The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Barcelona continued to bring the action this week as the €3,000 Mystery Bounty wrapped up on Friday with Murilo Milhomem standing tall as the winner.
Following Day 1 action, Day 2 play saw an additional 116 late registrants join in on the hunt, bringing the total number of entries to 1,113. Of that number, 370 advanced to Day 2 when the Mystery Bounty tokens would come into play later in the day, at the start of Level 15. With the Mystery Bounty tokens looming ahead, the action came fast and furious and the 370 remaining players were whittled down to 213 by the first break in play.
At the start of Level 15, the Mystery Bounty tokens were introduced and the players' focus shifted to the unknown prizes each elimination would net them. The two €100,000 bounties up for grabs were both claimed on Day 2, with the first going to Henrik Juncker and the second to Arni Gunnarsson.
Ren Lin is Bubble Boy
The money bubble burst during Level 17 in unceremonious fashion and it was Ren Lin who went home as the bubble boy. The remaining 167 players locked up the €2,950 min-cash, but, between the additional prize money and the bounties in play, there was much more to play for.
Kelvin Kerber fought his way to the top spot in the chip counts, bagging up 4,560,000 chips to take into Day 3. Not far behind him was PokerStars Ambassador Maria Konnikova, who started Day 2 with a big stack and maintained her position throughout.
After 12 hours of play, the field had thinned down to just 20 surviving players, each of whom returned for Day 3 play with €12,000 already secured.
PokerStars Ambassadors bow out
Once Day 3 began, it didn't take long for the players to consolidate down to one table. Both Kerber, Konnikova, and Gunnarsson reached the final table where they were joined by Murilo Milhomem, Jacob Stone, PokerStars Ambassador Fintan Hand, Julien Sitbon, Fabrice Maltez, and Alexander Ivarsson.
It was Stone who held the chip lead to start proceedings, with Milhomem and Gunnarsson not far off. Stone scored the first knockout, taking out Ivarsson in a cooler situation. Gunnarsson bowed out next, adding €38,600 to his €100,000 bounty prize. Kerber fell next, finishing in seventh place for a €50,200 score, followed shortly afterward by Sitbon.
Konnikova was next on the chopping block, adding €84,800 to her career earnings with a 5th place finish. Maltez then exited in fourth place, leaving Hand, Stone, and Milhomem to battle it out for the top three spots. At the start of the three-handed play, both Hand and Milhomen were at a sizable chip disadvantage as Stone held the majority of the chips in play. Hand managed to find a double, but ultimately couldn't keep his momentum moving in the right direction and he bowed out in third place for a €143,350 score.
When heads-up play began, Stone held a commanding chip lead over Milhomen, but a crucial flip saw the Brazilian surge into the chip lead. Once in the lead, Milhomem found a favorable spot to close out the tournament when his 
went up against Stone's 
in a preflop all-in collision. The 
runout failed to provide Stone with the immediate three-outer to win and his day ended with a 2nd place finish for €200,700.
Milhomem celebrated the victory with his rail, adding €321,658 in prize money to the bounties he had collected thus far.
EPT Mystery Bounty final table results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (Euros) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murilo Milhomem | Brazil | €321,658 |
| 2 | Jacob Stone | United Kingdom | €200,700 |
| 3 | Fintan Hand | United Kingdom | €143,350 |
| 4 | Fabrice Maltez | France | €110,300 |
| 5 | Maria Konnikova | USA | €84,800 |
| 6 | Julien Sitbon | France | €65,250 |
| 7 | Kelvin Kerber | Brazil | €50,200 |
| 8 | Arni Gunnarsson | Iceland | €38,600 |
| 9 | Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | €29,700 |
Main Event final table looms, Nasreddine holds lead
Meanwhile, in the EPT Barcelona Main Event, the 1,975-player field is down to the final 16 combatants.
Rania Nasreddine holds the chip lead headed into Day 6 with 7,200,000, but both Stephen Song and Boris Kuzmanovic remain hot on her heels with 6,725,000 and 6,565,000 respectively.
Other notables still in the running include, David Coleman, Andrew Hulme, and Fabiano Kovalski. Tomorrow, the remaining players will return to battle, each of them with their eyes firmly set on the top prize of €1,512,000.
If you want to keep up with the action as it happens in real time, be sure to tune in to the PokerStars YouTube channel for livestreamed, cards-up coverage.
Images Courtesy of PokerStars/Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited
