Wiciak Leads Final 32 Players in EPT Barcelona €5,300 Main Event
Another day of the €5,300 Main Event has been played to completion here at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona with Simon Wiciak emerging as the Day 4 chip leader after amassing 4,515,000 in chips. In a distant second is Daniyar Aubakirov, who bagged up 3,855,000.
Wiciak has a modest $101,000 in live tournament earnings, including a 344th place finish from this year's World Series of Poker Main Event for $44,700. Wiciak is now in pole position to not only secure his largest cash to date, but to also make a run at the €1,488,000 first-place prize, which represents the lion's share of the €10,282,000 prize pool (resulting from a field of 2,120 — the second largest for an EPT main event).
Day 4 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips | Day 5 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon Wiciak | France | 4,515,000 | 113 |
| 2 | Daniyar Aubakirov | Kazakhstan | 3,855,000 | 96 |
| 3 | João Sydenstricker | Brazil | 3,745,000 | 94 |
| 4 | Carl Shaw | United Kingdom | 3,595,000 | 90 |
| 5 | Mathias Duarte | Uruguay | 3,525,000 | 88 |
| 6 | Pedro Lopes | Brazil | 3,405,000 | 85 |
| 7 | Mohamad El Rais | Switzerland | 3,200,000 | 80 |
| 8 | Santiago Plante | Canada | 2,940,000 | 74 |
| 9 | Curtis Knight | Canada | 2,865,000 | 72 |
| 10 | Jose Rodriguez Zurita | Mexico | 2,820,000 | 71 |
Day 4 Highlights
Day 4 got off to a dynamic start, with Pedro Lopes scoring a big double up while several others hit the rail, including PokerStars Power Path Gold Pass winner Paul Jurcuta, who was eliminated after Simon Wiciak rivered a straight against Jurcuta's two pair.
Andre Akkari, the last remaining PokerStars Team Pro, was able to navigate his way through the day after being on the brink of elimination early on. After hitting his two-outer to double up, Akkari would later spike quads to eliminate Agostino Ascone during his fortunate run. Akkari, who is dead-last in the chip counts, will bring 435,000 into Day 5 in his pursuit of his first EPT title.
Poker legend Patrik Antonius, who spent much of his day on the feature table, was unable to build any momentum and was eliminated in 54th place during the second level of the day after losing a flip with king-queen to Wouter Beltz's pocket deuces.
Stephen Song entered Day 4 with just nine big blinds but was able to nurse his short stack for quite some time before hitting the rail in 47th place as a result of a slow play gone wrong.
Wiciak started the day with a middling stack, but was able to steadily increase his count throughout the day en route to becoming the chip leader. Wiciak got a big boost to his stack after eliminating Hubert Matuszewski late in the day and was able to hang onto his chip lead from that point on.
The final elimination of the day occurred when Lauri Saaskilahti made a stand with pocket fours but ran into Curtis Knight's pocket kings and failed to improve. With that, the field was reduced to 32 and play was halted for the day at the end of Level 24.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,488,000 | 10-11 | €105,900 |
| 2 | €931,250 | 12-13 | €88,200 |
| 3 | €664,750 | 14-15 | €73,500 |
| 4 | €511,300 | 16-17 | €63,250 |
| 5 | €393,300 | 18-20 | €55,000 |
| 6 | €302,500 | 21-23 | €47,800 |
| 7 | €232,700 | 24-27 | €41,550 |
| 8 | €179,000 | 28-31 | €36,100 |
| 9 | €137,700 | 32 | €31,250 |
The final 32 players will return on September 1 at noon local time to play an additional five levels. Play will begin on Level 25, which features blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante. The tournament will also be streamed via YouTube and Twitch on the PokerStars channel.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action right here at Casino Barcelona leading to the next EPT Main Event champion!