Kazuhiko Yotsushika and Chin Wei Lim are no strangers to big buy-in events, tangling with some of the best poker players in the world in some of the largest games around. On Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona €1,650 PS Open Main Event, they proved more than capable of mixing it up at lower stakes in crowded fields, as well.
Yotsushika ran over the field on Day 3 on his way to bagging up the chip lead over the remaining 13 players with 32,400,000, more than 10,000,000 ahead of his closest challenger. The Japanese pro began the day in second place and didn’t let up, flopping a set of eights to crack two queens and bust Conor O’Driscoll, then spiking a flush on the river to send Thibaud Martin out in 16th. While he’s chasing his first EPT trophy, Yotsushika has had success on the tour before. He finished third in a €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event in Prague last December, and he also made the final table of a €10,000 event at EPT Monte Carlo in 2024.
Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kazuhiko Yotsushika | Japan | 32,400,000 | 81 |
| 2 | Chin Wei Lim | Malaysia | 19,800,000 | 50 |
| 3 | Ben Zech | Germany | 19,755,000 | 49 |
| 4 | Mengshi Tian | Hong Kong | 16,525,000 | 41 |
| 5 | Daniele Cuomo | Italy | 13,875,000 | 35 |
| 6 | Efrim Erdinc | Turkey | 10,900,000 | 27 |
| 7 | Alexis Nicolai | France | 9,950,000 | 25 |
| 8 | [Removed:526] | France | 7,175,000 | 18 |
| 9 | Bernardo Neves | Portugal | 6,650,000 | 17 |
| 10 | David Taieb | France | 4,275,000 | 11 |
| 11 | Adis Zukanovic | Luxembourg | 3,950,000 | 10 |
| 12 | Yakiv Syzghanov | Ukraine | 3,800,000 | 10 |
| 13 | Jakub Sterba | Czechia | 2,325,000 | 6 |
Behind him in second place is the Malaysian high roller Lim, who would be just as comfortable playing in the €100,000 Super High Roller that was taking place across the room today as he was storming up the leaderboard in this event. Lim made a big hero call with a pair of nines and picked off a bluff from Tor Skardi right at the end of the night as he finished with 19,800,000. The title in this event would be only the latest in a series of crowning achievements for Lim, who already has more than $15 million in career earnings, including a WSOP bracelet, three Triton titles, and an EPT trophy in a €25,000 High Roller at EPT Prague in 2019.
Ben Zech (19,755,000), Mengshi Tian (16,525,000), and Daniele Cuomo (13,875,000) round out the top five who will return tomorrow at noon local time to play down to a champion. Zech, the chip leader back on Day 1, went on a tear at the end of the day, including making a full house to cooler Simon Wiciak before the 2023 EPT Barcelona champion busted in 17th. Others still in contention include Efrim Erdinc (10,900,000), WSOP bracelet winner Bernardo Neves (6,650,000), and Yakiv Syzghanov (3,800,000), while Jakub Sterba (2,325,000) returns as the short stack.
Day 3 began with 107 players remaining out of 5,036 entries. UK Player of the Year Matthew Davenport (102nd), Eugene Katchalov (94th), Martin Zamani (84th), Andras Nemeth (75th), and Monte Carlo PS Open champion Jon Kyte (71st) were among the first to be sent to the rail. Terrance Reid busted in 49th when he turned a flush against Cuomo, but Cuomo spiked a full house on the river. Start-of-day chip leader Vidur Sethi fizzled out in 44th, while PokerStars Team Pro Kenny Hallaert continued his scorching summer with a deep run in this event that ended in 43rd.
The final day resumes tomorrow at noon with blinds picking up on Level 35 at 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante. Levels will be 60 minutes long until the final table is reached, when they switch to being 24 hands. Each of the remaining 13 players has locked up €49,550, with a spot at the final table worth €92,770. The eventual champion takes home €772,000 and the EPT Shard trophy.
PokerNews will be back following all the action as the field heads toward the final table and onward to the crowning of a champion.
