EPT Barcelona 2025: Suarez Builds Tower, Eychenne Finds Queens as Final 11 Emerge

Suarez’s Heater and the Queen That Crushed Aces

Suarez had already been climbing steadily, but it was a late hand against Tobias Leknes that turbocharged his run. After opening with A-K, he faced a cold 4-bet shove from Leknes holding A-4 — a bold move for 60 bigs. Suarez called and held without a sweat, eliminating Leknes and vaulting to over 15 million chips.

Meanwhile, Thomas Eychenne saved his final burst for the day’s last hand, facing a four-bet shove from Joao Webber. After all was said and played, Webber was gone in 12th, and Eychenne bagged 9,595,000 — second overall.

The Bustouts: Cracked Aces, Cold Decks, and a Rollercoaster for Rascar

There were 29 players to start the day, and the bustouts began almost immediately. Early exits included El Mostafa Bel Khayate, Artus Gimenez, and Juan Carlos Vecino, who were all gone in Level 25.

But the most brutal beat may have gone to Rifat Palevic. He three-bet preflop with aces, then bet every street into Yohan Rascar.

Not long after:

• Leo Worthington-Leese couldn’t recover
• Martin Nielsen, former chip leader, busted in a flip to Sebastian Ionita (A-J < 8-8)

By the time the final two tables were set, the average stack had ballooned and the gap between haves and have-nots began to stretch — none more so than Suarez.

Final 11 Chip Counts – End of Day 5

Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1	Anton Suarez		15,340,000
2	Thomas Eychenne		9,595,000
3	Sebastian Ionita		6,820,000
4	Tomasz Brzezinski		6,525,000
5	Julian Pineda Lozano		4,730,000
6	Sergio Carro Marin		4,520,000
7	Umberto Zaffagnini		4,410,000
8	Marc Foggin		3,655,000
9	Cesar Garcia		3,285,000
10	Youssef Zereg		1,350,000
11	Yohan Rascar		1,125,000

What’s Next for the Main Event?

Play resumes Saturday, August 30 at 12:00 p.m. local time, with 67 minutes left in Level 29 (50,000/100,000/100,000). Players will battle until a final table of nine is reached. From there, it’s a two-day sprint to the title and a seven-figure payday.

All remaining players have locked up €102,150, but the pay jumps are steep from here:

VIP Spin-Off Surprise: Three Winners, Three Seats

While the Main Event trimmed to its final dozen, the VIP Spin-Off brought some unexpected news of its own.

Originally, just one of the nine invited VIPs was meant to qualify for the Spin & Go Championship Live. But after three heats and a change of heart from PokerStars, all three heat winners have been awarded Championship seats.

Your VIP Trio

• Rory Jennings – football pundit and content creator
• Alejandro “Papo MC” Lococo – PokerStars ambassador, Triton $12M winner
• Giada Fang – Italian poker coach, commentator, and former Supernova Elite

Each won their way through a unique three-handed match — think battle rap meets turbo poker — and were set to return for a final. Instead, they’ll skip that and go straight into the 81-player Spin & Go Championship Live, competing for €275,000, with €100,000 going to the winner.