Raoul Kanme open raised to 16,000 from early position, Dean Lyall called, Stephen Song called on the button, Yves Bianchetti called in the small blind, and Piero Alioto called in the big blind to make for a five way pot.
The flop came 5♥9♠7♥ and action checked to Lyall, who made it 22,000 to go. All four of his opponents made the call and went to the turn, which was the 3♠. Bianchetti then opted to make a big lead of 65,000. That thinned out the pot a little, as only Alioto and Kanme called the bet.
The river was the K♦ and both Bianchetti and Alioto checked. Kanme put out a bet of 250,000 and Bianchetti folded. Alioto went into the tank and used two of his time bank cards before pushing his chips into the middle in defiance.
Kanme flipped over A♠8♠ for a missed draw. Alioto turned over 9♥6♣ for a pair of nines, which was enough to win the pot. The heroic river call gained Alioto a huge stack of chips during the last level of play.
Heads up on a flop of Q♥8♠10♥, Alec Torelli got his last 245,000 in the middle from the cutoff as Pablo Beltran put him at risk from middle position.
Alec Torelli: K♥Q♦
Pablo Beltran: A♥K♦
Torelli was ahead with top pair, while Beltran was on a straight draw. The K♠ turn improved Torelli to two pair, but Beltran spiked the A♦ on the river to make a better two pair and send Torelli to the rail.
Masato Yokosawa moved all in for 104,000 in the hijack and Marc Foggin called in the cutoff, having Yokosawa barely covered.
Masato Yokosawa: 6♠6♦
Marc Foggin: K♣K♠
The flop came A♠3♠3♥ as Yokosawa remained behind Foggin's kings. "Close," he said as the 5♦ fell on the turn. The river was the 10♠ and Yokosawa was sent to the rail near the end of the night.
Claudio Di Giacomo raised to 16,000 in middle position before Yves Bianchetti three-bet to 100,000 in the small blind. Di Giacomo moved all in and Bianchetti called for 220,000.
Yves Bianchetti: J♦J♥
Claudio Di Giacomo: A♠Q♣
The flop came Q♥2♦K♣ and Di Giacomo took the lead with a pair of queens. He improved to two pair on the A♥ turn, then a full house on the A♣ river to send Bianchetti to the rail.
At the same table, Stephen Song is sitting on a stack of around 1,300,000 approaching the end of the night.
Nolan Madene raised to 16,000 in middle position. Jeremy Palvini then three-bet all in for 138,000 from the small blind and was called by Simon Wiciak in the big blind.
Madene quickly got out of the way as the pair showed down.
Jeremy Palvini: A♥K♠
Simon Wiciak: J♠J♦
The board ran out without an ace or king, with 6♦Q♠8♣8♥9♦ emerging from the deck. Palvini shook hands with Wiciak and was one of the final players departing from the Main Event on Day 3.
Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour €5,300 Main Event began with full on action at the Casino Barcelona, with 293 players returning just six off the money.
Within minutes, it was time for the bubble. Several players doubled their stacks and the bubble continued for around an hour before Zachary Habayeb busted with pocket eights when Riccardo Saraniero hit his flush. The rest of the field reached the money, guaranteed a minimum payout of €8,700.
After four 90-minute levels of play, Timothy Chung of Hong Kong, a player with nearly $1.4 million in recorded live cashes, most of it coming from the UK circuit, emerged as the chip leader with 1,571,000.
Behind him, bagging in second place, was Firoz Mangroe of the Netherlands. Mangroe has had some deep runs in Estrellas, FPS and EPT Main Events in the last couple of years, including 38th place in the 2023 Prague Main Event. He's well positioned for a career-best score.
In third place heading into Day 4 is Pablo Beltran, a local player who cashed in nearly every CEP stop and was recently crowned the CEP Main Event champion in Malaga. As part of the recognition, he won an EPT Main Event ticket and has now spun it up to a cash and potentially life-changing position.
US pro Stephen Song bagged in fourth place, while Rania Nasreddine, who finished third in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event earlier in the year, is back again for another deep run.
Rania Nasreddine
End of Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Timothy Chung
Hong Kong
1,571,000
157
2
Firoz Mangroe
Netherlands
1,476,000
148
3
Pablo Beltran
Spain
1,470,000
147
4
Stephen Song
USA
1,382,000
138
5
Rania Nasreddine
USA
1,330,000
133
6
Jack Kiriakus
Sweden
1,293,000
129
7
Darius Neagoe
Romania
1,266,000
127
8
Bo Jin
China
1,249,000
125
9
Sriharsha Doddapaneni
India
1,192,000
119
10
Jianwei Lin
China
1,155,000
116
Out of 1,975 total entries, 113 players made it through to Day 4, among them Day 1a chip leader Joost Hollak (1,113,000) and Day 2 chip leader Kian Kiani (735,000).
The reigning champion Simon Wiciak is also still in the field and has a very competitive stack at 840,000. Meanwhile, Ramon Colillas is the last PokerStars ambassador standing after a fatal mistake cost Marle Spragg her stack during the final level of the day.
The remaining players are competing for the lion's share of the €9,578,750 prize pool. The next payout is worth €15,350, while the overall winner is set to walk away with €1,512,000 along with the prestigious PokerStars trophy.
Still, there's a long way to go in the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€1,512,000
9
€139,750
28-31
€30,950
2
€944,000
10 – 11
€107,450
32-39
€26,900
3
€674,150
12-13
€89,550
40-55
€23,350
4
€518,600
14-15
€74,600
56-71
€20,300
5
€398,950
16-17
€62,150
72-95
€17,600
6
€306,900
18-20
€51,800
96-113
€15,350
7
€236,100
21-23
€43,200
8
€181,600
24-27
€36,000
Players will return at noon local time Thursday for Day 4 of the Main Event to blind levels of 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante, which increase every 90 minutes.
PokerNews will be following the action straight from the tournament floor as the event plays even deeper into the money.
