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The EPT Main Event hadn't seen a Ukrainian lifting up the trophy until March 2014 when Oleksii Khoroshenin seized the title at EPT10 Vienna.
The 29-year-old is now leading the record-breaking EPT Barcelona Main Event, bagging 1,708,000 chips at the end of Day 3. Khoroshenin has been playing the tour since Season 8. That win in Austria earned him €578,392, but he almost beat it during the $25k High Roller at the PCA 2015, finishing third for $629,460. Khoroshenin currently lies in fifth place on the Ukrainian all-time money list with more than $1.8m in live tournament winnings.
The Ukrainian is followed by another Eastern European player - Dmitry Yurasov from Belarus, who has 1,214,000. Yurasov is best known for his EPT €10k High Roller results - he was third at EPT10 Prague for €177,500 and fifth at EPT10 Vienna for another €118,650. However, he has decent online cashes as well including a 5-way chop in Sunday Million worth $139,000. In January, Yurasov took down the Sunday 500 for $69,000.
Apart from Khoroshenin, there are several other EPT champions chasing the double - Mike McDonald (Dortmund), Patrik Antonius (Baden), Frederik Jensen (Madrid) and Michael Eiler (Vienna).
Team PokerStars Pro will be represented on Day 4 by Andre Akkari (982,000) and Matthias De Meulder (300,000). Their fellow team-mate Johnny Lodden was the last casualty of the day, falling in 111th place to secure €13,475 for his 20th EPT Main Event cash. Lodden is now tied with Luca Pagano in having the most EPT Main Event cashes. Friend of PokerStars Natalie Hof busted in 135th place while other Team PokerStars Pros who cashed today included Team Online's Matthias Brandner (228th) and Team SportStars Fatima Moreira de Melo (240th).
EPT12 Barcelona Main Event top five chip counts: 1st - Oleksii Khoroshenin, Ukraine, PokerStars player, 1,708,000 2nd - Dmitry Yurasov, Russia, PokerStars qualifier, 1,219,000 3rd - Rodney Ramalho, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 1,138,000 4th - Denys Shafikov, Ukraine, 1,110,000 5th - Diego Casco Del Riego, Uruguay, 1,091,000
