Cohen in Control in €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event
The penultimate day of the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event has concluded after 147 hands at Casino Barcelona, with the final six players bagging one last time after another eight hours of play.
With the final elimination of the night at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona, the remaining contenders are looking up at Lucien Cohen. The Frenchman carries nearly 30 percent of the chips into an added Day 5 on the schedule Monday with his stack of 65,500,000, more than double that of his closest opponent.
Cohen, known as the "Rat Man," was the only player to begin the day with an EPT Championship, claiming that illustrious title in Deauville in 2011. Now, the 59-year-old will lead the pack with a chance to add ESPT Champion to his poker resume.
All six remaining players are guaranteed €136,850, but the largest prize in ESPT history is still up for grabs. The record field of 7,398 entries created a prize pool of €7,102,080, with Monday’s champion taking home €676,230 to go along with the coveted PokerStars trophy.
Final Table Contenders
The closest challenger to Cohen’s chip lead is Petros Karadimos of Greece, who vaulted up the leaderboard after winning a big flip to eliminate Diogo Ferreira with just ten players remaining. This will easily mark the largest live cash of Karadimos’ young career after picking up the game of poker six years ago.
Right behind Karadimos is Danilo Velasevic, who continues a stellar summer that includes his biggest live score of $214,500 with a top-five finish at the recent Triton series event in London. The 35-year-old from Belgrade also brings an impressive online resume to the felt, which includes a $470,000 score and two PokerStars SCOOP titles.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucien Cohen | France | 65,500,000 | 66 |
| 2 | Avihai Smadga | Israel | 11,000,000 | 11 |
| 3 | Petros Karadimos | Greece | 42,200,000 | 42 |
| 6 | Ferdinando D'Alessio | Belgium | 30,100,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Danilo Velasevic | Serbia | 40,900,000 | 41 |
| 8 | Ankit Ahuja | India | 32,200,000 | 32 |
Ankit Ahuja brings 32,200,000 chips into the final day, entering play as one of the more accomplished players remaining with more than $1.5 million in live tournament earnings. The native of India will be looking to best his career-high cash of $330,134. Day 3 chip leader Ferdinando D'Alessio remains well in contention with 30,100,000 chips, with a chance to climb as high as 11th place on Belgium’s all-time money list with a win on Monday.
Day 1e chip leader Avihai Smadga (11,000,000) is the short stack heading into the final day of action, already having surpassed a previous deep run in this event. Smadga earned a 30th-place finish in Barcelona seven years ago for €8,430, making his way through a field of 3,447 runners.
Remaining Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | € 676,230 | ||
| 2 | € 415,320 | ||
| 3 | € 294,620 | ||
| 4 | € 232,090 | ||
| 5 | € 177,810 | ||
| 6 | € 136,850 | ||
| 7 | Parker Talbot | Canada | € 105,590 |
| 8 | Igor Kaufman | Israel | € 81,230 |
Day 4 Action
The action began quickly with the returning 26 players with the field narrowed down to the final three tables after Ionut Dragomir was dealt an unlucky river to hit the rail less than half an hour into the day.
Cohen helped speed things along by scoring a double knockout, taking out Luc Lafontaine and Stefan Fabian before players reached the final two tables.
Once the field was combined into the unofficial final table of nine, play slowed down considerably with the next elimination coming almost two hours later. The first knockout of the final eight was Igor Kaufman, who moved his short stack in and could not catch Velasevic.
The final elimination of the night was PokerStars Ambassador Parker Talbot, who survived a pair of all ins before his pocket pair came second best to D'Alessio on the last hand of Day 4.
Day 5 will begin at 12:30 p.m. local time on Monday, with play resuming on Level 38. Blinds will be 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 big blind ante. The final six will battle until a winner is crowned.
Stay tuned to the PokerNews reporting team for complete coverage of the final table and all of the other action at EPT Barcelona.