Another day begins at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) here at Casino Barcelona. And it will be a new important day, with Day 1b of the �5,300 Main Event.
Already, 260 players out of 792 entrants qualified on Day 1a. They are led by Toni Kaukua, who's been the chip leader from the beginning to the end and who bagged 346,000 chips. He was the only player to finish Day 1a with more than 300,000 chips, as the second biggest stack, Julio Chia Cabrera, had only 290,000 chips.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toni Kaukua | Finland | 346,000 | 231 | |
| 2 | Julio Chia Cabrera | Peru | 290,000 | 193 | |
| 3 | Stanislau Shylkou | Belarus | 247,000 | 165 | |
| 4 | Benjamin Lebor | United Kingdom | 231,000 | 154 | |
| 5 | David Docherty | United Kingdom | 221,500 | 148 | |
| 6 | Dominik Panka | Poland | 221,500 | 148 | |
| 7 | William Hani | France | 221,000 | 147 | |
| 8 | Andrea Dato | Italy | 214,000 | 143 | |
| 9 | Anton Wigg | Sweden | 214,000 | 143 | |
| 10 | Petr Bartagov | Russia | 211,000 | 141 |
EPT champions Dominik Panka (221,500) and Anton Wigg (214,000) also qualified with big stacks. They are followed by Ren Lin (152,000), Stephen Song (151,000), Laurie Tournier (107,500), Maria Ho (103,000), Julien Martini (77,500), Samantha Abernathy (56,500), Razvan Belea (35,000) and Benjamin Pollak (31,000), , all of whom will be back on Day 2.
Like on Day 1a, Day 1b will start at 12 p.m. local time with 60-minute levels, beginning at 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante. Players will receive a starting stack of 30,000 chips and try to increase it during the ten levels played today. There will be a 20-minute break every two levels and a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 6. Also, if players are eliminated, they can reenter the tournament only once on Day 1b.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action from the tournament floor.
