PartyPoker Blog is in Barcelona, Spain this week for the WPT Spanish Championship.
The WPT Main Event (buy-in 3200€ + 300€) is underway!
PartyPoker Blog will provide you all the latest updates, pictures, videos and the live stream of the WPT Barcelona final table on Sunday.
The combined day ones has come to a climax and it is the youngster Eric Sullivan who has finished up top. The recap of the whole day can be found here.
Here are the final chip counts
- SULLIVAN , ERIK BRIAN 140,700
- PIESZCZOCH , SZYMON JAN 126,400
- MORGAN , DANIEL GRAHAM JOHN 121,900
- MARTINEZ , BARBARA VALERIA 121,000
- HOMANN , SEBASTIAN ALEXANDER MICHA 115,900
- MORTENSEN , MORTEN PER VARBAEK 101,200
- JACOBSON , PER MARTIN 99,800
- ROMANOV , ARTEM 98,400
- PASQUALINI , JEAN PAUL 97,700
- SIPILA , SAMULI JOHANNES 93,600
- TRABOULSI , THOMAS 91,000
- DELLA PENNA , PAOLO 86,400
- IREMARK , MATS ERIK 85,800
- GOMILA ROMERO, BARTOLOME 80,200
- FERNANDEZ MENENDEZ, MIGUEL 79,600
- MAISON , YVES PIERRE 76,500
- AMAR , CLAUDE GUSTAVE 76,100
- NADAL SORDO, JOSE MANUEL 75,500
- YANN , ENZINGER 73,000
- CANNIZZARO , ANDREA 72,500
- MARS , JEAN JACQUES 72,400
- KUHN , STEFAN 71,800
- SORMUNEN , PASI TAPANI 70,900
- BARONI , IRENE 69,400
- PERDIGON , VANESSA NOELLE CLAUDE 68,000
- CRETU , CORNELIU 67,500
- SOROS , ZSOLT 65,300
- SCHNEIDER , ROBERT 63,900
- BLANCO CARRASCO, OSCAR 63,700
- RUIZ VIÑALS, MATIAS 62,500
- FOURNIER , JEAN LUC ROGER MICHEL 62,200
- BENZERFA , YOUCEF 58,100
- DI GREOGORIO ZITELLA, JORIS 56,300
- FIORINI , LUCA 55,900
- CARRA , MAURIZIO 55,700
- ARBUELLO , DIEGO IVAN 54,100
- MARTINEZ ALFONSO, JORDI 53,400
- RAVNSBAEK , SIMON 51,500
- BUSSOT FUENTES, FREDERIC 48,000
- LASSALLE , BRUNO 40,300
- RISTOLA , MARKUS ONNI ANTERO 39,900
- DUPLANTIER , MARGAUX MARION MARIANNE 39,600
- ETTLIN , QUENTIN GAUTIER 38,800
- DUVNJAK , ZDRAVKO 36,200
- GRIVE MARTIN, DAVID 35,100
- JEUNOT , THIERRY CLAUD 33,900
- PALACIO , ARMANDO TATE 33,300
- ALI , ESSAM ABD 33,200
- MACEIRAS LAPIDO, MARIA 31,400
- BERROYA DEL CUETO, GERARD 29,800
- SEHLSTEDT , BO ERIK FILIP 29,800
- SANCHEZ SERRANO, DIEGO 26,000
- RAMOS BLASCO, JUAN JOSE 23,400
- DA SILVA ALMEIDA, RENATO ANTONIO 22,800
- DABIRI , SHOUAN 21,800
- SAVELA , ALEKSI PERTTU VIHTORI 19,700
- VAINIO , VILLE JUHANI 16,700
- VILKKI , JUHA JOEL MIKAEL 16,700
- CARLSSON , CARL DANIEL ROBERT 16,500
- TOTH , JANOS 16,000
- MARICONDA , SALVATORE 14,500
- HANSEN , RASMUS DE FONSS STROMHOLT 13,800
00:01
Mclean Karr Eliminated
Mclean Karr has been eliminated after cruising for most of the day. We didn’t see the exit but we have the hand from the mouth of the guy himself.
Karr raised with 
under the gun and there were two callers including Artem Romanov.
Flop: 
Karr c-bet, the first player called and Romanov raised. Karr made the call and the other player folded leaving two of them to see the turn.
Turn: 
Karr made a pot committing bet and Romanov put Karr all-in and he called.
River: 
Romanov: 
for the straight and he now has over 100,000 chips.
