It's Time for Day 1a of the €2,200 EPT National High Roller
The 2019 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona is in full swing, and while the record-breaking €1,100 EPT National will play to a champion today with six hopefuls, others will get another shot at EPT glory in the €2,200 EPT National High Roller that kicks off at noon. Twice the buy-in, a two-day event instead of four and also just two starting flights instead of four set it apart from the regular National.
Being the bigger brother of the EPT National, the EPT National High Roller certainly belongs to the biggest mid-stakes tournaments in Europe as well. Last year saw a field of 1,527 poker enthusiasts gather in Casino Barcelona, creating a prize pool of nearly €3,000,000. The two-day tournament ended with a handshake between Finland's Tuomo Niskanen and Brian Kaufman from Uruguay, leaving the former with €368,925 and the bragging rights, while the latter walked away with the lion's share of the prize pool: €432,135.
The two-day event certainly isn't for the faint of heart: two long-starting days await today (1a at noon and 1b at 7 p.m.), with the field playing down until 15% is left and everyone is in the money, expected to be reached about 2 a.m. with 1b ending even later. The survivors from both fields will then return on Monday, August 26 at noon and play down until a winner is crowned and/or another handshake is made.
Levels will be 40 minutes on the first day with breaks after every three levels of play, and a single re-entry to flight B is allowed. Flight B itself will be a freeze-out and therefore, two maximum entries are allowed. Late registration closes after level 8.
Keep following along with PokerNews live reporting for continued coverage of all the latest from the 2019 EPT in Barcelona.
€2,200 EPT National High Roller Day 1 Blind Structure
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 min | 100 | 100 | |
| 2 | 40 min | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 3 | 40 min | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 4 | 40 min | 100 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 40 min | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 40 min | 200 | 500 | 500 |
| 7 | 40 min | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 40 min | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 40 min | 500 | 1000 | 1000 |
| 10 | 40 min | 600 | 1200 | 1200 |
| 11 | 40 min | 800 | 1600 | 1600 |
| 12 | 40 min | 1000 | 2000 | 2000 |
| 13 | 40 min | 1000 | 2500 | 2500 |
| 14 | 40 min | 1500 | 3000 | 3000 |
| 15 | 40 min | 2000 | 4000 | 4000 |
| 16 | 40 min | 2000 | 5000 | 5000 |
| 17 | 40 min | 3000 | 6000 | 6000 |
