EPT Barcelona Main Event: Rui Sousa Leads Final Sixteen in Chase of €1.6M
After four days of action-packed poker, the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona in Casino Barcelona has been reduced to its final sixteen challengers, surviving a record-breaking field of 1,988 entries. Making it this far means each of the sixteen remaining players will get a sizable slice of the €9,641,800 prize pool that's being awarded. Although €71,400 has been locked up by each of them already, the life-changing score of €1,659,000 awaits the winner on Sunday, September 1.
Leading the pack is Portugal's Rui Sousa, who bagged the chip lead with 6,980,000, or 116 big blinds. Sousa is predominantly an online player but has frequented the Barcelona stop over the years, having cashed eight previous times at Casino Barcelona with his biggest score being an 18th place (€53,750) in the EPT12 Barcelona Main Event. Sousa already surpassed that achievement and is on his way to his biggest live score ever.
Marton Czuczor sits in second with 6,065,000 in chips. Czuczor, a very experienced grinder from Hungary with over 2.4M in lifetime cashes according to The Hendon Mob, will be looking to finally capture his first EPT title, after a second place in the EPT13 Prague Main Event, a third place in a 25K high roller in Monaco, and a fourth place in last year's National High Roller here in Barcelona.
Rounding out the top five are Yunye Lu (5,490,000), Balakrishna Patur (5,470,000), who had an amazing day at the feature table, and Day 3 chip leader Pasquale Braco (4,485,000), who consolidated himself near the top of the leaderboard.
Several notables are still in contention for the €1.6M score as well, such as Alexander Ivarsson (3,085,000), who's coming hot off a victory in the €2,200 EPT National High Roller just days ago. UK's Kully Sidhu (3,460,000), who finished 2nd in the €10K High Roller in 2015 in Barcelona, is also lurking in the wings, as is Sweden poker legend Johan Storakers (4,200,000), whose first tournament victory was before some of the current crop of grinders were even born.
Arguably the biggest name left in the field, Shannon Shorr, will be back with 1,830,000 and will PokerNews' Sarah Herring spoke with Shorr earlier during the day about his experience in Barcelona and a massive hand that led to this deep run.
Big Names Fall on Day 3
At noon local time, 48 players unbagged and would play down until the final 16 were reached. Among them were several of poker's elite tier of players, such as €100,000 Super High Roller winner Sergi Reixach, Timothy Adams, online legend Simon "C. Darwin2" Mattsson, Bartlomiej Machon, and Isaac Haxton, but they all were unsuccessful in making it to Day 4.
For Reixach, the day lasted literally one hand when he busted with king-jack versus Stefan Jedlicka's ace-jack right off the bat. Adams didn't last must longer, bowing out in 43rd, shortly followed by Mattsson in 39nd and Machon in 21st. Haxton lasted the longest out of the five, ultimately seeing his deep run come to an end in 18th place. Left crippled after losing ace-ten to Shorr's ace-five, Haxton lost the rest with ace-king versus Patur's king-eight and received €61,710. It was another day at the office for Haxton, who spoke with PokerNews' Valerie Cross about his deep run in the Main Event.
Rising poker star Ben Farrell, who racked up several six-figure scores over the course of the summer, saw another deep run come to an end in 32nd place (€31,040). The last elimination of the day was Kimmo Kurko, who received €71,400 for his 17th place. Kurko lost the classic race with jacks versus Sousa's ace-king to make the latter the overnight chip leader in the process.
With Kurko's bust, players bagged instantly for the night with 15:40 left to be played in Level 27 with blinds at 30,000/60,000 and a big blind ante of 60,000. Action resumes on Saturday, August 31 at noon local time and play will continue until the final six have been reached, at which point players will bag again for the final day on Sunday, September 1.
2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event Day 5 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jiayuan Liu | China | 3,485,000 | 58 |
| 1 | 2 | Leandro Bustillo | Argentina | 2,055,000 | 34 |
| 1 | 3 | Johan Storakers | Sweden | 4,200,000 | 70 |
| 1 | 4 | Yunye Lu | China | 5,490,000 | 92 |
| 1 | 5 | Felipe Salgado | Brazil | 2,930,000 | 49 |
| 1 | 6 | Giovani Torre | Portugal | 4,290,000 | 72 |
| 1 | 7 | Marton Czuczor | Hungary | 6,065,000 | 101 |
| 1 | 8 | Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | 3,085,000 | 51 |
| 2 | 1 | Cyril Monbrun-Massot | France | 1,810,000 | 30 |
| 2 | 2 | Shannon Shorr | United States | 1,830,000 | 31 |
| 2 | 3 | Pasquale Braco | Italy | 4,485,000 | 75 |
| 2 | 4 | Diego Falcone | Brazil | 1,800,000 | 30 |
| 2 | 5 | Kully Sidhu | United Kingdom | 3,460,000 | 58 |
| 2 | 6 | Balakrishna Patur | United States | 5,470,000 | 91 |
| 2 | 7 | Simon Brandstrom | Sweden | 2,165,000 | 36 |
| 2 | 8 | Rui Sousa | Portugal | 6,980,000 | 116 |
Don't miss anything and follow along with PokerNews live reporting as the 2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event is entering the big money stages!