Day 1a of the European Poker Tour’s Madrid event didn’t quite live up to the hype, but it was Day 1b that really boosted the overall numbers, and left many players shocked at the number of entrants that came on the second day. Day 1b drew in so many players, that the heads of the tournament had to create a second area in the Casino Gran Madrid to make room for all of the players. In total, Day 1b featured 352 total entrants, which pushed the total number of players in the event up to 477.
When Day 1b came to an end, there were 197 of the original 352 players left in the field, which set up an interesting field of 264 total players who would be back on Day 2 (which occurred today). There were quite a few big named players who were left at the end of Day 1b, which was quite the opposite of how Day 1a ended. Some of the players who found themselves at the top of the standings were David Benyamine, Nicholas Levi, Angel Guillen, and Taylor Paur. As far as other players that you may know who made it through to Day 2, it included Mike McDonald, Faraz Jaka, Olivier Busquet, Kevin MacPhee, Melanie Weisner, Todd Terry, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody, and many other players.
Day 2’s chip leader was Juan-Navarette Azon, who is a player from Spain, and he started Day 2 with 173,200 chips, which was only 2,200 more than Ilan Boujenah. A large number of his chips came in a massive hand against another well-known poker pro in Steve O’Dwyer. O’Dwyer was holding pocket Queens, but was up against the Kings of Azon. Azon’s Kings held and he picked up the massive pot to build his stack.
With the final numbers locked up, the top 72 players will be bringing home some cash. The final table will be played Saturday, and first place is scheduled to take home €545,000 for their efforts when all is said and done. Anyone who makes it into the top five will take home more than €100,000, as second place will receive €365,000, third place will receive €205,000, fourth place gets €140,000, and fifth place gets €115,000.