Of the 222 players who sat down for Day 3 of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris Main Event, just 57 remain with Panagiotis Mavritsakis emerging as the chip leader after bagging 2,930,000 in chips here at Le Palais des Congrès. Hot on his heels is Canadian pro Eric Afrait (2,300,000) and rounding out the top three is none other than Tom Middleton, who won the EPT Main Event in Barcelona back in 2013 for a cool €942,000. Middleton will be looking to be the fourth person in history to win two EPT Main Event titles.
Mavritsakis only shows live tournament cashes dating back to last year per The Hendon Mob, but already has over €200,000 in career earnings. His biggest score came last April after finishing in third place in the Irish Open Main Event for €161,500. A win for Mavritsakis would be his first EPT title.
End of Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panagiotis Mavritsakis | Greece | 2,930,000 | 147 |
| 2 | Eric Afriat | Canada | 2,300,000 | 115 |
| 3 | Tom Middleton | United Kingdom | 2,190,000 | 110 |
| 4 | Lorenzo Arduini | Italy | 2,050,000 | 103 |
| 5 | Mathias Siljander | Finland | 1,750,000 | 88 |
| 6 | David Kaufmann | Germany | 1,645,000 | 82 |
| 7 | Sindre Hansen | Norway | 1,590,000 | 80 |
| 8 | Hans Erlandsson | Sweden | 1,550,000 | 78 |
| 9 | Peter Jorgne | Sweden | 1,475,000 | 74 |
| 10 | Florian Duta | Romania | 1,305,000 | 65 |
Day 3 Action
With all players already having made the money, it didn't take long for chips to start flying in Paris. By the first break of the day, a third of the field had already hit the rail. Day 1a chip leader Eero Rantala had an unfortunate start that saw him fall to under 20 big blinds within the first level of play. Rantala was unable to recover and was eliminated shortly thereafter.
Pokerstars Ambassador Benjamin Spragg also landed on the bad side of variance early after flopping two pair against Olivier Rebello's set to bust on the feature table.
The Day 3 field contained no shortage of EPT Main Event champions aiming for a second title, including Pokerstars Ambassador Simon Wiciak, Aliaksei Boika, Arsenii Karmatckii, Middleton, Robin Ylitalo, Anton Wigg, Dimitar Danchev, and the most recent champion Padraig O'Neill, who won in Prague last December. Of those, just Middleton, Wigg (1,250,000), and Danchev (285,000) earned a Day 4 berth to continue their pursuit of a second EPT Main Event title.
Last year's EPT Paris runner-up Peter Jorgne continued his deep run to end with a top ten stack, along with Barny Boatman (635,000), Day 2 chip leader Eliot Hudon (635,000), and Byron Kaverman (290,000) - who lost a big pot on the final hand of the night despite having over one million in chips earlier in the day.
Some notables who fell short of Day 4 include Jerry Odeen (186th - €9,900), Sam Greenwood (111th - €15,000), Benny Glaser (69th - €19,850), and Alex Keating (65th - €19,850), who found himself short and shoved queen-nine preflop only to run into Diego Montone's pocket tens.
Tensions flared at the end of the night after Afrait cracked Eric Sfez's aces to bust him. Afrait commented, "Yes, I smashed him," after winning the pot, which upset Sfez. Following a short discussion with the tournament director, it was ruled that Afriat would receive a one-round penalty at the start of Day 4.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | € 1,287,800 | 12-13 | € 76,300 |
| 2 | € 804,750 | 14-15 | € 63,550 |
| 3 | € 574,850 | 16-17 | € 53,000 |
| 4 | € 442,150 | 18-20 | € 46,050 |
| 5 | € 340,100 | 21-23 | € 40,000 |
| 6 | € 261,650 | 24-27 | € 34,800 |
| 7 | € 201,250 | 28-31 | € 30,250 |
| 8 | € 154,800 | 32-39 | € 26,350 |
| 9 | € 119,100 | 40-55 | € 22,900 |
| 10-11 | € 91,550 | 56-57 | € 19,850 |
All remaining players will return tomorrow, February 23 at noon local time for Day 4. Play will resume on Level 22, which features 10,000/20,000 blinds with a 20,000 big blind ante, and will continue for five additional 90-minute levels.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action leading to the next EPT Paris Main Event champion! Feature table action can also be viewed on the PokerStars Twitch and YouTube channels.
