With 24 players remaining, Sebastian Malec leads the field as just three tables of players head to Day 5 of the 2016 PokerStars.es EPT Barcelona Main Event.
The day started with a flurry of action, bringing the field down from 98 players to 75 in the first level. We lost Van Hiep Tran, Tobias Revenas and Padraig O'Neill before we knew it, and they were swiftly followed out of the door by players such as Jerome Sgorrano, Ping Liu and Daniel Tang, whose pocket sevens lost to Pavel Veksler's pocket tens .
They weren't the only players to exit in their droves, as big names continued to fall on Day 4. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier and Team Online PokerStars Pro Mikhail Shalamov both exited, ahead of Eugene Katchalov and Sam Grafton, who almost lasted the day before his hopeful move with ace-three suited ran into the monster hand of pocket queens for Anthony Chimkovitch.
Chimkovitch was one of the several players who looked certain to run up a huge lead only to crash into a brick wall just when the opportunity to do so arose. He was desperately unlucky not to eliminate Alexandru Baron when Baron's pocket tens spiked a set when committed pre-flop against Chimkovitch's pocket aces.
After exits for top professionals such as Byron Kaverman and local players such as Daniel Luis, who has now cashed twice in this EPT festival, we made it to 24 players. Sebastian Malec leads the way with 5,640,000, a huge chunk of chips clear of second-placed Uri Reichenstein with 3,870,000.
Tomorrow will see us bring the field from 24 players to the official final table. One of those will be crowned EPT Barcelona Main Event Champion for 2016 and pocket a cool €1,122,800!
Join us as of 12 p.m. noon local time tomorrow for all the action as the PokerNews team continue to bring you all the drama, tension, and excitement until a winner lifts the trophy on Sunday evening.
It folded to Damien Luis in the small blind who raises to 110,000. Alexandru Baron was in the big blind and three-bet to 300,000. Luis thought before four-betting to 650,000. The action was back on Baron who five-bet all in and Luis called.
Damien Luis:
Alexandru Baron:
The board ran out and Luis was left with around 300,000 in chips.
Hand 2
In the very next hand, Damien Luis open shoved from the button for his remaining chips. Alexandru Baron called in the small blind and action was on Adam Owen in the big blind. He asked how much the all in was for and after a couple of minutes elected to fold. The cards were turned over, with Luis holding and Baron . Meanwhile, Owen had shot to his feet and was shaking his head.
"Sevens?" asked Baron as the board began to be dealt, "Ace-Queen?" It seemed like the focus was on what Owen folded more than what the board was going to run out.
The flop came , and although the on the turn meant that Luis was open-ended, the river was the meaning the Frenchman was eliminated.
At almost the same time on different tables, Sam Grafton and Yordan Mihaylov Petrov have been eliminated.
Petrov open-shoved his last 450,000 with and Jean-Jacques Zeitoun called from one seat over with the . The flop came and Petrov was drawing dead on the turn, making the river a formality.
Grafton shoved for what looked like 575,000 from early position and Anthony Chimkovitch reshoved in the small blind for around 725,000, Stephen Malone folded in the big blind.
Grafton:
Chimkovitch:
The board ran out and Grafton headed to the rail in 30th place, while Petrov took 31st.
Norbert Berent has enjoyed a great rail of support during this EPT Main Event, but it hasn't helped him a bit in the end. He is very unlucky to be walking out of the door.
Hand 1: At The Double
It all started so well for the Polish player, who has already cashed twice since being here in Barcelona. He got all of chips into the middle with and toppled when the board came . That put him up to 1.1m, but in the next crucial hand he was to lose a lot of it.
Hand 2: Disaster on the Turn
Norbert's slide down bust-out mountain begun in the second hand. He was all-in pre-flop, calling it off against Konstantin Puchkov's all-in move for 525,000 with . Berent was in great shape, flipping over and hoping the board paid him off and busted another opponent.
The flop of was safe enough, but the turn of sent Berent out of his chair in disgust. The river helped not a bit.
Hand 3: Flipping Unreal
After Puchkov called an opening bet from another player of 65,000, Berent got his 213,000 stack into the middle with and was called only by Puchkov (again). This time, it was a flip, as Puchkov had been trapping with . The first card out was an ace on the board of with a couple of those ironic nines looking at him again. It's to his credit that Berent, a powerful personality at the table, shook everyone's hand and walked away in quiet anguish. He looked ready to run through the wall itself on the way out.
