Pokerstars.com Barcelona EPT - Day 1a - At A Glance

[JungleCat03]

Hello and welcome from myself and Jen to the exciting initiation of this year's EPT season here in Barcelona.

I doubt there is a finer city to host the opening event - Barcelona is a stunning locale, from its beautiful coastal views to its mouth watering range of foods to its feisty yet friendly inhabitants. I love it here as you may be able to tell and we are bound to be in for a hell of an EPT.

Pokerstars kicked off proceedings last night in their usual glitzy fashion with an impressive opening party from Club Opium Mar. Small appetizing plates of snacks were handed round whilst an award ceremony hosted by none other than Daniel Negreanu took place.

The champagne, wine and vodka red bull flowed whilst the players had a chance to relax, let their hair down and mingle with each other before picking up arms and doing battle at the felt over the next five days.

Some of the big star celebs seen amongst the throng were the lovely Isabelle Mercier, diminutive recent WSOP bracelet winner Dario Minieri, Scotty Nguyen, the controversial but accomplished winner of the 2008 50k WSOP HORSE bracelet, the laid back and immensely tall consistent EPT performer Danny Ryan and perennial Dana favourite Trond Eidsvig, all of whom looked to be having a great time.

If there's any lull in the likely frenetic action, we'll fill you in on the awards that were handed out but for now we wait with bated breath for the action to kick off where as usual we will bring you a full and complete account of all the action.

This thread will be a pared down, stripped down minimalist account of events for those who like to cut to the quick without all the razz-a-matazz. If you want a bit of razzamatazz head over to the interactive thread where you can ask myself and Jen for all the info on your favoured players.

Good luck to everyone It should be a cracker!

[JungleCat03]

And we're off!

An early perusal of the card room revealed a number of names and faces lurking in the sea of EPT hopefuls.

Dutch star Noah Boeken is here, although he appears to have spurned his normal eye-wateringly luminescent hoody for something altogether more subdued today. I hope the pokerstars sponsored Dutchman is not on the slippery slope to wearing grey cardigans and flannel trousers!

Another Dutchman spotted was Rolf Slotboom, sporting his trademarked mirrored shades. I hope Rolf runs deep, if only so we can see another of the magnificently intricate chip constructions he is so adept at making.

There is a reasonable English contingent in attendance today as well. One of the most recognisable faces is that of Mickey Wernick, his bearded visage poking out from a blanket of spiky haired scandies and wearing a broad grin that seems to signal he is feeling confident of doing well.

One interesting face-off sees the highly respected young internet and now live sensation Annette Obrestad pitted against the magnate of all things honey-related Albert Sapiano. Annette no doubt spent much of the summer jealously watching the world series pass her by, being too young to play poker in the states.

She must have been itching to get stuck in to a big tournament and with the advent of the EPT season, she can do just that! However, nothing will have prepared her for some of the incredible plays she will witness coming from Albert today.

Can she cope with his relentless brand of calling-any-preflop-raise-with-any-cards poker?

We'll just have to wait and see...

[JungleCat03]

Another big name spotted at the felt is that of David "Chino" Rheem, one of the November Nine who are destined to return to the Rio Casino in Vegas in November to battle it out on the WSOP Main Event final table.

As I haven't spotted any interesting hands of note just yet, I will continue the sartorial focus of my previous posts by telling you he is wearing a sporty leather jacket emblazoned with dollar symbols. Apt, given that he is guaranteed to be a dollar millionaire in less than 2 months time...

Reportedly both Greg Raymer (who Jen has snapped) and Annette Obrestad have had flying starts, winning reasonably sized pots to boost them to 14k and 13k respectively...

[Djinn]

Not True But Could Have, Possibly Should Have Been Story of the Day (so far):

Greg Raymer refused Entry to Tournament for not wearing Pants

A story was circulating, in all seriousness, through the press room, that the dress codes of the Casino had put paid to none other than the Fossilman's dreams of EPT glory.  While they've definitely loosened up their rules (trainers and hoodies abound, thank goodness), Noah Boeken was earlier refused entry because of his ripped jeans and shorts are definitely frowned upon.  So the trademark beige shorts, socks'n'sandals combo of Raymer was apparently, nearly going to miss out on Day 1a.  Someone somewhere relented, and here he is, chatting cheerily with his table already.