23:50
Super Ladies
The women of poker have been a real force today. Barbara Martinez has been near the top of the chip counts all day, Irene Baroni has been battering everyone on her table, Vanessa Hellebuyck is teasing and tossing people around and Margeoux Duplantier doesn’t have to do anything – we will stand and watch her all day long!
There was a raise from early position and it was 1,400 to play when Vanessa Hellebuyck three-bet to 4,500 from the small blind and the initial raiser made the call.
Flop: 
Hellebuyck smiled, as she does, and bet 5,200 and her opponent made the call.
Turn: 
Hellebuyck bet 10,000 and this time her opponent folded.
“Did you have an ace?” She asked.
“No I had queens,” answered her opponent.
Vanessa just gave him that look which suggested she was thinking “you poor little thing.” Before showing him ace-king.
23:50
Dragan Galic As He Prepares for His WSOP
23:45
Essam Ali Doubles Up – The Hard Way!
Party Poker Qualifier Essam Ali has just doubled up but he had one hell of a sweat. All the money went him with him holding 
and his opponent called the all-in holding 
.
Flop: 
Not good news for Ali as his opponent spikes a set on the flop.
Turn:
River: 
Straight for Ali and he moves up to 68,000
23:20
Baroni Has no Heart
We joined the action on a flop with more hearts on it than a schoolgirls mathematics book.
Flop: 
Irene Baroni bet 1,625 and Yves Maison called.
Turn: 
Baroni tried again and this time she bet 3,625 and again Maison called.
River:
Baroni decided that a third barrel was going to get called so she checked and so did Maison.
Baroni:
Maison: 
No heart in sight and Maison took the chips.
23:16
Chase the Ace
Mclean Karr raised to 1,200, Paolo Della Penna called and the cut-off raised to 3,600. Karr and Della Penna called and the three of them saw a flop.
Flop: 
All three players checked.
Turn: 
Karr checked and Della Penna took a stab with a 1,025 bet and the cut-off called. Karr bailed out of the hand leaving two of them to see the river in their little game of who has the ace?
River: 
Della Penna bet 3,075 so maybe he had the ace? The cut-off certainly didn’t have it because no raise was forthcoming and instead he just called.
Della Penna:
Cut-off:
Split pot.
23:14
Top Chip Counts
- Eric Sullivan 145,000
- Barbara Martinez 140,000
- Corneliu Cretu 125,000
- Mclean Karr 115,00
- Dan Morgan 105,00
- Martin Jacobson 86,000
- Morten Mortensen 85,000
- Jean Paul Pasqualini 80,000
- Dan Morgan 105,00
- Martin Jacobson 86,000
Eric Sullivan is our new chip leader and not only is he our new chip leader but he is also the xxxx boss of the house. Check him out here telling everyone so.
22:23
The Martin Jacobson Stare
Martin Jacobson is a fabulous player and he has the results to back up his wonderful play. We have just been watching him in a hand against an opponent and what struck us was the way he handles himself at the table. His forearms are outstretched and in a way it is a sign. It is as if he is telling people to stay out of his way, his chips belong to him and you aint getting any of them. He has also developed the Jacobson stare. Whether he is next to act or not he stares at his opponent, and more often than not his opponents will not make eye contact. This was demonstrated excellently in this following hand.
A player raised to 1,000 from middle position and Jacobson called in the cut-off and the two of them shared a flop of 
and Jacobson’s opponent bet 1,500. Jacobson made the call and the turn was the 
. Once again Jacobson’s opponent bet and it was 3,000. Jacobson did not take his eyes off his opponent when he made the call. The river was the and by this time you could sense that the strength was being sapped out of Jacobson’s opponent. He was staring down at the felt and would not look in the direction of Swede. In the meantime the Swede was burning a hole in the side of his opponents head with that stare of his. His opponent meekly checked and Jacobson bet 5,000 to get the job done. Hell, for all we know Jacobson could have had the nuts but if he didn’t his position and posture certainly helped.
Jacobson ~ 72,000
22.30
A taste of WPT Spanish Championship 2011:
22:08
Right Cards / Wrong Time
Party Poker Team Pro Dragan Galic is not having a good level. He has just lost a chunk of chips to Jean Jacques Mars when his ace-king made a straight versus the pocket kings of Mars only for Mars to hit a flush. Galic went for a walk to calm down after the hand but it didn’t do him any good as this following hand demonstrates.
Galic raised to 1,100 and Mars three-bet to 3,225 and Galic made the quick call.
Flop: 
Galic checked to Mars who bet 5,600 and Galic snap-called.
