Colillas climbs, champions fall on Day 3 of monster EPT Barcelona Main Event

The live poker boom is showing no signs of slowing down, with a buoyant EPT Barcelona Main Event cracking 2,000 runners for only the third time. With 2,045 entries, this is now the third-largest EPT Main Event at the place where it all started back in 2004, featuring a more modest €1,000 buy-in and just 229 entries.

Alexander Stevic won the first EPT trophy and €80,000 first prize 21 years ago. The winner in Barcelona on Sunday will take home a massive €1,436,000, but there's still a long way to go. Day 3 was about bursting the bubble, with 10 eliminations needed for everyone else to cash. It took about 90 minutes.

Martins Adeniya had his aces cracked to bring the tournament to the stone bubble. He ended up being the last player to go home empty-handed when three players — Merijn van Rooij, Alejandro Ganivet, and Robert Kaggerud — were eliminated at the same time. They split the two min-cashes to take €5,700 each, just €400 above their buy-in, but a profit for the tournament nonetheless. Old-school pro Juha Helppi was the first player out to get the full min-cash of €8,550 shortly afterward.

Robert Kaggerud was one of three players who were eliminated on the bubble.

You never want to see a scrum of media behind you on the bubble — Robert Kaggerud was the victim this time.

Ramon Colillas bags big for Day 4

2025 WSOP Main Event final tablist and PokerStars ambassador Kenny Hallaert couldn’t find a pay jump or another super-deep run and was eliminated in 291st. Samuel Mullur did find a ladder but fell in 233rd.

Steve O’Dwyer cashed in the PokerStars Open Main Event earlier in the week, though the $2,986 payout barely made a dent in his $46.75 million in career earnings. He made another cash here but fell late in the day in 115th for €17,250.

By the end of the day, the field had been whittled down to 103 players, and while all former EPT Main Event champions left in had been downed, there are some big names still in with a shot at the trophy and €1,436,000.

Adam Hendrix and Brock Wilson both found a bag, but not as big as the one sealed by former PokerStars pro Ramon Colillas who will go into Day 4 with a top-ten stack, trailing end-of-day chip leader Martin Nielsen.

Play resumes at noon local time on Thursday, with the PokerStars livestream beaming all the action into your home with the usual delay.