Celdran Leads the Final Nine After Day Two of EAPT Madrid �560 Main Event
After eight action-packed hours of play Day 2 of the EAPT Madrid �560 Main Event has reached a conclusion here at Casino Gran Via. The final table of nine players are all who remain out of a field of 305 entrants. Those nine players will all have their sights set on the top prize �35,475 as well as the �5,000 packages that will be awarded to the top four finishers. Those packages will include a trip to Cyprus for the Mediterranean Poker Party in May as well as an entry to the �2,000 EAPT Grand finale.
Fernando Celdran was unstoppable today, knocking out many players and bagging the chip lead with 3,710,000 chips worth 148 big blinds going into Day 3. Celdran has more than triple the chips of all his opponents except his closest competitor Marius Moldoveanu who bagged 2,655,000. Javier Romero rounds out the top three with 1,080,000.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Celdran | Spain | 3,710,000 | 148 |
| 2 | Marius Moldoveanu | Romania | 2,655,000 | 106 |
| 3 | Javier Romero | Spain | 1,080,000 | 43 |
| 4 | Ionut Dragomir | Romania | 1,035,000 | 41 |
| 5 | Chadi Akremi | Tunisia | 1,015,000 | 41 |
| 6 | Kai Fuong | Germany | 825,000 | 33 |
| 7 | Manuel Ledesma | Spain | 815,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Antonio Puntas | Spain | 600,000 | 24 |
| 9 | Constantin Scrob | Romania | 495,000 | 20 |
Manuel Ledesma also remains in contention with 815,000 chips going into the final table. Ledesma making the final table is particularly noteworthy given that just three weeks ago he was crowned the winner of the 888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event and took home �58,000 for his efforts. Ledesma began the day as a middling stack but chipped up quickly after cracking the pocket queens of Alexey Neofitov in an early highlight. Ledesma would later be on the right side of an aces versus kings cooler and would ride that momentum all the way to the final table.
Celdran began the day with the second-largest stack and wasted no time chipping up further after picking off a massive bluff from Matthew Gray. Celdran never let his foot off the gas pedal from there, eliminating the likes of Jimmy Zhan (21st - �1,475), Ahmed Abdella (18th - �1,675), Jaime (17th - �1,925) and Raul Martinez (15th - �2,225) in the later stages of the day. Finally Celdran would score the final knockout of the night in a massive cooler that saw Ricardo Stara's flopped top set go down in flames against Celdran's flopped nut-straight on the final table bubble.
Other notables who made Day 2 but fell before the final table include Oscar Gironella (33rd - �1,000), start of day chip leader Dario Bagattini (23rd - �1,475), Day 1c chip leader Mykyta Andrusiak (21st - �1,475) Fernando Santa Maria (20th - �1,675) and Samuel Tebege (14th - �2,225).
The final day will take place tomorrow, February 19 at 2:00 p.m. local time with 12 minutes left on Level 21 and blinds at 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante. From that point on the levels will increase for every 20 hands played.
As always stay tuned to PokerNews as we cover all the action until a new EAPT champion is crowned.