Valentin Cristea Leads Final 49 in EPT National; Defending Champion Cairat Also Advances
After another ten levels of exciting play here at the Casino Barcelona the PokerStars European Poker Tour National is through to Day 3, with just 49 players remaining.
From a total of 4,348 just 650 started the day and when the day ended at just after midnight local time it was Valentin Cristea who stood atop the chip counts.
Cristea came into the day with just 257,000, and managed to stay under the radar for most of the day until a late surge saw him reach five million just before dinner. He would extend that towards the end of the day, and would almost reach seven million before eventually bagging 6,830,000.
Other big stacks include Luis Rodriguez Cruz (6,765,000), Ludovic Geilich (5,365,000), Luis Faria (5,320,000), Yunsheng Sun (5,180,000) and Johann Zeitoun. These five players plus Cristea were the only ones to exceed five million when they bagged up for the end of the night.
Joining these players in Day 3 is defending champion Pedro Cairat who bagged 3,240,000. The Argentinian took home €432,178 last year for victory in this event, and today he was boosted by the late elimination of Aurelijus Stonys. Cairat held deuces against the Lithuanian's ace-ten. The flop had a ten, but the deuce on the turn flipped things around and Cairat held to eliminate his opponent.
Earlier in the day Day 1a chip leader Maksim Bura, Day 1c chip leader [Removed:388] and Day 1d chip leader Faruk Tach all failed to make it through the day, with Tach describing himself as "card dead" all day before getting it in with eights against tens to bust the EPT National.
Day 1b chip leader Rui Nogueira Da Silva however will be heading through to Day 3 with a stack of 2,710,000, or just over average stack.
The payouts were also confirmed today, with the winner taking home €547,000. Every player who made it through to Day 2 was guaranteed €1,650 and some of the notables taking home at least that included. Felix Stephensen, former EPT champion Dominik Panka, both Jack and Louis Salter, Jason Wheeler, Walter Treccarichi, Jerome Sgorrano, Jonathan Abdellatif, Federico Butteroni, Joey Weissman, Heidi May and Ari Engel.
The 49 players are all guaranteed €9,500. Here are the remaining payouts.
| Position | Payout (EUR) |
|---|---|
| 1 | € 547,000 |
| 2 | € 323,000 |
| 3 | € 242,000 |
| 4 | € 197,000 |
| 5 | € 155,000 |
| 6 | € 123,000 |
| 7 | € 91,220 |
| 8 | € 64,800 |
| 9 | € 53,410 |
| 10-11 | € 44,350 |
| 12-13 | € 39,150 |
| 14-15 | € 34,650 |
| 16-17 | € 30,200 |
| 18-20 | € 25,850 |
| 21-23 | € 21,550 |
| 24-27 | € 17,350 |
| 28-31 | € 14,450 |
| 32-39 | € 11,950 |
| 40-49 | € 9,500 |
The event resumes at midday tomorrow with all the action and live updates brought to you live on PokerNews.com
flop brought no help for the Canadian star, but he picked up a flush draw on the 
turn to go with his aces. The river provided neither with the 
, instead improving De Silva to a set of queens. Engel finished in 56th place and was the last to collect €7,050. All other players are now guaranteed €9,500.
was checked by both players.
. Geilich bet 600,000, or about pot, and Drokin tanked. Just as he had the clock called on him he called, with Geilich tabling 
for the nut flush. Drokin was forced to show 
and the three players checked. Martini bet 130,000 on the 
turn and Cairat was the only caller.
giving Engel's opponent two pair. The turn was a 
and the river 
meant Engel went runner-runner to make his straight and eliminate Meissonnier.
rolled off on the turn and Weissman was eliminated.
flop, and Salter was now in need of help from the board to survive with 
against 
flop was safe for Salter but the 
and after the turn 
was revealed all eight players flipped over their other card. Rudolf held a 
for two pair and beat the rest of the other seven players that included Chris Dowling and another opponent who held pocket aces. 