The two-day High Roller event should attract a big field as the earlier €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event brought in a record-breaking 6,313 entrants to become the largest live event in PokerStars history. That event is still underway with Britain's Jack Sinclair leading the final table.
The ESPT High Roller will begin with blinds of 100/200/200 as players get a starting stack of 30,000 chips in exchange for their buy-in. Levels will last 40 minutes in duration and players will take a 75-minute dinner break after Level 10.
Late registration will close at the completion of Level 10 and players are allowed unlimited entries. Approximately 15% of the field will get paid, with the winner receiving the lion's share of the prize pool and the trophy.
There should be plenty of nationalities represented in the event as the earlier ESPT Main Event drew players from 79 unique countries, with the highest percentage of players being from Spain, France and Italy.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is here on-site at the beachside Casino Barcelona and will bring you updates on all the action in €2,200 Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller.
Yoshiaki Nagatake opened to 800 and Xuan Liu three-bet to 2,500 from a few seats over. Nagatake called to see a flop heads-up.
Nagatake checked on the flop of and Liu bet 2,000. Nagatake called. Nagatake checked again on the turn and Liu bet 5,000. Nagatake again called.
Nagatake checked again on the river and Liu unloaded the clip by moving all in. Nagatake snap-called and tabled for a flopped full house, while Liu showed to be eliminated in the second level of play.
Will Kassouf was on the button in a multi-way pot on a board reading . The action checked to Kassouf and he fired a bet of 3,000. One by one his opponents folded until the action got to Panagiotis Oikonomou in middle position.
"Top pair, top kicker and backdoor flush draw," Kassouf said in his trademark table talk. "Of course I've got it. You show your best card, I'll show my best card."
"Is he allowed to talk at the table?" laughed Tolly Sakellariou.
Oikonomou eventually folded and flashed the , leading Kassouf to show the to reveal he did indeed have top pair.
"No bluffing," said Kassouf. "Maybe on Day 2, but not on Day 1."
Naim Amri raised to 1,400 in middle position and Motokatsu Uhara flat-called from the hijack. Hrayr Grigoryan then three-bet to 4,500 from the cutoff and Amri called, while Uhara folded.
Amri checked on the flop of and Grigoryan bet 2,500. Amri called. Amri checked again on the turn and Grigoryan moved all in for 11,500. Amri laid it down.
Elsewhere in the tournament, Hungary's Andras Nemeth has accumulated chips to sit with more than four times the starting stack.
Sergio Aido, who is second on Spain's all-time money list and is no stranger to the European Poker Tour having secured his biggest live cash in the 2019 EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller for €1,589,190, is on the felt and looking for more EPT success in Barcelona.
Kitty Kuo opened to 2,200 from middle position and Sergio Aido jammed for approximately 20,000 in the small blind. Ivan Vilchez rejammed in the big blind, and Kuo appeared to show before mucking her hand.
Sergio Aido:
Ivan Vilchez:
Aido was ahead with the ladies, but the flop put him in rough shape. The turn left him needing a river queen, but the completed the board to send the Spaniard to the rail.
Tamon Nakamura was out of position in a heads-up pot against Simeon Angelov.
Nakamura checked on the flop of and called a bet from Angelov. Nakamura checked again on the turn and his opponent checked back.
The river brought the and Nakamura led out for 3,500. Angelov called. Nakamura tabled for three-high after missing his straight draw and Angelov showed to win the pot with a pair of fives.
PokerNews spent an orbit with the always entertaining Will Kassouf, who played a fair share of pots and engaged in plenty of table talk (even by his standards) as the dealer button moved around the table.
Hand #1 (Small Blind): Gary Thompson raised to 2,500 from the hijack and Erik Bauer moved all in from the button. Kassouf folded in the small blind while Amancio dos Santos called all in from the big blind before showing .
"Nine-high like a boss!" Kassouf remarked in reference to his infamous line from the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Hand #2: (Button): Fellow Brit Chris Da Silva opened to 2,500 in middle position and asked Kassouf about the tournament structure as the action folded around.
"He raised me! Giving me the speech during my button!" Kassouf laughed before calling, while Chis Cosmin Ovidiu also called from the big blind.
Action checked to Kassouf on the flop of and he bet 5,800. Only Ovidiu called. The turn checked through and Ovidiu led out for 5,800 on the river, prompting a fold from Kassouf.
"Tried to nick that one, huh?! Be sure to put that in there," Da Silva instructed PokerNews as he slapped his hand to demonstrate what had transpired.
"I had a piece of it on the flop," Kassouf replied.
Hand #3 (Cutoff): Action folded to Kassouf and he opened to 3,000. Only Antonio Pavlov called from the big blind. Pavlov checked on the flop of and Kassouf bet 5,000 before goading his opponent into folding.
"Big pair. Better than a ten. Good fold," Kassouf said before Pavlov folded and showed the .
Hand #4 (Hijack): Piotr Wiecek raised in early position and Kassouf flat-called, while Da Silva also called in the big blind. Action checked to Kassouf on the flop of and he bet 7,300, which was enough to get both opponents to fold.
"Nicked that one, too, huh?" Kassouf said to Da Silva. "You shove, I call. Huge hand on that flop."
Hand #5 (Middle Position): Action folded around to Kassouf and he also folded.
Hand #6 (Early Position): Bauer opened from under the gun and Kassouf flat-called as the player next to act. Pavlov also called from the cutoff. Bauer continued with a bet of 4,000 on the flop and Kassouf folded.
Hand #7 (UTG): Kassouf was first to act and opened to 3,100 before getting called by Da Silva in the cutoff and Bauer in the big blind. Kassouf continued for 8,000 on the flop of and both opponents folded.
"Nicked another one!" Kassouf laughed.
Hand #8 (Big Blind): Da Silva raised to 2,500 and Thompson flat-called from the cutoff before Kassouf three-bet to 11,900, which got both opponents to fold.
"Hashtag: Always got it," Kassouf told PokerNews with a grin.
Leo Margets was in a heads-up pot against Pavel Plesuv on a board reading . Plesuv moved all in and Margets considered calling off with her remaining stack of around 26,000. Eventually, she called.
Leo Margets:
Pavel Plesuv:
"So many outs," Margets said with her flush and open-ended straight draws.
But the on the river did not improve Margets' hand and the Spanish World Series of Poker bracelet winner was eliminated.
An under-the-gun player had 2,000 committed to the pot, Diogo Cardoso also had 2,000 committed to the pot in middle position, and Parker "Tonkaaaa" Talbot was all in for 15,000 in the cutoff.
For an unknown reason, the floor had come over to the table to rule that the player in the big blind would have their hand dead and would not be able to participate in the pot. The under-the-gun player then folded, and Cardoso called.
Parker Talbot:
Diogo Cardoso:
The flop and turn left Talbot one card away from the double. Talbot was calling for a nine, along with fellow PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton, but the completed the board to secure Talbot's double.
The player in the big blind noted he would have won the hand, causing Talbot to congratulate the floor on their "great ruling" as he took the pot.
Yoshiaki Nagatake open-shoved a stack of 13,000 and was called by Walid Bou Habib in the cutoff before Tjan Tepeh moved all in for 10,000 in the small blind. Emilio Jose Navarro also called in the big blind.
The flop of checked through and the turn also checked through. Habib and Navarro both checked again on the river and the hands were tabled.
Nagatake showed for trip sevens and it was good to win the pot for a triple against the of Navarro, of Habib and the of Tepeh, who was eliminated.
"Are you kiddin' me?" he said after losing with to the worse ace.