Abitbol Leads Final 96 Players Into Day 3 of the ESPT Main Event
Day 3 of the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event at the 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour gets underway today with 96 players remaining out of a massive record-breaking field of 6,313 as the remaining players battle further down and aim for their share of the €6,060,480 prizepool to ultimately position themselves for the top prize of €600,000.
At the top of the heap to start Day 3 and in the best position to make a deep run is France's Raphael Abitbol who has a stack of 6,745,000 which is some distance in first place. Samir Benabdelaziz (5,170,000) and Gabriel Martini Nobrega (5,030,000) are the only other two players holding over the 5 million mark to start the day as they look to position themselves for a deeper run as well.
Bjorn Burns (4,850,000) and Wai Kit Chung (4,080,000) round of the top five chip counts.
€1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | County | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raphael Abitbol | France | 6,000,000 | 100 |
| 2 | Samir Benabdelaziz | France | 5,175,000 | 86 |
| 3 | Gabriel Martini Nobrega | Brazil | 5,030,000 | 84 |
| 4 | Bjorn Bruns | Germany | 4,840,000 | 81 |
| 5 | Wai Kit Chung | Netherlands | 4,080,000 | 68 |
| 6 | Youness Ait Hssain | France | 4,020,000 | 67 |
| 7 | Ahmad Rehaime | Canada | 3,900,000 | 65 |
| 8 | Miltiadis Kyriakides | Greece | 3,810,000 | 64 |
| 9 | Ivan Stokes | United Kingdom | 3,740,000 | 62 |
| 10 | Johannes Straver | Netherlands | 3,705,000 | 62 |
There are quite a few big-name players still around for Day 3. Robert Mizrachi (1,160,000) is one of the most well-known players in the entire event as has found his way to Day 3.
PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas (1,335,000) has made making deep runs in massive fields his forte in recent years and here he is again in the very late stages of a gargantuan field.
India's Nikita Luther (2,650,000) is still alive, as is Hungarian high roller Andras Nemeth (2,640,000) and Jack Sinclair (2,580,000).
Action will begin on Day 3 at noon local time on Level 27 with blinds of 30,000/60,000/60,000. There will be breaks every two levels and a dinner break to be announced. The length of the day will be up to the discretion of the tournament director as it will depend on how fast players are eliminated before it is determined how many bag up and head to Day 4 tomorrow.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand at Casino Barcelona to bring you the coverage of the Day 3 action in the ESPT Main Event.
to secure the pot for Bise.
. Bruns held 
and Rembert Net with the 
as both headed to the payout table while Bruns took the chip lead with the pot.
to leave Petrov drawing dead on the turn, and Bruns picked up the pot to move up to the 10 million mark and become one of the top stacks in the room.
to send the Hungarian high roller to the rail. Meanwhile, Siljander moved up to over 10 million chips with the pot and is near the top of the leaderboard.
of Sihao Zhang.
to secure the double for Sinclair.
. Mathias Siljander was in the cutoff and Ivan Stokes was in the small blind. 
for three-of-a-kind. Siljander had hit a two outer to take the lead on the river and eliminate Stokes in a brutal bad beat.
for the nut flush to send Abitbol home with a 23rd place finish and just over €20,000.
