Ludvig Sterner opened to 40,000 from under the gun, Enrico Coppola called in middle position, and Ludovic Periaux called in the big blind.
The Q♣8♥7♥ flop checked through to the Q♥ turn which saw Sterner make a delayed continuation of 40,000. Coppola then raised to 130,000. Periaux deliberated for a while before he folded while Sterner put in the call.
On the 3♣ river, Sterner checked to Coppola who inquired about Sterner's chip stack before he put out a bet of 150,000. Sterner put in the call and got the bad news immediately as Coppola tabled 5♥4♥ for a turned flush as he raked in the pot.
Andre Akkari shoved from the button for 285,000 and Rodrigo Araujo re-shoved from the small blind, covering both Akkari and Benjamin Pollak, who was automatically all in from the big blind after being left very short-stacked a few hands earlier.
Benjamin Pollak: K♥2♥
Andre Akkari: 5♠5♥
Rodrigo Araujo: A♥4♥
Akkari was ahead on the 9♠4♣10♠ flop but Araujo took the lead with top pair on the A♣ turn. Araujo remained ahead on the J♠ river to send both opponents to the rail and drag in a decent pot.
Yves Bianchetti raised to 40,000 under the gun before Tom-Aksel Bedell three-bet to 110,000 in middle position. "300 exactly," Kamal Bejjani said as he moved all in from the cutoff. Bianchetti folded, while Bedell snap-called.
Kamal Bejjani: A♦K♦
Tom-Aksel Bedell: A♥A♠
Bejjani had run into aces with his tournament life on the line as the flop came Q♦5♠9♦, giving him some hope with a flush draw. The 10♦ fell on the turn and Bejjani completed his flush to leave Bedell drawing dead heading to the 8♦ river.
"You wait all day for aces and you lose," tablemate Candido Cappiello said to Bedell.
The past 12 days in Barcelona have been a celebration of the PokerStars European Poker Tour, a chance to look back at the growth of the tour in the 20 years since its inception. And there is no better way to cap off the party than by having some of the biggest names in poker battling for a €818,100 top prize to close out the festival.
Just 28 players survived Day 2 of the €10,300 EPT Barcelona High Roller and will return tomorrow at noon local time to play down to a champion. Thomas Eychenne bagged up the chip lead with 1,755,000 after the 2023 PSPC finalist doubled up when his queens dodged Calvin Anderson’s straight draw, catapulting him up the leaderboard.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Thomas Eychenne
France
1,755,000
70
2
Enrico Camosci
Italy
1,625,000
65
3
Yves Bianchetti
Brazil
1,610,000
64
4
Malcolm Franchi
France
1,445,000
58
5
Enrico Coppola
Italy
1,410,000
56
6
Tom-Aksel Bedell
Norway
1,380,000
55
7
Markkos Ladev
Estonia
1,095,000
44
8
Joshua Hopkins
Canada
1,025,000
41
9
Kamal Bejjani
Lebanon
795,000
32
10
Brian Green
United States
745,000
30
Enrico Camosci (1,625,000), Yves Bianchetti (1,610,000), Malcolm Franchi (1,445,000), and Enrico Coppola (1,410,000) round out the top five. Bianchetti eliminated start-of-day chip leader Sam Greenwood, while Franchi made a big hero call with second pair on the river when Saymon Dias bluffed for his last 307,000.
Further down the leaderboard is a star-studded field that hopes to track down the chip leaders on the event’s final day. They include Markkos Ladev (1,095,000), who’s already finished second in a €25,000 event here in Barcelona, two-time EPT champion Mike Watson (735,000), EPT Prague runner-up Jon Kyte (690,000), Candido Cappiello (650,000), Jesse Lonis (540,000), Anderson (480,000), Boris Angelov (380,000), and Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel (310,000).
Markkos Ladev
The day began with 45 new entries boosting the field up to 431 and building a prize pool of €4,180,700. Only the top 63 would be paid, and Maria Ho, Martin Zamani, Sam Grafton, Nick Petrangelo, and Nacho Barbero were among those who fell short. Ren Lin busted short of the money when Ladev made a flush to crack his aces.
Leonard Maue also had aces cracked on the money bubble as Kyte flopped a straight. Among the players to make the money were Teun Mulder (59th), Alec Torelli (57th), Greenwood (55th), Nick Palma (52nd), and Scott Margereson (50th). Benjamin Spragg fell in 49th place when he lost a race with king-queen against Eychenne’s sixes, while Alejandro Lococo was out in 35th when Anderson made a Broadway straight. Benjamin Pollak and Andre Akkari both busted in a three-way all in to Rodrigo Araujo to end the night and bring the field down to 28 remaining.
Ben Spragg
The action on Day 3 picks up on Level 23 with blinds of 10,000-25,000 and a 25,000 big blind ante. Everyone left has already locked up €25,150, but they’ll all be chasing the top prize and the chance to leave Barcelona with the trophy once play resumes tomorrow.
PokerNews will be following all the action leading up to the final table and crowning of a new champion, so stay tuned tomorrow for all the updates.
