Tom "hitthehole" Middleton Leads Final 24; Alekberovas Eyes Back-to-Back Final Tables
The European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event continued on Thursday as the final 79 players from a 1,234-player field returned for five more 90-minute levels. At the end of that time, just 24 players remained with Tom ��hitthehole�� Middleton leading the way for the second day in a row.
Last year��s EPT Barcelona Main Event champ, Mikalai Pobal, was looking to defend his title, but he faced an uphill battle as the third shortest stack at the start of play. Indeed, any hope of a repeat ended straightaway when Pobal became the first elimination of the day.
It happened when Sergei Chantcev opened for 2,000 and got a call from Glib Kovtunov. Pobal then moved all in from the big blind for his last 71,000. Chantcev folded after some thought and then Kovtunov made the call. Pobal flipped over the 
and was racing against the 
of Kovtunov. The race was over on the flop however when it came down 
. Chantcey flopped quads, which meant both the 
turn and 
river were irrelevant.
Meanwhile, WSOP Octo-Niner Russell Thomas was eliminated on the second hand of the day in 78th place. The elimination continued to mount throughout the day and included Henri Benoni (77th - �12,700), Sebastian von Toperczer (75ht - �12,700), Albert Daher (72nd - �12,700) and Season 7 EPT Barcelona champ Kent Lundmark (64th - �14,960).
Lundmark fell in Level 21 (6,000/12,000/2,000) when he and Pasi Sormunen, who was on the button, saw a flop of 
. Lundmark checked from the cutoff and Sormunen went for a bet of 25,000. Lundmark then check-raised 66,000, Sormunen shoved and Lundmark, who had the 
, snap-called. Unfortunately for him, he had run into the 
set of Sormunen. The final two cards were 
and Lundmark was out.
As the day wore on, he was joined on the rail by the likes of Ryan Spittles (60th - �14,960), Sean Wilson (55th - �18,200), Dermot Blain (52nd - �18,200), Douglas Souza (50th - �18,200), Mike Watson (47th - �18,200) and Dmitar Danchev (44th - �18,200).
When Danchev, who won the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event back in January for $1,859,000 and was the last former EPT champ in the field, was eliminated, it ensured the streak of not having a two-time EPT winner would continue further into Season 10.
Headed into the penultimate day, just two players are left in the Skrill Last Longer competition �C Middleton and Bulgarian player Valentino Konakchiev. Whichever player lasts longer in the tournament will received their �5,300 buy-in back courtesy of Skrill, the official payment provider sponsor of EPT Season 10.
Others who survived the day were last year's fourth-place finisher Anaras Alekberovas (2,638,000), Kimmo Kurko (2,427,000), Eduard Bhaggoe (1,637,000), Rens Feensta (1,255,000), Pasi Sormunen (703,000) and Julian Thomas (230,000).
Day 5 will kick off Friday at 12 p.m. CET at the Casino Barcelona as the final 24 look to play down to the final table of eight. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews' live coverage as we bring you all the action and eliminations from the tournament floor.