Pokerstars.com EPT Barcelona - Day 1b - Interactive

[JungleCat03]

On my latest perambulation round the card room, there was a glut of big hands.

One of the spanish reporters approached me as we watched yet another small pot play out with little or no action. "Ohhh man! I hoped that would be the one!"

In truth it has been an exciting day, with lots of aggressive poker but for some reason there seems to have been a recent lull in the previous explosive action. Maybe the players are getting just a little tired...

One player who has ground manfully away today and hung in there without ever being able to get a decent stack going is Mark "Randall" Flower, who was so close to ETP San Remo glory, missing out by just one spot on the final nine players.

Still, he'd no doubt take 9th spot in this competition right now, seeing as he only has his starting stack left at this point of just under 10k...


Stuart Taylor looked like he had a good time at the opening party but he has shaken off the after-effects of vodka and red bull, patiently waiting for a spot today which arrived as he was dealt bullets which went in preflop as another player at the table was happy to commit with A-K.

No sick out draw provided Stuart a welcome double through to 18k or so...


Another Stuart who has had a bit more of a rollercoaster ride is Stu Rutter, who after hitting the heights with 30k earlier has run into a bit of a brick wall and is now down to 15k.

"Hit a bad patch" he told me although he was still happy to pull a grinny smily face for the camera, as you would expect of one of the friendliest players on the circuit...

NB Pictures to follow shortly (once internet permits their uploadance...)

[Djinn]

Kristian Ulriksen Takes Big Stack Hit; Not Happy About It



Intense young Norwegian Ulriksen (pictured) had amassed a very tidy stack of 62,000 by this, the penultimate level of the night.  Accumulating throughout the day, one hand undid a good deal of his good work.  With a decent, though not monstrous pot underway, a small-blind Ulriksen was heads up with Matey (sorry, this will all stop tomorrow when we can easily identify the remaining 300 or so), and had just bet out 8,000 on a board reading .  The splash of red 1k chips drew the press to the table, as Matey thought for a while, and then pushed in the two medium-sized stacks he had left.  Without a countdown, he quickly made the call:
Kristian Ulriksen: 
Mateyboy: 

Ulriksen made a noise which sounded like a cross between a growl and a cough as the river bricked before finding out that he had to give up 22,100 to his opponent who'd hit the perfect turn card.  I don't know how the betting on the flop and pre went, sadly, as that would have been interesting to know.  But it was very obvious that Ulriksen wasn't happy one bit.  A stretch standing up facing away from the table and furiously pressing a button on his mobile looks to cure him.  To be fair, the very close warm, people-filled atmosphere of the casino can't be helping players' temper any - only Julian with his big fan remains literally cool.

"Nice hand," he said, in a tone of voice which had he been outside would have attracted lightning.

[Djinn]

Other selected counts:

Surinder Sunar -- 13,500
Thierry van den Berg -- 15,500
Julian Thew -- 11,650
Sebastian Ruthenberg -- 19,075
Randal Flowers -- 17,100
Alexia Portal -- OUT
Jonas Molander -- 42,000
Nicolas Levi -- 15,000
Paul Testud -- 8,850
Sorel Mizzi -- 27,000
Andrew Teng -- 10,400
Alan Smurfit -- 17,900
Richard Ashby -- 13,900

[Djinn]

David Schnettler doubles up, dropping Dario Minieri (back) to the felt in the process.  Schnettler got it all in preflop with vs. Minieri's .
Flop:
Turn:    (somewhere between the flop and turn Dario started saying, "Ten of hearts!" quietly but emphatically)
River:

So Dario went down to 5,900 while Schnettler went up to 26,000.

[JungleCat03]

Mark Flowers - 10k



Stuart Taylor (possibly with a touch of sunburn) - 18k



Surinder Sunar - 14k



Stu "The Nutter" Rutter - 15k



Random man with comedy glasses of the day (Greg Raymer has a kot to answer for) - 8k

[Djinn]

The last five hands of the night have been announced, and as yesterday this period seems to spell minor disaster for the British players.  Just now David Schnettler took a large pot from Surinder Sunar - I am going to make a presumptuous assumption that it went in in the majority on the flop, as the board stood xclub xdiamond and Surinder held to Schnettler's .  That full house took him over 30k and Sunar down to just 5,800.

