Just as was the case with the first day of the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Seville, Tuesday’s action at Admiral Casino did not disappoint. Two flights of the €150 Mini Main Event were the main courses on the second day’s menu, where all contenders were competing to join Day 1a chip leader Peggy “Pocket Peg” Crawford at the top of the rankings. The first side event also kicked off, as the €100 PLO Masters Big O made its appearance, seeing the first trophy of the festival being claimed by a well-deserved winner.
Granjo Goes Grande
The inaugural day of the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Seville didn’t disappoint, with a record-shattering starting-day flight of the Mini Main Event. PartyPoker Tour Ambassador Niall “Firaldo” Farrell was one of the 43 players who navigated their way through the field that consisted of 228 entries, and together with the likes of chip leader Crawford, he found a Day 2 bag. With the successful start in mind, the expectations were high for Tuesday at Admiral Casino.
The action kicked off at 16:00 with Day 1b of the Mini Main Event. Already at the first break, the tournament told the story of 135 entries, hinting that this too would be a starting-day flight of humongous proportions. Players such as WSOP Circuit Ring winner Franky Green and prominent Danish player Benyamin Canatan were two contestants who registered during the earlier stages, both seeking to get their first live cash on Spanish soil. They were soon joined by PartyPoker Team Pro Matt Staples, and at the very end of late registration, his brother and fellow Team Pro Jaime Staples also joined the mix.
Late registration closed after the 60-minute dinner break, and the big TV screens in the tournament area confirmed 188 entries. This meant this became the second-biggest starting-day flight of the Mini Main Event of PartyPoker Tour, the biggest one obviously being Monday’s Day 1a flight. For comparison, the old record was set during the 2025 PartyPoker Tour London Spring Edition, where a flight got 172 entries.
Twenty-eight players would advance from Day 1b, and the Staples brothers would not be among these, as they were both eliminated within an hour or two after the dinner break. It was a grind, but ultimately, the flight came to an end around 3:00, and the survivors could breathe out. One player who might’ve had an extra big smile on his lips was Jose Granjo, who ended the venture as the chip leader with a whopping 903,000, considerably more than Day 1a chip leader Crawford secured.
€150 Mini Main Event Day 1b Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Maria Lozano Granjo | 903,000 |
| 2 | Alberto Del Valle | 554,000 |
| 3 | Dillan Patel | 536,000 |
| 4 | Juan Anguas | 531,000 |
| 5 | Kevin Ferrer | 424,000 |
| 6 | Miguel Gomez Parraga | 416,000 |
| 7 | Jonas Araujo Carrasco | 356,000 |
| 8 | Antonio Parejas | 356,000 |
| 9 | Manuel Salamanca | 328,000 |
| 10 | Luis Aspera Arce | 315,000 |
| 11 | Nicholas Georgion | 310,000 |
| 12 | Leandro Etmeksian | 306,000 |
| 13 | Matteo Fritz | 303,000 |
| 14 | Fernando Exposito | 280,000 |
| 15 | Marci Jackowski | 268,000 |
| 16 | Fernando Banda | 231,000 |
| 17 | Paul Walsh | 222,000 |
| 18 | Alfonso Benitez | 206,000 |
| 19 | Francisco Gordillo | 150,000 |
| 20 | Jose Bolufer | 127,000 |
| 21 | Miguel Barajas | 102,000 |
| 22 | Pablo Lopez | 91,000 |
| 23 | Rodrigo Araujo | 81,000 |
| 24 | Thiago De Almeida | 59,000 |
| 25 | Neil Gilchrist | 58,000 |
| 26 | Jaime Martins | 35,000 |
| 27 | Eloy Cordoba | 29,000 |
| 28 | Alberto Lopez | 21,000 |
The Manzanero March
There was more Mini Main Event action this glorious Tuesday, as the Day 1c turbo flight kicked off at 21:00, right when the Day 1b players were enjoying their dinner break. PartyPoker Tour Ambassador Glenn Brown arrived at Casino Admiral in due time and was one of the first players to enter the turbo. He wasn’t the only one proudly wearing the PartyPoker patch, as Bárbara Jiminez was also in the field from the early levels, seeking redemption after not making it through Monday’s Day 1a flight. Another familiar face in the crowd from the get-go was Jordan Caplan, who was a loyal supporter of the 2025 PartyPoker Tour in the UK.
The third starting-day flight of the ever-so-popular tournament attracted 113 entries. The Staples brothers were amongst those jumping into the turbo after busting from Day 1b. Jaime, unfortunately, didn’t make it through; he eventually hit the rail together with Brown, Jiminez, and Caplan. Matt Staples was going strong, though, and so was his fiancée, Ryana Kritzer (who essentially played her first-ever live tournament). Another contender was Sam Acheampong (PartyPoker Tour Ambassador), who late-registered after bubbling the €100 PLO Masters Big O. It was actually Acheampong who eliminated a competitor in eighteenth place around 03:30, a scenario that saw another seventeen players bag for Day 2. Gilberto Lopez Manzanero topped the charts from Day 1c with 514,000.
