After Simon Brandstrom raised to 8,000 in middle position, Peter Jaksland three-bet to 21,000 from the cutoff.
Brandstrom called, leaving himself less than 100,000 behind for the flop.
He checked to Jaksland, who bet 26,000. Brandstrom then gave his next move approximately two minutes of thought before moving all in. Jaksland snap-called to put the defending champion at risk.
Simon Brandstrom:
Peter Jaksland:
Brandstrom needed help as he only had a double gutshot straight draw to work with, as his king wouldn't help against Jaksland's aces.
The turn brought the giving no help to Brandstrom, but the on the river gave Brandstrom a king-high straight to survive and keep his reign as champion alive.
European Poker Tour history was made this week as the €5,300 Barcelona EPT Main Event drew 2,294 runners to be the largest EPT Main Event field ever.
The field is 15% bigger than the field of 1,988 entries from the 2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event, which set the previous record. The prize pool is also bigger as well, €11,125,900 compared to the €9,641,800 from three years ago.
With 1,686 unique entries this year, the 2016 EPT Barcelona Main Event still holds the record for the biggest EPT Main Event in terms of unique entrants. That year, there were 1,785 unique runners.
Biggest EPT Main Events of All Time
RANK
EVENT
ENTRIES
PRIZE POOL
1
EPT Barcelona 2022
2,294
€11,125,900
2
EPT Barcelona 2019
1,988
€9,641,800
3
EPT Barcelona 2018
1,931
€9,365,350
4
EPT Barcelona 2016
1,785
€8,657,250
5
EPT Barcelona 2015
1,694
€8,215,900
6
PCA 2011
1,560
$15,132,000
7
PCA 2010
1,529
$14,831,300
8
EPT Barcelona
1,496
€7,255,600
9
PCA 2009
1,347
$12,674,000
10
EPT Sanremo 2010
1,240
€6,014,000
Nationality Statistics
The largest EPT Main Event in history attracted players from 78 countries, three more than the 75 countries that were represented at in the 2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event. France (210 players) and Italy (136 players) were the most represented countries, respectively making up 12.46% and 8.07% of the field.
Spain (115 players), Brazil (85 players) and the Netherlands (81 players) were the next most represented, followed by the United Kingdom (81 players), Germany (65 players), Romania (56 players) and the United States (51 players).
Other countries represented in the 2022 EPT Barcelona Main Event include Costa Rica (three players), Iceland (three players), Kyrgyzstan (two players) the Philippines (one player), Panama (one player) and Venezuela (one player).
A full breakdown of the nationality statistics for the 2022 EPT Barcelona Main Event is available in the table below.
Timothy Adams had gotten his stack of 184,000 in from the cutoff and was at risk against Alexandre Garcia Vargas in the big blind.
Timothy Adams:
Alexandre Garcia Vargas:
It was a classic flip, and the flop gave Adams additional outs with a flush draw. The turn was an interesting one and the table reacted accordingly, as Adams vaulted ahead but needed to avoid the board pairing. The dealer burned and turned, and put the onto the felt to complete the board, giving Adams a royal flush to stay alive in grand fashion.
With roughly 140,000 in the pot on a completed board of , Laurence Stein jammed his final 70,000 into the middle from the small blind and was snap-called by Andre Moreira Marques in late position.
Laurence Stein:
Andre Moreira Marques:
Stein's flush on the turn was crushed on the river by Marques' now quad aces which took the pot and pushed Marques' his stack to nearly 1,000,000.
With roughly 420,000 chips in the pot on a completed board, Marcelo Simoes was in the big blind with chips over the betting line. Cameron Robertson was on the button and put Simoes all in, and Simoes quickly called as he jumped up and clapped in celebration before he turned over for a flopped boat, while Robertson held for an inferior flopped boat.
Cameras swooped in to record the Brazilian stacking up all of his new chips, which took him several minutes to stack as he moved over the 1 million chip mark.
Simoes recently won the EPT Main Event in Monte Carlo for €939,840, and he hopes this could help propel him to another improbable run.
The record-breaking EPT Main Event starting field of 2,294 players created a €11,125,900 prize pool, and the eventual winner will receive €1,714,000, while the runner-up will also take home a seven-figure payout of €1,027,470.
Kayhan Mokri leads the remaining 210 players by a good margin, finishing the day with a solid stack of 1,303,000 chips, good for 217 big blinds when play resumes.
Brazil’s Marcelo Simoes (1,068,000) recently won the EPT Main Event in Monte Carlo for €939,840, and he was the only other player to bag over a million chips today. He was seen winning a huge pot with boat over boat near the end of the day as he attempts to continue what would be a highly-improbable run in the culmination of another EPT Main Event victory.
€5,300 EPT Main Event Day 2 Top Ten Counts
RANK
PLAYER
COUNTRY
CHIPS
BIG BLINDS
1
Kayhan Mokri
Norway
1,303,000
217
2
Marcelo Simoes
Brazil
1,068,000
178
3
Scott Margereson
United Kingdom
993,000
166
4
Radoslav Stoyanov
Bulgaria
926,000
154
5
Joris Ruijs
Netherlands
879,000
147
6
Sebastian Toro Henao
Colombia
824,000
137
7
Artur Martirosian
Russia
814,000
136
8
Usman Ulhaq
United Kingdom
800,000
133
9
Alexandre Landron
France
775,000
129
10
Catalin Ciurea
Romania
770,000
128
Others who bagged a stack by day’s end include Ramiro Petrone (561,000), Maria Lampropulos (517,000), Seth Davies (480,000), defending EPT Barcelona Main Event champ Simon Brandstrom (473,000), Gaelle Baumann (408,000), Timothy Adams (387,000), Chino Rheem, Michael Wang (322,000), Julien Martini (217,000), Stephen Chidwick (148,000), PokerStars Ambassador Benjamin Spragg (144,000), Johan Guilbert (127,000), and David Peters (36,000).
In the penultimate level of the day, the bubble burst to send all of the remaining players into the money. The payouts were planned to pay the top 327 finishers, but Emmanuel Rouvet, Daan Mulders, and Oliver Bosch were all eliminated on the money bubble, and the trio split the 326th and 327th place prizes to receive €5,907 each.
Those who found themselves without any chips at the end of the day include PokerStars Ambassadors Alejandro Lococo, Sam Grafton, Jen Shahade, Ramon Colillas, and Andre Akkari. Among others who fell were Adrian Mateos, Erik Seidel, Maria Ho, Patrik Antonius, Mikita Badziakouski, Benny Glaser, Kitty Kuo, Sam Greenwood, Sergio Aido, Jason Wheeler, Sofia Lovgren, Uri Reichenstein, Francisco Benitez, and John Juanda.
The action is slated to resume at 12 p.m. noon on Thursday, August 18. When players return, they will resume play in Level 17 with blinds at 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews team continues to provide updates until a winner is crowned, along with coverage of other events from the coast of Catalonia at Casino Barcelona.