Pinto Leads Final 16 In EPT Barcelona Main Event
After four days of action-packed poker, the �5,300 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona?Casino European Poker Tour Main Event has been reduced to its final 16 challengers, surviving a record-breaking field of 2,294 entries. Making it this far means each of the remaining players will get a sizable slice of the �11,125,900 prize pool that's being awarded. Although �67,790 has been locked up by each of them already, the life-changing score of �1,714,000 awaits the winner on Sunday, August 21st.
Leading the pack is Netherlands Michael Pinto, who bagged the chip lead with 11,090,000, or 138 big blinds. Pinto was towards the bottom of the pack to start the day but caught fire when he hit a one-outer with queens against aces to bust Igor Yaroshevskyy and again when he picked up aces against jacks to eliminate Jordan Saccucci. Pinto has $18,295 life-time earnings according to The Hendon Mob, but after this impressive run will have lots more to show for.
Day 2 chip leader Kayhan Mokri finished the day in second place with a big stack of 10,620,000 and will look to put his 132 big blinds to work in the hunt for EPT gold. Rounding out the top five are Patrik Jaros (10,350,000), Scott Margereson (7,185,000) and Giuliano Bendinelli (5,885,000).
Day 5 Seat Assignments
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Pinto | Netherlands | 11,090,000 | 138 |
| 1 | 2 | Scott Margereson | United Kingdom | 7,185,000 | 89 |
| 1 | 3 | Tigran Harutyunyan | Armenia | 1,065,000 | 13 |
| 1 | 4 | Jimmy Guerrero | France | 1,160,000 | 14 |
| 1 | 5 | Neville Endo | Brazil | 3,825,000 | 48 |
| 1 | 6 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | 10,620,000 | 132 |
| 1 | 7 | Lucas Silva Rocha | Brazil | 1,045,000 | 13 |
| 1 | 8 | Giuliano Bendinelli | Italy | 5,885,000 | 73 |
| 2 | 1 | Jack Salter | United Kingdom | 1,660,000 | 20 |
| 2 | 2 | Maher Nouira | Tunisia | 1,745,000 | 22 |
| 2 | 3 | Fabiano Kovalski | Brazil | 4,540,000 | 57 |
| 2 | 4 | Paul Fischill | Austria | 2,290,000 | 29 |
| 2 | 5 | Peterson Machado | Brazil | 1,290,000 | 16 |
| 2 | 6 | Bruno Pega | Argentina | 1,995,000 | 25 |
| 2 | 7 | Valentin-Marius Cristea | Romania | 3,205,000 | 41 |
| 2 | 8 | Patrik Jaros | Czech Republic | 10,350,000 | 129 |
Action of the Day
A total of 64 players returned to their seats and the early eliminations came at a quick pace. Among those to bust were Bruno Volkmann, Michael Wang, Gaelle Baumann, and 2018 PCA Main Event champion Maria Lampropulos.
When the final three-table redraw took place it didn��t take long for an elimination when Remigiusz Wyrzykiewicz found himself all in with ace-ten and up against the ace-jack of Giuliano Bendinelli to bust in 24th. Baard Dahl hit the rail in 23rd in the exact same scenario but fell to the ace-jack of Paul Fischill.
A double-elimination took place shortly after when Margereson picked up kings and busted both Daniel Birkmose (22nd) and Emmanuel Lopez (21st) in the same hand. One hand after players returned from dinner break, Canada��s Ryan Yu fell in 20th when he was all in with queen-jack against the ace-nine of Mokri. Sebastian Toro hit the rail in 19th when he shoved with ace-nine and got looked up by chip leader Pinto with ace-jack. Martin Olali��s day ended in 18th when his ace-queen ran into the ace-king of Mokri.
The last elimination came roughly an hour later when Kalidou Sow got his kings in good against the pocket twos of Fabiano Kovalski, until the river came a deuce, ending his day in 17th place.
Day 5 will kick off on Saturday, Aug 20 at noon local time with blinds resuming at 40,000/80,000/80,000 with 80 minutes and 24 seconds left in level 28. One more day will follow before a winner is named to take home the trophy, the title and the top prize of �1,714,000.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as the live reporting team will be back to provide all the action until a winner is crowned in the EPT Barcelona �5,300 Main Event.