds of 30,000/60,000 in the final level of the night. Another Side Event crusher here from Barcelona is Bartlomiej Machon, who ended up as the bridesmaid as well, in today's final of the €2,700 Warm Up. Machon lost an all in with 
versus 
as the board came 
to give both players two pairs.
Philipp Gruissem made quads eights to bust an opponent and boost his stack to more than 7.5 million, he then got into a banter with Nick van der Marel. "You are a cash game player, huh?" Gruissem asked and the Dutchman nodded. "You are a perfectionist with the hair," Gruissem added and some needling back and forth followed to lighten up the tension just before the end of Day 1B.
Alex Foxen lost half of his short stack with 
against the of Jan-Eric Schwippert. Foxen had open-shoved and Schwippert called for 460,000, the board came queen-high. All remaining chips then vanished over to Preben Stokkan, the 2017 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event finalist climbed above 10 million.
Adrian Mateos failed to convert his third bullet combined over today's two flights and joined the rail. Aristeidis Moschonas, who held the chip lead after Day 1B of the 2018 MILLIONS Germany Main Event not long ago, claimed his stack. The Greek raised to 125,000 from the cutoff, Mateos made it 375,000 on the button and called off the jam for 1.6 million with 
. Moschonas had 
and the board came up blank with 
. Mateos will be back for sure.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
10,200,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
7,800,000
4,600,000
|
4,600,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
6,500,000
6,500,000
|
6,500,000 |
|
4,000,000
4,000,000
|
4,000,000 |
|
|
3,500,000
3,500,000
|
3,500,000 |
|
|
||
|
2,400,000
2,400,000
|
2,400,000 |
|
1,000,000
-1,300,000
|
-1,300,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
||
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
||
There's those €10,300 buy-in Main Events and that partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona one, and especially Day 1B with a plethora of professional poker players bunched together that one would assume this is a Super High Roller field.
Let's take a look at this ridiculous table, for example:
Seat 1: Philipp Gruissem - moved and replaced by Erik Seidel
Seat 2: Mikalai Vaskaboinikau
Seat 3: Mikhail Rudoy
Seat 4: Pierre Calamusa
Seat 5: Alexandros Kolonias
Seat 6: Marty Mathis (busted soon after)
Seat 7: Adrian Mateos
Seat 8: Joe Serock
Mateos and Serock clashed in a bigger pot when the former check-raised the 
turn from 275,000 to 1.0 million and Serock called. Mateos checked the 
river and folded to a bet of 1.7 million. The table broke after and a new table formed with the likes of Martin Jacobson, Joao Simao, Justin Bonomo, Seidel, Mateos, Sebastian von Toperzer (eliminated after), Oliver Weis and Viktor Blom. "Oh, that's like a Super High Roller table, nice," Mateos joked when he arrived.
Preben Stokkan has crossed 9.0 million in chips after bad-beating Bryan Piccioli. Stokkan had raised to 110,000 and Jan-Eric Schwippert called. Piccioli shoved for 1.265 million and Stokkan reshoved to isolate with . Piccioli was in great shape with 
, but the 
board gave Stokkan a set of jacks.
Before the end of level 11, the following familiar names on the international poker circuit busted. Joris Ruijs, Manig Loeser, Paul Newey, Timothy Adams. They will all be back for tomorrow's remaining two starting days.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
9,200,000
9,200,000
|
9,200,000 |
|
|
7,200,000
7,200,000
|
7,200,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
4,200,000
4,200,000
|
4,200,000 |
|
|
4,000,000
4,000,000
|
4,000,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
4,000,000
4,000,000
|
4,000,000 |
|
|
3,900,000
3,900,000
|
3,900,000 |
|
|
3,200,000
3,200,000
|
3,200,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
3,200,000
3,200,000
|
3,200,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
3,100,000
3,100,000
|
3,100,000 |
|
2,500,000
2,500,000
|
2,500,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,350,000
2,350,000
|
2,350,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,300,000
2,300,000
|
2,300,000 |
|
1,500,000
1,500,000
|
1,500,000 |
|
||
|
|
1,300,000
1,300,000
|
1,300,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
The chips have been flying in the last level while the blinds moved up to 25,000/50,000 since for the penultimate level of Day 1B.
