Vlad Darie opened to 30,000 from under the gun and received calls from Francesco Pilato on the button and Dominik Panka in the big blind.
The flop came 5♠4♠2♥ and action checked around to Pilato, who bet 60,000. Panka got out of the way and Darie put in a check-raise to 175,000. Pilato made the call.
Darie sized down on the J♠ turn with a bet of 50,000. This time Pilato raised it to 250,000. Darie made the call.
Both players checked the Q♦ river. Darie tabled 4♣4♥ for a flopped set while Pilato had 10♠8♠ for a turned flush to take down a huge pot.
Meanwhile at another table, Song Xue was recently eliminated.
In the cutoff, Aleksandr Shevliakov opened to 30,000 and was called by Simon Lofberg on the button. But in the small blind, Ren Lin chose to three-bet to 105,000. Shevliakov eventually called, as well as Lofberg.
On the flop 8♣6♠7♦, Lin threw an extra time bank in front of him, then bet 125,000. Shevliakov quickly folded, and so did Lofberg.
Smiling, Lin cheered, and claimed the pot.
On the next hand, Simon Lofberg opened 30,000 in the cutoff before Ren Lin three-bet 90,000 on the button.
The blinds folded, and Lofberg thought about it for a few moments before letting it go.
The final day of the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) at Casino Barcelona festival is about to get underway, with just 40 players returning to their seats in the €10,000 EPT High Roller but only one will come out on top in this 475-entry tournament.
After two days and 20 levels of poker, Vlad Darie is currently leading the way with an impressive stack of 1,460,000 chips. Darie is in search of his largest career live tournament score but the competition will be tough when the cards go back in the air. Simone Andrian (1,335,000), Francisco Benitez (1,105,000) are the only other players with a seven-figure chip count.
Patrik Antonius
There are plenty of others to keep an eye on moving forward including EPT Champions Razvan Belea (960,000), Dominik Panka (605,000), and Patrik Antonius (275,000). The list also includes PokerStars Team Pro Rafael Moraes (750,000), Simon Lofberg (600,000), and Alexandre Reard (390,000). Vinicius Pinheiro, and Song Xue are on the short stacks but they each have plenty of experience so don't count them out either.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Vlad Darie
Romania
1,460,000
97
2
Simone Andrian
Italy
1,335,000
89
3
Francisco Benitez
Uruguay
1,105,000
74
4
Ren Lin
China
980,000
65
5
Razvan Belea
Romania
960,000
64
6
Francesco Pilato
Italy
920,000
61
7
Alessio Sardone
Italy
910,000
61
8
Ka Kwan Lau
Hong Kong
870,000
58
9
Jeferson Pinow
Brazil
795,000
53
10
Hwany Lee
Korea
785,000
52
The action is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 p.m. local time. The blinds will resume on level 21 at 10,000/15,000 and a 15,000 big blind ante. The levels will remain at 60 minutes throughout for the time being with a 20-minute break after every two levels. Each player will receive additional time extensions to begin the day as well as at the final table.
There is still plenty of money up for grabs as the day unfolds with the remaining players having already locked up €19,350. There will be significant pay jumps throughout the day with the winner taking home a cool €910,400.
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team to find out who will come out on top of this star-studded field and become the champion.