[Djinn]

Climbers of the day who have been hitherto unmentioned and we just have time to sneak a couple more pictures in as they bag and tag:

Sorel Mizzi - off to a bad start, but valiant comeback and beyond...


Michel Abecassis, French card bastion, flying the flag for Winamax along with several others who will give the day 2 field a run for their money tomorrow.

[JungleCat03]

Stu Rutter is now down to 10k.

He had a bit of an accident with this hand...

Holding 6-3 in the BB and forced to play, the flop fell out 7-3-2. He led and received two callers...

The turn was a 6 to give him two pair but bringing straights into play. He check called 2k...

The river was a relative blank and he put out what he said was a stop bet, only for his opponent to raise him...

"I felt like he would only riase with a made hand there so I threw them away. I'm 90% sure I was right" but he was left with a nagging doubt as his opponent didn't show his hand.


As we home in on the end of the day, here are some of the chip leaders at this point.

Jonas Klausen, the Dane who has come close to some big results but has never quite nailed it, is on over 100k at the moment and in prime position.

Also well placed is Sebastian Ruthenberg, the German who picked up a bracelet in the world series, defeating none other than Chris Ferguson heads up at seven stud hi/lo.

He also has just over 100k...

Michael Lundel and his stripy shirt are also in the select centurion club and fighting for the lead at this point...

The tiny but fearsome scarf wearing Italian Dario Minieri is a late casualty of the day, having been battling with a short stack for some time now and Sean Deeb has also joined him on the rail as well (though he won the last longer bet with his dad.)

[Djinn]

So we'll be getting the chip counts for the Day Twoers tomorrow, and so will you.  Back at 3pm to watch the carnage resume.

For now, it's bustling here and Snoopy wants to get to the front of the taxi queue. 

[Gobbomom]

I just got home from work to see the updates- FANTASTIC  job Blondes- the best yet! Thanks for the pics. of David Schnettler and Randal Flowers and Adam Junglen.  Loved the Snoopy photoshops!!!!

[jpean]

Like the last poster, I just back from work (but a little later than him  ).

Thanks updaters for the lot of photos and informations about the (numerous) French players (I didn't think I'd have so many things about them... really thanks !).

Right Jen it was the former actress Alexia Portal (Team Winamax too) on the photo you took

Fore those who wants more information, Vikash Dhorasso was a former international football player whose career has ended prematurely few years ago who played in clubs like Paris SG and Lyon and in a well-known-out-of-France one (Milan AC or Barcelona I think but not sure).

[JungleCat03]

Had a bit of bad luck during the dreaded last 6 hands. Short stack shoved into my  AhQh and I lose the race versus his 22. Sickest part is I flop K66, turn T and still manage to miss every AKQJT left in the deck on the river. So finally I'm struggling again with 9.7K going into tomorrow - going to need to get very lucky.

Cheers, Stu

EDIT: Moved from At A Glance Thread

[julian]

that was a struggle...card dead, situation dead & every attempted steal was sniffed out.
finished on 10,700 & met chufty & bepe at the bar afterwards - we're all thru & i've got the most chips lol.
the standard is as mixed as ever - there are some really tough tabless & some really soft ones.

[kinboshi]

Like the last poster, I just back from work (but a little later than him  ).

Thanks updaters for the lot of photos and informations about the (numerous) French players (I didn't think I'd have so many things about them... really thanks !).

Right Jen it was the former actress Alexia Portal (Team Winamax too) on the photo you took

Fore those who wants more information, Vikash Dhorasso was a former international football player whose career has ended prematurely few years ago who played in clubs like Paris SG and Lyon and in a well-known-out-of-France one (Milan AC or Barcelona I think but not sure).

It was AC Milan

[julian]

meant to post this earlier but forgot;
trond continues to impress - was having a chat yesterday & whilst he is here in barcelona playing cash he said it's breaking his heart not play the ept, but he refuses to pull up that much money until/unless he lands a deal.
doubt are there many that young with his track record & that much bankroll discpline.