With the main tournament area filling up quickly, there's a bit of spillover in the small upstairs side room, which houses about seven tables off to the side from where the €25K High Roller is running. We went up there to check it out and found a few notables grinding.
Last year at the final EPT Barcelona, Olli Autio made a deep run all the way to 19th place, cashing for €49,170. It was his very first live cash, and he has followed it up with three more cashes in live PokerStars events, including a first-place finish in the €2,200 High Roller in Lille this July for €69,600.
The Fin is getting going early here at PokerStars Championship Barcelona, just taking a five-bet pot. Things started with an open from under the gun, and there was a three-bet to 900 after that out of the cutoff. Autio made it 2,800 to go, and the opener reraised to 5,900. Autio peeled after the squeezed player folded, and they saw a flop.
Autio checked and called 4,300, thinking for a couple of minutes. The made the board two-tone, and two checks followed. Both checked the as well, and Autio rolled over , which was a winner.
Over at Table 53, Lawrence Whyte is stacking up a pile of chips, courtesy of another player that had since left the poker room.
According to Whyte, he held and saw a flop with two spades appear. On the turn, all the money went in with Whyte's set against his opponent's for the nut straight.
The river paired the and deliverd Whyte the 60,000 pot with a full house, sending his unfortunate opponent home with one massive bad beat story to tell.
At noon local time, more than a 1,000 players from around the world are expected to take their seats in Day 1b of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event. Casino Barcelona, located in the beautiful Arts Hotel near Barcelona's sea-side, will be fully packed to try and become the inaugural winner of this PokerStars Championship.
Day 1a saw 437 players take their seats, of which 213 made it through to Day 1b. One of the players expected to take his seat on Day 1b is Sebastian Malec. Last year, the Pole won the EPT13 Main Event by defeating Uri Reichenstein heads-up in what was an iconic heads-up match. The art student won €1,122,800 by topping a record-setting field of 1,785 players.
Eight levels of 75-minutes have been scheduled for Day 1b, with players beginning with 30,000 in tournament chips and the blinds kicking off at 50/100. There will be a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 6, and play should wrap up around 11:55 p.m. tonight.
Be sure to tune back to PokerNews.com regularly throughout the day and don't miss any of the action here in Barcelona!
flop. 
made the board two-tone, and two checks followed. Both checked the 
as well, and Autio rolled over 
, which was a winner.
flop with two spades appear. On the 
turn, all the money went in with Whyte's set against his opponent's 
for the nut straight.
