888Live Barcelona ME Smashes Guarantee; Pop Wins HR Title

With just a few late registrations before the start of Day 2, the Barcelona leg of the 888poker “Make It Big” series has lived up to its name.

Over the three starting days more than 600 players entered the €1,100 Main Event with notable pros Alec Torelli, Will Kassouf and Cate Hall among the big stacks heading into Day 2.

About a third of the total starters made it to the second day and eight players used the very late registration option at the start of the day to buy-in for just under 13 big blinds.

The plan is to play down to the final nine today but with around 200 players to start, we’ll see just how far we get.

International Stars Out in Force

Among the elite players in the mix in Barcelona were the 888poker ambassador squad with Kara Scott, Sofia Lövgren, Dominik Nitsche, Natalie Hof and Brazilian players Bruno Politano, Bruno Kawauti, Nicolau Villa-Lobos and former football superstar Denilson.

Full house at Casino Barcelona. (Photo: Fabian Grubler)

But 888poker events attract a lot of international big names now, too.

Patrik Antonius, Michael Mizrachi, the “Rozvadov grudge match” parties Stacy Matuson and Will Kassouf, Ema Zajmovic, Fernando Pons, Cate Hall and Alec Torelli all took a seat as well.

Torelli, Kassouf, and Matuson all went through to the second day with large stacks. Both November Niners in the field – Pons and Politano – also made it to Day 2.

The winner of the main event will take home €110,000 while a min cash (72nd place) will get €2,100 – €2,100 more than the unlucky bubble boy in 73rd.

Watch the feature table live from Day 2 in Barcelona below:

Pop Goes the World

Romanian player Catalin Pop made headlines in February when he took down the main event of the 888poker festival in the King’s Casino in Rozvadov.

Dominik Nitsche: Always cashing.

At the very next 888poker event here in Barcelona, Pop wasted no time carrying on with his run of success and took down the €2,200 High Roller tournament.

A total of 70 players registered for the 2-day event and Dominik Nitsche was the last 888poker ambassador to fly the flag of the organizer.

Nitsche only entered on Day 2 with about 20 bb to start but managed to double up twice in close succession to get right into the middle of the field.

Unfortunately after they had reached the final table he lost a flip early on that reduced him to just one big blind and one ante. He was soon eliminated in ninth place.

Pop, however, wasn’t going to lose anything. Once again he collected all the chips of every player in the event and remained seated longer than anyone else.

For his second 888poker title Pop received €40,000 which gave him more than enough shots at the main event in the Gran Casino. He only needed two attempts to build a stack and go on to Day 2. How far will he go this time?

888poker Barcelona High Roller Final Table Payouts

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Catalin Pop	Romania	€40,000
2	Fraser MacIntyre	UK	€28,000
3	Sergi Escote	Spain	€18,000
4	Peter Jaksland	Denmark	€14,000
5	Francois Evard	Switzerland	€10,000
6	Gordon Huntly	UK	€8000
7	Oleg Egorov	Russian Federation	€6750
8	Hampus Persson	Sweden	€5500
9	Dominik Nitsche	Germany	€4150