The WPT Barcelona 2018-2019 €3,300 Main Event is one step closer to crowning a champion as Day 2 has concluded after nine 60-minute levels at the Casino Barcelona. After three live starting days and two online Day 1s on partypoker, a field of 950 entries had emerged of which 557 players returned to their seats.
However, the late registration and single re-entry period remained open for the first four levels of the day and poker enthusiasts from near and far took a shot at the seven-figure prize pool and the €3,000,000 guarantee was easily passed. Once the registration closed, a field of 1,227 entries had emerged to boost the prize pool to €3,570,570 and the top 151 spots are guaranteed at least €6,000 for their efforts. The eventual champion can look forward to a payday of €600,000, which includes the entry worth $15,000 for the WPT Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas.
The money bubble won’t be far off when the action resumes the next day, as 182 players remain after the end of level 17 with partypoker pro Joni Jouhkaimen (pictured above) at the top of the counts. The Finn consistently built his stack throughout the day with sheer aggression and bagged up 611,000, narrowly ahead of Dariusz Paskiewicz and Dragos Trofimov, who both bagged up 585,000.
Five WPT Champions Club members remain in contention to add another title to their poker resume including Marcin Wydrowski (360,000), Denys Shafikov (196,000), Triple Crown winner Davidi Kitai (139,000), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (124,000) and Juha Helppi (117,000).
Wydrowski shot to a big stack after a big three-way all in with jacks versus ace-king suited and ace-queen and narrowly missed out on the double knockout, as Arne Coulier rivered a straight to triple up his short stack. Coulier also bagged up at the end of Day 2, claiming 347,500 to his name. The Belgian is one of many notables that will return to the tables for money day with a brief collection listed below.
Marcin Wydrowski and Arne Coulier on Day 2 of the 2019 WPT Barcelona €3,300 Main Event
Further big stacks and notables include Oleg Khursenko (519,000), Ka Kwan Lau (478,500), Daragh Davey (450,500), Jerry Odeen (429,500), Boris Kolev (419,500), Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy (414,000), Ioannis Angelou-Konstas (374,000), Sander van Wesemael (364,500), Anton Wigg (291,000), Dominik Panka (269,500), Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes (262,500), and Gianluca Speranza (259,500).
Among the well-known names in the middle of the pack and below the average stack are former professional football player Jimmy Kebe (156,000), Tobias Peters (152,500), Jeff Kimber (142,000), Morten Mortensen (138,000), Benjamin Diebold (109,000) and partypoker LIVE Millions champion Maria Lampropulos (102,000).
The long list of Day 2 casualties includes WPT Champions Club members Scott Margereson, Chanracy Khun, Chino Rheem, Zachary Smiley, Masato Yokosawa, Thomas Bichon, Ryan Riess, James Romero. Other big names that came up short on their bid to make Day 3 were Kalidou Sow, Kunal Patni, Yiannis Liperis, Noah Boeken, Martin Jacobson, Jan Bendik and the partypoker representatives Bruno Fitoussi, Ludovic Geilich, Marcel Luske, Leo Margets and Anatoly Filatov.
Filatov flopped bottom two pair after calling a raise by Nicolas Dumont with eight-six suited only to find himself up against top set when the chips went in after a ten-high flop. The accomplished Russian poker pro was among many players that took advantage of the re-entry option, but failed to bag and tag.
Anatoly Filatov
Towards the end of the day, the pace of eliminations remained high and former big stacks went from hero to zero. Start-of-the-day chip leader Pierre Calamusa never got anything going on Day 2 and left without having anything to show for. Joris Ruijs, Jeffrey Cormier, Day 1c chip leader Matt Russell, Johnny Hansen also departed in the later stages of the day.
Day 3 will recommence at 12 p.m. local time with level 18 and blinds of 2,500/5,000 and a big blind ante of 5,000. The money bubble is expected to burst in the first few levels of the day and another nine levels of 60 minutes each are scheduled en route to crowning another WPT champion.
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