Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour �5,300 Main Event began with full on action at the Casino Barcelona, with 293 players returning just six off the money.
Within minutes, it was time for the bubble. Several players doubled their stacks and the bubble continued for around an hour before Zachary Habayeb busted with pocket eights when Riccardo Saraniero hit his flush. The rest of the field reached the money, guaranteed a minimum payout of �8,700.
After four 90-minute levels of play, Timothy Chung of Hong Kong, a player with nearly $1.4 million in recorded live cashes, most of it coming from the UK circuit, emerged as the chip leader with 1,571,000.
Behind him, bagging in second place, was Firoz Mangroe of the Netherlands. Mangroe has had some deep runs in Estrellas, FPS and EPT Main Events in the last couple of years, including 38th place in the 2023 Prague Main Event. He's well positioned for a career-best score.
In third place heading into Day 4 is Pablo Beltran, a local player who cashed in nearly every CEP stop and was recently crowned the CEP Main Event champion in Malaga. As part of the recognition, he won an EPT Main Event ticket and has now spun it up to a cash and potentially life-changing position.
US pro Stephen Song bagged in fourth place, while Rania Nasreddine, who finished third in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event earlier in the year, is back again for another deep run.
End of Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy Chung | Hong Kong | 1,571,000 | 157 |
| 2 | Firoz Mangroe | Netherlands | 1,476,000 | 148 |
| 3 | Pablo Beltran | Spain | 1,470,000 | 147 |
| 4 | Stephen Song | USA | 1,382,000 | 138 |
| 5 | Rania Nasreddine | USA | 1,330,000 | 133 |
| 6 | Jack Kiriakus | Sweden | 1,293,000 | 129 |
| 7 | Darius Neagoe | Romania | 1,266,000 | 127 |
| 8 | Bo Jin | China | 1,249,000 | 125 |
| 9 | Sriharsha Doddapaneni | India | 1,192,000 | 119 |
| 10 | Jianwei Lin | China | 1,155,000 | 116 |
Out of 1,975 total entries, 113 players made it through to Day 4, among them Day 1a chip leader Joost Hollak (1,113,000) and Day 2 chip leader Kian Kiani (735,000).
The reigning champion Simon Wiciak is also still in the field and has a very competitive stack at 840,000. Meanwhile, Ramon Colillas is the last PokerStars ambassador standing after a fatal mistake cost Marle Spragg her stack during the final level of the day.
The remaining players are competing for the lion's share of the �9,578,750 prize pool. The next payout is worth �15,350, while the overall winner is set to walk away with �1,512,000 along with the prestigious PokerStars trophy.
Still, there's a long way to go in the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | �1,512,000 | 9 | �139,750 | 28-31 | �30,950 |
| 2 | �944,000 | 10 �C 11 | �107,450 | 32-39 | �26,900 |
| 3 | �674,150 | 12-13 | �89,550 | 40-55 | �23,350 |
| 4 | �518,600 | 14-15 | �74,600 | 56-71 | �20,300 |
| 5 | �398,950 | 16-17 | �62,150 | 72-95 | �17,600 |
| 6 | �306,900 | 18-20 | �51,800 | 96-113 | �15,350 |
| 7 | �236,100 | 21-23 | �43,200 | ||
| 8 | �181,600 | 24-27 | �36,000 |
Players will return at noon local time Thursday for Day 4 of the Main Event to blind levels of 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante, which increase every 90 minutes.
PokerNews will be following the action straight from the tournament floor as the event plays even deeper into the money.
