EPT Barcelona: Jai Saha Makes Day 3 in EPT National With 46 Players Remaining

The 2019 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona is currently underway at one of Europe’s most popular venues for live poker – Casino Barcelona. A large group of Indian players is already present at the stop with many others expected to fly in over the weekend, which is why we can expect a much larger Indian representation at the upcoming Main Event. Taking center-stage at the stop these past few days has been the €1,100 EPT National that attracted a record-breaking 4,682 entries across four starting flights. 702 players had advanced to Day 2 from all the starting flights, and only 46 among them have made it through to Day 3.

Over a dozen Indian pros were seen in action across the various starting flights of the EPT National, and five among them had come back for Day 2. Leading this group of advancing Indians was PokerStars India qualifier Jai ‘Joey’ Saha who incidentally is the lone Indian player left in the running. The four other Indians all finished in the money with Bharath Janardhan (392nd for €2,230 – ₹1.79 Lakhs) making the deepest run of them all followed by Ramandeep Gujral (425th for €2,230 – ₹1.79 Lakhs), PokerStars India Team pro Muskan Sethi (529th for €1,790 – ₹1.43 Lakhs), and Sumit Asrani (571st for €1,790 – ₹1.43 Lakhs).

Coming back to Saha, this young talent was part of the inaugural GPL India Season 1 team Kolkata Creators last year and has been on a blistering run ever since. His breakout performance came at IOPC Event 14 that he won for a career-best ₹25 Lakhs in January. He followed that up by finishing fourth in the DPT February ₹65K High Roller for ₹4.80 Lakhs. Barcelona is familiar territory for Saha who only three months back final tabled the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event, finishing ninth for roughly ₹6.61 Lakhs.

In the EPT National, Saha bagged 3,765,000 (47 BBs) on Day 2 that happens to be the 14th most massive stack among the 46 remaining players.

There is a juicy €585,500 (~₹4.72 Crores) winner’s paycheque awaiting the winner – the biggest payday at this event ever. The frontrunner to collect that top prize is Barry McGovern (7,240,000 – 91 BBs) who will be leading the 46 players into Day 3. He is followed by Adam Hendrix (7,200,000 – 90 BBs) and Ali Chaieb (7,000,000 – 88 BBs).

There is more action coming up with the much-awaited €5,300 EPT Main Event hitting the floors on August 26 but even before that, the weekend promises gripping action! Day 3 of the EPT National kicks off at 12 pm (local time) on August 24, alongside the €1,100 NLHE Seniors Event that will play down to a champion today. Running alongside will be the two starting flights of the EPT Cup and the NLHE Hyper-Turbo Freezeout.

Day 2 Recap

Day 2 of the €1,100 EPT National began with 702 survivors from a never-before-seen field of 4,682 entries (2,774 unique and 1,908 re-entries). After 10 levels, each of 60-minute duration, only 46 players were able to carry their stacks to Day 3.

A group of five Indians had made it to Day 2 from several starting flights. Headlining the lot was Jai ‘Joey’ Saha. Having progressed from Day 1A with 556,000 (93 BBs), Saha had started the day as the most massive stack on Table 10 and used the advantage well. In Level 17. Saha eliminated Yuri Martins with his pocket tens busting the latter’s ace-king. The elimination spiraled Saha’s stack to 1.8 Million, a count he largely maintained over the next few levels. In Level 26, Saha was seen engaging with Andrei Popugaev. Saha applied pressure on the latter, forcing him to fold. After the hand, Saha’s stack reached 2.380 Million. The young Indian ultimately ended his day with 3,765,000 (47 BBs) in his bag.

The four other Indians, however, all fell out through the course of the day. Bharath Janardhan (392nd for €2,230 – ₹1.79 Lakhs) ran the deepest, followed by Ramandeep Gujral (425th for €2,230 – ₹1.79 Lakhs), Muskan Sethi (529th for €1,790 – ₹1.43 Lakhs) and Sumit Asrani (571st for €1,790 – ₹1.43 Lakhs).

Sethi, who was among three PokerStars Team Pros who’d made it to Day 2, updated her Twitter fans on her elimination.

Busted! ? pic.twitter.com/KEOn7UM2EL

— Muskan Sethi (@muskaansethi) August 23, 2019

All the 702 returning players were assured a €1,670 payout from the €4,541,540 prize pool and some notables who finished in the money were Sonny Franco (95th for €5,820), PokerStars Team Pro Kalidou Sow (128th for €4,270), Davidi Kitai (159th for €3,780), Julien Martini (177th for €3,780), start-of-day chip leader Dejan Jakovljevic (190th for €3,310), PokerStars Team Pro Ramon Colillas (230th for €2,910), and Tony Miles (486th for €2,010).

Headlining the 46 advancing players to Day 3 is Barry McGovern who will start the day with 7,240,000 (91 BBs). McGovern climbed into pole position after eliminating both Rui Bouquet (47th for €9,710) and Ruben Garcia Blancas (48th for €9,710) in the final hand of the night.

Adam Hendrix (7,200,000 – 90 BBs) and Ali Chaieb (7,000,000 – 88 BBs) are the next two top stacks.

Fernando Pons (4,245,000 – 53 BBs) Vojtech Ruzicka (3,735,000), Pete Chen (2,990,000 – 47 BBs), and Michael Soyza (1,860,000 – 23 BBs) are some other notables in contention.

Day 3 begins at 12 PM (local time) on August 24 with blinds starting at 40,000/ 80,000.

Top 10 Chip Counts At the End of Day 2

1. Barry McGovern – 7,240,000
2. Adam Hendrix – 7,200,000
3. Ali Chaieb – 7,000,000
4. Andre Silva Dias – 6,650,000
5. Gregory Armand – 5,195,000
6. Maxime Chilaud – 5,015,000
7. Markku Koplimaa – 4,985,000
8. Jose Quintas – 4,885,000
9. Pasquale Braco – 4,405,000
10. Jean Leste – 4,385,000

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerNews

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