The 600 survivors of the two Day 1 flights came together in a unified field for the first time Tuesday in Day 2 of the 2012 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event. When the chips were bagged and tagged at the end of the night, 207 players remained, just 47 spots short of the money. The money bubble will certainly burst Wednesday and while many of the players at the bottom of the chip counts are likely just trying to hold on for a min-cash, a bunch, led by John Juanda and his 732,400 chips, have their sights set on a final table later in the week.
Juanda, one of Full Tilt Poker’s former leading men, started Day 2 in very good shape, sitting in 99th place out of 600 with 84,200 chips. That is a far cry from 732,400, though, so he must have had some big hands to make that leap, right? He did. Juanda detailed what he considered his most important hand of Tuesday to the good folks at PokerNews. Four players called a pre-flop raise of 6,600 chips and the flop came down K-T-3 rainbow. Juanda, holding pocket 3’s for bottom set, called a 12,500 chip bet, only to (happily) watch another player raise to 28,000. The original bettor and a fourth player folded and Juanda took it up to 100,000. The three-bettor moved all-in for 300,000, prompting an insta-call from Juanda. Juanda scooped the pot easily, as his opponent had just K-7.
The chip leader entering Day 2, Aku Joentausta, is still doing well, finishing Day 3 in 9th place with 388,700 chips. Guy Bachar, the Day 1B leader, is doing even better, holding 448,000 chips, good for 4th place. In 2nd place is Finnish pro Ilari Sahamies with 523,500, a full 200,000 chips behind Juanda.
Also notable amongst the leaders is France’s Lucille Cailly, who finished second in the Season 8 EPT Grand Final. She is currently in 9th place with 360,700. PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu also had a very good day, climbing from 48,500 chips all the way to 248,000, good for the top 40.
Our chip leader, John Juanda, is one of the most accomplished tournament players in the history of poker. He has 5 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, 62 lifetime WSOP cashes, 8 top 10 finishes on the World Poker Tour (WPT), and is 8th on the all-time money list with almost $12.5 million in earnings. There is a long way to go, but should he go on to collect all of the chips in play this week, he would nab his first EPT title.
As EPT Barcelona is over in Europe (obviously), Day 3 has already begun. The money bubble will burst and players will begin positioning themselves for the stretch run.
2012 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event– End of Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. John Juanda – 732,400
2. Ilari Sahamies – 523,500
3. Samuel Rodriguez – 455,800
4. Guy Bachar – 448,000
5. Mauro Canavese – 407,100
6. Marcos Fernandez – 403,400
7. Anders Hansen – 389,900
8. Aku Joentausta – 388,700
9. Lucille Cailly – 360,700
10. Andrey Zaichenko – 356,900