Incidentally, Danny Ryan is one of his current conversational sparring partners, pictured here from the side in case you didn't recognise his hair in the top photo. 

[Djinn]

I have been on the hunt for a list of players (at least for today only) but it's not as easy as it sounds - they are still accepting people into today's flight and presumably even though tomorrow is the more popular start day the same rule will apply.  Finding names and seats will be possible on Day 2 in a way that today we can only dream of.  Mad Harper, struggling through the virtual paperwork, has directed me to this list though - which is better than nothing.  Probably.

Johannes Steindl   Austria   Sponsored   1a
Stefan Jedlicka   Austria   PS qualifier   1a
Thomas Dolezal   Austria   PS qualifier   1a
Pierre Neuville   Belgium   PS qualifier   1a
Yves Kupfermunz   Belgium   PS qualifier   1a
Christian Moeschke Kruel   Brazil   PS qualifier   1a
Alex Gomes   Brazil   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Andre Akkari   Brazil   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Glen Chorny   Canada   PS player   1a
Matt Kay   Canada   PS player   1b
Samuel Chartier   Canada   PS qualifier   1a
Maxwell Greenwood   Canada   PS qualifier   1a
Jonathan Dwek   Canada   PS qualifier   1a
Sorel Mizzi   Canada   PS qualifier   1b
Isabelle Mercier   Canada   Team PokerStars Pro   1b
Steven Thompson   Costa Rica   PS player   1b
Phidias Georgiou   Cyprus   PS qualifier   1b
Mark Dalimore   Czech Republic   PS qualifier   1a
Martin Wendt   Denmark   PS player   1a
Jens Kläning   Denmark   PS qualifier   1a
Christian Grundtvig   Denmark   PS qualifier   1a
Søren Kongsgaard   Denmark   PS qualifier   1b
Jonas Klausen   Denmark   PS qualifier   1b
Koivisto Henri Juho Kristian   Finland   PS qualifier   1a
Tuomas Karppinen   Finland   PS qualifier   1b
Miks Puro   Finland   Sponsored   1b
Nicolas Dieu    France   PS qualifier   1a
Cescut Guillaume   France   PS qualifier   1b
Alain Roy   France   PS qualifier   1b
Damien Vidal   France   PS qualifier   1b
Nicolas Martin   France   PS qualifier   1b
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier   France   Team PokerStars Pro   1b
George Danzer   Germany   Sponsored   1a
Benny Spindler   Germany   PS player   1a
Johannes Strassmann   Germany   Sponsored   1a
Ben Thavisin   Germany   PS player   1b
Frank Stumpf   Germany   PS player   1b
Jan Heitmann   Germany   Sponsored   1b
Friedrich-Carl Alexander
Franz   Germany   Poker Camp winner   1b
Peter Bueermann   Germany   PS qualifier   1a
Oleg Epp   Germany   PS qualifier   1a
Jochen Schmidt   Germany   PS qualifier   1a
Malte Strothmann   Germany   PS qualifier   1a
Jokic Miroslav   Germany   PS qualifier   1b
Tobias Reinkemeier   Germany   PS qualifier   1b
Stephan Klam   Germany   PS qualifier   1b
Christian Fockenberg   Germany   PS qualifier   1b
Sebastian Ruthenberg   Germany   Sponsored   1b
Katja Thater   Germany   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Stavros Kalfas   Greece   PS qualifier   1a
Antoon Peter Jozef Kleynen   Holland   PS player   1a
Luis Miguel Magan Tier   Holland   PS player   1a
Joep Van Den Bijgaart   Holland   PS player   1a
Ruben Visser   Holland   PS player   1a
Gijsbertus Reinier Maria Spijkers   Holland   PS player   1a
Joris Jaspers   Holland   PS player   1a
Johan Van Til   Holland   PS qualifier   1a
Evertjan Dondergoor   Holland   PS qualifier   1a
Johannes Wijlaars   Holland   PS qualifier   1a
Steven Weusten   Holland   PS qualifier   1b
Stuart Taylor   Holland   PS qualifier   1b
Eduard Toby Newton   Holland   PS qualifier   1b
Thierry Van Den Berg   Holland   PS qualifier   1b
Pieter De Korver   Holland   Sponsored   1a
Noah Boeken   Holland   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Adam Markovits   Hungary   PS qualifier   1a
Denes Kalo   Hungary   PS qualifier   1a
Rajos Andras   Hungary   PS qualifier   1b
Halldor Mar Sverrisson   Iceland   PS qualifier   1a
Robert Willis   Ireland   PS qualifier   1a
Brendan Ruane   Ireland   PS qualifier   1a
Fintan Gavin   Ireland   PS qualifier   1b
Ohad Simhon   Israel   PS player   1a
Mario Adinolfi   Italy   PS player   1a
Luigi Pignataro   Italy   PS player   1a
Domenico Iannone   Italy   PS player   1b
Rizzi Luigi   Italy   PS qualifier   1a
Luca Pulzoni   Italy   PS qualifier   1a