Sam Grafton opened to 65,000 in early position and was only called by Norbert Berent in the big blind. The flop of saw Grafton checked to and he c-bet 85,000. Again, Berent called. The turn of saw Berent switch it up, betting 185,000, which Grafton called.
On the river of , Berent led for 240,000, and sent Sam Grafton into the tank. There he stayed for a time until he flicked a green chip into the middle, making the call and getting good news. Berent could only show and Grafton quickly flipped over to take the pot, overtaking Berent and climbign the leaderboard again.
"No words for the cameras," quips Sam, as the lenses zoom in on his happy face. "I can't reveal the secrets."
Once the cameras have departed, however, he jovially engages a morose Berent.
"Why are you making it so difficult for me? I wake up so full of energy, ready for the day and tough river calls. I'm exhausted, its not easy."
True words, but Grafton has 1.58m and that represents one of his highest points of the day, chip-wise.
Nuno Capucho raised from early position to 55,000 and Vojtech Ruzicka defended his big blind.
The flop came and Ruzicka checked to his opponent who bet 61,000. Ruzicka then check-raised to 196,000. Capucho called.
The turn was the and Ruzicka led this time for 211,000 and Capucho called.
At this stage the pot was just shy of 1,000,000 in chips, and the river was the . Ruzicka moved all in for his remaining 575,000 chips and Capucho went into the tank. Three minutes letter Sam Grafton called for the clock and a short while later Capucho called.
Ruzicka tabled and Capucho , and the Czech player doubled to over 2,000,000 in chips.
The best players do their best to prepare for a big tournament in the most optimal way they can, and the November Niner still in the EPT Main Event field, Vojtech Ruzicka, is no different. Everything has been completely different for him since he made the final nine of the World Series of Poker Main Event and his life is narrowing in on that date with poker destiny in a few months time. He admits to us that he never understood how big that aspect of his success in the tournament would be.
"My original plan was to do more intense preparation, disappear almost," he told us at the latest break here in Barcelona. "That's proved impossible, really. I play for Kings in Rozvadov and enjoyed the cash games a lot there in recent weeks. Now I'm here. But if I run deep in the EPT Main Event, there's no better preparation for November."
Sharing a table with players such as Jason Mercier and Morten Mortensen today for example, seems to be focusing Vojtech's mind on taking on eight more elite players very soon.
"I really want to win. I hope so much that I can win. There are many ways to prepare, and I will do them. Right now I have 610,000 in the Main, so I will do my best here too."
As Ruzicka returns to the action, he'll be under the lights and sharing the feature table with Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier among others. When it comes to Vojtech Ruzicka, you get the feeling that every hand, every decision, every move points to Vegas and the game of his life. Maybe, just maybe, he might bag an EPT victory in the build up.
In the final hand before the latest break, Nicolas Chouity has been eliminated from the EPT Barcelona Season 13 Main Event. The Lebanese player led the entire field after Day 2, but two hands at his table did the damage.
First, Chouity was all-in pre-flop with the chance of knocking Mikhail Molchanov out of the tournament but ran his into Molchanov's . The board of saw Chouity exclaim in frustration: "And I flop a king too; so sick that happens!"
Then, in what would be Chouity's final hand, he moved all-in for 253,00 with and saw his opponent Jose Quintas re-shove for over half a million chips with , pushing another opponent out of the way and sending the two men to the run out.
The board of saw the demise of Chouity completed, and the man who led with 294 remaining does not make the final fifty.
"It happens." he said, as he moved to the cash desk.
![[user326915]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Luis was left with around 300,000 in chips.
and Baron 
. Meanwhile, Owen had shot to his feet and was shaking his head.
on the turn meant that Luis was open-ended, the river was the 
meaning the Frenchman was eliminated.
. The flop came 
and Petrov was drawing dead on the 
turn, making the 
river a formality.
when the board came 
was safe enough, but the turn of 
saw Berent switch it up, betting 185,000, which Grafton called. 
, Berent led for 240,000, and sent Sam Grafton into the tank. There he stayed for a time until he flicked a green chip into the middle, making the call and getting good news. Berent could only show 
into Molchanov's 
