Marco D'Amico Dominates 888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event Day 2

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Marco D'Amico Leads 888poker Live Festival Madrid Main Event after Day 2

The first three starting days of the 2020 888poker LIVE Madrid �888 Main Event put the tournament on track for a huge turnout for the first major live poker tournament at the Casino Gran Via in the heart of Madrid. With nearly 100 entries in the turbo heat at noon and an additional two levels of late registration and re-entries, the attendance reached four digits and a field of 1,067 entries emerged.

Upon completion of level 24, the initial wave of more than 500 poker enthusiasts from near and far was culled down all the way to the final 66 hopefuls. That number is especially remarkable considering that the top 125 spots were paid and the money bubble only burst one hour prior to bagging and tagging in the early morning hours.

D'Amico Chip Leader

Marco D'Amico ran the hottest during the late stages and frequently ensured that his table ended up short-handed and in need of fresh blood. The Italian topped the leaderboard with a stack of 4,590,000, however, Spain's Alvaro Puchol is not far behind with 4,230,000.

Another name that certainly stands out among the 66 survivors is former WSOP Main Event finalist Fernando Pons, who claimed the third-biggest stack of 3,470,000. From the very start of the day, Pons built his stack and will be a threat to look out for on the final day of the tournament. The Spaniard also already had a close call in an 888poker LIVE Main Event as he finished in 13th Place in London 2018 for ��8,000.

Fernando Pons sits third in chips at 888poker LIVE Festival Madrid Main Event
Fernando Pons sits third in chips at 888poker LIVE Festival Madrid Main Event

Other Notables Still in Contention

Further notables for the final day include Alex Montgomery (2,780,000), Ran Shahar (2,270,000), Adrian State (2,000,000), Daniyar Aubakirov (1,825,000), Mario Melis (1,700,000), Claudio Di Giacomo (1,405,000), Ignacio Lopez De Maturana (1,000,000), Antonios Onoufriou (710,000), and Miguel "Gandalf" Riera (540,000).

A whole armada of 888poker ambassadors returned to their seats for Day 2 of the Main Event which saw over 500 hopefuls in contention when the cards were dealt for the first time. Kara Scott and Sofia Lovgren entered with a fresh stack of 88,000, but no ambassador made the cut to take home a share of the �800,000 prize pool.

Scott lost the vast majority of her stack on a hero-call with pocket sixes against Lin Ruida, who had flopped a king-high straight and could not believe what happened. Scott, who left the table with her bright trademark smile, later took to social media to refer to this very specific hand.

Money Bubble Bursts

Indeed it would take many more hours to get close to the money bubble and Dominik Nitsche, as well as Ana Marquez, came up short in their bid. The 2019 London runner-up Leon Louis, Younesse Oualgasi, and Chris Da-Silva were high profile eliminations without having anything to show for. Da-Silva fell two off the money when his queens ran into kings, and a very tantalizing bubble period followed.

Usually, the short stacks end up at risk with pocket aces, but this time kings were involved in the first four showdowns in quick succession. Each time the player at risk held up and tournament staff even jokingly threatened to take all kings out of the decks when it happened a fifth time. Ultimately, the madness came to an end in a different kind of fashion.

Eduards Rakuss was blinded out and forced all-in from the big blind, and he could not make the cut with eight-deuce versus jack-ten. Most bubble boys would leave the tournament area with a quite upset mood but the Latvian just laughed, bumped fists with all players at his table and sat down seconds later on a nearby cash game table.

Eduards Rakuss Bubbles 888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event
Eduards Rakuss Bubbles 888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event

One more hour was to be played and as many minutes were left on the clock, almost as many players headed to the payout desk to collect their earnings. Among others, that would be the case for Abdelhadi Kondah, Byungwook Ahn, Sergio Alonso, Mehdi Hsissen, Evangelos Bechrakis, Carl Shaw and Marius Gicovanu.

The remaining 66 players have �2,400 locked up thus far but all eyes are set on the top prize of �150,000, the trophy and the $12,500 package for the 2020 WSOP Main Event courtesy of event sponsor 888poker. As of 2 p.m. local time the following day, the PokerNews team will be back on the floor to provide all the action from start to finish, and the live stream action on a security delay of 30 minutes with hole cards displayed can be found on the 888poker social media channels.

2020 888poker LIVE Madrid Day 3 Seat Draw

TableSeatPlayerCountryChip Count
161Khalil YoussafiGermany1,100,000
162Paolo BoiItaly550,000
163Alessandro CampedelliItaly780,000
164Pere Llopis OrdinesSpain220,000
165Manuel BorgesPortugal2,320,000
166Carlos MarinaSpain1,730,000
167Reinaldo PerdomoSpain1,700,000
168Krasimir KirilovBulgaria1,475,000
     
171Gilad Yam-HodIsrael1,180,000
172Abraham SerranoSpain700,000
173Luis FalconSpain2,075,000
174Gleb NovikRussia920,000
175Amihai NecmanIsrael1,140,000
176Bruno HormigoPortugal1,955,000
177Daniel RodriguezSpain520,000
178Mario MelisItaly1,700,000
179Carlos Herraiz MoralesSpain850,000
     
181Lin RuidaChina2,530,000
182Daniel TafurSpain1,800,000
183Stephen ElliottUnited States1,305,000
184Miguel RieraSpain540,000
185Aaron Rivero DalySpain430,000
186Marcos RochaPortugal430,000
187Juan Francesco Vega QuintanaSpain1,010,000
188Ruben De PedroSpain3,000,000
189Federico AnselmiItaly495,000
     
191Marco D'AmicoItaly4,590,000
192Alvaro PucholSpain4,230,000
193Fernando PonsSpain3,470,000
194Pablo PaezSpain1,600,000
195Salvador SoriaSpain2,100,000
196Petru TarlevSpain885,000
197Miguel Angel LopezSpain580,000
198Antonio SmeragliaItaly910,000
     
201Selim SouissiSwitzerland1,700,000
202Alex Martinez TormosSpain2,280,000
203Cristinel CostinRomania800,000
204Aleksandr SazhinovRussia780,000
205Marco BiavaschiItaly875,000
206Bruce FishmanUnited Kingdom1,675,000
207Miguel TejeroSpain1,735,000
208Juan Carlos MartinSpain860,000
     
211Pablo OsunaSpain820,000
212Emil WestmanSweden700,000
213Antonios OnoufriouCyprus710,000
214Alex MontgomeryUnited Kingdom2,780,000
215Liangle NiChina645,000
216Antonio RomeroSpain1,220,000
217Alberto BlancoSpain2,515,000
218Alejandro SanchezSpain2,005,000
     
221Lotfi BoughannaiFrance515,000
222Claudio Di GiacomoItaly1,405,000
223David Gozalez DelgadoSpain3,200,000
224Adrian StateRomania2,000,000
225Alessandro BorsaItaly615,000
226Meir AvigalIsrael525,000
227Daniyar AubakirovKazakhstan1,825,000
228Ignacio Lopez De MaturanaSpain1,000,000
     
231Ran ShaharIsrael2,270,000
232Juanba MartinSpain1,875,000
233Xiaozhe LiuChina1,670,000
234Israel AvrahamIsrael1,000,000
235Jose Luis GarridoPortugal430,000
236Israel MarmolesSpain375,000
237Tomasz BrzezinskiPoland600,000
238Juan Jose Marfil PerezSpain350,000
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