A record breaking field of 506 entries crams itself into the EPT Barcelona tournament room.

With more players than ever competing for a first prize of €947,300 the race is on to get the tournament finished in time.
But as the clock ticks on through Day 2, drama…

Alex Kravchenko making his thoughts knownTournament officials calculate that at the current speed and course the High Roller won’t find winner until 6am on Monday. The problem? The event needs to finish by 2am.

After consultation with the players a decision is made – they would play an 11th level of the day, and when players returned for the final day levels would be cut to 55 minutes in length.

Fighting the need for sleep players played on until 30 of the 214 players who began the day, remained.

They’re led by Aliaksei Boika on more than 1.9 million, who could become the second Belarussian in succession to win this event if he stay in pole position. Not only that but his name “Boika” rhymes with last year’s winner “Soika”.

Chip leader coming into the final day: Aliaksei BoikaOthers still in the chase include Adrian Mateos, Ami Barer (a finalist last year), Nick Petrangelo, Mustapha Kanit, Jani Sojtual, Mike McDonald, Single Day High Roller winner Martin Finger, Christoph Vogelsang, and others, all found on our live coverage page.

Now, a few hours later the 30 are back to play down to a winner. It will be a long day for some, but an unforgettable one for the winner. Cards are in the air.

To get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts from EPT12 Barcelona, don’t forget to download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.

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Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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