After 403 players showed up to play yesterday another 670 packed the Gran Casino today for a combined, record-breaking field for an EPT event in Spain.
Among those 670 today were poker icons Gus Hansen and Ilari Sahamies, who both built up substantial stacks to end the day.
Hansen, back in a tournament after a fairly long hiatus, showed few signs of rust and bagged up 103,000 to sit in the top 10 for Day 1b.
Sahamies, back on the tournament grind after a fourth-place finish in the 50k Super High Roller yesterday, hummed along on his own course as always and finished the day with 86,700.
When the two fields combine tomorrow they’ll both be well into the top portion of the field but will be chasing Day 1a chip leader Aku Joentausta, who has 236,200.
Day 1b leader Guy Bachar didn’t fare quite as well as Joentausta but still bagged up 193,100.
Veldhuis, Juanda, Heinz All Stacked
With around 600 players returning tomorrow they’re still a long way from the money but, as expected, the leaderboard is peppered with notable names near the top.
PokerStars pros Theo Jorgenson, Ivan Demidov, Fatima Moreira De Melo and Ville Wahlbeck all stacked up well on Day 1b.
Fellow PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu, after what he called “a tough one for many reasons” bagged up 48,500. Jason Mercier barely survived the heat and the day with just 11k.
Joining the leaders on the combined Day 2 from Day 1a are Lex Veldhuis, Sebastian Ruthenberg, John Juanda and 2011 WSOP Main Event champ Pius Heinz.
Notables from both Day 1s to miss the cut included Mike “Timex” McDonald, JC Alvarado, Justin Bonomo, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Dario Minieri and Liv Boeree.
Action picks up again tomorrow from the sweltering Gran Casino at 12 noon.
Follow the action live in the PokerStars blog.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com