Rodriguez Leads Final 24: Karamalikis, Sahamies & Juanda in Contention
On Thursday, the 2012 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event continued as 61 players returned to play down to the final 24. After just over three levels of play, Samuel Rodriguez finished atop the chip counts with 5,330,000.
Day 4 kicked off with a bang when short-stacked Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder got all in preflop with 
and was racing against the 
of Felix Kretchmann. The 
flop didn't hit De Meulder directly, but it did give him an added gut-shot straight draw to go with his overs. The 
turn gave the Belgian counterfeits outs as well, but the 
river blanked. With that, De Meulder exited the tournament floor and left Fatima Moreira de Melo as the last Team PokerStars Pros remaining.
Over the next few hours the field began to shrink as players like Yuri Gulyy (57th-�14,150), Kevin Weiland (56th-�16,800), Konstantin Puchkov (48th-�16,800), Andrey Zaichenko (45th-�16,800) and Zimnan Ziyard (44th-�16,800) all made their way to the payout desk.
In Level 21, Jonathan ��xMONSTERxDONGx�� Karamalikis became the new chip leader and the first to break the two million mark. It happened when a played opened to 25,000, Karamalikis three-bet to 65,000 from the small blind, and Kretchmann four-bet to 150,000 from the big. The original raiser folded, Karamalikis five-bet to 275,000, a call ensued and the flop fell 
. Karamalikis continued for 340,000 and then called all-in when his German opponent shoved.
| Showdown |
|---|
Karamalikis:  |
Kretchmann:   |
The board ran out 
and Karamalikis doubled to 2.65 million. Kretchmann was eliminated a few hands later in 39th place for �20,000.
Others to fall toward midday were Leo Margets (42nd-�16,800), Daniel Rudd (36th-�20,000), Guy Thomas (33rd-�20,000), Konstantin Streletskiy (29th-�24,650), Anatoly Gurtavoy (28th-�24,650), and Ilan Boujenah (25th-�24,650).
While 37 failed to survive the day, 24 did. Among them are , sport star de Melo; online poker legend Ilari ��Ilari FIN�� Sahamies; five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Juanda; Day 1a chip leader Aku Joentausta; Season 7 EPT Prague winner Roberto Romanello; and the start-of-the-day chip leader Antonin Duda.
Here's a look at the remaining players in the field with their chip counts and seat draw:
Table 1
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucille Cailly | 1,431,000 |
| 2 | Antonin Duda | 2,054,000 |
| 3 | Ole Schemion | 1,571,000 |
| 4 | Javier Piazuelo | 1,256,000 |
| 5 | Jonathan Karamalikis | 3,085,000 |
| 6 | Morten Mortensen | 392,000 |
| 7 | Alex Casais | 731,000 |
| 8 | John Juanda | 1,644,000 |
Table 2
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saveikis Algirdas | 488,000 |
| 2 | Alain Roy | 445,000 |
| 3 | Mauro Canavese | 1,026,000 |
| 4 | Ilari Sahamies | 1,040,000 |
| 5 | Fatima Moreira de Melo | 805,000 |
| 6 | Mikolaj Zawadzki | 1,006,000 |
| 7 | Luis Rufas | 405,000 |
| 8 | Elias Gutierrez Hernandez | 1,290,000 |
Table 3
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ibon Merino Borbolla | 615,000 |
| 2 | Joni Jouhkimainen | 1,161,000 |
| 3 | Aku Joentausta | 1,015,000 |
| 4 | Anton Sinel | 1,974,000 |
| 5 | Anaras Alekberovas | 685,000 |
| 6 | Mikalai Pobal | 2,745,000 |
| 7 | Roberto Romanello | 497,000 |
| 8 | Samuel Rodriguez | 5,330,000 |
Day 5 of the 2012 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona Main Event will begin at 12:00 CET (06:00 EST) as the final 24 players of a 1,082 field will play down to the final table of eight. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you all the latest and greatest from the Casino Barcelona.