Cate Hall lads from Marco Recognaschi going into Day 3
The final day of the 888Live Barcelona Main Event will get under way at 2.00pm local time and when it does, the American poker pro Cate Hall will resume with the chip lead after a dramatic Day 2 saw her edge out Italian player Marco Recognaschi for the chip lead.
Hall and Recognaschi are the only players above two million chips, but there are plenty of other big names still involved, with William Kassouf well place on 902,000.
"What a day." he said, when we caught up with him to discuss Day 2. "It was such a rollercoaster, I'm happy to be still in with a chance and above average. It would be great to get to the final table and imagine taking on Cate Hall heads-up - what a challenge."
Kassouf avoided Hall in the Day 3 table draw, but will have the opportunity of grabbing some of Marco Recognaschi's chips. Other players come into the final day with work to do. Fellow British player Chuc Khuu needs a double-up quickly, sitting on just 320,000 chips, and home country hopes Francesc Mateu Munoz Bieto (258,000),, Jose Alberto Lopez Gonzalez (254,000) and David Xarau Navarro (200,000) all have work to do to put a Spanish name on the final table.
Here is the table draw in full:
Table
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
1
Luigi Shehadeh
Italy
964,000
1
2
Marco Regonaschi
Italy
2,150,000
1
3
William Kassouf
UK
902,000
1
4
Carlos Garcia Rodriguez
Spain
810,000
1
5
Hamza Miri
Germany
392,000
1
6
Chuc Khuu
UK
320,000
1
7
Alessio Sardone
Italy
975,000
1
8
Besmir Hodaj
Italy
690,000
1
9
Stefan Eriksson
Sweden
958,000
2
1
Jaime Rueda Sampedro
Spain
611,000
2
2
Jaakko Wilska
Finland
1,069,000
2
3
Jose Alberto Lopez Gonzalez
Spain
254,000
2
4
Fernando Campomar Concha
Spain
600,000
2
5
Jose Manuel Cesepimps
Spain
359,000
2
6
Do Chung Tran
Germany
1,237,000
2
7
Giovanni di Ceglie
Croatia
138,000
2
8
Francesc Mateu Munoz Bieto
Spain
258,000
3
1
Filippo Lazzaretto
Italy
465,000
3
2
Jonas Kannosto
Finland
925,000
3
3
Cate Hall
USA
2,467,000
3
4
Francisco Jose Garcia Martin
Spain
677,000
3
5
Javier de Vicente Miquel
Spain
515,000
3
6
Marco Hakli
Spain
267,000
3
7
David Xarau Navarro
Spain
200,000
3
8
Marwan Salamoun
USA
116,000
Play resumes at 2.00pm local time and Pokernews will be following all the action to bring you the best of the bust-outs, the cream of the check-raises and of course that eventual winner interview and glittering trophy presentation.
Let's find a winner here a the 888Live Barcelona Main Event!
Marco Regonaschi raised to 80,000 and William Kassouf three-bet to 220,000 in order to pick up a call by the Italian.
The flop fell and Regonaschi checked. Kassouf bet more than half of his stack of 785,000 and Regonaschi set him in, Kassouf called.
William Kassouf:
Marco Regonaschi:
"Brick brick, high cards please," Kassouf demanded and got the turn and river run out. That double bumped his stack to around two million and the Brit claimed the top spot.
William Kassouf has catapulted himself into the lead on Day 3 of the 888Live Barcelona Main Event
William Kassouf walked away from the feature table after winning the final hand into the break and learned that during the first two levels, not only has the field been reduced from 25 to 20 players, but that he is on top of the lot of them.
"Oh, wow. That's great. You saw how I got there, I assume. I gambled with the nuts. I had the absolute coconuts and he called with pocket fives, we had lift off on the flop as a rocket came and bricka-bricka, the dealer duly obliged. Marvellous."
While Kassouf took a rare breath, we asked him a serious question about how pleased he was with the table draw. Kassouf avoided Cate Hall in the overnight re-draw, but has been sat next to the other big stack in the chipcounts, Marco Recognaschi.
