Juanda and Malec Stay Alive in EPT Barcelona
Both former champions reached Day 5 with the field down to 28, while Juanda hovered near 1.8 million and the title chase tightened.
John Juanda and Sebastian Malec both survived Day 4 of the €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event, keeping two former champions in the hunt as the field dropped to 28 players at Casino Barcelona. Juanda finished around 1.8 million chips, while Malec bagged about 1.5 million.
As covered in our previous report on the Day 4 cutoff, Jose Criado had already taken the overnight lead and the event was down to its final 28 by the end of play.
Juanda won Barcelona in 2015 for €1,022,593, and coverage noted that no other player has won the EPT Barcelona Main Event twice. PokerNews said his Day 4 included a kings-over-queens knockout of Oleh Pritsak, before he lost a flip with pocket jacks against Albert Grane’s ace-queen.
The two reports differed slightly on Juanda’s exact finish. PokerOrg listed him 12th with about 1.8 million, while PokerNews put him 13th with 1,855,000; Malec was 17th with 1,485,000 in PokerNews’ live counts and about 1.4 million in PokerOrg’s coverage. Malec won the Barcelona Main Event in 2016 for €1,112,800 and was still in contention for another title a decade later.
Criado led the way into Day 5 with 5,045,000 chips. Gerard Carbo followed on 4,815,000 and Joris Ruijs was close behind on 4,625,000.
The tournament drew 1,823 entries and built an €8,841,550 prize pool, with €1,370,050 set aside for first place. The 28 survivors are due back for Day 5 on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. local time for another four 90-minute levels.