Guzzardi Carlo Maurizio   Italy   PS qualifier   1a
Torri Andrea   Italy   PS qualifier   1b
Minasi Alessandro   Italy   PS qualifier   1b
Roberto Pompei   Italy   PS qualifier   1b
Amendola Alfonso   Italy   PS qualifier   1b
Dario Minieri   Italy   Team PokerStars Pro   1b
Luca Pagano   Italy   Team PokerStars Pro   1b
Gilbert Abela   Lebanon   PS qualifier   1a
Dominykas Karmazinas   Lithuania   PS qualifier   1b
Erlend Melsom   Norway   PS qualifier   1a
Andreas Hagen   Norway   PS qualifier   1a
Christian Fredrik Bonde   Norway   PS qualifier   1b
Stefan Aas Hansen   Norway   PS qualifier   1b
Miroslaw Klys   Poland   PS qualifier   1a
Sergio Bessa   Portugal   PS qualifier   1b
Pedro Poças   Portugal   PS qualifier   1b
Tardea Cristian   Romania   PS qualifier   1b
Zelenov Zhenya Vladimirovich   Russia   PS qualifier   1a
Gluschkov Ivan   Russia   PS qualifier   1b
Alexander Kravchenko   Russia   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Raymond Rahme   South Africa   Team PokerStars Pro   1b
Manuel Jimenez Cecilia   Spain   PS player   1b
Juan Manuel Pastor   Spain   Sponsored   1b
Alvaro Ballesteros Blanco   Spain   PS player   1b
Sergio Bruguera   Spain   Sponsored   1b
Carlos Enrique Villa   Spain   PS qualifier   1a
David Marquez Macias   Spain   PS qualifier   1b
Weider Jose Gutierrez Vanegas   Spain   PS qualifier   1b
Björn Enberg   Sweden   PS player   1a
Danilo Kricak   Sweden   PS player   1a
Christofer Williamsson   Sweden   PS player   1a
Daniel Björkman   Sweden   PS player   1a
Abjar Özmen   Sweden   PS player   1a
Mats Sundin   Sweden   Sponsored   1b
Nichlas Mattsson Saarisilta   Sweden   PS qualifier   1a
Emil Holmsten   Sweden   PS qualifier   1a
Daniel Andersson   Sweden   PS qualifier   1a
Marko Vainio   Sweden   PS qualifier   1a
Christoffer Sonesson   Sweden   PS qualifier   1b
Andreas Petersson   Sweden   PS qualifier   1b
Fredrik Haugen   Sweden   PS qualifier   1b
Jakob Carlsson   Sweden   PS qualifier   1b
Jens Lundgren   Sweden   PS qualifier   1b
William Thorson   Sweden   Team PokerStars Pro   1b
Julien Sallin   Switzerland   PS qualifier   1a
Serge Didisheim   Switzerland   PS qualifier   1b
Daniel Berni Torras   UK   PS player   1a
Rob Akery   UK   PS player   1a
James Keys   UK   PS player   1a
Piotr Paruszewski   UK   PS qualifier   1a
Vijay Singh   UK   PS qualifier   1a
Nicholas Rutter   UK   PS qualifier   1a
Marcel Rhodes   UK   PS qualifier   1a
Adam York   UK   PS qualifier   1a
Steve Jelinek   UK   PS qualifier   1a
Laurence Houghton   UK   PS qualifier   1b
Stephen Chidwick   UK   PS qualifier   1b
Victoria Coren   UK   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Christian Harder   USA   PS player   1a
Jason Mercier   USA   PS player   1a
Dustin Mele   USA   PS Passport winner   1a
Doug Polk   USA   PS player   1a
Daniel S Smith   USA   PS player   1a
Isaac Haxton   USA   PS player   1a
Shaun Deeb   USA   PS player   1a
Adam Junglen   USA   PS player   1b
David "Chino" Rheem   USA   Sponsored   1b
Ben Stark   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Faraz Jaka   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Richard Furay   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Justin Hamlyn   USA   PS qualifier   1a
David Atrubin   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Jerry Wong   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Matt Russell   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Kevin Macphee   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Danny Ryan   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Anthony Spinella   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Robert Hudson   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Joseph Bolnick   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Tim Bogue   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Reuben Peters   USA   PS qualifier   1a
Jon Van Fleet   USA   PS qualifier   1b
Paul Christian   USA   PS qualifier   1b
Mark Randal Flowers   USA   PS qualifier   1b
Hafiz Khan   USA   PS qualifier   1b
Greg Raymer   USA   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Daniel Negreanu   USA   Team PokerStars Pro   1b
Chad Brown   USA   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Vanessa Rousso   USA   Team PokerStars Pro   1a
Gavin Griffin   USA   Team PokerStars Pro   1b

