With the board reading 5?4?J?3? and about 20,000 in the middle, a player in the big blind bet 8,000 and was called by Viktor Moskalenko on the button.
The big blind bet again for 12,000 on the 7? river. Moskalenko put in a big check-raise to 57,800 and after taking about 30 seconds to consider his options the player in the big blind opted to fold, allowing Moskalenko to take the pot and extend his lead over the rest of the field.
With three players seeing a board of J?7?4? and about 20,000 in the middle, Samuel Ravazzani checked in the small blind and Carlos Garcia shoved for 54,100 from the big blind. Evgeny Sirotenko got out of the way from the button while Ravazzani made the call with a covering stack to put Garcia at risk.
Carlos Garcia: 4?2?
Samuel Ravazzani: J?9?
Garcia couldn't complete his flush draw when the rest of the board ran out A?6? and was sent to the rail while Ravazzani dragged in a massive pot.
The curtain has fallen on the first of four starting flights in the 888poker LIVE Barcelona �888 Main Event here at Casino Barcelona. Day 1a of the Main Event attracted 86 entrants, contributing �69,488 to the prize pool.
After ten 45-minute levels, Viktor Moskalenko bagged the biggest stack in the room, finishing with 400,000 chips, a stack that will be worth 133 big blinds going into Day 2. Moskalenko is most closely followed by Alejandro Peinado Guillen (330,000) and Kristian Larsson (314,500). Those three players are the only ones to bag over 100 big blinds from today's starting flight.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Viktor Moskalenko
Spain
400,000
133
2
Alejandro Peinado Guillen
Spain
330,000
110
3
Kristian Larsson
Norway
314,500
105
4
Roberto Beccaria
Italy
290,000
97
5
Giuseppe Dedoni
Italy
218,500
73
6
Samuel Ravazzani
Italy
205,000
68
7
Heorhii Doroshev
Ukraine
200,500
67
8
Viacheslav Derbilov
Russian Federation
200,000
67
9
Pedro Gonzalez
Spain
182,500
61
10
Paul Kristoffersson
Sweden
173,000
58
Day 1a Highlights
Larsson got off to a hot start today after being on the right side of an aces versus kings cooler that saw him double up in the second level of the day. Larsson was firmly in the driver's seat from that point until the end of the night and was able to leverage his big stack to consistently win pots without showdown.
Kristian Larsson
Argentina's Matias Arroyo briefly found himself near the top of the counts after successfully making a massive hero call with just a pair of tens on a ace-high board with flush and straight possibilities. Although Arroyo took some big hits after that hand he still managed to bag 128,500 at the end of the night, just below an average stack.
All players who failed to survive the day will have the option to reenter as many times as they wish across the next three starting flights, with late registration remaining open until the start of Day 2. Day 1b and Day 1c will take place on May 17 and May 18 respectively and feature an identical structure to Day 1a. The fourth and final starting flight will take place will take place on May 19 and feature a turbo structure with 20-minute levels. The fields will combine for Day 2 later that same day.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action for this event until a winner is crowned on the third and final day taking place on May 20.
