Reigning EPT Barcelona Champ Stephen Song, Martin Zamani, and Kenny Hallaert Headline Day 2 of the €1,650 PokerStars Open
Over the past two decades, the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona has grown into one of the largest, most prestigious festivals on the poker calendar. Every summer, many of the top names in the game come from around the world to descend on the Catalan capital and chase glory. That was no exception this year, as the $1,650 PokerStars Open kicked off the festivities with a bang.
A total of 5,036 players entered the opening event over the course of eight starting flights. Just 753 managed to make it into the money and will combine into one on Day 2 beginning at 11 a.m. local time inside Casino Barcelona.
Ben Zech leads the field as the only player to cross the million-chip threshold, taking 1,384,000 into Day 2. Kaio Camargo (919,000), Paolo Boi (823,000), Tor Skardi (814,000), and Mehmet Kolgu (777,000) round out the top five.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Zech | Germany | 1,384,000 | 277 |
| 2 | Kaio Camargo | Brazil | 919,000 | 184 |
| 3 | Paolo Boi | Italy | 823,000 | 165 |
| 4 | Tor Skardi | Denmark | 814,000 | 163 |
| 5 | Mehmet Kolgu | Turkey | 777,000 | 155 |
| 6 | Luka Sorainen | Finland | 725,000 | 145 |
| 7 | Anthony Apicella | France | 718,000 | 144 |
| 8 | Eduards Rakuss | Latvia | 711,000 | 142 |
| 9 | Caio Ozawa | Brazil | 706,000 | 141 |
| 10 | Tero Laurila | Finland | 704,000 | 141 |
Sylvain Berthelot won this event last year when it was known as the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event, outlasting a field of 7,138 to earn €499,224 after a three-way chop. Berthelot is back for a shot at a repeat performance and begins the day with 130,000.
With the buy-in being increased by more than €500 this year, the field was smaller but still featured a plethora of poker’s elite. Some of the top stacks at the start of the day include Joey Weissman (602,000), Jon Kyte (518,000), Thomas Boivin (475,000), last year’s third-place finisher Martin Zamani (468,000), Alex Keating (418,000), Cherish Andrews (400,000), PokerStars team pro Kenny Hallaert (339,000), and 2023 EPT Barcelona champion Simon Wiciak (298,000). Further down the leaderboard are Nacho Barbero (273,000), reigning EPT Barcelona champion Stephen Song (267,000), the ever-entertaining Ren Lin (242,000), Benjamin Spragg (175,000), Steve O’Dwyer (119,000), Benny Glaser (88,000), and Adam Hendrix (76,000).
Day 2 picks up with just one minute remaining on Level 16 with blinds of 2,000/5,000 and a 5,000 big blind ante. Blinds then increase to 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante, and levels will be 60 minutes long. All surviving players are already in the money, and the official prize pool will be announced shortly after the start of play.
Stay tuned as PokerNews provides live updates as another action-packed EPT Barcelona festival gets underway.