[JungleCat03]

I now regret my gentle mocking of Albert Sapiano.

He has made me eat my words as though they were slices of hot toast slathered with melted butter and his very own honey as he has just virtually stacked another player at his table to double through and possibly take the chip lead at this stage.

The preflop action was unknown but the chips found their way into the middle on an all heart flop with Albert holding for the second nuts and his opponent showing down bullets with the live but behind nut flush draw...

The dealer decided that more than enough hearts had appeared and dealt out a couple of blanks to send Albert into paroxysms of joy whilst his bemused opponent looked at the 75 chips that were the sole remnants of his stack wistfully thinking of what could have been...

[Djinn]

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that all of those names are either backed by or qualified on Pokerstars.  They do represent a large chunk of the field here, but there are others dotted here and there, like:

Barney Boatman, emphasising something I can't remember so that my flashless camera makes him look like he's thumping the table (he's not) - not that two to his left Norwegian Sverre Sundbo looks particularly bothered.



Placid Bo Sehlstedt gets sat next to maverick Frenchman Ludovic Lacay - creating a definite potential Corner of Interest.



And I have no idea what Stephen Pearce is saying to his American neighbour to cause this comedy double-take type expression, but guarantee if Chad wants conversation, or a monologue, or just to listen to two veteran talkers, he'll be just fine - just out of shot sits German Michael Keiner.

[JungleCat03]

A quick account of some of the players' fortunes thusfar:-

Rolf Slotboom - You will have noticed I sent him my best wishes and  hoped for a deep run for the EPT. Yes, you guessed it - he's OUT.

Catbok count 1.

Vanessa Rousso - great start - up to 20k at this stage although details are sketchy as to how this happened. More news as we get it but it looks like the glamourous lady may be our current chip leader...

Wily, wiry midlands veteran Mickey Wernick and his magnificently bushy bristles have had a good start, adding 50% to his stack within three levels as he has run his stack up to an impressive 15k+. Go Mickey!

[JungleCat03]

Some shots of the early action.

Here we have Noah Boeken. No garish hoody today but a tie-dyed yellow print t shirt suggests  the young dutchman is still young, hip and happening...for now.



And voila Vanessa Rousso, looking good both physically and in terms of her chip count with over 20,000...

[JungleCat03]

A shot of early EPT pace-setter and legend of the honey industry, Albert Sapiano.



And welcome to son of megalomaniac tyrant Dr Evil, Mini Me, aiming to win over ONE MILLION DOLLARS in order to fund his father's evil schemes.

