Pasquale Braco, Shannon Shorr Leading Remaining 48 in EPT Main Event
The record-breaking 2019 PokerStars EPT Barcelona €5,300 EPT Main Event is one step closer to crowning a champion at Casino Barcelona as Day 3 concluded with 48 players out of 1,988 entries remaining.
With the lion's share of the €9,641,800 prize pool still up for grabs, all those that bagged and tagged for the night have already locked up €25,650 for their efforts, but all eyes are firmly set on the top prize of €1,659,000.
Braco and Shorr Pacing Field Packed With Stars
Leading the field after Day 3 is Pasquale Braco with 2,800,000 and the Italian comes fresh off a deep run in the record-breaking €1,100 National in which he finished in 11th place. Second in chips is Shannon Shorr with 2,515,000 followed by Diego Falcone (2,310,000), while several other players such as Simon Brandstrom (2,300,000), Ut Tam Vo (2,275,000), Jonas Ten Cate (2,240,000) and Jerry Odeen (2,135,000) are all closely bunched together.
Three further hopefuls are seeking a repeat victory at the current festival in Barcelona as €2,200 National High Roller champion Alexander Ivarsson (1,585,000), €1,100 National champion Markku Koplimaa (455,000) and €100,000 High Roller winner Sergi Reixach (430,000) all bagged up chips, too.
Timothy Adams, Isaac Haxton and Stefan Jedlicka also remain in contention.
Team PokerStars Dry on Chips
Pete Chen and Ema Zajmovic failed to make it to the first break and the second level kicked off with the elimination of Fatima Moreira De Melo. The last remaining PokerStars ambassador ran ace-king into the pocket aces of Alen Alencar over on the feature table.
The last former EPT Main Event champion in the field, 2018 Sochi winner Arsenii Karmatckii, saw his hopes of a second title vanish when his last few big blinds disappeared with ace-king versus queen-six suited.
The biggest pots of the tournament so far came in the fourth level of the day. Jean Ferreira found himself on the wrong end of a cooler with kings against the aces of Rui Sousa and headed to the payout desk despite flopping a king.
Alex Foxen departed before the dinner break, too, and the action didn't slow down in the final two levels of the night either as the field was reduced further at a rapid pace. Andres Korn, Aymon Hata, Harry Lodge and Griffin Benger joined him on the rail as well.
All eyes are firmly set on the top prize of €1,659,000.
The action for Day 4 is set to resume at noon local time and at least four and up to six 90-minute levels will be played with the goal to reach at least the final three tables. Blinds will resume at 10,000/25,000 with a big blind ante of 25,000.
PokerNews will be your one-stop-shop for all the action from Barcelona as a new champion will be crowned in the biggest EPT Main Event ever.
The Stars Group owns a majority shareholding in iBus Media.
