We didn’t witness the action but we got a blow by blow account of the action shortly after it happened from the man who dealt the fatal blow, Vojtech Ruzicka.
Steve O’Dwyer started the hand with around 20,000 and three-bet an opener to 1,400. Ruzicka four-bet to 3,650 and O’Dwyer made the call. It was heads-up to a flop of and O’Dwyer check-called a bet of 3,500.
Both players checked the turn card and on the river O’Dwyer checked and made the call when Ruzicka moved all in. O’Dwyer tabled but lost out to the better flush of Ruzicka.
The winner of the 2013 EPT Grand Final was out before the conclusion of the second level.
Dermot Blain, on the button, called an early position raise of 350 and Sam Cohen in the small blind came along as did the big blind. Four to a flop of and all players checked. The turn card was the and it checked round to Blain who bet 775. Cohen was the only caller and it was heads up on the river card .
Cohen led out for 1,200 and after a brief deliberation Blain raised to 3,300. Cohen snapped him off but quickly turned her cards face down as Blain’s rivered flush had her beat. Blain muttered a little apology as the river had given him the best hand.
A player in middle position opened for 400, and Manig Loeser made it 1,200 in the cut off. The button and both blinds folded, the initial raiser made the call.
The player checked to Loeser on , and the German player bet out 1,200. The call followed, and both players checked the on the turn.
The completed the board and Loeser's opponent bet out a mere 800. Loeser instantly called, but mucked after he was shown .
While every table available is being used, there's a couple more about to come into play. The secondary feature table will be used from 3pm once the TV crew moved the players across on the first break. There's also the final table of the Estrellas Cup being played in tournament room B, that event is short-handed at this point and should be finished fairly soon. Every ounce of space is being used today...
With 475 entrants on Day 1a and a field already over 800 with 100 or so alternates on the list for Day 1b, the European Poker Tour Season 11 Barcelona Main Event will become one of the largest EPT events in history — a fitting accomplishment given this is the 100th EPT event ever held and the city where it all started.
Several EPT main events have topped the 1,000-player mark, and the largest ever was the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event from Season 7 that attracted a whopping 1,560 entrants.
Here's a look at the current top 10:
Season
Main Event
Entries
Prize Pool
Winner
Top Prize
1
Season 7
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
1,560
$15,132,000
Galen Hall
$2,300,000
2
Season 6
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
1,529
$14,831,300
Harrison Gimbel
$2,200,000
3
Season 5
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
1,347
$12,674,000
Poorya Nazari
$3,000,000
4
Season 6
Sanremo
1,240
€6,014,000
Liv Boeree
€1,250,000
5
Season 10
Barcelona
1,234
€5,984,900
Tom Middleton
€924,000
6
Season 5
Sanremo
1,178
€5,713,300
Constant Rijkenberg
€1,508,000
7
Season 4
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
1,136
$8,594,976
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier
$2,000,000
8
Season 9
Barcelona
1,082
€5,247,700
Mikalai Pobal
€1,007,550
9
Season 8
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
1,072
$10,398,400
John Dibella
$1,775,000
10
Season 10
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
1,031
$10,000,700
Dominik Panka
$1,423,096
With a field size already of 1,287 confirmed players, this season's EPT Barcelona Main Event ranks as the fourth largest ever and the largest ever held on European soil. It's only going to get larger from here, and it could easily become the largest EPT main event ever. The sky is the limit.
Action folded round to Daniel Negreanu in the small blind in seat 3 and he suddenly realised that he had sat down in the wrong seat. He should have been in seat 4 which was currently empty. There was a slight problem in that some seats had stacks that were blinded off before players arrived and seat 3 was one of those, seat 4 wasn’t. Negreanu had sat down with 29,250 in seat 3 when his seat 4 stack of 30,000 was still in the dealers well.
The situation was explained to the floor who went away to seek clarification and in the meantime Negreanu raised to 375. His opponent in the big blind called and a hand of poker broke out. The flop was and Negreanu continued for 400 and was called. The turn card was the and a bet of 1,000 from Negreanu got another call. The river saw a bet of 1,600 from Negreanu and a call. The of Negreanu was good and the chips were pushed his way.
At that point the player who should have been in seat 3, Ayaz Manji, turned up. Manji had bought in yesterday and was just late, he explained. Negreanu moved to his intended seat 4 said Manji was lucky and may get the 30,000. The floor returned and ruled that Manji should indeed have been blinded down and had to hand over 750 from his stack to Negreanu.
Daniel Negreanu has taken his seat up in tournament room B, he's joined Yury Guly's table. EPT Deauville winner Remi Castaignon is also in this room, sitting on the same table as PokerStars sponsored player Dominik Panka.