Live updates from day 1a, level 4 of EPT Barcelona brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Rick Dacey.
Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip counts can be found by clicking right here. Blinds 150-300
5.05pm: Benny's Breaktime Blues?
Benny Spindler took a hit as the breaktime pips shrilly echoed around the tournament floor. Defending his 300 big blind from a 1,000 bet from the cut-off both players checked a J♠ J♥ 3♥ board. The mop-haired young German fired out 1,250 on a 7♦ turn and was quickly raised to 3,000 by the initial raiser who only had about 10k behind. Spindler made a grudging call and check-folded the river to his opponent who claimed he had pocket Aces. Our guess is a busted flush draw from Spindler.
That brings to the end of level 4 and after a short break we'll return to the action with the blinds at 150/300-25. With antes kicking in expect the aggression levels to ramp up as big stacks try to leverage their weight and short stacks try to muscle their way back into the action.
5.00pm Same count, different story
Team PokerStars Pros Katja Thater and Johnny Lodden are both sitting on a stack of around 22,000 but their moods are quite different. Thater just three-bet an opponent before he four-bet right back. She called but then folded to a c-bet on a 5♣K♠3♠ flop, shaking her head the entire time.
Lodden meanwhile took a pot down after three-betting an opponent preflop to help his stack increase a little. He was on 16,000 a little while ago and seems happy to see his stack moving in the right direction again,
4.54pm: Mercier found his match?
Jason Mercier (yes, him again) has been up and down in chips. Up whenever he batters the players to his left and down whenever he gets involved with the young player on his right. According to our player lists Mercier's nemesis is from the Netherlands and goes by the name of Rachid Ben Cherif. It's the third time we've seen 3-bets and 4-bets firing between them pre-flop and it's Cherif that's come out on top each time. If this escalates much further we're likely to see a shove with suited connectors and a 'I've got Queen high so I've got to call' face off. Mercier is on 25k and Cherif is on 53k. Watch this space.
4.47pm: Free Info
Marc Goodwin seems more into the Stu Ungur book he's reading than the game going on in front of him. He did manage to pry himself away to flat call from early position and then call a late position raise to see a Q♠8♦J♠. He didn't take it any further than that though as he checked folded to a c-bet. Good job too as he was shown Q♥Q♦ by his opponent.
Meanwhile Jesper Hougaard has been eliminated. We don't have the details but he only had about 3,000 chips left when he got it all in.
4.32pm: Dragan fire
Dragan Gallic is on a tricky table with Roland de Wolfe and Arnaud Mattern both sat to his right, but at least he gets to see if they're playing before he has to act. The big Croatian raised to 850 from the cut-off and was called by both blinds. A sopping wet T♠ J♣ 9♣ board was checked all the way round. The A♦ was enough for Galic to shoot out 1,600 which was enough to make both players pass. Galic flashed the ace of clubs - no doubt to give more credibility to bluffs later on. The Croatian has built some monstrous stacks in previous EPTs and finished 5th in San Remo in April for €314,000, but also blew a huge chip lead in Kyiv more recently. Which Dragan will be rearing its head in Barcelona?
4.22pm: DeWolfe sheepish
The pot was opened with a raise to 800 from mid position and was called by Roland DeWolfe on the button before a 9♦J♥T♥ was delivered. It was checked to DeWolfe who bet 1,500 and was called. The 4♦ turn and J♠ river were checked through before DeWolfe announced "Two-pair" without showing his hand.
His opponent opened 9♣8♦ which was good for the pot. DeWolfe seemed less than happy that he couldn't beat the holding. His stack is 25,000 after the small loss.
