When PokerStars announced the end of the European Poker Tour era and the replacement of the tournament series with PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festivals, it was more than clear that Barcelona would remain part of the new formats.
The Spanish city hosted EPT summer festivals since the popular poker tour was introduced in the mid-2000s. Only a few days ago, Barcelona welcomed the EPT’s successor – the PokerStars Championship – for the very first time. And it all shows that the new format will replicate the success of its predecessor.
As usual, the PokerStars Championship schedule contains a myriad of tournaments with different formats and different buy-in levels. The buy-in fees within the Barcelona festival go all the way up to €50,000 for the Super High Roller tournament, which was completed last night with Russia’s Igor Kurganov claiming the title and the €1,084,100 first-place payout.
And it was on Monday when the €5,300 Main Event kicked off. Day 1A saw a total of 436 entries register into the major tournament that guarantees a prize pool of €7 million. Of that original field, there were only 213 players to bag and tag for the day after playing the scheduled eight levels.
The remaining survivors will return for Day 2 of the event, which is set to be played on Wednesday at the host venue Casino Barcelona.
Adalfer Morales was the player to accumulate the largest chip stack by the time Day 1A play was completed. The player bagged 192,900 in chips. Talking to the PokerStars team, the player was said to have seemed truly surprised by the fact that he was leading the Day 1A pack.
The Main Event features one more starting flight, which will be played today. The schedule for today is quite the same – entries will play eight levels before bagging for the day. It is yet to be seen whether Morales will be the overall chip leader into Day 2 or that role will be taken by a Day 1B player.
A quick look at Morales’ HendonMob profile tells us that he had two previous in-the-money finishes in live tournaments. The player had a third-place finish in a 2012 PCA tournament and a third-place finish in a €550 No-Limit Hold’em Hyper Turbo from just several days ago at Casino Barcelona. His live tournament bankroll currently amounts to $46,947, but the player positioned himself to boost his earnings considerably.
With registration for the Main Event still open, it is yet to be seen whether the guaranteed prize pool of €7 million will be exceeded, how much the winner will scoop, and how many of the participants will leave with a payout. That important information will be revealed on Wednesday when Day 2 of the prestigious No-Limit Hold’em tournament will be played.
