2022 PokerStars EPT Barcelona

Day 3 of the €5,300 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour Main Event has wrapped up after six levels of play with 64 players remaining and Brazil's Peterson Machado out in front.

Machado, who with $10,008 in Hendon Mob live earnings is after his first major score, was one of 210 players who returned for the third day of the record-shattering Main Event and made the most of it by bagging a stack of 4,470,000. The Brazilian will be joined on Day 4 by reigning champion Simon Brandstrom, who took down the last EPT Barcelona Main Event back in 2019 for €1,290,166.

EPT Main Event End of Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts

As Brandstrom chases another title, Kalidou Sow, who took down the EPT Prague back in 2017, will be doing the same, as will 2018 PCA champion Maria Lampropulos. Some of the former EPT and PCA champs who made Day 3 but couldn't find a bag include Chino Rheem, Sebastian Malec, Marcelo Simoes and Antonio Buonanno.

Lampropulos joins France's Gaelle Baumann as one of two women left standing at the end of Day 3 after Xuan Liu, who made poker history a decade ago by becoming the first woman to make a PCA Main Event final table, was eliminated during the last level of play when her ace-queen couldn't win a flip against the nines of Jack Salter.

Other notables who made Day 4 include the USA's Michael Wang, Argentina's Ramiro Petrone and Hungary's Gergely Kulcsar.

Those eliminated during Day 3, meanwhile, include PokerStars ambassador Benjamin Spragg, Stephen Chidwick, Leo Margets, Benjamin Diebold, Nacho Barbero, Timothy Adams, David Peters, Julien Martini and Andres Korn — a handful of whom were quick to hop into the adjacent €25,000 Single-Day High Roller II.

Day 4 will kick off on Friday, Aug 19 at noon local time on Level 23 with blinds of 10,000/25,000/25,000. Two more days will follow before a winner is named to take home the trophy, the title and the top prize of €1,714,000.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on-site tomorrow at the beachside Casino Barcelona to finish out coverage ahead of the crowning of the next EPT champion.

Play has ended on Day 3 and the 64 surviving players are currently bagging their chips.

Stay tuned for a full recap of the day's action.

Emmanuel Lopez raised to 40,000 from under the gun as Fabiano Kovalski on the button and big blind Vladimir Andjelic called.

The flop came and Lopez bet another 75,000, with both opponents calling. The turn came and Andjelic got his last 120,000 in the middle as Lopez folded, but Kovalski called.

Andjelic had for trip fives, but Kovalski had made trip nines with . The river was the and Kovalski finished with quads to bust Andjelic right before play ended for the night.

Tournament officials have announced that tables will play three more hands before players bag up their chips for the night.

There was around 300,000 in the pot on a board of when Michael Pinto bet 700,000 from the cutoff. Action was on Carlos Ribeiro, who had 650,000 remaining in his stack.

Ribeiro used two time bank extensions before he called, shooting up from his seat as he turned over for two pair. Pinto showed for two overcards as the river came the .

Ribeiro survived and pumped his fist after earning the double up near the end of the night.

Xuan Liu opened to 40,000 from middle position and Jack Salter three-bet to 115,000 on the button. Action folded back to Liu who jammed for approximately 575,000, and Salter called.

Xuan Liu:
Jack Salter:

Liu needed to win the race to survive, but the flop left her drawing thin against Salter's set and she started to get up from her seat. The turn left her drawing dead, and the meaningless river confirmed her elimination in 67th place following a deep run.