Harry Lodge opened A♥K♦ from under the gun to 50,000 and Alexandre Fournier three-bet with A♣J♥ to 150,000 in the cutoff. When the action got back to Lodge, he four-bet to 475,000. Fournier laid it down.
On Friday, the final 40 players in the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona return to the Casino Barcelona ballroom to begin playing for the meat of the €9,578,750 prize pool with someone taking home €1,512,000 on Sunday, along with the most prestigious trophy in European poker.
After a shortened Day 4, play will resume with 48:27 minutes left in Level 23 with blinds of 10,000/25,000, and Stephen Song leading the pack with 4,130,000 chips, good for 165 big blinds.
Not far behind him is fellow American David Coleman with 3,900,000, and lurking at the base of the top ten is EPT Monte Carlo third-place finisher Rania Nasreddine, who finished with 2,005,000 after battling back from being on the wrong end of a massive queens versus aces cooler early in the day.
Top 10 Start of Day 5 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Stephen Song
United States
4,130,000
165
2
David Coleman
United States
3,900,000
156
3
Harry Lodge
United Kingdom
3,450,000
138
4
Jianwei Lin
China
2,835,000
113
5
Sriharsha Doddapaneni
India
2,730,000
109
6
Pablo Beltran
Spain
2,640,000
106
7
Yurii Zabrodotsky
Ukraine
2,635,000
105
8
Timothy Chung
Hong Kong
2,525,000
101
9
Jack Kiriakus
Sweden
2,005,000
80
10
Rania Nasreddine
United States
2,005,000
80
Not to mention, defending EPT Barcelona champion Simon Wiciak is still in the hunt, returning with 1,300,000 chips and positioned in the top half of the leaderboard.
As noted earlier, the payouts will significantly increase on Friday, with all returning players guaranteed at least €23,350. There's also an immediate pay jump to €26,900 at 39th place.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€1,512,000
10-11
€107,450
40
€23,350
2
€944,000
12-13
€89,550
3
€674,150
14-15
€74,600
4
€518,600
16-17
€62,150
5
€398,950
18-20
€51,800
6
€306,900
21-23
€43,200
7
€236,100
24-27
€36,000
8
€181,600
28-31
€30,950
9
€139,750
32-39
€26,900
Play resumes at noon local time with streamed coverage on the PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels available on a delay of 30 minutes. While a firm plan for the day has yet to be announced, the 2023 edition of the EPT Barcelona Main Event, which was the first to play seven days before crowning a champion, saw its Day 5 play down to 16 players.
Be sure to keep your browsers here on PokerNews for continuing coverage as our team of live reporters will bring you all the action from the tournament floor as the 20th anniversary season of the European Poker Tour continues from Casino Barcelona.