The gold-plated PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event trophy has been standing sentinel in its case for the past week, just waiting for one lucky player to emerge from among a field of 2,120 and hoist it in the air. That wait will finally come to an end today when the final table resumes at 12:30 p.m. local time.
Simon Wiciak is the player everyone is hoping to catch at the final table. The 30-year-old Frenchman has dominated the tournament for the better part of three days and holds the chip lead with 22,875,000. Wiciak is a former professional soccer player and engineer who only took up live tournaments over the past year; all of his live cashes have come since April 2022. With just over $100,000 in earnings, he’s already guaranteed to triple that total but will be looking for much more today.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon Wiciak | France | 22,875,000 | 92 |
| 2 | Carl Shaw | United Kingdom | 17,400,000 | 70 |
| 3 | Santiago Plante | Canada | 7,500,000 | 30 |
| 4 | Joao Sydenstricker | Brazil | 6,150,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Ezequiel Waigel | Argentina | 5,150,000 | 21 |
| 6 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | 4,500,000 | 18 |
Carl Shaw follows behind him in second place with 17,400,000. The Englishman is no stranger to navigating through massive tournament fields. He made a deep run in the 2019 WSOP Main Event, then followed that up by winning a WSOP bracelet a few days later. He also made the final table of the Irish Open back in April. Shaw was on the right side of the biggest pot of the tournament yesterday to briefly take the chip lead away from Wiciak as the two players hold more than 63 percent of the total chips in play between them.
The four players playing catch up at the final table are led by Canadian Santiago Plante. The 27-year-old from Montreal was already enjoying an incredible trip to Barcelona before entering the Main Event. He had cashed in each of the three events he played in, including a final table in a €2,100 No-Limit Hold’em event and 45th place in the record-breaking Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event. He’s now navigated his way through this field and wound up at another final table in third place with 7,500,000.
Joao Sydenstricker is one of two Brazilians remaining in the field and will be supported by a raucous rail today. He comes into the final table in fourth place with 6,150,000. He cashed in the ESPT but otherwise had no live cashes outside his native Brazil before coming to Barcelona. His best results have come online, where, playing under the name “sydens,” he won the Sunday Million in June for $86,099.
Ezequiel Waigel of Argentina has 5,150,000 to begin the day and is the one player at the final table who can’t eclipse his largest career cash even with the €1,488,000 top prize. Known as “eze8888” online, he won the WCOOP Main Event in 2018 for more than $1,500,000. He only came to Barcelona after qualifying for the ESPT online, then earned his seat in the Main Event in a live qualifier. Waigel’s previous best EPT result was 32nd in Prague in 2022.
Then there is the Brazilian legend and Team PokerStars Ambassador Andre Akkari, who once again finds himself at the bottom of the leaderboard for the third straight day with 4,500,000. Akkari has been nursing a short stack for days, consistently finding ways to stay alive and double up just when his chances appeared the most bleak. He’s been cashing in EPT events for more than 15 years and first cashed at EPT Barcelona in 2011. He’s one spot away from matching his fifth-place finish from EPT Barcelona in 2017 but will have to work some magic once again. Akkari can take some optimism from last year’s final table, where Giuliano Bendinelli found himself in an even more dire situation, down to just one big blind, but battled back to take the trophy.
Final Table payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,488,000 | ||
| 2 | €931,250 | ||
| 3 | €664,750 | ||
| 4 | €511,300 | ||
| 5 | €393,300 | ||
| 6 | €302,500 | ||
| 7 | Curtis Knight | Canada | €232,700 |
| 8 | Robin Ylitalo | Sweden | €179,000 |
The remaining six players will come back with 65 minutes remaining on Level 33, with blinds of 125,000-250,000 and a 250,000 big blind ante. The final table will be streamed on a 30-minute delay by PokerStars TV on YouTube and Twitch. They are all guaranteed at least €302,500, but by the end of the day one player will take home €1,488,000 and the right to forever be known as an EPT champion.
The trophy has been waiting. The day has finally arrived. A new EPT Barcelona champion will be crowned today, and Pokernews will be providing all the updates as the six survivors from a once-massive field battle throughout the night until only one is left standing.
