And so here we are. The first final table of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 11. Just eight players remain from the original 1,496 in the EPT Barcelona Main Event; leading the way is Hossein Ensan with 10,295,000 chips, the only play to eclipse 10,000,000.
This would be one hell of a score for Ensan were he to win. He has less than $30,000 in career live tournament winnings with no cash larger than four figures. To win €1,261,000 Wednesday would obviously be the biggest moment of his live poker career. Really, though, it already is – he is already guaranteed at least €121,300.
Ensan got to the top of the leader board on the last hand of the night. According to the PokerNews report, Ensan began the proceedings with a pre-flop bet of 325,000. Bram Haenraets, the chip leader entering Day 5, then moved all-in for 3,080,000 and Ensan quickly called. Haenraets turned over A-T, but he was virtually dead to rights against Ensan’s pocket Aces. Haenraets was unable to suck out and had to settle for ninth place, one spot away from the official final table. That pot catapulted Ensan into the lead, ahead of Samuel Phillips, who enters the final table with 9,035,000 chips.
The best hand holding up was unusual for the final table. Prior to Haenraets’ bustout, he was able to crack Slaven Popov’s pocket Kings with 7-8 suited when he turned a straight. Then Popov, who was now the short stack, cracked Kings himself when he had A-J and nailed an Ace against Andrey Shatilov.
The final table shapes up to be an interesting one. Ensan and Phillips are way out in front of the rest of the field, as the next two players, Ji Zhang and Andre Lettau, have 6,480,000 and 5,405,000 chips, respectively. After them, it is a long jam in the bottom half of the chip counts, with three players in the mid-3 million range and Andrea Dato bringing up the rear with just 2,825,000 chips. With the blinds and antes starting at 80,000/160,000/20,000, the bottom stacks don’t have much room to wait for a great hand, so there could be a rush of all-ins early. The question is whether the big stacks will be ones to risk their positions and make the calls, or if it will be short stacks going up against each other.
Either way, it should be a fun afternoon and evening at the Casino Barcelona. By the end of the night, we will have our first EPT champion of the new season.
2014 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
- Hossein Ensan – 10,295,000
- Samuel Phillips – 9,035,000
- Ji Zhang – 6,480,000
- Andre Lettau – 5,405,000
- Slaven Popov – 3,720,000
- Andrey Shatilov – 3,675,000
- Kiryl Radzivonau – 3,420,000
- Andrea Dato – 2,825,000
