Braco Leads 48 Survivors on Day 3; Shorr Hot on His Heels
The record-breaking 2019 PokerStars EPT Barcelona €5,300 EPT Main Event is one step closer to crowning a champion at Casino Barcelona as Day 3 concluded with 48 players out of 1,988 entries remaining.
With the lion's share of the €9,641,800 prize pool still up for grabs, all those that bagged and tagged for the night have already locked up €25,650 for their efforts, but all eyes are firmly set on the top prize of €1,659,000.
Leading the field after Day 3 is Pasquale Braco with 2,800,000 and the Italian comes fresh off a deep run in the record-breaking €1,100 National in which he finished in 11th place. Second in chips is Shannon Shorr with 2,515,000 followed by Diego Falcone (2,310,000), while several other players such as Simon Brandstrom (2,300,000), Ut Tam Vo (2,275,000), Jonas Ten Cate (2,240,000) and Jerry Odeen (2,135,000) are all closely bunched together.
Three further hopefuls are seeking a repeat victory at the current festival in Barcelona as €2,200 National High Roller champion Alexander Ivarsson (1,585,000), €1,100 National champion Markku Koplimaa (455,000) and €100,000 High Roller winner Sergi Reixach (430,000) all bagged up chips, too.
Also included in the mix for Day 4 are former EPT Main Event runner-ups Kimmo Kurko (1,655,000), Marton Czuczor (1,195,000), Anton Siden (745,000) and 2016 Dublin third-place finisher Kully Sidhu (1,715,000), as well as big names such as Stefan "mindgamer" Jedlicka (1,815,000), Timothy Adams (1,275,000), Isaac Haxton (1,205,000), Ben Farrell (1,020,000), and Gaelle Baumann (500,000) who all have plenty of experience deep in big tournaments at their disposal.
Many other big names were unable to make it through another day and headed to the payout desk on Day 3. Jeremy Palvini and Lukas Zaskodny were ousted in a three-way all-in when Thiago Signorelli Viana turned a set of nines. Pete Chen and Ema Zajmovic also failed to make it to the first break and the second level kicked off with the elimination of Fatima Moreira De Melo. The last remaining PokerStars ambassador ran with ace-king into the pocket aces of Alen Alencar over on the feature table.
The last former EPT Main Event champion in the field, 2018 Sochi winner Arsenii Karmatckii, saw his hopes of a second title vanish when his last few big blinds disappeared with ace-king versus queen-six suited. The 2019 EPT Monte-Carlo finalists Viktor Katzenberger and Nicola Grieco, as well as Gianluca Speranza followed soon after.
The biggest pots of the tournament so far came in the fourth level of the day. Jean Ferreira found himself on the wrong end of a cooler with kings against the aces of Rui Sousa and headed to the payout desk despite flopping a king. And the rise of Shannon Shorr to become one of the biggest stacks was a result of a clash with Ioannis Zachmanidis when Shorr flopped trips nines with nine-seven suited.
Alex Foxen departed before the dinner break, too, and the action didn't slow down in the final two levels of the night either as the field was reduced further at a rapid pace. Andres Korn, Aymon Hata and Harry Lodge were ousted in the penultimate level. Among the last to bust were Griffin Benger, Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, Molly Mossey and Zhen Cai.
Benger missed out on a pay jump and ended up second-best with king-ten suited against pocket jacks, Lopes found no help with king-nine against ace-ten and Mossey lost a flip with ace-king against jacks. Just before bagging and tagging, the same fate also awaited for Cai in the final hands of the night when he couldn't get there with Big Slick against the jacks of Jiayuan Liu.
The action for Day 4 is set to resume at 12 p.m. noon local time and at least four and up to six 90-minute levels will be played with the goal to reach at least the final two tables, with a dinner break after the fourth level if needed. Blinds will resume at 10,000-25,000 with a big blind ante of 25,000.
PokerNews will be your one-stop-shop for all the action from Barcelona as a new champion will be crowned in the biggest EPT Main Event ever.