Turn: 
Galic checked again and Mars bet 13,300. Galic folded immediately showing pocket jacks and Mars showed Galic pocket aces.
Galic ~ 27,000
Mars ~ 70,000
21:50
No Nightmare on First Street for Karr
The table was just clearing the debris from the Della Penna hand when Mclean Karr put out a raise of 950. Della Penna was away from the table and so the action fell to Paul Kristoffersson in the small blind and he three-bet to 2,800. Morten Mortensen had a really good think about it from the big blind but eventually decided three is a crowd. Mclean asked for a count and decided to make the call and peel off a flop in position.
Flop:
Kristoffersson, who had a Freddy Krueger style t-shirt on, made a bet of 3,500. Karr does not scare that easily and it was no Nightmare on First Street for him as he raised to 5,050 and Kristoffersson withdrew his claws and folded his hand.
Karr has around 90,000
21:45
Paolo Della Penna Rises to Prominence
We just saw a young lady leaving the table whilst all of her chips were being passed to Paolo Della Penna. Della Penna, who finished 17th in this event last year, was holding and his opponents cards were lying in front of an empty space and they were 
. The board was 
and you can see why all of the chips did eventually end up in the middle.
Della Penna now has 75,000 chips.
21:32
Carrasco Clubbed by Karamuca
Oscar Carrasco is one of our current chip leaders with around 110,000 stacked in three towers in front of him. We just witnessed him shaving a few of them off and handed them to Artur Karamuca who is sat to his direct right.
Carrasco raised on the button and both blinds called. The flop was 
and all three players checked. The turn was a and once again the two blinds checked and it was Carrasco who decided to make a play at the pot when he bet 1,700 and Artur Karamuca called. The river was the and Karamuca fired 3,000 very quickly into the scary board and after several shakes of his head, Carrasco folded.
21:10
Galic Wins the Blind Battle
Barbara Martinez (118,000), Party Poker Team Pro Dragan Galic (55,000) and the cigar munching Jean Jacques Mars (63,000) are the biggest stacks on table four and two of them have just butted heads in the blind battle.
Martinez completed from the small blind and Galic made it another 1,000 to play and Martinez called.
Flop:
Martinez checked to Galic who flicked two 1k yellow chips out on front of him and Martinez made the call.
Turn:
Another check by Martinez and another quick bet by Galic, this time he flicked one solitary red 5k chip into the pot and again Martinez called.
River:
check-check.
Galic flung his into the pot and Martinez mucked her hand but remains the chip leader on the table.
21:08
Top Chip Counts
- Barbara Martinez 118,000
- Oscar Carrasco 110,000
- Morten Mortensen 100,000
- Mclean Karr 92,000
- Jose Manuel Sordo 80,000
- Corneliu Cretu 80,000
- Symon Pieszczoch 78,000
- Jean Jacques Mars 63,000
- Dragan Galic 55,000
21.00
Good bluff and celebration from earlier today – “I’m the boss in this room!”:
19:30
Dinner break for one hour
19:25
Mclean Karr Watch
WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star winner Mclean Karr has been enjoying a vigorous massage for the past level. For a moment we thought the masseuse had turned him soft and he had taken his eye off the ball but he redeemed himself moments later.
There was a raise to 550 and a three-bet to 1,400 before Karr four-bet to 4,150. The initial raiser folded and the action fell to the three-bettor who had 18,700 behind. We doubt that Karr saw this because after the three-bettor moved all-in Karr laid down his hand.
We next caught him on a flop of and he was facing a 1,100 raise from his opponent. Karr made it 4,125 from position and his opponent called. The turn was the and after his opponent checked Karr bet 11,250. His opponent only had 38,000 behind so it was a strong bet and his opponent called. The river was the 
and Karr’s opponent again checked and Karr bet 15,000. After a long pause his opponent made the call.
Karr:
Opponent:
Karr moves up to 80,000
19:05
Cash Prizes Announced
122 players started today and when combined with yesterdays total of 94 that makes a combined event total of 216 players. The total prize pool is therefore €691,200 and the prize pay-outs are as follows.
27th place – 19th place – €4,500
18th place – 16th place – €5,500
15th place – 13th place – €6,500
12th place – 10th place – €9,000
9th place – €14,000
8th place – €20,200
7th place – €27,000
6th place – €33,500
5th place – €40,000
4th place – €47,000
3rd place – €64,000
2nd place – €118,000
1st place – €206,000 (plus WPT World Championships buy-in worth $25,500)
18:25
Roy Bluff Doesn’t Fool Romero
Alain Roy just ran a three-barrel bluff straight into the open arms of Bartolome Romero.
