Timur Margolin emerged from Tuesday’s action as the Day 1B chip leader of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event, holding 261,800 going into Wednesday’s Day 2. Benjamin Chalot still remains the overall leader, though, with 300,000.
Registration is still open until the start of Day 2, but this tournament is already the largest EPT Barcelona Main Event in history. There were 1,234 entries on Day 1B (no, I didn’t just slide my finger across the number row on my keyboard), elevated the total from both starting flights to 1,960. This just beats out last year’s record of 1,931.
We will not know the prize pool and payout structure until shortly after registration closes on Wednesday. First place – and possibly second, if it’s like last year – is in for a seven-figure payday.
Margolin has amassed nearly $2 million in lifetime live tournament earnings, according to his resume at TheHendonMob.com. He has two World Series of Poker bracelets to his credit. The first was earned in $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2018 WSOP, while the second came in the Monster Stack event later that year at WSOP Europe. He has also won on the European Poker Tour; in 2012, he won a €500 event here at EPT Barcelona. And earlier this year, he won the €2,200 No-Limit Hold’em event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
As the European Poker Tour is run by PokerStars, there was some excitement on Tuesday when the proceedings were paused and it was announced that the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) will return in August 2020. The debut edition of the PSPC was in January at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, but next year it will take place in Barcelona (hence the timing of the announcement).
The PSPC was built up for a year by PokerStars, billed as the largest $25,000 live tournament in poker history. Fueled by online and live qualifying, the PSPC certainly lived up to the hype, attracting a field of 1,039 players, 400 more than the previous record for a $25,000 tournament, set by the 2007 World Poker Tour World Championship. The prize pool was nearly $26.5 million and the first prize was $5.1 million ($4.1 million plus another million tossed on top by PokerStars).
From both starting flights of the EPT Barcelona Main Event, 767 advanced to Day 2, where they will all meet, along with any late registrations. Levels will now last an hour and a half, rather than the hour that they were during Day 1.
2019 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders
- Timur Margolin – 261,800
- Alen Alencar – 248,800
- Kacper Pyzara – 228,600
- Kully Sidhu – 221,500
- Gianfranco Iaculli – 219,600
- Pim Gieles – 218,500
- Arsenii Karmatckii – 213,500
- Samuel Gagnon – 205,000
- Weiyi Zhang – 198,000
- Dimitri Joubert – 196,000
2019 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event – Overall Day 1 Chip Leaders
- Benjamin Chalot – 300,000
- Simon Mattsson – 292,000
- Andre Marques – 269,700
- Timur Margolin – 261,800
- Jimmy Pham – 250,000
- Alen Alencar – 248,800
- Florian Jouvenet – 245,200
- Peter Patricio – 230,600
- Kacper Pyzara – 228,600
- Louis Nyberg – 223,000
