The EPT Barcelona National is underway. Hosted by PokerStars, the event has seen a rather large turnout across all featured tournaments in the European Poker Tour competition. We have already reported on the high roller event that saw Michael Soyza win
The EPT National Leads & Finalists
It was intense nine hours. Overall, 49 players lost their spots in the EPT National final, with Jean-René Fontaine taking the lead. Fontaine will re-emerge on Sunday, August 26 when he will continue his fast-paced plays against equally-skilled and just as determined-to-win opponents.
With his 42,500,000 in chip count, though, Fontaine is definitely not an easy foe to overcome. He will definitely not have an easy time at it though when Julien Martini, Jerome L’Hostis, Alberto Ah-Line, Jan ‘The Wolf’ Teunis, and Claudio Di Giacomo are the ones facing him down. Everyone of the above is now closer to the desired PokerStars Platinum Pass.
The Day’s Action
The gaming session was intense indeed. Pedro Cairat didn’t manage to keep his end and he went out 34th, grabbing a small consolatory prize to the tune of €11,950 after. With Cairat out of the way, the EPT has shown for yet another time that the fortunes of poker players are rather difficult to pinpoint and while some will be able to defend their titles, in most cases – a repeat of great plays is almost impossible in the context of such fierce competition.
Meanwhile, Ludovic Geilich didn’t have any trouble finding his way around the table. He forged past Cairat but eventually had to leave at 24th place as his hands started faltering and he gradually ran out of chips. There was quite a bit of to-and-fro between Joris Ruijs and Valentin Cristea, with both players exchanging a fair bit of their stacks and trying to outplay each other.
Despite their best intentions, though they didn’t break the final 10 man standing, with Ruijs claiming 14th place and Cristea ending in 16th.
More players came surprisingly close to breaking into the final table but their hopes were eventually snuffed out with Arni Gunnarsson finishing 12th. Yunsheng Sun managed to make it all the way to the 11th place. Lastly, the person to come into the tenth slot was Giovanni Gallo
Shaping Up the Leadership Positions
And so, 9 people were left at this point, but the elimination continued. The hopefuls included both Roger Taieb and Mariano Leandro Hyon. They both had to sound a retreat after running out of chips to carry on. Another player, Jan Dentler joined them soon after, rounding the final number of finalists to six.
All six players are expected to meet at noon in EPT Barcelona. Fontaine has the lead and he will definitely be a target for his fellow poker players. Still, with a bulky pile of chips, he will also be a rather difficult challenger. But all it takes in such situations is one miscalculation and the tables could soon be turned.
The EPT Barcelona has proven to be quite the success so far with a fair turnout and a variety of events for all tastes. As the EPT beats on, so we bring you the latest news from the event!