The flop was 
and Roy bet 825 and Romero called. The turn was the and again Roy bet, this time 1,800 and Romero snap-called. If he snap-called the turn then Romero’s action on the river can only be described as a super-snap call. The river was the , Roy’s bet was 3,725 and Roy folded his hand unseen. Romero collected his new chips also without showing his hand.
18:10
Dominik Nitsche Quickly Exits
Dominik Nitsche has headed home for an early bath after being eliminated by Oscar Carrasco.
Nitsche and Carrasco got all of their money in on the flop of 
[7x] with Nitsche holding 
for the flush and straight draw and Carrasco [kx]for the over pair and back-door draws.
Turn: 
The turn launched Nitsche into the lead.
River: [7x]
The river kicked Nitsche in the “you no whats” and brought him back down to an earth shattering defeat.
18:24
Big Hitters and Notables – Tables 7-12
Table 7
Nobody had a stack worthy of reporting!
Table 8
Morten Mortensen 73,000
Mclean Karr 50,000
Luca Fiorino 57,000
Table 9
Alexia Portal 28,000
Simon Ravnsbaek 67,000
Table 10
Szymon Pieszczoch 59,000
Diego Sanchez 67,000
Table 11
Miguel Fernandez 53,000
Mats Erik Iremark 46,000
Table 12
James Mitchell 8,000
Paolo Della Penna 49,000
Corneliu Cretu 79,000
18:01
Big Hitters and Notables – Tables 1 – 6
Table 1
Vanessa Perdigon 42,000
Table 2
Alain Roy 29,000
Aleksi Savela 27,000
Jose Manuel Sordo 57,000
Table 3
Marvin Rettenmeier 28,000
Irene Baroni 22,000
Michael Schuerpf 25,000
Juha Vilkki 52,000
Table 4
Dragan Galic 36,000
Santiago Terrazas 78,000
Barbara Martinez 72,000
Here is some of the action from those tables:
Bruno Lassalle limped into the pot before Jose Sordo raised to 725. Alain Roy called in the big blind as did Lassalle.
Flop: 
All three players checked.
Turn:
The two Frenchmen checked to Sordo who bet 725 and they both called.
River: 
All three players checked and the pot was split between Lassalle and Roy.
Lassalle: 
Roy:
Sordo:
Marvin Rettenmeier raised to 475 in the cut-off and Marijin Van Puffelen called on the button.
Flop: 
Rettenmeier bet 650 and Van Puffelen quickly called.
Turn:
Rettenmeier bet 1,425 and Van Puffelen again nonchalantly called.
River:
Both players checked and the hand went to Van Puffelen who was holding . Rettenmeier as the last aggressor had to show his bluff of 
17:00
Irene Baroni
I don’t know what it is about Irene Baroni but she has this kind of “don’t mess with me,” look about her. Her trademark orange rimmed shades and pig-tails just scares the bejesus out of me. Obviously she does not have that same effect on Youcef Benzerfa.
Michael Schuerpf raised to 500 and Benzerfa raised to 1,300. Baroni made the cold call and Schuerpf also called from his original raise position under the gun.
Flop:
Schuerpf checked and Benzerfa bet 2,050. Baroni made the call and Schuerpf moved out of the way.
Turn:
Check-check.
River:
Benzerfa was not intimidated by Baroni and he bet 2,050. Baroni, who was reading a book at the time, went into the tank and after a while eventually folded the hand.
16:57
Darcourt Bamboozled
Sebastian Homann raised to 500 from the hi-jack before Patrick Marie called in the small blind. Guillame Darcourt was in the big blind and he applied the squeeze making it 1,400 to play and both players made the call.
Flop:
Both blinds checked and Homann bet 2,000. Marie in the small blind raised to 5,025 and the look on Darcourts face was priceless. It was a case of “what is going on here?” type of look. He eventually surrendered his hand as did Hamann and Marie took down the pot while Darcourt continued to mumble quiet French words under his breath.
16:35
All-in – It’s Level Two For Heavens Sake
Simultaneous all-in action at tables eight and ten for you. We will start at table ten where Eli Albag raised to 475 and received one caller before Nicola Boldini raised to 1,650 in the cut-off. The action fell to Diego Sanchez Serrano on the button and he four-bet to 3,300…fold…fold..five-bet by Boldini to 8,050. Serrano was next and he looked directly at the neck of Boldini before moving all-in. Boldini smiled and immediately removed all of his head-ware. He got to his feet and eventually made the call.
