Florian-Dimitrie Duta Leads Day 1b Field; Shorr Near The Top
In what seemed like just the blink of an eye, the second of two starting flights for the European Poker Tour Season 10 Barcelona Main Event has come to an end! After eight full levels of play, the player sitting on the largest stack of the approximately 440 remaining runners was Florian-Dimitrie Duta who bagged up an impressive 187,000.
Day 1b attracted an astounding 708 entrants which, combined with the 518 that entered during the first flight, brings the total number of entrants to 1,226. This number could increase before the final tally is counted, though, as registration remains open until the start of Day 2. The Day 1b flight attracted so many players that the tables played ten-handed for most of the day.
The day saw a slew of familiar names hit the felt with the goal of becoming the first Main Event champion of the EPT's tenth season. Players like Max Lehmanski, Chino Rheem, Griffin Benger, Timothy Adams, Steve O'Dwyer, Ludovic Lacay, and Andrey Zaichenko were just a handful of those to hit the felt and find elimination by the day's end. Our Live Reporting Team also caught a hand during the first level of play that showcased just how brutal tournament poker can be. The hand in particular spelled disaster for American Michael Brady and occurred not even halfway through the first level of play. After a series of bets and raises on a flop of 
, Brady found himself all in and at risk against Zsolt Vasvenszki. Vasvenszki held 
for middle set but was still bested by Brady's 
for top set. There was no kindness to Brady from the deck, however, as the case five - the 
- drilled the turn and gave Vasvenszki quads. Brady did not improve on the river and was forced to see a remarkably early exit from the tournament.
Despite his recent success of winning the inaugural Alpha8 High Roller Tournament in Florida for $891,660, Steven Silverman was unable to gain any traction here on Day 1b. The online wizard was among those to fall before the last hand of the day was dealt.
While those players faltered, others managed to navigate the large field and build a healthy enough stack to bring into Day 2. Maksim Bura (160,600), Simon Mattsson (111,000), Andrew Moreno (91,800), David Benefield (87,800), Aku Joentausta (85,100), Konstantin Puchkov (66,000), Richard Yong (58,400), Jonathan Little (53,500) and Vladimir Troyanovskiy (48,600) are a small sample size of those returning for the second day of play.
Shannon Shorr also managed to build up a large stack throughout the first day of play and will return for Day 2 with 121,500. The day was kicked off to a stellar start for Shorr when he was involved in a massive pot with Martin Bolecek. After committing 5,475 each preflop, the two took in a flop of 
. Dolecek bet 5,475 and Shorr flat called. Both players checked the 
turn and the 
finished the board. Shorr fired 4,600 which was followed by a call from Bolecek. Bolecek eventually mucked, however, after viewing Shorr's 
for a set of aces. From there Shorr continued to trend upward throughout the day.
With this being the first stop on EPT Season 10 it was no surprise that Team PokerStars was out in full force. Some members of the prestigious team of professionals fell by the end of the day while others thrived and will be taking stacks into Day 2. Daniel Negreanu was one of the runners who was unable to get anything going on the first day of play and eventually fell in Level 6. Joining him at the rail were the likes of Lex Veldhuis, and Matthias De Meulder. While those players fell, others survived and will be returning for Day 2 with stacks. Expect more action on the felt from the likes of Christophe De Meulder (111,500), Victor Ramdin (107,000), Leo Fernandez (73,300), Liv Boeree (59,100), Ivan Demidov (45,500), and Jake Cody (27,700).
Play is scheduled to resume on Tuesday at 12 p.m. CET at the Casino Barcelona. Be sure to stay tuned to our coverage as we dive deeper into the event and watch fireworks fly when the two starting flights combine.