The leaderboard at the end of Day 1a of the €888 888poker Live Madrid Main Event features one familiar name.
Manuel Ledesma stood atop the field at this event last year, taking home the trophy and €58,000 top prize. He returned to Casino Gran Via today and picked up right where he left off. He got creative by shoving the turn and forcing Mario Diaz off two aces, showing a pair of jacks and a straight draw as he took the pot and began to assemble a massive stack. He ended up with 222,000 and in second chip position among the 28 surviving players.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borja Diaz | Spain | 231,000 | 116 |
| 2 | Manuel Ledesma | Spain | 222,000 | 111 |
| 3 | Estanis Perez | Spain | 189,000 | 95 |
| 4 | Justinas Fiseris | Lithuania | 174,000 | 87 |
| 5 | Yurii Zabrodotskyi | Ukraine | 157,000 | 79 |
| 6 | Gavin Keane | Ireland | 155,000 | 78 |
| 7 | Roman Isaienko | Ukraine | 152,000 | 76 |
| 8 | Abraham Serrano | Spain | 150,500 | 75 |
| 9 | Alvaro Murciano | Spain | 146,000 | 73 |
| 10 | Oleksii Shchukin | Ukraine | 141,000 | 71 |
Ledesma is looking up only at Borja Diaz, who was also at that final table a year ago where he finished in fourth place. Diaz bagged up 231,000 to take the chip lead as he looks for another deep run. Estanis Perez knocked out last year’s high roller champion Stefan Cupic when he called a river shove with a full house and Cupic only showed ace-high; Perez also busted Nazariy Piznak by rivering the nut flush, finishing with 189,000 and the third-biggest stack. Justinas Fiseris (174,000) and Yurii Zabrodotskyi (157,000) round out the top five.
Abraham Serrano was on the right side of the biggest pot of the early levels today. He flopped top set as he and Mourad Mengouchi got all their chips in the middle with around 150,000 at stake. Mengouchi turned a flush, but Serrano spiked quads on the river to knock out the former big stack in stunning fashion. Serrano rode that momentum to the end of the day, bagging up 150,500.
Other players to make it through the day included Gavin Keane (155,000), Oleksii Shchukin (141,000), David McConachie (65,000), Michael Uguccioni (44,500), last year’s runner-up Juan Lyons (36,000), and Jorge Ufano (16,000).
A total of 58 players took to the felt on the first starting flight today. Ian Simpson was the only member of the 888poker team to begin their tournament today, but he didn’t last long and will have to try again on another bullet over the coming days.
Day 1b begins tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time. All surviving players from the four starting flights combine for Day 2 on January 18 at 5 p.m.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow following all the action and providing updates as another crop of players take their shot at the title here in Madrid.
