Two thousand entries again! It’s another enormous EPT Barcelona

August 26, 2025

Live Poker

by Howard Swains

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3 Minute Read

Player numbers at the EPT Barcelona Main Event again eclipsed 2,000 entries this year, with tournament organisers confirming a total turnout of 2,045 entries before registration closed.

There were 715 entries on Day 1A followed by 1,213 on Day 1B. A further 123 entries came at the start of Day 2 to set the final mark, which is the third biggest in the tournament’s history. It’s up by 70 entries from last year.

The record remains 2022’s number of 2,294 entries.

The total prize pool stands at €9,918,250, with the winner set to earn €1,436,000.

EPT Barcelona 2025 Main Event stats

2,045 total entries
1,490 unique players
555 re-entries
€9,918,250 prize pool
303 places paid
€1,436,000 top prize
€8,550 minimum cash

It’s also notable that this renewal was the 20th EPT Barcelona Main Event and it pushed total entry figures past 25,000. In all, there have been 25,572 entries to EPT Barcelona Main Events and €128,074,200 awarded in prize money.

Players came from 82 countries, with France (191 players or 12.8% of the field), Italy (135 or 9.1%) and Spain (129 or 8.7%) the top three in terms of player representation.

The piechart below shows the full player distribution.

EPT Main Event all-time totals

This is the 148th EPT Main Event
117,465 entries in EPT Main Events
€619,891,241 total prize pool in EPT Main Events

EPT Barcelona Main Event history:
2004: 229 players, €229,000 prize pool, Alexander Stevic (Sweden) for €80,000
2005: 327 players, €1,300,000 prize pool, Jan Boubli (France) for €416,000
2006: 480 players, €2,304,000 prize pool, Bjorn-Erik Glenne (Norway) for €691,000
2007: 543 players, €4,181,100 prize pool, Sander Lyloff (Denmark) for €1,170,700
2008: 619 players, €4,952,000 prize pool, Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) for €1,361,000
2009: 479 players, €3,832,000 prize pool, Carter Phillips (USA) for €850,000
2010: 758 players, €3,790,000 prize pool, Kent Lundmark (Sweden) for €825,000
2011: 811 players, €4,055,000 prize pool, Martin Schleich (Germany) for €850,000
2012: 1,082 players, €5,247,700 prize pool, Mikalai Pobal (Belarus) for €1,007,550
2013: 1,234 players, €5,984,900 prize pool, Tom Middleton (UK) for €942,000
2014: 1,496 players, €7,255,600 prize pool, Andre Lettau (Germany) for €794,058
2015: 1,694 players, €8,215,900 prize pool, John Juanda (Indonesia) for €1,022,593
2016: 1,785 players, €8,657,250 prize pool, Sebastian Malec (Poland) for €1,122,800
2017: 1,682 players, €8,157,700 prize pool, Sebastian Sorensson (Sweden) for €987,043
2018: 1,931 entries, €9,365,350 prize pool, Piotr Nurzynski (Poland) for €1,037,109
2019: 1,988 entries, €9,641,800 prize pool, Simon Brandstrom (Sweden) for €1,290,166
2022: 2,294 entries, €11,125,900 prize pool, Giuliano Bendinelli (Italy) for €1,491,133
2023: 2,120 entries, €10,282,000 prize pool, Simon Wiciak (France) for €1,134,375
2024: 1,975 entries, €9,578,750 prize pool, Stephen Song (USA) for €1,290,386
2025: 2,045 entries, €9,918,250 prize pool, €1,436,000 for the winner

POKERSTARS OPEN HITS NEW MARK

This year’s PokerStars Open Barcelona Main Event had the biggest prize pool in the tournament’s history, weighing in at €7,251,840. This tournament was previously branded as the Estrellas Main Event and had a buy-in of €1,100. That increased this year to €1,650 (the first increase in the tournament’s history) but still attracted 5,036 entries.

It offered the winner a first prize of €772,000.

PokerStars Open Barcelona 2025 Main Event:

5,036 total entries
2,286 unique players
2,750 re-entries
€7,251,840 prize pool
753 places paid
€772,000 top prize

Players came from 85 countries, with France, Spain and Italy the clear top three in terms of player representation. There were 352 players from France (15.4% of the field), 335 from Spain (14.7%) and 274 from Italy (12%).

The pie chart shows the nationality distribution of players.

PokerStars Open Barcelona Main Event/Estrellas Barcelona Main Event history

Total entries (2012–2025): 51,606
Total prize pool (2012–2025): €52,215,300

2012: 1,037 players, €1,004,940 prize pool, Lorenzo Sabato (Italy) for €200,000
2013: 1,798 players, €1,744,060 prize pool, Soenke Jahn (Germany) for €169,136
2014: 2,560 players, €2,483,200 prize pool, Matias Ruzzi (Argentina) for €198,550
2015: 3,292 players, €3,193,240 prize pool, Mario Lopez (Argentina) for €408,000
2016: 3,447 players, €3,343,590 prize pool, Mohamed Samri (France) for €353,220
2017: 4,557 entries, €4,420,290 prize pool, Pedro Cairat (Argentina) for €432,178
2018: 4,348 entries, €4,217,560 prize pool, Jean Fontaine (France) for €547,000
2019: 4,682 entries, €4,541,540 prize pool, Markku Koplimaa (Estonia) for €585,500
2022: 6,313 entries, €6,060,480 prize pool, Rick van Bruggen (Netherlands) for €600,000
2023: 7,398 entries, €7,102,080 prize pool, Lucien Cohen (France) for €676,230
2024: 7,138 entries, €6,852,480 prize pool, Sylvain Berthelot (France) for €499,224
2025: 5,036 entries, €7,251,840 prize pool, €772,000 for the winner