Just before the blinds had gone up, a pot of some 30,000 emerged to the river on which Ionut Andrei pushed in his stack of T-5,000 chips. Alvaro Preciado Lorente was the only opponent and he had around 48,500 behind to tank for nearly two minutes.
The Spaniard then tossed in a single chip for the call and Andrei turned over for a busted flush draw on the flop that instead went runner-runner for the bottom end of the straight. It was good, as Preciado Lorente mucked the for the top pair only.
Nans Bruguiere had previously shown several bluffs at the table and Rami Iskandar was on the receiving end at least two times. Both just tangled in a pot which included a three-bet to 3,000 by the former and a call by Iskandar.
The flop was checked and Iskandar's bet of 2,000 on the turn was called. Iskandar then bet the river for what appeared to be 8,000 and Bruguiere raised to 20,000.
A short tank followed and Iskandar folded to get shown the by his table neighbour. "Come on, that's not possible," Iskandar sighed in French.
It remains unclear on which street the chips went in but Jeremy Nino had zero chips left when all was done and dusted. His were an overpair to the board but Slobodan Milosavljevic had him pipped with the to score the knockout.
French online poker and sports betting operator always puts a lot of effort in making sure the players are taken care of during their live stops. On top of the top notch service, they also have a high quality live stream and production team in place and the first wrap in French for Day 1a of the €500 Main Event can be found below.
In what appeared to have been a squeeze to 5,300 before the flop, Moundir Zoughari then check-raised the flop to 9,150 and was called by Jose Salazar Ferreras. The turn and river were checked by Zoughari and his opponent checked behind.
Zoughari tabled the for flopped trips and Salazar was somewhat stunned, flashed a king and sent the cards into the muck.
Since May 5, the 2022 Winamax Poker Open Madrid has been taking place at the Casino Gran Madrid in Torrelodones on the outskirts of the Spanish capital. It has been a strong return for French online poker and sports betting operator Winamax after a hiatus of more than two years and recreational players as well as poker pros made their way to Spain to take part of the festival throughout the last few days.
While not focused on the biggest stars in the world of poker, the Winamax events typically provide plenty of fun activities on the side and the current stop in Madrid is no different. Some may even say that their very own Main Event kicks off on Thursday, May 12, as the highly competitive Beer Pong Open is scheduled for today.
As far as the poker action is concerned, the three tournament areas were bursting with action so far and the 2022 WPO Madrid €500 Main Event is off to a great start thanks to 369 entries in the opening flight. Another three starting days remain and Day 1b is scheduled to kick off at noon local time.
The six-max action will feature a total of 20 levels of 30 minutes each which should conclude just after midnight local time. There will be a break every four levels and the late registration period is open for the first 16 levels and following break.
All players receive 50,000 in chips, which is good enough for 250 big blinds in the first level at blinds of 100-200 and a big blind ante of 200. One re-entry is allowed during each Day 1 and most of those who came up short on Day 1a are expected to be back at the tables.
Team Winamax has two ambassadors through to Day 2 so far with Pierre Calamusa leading the pack, while Loic Debregeas is among the shorter stacks. Other ambassadors such as Romain Lewis, Gaelle Baumann, Alejandro Romero, Guillaume Diaz, and Adrian Mateos are all expected to make another appearance in one of the remaining three flights.
After the strong start into the marquee tournament of the series, a bumper field is expected on Day 1b as well and the PokerNews live reporting team will be back to provide a glimpse of the six-handed action en route to crowning the first Winamax Poker Open champion since 2019.