Matthias Eibinger Leads EPT Barcelona €100K SHR Final Nine
The second and penultimate day of the 2018 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona €100,000 Super High Roller is in the books and nine players remain after ten hours of poker action at Casino Barcelona. Registration for the most-expensive event of the festival in Spain's poker hotbed remained open until the cards went in the air and another ten players took a shot at high stakes glory, boosting the field size to 54 entries and creating a prize pool of €5,239,080.
Only the top seven spots will get paid and a lengthy period at the end of the night without elimination ensured that the money bubble hasn't burst yet. Leading the field into the final day is Austria's Matthias Eibinger with 3,040,000, followed by High Roller regular Mikita Badziakouski (2,570,000) and Ahadpur Khangah (2,105,000).
Still in contention is Cary Katz (1,425,000), Timothy Adams made it through to Day 3 with 1,245,000 and Rui Neves Ferreira follows close behind with (1,020,000). Benjamin Pollak, who tripled up in the final level of the night, bagged up 765,000 to pull narrowly ahead of Jean Ferreira (720,000) and Byron Kaverman (610,000).
With two players to bust without anything to show for and the action resuming at level 19 and blinds of 30,000/60,000 and a big blind ante of 60,000, the start of the final day is expected to be very tense.
Day 3 Seat Assignments
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benjamin Pollak | France | 670,000 | 11 |
| 2 | Byron Kaverman | United States | 780,000 | 13 |
| 3 | Ahadpur Khangah | Iran | 2,105,000 | 35 |
| 4 | Rui Neves Ferreira | Portugal | 1,020,000 | 17 |
| 5 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 2,570,000 | 43 |
| 6 | Cary Katz | United States | 1,425,000 | 24 |
| 7 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 1,245,000 | 21 |
| 8 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | 3,040,000 | 51 |
| 9 | Jean Ferreira | Canada | 720,000 | 12 |
Action of the Day
Among the ten players to enter before the restart was also Dietrich Fast, but the German barely made it half an hour into Day 2 before he ran out of chips. Stanley Choi and Sam Greenwood were also among the early casualties, and they were joined on the rail by Jan-Eric Schwippert and Daniel Dvoress.
Ivan Leow and Michael Soyza made headlines this year already by winning High Roller tournaments, but both Malaysians were ousted in quick succession and their countryman Wai Leong Chan also busted on his second bullet. Leow three-bet with pocket kings and called the shove of Ahadpur Khangah on an ace-high all club flop only to get shown ace-ten by Khangah.
It was also Khangah that kept up the momentum and sent Luc Greenwood to the rail in the biggest pot of the tournament until then. Khangah flopped a wheel with ace-trey and Greenwood got his big stack in with ace-six suited for the nut flush draw and gutshot to a better straight, however, both the turn and river blanked.
The rise of Matthias Eibinger started with three tables remaining and he joined the chip leaders after a clash with David Peters. The latter flopped the wheel with ace-deuce and Eibinger held pocket sixes for an overpair and draw to the better straight. A seven on the turn immediately locked up the hand for Eibinger and soon after the last two tables were set, as Stephen Chidwick, Pascal LeFrancois and Sean Winter ran out of chips in quick succession.
Down to the last two tables, Orpen Kisacikoglu ran with ace-jack into the pocket kings of Rui Neves Ferreira and Aaron Been found himself dominated with ace-five against the ace-king of Byron Kaverman. What followed were minutes of frantic action as Christoph Vogelsang and Jean-Noel Thorel busted in massive pots. Vogelsang called a jam by Mikita Badziakouski on a four-card flush board with tens and a flush only for Badziakouski to reveal aces and the nut flush. And Thorel's move with trey-deuce off out of the big blind came at the worst possible time, as Timothy Adams snap-called with kings and the nut flush on a four-card flush turn.
After that, the action somewhat slowed down and three of the biggest names on the international poker circuit were eliminated. PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu was chipping up in the early and middle stages of the day, however, he lost a big portion of his stack with ace-king against the pocket aces of Cary Katz and busted soon after against Timothy Adams. Adrian Mateos was eliminated in a three-way all in with ace-eight suited against the ace-ten of Adams and the pocket kings of Ahadpur Khangah, who jumped into the top spot.
Last but not least, Bryn Kenney lost almost all of his chips with ace-ten against the pocket aces of Adams on a four-way ten-high flop and the remainder went to Khangah to set up the nine-handed unofficial final table. Three full levels were played without any further elimination and the remaining nine players bagged up for the night.
They will return at 12.30 p.m. local time on Monday, August 27th, 2018, to play down to a champion and all the action can be followed right here on PokerNews.
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