EPT12 Barcelona: Wilfried Harig leads to end record €10K High Roller Day 1

Many of the stories emanating from the first day of a tournament revolve around numbers — namely, the ones representing how many entrants there are, what the prizes will be, and the amount of chips those who survive the day accumulate.

While we shared some of the other stories throughout the day and night from this Day 1 of the EPT Barcelona €10K High Roller, there are a couple of numbers standing out to grab the attention to end the day.

One is the number of entrants (so far) — 477. It’s kind of a jaw-dropper, crushing the previous high for the single re-entry event with registration still an option for those who’ve busted or anyone not yet in the event until the start of play tomorrow.

The other is the number of chips bagged by Wilfried Harig of Germany, whose 375,200 puts him atop the leaderboard with approximately 220 players still remaining, and earns him a place in the headlines from this particular Day 1.

Wilfried HarigWe wondered as the first hands of the day were dealt whether this year’s €10K High Roller might continue the trend of the last five here in Barcelona, where the fields tripped up from 36 to 67 to 111 to 180 to 393 a year ago.

Soon enough the High Roller field had hit the wall — literally, in terms of the tables filling with players reaching the side of the spacious poker room.

Among those in attendance was George Danzer sitting tall today. We’re speaking literally yet again, referring to the Team PokerStars Pro’s special muscle-working, posture-improving seat that sat six inches higher than your average chair. He’d end the day looking up at the leaders with 69,000.

Team PokerStars Pro George DanzerThe bets, raises, calls, and checks — including some “aggressive checks” — proceeded, with the Aussie Alex Trevallion ascending to the top of the counts, while Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst lost her first entry with top full house versus Ben Tollerene’s quads. Things went much better thereafter for her on try number two, as she bagged 182,400 at night’s end.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa SelbstAs the neighborhood around the Casino Barcelona readies for some noise tonight, the High Roller buzz intensified as the field shrunk under 250 players during the night’s last level. Ping San Chan had built a big stack and appeared destined to end the night in first position until Harig bagged up a few more. Chan ended with 367,500.

Ping San ChanNathan Gozlan, Artem Metalidi, and EPT11 Grand Final Main Event winner Adrian Mateos were also among the players who like Harig wrote the largest numbers on their bags tonight.

A big number for HarigAlong with Danzer and Selbst, other Team PokerStars Pros Leo Fernandez (189,500), Johnny Lodden (64,000), and Jason Mercier (51,000) survived, as did Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo (120,100).

Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de MeloWe cannot as yet report on that other vital set of numbers — those related to the prize pool — until registration closes for good tomorrow. But that’ll be some story, too, and another record, with the prize pool already set to land somewhere north of €4.5 million.

One last number to share — 12:30 p.m. CET. That’s when day number two of the High Roller resumes. Join us then to join in the calculating and chronicling.

To get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts from EPT12 Barcelona, don’t forget to download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.

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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.