David Urban Leads the Pack at End of Day 1a of the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event
It took a little over 17 full levels of play for Day 1a of the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event here at the 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour to reach its conclusion for the day. The first of six starting flights drew 812 entrants with play scheduled to go until the field reached 15 percent of its overall total, and that number of 121 was reached with 37:44 remaining in Level 18 (4,000/8,000/8,000).
Play was loaded with action all day long and well into the evening until the final hour of the night when the pace slowed down due to the pending money bubble. Several large stacks were visible throughout the room and it seemed as if there could be any one of a handful of players to emerge atop the counts when chips went into bags. However, it was David Urban who ultimately claimed that title after finishing the day with 833,000 in chips.
Hot on his heels were Adrian Tkaczyk (615,000), Ori Elul (558,000), Motoyoshi Okamura (536,000), and rounding out the top five is Javier Fernandez (518,000). These were the only other players to finish the day with more than a half-million in chips.
€1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Urban | Slovakia | 833,000 |
| 2 | Adrian Tkaczyk | Poland | 615,000 |
| 3 | Ori Elul | Israel | 558,000 |
| 4 | Motoyoshi Okamura | Japan | 536,000 |
| 5 | Javier Fernandez | Spain | 518,000 |
| 6 | Valentino Konakchiev | Bulgaria | 452,000 |
| 7 | Gregory Petermans | Belgium | 433,000 |
| 8 | Renat Bohdanov | Ukraine | 433,000 |
| 9 | Gheorghe Butuc | Moldova | 425,000 |
| 10 | Salvino Belhoul | France | 394,000 |
Other notables to advance included Renat Bohdanov (433,000), Jason Wheeler (190,000), and Leo Margets (57,000).
Many other players were not as fortunate on the day, and with the tournament only allowing two entries per flight, those players found themselves on the rail for the event for the rest of the night. Among those who found themselves dry on chips before the day’s end included 2020 WSOP Main Event winner Damian Salas, Yuliyan Kolev, Faraz Jaka, and Kacper Pyzara.
Five more flights remain, with Day 1c commencing at noon local time on Wednesday and Day 1d following at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening with a turbo format. All yet to advance may fire once into each remaining flight to try to earn their way into Day 2, where all returning players will find themselves in the money. However, those players still have a lot of work to do as the tournament is not scheduled to play down to a winner until Day 4.
Make sure to come back to PokerNews for continuing coverage of the EPT Barcelona Estrellas Poker Tour as well as the rest of the scheduled events.
, big blind Pedro Cairat checked to his opponent, Federico Macori, who was in late position. 
for a whopping queen-high. Cairat then flipped over 
for a pair of jacks to eliminate Macori and take down the massive pot, soaring his count to 380,000.
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river. Tryba turned over 
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