EPT12 Barcelona, Day 4: The Neuvember Niner

Just a quick one today before I head back in for what should be another long grind covering the Estrellas Barcelona Main Event here in Barcelona.

The Day 1c flight yesterday was huge, carrying the overall number of entrants to this €1,100 buy-in event to 3,292 -- almost 800 more than they drew last year. It truly rivals the WSOP’s lower buy-in hold’em tournaments, in fact exceeding what they have been getting there for $1K and $1,500 NLHE events.

Had a chance during a break yesterday to speak with the always amiable Pierre Neuville, the 72-year-old Belgian who made it through more than 6,400 players in this year’s WSOP Main Event to be part of the final table (still three months away).

We spoke about his new status as a “November Nine” player and how others are responding to him with observations about that here. He also talked through a very interesting hand from late in the WSOP ME where he successfully bluffed Fedor Holz. Neuville is more than three times as old as Holz who won the 2014 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event and who eventually took 25th in the WSOP ME.

Neuville loves poker, and his enthusiasm is pretty infectious. And of course, being an older player also causes him to inspire us in other ways, too. Check out our chat on the PokerStars blog, and stay over there for more from Spain today.