Final Six Battle for Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event Title
Excitement will be in the air at Casino Barcelona for an added day on the schedule, as the final six competitors return to crown a champion in the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event.
Day 5 of this record event at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona sees Lucien Cohen lead the way, sitting down with almost 30 percent of the chips for a sizeable advantage at the final table.
The “Rat Man” will look to add an ESPT title to the EPT trophy he claimed in Deauville back in 2011. Petros Karadimos and Danilo Velasevic will also take their seats with healthy stacks, both sitting above 40 big blinds as play resumes.
The final six players standing from this record field of 7,398 entries have locked up at least €136,850, but everyone is chasing the largest piece of the record €7,102,080 prize pool, with today’s winner earning the €676,230 top prize.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucien Cohen | France | 65,500,000 | 66 |
| 2 | Avihai Smadga | Israel | 11,000,000 | 11 |
| 3 | Petros Karadimos | Greece | 42,200,000 | 42 |
| 6 | Ferdinando D'Alessio | Belgium | 30,100,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Danilo Velasevic | Serbia | 40,900,000 | 41 |
| 8 | Ankit Ahuja | India | 32,200,000 | 32 |
The others giving chase include veteran Ankit Ahuja, who boasts over $1.5 million in live tournament earnings. Ahuja is closing in on his career-best cash of $330,134, looking to surpass that total under the ESPT spotlight today.
Day 3 chip leader Ferdinando D'Alessio is next on the leaderboard after eliminating PokerStars Ambassador Parker Talbot on the final hand of Day 4, while Avihai Smadga enters the final day as the short stack. The native of Israel has already improved on his impressive 30th-place finish in this very event in Barcelona seven years ago.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | € 676,230 | ||
| 2 | € 415,320 | ||
| 3 | € 294,620 | ||
| 4 | € 232,090 | ||
| 5 | € 177,810 | ||
| 6 | € 136,850 | ||
| 7 | Parker Talbot | Canada | € 105,590 |
| 8 | Igor Kaufman | Israel | € 81,230 |
Play will get underway at 12:30 p.m. local time, with all the action streamed on the PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels on a 30-minute delay. The tournament resumes on Level 38, seeing blinds of 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 big blind ante.
The final six will play down to a champion today, and the PokerNews reporting team will be there for complete coverage at EPT Barcelona.