"I was pleased, obviously. I had him [Recognaschi] on my right, which was important. I felt like I was really unlucky yesterday, I had house under house, ran a flush into a full house on the river and lost another two big pots in coolers. Today, so far, I've got some reward for my play."
He's coming back to the action in charge, but Kassouf knows that in Texas No Limit Hold'em, it can all change in the blink of an eye.
"There's still a long way to go and anything can happen. It's a nice time to have a stack, because the blinds have gone up and we haven't lost many, so it's good for me. But let's see. A very long way to go."
Kassouf returns to the table, talking to almost every player as he does at every table he sits at. The circus might be in town, but Kassouf isn't the clown in the tent at the moment. Right now, he's the ringmaster.
Jonas Kannosto raised from early position and Francisco Jose Garcia Martin defended the big blind. The flop fell and the Spaniard checked. Kannosto bet 100,000 and faced a check-raise to 250,000 before Kannosto moved all in. Garcia Martin quickly called and the cards were tabled.
Francisco Jose Garcia Martin:
Jonas Kannosto:
The turn gave Garcia Martin an unbeatable full house, leaving Kannosto drawing dead, and that made the river a formality.
Do Chung Tran's Main Event hopes hit the buffers on Day 3
Jose Alberto Lopez Gonzalez just busted Do Chung Tran when the latter moved all-in over the top of Gonzalez' raise with the short-stacked Tran holding and 530,000 chips.
Gonzalez called, and was behind with ...that was until the board played out. Tran was out.
Out of the small blind, Stefan Eriksson raised to 200,000 with the and Marco Regonaschi jammed for another 745,000 with the out of the big blind. Eriksson took a long time before electing to fold.
The next hand, Alessio Sardone shoved from the small blind for 730,000 and Eriksson had 30,000 more and was in the big blind. The Swede called and the cards were tabled.
Alessio Sardone:
Stefan Eriksson:
The board came and Sardone was eliminated in 12th place.
William Kassouf shoved for 560,000 from the hijack and Hamza Miri called on the button.
Hamza Miri:
William Kassouf:
The board came and Kassouf eventually bowed out in 11th place. Miri had tangled with the Brit several times and eventually finished the private duel on the feature table. With that, the field is down to 10 players and both tables will play hand-for-hand on both tables.
Francisco Jose Garcia Martin - gone in tenth position after running into aces
Francisco Jose Garcia Martin moved in from the button for 1.36million chips and having just won another chunky pot, Luigi Shehadeh couldn't believe his luck when he looked down at his cards and snap-called.
Francisco Jose Garcia Martin:
Luigi Shehadeh:
The board of sent Martin home in 10th place and set our final table. There will be a short hiatus while players' stacks are organised, the table draw is completed and everyone's back is patted.
Each of the final nine are just a few big hands and that little bit of luck from an incredible €110,000 and the - really quite heavy - trophy.
Cate Hall got through with a three-bet shove when holding pocket queens and soon after the next fireworks started. After a raise by Luigi Shehadeh, Javier de Vicente Miquel moved in for 18 big blinds and was called by Shehadeh.
Javier de Vicente Miquel:
Luigi Shehadeh:
The board of improved Shehadeh on the turn and Miquel was eliminated in 9th place for €11,240.
and Regonaschi checked. Kassouf bet more than half of his stack of 785,000 and Regonaschi set him in, Kassouf called.
turn and 
river run out. That double bumped his stack to around two million and the Brit claimed the top spot.
and the Spaniard checked. Kannosto bet 100,000 and faced a check-raise to 250,000 before Kannosto moved all in. Garcia Martin quickly called and the cards were tabled.
turn gave Garcia Martin an unbeatable full house, leaving Kannosto drawing dead, and that made the 
...that was until the 
out of the big blind. Eriksson took a long time before electing to fold.
and Sardone was eliminated in 12th place.
sent Martin home in 10th place and set our final table. There will be a short hiatus while players' stacks are organised, the table draw is completed and everyone's back is patted.
