EPT Barcelona: The dizzying stats behind the tour’s biggest Main Event

August 22, 2026

Poker

by Howard Swains

watch_later

2 Minute Read

EPT Barcelona turns 21 this year. The most popular stop on the European Poker Tour is also the oldest.

This is the place where it started. It’s the only place we’ve visited every year. And it’s also the place where all the numbers get dizzyingly high, which is one of the main reasons so many players continue to come back, time and time again.

Let’s take a look as some of the remarkable figures.

BARCELONA IN NUMBERS

Through 20 previous EPT Main Events in this location, there have been 25,521 entries. We can be quietly confident that number will push past 27,000 this time around, with a field of more than 1,800 quite likely.

That’s in keeping with a location where records are always set on the EPT. Nine of the 10 biggest Main Events ever hosted on the tour took place here, including all of the top seven. In 2022, there were 2,294 entries. That’s still the largest EPT Main Event of all time.

Giuliano Bendinelli won the biggest EPT Barcelona Main Event of all time

Though the slightly bigger buy-in of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure allows the PCA to make itself known when we look at biggest EPT prize pools, we still see six out of the top 10 biggest EPT Main Event prize pools contested in Barcelona.

In all, EPT Barcelona Main Event prize pools weigh in at a staggering €127,633,200.

The biggest single winner was Giuliano Bendinelli, who was champion in that monster in 2022. He took close to €1.5 million. In all, winners in this venue have picked up nearly €20 million.

EVERYONE WELCOME; ANYONE CAN WIN

EPT Barcelona attracts poker players from across the globe, and from across all strata of the poker-playing spectrum. Players from 11 different countries have won here, with Sweden the home of four champions, more than any other. (Germany and France have had three champions each.)

Established pros such as John Juanda, Simon Brändström, Stephen Song and Thomas Eychenne have all taken down the title, but plucky newcomers such as Sebastian Malec, Sebastian Sorensson and Bjørn-Erik Glenne have also upset the formbook to prevail.

Glenne, remember, was the man who had only two previous miniscule poker cashes to his name when he played EPT Barcelona in 2006. He then beat Phil Ivey heads-up to take the title.

One of the boom-era greats, John Juanda, won in Barcelona in 2015

The oldest player to win in Barcelona was the French dentist Jan Boubli, who was 51 when he prevailed in 2005. Four years later, Carter Philipps was only 20 when he won. The average age of winners in Barcelona is precisely 20.

(For the real completists, how about this: three Sebastians, two Thomases and two Simons have won here. Make of that what you will.)

In short, EPT Barcelona is big. It’s always been that way, and it will continue to be so. It was the first EPT venue in mainland Europe to attract a 1,000-entry field, and it’s still the only one where there’s been more than 2,000.

ALL THE STATS

EPT Barcelona — Through 20 previous events
Entries: 25,521
Prize pools: €127,633,200
First place prizes: €19,790,913

Biggest ever EPT Barcelona
August 2022
Entries: 2,294
Prize pool: €11,125,900
Winner: Giuliano Bendinelli (Italy) – €1,491,133