Day 4 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jonas Ten Cate | Netherlands | 2,240,000 | 90 |
| 1 | 2 | Markku Koplimaa | Estonia | 455,000 | 18 |
| 1 | 3 | Michal Schuh | Czech Republic | 1,240,000 | 50 |
| 1 | 4 | Steve Berdah | France | 365,000 | 15 |
| 1 | 5 | Isaac Haxton | United States | 1,205,000 | 48 |
| 1 | 6 | Anton Siden | Sweden | 745,000 | 30 |
| 1 | 7 | Rui Sousa | Portugal | 1,340,000 | 54 |
| 1 | 8 | Yunye Lu | China | 1,300,000 | 52 |
| 2 | 1 | Alen Alencar | Brazil | 750,000 | 30 |
| 2 | 2 | Bartlomiej Machon | Poland | 2,030,000 | 81 |
| 2 | 3 | Kully Sidhu | United Kingdom | 1,715,000 | 69 |
| 2 | 4 | Jerry Odeen | Sweden | 2,135,000 | 85 |
| 2 | 5 | Balakrishna Reddy Patur | United States | 1,220,000 | 49 |
| 2 | 6 | Marian Mik | Ukraine | 565,000 | 23 |
| 2 | 7 | Kelvin Kerber | Brazil | 775,000 | 31 |
| 2 | 8 | Pasquale Braco | Italy | 2,800,000 | 112 |
| 3 | 1 | Ut Tam Vo | France | 2,275,000 | 91 |
| 3 | 2 | Rodrigo Marques Carmo | Portugal | 750,000 | 30 |
| 3 | 3 | Johan Storakers | Sweden | 1,670,000 | 67 |
| 3 | 4 | Johnny Nedved | Belgium | 1,975,000 | 79 |
| 3 | 5 | Adam Jonsson | Sweden | 845,000 | 34 |
| 3 | 6 | Ben Farrell | United Kingdom | 1,020,000 | 41 |
| 3 | 7 | Leandro Bustillo | Argentina | 840,000 | 34 |
| 3 | 8 | Jiayuan Liu | China | 1,480,000 | 59 |
| 4 | 1 | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | 390,000 | 16 |
| 4 | 2 | Shannon Shorr | United States | 2,515,000 | 101 |
| 4 | 3 | Simon Brandstrom | Sweden | 2,300,000 | 92 |
| 4 | 4 | Naor Slobodskoy | Israel | 650,000 | 26 |
| 4 | 5 | Jorge Ramella | Uruguay | 530,000 | 21 |
| 4 | 6 | Gaelle Baumann | France | 500,000 | 20 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Salgado | Brazil | 595,000 | 24 |
| 4 | 8 | Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | 1,585,000 | 63 |
| 5 | 1 | Sabo Ceylan | Sweden | 600,000 | 24 |
| 5 | 2 | Giovani Torre | Portugal | 650,000 | 26 |
| 5 | 3 | Robert Heidorn | Germany | 1,005,000 | 40 |
| 5 | 4 | Luiz Duarte Ferreira Filho | Brazil | 780,000 | 31 |
| 5 | 5 | Kimmo Kurko | Finland | 1,655,000 | 66 |
| 5 | 6 | Sahil Chuttani | India | 1,170,000 | 47 |
| 5 | 7 | Joe Mouawad | Lebanon | 1,955,000 | 78 |
| 5 | 8 | Rodrigo De Barros Semeghini | Brazil | 390,000 | 16 |
| 6 | 1 | Stefan Jedlicka | Austria | 1,800,000 | 72 |
| 6 | 2 | Sergi Reixach | Spain | 430,000 | 17 |
| 6 | 3 | Denys Chufarin | Ukraine | 1,255,000 | 50 |
| 6 | 4 | Diego Falcone | Brazil | 2,310,000 | 92 |
| 6 | 5 | Ryhor Karapanau | Belarus | 1,520,000 | 61 |
| 6 | 6 | Cyril Monbrun-Massot | France | 860,000 | 34 |
| 6 | 7 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 1,275,000 | 51 |
| 6 | 8 | Marton Czuczor | Hungary | 1,195,000 | 48 |