EPT Barcelona prepares for 25,000th entry!

August 25, 2025

Live Poker

by Howard Swains

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3 Minute Read

More than any other stop on the European Poker Tour, Barcelona tends to be the place where records are broken. The largest EPT Main Event took place here in 2022, and eight of the 10 biggest EPTs ever have been held here. Only Paris gets anywhere close.

Coming into this year’s tournament, there have been a staggering 23,527 entries into 19 EPT Barcelona Main Events. That’s way, way more than any other destination–partially owing, of course, to the fact that there has been more events here than anywhere else. (The EPT has been to Monte Carlo and Prague 16 times each.)

That also means that at some point today, Staruniv staff will register the 25,000th EPT Barcelona Main Event entry. Specifically, the 758th entry of the day will hit that landmark number.

Incredible really, when you think about it. It points to not only the success of this particular tournament, but also its longevity. Even at its 20th renewal, it’s still going incredibly strong.

THE DAY 1A/1B INCREASE

Although there were only around 500 players seated at the start of play today, it’s a 100 percent certainty that the field will get to the magic 758 number. There were 715 entries on Day 1A, but Day 1B always sees a significant increase in entry numbers.

At one point, specifically from about 2015-17, Day 1B used to get close to three times as many entries as Day 1A. In 2017, there were 437 entries on Day 1A but then 1,233 entries on Day 1B, representing a day-on-day increase of 182 percent. That’s still the tournament with the biggest percentage disparity between Days 1A and 1B.

Giuliano Bendinelli won the biggest EPT Barcelona Main Event ever

Back then, the tournament was a freezeout which meant players had to consider carefully on which day they would fire their solitary bullet. Conventional wisdom had it that Day 1B tended to be “softer”, thanks to some basic economic considerations. Recreational players tended to save themselves a night of accommodation fees by playing Day 1B, and that meant the pros would follow them into the later flight.

RE-ENTRIES EVENS THINGS OUT

However, after the EPT Main Event allowed a single re-entry, players could fire both Day 1A and Day 1B if they wished, which evened out the field sizes somewhat. It no longer mattered quite so much which day you chose.

Furthermore, there are also more live satellite tournaments taking place these days, which begin earlier during these extended festivals. It means that there are more players clutching Main Event tickets floating around the tournament venue earlier in the week. They tend to give Day 1A a try.

Day 1B is still bigger than Day 1A — last year there was a 72 percent day-on-day increase (1,194 on Day 1B to 696 on Day 1A) — but it’s not quite so lop-sided. If recent patterns continue, today’s Day 1B will get around 1,200 entries and the total field size will be somewhere between 1,900 and 2,000.

If none of this makes sense, the following tables should make it a little clearer.

Note: Accurate figures for tournaments before 2008 do not exist
Day 2 entry permitted only from 2012 onwards