Two towers of over 15 million chips, and at the same table, a legend nursing 10 big blinds. That is how the EPT Barcelona Main Event final table begins today, with 6 players left fighting for the Golden Shard trophy and €1,370,050 up top. From 1,823 entries and a €8,841,550 prize pool — the seventh-largest EPT Main Event ever — these six remain.
The facts: two giants up top, one former champion at the bottom
Italy's Manuel Ferrari returns as chip leader with 16,100,000 (81 big blinds) after barely letting go of the top spot all week. He is no stranger to big titles either, having already won the PokerStars Open Main Event in Malaga and a High Roller in Campione. Right behind him is the hometown favorite, online qualifier Jose Criado, with 15,775,000 (79 big blinds) and three straight days inside the top two stacks. A win would make him only the second Spanish EPT champion after Adrian Mateos — and the first to do it on home soil.
China's Xiaosheng Zheng rounds out the top three with 11,200,000 (56 big blinds). In the middle sit Lukas van Eeden of the Netherlands (25 big blinds) and Ireland's Michael Dwyer (23). And at the bottom, the story of the day: Nicolas Chouity, EPT Monte Carlo champion 16 years ago, is back at a final table with 1,975,000 — 10 big blinds — and a shot at becoming just the fifth player ever to win two EPT titles.
The previous day also closed the book on Barbara Akemi: the Brazilian bowed out in 10th for €97,700 after the deepest EPT Main Event run by a Brazilian woman, as covered in our final table preview.
Everyone has locked up €278,950, but the ladder is steep: €362,500 for fifth, €471,250 for fourth, €612,700 for third, €857,800 for the runner-up and €1,370,050 for the crown.
Why it matters: three final tables in one
Look at the stacks and you will see three different tournaments. Ferrari and Criado, at 80 big blinds, can open wide, apply pressure and afford a mistake. Van Eeden and Dwyer, at 23-25, live in tournament poker's most uncomfortable zone — too deep to shove, too short to maneuver, exactly where ICM pressure punishes every loose decision hardest. And Chouity, at 10 big blinds, plays the simplest, most brutal version of the game: pick the right hand to get it all in before the blinds eat him alive.
The lesson for your next tournament is simple: at a final table you do not play your cards, you play your stack against everyone else's. Knowing which of those three tournaments you are sitting in is worth more than any premium hand.
Who lifts the trophy tonight? Come argue your pick in the community — we break down the final together.