The big stacks

I just had a little wander around the room and picked out the three biggest stacks I could find.


Bruno Delgado (pictured) -- 62,000
Peter Csecatka -- 61,000
Chema Felices -- 54,000

Tour regular on a roll

Jens Weigel (pictured) of Germany is a PPT regular and is going along very nicely. When he's not playing on his I-pad he's mixing it up on the baize and has amassed a 35,000 stack, which is well above average.

The end of level 4 has arrived and after a 15 minute break from play all the players will recommence with level 5. Late registration has also closed meaning we will have a full player list up as soon as the powers that be hand it over to us. There is still no word on how many levels play will last today but hopefully that information will be forthcoming soon as well.

22 carat gold

Robert Haigh and Ronnie Espensen (pictured) have been keeping a close eye on each others progress all day, hoping the other doesn't get too big of a lead.

Haigh was getting away for a while as he reached a peak of 35,000 chips but he has since dropped back to 22,000 after losing a few pots. The last hand we witnessed him raising from early position and c-betting a flop. His neighbour called both bets and then took the pot on the turn after the German check-folded to a bet with the board reading Td4d5s 3c.

Espensen was involved in a three-way hand moments later but he managed to take both opponents off their hand with pure aggression. Funnily enough, after he raked in the pot we counted his stack to be 22,000 as well.

The recent trend would suggest the Dane as the happier of the two. Both have plenty of chips to splash around as this high caliber battle evolves very nicely.

The tournament in pictures

Only room for half at the inn

Three levels have passed at the PPT here in Barcelona. We're into mid evening and the players are getting hungry, but due to the large field only half of the players can fit into the buffet.

The solution was to split the field in two with half the field going off to fill their bellies while the other half play on through level 4. In one hour the two halves will swap round before the field combines again for level 5. Make sense? I hope so!

Our camera crew caught up with Robert Haigh (pictured top centre) before he loaded his plate and we ear-wigged to get some choice quotes from the player in pole position to top the player of the year leaderboard.

"It's great to be on top but my opponent's aren't far away and are playing great. I need to be on top of my A-game"

He continued with, "We're watching each other after each level but I just have to focus on my game. The tournament is going great so far. I'm up to 28,000 through the first three levels."

Finally he added, "It would so great to win the 10k. I would play every event next season and maybe stake some of my friends".

The chasing pack

We wrote earlier about Robert Haigh and Ronnie Espensen's quest to be crowned player of the year. It's true that they are clear at the top of the leaderboard but they have to worry about more that each other this weekend as there is a hungry chasing pack still in with a chance.


Lukasz Gebica, from Poland, currently sits in 3rd place on the leaderboard with 64 points. He'll be looking for a deep run to have a chance of catching the top two. He has a reputation of being a very aggressive player but his strategy is the same as always as he explained, "Patience and stay focused on the game."
His stacks sits at 8,000 chips so he has some work to do.

















Tibor Boros, from Hungary, is in good spirits and was keen to know who of his rivals are in attendance as he focuses on a strong performance in hope of topping the leaderboard at the end of play on Sunday. He currently has 61 points (good for 5th) so will need at least a top 20 finish. His stacks sits at 13,500 chips.


















Bastian Bluem is part of the talented German crew that includes David Pishvafar and Robert Haigh. He currently has 57 points (6th spot) so will need a minimum top 15 finish to overhaul his good friend. He going along nicely here in Day 1 and justed raked in pot with a winning AJ on an ace-high board to move up to 20,000 in chips.

Can form travel the Atlantic?

David Pishvafar was the most successful Team Paradise player at this year's WSOP. His biggest score was in event number 32 where he finished 12th for $38,445.

We just went to check out how his tournament is going so far and the answer is: not so good. After two levels of play he has lost around half of his stack.

All is not lost though as the fantastic PPT structure, the experience of his brilliant performance in Las Vegas and the fact he is mentored by potential player of the year, Rob Haigh, are all positive pieces of evidence that point to him being able to get back in the hunt.