POKERSTARS EPT: BARCELONA - AT A GLANCE

[Djinn]

Everything seems to have sped up at this late stage (the blinds are 400/800 ante 100, and halfway through the level, which I reckon will be the last) -
Down to 85 players, and Table Roland just broke (Rob Hollink had exited a level previous).

The chunky blinds are looking fairly dangerous to short stacks Julian (8,000) and Stephen Pearce (11,000) while some interesting new tablemates have appeared...

Like Roland de Wolfe and JP, Johnny Lodden and Ian Woodley, Ben Grundy and Thomas Wahlroos...

[Djinn]

Les Kerrigan, chip leader for a good length of time, has now dropped to average, as some reasonable stacks clash creating one big stack and (usually) one elimination...

Like Rolf Pedersen, a Danish guy - the one who pushed Gwibbo off that pot earlier, and whom no one could identify (even Rolf Slotboom) until Henning Granstad made the discovery.  Anyway, Arko Helland, a Norwegian, appears (from the position of the button when I saw the table as players stood up) to have limped utg with .  Big blind Rolf raised with - I don't know whether this was the final or penultimate raise, all I saw were the AK and 55 on their backs and some tense railers urging the Fives to Hold!

Hold they did, and that was a 60k pot to the Norwegian.

[snoopy1239]

Stephen Pearce -- 10,800
Julian Thew -- 6,700
Roland De Wolfe -- 34,000
Peter Gould -- 34,500

With 14 minutes left of Level 9 (which looks like being the last), Bog TK has ordered the press to leave the tournament area.

However, I did manage to get the odd chip count as I departed.

Nick Gibson -- 34,000
Ian Woodley -- 41,200
Ben Grundy -- 20,100
Gosler -- 16,900

[Djinn]

OK, although Nick Gibson has come back from technically no chips to a healthy 25k or so, the Climber of the Day has to be Johnny Lodden.  His start to the tournament was, some might say, disastrous - down to 400 and literally chip and chaired.  Now he has over 50k (although doesn't stack in a counter-friendly manner).  Ian Woodley can have a prize too - for quietly building up 44,500 without anyone taking much notice.  He's in the big blind when Johnny's on the button.  Would make for an interesting Day Two if there were no seat redraw...

[Djinn]

Play has ended, and it does look like Julian may have departed at the 11th hour (so says Bad Girl).  The rest will come back after a day's break, but we'll be here to follow the action tomorrow, Day 1b....

[snoopy1239]

Just to clarify, the following familiar names bit the dust today:

John Hewston
Barny Boatman
Ross Boatman
Fabrice Soulier
Martin Wendt
Stuart Fox
Praz Bansi

[snoopy1239]

Unfortunately, these were the only chip counts we have received from Day 1A.

Carlos Leira Lopez (Spain) -- 16,800
Dag Martin Mikkelsen (Norway) -- 13700
Daniel Elkeslassy (Morroco) -- 25400
Erik Lindberg (Sweden) -- 20,200
Frank Silverstein (United States) -- 22,700
Greg Hobson (United States) -- 14,900
Hubert Attali (France) -- 26,200
Humberto Brenes   (Costa Rica) -- 27,000
Jerome Duarte (France) -- 14,200
Jonathan Dull (United States) 31,000
Jukka Petri Pietila (Finland) -- 26,200
Katja Thater (Germany) -- 35,800
Leopold Chow (Canada) -- 15,400
Leslie Kerrigan   (United Kingdom) -- 33,500
Luca Pagano (Italy) -- 18,600
Manuel Cuberos (Spain) -- 6,900
Mike Halioua (Canada) -- 19,500
Stefan Rotach (Switzerland) -- 20,200
Thierry Passeron (France) -- 10,700
Vladimir Temelkovski (Macedonia) -- 18300

[Djinn]

If you want the full counts from the end of Day 1a - well, here they are:

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/4012