Richardson Leads Last 70 After Day 3; Sorrentino and Akkari in Contention
Day 3 of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Barcelona €5,300 Main Event is in the books and six levels of 90 minutes reduced the field of hopefuls from 287 to just 70 hopefuls. Each of them have already has €18,190 locked up for the efforts, but all eyes are set on the PokerStars Championship trophy and payday of €1,410,000 that comes along with it.
Best-positioned to claim the title in Casino Barcelona is Benjamin Richardson from Australia, who bagged up impressive 2,804,000. He is followed by Tsugunari Toma (2,448,000) while Scott Wellenbach is the third player above two million with 2,032,000. Other big stacks include Aleksandr Gofman (1,915,000), Patrick Leonard (1,785,000), Nadia Wanzi (1,657,000), Brian Kaufman Esposito (1,465,000), Albert Daher (1,382,000), Usman Siddique (1,296,000) and Alex DiFelice (865,000).
Raffaele Sorrentino, who lifted the PokerStars Championship trophy in Monte Carlo, also made it through with a healthy stack of 955,000 while PokerStars Team Pro Andre Akkari spent most of the day on the TV table and advanced with 566,000. Jeff Gross, the only other PokerStars Team Pro that headed into Day 3, was among the 40 players that left the annex of Casino Barcelona empty-handed still.
Other notables that didn't cash include Steven van Zadelhoff, Per Hildebrand, Joni Jouhkimainen, Mikita Badziakouski, Upeshka De Silva and Diego Ventura. The bubble lasted over more than two hours and it was Roi Pereira Conde that ended up as the bubble boy. After several double ups on other tables, the Spaniard put his hopes on ten-seven suited flush draw on a paired jack-high flop. Alexandros Papadopoulos had ace-three suited for the better flush draw and the river provided a third spade to eliminate Pereira Conde as last player without cash.
Soon after, Akin Tuna skyrocketed to the top of the counts after he won a big pot with pocket sixes against the pocket fours of Rafael Bertani. Frederico Spilimbergo Volpe became the next chip millionaire when he flopped trips and rivered a full house with jack-nine suited, Georges Hanna bluffed off his stack with eight-four suited for complete air. Tuna himself had a big clash with Scott Wellenbach and busted in the last level of the night, finishing 85th for €15,490.
Nadia Wanzi won several big pots, one of which saw the elimination of World Series of Poker bracelet winner Asi Moshe with ace-ten suited against her ace-king, and soon after the rise to the top of Benjamin Richardson began. Rosen Angelov's big stack melted in three hands against Richardson, and the Aussie eventually finished the job soon after. Richardson's big raise saw Angelov call all in with pocket eights, Dirk Gerritse moved all in over the top for heaps with pocket tens and Richardson quickly called with pocket kings to claim a massive pot.
Among those to cash were Sam Greenwood (223rd - €9,400), Dario Sammartino (211th - €9,400), Thomas Muehloecker (198th - €9,400), Tobias Peters (148th - €10,270), Saar Wilf (144th - €10,270), Day 1a chip leader Xavier Carriere (105th - €13,380), Govert Metaal (101st - €13,380), Mihails Morozovs (81st - €15,490), 2017 2017 PokerStars Championship Sochi 4th place finisher Dmitry Vitkind (80th - €15,490), Juha Helppi (79th - €15,490) and Jussi Nevanlinna (73rd - €15,490).
When all was done and dusted at the end of level 20, only 70 hopefuls bagged up chips and they will return tomorrow at 12 p.m. noon local time for Day 4 when at least five levels of 90 minutes each will be played. The action recommences with blinds of 8,000/16,000 and a running ante of 2,000, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor as usual.
Main Event Day 4 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Ruiz Figueroa | Chile | 423,000 | 26 |
| 1 | 2 | Benjamin Richardson | Australia | 2,804,000 | 175 |
| 1 | 3 | Alexandros Papadopoulos | Greece | 425,000 | 27 |
| 1 | 4 | Niek Minten | Netherlands | 289,000 | 18 |
| 1 | 5 | Alex Difelice | Canada | 865,000 | 54 |
| 1 | 6 | Giuliano Bendinelli | Italy | 214,000 | 13 |
| 1 | 7 | Diogo Veiga | Portugal | 129,000 | 8 |
| 1 | 8 | Jonathan Proudfoot | United Kingdom | 1,173,000 | 73 |
