Kimmo Kurko defended the big blind against an under-the-gun open raise by Sandro Hauser and ultimately checked the river. Hauser bet 110,000 and Kurko mulled it over for a while before he made the call.
"Flush," Hauser announced and rolled over the .
"I almost did" ... Kurko said as he flashed his two cards to Hauser for what appeared to have included the . "I would have hated life," Hauser replied with a smile though Kurko was somewhat surprised about that.
Stefan Wesson raised to 51,000 on the button and was called by Ashley Timms in the big blind. The flop was checked by Timms, who then opted to call a bet worth 80,000 by Wesson. Both checked the turn in an instant and the fell on the river.
Timms now bet 325,000 and Wesson used all but the last two seconds of his shot clock before folding.
The clock has been stopped with just under 18 minutes remaining and the last hands of the night were drawn. Only five more hands will be played until the bagging and tagging.
In the first hand, Jose Manuel Gonzalez opened to 45,000 and Kimmo Kurko pushed for 447,000 in the small blind. Gonzalez asked for an exact count but didn't pull the trigger.
The remaining 13 players are racing off the T-1,000 chips and bag up for the night. All of them will return at 3pm local time to play down to a winner here at Casino Barcelona.
Full counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.
Out of a field of 334 entries, only 13 players remain in contention to claim the biggest slice of the €320,640 prize pool in the 2022 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event. It was a long day of live poker action at Casino Barcelona, as the money bubble burst during the ten levels of 60 minutes and the marquee tournament on the schedule almost reached the nine-handed final table.
Four players are within five big blinds at the top of the leaderboard and the UK's Ashley Timms leads the pack with 1,300,000 in chips despite being one of several contenders who re-entered during the first two levels of the day. The Brit is followed by Ewen Trevidy (1,240,000), Alexandre Ventura Bolet (1,220,000) and Sandro Hauser (1,125,000) as the only contestants with a seven-figure stack.
The 13 Finalists in Barcelona
Position
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Ashley Timms
United Kingdom
1,300,000
43
2
Ewen Trevidy
France
1,240,000
41
3
Alexandre Ventura Bolet
Spain
1,220,000
41
4
Sandro Hauser
Italy
1,125,000
38
5
Gerard Carbo
Spain
915,000
31
6
Jose Manuel Gonzalez
Spain
900,000
30
7
Stefan Wesson
United Kingdom
755,000
25
8
Marti Roca de Torres
Spain
740,000
25
9
Kimmo Kurko
Finland
550,000
18
10
Bernat Carreras
Spain
405,000
14
11
Alex Baena
Spain
355,000
12
12
Adan Soler Fernandez
Spain
255,000
9
13
Antonio Sanchez Torregrosa
Spain
200,000
7
Also still in contention are popular Spanish online streamer Gerard "Gforcall" Carbo (915,000), Jose Manuel Gonzalez (900,000), 2017 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Marti Roca de Torres (740,000) and former EPT Barcelona Main Event runner-up Kimmo Kurko (550,000).
Two former 888poker LIVE Main Event champions came close to retaining their shot at a repeat victory but bowed out in the final stages of the day. Adrian Constantin was eliminated in 14th place for €4,000 while Bhavin Khatri had to settle for a payday of €2,800 after he was knocked out in 28th place.
Vivian Saliba was the only 888poker ambassador to reach the money stages and finished in 27th place for €2,800. She will be on her way to Las Vegas for the upcoming 2022 World Series of Poker almost immediately with a flight to catch the following day. Two other 888poker ambassadors were eliminated just before the money bubble as Samantha Abernathy and Chris Eubank Jr departed after the dinner break.
Fellow brand representatives Ian Simpson, Alexandre Mantovani, the Stream Team members Joshua Manley, Jordan Banfield and Rene Majed were just a few of the notables that bowed out during the penultimate day without anything to show for. They were joined on the rail by Melika Razavi, Maria Ho, Dan Cates, Gyeong Byeong Lee, Jorge Ufano, and €2,200 High Roller winner James Crawley-Boevey.
The last player to leave empty-handed was Day 1c chip leader Alejandro De Lucio Sanchez. After the elimination of Kami Hudson, the tournament was supposed to go into hand-for-hand mode but the last ongoing hand saw the Spaniard dominated with king-jack suited versus ace-jack suited to let the bubble burst.
That opened the floodgates in the final three levels as the field was rapidly cut down to the final two tables. All 13 survivors will return at 3pm local time on Monday, May 23, 2022 to the Cotton Club room at Casino Barcelona to determine the new 888poker LIVE Main Event champion.
Returning blinds will be 15,000-30,000 with a big blind ante of 30,000. All the action can be followed right here on PokerNews and via the 888poker TV Twitch channel, which broadcasts cards-up coverage on a security delay of 15 minutes.