EPT Finale in Madrid

European Poker Tour champions racked and stacked as players gather for the first day of Madrid Grand Final

The atmosphere was electric as a swarm of poker players took to the felts in day 1a of the European Poker Tour in Madrid. Just over 300 players started the day with hopes of being crowned EPT Madrid Champion in the final leg of season seven of this mammoth poker tour.

Battle commenced on Saturday, with the impressive Casino Gran Madrid playing host to the €10,000 buy-in event. 302 players may have started the day, but after nine levels there was a player on top of his game and playing out of his skin - Sweden’s David Sonelin. Still chasing his first major poker title, (although he did take down the Everest Poker ONE High Roller Event less than one month ago, winning €75,000) Sonelin finished the day on 275,900, and will go into day 2 of the tournament with a 23.5 big blind lead over his next closest competitor.

The general opinion on day 1a is that the field is normally slightly softer than 1b, but that would be a harsh assumption to make this time, considering players such as Team PokerStars Pro World Champions, Jonathan Duhamel, Chris Moneymaker and Joe Cada were rubbing shoulders with winners of the EPT both this season and previous ones. Michael Tureniec, Rupert Elder, Ben Wilinofsky, Michael Eiler, Lucien Cohen, Toby Lewis, Kent Lundmark and David Vamplew were all taking part in the action, making Sonelin’s achievement all the greater.

The casualty list was huge as the big names began to fall by the wayside. One of the first to fall was Nicolas Levi, who lost in the first level with kings to queens, with all the money going in preflop. Others who were left with more leisure time than they would have liked included Vitaly Lunkin, Dan O'Brien, Vanessa Selbst, Mike McDonald, Tobias Reinkemeier, Theo Jorgensen, JP Kelly, Andrew Lichtenberger and Andreas Hoivold.

The final Main Event of season seven will end up being one of the richest in EPT history, as 686 players paid the €10,000 + €600 ($14,354 + $861) to enter, creating a total prize pool of €6.86 million ($9.85 million) and a first prize of €1.5 million ($2.15 million).

The second half of the field take to the felts on Sunday, with Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Bertrand 'ElkY” Grospellier expected to play.