As we noted earlier, two Spaniards were part of the field of 24 to start Day 5 — Alejandro Perez and Emilio Jimenez — and with just 14 left both remain alive with hopes of capturing the first ever EPT Main Event title for Spain.
Both sit with around average chips at the moment. Both are 24 years old. And both traveled to Barcelona this week with friends, although of the two Perez has somewhat more prior tourney experience.
Hailing from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, “Toro” has several cashes to credit, all in Spain-based tournaments including some on the Estrellas Poker Tour and an EPT9 Barcelona Main Event cash last year when he finished 105th for €9,950, nearly equaling his largest career cash.
Meanwhile Jimenez of Granda will be earning his first ever tourney cash here at EPT10 Barcelona. He only came to support others playing in events during the festival, and in fact they were the ones who talked Jimenez into playing a satellite on PokerStars.es where he won his seat. This is his first EPT event, then, as he normally plays €2/€4 cash.
With 14 players left, both are guaranteed at least €52,940.
As mentioned, no Spaniard has ever emerged from an EPT Main Event with the trophy, although several have come close. Dragan Kostic came the closest at EPT8 Barcelona when he finished runner-up, one of four Spaniards to make the final table that year.
It took Spain until Season 4 of the EPT to send a player to a Main Event final table, and while many have made it that far since none have gotten further than Kostic.
Here’s a look at EPT Main Event final tablists from Spain through the tour’s first nine seasons:
As shown, players from Spain have made the final table here in Barcelona each of the last four years, and in each instance the rails were significantly swelled with supporters cheering them on. Something to look forward to should Perez or Jimenez — or both — manage to survive another six eliminations tonight.
Click through to live coverage of the EPT Barcelona Main Event or the EPT Barcelona High Roller. Check out all the festival results here or take a look at what happened in the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller. Follow the @PokerStarsBlog Twitter account to keep up-to-date with all the EPT action and check out the EPTLive webcast.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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