| 2 | 1 | Markus Grabher | Austria | 321,000 | 20 |
| 2 | 2 | Nick Petrangelo | USA | 576,000 | 36 |
| 2 | 3 | Alan Mehamed | Argentina | 247,000 | 15 |
| 2 | 4 | Sebastian Sorensson | Sweden | 269,000 | 17 |
| 2 | 5 | Heorhii Doroshev | Ukraine | 1,260,000 | 79 |
| 2 | 6 | Liow Ming Kee | Malaysia | 362,000 | 23 |
| 2 | 7 | Mauricio Salazar Sanchez | Colombia | 1,124,000 | 70 |
| 2 | 8 | David Algarra Vidana | Spain | 176,000 | 11 |
| 3 | 1 | Valentin Anghel | Romania | 416,000 | 26 |
| 3 | 2 | Jan-Eric Schwippert | Germany | 404,000 | 25 |
| 3 | 3 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | 566,000 | 35 |
| 3 | 4 | Ricardo Graells | Switzerland | 191,000 | 12 |
| 3 | 5 | Nuno Pereira Ascensao | Portugal | 252,000 | 16 |
| 3 | 6 | Gregory Janin | France | 208,000 | 13 |
| 3 | 7 | Johnny Hansen | Denmark | 260,000 | 16 |
| 3 | 8 | Erik Friberg | Sweden | 796,000 | 50 |
| 4 | 1 | Lachezar Plamenov Petkov | Bulgaria | 525,000 | 33 |
| 4 | 2 | Aleksandr Gofman | Russia | 1,915,000 | 120 |
| 4 | 3 | Mykhailo Hladilin | Ukraine | 415,000 | 26 |
| 4 | 5 | Brian Kaufman Esposito | Uruguay | 1,465,000 | 92 |
| 4 | 6 | George Mcdonald | United Kingdom | 483,000 | 30 |
| 4 | 7 | Jackson White | USA | 917,000 | 57 |
| 4 | 8 | Arezki Belaidi | Canada | 357,000 | 22 |
| 5 | 1 | Jose Latorre | Spain | 534,000 | 33 |
| 5 | 2 | Yaron Zeev Malki | Israel | 1,100,000 | 69 |
| 5 | 3 | Nadia Wanzi | Netherlands | 1,657,000 | 104 |
| 5 | 4 | Martin Prado | Argentina | 93,000 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 | Usman Siddique | United Kingdom | 1,296,000 | 81 |
| 5 | 6 | Kevin Stani | Norway | 381,000 | 24 |
| 5 | 7 | Gabriel Chiva | Romania | 210,000 | 13 |
| 5 | 8 | Jamie Whyte | United Kingdom | 431,000 | 27 |
| 6 | 1 | Daniel Smiljkovic | Germany | 1,068,000 | 67 |
| 6 | 2 | Scott Wellenbach | Canada | 2,032,000 | 127 |
| 6 | 3 | Tibor Nagygyorgy | Hungary | 965,000 | 60 |
| 6 | 4 | Florian-Dimitrie Duta | United Kingdom | 222,000 | 14 |
| 6 | 5 | Kyle Bowker | USA | 280,000 | 18 |
| 6 | 6 | Jakub Senk | Czech Republic | 346,000 | 22 |
| 6 | 7 | Hugo Gomes Andrade | Portugal | 650,000 | 41 |
| 6 | 8 | Rens Feenstra | Netherlands | 695,000 | 43 |
| 7 | 1 | Matas Cimbolas | Lithuania | 377,000 | 24 |
| 7 | 2 | [Removed:146] | France | 1,552,000 | 97 |
| 7 | 3 | Andrew Hedley | United Kingdom | 352,000 | 22 |
| 7 | 4 | Albert Daher | Lebanon | 1,381,000 | 86 |
| 7 | 5 | Benjamin Rolle | Germany | 685,000 | 43 |
| 7 | 6 | Kent Roed | Norway | 474,000 | 30 |
| 7 | 7 | Donald Duarte Sierra | Nicaragua | 1,000,000 | 63 |
| 7 | 8 | Igor Dubinskyy | Ukraine | 942,000 | 59 |
| 8 | 1 | Pim Kuipers | Netherlands | 468,000 | 29 |
| 8 | 2 | Victor Ilyukhin | United Kingdom | 328,000 | 21 |
| 8 | 3 | Aeragan Arunan | United Kingdom | 1,345,000 | 84 |
| 8 | 4 | Paraskevas Tsokaridis | Greece | 380,000 | 24 |
| 8 | 5 | Gustavo Mastelotto | Brazil | 733,000 | 46 |
| 8 | 7 | Alexis Fleur | France | 466,000 | 29 |
| 8 | 8 | James Romero | USA | 612,000 | 38 |
| 9 | 1 | Hady El Asmar | Lebanon | 177,000 | 11 |
| 9 | 2 | Philippe D'Auteuil | Canada | 348,000 | 22 |
| 9 | 3 | Patrick Leonard | United Kingdom | 1,785,000 | 112 |
| 9 | 4 | Raffaele Sorrentino | Italy | 955,000 | 60 |
| 9 | 5 | Quentin Lecomte | France | 558,000 | 35 |
| 9 | 6 | Tsugunari Toma | Japan | 2,448,000 | 153 |
| 9 | 7 | Frederico Spilimbergo Volpe | Brazil | 597,000 | 37 |
| 9 | 8 | Ramon Miquel Munoz | Spain | 725,000 | 45 |
. Tsugunari Toma in the big blind called and tabled 
, and the board came 
.
and Helppi, who had already left his chair on the flop despite improving his hand, headed to the rail.
, Sorrentino checked and called a bet of 55,000 by Friberg before the 
turn and 
river were checked through. Sorrentino showed 
for a set and won the pot.
, Helppi checked and Gerritse bet 80,000. Rosen called and Helppi then check-shoved for 231,000 to force folds from both opponents,
and the two pair of Pautrot were doomed by the flush of Belaidi, who sent two players to the rail and joined the chip millionaire club.
was good. Hanna mucked, but the dealer revealed his hand to be 
river for 50,000. Gabriel Subirana Lopez called and mucked when being shown 
for a set. "You can stay here," Tuna joked and his stack skyrocketed to 1.1 million.
