Tony Broekhof opened and was three-bet to 72,000 by Mark Buckley in the blinds. Broekhof then four-bet to 145,000 and Buckley called.
The pair checked the flop and the turn was the . Buckley checked and Broekhof bet 210,000. Buckley then check-raised all in for 877,000 and after using one time extension Broekhof called.
Buckley threw down in disgust.
"No," said Broekhof tabling , "You got me."
"Oh lovely!" said Buckley as the river came and Buckley eliminated his opponent who was all in for 745,000.
Evgenii Sboev raised to 24,000 and Almedin Imsirovic raised to 150,000. Sboev then four-bet all in and Imsirovic tanked.
"Two players," he said, pointing at the clock. With 97 players left the field was guaranteed €14,330 and with 95 left they would all be guaranteed €16,670.
Sboev laughed and watched his opponent's shot clock tick down. Surprisingly, with Imsirovic still holding three time extensions, he neglected to use any of them and soon called.
Evgenii Sboev:
Almedin Imsirovic:
The board ran out and Imsirovic was eliminated, missing out on the pay jump in the process.
On a flop in a three-way hand, the pot was already containing over 300,000 when Yi Ang Lin fired 245,000 from the big blind. Danny Tang folded and Mark Buckley eventually called on the button after using one time bank card.
A came on the turn and after some though, Lin announced all-in for a stack worth 967,000, putting Buckley into a difficult decision. After using up one more time bank card, Buckley tossed one chip for the call and tabled for a set of deuces.
Lin, holding , found no split out help on the river and got eliminated from the tournament.
After an open from Dominik Panka, Benjamin Pollak three-bet to 105,000, leaving him with 400,000 behind. Panka made the call.
The flop went and Panka let for 90,000. The French player chose to use two time bank bank cards before pushing his stack in the middle. Panka snap-called with but only to see in Pollak's hand.
The rest of the board brought a and a and Pollak climbed to almost one million chips after that hand.
Ali Tariq opened and Dominik Panka three-bet all in for 130,000. Tariq called.
Ali Tariq:
Dominik Panka:
It was a flip that the former EPT champion would have to win if he wanted to win another EPT title. However the flop gave his opponent a pair. The run out didn't help Panka, and Tariq chipped up over a million.
Jaime Staples raised to 35,000 and Ben Heath called on the button. The flop came and Staples check-called 33,000.
The turn was the and Staples again check-called 94,000.
The river was the . Staples checked for a third time and Heath moved all in. Staples rechecked his cards before calling with for his last 399,000. Unfortunately for him, Heath held for a bigger full house and the last Team PokerStars Pro in the EPT Barcelona Main Event was eliminated.
With just 56 players left in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event, it is Irishman Mark Buckley who is chip leader.
The chip lead jumped between half a dozen players in the final few levels of the day before Buckley bagged 2,650,000 to top the pile heading into Day 4.
Close behind him is Brazilian Fabiano Kovalski (2,530,000) and Matthias Tikerpe (2,325,000), the latter of which eliminated Shaun Deeb (61st - €19,760) in the last level of the night to move to around the two million mark.
There are plenty of big names also still in contention including EPT champion Ognyan Dimov (1,730,000) and 2015 EPT Barcelona champion John Juanda (1,210,000). PokerStars Championship Prague winner Kalidou Sow started the day with just five big blinds, but ended up bagging a comfortable 1,450,000. But today saw the last remaining PokerStars Team Pro bust in brutal fashion. Jaime Staples (60th - €19,760) flopped a set of fours against the set of sixes of Ben Heath and when the board paired on the turn, the pair proceeded to get it in on the river and Staples was eliminated.
Unfortunately, former EPT Champions Benny Spindler (204th - €9,740), Patrik Antonius (196th - €9,740), Niall Farrell (149th - €10,770), Jens Kyllonen (137th - €12,080), Michael Tureniec (76th - €16,670) and Dominik Panka (64th - €19,760) won’t be adding another title to their poker resumes.
Short-stacked at the beginning of the day, Viktor Blom was among the early casualties collecting a Day 2 min-cash of €8,900, with last year’s PokerStars Championship Barcelona winner Sebastian Sorensson not far behind them (197th - €9,740), with Sorensson losing out to Frenchman Julien Sitbon in the early stages of the day.
Other notables include former professional footballer [Removed:30] (174th - €10,770), Anatoly Filatov (162nd - €10,770), Pedro Cairat (120th - €12,080), Leo Margets (€14,330), Day 2 Pineapple Flip Out Platinum Pass winner Eric Lenoir (117th - €14,330), Fernando Pons (100th - €14,330), Mustapha Kanit (92nd - €16,670), former EPT San Remo runner-up Jason Lavallee (77th - €16,670) and Mark Radoja (58th - €19,760).
Other eliminations today included Day 2 chip leader Ben Wilinofsky, who was eliminated in 123rd place (€12,080)when both he and Renato Kaneoya flopped trips, with Kaneoya emerging as the first major contender for overall chip leader.
Victor Chong and Ognyan Dimov were both among the big stacks in the room before Buckley’s first big break came when he eliminated Tony Broekhof in Level 19. Broekhof held top pair and called the shove from Buckley, but the Irishman showed an overpair in kings to send his opponent to the rail.
He chipped up further with pocket aces against Simon Mattsson, before a set of twos eliminated Yi Ang Lin from the Main Event.
There was a late surge from Fabiano Kovalski, and Buckley was not infallible in the latter stages, but he held on and will take a healthy stack of 132 big blinds through to Day 4.
You can catch all the updates live on PokerNews.com from the Casino Barcelona as we get closer to crowning the latest EPT Champion.