Written by :
Published on :
The EPT12 Barcelona €50k Super High Roller has been a parade of the some of the most famous poker players in the world, but it is the relatively unknown Michael Egan who has sneaked under the radar to take the chip lead in to the final day.
The Australian is a relative newcomer to European events and all his cashes to date have come in the land down under. Winning the Victorian Poker Championship for A$160,700 has been Egan's career's highlight but that might be about to change here in Barcelona.
Egan is guaranteed €123,600 and, with 5,410,000 chips in the bag, has all eight remaining opponents covered. Though, as expected for a €50k tournament, Egan will face a tough company on the final day.
It was Fedor 'CrownUpGuy' Holz who ended the bubble when he eliminated Viacheslav Buldygin in 16th place. The WCOOP World Champion was at the final table of the EPT Grand Final SHR just three months ago, but he won't be repeating that feat here in Barcelona as he was himself eliminated (by Ivan Luca) in 11th place.
Reigning EPT Player of the Year Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich also made that final table in Monaco (and walked away as a runner-up with €1,446,600). The 20-year-old Pole just continues delivering though - and, after an exceptional end to Season 11, is setting a cracking pace for Season 12. He has secured another Super High Roller final and is in decent shape to hit big again, counting 4,325,000 in chips, the third biggest stack.
Just like Holz and Urbanovich, Ivan 'Negriin' Luca has been another high-flying young gun over the past months and will come back for the €50k SHR final day as well. The Argentinian established himself on the EPT circuit in a spectacular way, making three top-three results at EPT Prague back in December. He quickly came to fame on the tour, adding some other impressive results including a runner-up finish in the EPT Malta €10k High Roller for €397,000. Between EPT Grand Final and EPT Barcelona, he was busy winning another $353,391 and, by the way, a golden bracelet.
€50k SHR Final Day seat draw: Seat 1: Dzmitry Urbanovich, Poland, 4,325,000 Seat 2: Steve O'Dwyer, Ireland, 2,450,000 Seat 3: Chistoph Vogelsang, Germany, 4,765,000 Seat 4: JC Alvarado, Mexico, 2,485,000 Seat 5: Byron Kaverman, USA, 495,000 Seat 6: Sylvain Loosli, France, 1,200,000 Seat 7: Ivan Luca, Argentina, 2,580,000 Seat 8: Paul Newey , UK, 1,035,000 Seat 9: Michael Egan, Australia, 5,410,000
A loaded field of 85 unique players plus 14 re-entries: that's the raw stats for the EPT12 Barcelona €50k Super High Roller. The 99-entry field smashed last season's numbers (77 entries), breaking the record for both unique and total entries.
A juicy €4,753,485 will be divvied up between the top 15 players. The new champion will be rewarded with €1,224,000 while the minimal payout stands at €80,800. Last year, Olivier Busquet beat Daniel Colman after cutting a heads-up deal to take €896,434.