[Djinn]

Chip Counts! Seeing as we've only had two requests I just dipped my counting gaze on people here and there at random - anyone else you're interested in please let us know and Rod will be happy to spend ages looking for them 

Ilari Sahamies -- 6,125
Michael Keiner -- 15,325
Chad Brown -- 24,000
Stephen Pearce -- 10,800
Patrick Bueno -- 7,700
Pascal Perrault -- 8,300
Ramzi Jelassi -- 24,000
Vicky Coren -- 6,575
Barney Boatman -- 9,400  (Told me a 'bad beat' in that he did a Tikay today i.e. ran into a glass door.  "Who'd have thought they'd clean it so well?")
Danny Ryan -- 13,000
Sverre Sundbo -- 6,800
Greg Raymer -- 11,000
Steve Jelinek -- 10,500
George Danzer -- 14,650
Glen Chorny -- 15,500
Andreas Hagen -- 7,000  (only just now re-re-raising all in on the button getting rid of the small blind repopper)
Alexander Kravchenko -- 10,000
James Keys -- 10,200
Martin Wendt -- 9,800
Bo Sehlstedt -- 9,500
Ludovic Lacay -- 3,600
David Benyamine -- 11,500
Mats Iremark -- 9,800
Erica Schoenberg -- 9,500
Mickey Wernick -- 14,000
Albert Sapiano -- 29,600  (probably chip leader)
Annette Obrestad -- 6,600

[Djinn]

Alexander Kravchenko, looking like he'd be having more fun being covered in golden syrup and wasps, and then placed in an industrial tumble dryer.  As usual.  He just got into a confrontation with a medium-stacked young lad with curly hair - Mateylad for the purposes of this story.  Kravchenko on the button called a small bet on a flop, and then another bet of 1,450 on the turn.  Mateylad had 3,025 behind, and after ascertaining this, Kravchenko was faced with the fairly inevitable shove on the river.  About five minutes of thinking about it led to an eventual fold, however.

[JungleCat03]

Apologies for the tardiness of posting at present. We are having a few internet connection problems which after much hair pulling, hand wringing and whinging have just been rectified (temporarily at least.)

Some interesting tit bits of information we have picked up along the way...

First off Rolf Slotboom's exit hand was an interesting one. After a fellow Dutchman raised on the button to 300, Rolf re-popped him to 1,200 only for his countryman to move all-in!

With 8k back Rolf took a while deciding what to do before making a brave call with A-K. His opponent tabled the unbeleivable hand of pocket deuces, leaving the two players locked in a crucial coin flip for a 20k pot...

Rolf had the and the flop fell , giving him a multitude of outs and making him favourite to win the pot, though a on the river was a bad turn card and by the time Rolf improved his hand with a on the river it was too late and his tournament had been brought to a crashing halt.

Sadly there will be no intricate chip scultures today then - at least from Rolf.

[JungleCat03]

I was promised beagle.

Snoopy was last seen flipping Jen the bird. It could have been aimed at myself but I choose to ignore that.

As he came over I accused him of wearing wrestling T shirts and eating sandwiches. "Where's your proof?" he asked.

HERE! Admit your guilt beagle.



Sorry we haven't picked up on some of the requests, we're battling with the connection a little although Jen is just about to start scouting for some of this information.

Timex aka Mike McDonald isn't playing today by the way Gobbo'smum as far as we are aware. He did however win TWO whole awards last night, the young man picking up "Overseas player Of The Year" as well as "People's Choice Player Of The Year" after winning EPT Dortmund in sensational style last year.

Just for you Dana as well, let me tell you Trond Eidsvig won "Newcomer Of The Year" for his multitude of deep runs. Kara Scott conducted interviews with all the players following the  awards and said she was very impressed with Trond's humility as he told her "I ran very good last year, I may never run that good again!"

So many players are keen on self-promotion, telling you just how good they are, it's refreshing to hear an accomplished player like Trond give an honest assessment of his fortunes. I'm not quite at Dana levels of admiration for the Norwegian but  I am impressed by his down to earth attitude. Good luck Trond!



"Thanks!"

[Djinn]

OK requests searched for, with some measure of success.

Shaun Deeb - no sign.  This could either mean super early exit, or playing tomorrow.
Mike McDonald - no sign.  Ditto.
Christian Harder -- 8,400

Pascal Perrault -- Under 10k but not desperate
David Benyamine (pictured) -- 22,000
Elky - Plays tomorrow, for definite.