button in Safari2026 Edition of Iconic EPT Barcelona Main Event Kicks Off at Noon
The 2026 PokerStars European Poker Tour has arrived at its biggest stop of the season. Every year, thousands of poker players head to Casino Barcelona to try their luck in Europe's premier poker tour. It has been 22 years since the EPT debuted in this very place, and it has appeared on the calendar every year since. While the festival has been in full swing for a while already, the flagship €5,300 Main Event is just about to begin, with Day 1a's "shuffle up and deal" sounding at noon local time.
Last year in Barcelona, French grinder Thomas Eychenne made his dream of winning a major tournament a reality by conquering the massive field of 2,045 entries, walking away with €1,217,175 in prize money after a heads-up deal with Sebastian Ionita. Ionuta also took home a seven-figure score, while future EPT winner Tomasz Brzezinski and regulars Anton Suarez and Marc Foggin also made a final table appearance.
2025 EPT Barcelona Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Eychenne | France | €1,217,175* |
| 2 | Sebastian Ionita | Romania | €1,117,175* |
| 3 | Umberto Zaffagnini | Italy | €641,200 |
| 4 | Tomasz Brzezinski | Poland | €493,250 |
| 5 | Julian Pineda Lozano | Colombia | €379,350 |
| 6 | Anton Suarez | Sweden | €291,800 |
| 7 | Marc Foggin | United Kingdom | €224,450 |
| 8 | Cesar Garcia | Spain | €172,700 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
The EPT Barcelona Main Event promises over a week of constant poker action. Following the by-now-classic EPT Main Event structure, Day 1a will be the first of two starting flights, with Day 1b taking place on August 23. Although late registration will remain open until the start of Day 2, every player will have to carefully deliberate when to enter, as they are allowed only two entries in total.
Everyone who sits down from the start will begin with 300 big blinds, kicking things off in 100/100 (100) with a starting stack of 30,000. Both starting days will play ten 60-minute levels, ending in 600/1,200 with a big blind ante of 1,200. Breaks will occur after every two levels, with a 75-minute dinner break scheduled after Level 6, around 6:40 p.m. local time.
EPT Barcelona Day 1a Structure
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante | Duration (Min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 60 |
| 2 | 100 | 200 | 200 | 60 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 3 | 100 | 300 | 300 | 60 |
| 4 | 200 | 400 | 400 | 60 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 5 | 200 | 500 | 500 | 60 |
| 6 | 300 | 600 | 600 | 60 |
| Dinner Break | 75 | |||
| 7 | 400 | 800 | 800 | 60 |
| 8 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 60 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 9 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 | 60 |
| 10 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 | 60 |
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As always, PokerNews will be covering the EPT Barcelona Main Event live from start to finish, so stay as the cards will go into the air shortly.