EPT Barcelona Main Event Second Biggest Ever for PokerStars

Perhaps there is something about the Spanish air that brings the players out in droves for the Barcelona stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT). Barcelona was the host for the first-ever EPT stop, and since the inaugural running in 2004, won by Alexander Stevic, the city has been a jewel in the crown of the PokerStars Live tournament schedule.

The 2023 edition of PokerStars EPT Barcelona is now in full swing with the final few days playing out over the first weekend in September, and including this year’s totals, nearly €100 million has been awarded in Main Event prize pools since 2004.

Last year was the first time the total Main Event prize pool exceeded €10 million, and while 2023 did not beat the 2022 record, the event still managed the second-ever eight-figure prize pool with €10,282,000 in total prizes this year.

The Main Event was hardly the only big event in Barcelona so far. While there are still games on the schedule, and a winner is yet to be crowned in the Main game, so far the series has generated well over €33 million in total prizes with more than 16,000 entries across the board going into the final weekend of play.

In particular, the Estrellas Poker Tour (ESPT) Main Event, which kicks off EPT Barcelona every year, saw another record-setting crowd to start the festival off on a huge note.

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Barcelona Through the Ages

Barcelona was the birthplace of the EPT, with the very first event under the EPT banner being held in the Catalonian capital in 2004.

While that was a fairly modest affair by modern standards, with Stevic besting a field of 229 entries for his winning share of the €229,000 prize pool, it began an epic run for Barcelona and the EPT in general.

Prior to last year’s record-breaking event, 2019 held the record for the best EPT Main Event prize pool at just shy of €9.65 million. That year also flirted with 2000 total entries but fell just short with 1988, the second time the field exceeded 1900.

In general, the field and prizes for the Barcelona Main Event have increased with each year the festival was held with the exception of 2009, which saw a drop of almost 200 entries from the 2008 numbers, though it should be noted that 2007-2009 featured unusual buy-ins of ~€8k as opposed to the traditional buy-in in the €5k range.

EPT Barcelona Main Event History

Another Big Year in Barcelona

Nineteen years and 16 festivals later, Barcelona has become a fixture on the European Poker Tour that regularly sets the standard for the EPT season nearly every year.

While the full results for the festival are not yet in, the total prizes awarded so far are approaching €35 million. Based on the published, but incomplete. results from the PokerStars Blog, €23,413,305 has been awarded so far across 21 published events.

Most notably, that total does not include the Main Event numbers, as the tournament is still running and results are only announced when a winner is decided. However, with entries closed, the €10,282,000 ME prizes can be added to the totals, bringing the current numbers to just shy of €34 million, including the biggest game of the series.

With more events scheduled throughout the weekend, more than €35 million in total prizes seems to be a lock, but the final numbers will have to wait until next week for confirmation. In total so far, four games have gotten four-figure fields with three of those over 2000 entries.

While many of the high-roller events have seen smaller, double-digit fields, the more reasonably priced events have attracted a lot of runners over the past couple of weeks with the total now (including ME) just short of 16.5k entries.

See below for a quick look at all the published games so far and check out the PokerStars Twitch channel for streams throughout the final weekend of EPT Barcelona.

2023 EPT Barcelona Select Results