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EPT Veteran Nicolas Chouity Aiming to Turn Short Stack Into Historic Second Title on Final Day of EPT Barcelona
After two weeks of poker, the 2026 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona is nearing its conclusion. The successful festival was held for the 21st time, and this time around, the flagship €5,300 Main Event attracted 1,823 entries to Casino Barcelona, creating a prize pool of €8,841,550 and making it the seventh-largest EPT Main Event in history.
Of that massive field, only 6 players return today at 12:30 p.m. to battle it out for the prestigious EPT title, Golden Shard trophy, and the eye-watering €1,370,050 first-place prize, with one previous EPT winner remaining in contention. Nicolas Chouity has the opportunity to capture an elusive second EPT title today, after winning the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event 16 years ago. Being a regular on Europe's premier poker tour since 2009, Chouity is on his 16th Main Event cash, but he will have to spin up his short stack of 1,975,000, worth just under ten big blinds, if he wants to become the fifth person with two EPT titles under their belt.
Chouity is a clear outlier on the final day, as his five opponents are all experiencing their first in-the-money run in an EPT Main Event. Chip leader Manuel Ferrari proves that does not necessarily mean inexperience, as he already has two big, shiny PokerStars trophies in his prize cabinet, courtesy of winning the PokerStars Open Main Event in Malaga last year, and the PokerStars Open High Roller in Campione earlier this year. Ferrari will sit down with 16,100,000 in pole position to add an EPT Main Event trophy to his collection, the one he says he desires most.
Final Table Seating
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 11,200,000 | 56 |
| 2 | Jose Criado | Spain | 15,775,000 | 79 |
| 3 | Lukas van Eeden | Netherlands | 5,075,000 | 25 |
| 4 | Michael Dwyer | Ireland | 4,550,000 | 23 |
| 5 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | 1,975,000 | 10 |
| 6 | Manuel Ferrari | Italy | 16,100,000 | 81 |
Ferrari is closely followed in the counts by Jose Criado. Criado, the crowd favorite by a fair margin, is looking to become only the second Spanish EPT champion after Adrian Mateos, and the first one to capture the coveted trophy on home soil in Barcelona. Criado has maintained his spot in the top two counts for three days in a row, filling him with confidence. "I will become the next EPT champion," he promised.
Xiaosheng Zheng is the third and final player who brings an eight-figure stack to the final day. The accomplished grinder, who balances poker with his day job as a trader, is motivated to become China's first-ever EPT champion and add a seven-figure score to add to his four recorded six-figure scores.
Meanwhile, Lukas van Eeden and Michael Dwyer sit in the middle of the pack with 25 big blinds and 23 big blinds, respectively. Both players, neither of whom is shy about proclaiming their love for tournament poker, have already locked up a new high score by making it to the final six, but will have to proceed carefully to navigate the ever-increasing pay jumps.
The finale of the 2026 EPT Barcelona Main Event will kick off with five hands to go in Level 32: 100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 big blind ante. The following levels will be played for 30 hands each until the final three players are reached, at which point each level will last 15 hands. The PokerStars live stream will start at 3 p.m. local time, with a dynamic delay starting at two and a half hours, and the PokerNews live report will adhere to the same delay to prevent spoilers.
The players have all secured a payout of €278,950 for making it to the final six. However, with the next pay jump already being worth over €80,000, every hand can be crucial. The top three players will all walk away with over half a million in prize money, while the eventual champion is guaranteed to become a poker millionaire.
EPT Barcelona Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,370,050 | ||
| 2 | €857,800 | ||
| 3 | €612,700 | ||
| 4 | €471,250 | ||
| 5 | €362,500 | ||
| 6 | €278,950 | ||
| 7 | Gerard Carbo | Spain | €214,600 |
| 8 | Edward Pak | Korea, Republic of | €165,050 |
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Six remain, but only one can be crowned the 2026 EPT Barcelona champion. Stay tuned to PokerNews as we will bring you every major hand en route to the winner.