Plante Leads a Field of 79 Players Into Day 4 of the EPT Barcelona Main Event
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 |
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 Ambassador Benjamin 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.
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.