888poker’s First 2024 LIVE Stop Sees Manuel Ledesma Come Back to Win €58K Top Cash!

888poker kicked off our first live stop of 2024 at the Casino Gran Via in the beautiful, sophisticated city of Madrid! 888poker LIVE Madrid proved to be a massive success, with the Main Event prize pool coming in at a whopping €333,905.

The series kicked off on 22 January, culminating with the Main Event from 25 through 29 January. The tournament attracted 435 entries, generating an enormous prize pool with €58,000 going to the winner Manuel Ledesma (after heads-up deal).

At the start of the final day of play, Manuel was sitting on a tiny 10-blind chip stack. But he managed to battle his way from last to first to claim the lion’s share of the prize money. It was truly an inspiring story of tenacity and determination.

There was non-stop poker action from the time the first cards were in the air, with Days 1 through 3 final tables live-streamed on our 888pokerTV Twitch channel.

Day 1A Attracts Two Team888 Players

Of the 86 entries on Day 1A of the 888poker LIVE Main Event, just twenty punched their tickets to Day 2.

Day 1A also saw two 888poker ambassadors throw their hats into the poker ring. Both Ian Simpson and Vivian Saliba made the trip to represent the team in this €888 buy-in live event.

Unfortunately, the cards at the Casino Gran Via were not kind to Ian, and he fired three bullets unsuccessfully on Day 1A.

Team888’s Vivian Saliba didn’t fare much better as she was sent to the rail when she ran her A6o into the suited AQ of Hector Sevilla.

Day 1B Brings Out Team888 in Force

The second flight of the €888 buy-in 888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event saw 129 entries vie for a Day 2 spot, of which about one-third bagged and tagged.

Forty-two players found a bag at the end of the night, joining the 20 players from Day 1A. Overall, the day saw 129 entries, bringing the overall total to 215 thus far.

Several 888poker Ambassadors took their shot at securing chips for Sunday, including Ian Simpson, Lucia Navarro and Alexandre “Cavalito” Mantovani.

However, only Vivian Saliba (59,000) and the StreamTeam’s Nick “eastyyy22” Eastwood (58,000) managed to bag tickets to Day 2.

Day 1C Sees Tournament’s Biggest Numbers

Day 1C of the 888poker LIVE Madrid €888 buy-in Main Event saw the largest field battling for their shot at the massive prize pool.

One hundred sixty-three entries entered the fray, with 51 surviving the insane action. One of those bagging and tagging for Day 2 was online qualifier Spain's Nacho Martin. With a turbo Day 1D and late registration open until Day 2, the field stood at 377 entries at the close of play.

After firing bullets five and six, 888poker ambassador Ian Simpson was finally able to bag a big stack of 275,000. He was joined by fellow teammate Lucia Navarro, who bagged 89,000 chips.

Day 2 Tallies €333,905 in Prize Money!

At the close of registration and with all the numbers tallied, a total of 435 entries created a prize pool of €333,905.

The winner would take home a very respectable €66,000 in cash (€58K after final table, heads-up deal), along with the 888poker LIVE title and coveted trophy.

888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event Payout Schedule

Day 2’s play began at breakneck speed, with over half the players eliminated before the first break. Those included Alexandre Mantovani and Ian Simpson.

Team888 started strong, but none of the four Day 2 players made it into the money. For 888poker ambassadors, Vivian Saliba and Lucia Navarro, things were especially cruel.

Vivian finished two off the money, and Lucia stone bubbled, running AT into her opponent's AK.

In no time at all, we were down to the final table of nine.

888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event Final Nine

Day 3 and Final Table Action!

Action on Day 3, the final day, started with two eliminations in the first two hours of play.

George Chiriac hit the rail first for €6,300, with Carlos Perez-Dosio following him out the door an hour later in 8th place (€ 8,000).

All the while, Manuel Ledesma was quietly doubling up, building his chip stack and biding his time.

It would take another two hours of play for the 7^th-place elimination of the lone Brit at the final table, Greg Campbell (€10,000).

Hot on his heels was Mateo Calzoni, who ran his Pocket Fours into the Queens of Juan Lyons. That was all she wrote for the Italian, out in 6th place for €13,700.

Ledesma found himself all in with AhJd facing the monster KsKc of Guillermo Sanchez in a crucial, nail-biter of a hand.

But a flopped flush draw with Ah and turned flush resulted in a double-up, catapulting him into a top spot.

Shortly after that, Guillermo Sanchez was out in 5^th place for €18,205. Borja Diaz was next up, eliminated in 4th Place (€24,300), and it was an all-Spanish affair three-handed.

About half an hour later, Juan Lyon eliminated Ramon Fernandez in 3rd Place for €32,500.

The remaining heads-up opponents, Manuel Ledesma and Juan Lyons, made a heads-up deal. Lyons received €52,000 while Ledesma locked up €47,000.

They left €11,000 on the table and the trophy to play for.

Manuel would take less than an hour to complete the comeback, his flopped set with Pocket Tens dominating his opponent’s QTo.

Manuel walked away with €58,000 (after deal), eliminating Juan Lyons in 2nd Place for €52,000.

Well played, all!

888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event Final Table Results

*after heads-up deal