€150 Mini Main Event Day 1c Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gilberto Lopez Manzanero | 514,000 |
| 2 | Markus Mortensen | 487,000 |
| 3 | Antonio Olalla | 473,000 |
| 4 | Jesus Jimenez | 370,000 |
| 5 | David Mcconache | 356,000 |
| 6 | Sam Acheampong | 305,000 |
| 7 | Matt Staples | 282,000 |
| 8 | Ryana Kritzer | 257,000 |
| 9 | Javier Pedrote Morales | 245,000 |
| 10 | Juanmi Cubero | 225,000 |
| 11 | Ciam Johnston | 223,000 |
| 12 | Gary Kane | 200,000 |
| 13 | Jose Luis Hurtado Sanchez | 186,000 |
| 14 | Carlos Herrador | 128,000 |
| 15 | David Frutos Pozo | 124,000 |
| 16 | Jorge Vega Rivas | 115,000 |
| 17 | Antonio Hurtado | 63,000 |
Bourgeois Puts the B in Big O
Tuesday also saw the first side event make its appearance on the schedule. JJ Hazan’s PLO Masters series ran in conjunction with the 2025 PartyPoker Tour, and the collaboration is extending into 2026. As such, the Spaniards got the opportunity to tangle in the €100 PLO Masters Big O. While some of the players were unfamiliar with the Hi/Lo rules, they were quick learners and were visibly having a good time.
- Read more: JJ Hazan and the PLO Masters
The tournament scored 17 entries, and the field was a joyful mix of Spaniards, UK residents, and the occasional player from elsewhere in the world, such as Hardisty (who, although originally from the UK, now resides in Canada). As previously mentioned, Acheampong eventually became the unfortunate bubble boy, bidding farewell in fourth place. The three remaining contestants kept on fighting for the biggest share of the €1,445 prize pool. What followed would turn out to be a rollercoaster of a three-handed affair, where the chips were trading owners back and forth.
Raymond Masters managed to survive another two hours after Acheampong’s exit, despite the average stack being around perhaps 20 Big Blinds. Eventually, he had to settle for the €290 min-cash. The stage was then set for a heads-up showdown between Hardisty and Blaise Bourgeois. Bourgeois had the decent chip lead, but Hardisty put up a good fight, looking to become the first PartyPoker Tour Ambassador to claim a title in Seville. It was an entertaining one-versus-one duel, but eventually, Bourgeois delivered the final blow. While Hardisty received €435 for her runner-up finish, Bourgeois claimed the €720 first-place payout, the trophy, and his first-ever live PLO title.
€100 PLO Masters Big O Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Blaise Bourgeois | United States | €720 |
| 2 |  Rebecca Hardisty | Canada | €435 |
| 3 |  Raymond Masters | Ireland | €290 |
The poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlén had a small chat with Bourgeois after the win. Decent knowledge of the Hi/Lo principle and getting decent cards were two keys that allowed Bourgeois to accumulate a lot of chips during the early stages:
“When I entered the tournament, there were some players in the field who were completely new to PLO Hi/Lo, not knowing how the Lo worked. This allowed me to steal a lot of pots, as I would make the nut low and three-quarter them. I ran quite well in the beginning and had a fourth of the chips in play when late registration closed.”
Bourgeois, who is a WSOP Circuit Ring winner, spent a lot of time last year studying Mixed Games. While the main purpose of hitting the books was to improve his Hold ‘Em game, he’s improved his diversified poker skillset and has quickly gained an edge in various Mixed Games. Having a background in mathematics, one can understand that Bourgeois can pick up new concepts fairly swiftly. Capturing the first side event title of the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Seville, Bourgeois is now ready to focus on what’s to come at Admiral Casino:
“I want to focus on the Main Event, the €1,000 High Roller later in the week, and the €250 PLO Masters Main Event. This was a great start; first Spanish cash, a trophy, first PLO title, and I had a great rail,” Bourgeois stated, referring to Franky Green, who cheered her friend to the win. She repaid the favor with great pleasure, considering Bourgeois stayed up watching Green win her claim a WSOP Circuit Ring after winning the درهم 5,000 NLH Ladies’ Event during the 2026 WSOP Circuit Marrakesh not too long ago.
The action will only keep ramping up at Admiral Casino throughout the event. Today’s schedule features the last starting-day flight of the Mini Main Event at 14:00; this hyper turbo flight features 15-minute blind levels, and those who make it through will have a longer day at the felted tables, seeing as Day 2 will kick off at 20:00. In terms of side event action, there is the €200 NLH KO, an affair which most certainly will see heads roll. There will also be the first opportunities during the festival for players to secure their €500 Main Event seat for a lower price (not counting the online qualifiers that have been running continuously), seeing as there are two €60 Target Stack Satellites on the schedule with three Main Event Tickets guaranteed each.
2026 PartyPoker Tour Seville – Wednesday, March 18 Schedule
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 14:00 | Event #1: €150 Mini Main Event Day 1d (Hyper Turbo) |
| 17:00 | €60 Target Stack Satellite to €500 Main Event (Three Tickets Guaranteed) |
| 18:00 | Event #3: €200 NLH KO |
| 20:00 | Event #1: €150 Mini Main Event Day 2 |
| 22:00 | €60 Target Stack Satellite to €500 Main Event (Three Tickets Guaranteed) |
It’s been said before, but it’s worth saying again. The poker.pro editorial office is eternally grateful for being the official English media partner for the PartyPoker Tour, and it’s amazing to be on-site in Seville this week, following all the action from the superb event. On the “Results” tab in the live blog, players and spectators can see all the results from the various side events.
Wednesday’s live coverage will kick off at 20:00, when cards are in the air for Day 2 of the Mini Main Event. Every PartyPoker Tour event keeps exceeding the previous one, and poker.pro is ready to cover every knook and cranny of the action.
