Josep Valls Leads the Way Into Day 2 of the �3,000 EPT Mystery Bounty
The PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona at the Casino Barcelona continues today with Day 2 of the �3,000 Mystery Bounty. Over yesterday's only starting flight, 997 players found their way to the felt to compete. Of those, only 254 remain, however, with registration still open until the start of Day 2, this number is only anticipated to grow.
As the dust settled, it was Josep Valls who took the all-important title of chip leader as he managed to accumulate an impressive sum of 518,000. Valls was the only player in the field to eclipse the five hundred thousand chip mark with his nearest competitor, Alexander Ivarsson, just falling short having amassed 499,500 by the end of proceedings.
Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josep Valls | Spain | 518,000 | 259 |
| 2 | Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | 499,500 | 250 |
| 3 | Jerry Odeen | Sweden | 386,000 | 193 |
| 4 | Leo Margets | Spain | 377,000 | 189 |
| 5 | Xiaohu Liu | China | 360,000 | 180 |
| 6 | Vlad Lache | Romania | 350,000 | 175 |
| 7 | Chad Lipton | United States | 324,500 | 162 |
| 8 | Alessio Di Cesare | Italy | 321,500 | 161 |
| 9 | Cherish Andrews | United States | 297,000 | 149 |
| 10 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | 293,000 | 147 |
PokerStars Team Pro had a strong showing with Fintan Hand (204,500), Kenny Hallaert (135,000), Barny Boatman (105,000), Lex Veldhuis (104,000), and Benjamin Spragg (89,000) all returning to the felt today to compete.
Other notable names to have found a bag include Leo Margets whose stack of 377,000 was enough to put her fourth in the rankings as the Day 1 flight came to an end. In addition, Boris Kolev��s 293,000 saw him to round out the top ten count for this afternoon��s restart.
The play will commence today, Thursday, September 5th at 12:30 p.m. local time. Those who progressed today or those to late register will start proceedings on Level 13 with blinds at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante as they endure an additional fourteen more 40-minute levels.
At the start of Day 2, all players will be given a Mystery Bounty Token upon seating; if you eliminate a player you will collect their Mystery Bounty Token. Any time after 5:15 p.m. (the second break), players can take any collected tokens to the Mystery Bounty desk to draw an envelope. The Mystery Bounty prize amounts will be determined by tournament entries and remaining players and will be announced on the tournament floor tomorrow.
PokerNews will have boots on the ground for the entirety of this Mystery Bounty as the event plays down to a winner tomorrow, so be sure to stick with the live updates to keep up with all the action.