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Level 25
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
The PokerStars stream has begun, meaning the live report will get underway.
Stay tuned as the updates will start rolling in shortly.
2026 PokerStars EPT Barcelona
€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 5
Players Left 9 / 1,823
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Final Table
Level 25
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
Tournament players in the US competing at PokerStars Exclusively on FanDuel have a little more incentive to show up regularly for the Nightly Stars events. A new weekly leaderboard will award $2,500 per week in tournament tickets to the week's top performers in Nightly Stars events.
The leaderboard will see the top performer of the week earning $500 worth of tournament tickets. Prizes go all the way down to the 74th top performer, who will earn a $10 2nd Chance All In Shootout ticket.
Players can earn leaderboard points by cashing in any Nightly Stars tournament, with every dollar earned being worth one leaderboard point. The Nightly Stars tournament runs every Monday-Saturday at 6:40 p.m. local time.
Level 25
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
Due to internet issues, the live stream has been delayed.
PokerNews will provide an update once the action gets underway on the stream, with the live report following the same delay.
Level 25
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
More than 87% of the time, anyone who enters a $5 buy-in Spin & Go tournament online at PokerStars will be playing for a prize pool of either double or three times their buy-in. However, a recent $5 Spin & Go was special because the 240,000x jackpot multiplier was triggered, meaning the trio of entrants was playing for a gargantuan $1.2 million prize pool. The chances of that happening? 0.10 in a million!
PokerStars Spin & Go tournaments are a winner-takes-all when the prize pool multiplier is between 2x and 5x. The top two finishers win a slice of the pie when a 10x is hit, with anything 25x or larger paying out all three entrants.
When "KuCoH" of Belarus, Brazil's "malakaio300," and Denmark's "dillerfar19" bought into a $5 Spin & Go, the prize pool selector stopped on the ultra-rare 240,000x!
Level 25
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
Level 25
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
No fewer than 350 poker players will earn the right to call themselves world champions this fall when the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) returns to PokerStars from September 6-30.
For 25 years, WCOOP has represented the pinnacle of online tournament poker. This year's festival continues that tradition with 121 events spread across High, Medium, and Low buy-in tiers, creating hundreds of opportunities for players to win a WCOOP title.
Level 25
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
The 28 returning players have taken their seats, and the cards have been sent flying for Day 5 of the 2026 EPT Main Event.
The PokerNews live report will start at 3 p.m. local time, following the same delay as the PokerStars live stream.
Level: 25
Blinds: 20,000/40,000
Ante: 40,000
The rich history of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona stop is full of iconic victories. In 2015, poker veteran John Juanda hoisted the trophy at Casino Barcelona, banking his fourth-ever seven-figure score and redeeming himself for finishing runner-up in London five years before. It cemented Juanda's legacy in poker, and he would be inducted into the Hall of Fame mere months later.
The next year, Sebastian Malec created a fairy tale by turning a €27 online satellite into €1,122,800 when his dream of becoming an EPT champion was fulfilled in Barcelona. The legendary images of a crying Malec traveled all over the world, showing micro-stakes players that with hard work and a bit of luck, anything was still possible.
It is now ten years later, and Juanda and Malec are both still in contention for what would be a historic double victory, finding themselves among the final 28 players as the 2026 edition of the €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event heads into Day 5. With 1,855,000, Juanda sits just outside the top ten chip counts, although with 46 big blinds to his name, there is still plenty of room to make plays. Meanwhile, Malec trails Juanda with a stack of 1,485,000. The field of 1,823 entries is bigger than in 2015 and 2016, creating a €8,841,550 prize pool and resulting in the top prize of €1,370,050, a larger number than either Juanda or Malec took home.
Chipleader Jose Criado is attempting to mirror Malec's run from ten years ago somewhat, as he also qualified online and cashed in his first EPT Main Event as a result. With 5,045,000 in his bag, Criado was the only player to cross the five-million mark on Day 4. Criado is closely followed by his good friend and fellow Spanish grinder Gerard Carbo with 4,815,000, while Dutchman Joris Ruijs is continuing his stellar year at EPTs by completing the podium with a stack of 4,625,000.
Day 4 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Criado | Spain | 5,045,000 | 126 |
| 2 | Gerard Carbo | Spain | 4,815,000 | 120 |
| 3 | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | 4,625,000 | 116 |
| 4 | Edward Pak | United States | 3,585,000 | 90 |
| 5 | Barbara Akemi | Brazil | 3,445,000 | 86 |
| 6 | Manuel Ferrari | Italy | 2,805,000 | 70 |
| 7 | Henok Tekle Mariam | Netherlands | 2,460,000 | 62 |
| 8 | Matas Cimbolas | Lithuania | 2,260,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Fabricio Nociolini | Brazil | 2,165,000 | 54 |
| 10 | Vinicius Goncalves | Brazil | 2,090,000 | 52 |
The Main Event will continue at noon local time, with blinds starting at 20,000/40,000 and a 40,000 big blind ante. All levels will remain 90 minutes long, and the tournament will play four full levels or down to 12 players, whichever comes first. Breaks of 20 minutes will follow each level, and the day is set to finish around 7 p.m. local time. The PokerStars live stream will follow the action on a dynamic delay starting at three hours, and the PokerNews live report will adhere to the same delay to prevent spoilers.
The 28 returning players have all locked up €34,850 already. The next pay jump takes place when 23 remain, securing those who remain €40,050. The real eye-watering six-figure payouts are reserved for those who make the unofficial final table of nine players, while only the champion will walk away with a seven-figure score added to their resume.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,370,050 | 10-11 | €97,700 | |
| 2 | €857,800 | 12-13 | €81,350 | |
| 3 | €612,700 | 14-15 | €67,800 | |
| 4 | €471,250 | 16-17 | €56,600 | |
| 5 | €362,500 | 18-20 | €47,150 | |
| 6 | €278,950 | 21-23 | €40,050 | |
| 7 | €214,600 | 24-28 | €34,850 | |
| 8 | €165,050 | |||
| 9 | €126,950 |
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Stay tuned as the PokerNews team will be back on the floor for Day 5, providing extensive live updates from start to finish.
For the complete seat draw to this and all EPT Barcelona events, be sure to get the PokerStars LIVE App.
Download it now on Android or iOS.
EPT event seat draws can also be found online here.