Boldini:
Serrano:
The board remained clean for Serrano and Boldini was heading for the exit.
At exactly the same time on table eight Morten Mortensen had moved all-in on a board of and his opponent was Giovanni De Falco. De Falco made the call and Mortensen flipped over for the full house and De Falco tabled .
16:24
I Should Have Listened
It is incredible how often the more mature members of the poker fraternity tell their opponent to fold when they have their opponent crushed. Simon Ravnsbaek should have listened to his adversary in this particular hand.
Ravnsbaek raised to 250 from under the gun and Dalil Masaud three-bet from the cut off and the price to pay was 700.
“I would call if I was you,” said Masaud.
“OK. You have talked me into it,” replied Ravnsbaek.
Flop:
Ravnsbaek check-called a 700 Masaud bet.
Turn:
Ravnsbaek checked again and Masaud bet 1,500 before telling Ravnsbaek, “believe me it is better if you fold.”
Ravnsbaek did not heed the advice put forward my Masaud and he made the call.
River:
Ravnsbaek changed gears and injected 3,250 into the face of Masaud.
“Really? AQ? That is the only hand that makes sense. I call. Show me your ace-queen,” said Masaud.
Ravnsbaek didn’t show him ace-queen and instead showed him for the bluff. Masaud showed him .
“I told you to fold,” said Masaud.
“And I should have listened,” laughed Ravnsbaek.
15:40
Party Poker Action
There are 18 qualifiers and dignitaries displaying the Party Poker patches out there today. Here is a smattering of hands involving some of them.
Simon Ravnsbaek is one of those 18 players and you may remember him from his impressive 3rd place finish at WPT Vienna back in March. We joined the action on a flop of and Roberto La Rosa had checked from the small blind. Ravnsbaek made a bet of 300 from the cut-off and La Rosa check-raised to 800. Action back onto Ravnsbaek and it was just like being back in Vienna as he made the three-bet to 2,250 and La Rosa faded to the pressure.
Over at table two we have David Lenz, Abd Ali and French comedian Bruno Lassalle proudly displaying the Party Poker patch. Here are the trio being put in there place by Jose Manuel Nadal Sordo.
David Lenz raised to 300 and Sordo three-bet to 800 in position. Lenz made the very tentative call and they both saw a flop of 
. Lenz checked and Sordo bet 1,150 and Lenz folded.
In the next hand Lenz raised to 300 and Ali and then Lassalle both called. Action stopped at Sordo who again applied the pressure with a squeeze of 1,425. Both Lenz and Ali made the calls but they didn’t look comfortable at all.
For a while it looked as if everyone had lost their nerve as the flop and the turn were both checked through.
Board:
When the dealer gave us the on the river Lenz and Ali again checked. By this time they had waved the white flags high enough for Sordo to take notice and a 2,125 bet was enough to win his second pot.
15:25
Day 1b Begins
The chips are riffling and the cards are flying here in the Gran Casino.
Guillame Darcourt, Alain Roy and Alexia Portal are here from France, Aleksi Savela is here from Finland, James Mitchell and Surinder Sunar are here from good old blighty, Mclean Karr is here from the USA, Dragan Galic is here from Croatia, Paul Valkenburg is here from Holland and Bo Sehlstedt and Martin Jacobson are here from Sweden.
Talking about Sweden here is Martin Jacobson in action.
Bo Sehlstedt raised to 275, Jacobson called behind and then Benjamin Hamnett three-bet to 750 from the button and both players called.
Flop:
All three players checked which gave Jacobson a little bit more time to complete his registration form.
Turn:
The Swedes both checked and Hamnett bet 1,325. Sehlstedt decided he was finished with this hand but the spectacled Jacobson decided to continue as he made the call.
River:
Jacobson checked again and Hamnett bet 2,000. One quick Jacobson stare later and he had mucked his hand and Hamnett won the first pot of note on the table.
Yesterday, Artur Koren bagged up 122,800 at around 01:00 (CET) to become the chip leader for day 1a. 94 players started the day and 54 will return tomorrow at 15:00 (CET) for day 2. In the meantime we have another eight 60-minute levels before we complete our day 1 proceedings in total.
Wait…yes I can hear him…Tournament Director Thomas Kremser has invited everyone into the playing area to fill those damn forms in so we won’t be long.
15.00
Mario Adinolfi has some tips on how to survive at a WPT tournament:
WPT Spanish Championship picture gallery
[miniflickr photoset_id=”72157626685813527″]
