The PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) is returning after a 12-year hiatus, and where better to get the show on the road than fabulous Las Vegas? November 4-12 are the dates to highlight in your diaries because that is when NAPT Las Vegas heads to Resorts World in "Sin City."
The 2023 NAPT Las Vegas takes place just one week before the most anticipated Formula 1 Grand Prix in history, which takes place through the streets of Las Vegas. PokerStars will be there, Oracle Red Bull Racing will be there, will you?
Umberto Ruggeri opened to 18,000 on the button and was called by Santiago Plante in the big blind.
Plante checked to Ruggeri on the 2♦2♥Q♥ flop and he bet 16,000. Plante then check-raised to 48,000 and, undeterred, Ruggeri made it 109,000 to go. Plante called.
Both players checked on the 10♣ turn and Plante checked again on the A♣ river. Ruggeri wasn't finished and bet 154,000 — sending Plante deep into the tank.
After using two time extensions, Plante announced a call and Ruggeri turned over 7♥7♦. Plante had it beat and tabled Q♦9♠ to claim the massive pot.
In a battle between the blinds, Luis Gutierrez checked on the flop of 5♣Q♥6♣ and called a bet of 8,000 from Kayhan Mokri.
Gutierrez checked again on the 9♠ turn and Mokri checked back. Gutierrez checked once more as the 4♦ river completed the board and folded as Mokri announced a bet of 32,000.
Patrik Antonius opened to 20,000 in the cutoff before Rory Jennings moved all in for 216,000 on the button. Jennings had lost a good portion of his stack in a previous hand and was at risk after Antonius called.
Rory Jennings: A♦10♠
Patrik Antonius: A♠K♣
Jennings could not catch up on the 7♦6♠J♦ flop, but the 2♦ turn brought a flush draw. The dealer then turned over the J♣ on the river, sending Jennings to the rail.
Sebastian Ebbero was all in for around 100,000 against the bigger-stacked Santiago Plante.
Sebastian Ebbero: A♠K♥
Santiago Plante: K♣Q♣
Ebbero was in great shape to double and Plante pretended to fold as he saw he was dominated. The flop then landed Q♦9♥10♥ to give Plante the lead and Ebbero wasn't saved by the 7♣3♠ runout.
If you can't get the time off to fly down to Spain for the EPT Barcelona, don't worry. PokerStars is running a Mini EPT Barcelona online.
This fun and affordable online series runs parallel to the live EPT Barcelona, with 25 online tournaments held over eight days.
The first events kick off on August 27, starting with Event #1: $11 Deep Stack, 3 Re-entry. Before then, players can get in on the action with online satellite events on PokerStars.
In addition to big prize pools throughout the series, winning Event #25 — or its sister Event #24: $5.50 Mini EPT Barcelona Main Event - L — will net you a ticket for the $1,050 WCOOP Main Event. This also comes with a Gold Power Pass package worth $10,300 that will cover your travel, accommodation, and tournament buy-in for EPT Cyprus.
The third day of the €5,300 Main Event has come to an end at the 2023 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona and Santiago Plante will lead a field of 79 into Day 4. The remaining players will return to Casino Barcelona on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. local time to continue their quest for the top prize of €1,488,000.
A total of 2,120 entries were tossed in for the second-largest EPT Main Event ever and everyone's competing for their share of the €10,282,000 prize pool.
Plante is fresh off a sixth place finish in the €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event here at EPT Barcelona and he has already cashed two other times – including a 45th place finish in the Estrellas Main Event.
The Canadian is followed on the leaderboard by the UK’s Carl Shaw and Uruguay’s Mathias Duarte. Duarte won the opening €10,200 Mystery Bounty event and he continues to have success at EPT Barcelona after a ninth place finish in last year’s €1,150 Mystery Bounty.
Ka Kwan Lau and Ezequiel Waigel round out the top five chip leaders.
2023 EPT Barcelona Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Name
Country
Chips
Day 4 Big Blinds
1
Santiago Plante
Canada
3,025,000
202
2
Carl Shaw
United Kingdom
2,200,000
147
3
Mathias Duarte
Uruguay
2,115,000
141
4
Ka Kwan Lau
Spain
2,110,000
141
5
Ezequiel Waigel
Argentina
2,110,000
141
6
Samuel Fournier
France
1,780,000
119
7
Pedro Lopes
Brazil
1,635,000
109
8
Jose Rodriguez Zurita
Mexico
1,570,000
105
9
Ramin Hajiyev
Azerbaijan
1,565,000
104
10
Curtis Knight
Canada
1,530,000
102
Mathias Duarte
Day 3 Highlights
The bubble burst at the end of Tuesday night’s Day 2, so each of the returning 303 players on Day 3 was guaranteed the min-cash of €8,850. Day 2 chip leader Eduard Bargesyan returned with over 800,000 and an opportunity to build on what was already a great EPT Barcelona. Bargesyan finished second in a €25,000 tournament in addition to a deep run in the Estrellas Main Event that ended with 11th place. He fell back to the pack throughout Day 3 and will return for Day 4 with 410,000.
Bargesyan was followed on the leaderboard by the likes of Antoine Labat and Waigel. Waigel continued to build throughout Day 3 and finished with 2,110,000, while Labat bagged 725,000 for Day 4.
PokerStars AmbassadorBenjamin Spragg returned for Day 3 and he found a quick double through Julien Martini in the opening stages, but he could not sustain the run before he was out in 147th place. Other notables that returned for Day 3 but could not qualify for Day 4 include Davidi Kitai, Maria Ho, Anton Wigg, John Juanda, and Power Path Gold Pass winner Petr Bartagov.
While Bartagov is out, another PokerStars winner is still on a big run. Paul Jurcuta qualified for the tournament through the Power Path Gold Pass – a series of step qualifiers where players can earn their way to events all over the world and online – and he turned his ticket into a bag on Day 4. Jurcuta will return with 450,000 in his bag and he has locked up at least €20,550 for his efforts.
Paul Jurcuta
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€1,488,000
9
€137,700
28-31
€36,100
2
€931,250
10-11
€105,900
32-39
€31,250
3
€664,750
13
€88,200
40-55
€27,250
4
€511,300
14-15
€73,500
56-71
€23,650
5
€393,300
16-17
€63,250
72-79
€20,550
6
€302,500
18-20
€55,000
7
€232,700
21-23
€47,800
8
€179,000
24-27
€41,550
Action continues on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. in Level 21 with blinds at 10,000/15,000/15,000. As always, the tournament will be streamed live via YouTube and Twitch on the PokerStars channel.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor of your favorite tournaments here at EPT Barcelona.
