Justin Ligeri Bags the Day 1 Chip Lead
Day 1 of the �10,300 EPT High Roller has come to its conclusion after nearly 12 hours of poker with 151 players progressing to Day 2. The entrants total hit 419 players, but late registration will remain open until the Day 2 action begins.
Justin Ligeri bagged 375,000 to take the chip lead and is closely followed by Gianluca Speranza (373,500), Marc MacDonnell (365,000) and Daniel Neilson (358,000).
Other familiar faces who will be back for Day 2 include this week's �50,000 Single-Day High Roller champion Andras Nemeth (290,500), Adrian Mateos (238,500), Benny Spindler (204,000), Will Kassouf (188,000) and Team PokerStars pro Jeff Gross (187,500).
Niall Farrell (154,000), Byron Kaverman (142,000), Byrn Kenney (140,000), Paul Newey (135,000), Stephen Chidwick (130,000) and Max Silver (110,000) will also be in action.
Action of the day
James Chen lasted just 15-minutes in the opening level when he lost his stack to Xixiang Luo who had hit a straight with six-four on a seven-deuce-eight-five-jack board with Chen holding pocket sevens for a set.
Jean-Noel Thorel, who made several deep runs in the EPT Barcelona High Roller events over the course of the last ten days, started well and doubled his chip stack but was unable to carry on his momentum and exited before the dinner break.
Later on in the day, the action got fast and furious with the 30-second shot clock putting more pressure on the players to make the right call.
Will Kassouf was one of the most vocal players in the room throughout the day but also fell victim to the pace of the shot clock. After Kassouf was check-raised by Daniel Neilson from the big blind with the flop down king-six-five, the former called, and the turn was the eight of hearts. Neilson bet 80,000 with seconds left to act and Kassouf, who had earlier told Neilson his hand was pocket aces with the ace of clubs, needed to use his final time bank to think.
Kassouf was still talking to Neilson but as the seconds ran down he was unable to make a decision, and his hand was declared dead when the shot clock hit zero.
Kassouf was true to his word and tabled the ace of clubs and the ace of spades, and told Neilson he believed he wasn't betting with a bluff.
Players who came and went throughout the day included Team PokerStars Pros Maria Konnikova and Leo Fernandez, Maria Lampropulos, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, professional golfer Sergio Garcia and this event's 2015 champion Mustapha Kanit.
PokerNews will be back at 12:30 pm local time on Saturday, September, 1 to provide all the Day 2 action as the High Rollers return to the Casino Barcelona.