Chino Rheem Among The Notables To Bag In Day 1c; Matias Ruzzi The Chip Leader
A massive field was expected for the third of six starting flights of the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event and the entire main tournament area along with the outer tables were filled as poker enthusiasts from near and far headed to their seats at the 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour. Ultimately, a field of 1,596 entries emerged for Day 1c and the top 239 ended up reaching Day 2.
It took just over 19 levels of 40 minutes each to whittle down the field to the top 15% and a close race for the chip lead saw Matias Ruzzi take the top spot with 737,000. Ruzzi won this event back in 2014 and will look to repeat that journey again this year. Other players with big stacks included Eliran Argelazi (726,000), Ailyran De Souza (666,000), Stefan Fabian (666,000), and Jari Mahonen (634,000).
€1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matias Ruzzi | Argentina | 737,000 |
| 2 | Eliran Argelazi | Israel | 726,000 |
| 3 | Ailyran de Souza Lisboa | Brazil | 666,000 |
| 4 | Stefan Fabian | Romania | 666,000 |
| 5 | Jari Mahonen | Finland | 634,000 |
| 6 | Jonathan Bitton | France | 573,000 |
| 7 | Fernando Rodriguez Risueno | Spain | 543,000 |
| 8 | Gabriel Chiva | Romania | 510,000 |
| 9 | Rick Hutting | Netherlands | 506,000 |
| 10 | Vera Bogdanova | Russia | 502,000 |
One player to watch out for near the top of the Day 1c leaderboard is Andrew Wilson, who claimed 326,000 to his name and will have almost two times the average at his disposal when the action for Day 2 resumes on Friday. Other notables that made the cut on Day 1c include Chino Rheem (301,000), Peter Jorgne (170,000) and Marle Spragg (122,000).
Many others who were not as fortunate to find a bag included Pokerstars Team Pros Ben Spragg and Parker Talbot, Alejandro Lococo, Sam Grafton, and Robert Mizrachi.
The money bubble for Day 1c burst after over an hour and a half of grueling hand-for-hand play with many short stacks finding luck to stay alive. Luka Cencelj saw his hopes vanish when he ran ace-queen into ace-king and was the unfortunate bubble spot as he was one elimination shy of making Day 2.
Players who have yet to qualify have two more flights to do so, with Day 1e kicking off at noon local time on Thursday and Day 1f following at 6 p.m. Thursday evening with a 30-minute turbo format. One reentry is allowed per flight as players look to battle their way into Friday's Day 2, where all qualified players are guaranteed to be in the money. Players will then have to navigate through Day 2 and Saturday's Day 3 in order to take a shot at winning the ESPT Main Event title on Sunday.
Stay tuned to find out who gets one step closer to victory in Barcelona as the PokerNews team will be on the floor from start-to-finish until a champion is crowned.
, Marle Spragg moved all in and was called by Yuliyan Kolev. The two players tabled their cards, with Spragg at risk. 
gave Kolev even more outs as now any nine or seven would also give him the win, but the river 
was a complete brick and Spragg scooped the pot for a huge double-up.
and Mokan continued for 22,500. Fagerbakke came back with an all-in shove for around 125,000 and Mokan folded.
flop and Rheem bet 23,000. Mokan raised to 65,000 and Rheem moved all in.
and Zukovs shoved all in for 92,000. Lococo asked for a count and cut out the rest of his chips before calling, turning over 
.
and held on as the board ran out 
. A count of the chips showed Lococo had 87,000 and was covered, sending the Argentinian rapper to the rail.
and both players checked to the 
turn. Chiva check-called a bet of 7,000 from Souza and went to the river.
. Chiva checked once more and Souza carved out a bet of 26,000 and slowly placed it over the betting line. Chiva paused for a moment before calling and was given the bad news as Souza quickly showed the 
flop both players opted to check and the turn came 
. Aparicio slid out a bet of 17,000 and Brandt called.
and Aparicio bet 90,000 which was enough to put Brandt to a decision for his tournament life. Brandt took his time before giving up the hand and Aparicio dragged the chips and is now one, if not the, chip leader in the room.
and Lemos' backdoor flush wasn't enough to beat Hoang's full house.
, Mehamed shoved for 9,500 and Iermolcheva tanked for a moment before eventually calling.
. The river was the 
. De Luca bet 7,000 and Mouysset called.
and De Luca fired another bet of 14,000. Mouysset folded and De Luca flashed 
flop and the 
river, De Luca checked and Talbot overbet, firing 13,000 into a pot of 8,000 and leaving himself 200 chips behind. De Luca thought for a minute before deciding to call and mucked when Talbot showed him the 