Max Silver has been eliminated and other notables in the rail include Felipe Ramos, Ema Zajmovic, Thi Nguyen, Yan Shing Tsang, Marty Mathis, Dominik Nitsche and Artem Metalidi.
Tsang first doubled for ten big blinds with 
against Stephen Chidwick's 
thanks to four diamonds until the turn, but then lost all his chips back to Chidwick just to make up for it. Erik Friberg benefited from a setup hand to double with 
versus 
when the flop fell 
, the 
turn and 
river were both blanks and the kicker played.
The elimination of Florin Tirtea largely came from a big "aces cracked story" against the one and only Viktor "Isildur1" Blom. After just calling from the big blind, Tirtea check-raised from 125,000 to 250,000 on the 
flop and Blom reraised to 675,000. Tirtea shoved and Blom called for 1.52 million.
Viktor Blom:
Florin Tirtea:
The turn and river run out was an overkill with the quads for the Swede, and Tirtea's remaining few chips vanished soon after.
As for Metalidi, he got it in with against Sofian Benaissa's , and as you may have guessed it, the aces were no good again. A board of 
gave the Frenchman a winninr straight, he moved up to 7.2 million. Preben Stokkan has even more than that with 7.5 million, sending Dominik Nitsche to the rail when the German got 15 big blinds in with ace-nine versus ace-king.
The field is set with 150 entries as the registration has closed and below are some further shots of the big names in the field.
The third and final break of the day shows a total of 150 entries with 61 players remaining, and the registration for Day 1B of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona €10,300 Main Event will close when cards are get back in the air with blinds of 20,000/40,000. That's still 25 big blinds for anyone willing to take a late shot ar running up a stack.
Among those that are back in are Justin Bonomo and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau. Mikhail Rudoy, the partypoker representatives Isaac Haxton and Joao Simao took a break after busting out of Day 1A. Simao sent Stefan Huber to the rail and sits on 1.9 million. Same applies for Adrian Mateos, who managed to spin up his stack to 3.0 million already.
That's still far from the current massive stacks of Ivan Gabrieli (8.7 million), Joe Serock (8.2 million) and Sofian Benaissa (6.1 million). Both would easily be top five stacks after Day 1a. Dan Shak is stuck next to Serock and one table over is Preben Stokkan on around 5. million. Other big names to highlight the second flight include Martin Jacobson, Ryan Riess and Thomas Muehloecker.
On Gabrieli's table, an argument broke out in between the double up of Amir Touma. Paul Dando had raised to 75,000 and Touma shoved for his last 435,000. Erik Friberg called out of the big blind, tossed in four T-100,000 chips. Dando moved all in over the top and Friberg hated his life as per table chat before folding.
Dando showed and Touma turned over , which ended up as best hand on a board of 
. Dando still has some 2.5 million left, though, which is spot on the average for the last quarter of the night.
Justin Bonomo was eliminated and re-entered, while also applies for Mikalai Vaskaboinikau and Alexandros Kolonias. The latter two have around 2.4 million in chips and were more successful than such familiar faces as Ema Zajmovic, Guillaume Nolet, Pedro Oliveira and Jonathan Concepcion.
Oliveira had a flip for his last 410,000 with against the of Ryan Riess and the board of 
left the 11th place finisher of the 2017 WSOP Main Event empty-handed on the turn already.
Albert Daher is only on his first bullet thus far, while Concepcion was on his second bullet. The duo clashed on a flop of and when the Spaniard saw the cards of his opponent, he had a sour expression on the face. Concepcion may have been marginally ahead percentage-wise with , but Daher had a ton of outs with 
. The turn gave Daher a straight, while Concepcion needed the board to pair. That wasn't the case, and Concepcion had to foefeit 1,010,000. His last few chips were sent into the same direction soon after, giving Daher a healthy stack of 2.9 million.
Max Silver, who rapidly fired two bullets on Day 1A without any success, is doing much better on Day 1B with some 3.5 million as of right now with 75 of 146 players remaining. Late registration will end at the end of level nine in roughly one hour from now.
