PTS AT STAKE: DARCOURT LEADS, KATCHALOV LURKS AS BIG FIELD INVADES BARCELONA

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

Welcome to Barcelona and the European Poker Tour's second event of the 2011-12 season! Oh, and welcome to the biggest tournament in Spain's history.

In total, 811 participants bought into EPT Barcelona - no rebuys, no re-entries, no second chances here - straight up freezeout is what we're playing! The total prizepool? Over €4,000,000 !!!

We've completed both Day 1's and Frenchman Guillaume Darcourt leads the way with 195K in chips. Day 1A chip leader Martin Schleich sits second in chips.

There are big names atop the leaderboard but the one we're keeping our eye on after Day 1 is PTPR's #3 Ranked player Eugene Katchalov. Katchalov will enter Day 2 play on Monday 10th in chips with 153K.

Still lots of play left as about half the field was eliminated on Saturday or Sunday. Back to Casino Barcelona on Monday.

TOP NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS:
Guillaume Darcourt 195300
Martin Schleich 182100
Sam El Sayed 163200
Eugene Katchalov 153100
Dmitry Gromov 152200
Leo Fernandez 148600
Arkadiy Tsinis 143200
Daniel Cates 140500
Manuel Bevand 133700
Kevin Vandersmissen 133200
Ivan Starostin 125700
Chris Moorman 122975
Mickey Petersen 117800
Marvin Rettenmaier 114200
Andre Akkari 105000

NOTABLE DAY 1B ELIMINATIONS:
Praz Bansi, Jude Ainsworth, Kevin MacPhee, Liv Boeree, Johannes Strassmann, Dag Palovic, Noah Boeken, Daniel Negreanu, John Eames, Dario Minieri, Sorel Mizzi, ElkY, Dominik Nitsche, Philip Collins, Brandon Cantu, Steve O'Dwyer, Fatima Moreira de Melo, James Dempsey, Maxim Lykov, Anton Wigg, Roberto Romanello, Viktor Blom, John Duthie, Michael Turneniec and Chris Moneymaker.

EPT BARCELONA PAYOUTS (in EURO):
1 €850,000
2 €532,000
3 €315,000
4 €244,000
5 €185,000
6 €145,000
7 €105,000
8 €73,000
9-10 €50,000
11-12 €36,000
13-14 €29,000
15-16 €24,000
17-24 €20,000
25-32 €18,000
33-48 €16,000
49-64 €14,000
65-80 €12,000
81-96 €10,000
97-120 €8,000

RELATED:
HOW SWEDE IT IS: 22-YEAR OLD LUNDMARK WINS EPT BARCELONA (2010)
TURENIEC, BENDIK WIN EPT BARCELONA PRELIMS (2010)

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour Barcelona
EPT Barcelona NLH Main Event
August 27-September 1, 2011

Casino Barcelona | Spain
Buy-in: $7,635 | Prizepool : $5,843,660 | Entries: 811

PTS AT STAKE:
1st position 133
2nd position 83
3rd position 53
4th position 43
5th position 38
6-7th position 33
8-11th position 18
12-15th position 16
16-18th position 13