Six players remain from 1,823 entries in the 2026 EPT Barcelona Main Event, and there is far more than €1.37 million at stake when they return to Casino Barcelona for the final day.
Italy’s Manuel Ferrari holds the chip lead, but only narrowly. Spain’s Jose Criado is less than two big blinds behind him and has the chance to become the first Spanish player to win the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
Behind them is a remarkably varied final six.
There is a former EPT champion trying to win another title 16 years after his first, an Irish entrepreneur who sold his company for around €25 million, a Chinese trader with more than $2.5 million in live tournament earnings and a Dutch recreational player who had never previously cashed for more than €12,800.
All six have already secured at least €278,950.
One of them will leave Barcelona with €1,370,050 and the EPT Main Event trophy.
EPT Barcelona 2026 Final Table Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manuel Ferrari | Italy | 16,100,000 | 81 |
| 2 | Jose Criado | Spain | 15,775,000 | 79 |
| 3 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 11,200,000 | 56 |
| 4 | Lukas van Eeden | Netherlands | 5,075,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Michael Dwyer | Ireland | 4,550,000 | 23 |
| 6 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | 1,975,000 | 10 |
The finalists emerged from a €5,300 Main Event that generated a prize pool of €8,841,550.
It has been another huge festival in Barcelona. Jason Wheeler defeated 4,333 entries to win €731,000 in the PokerStars Open Main Event, while defending EPT Barcelona champion Thomas Eychenne collected another trophy before beginning his title defence.
Now attention turns to six very different players competing for the biggest prize of the festival.
Manuel Ferrari: The Chip Leader Looking for His Third PokerStars Trophy
Manuel Ferrari has spent the last 18 months turning himself into a familiar face at PokerStars festivals.
Now the 34-year-old Italian has the opportunity to land the title he really wants.
Ferrari enters the final day with 16.1 million chips, giving him a narrow lead over Criado.
His rise has been rapid.
Ferrari won the PokerStars Open Malaga Main Event in June 2025 and followed that by winning the PokerStars Open High Roller in Campione in January 2026.
An EPT Main Event title would complete a remarkable trio.
Ferrari has been playing poker since 2010, although he only began seriously studying the technical side of the game after the Covid pandemic. His work with a study group has since helped transform his results.
Barcelona has provided further evidence.
Ferrari took control during Day 5, including making an important hero call against Matas Cimbolas, and retained the lead throughout Day 6.
He now starts the biggest day of his career with 81 big blinds.
Jose Criado: Can Spain Finally Win EPT Barcelona?
The loudest rail on the final day may belong to Jose “JJ” Criado.
Born in Granada, raised in Almeria and now living in Andorra, the 32-year-old is chasing a piece of Spanish poker history.
No Spanish player has ever won the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
That is particularly surprising considering Spain has produced players of the calibre of Adrian Mateos, who became the country’s first EPT Main Event champion when he won in Monte Carlo in 2015.
Criado could now become the first to win one on home soil.
He starts with 15.775 million, only 325,000 behind Ferrari.
Poker has not always been Criado’s main game. He only began playing around four or five years ago and spent his first three years as a recreational player.
His background is in sports betting, where he developed a reputation as a football tipster.
Criado believes dealing with the pressure of having people follow his betting selections has helped prepare him for situations like this.
Football remains a major part of his life. He travels around Europe to watch games and has a Real Betis tattoo on his left forearm.
Underneath it are three playing cards: two jacks and an ace.
The jacks explain the “JJ” nickname.
Now his name could become considerably better known in poker.
Xiaosheng Zheng: China Has Another Chance at EPT History
Xiaosheng Zheng may not be as familiar to European poker audiences as some of his opponents, but he is anything but inexperienced.
The 40-year-old from Foshan has accumulated more than $2.5 million in recorded live tournament winnings.
Poker is not his full-time profession either.
Zheng works in trading and describes himself as a semi-professional player, with the flexibility of his work allowing him to travel to tournaments.
Remarkably, this is only his second EPT Main Event.
His first came at EPT Cyprus two years ago, where he failed to reach the money.
Barcelona has been a very different experience.
Zheng has 11.2 million chips and 56 big blinds, leaving him comfortably positioned behind the two leaders.
Victory would also carry historical significance.
China has produced some enormous tournament results and several major champions, but never an EPT Main Event winner.
Zheng has the stack to change that today.
Lukas van Eeden: From €12,800 Career Best to €278,950 Guaranteed
Nobody at this final table has transformed their poker résumé quite like Lukas van Eeden.
The 40-year-old Dutch entrepreneur is a recreational player who arrived in Barcelona with a little more than $70,000 in recorded live tournament winnings.
His previous largest cash was €12,800.
He is now guaranteed €278,950.
Van Eeden has described the run as a dream come true, and it has also changed what was supposed to be a rather different trip to Spain.
His partner Sanda joined him in Barcelona expecting them to spend some time enjoying the beach and sunshine.
Poker had other ideas.
Van Eeden has also become acquainted with Dutch professional Joris Ruijs during the tournament. Ruijs ultimately finished ninth, while Van Eeden continued into the final six.
There was even time for one particularly unusual moment.
Van Eeden made a royal flush during the latter stages of the tournament but did not reveal his cards after winning the pot without showdown. He was still thinking through his river decision and simply mucked the hand.
Another royal flush would certainly be welcome on the final day.
He starts with 5.075 million and 25 big blinds.
Michael Dwyer: The €25 Million Entrepreneur Taking on Poker’s Young Pros
Michael Dwyer has already enjoyed the kind of business career that would make retirement an attractive option.
Instead, the 61-year-old Irishman decided he wanted to compete against some of poker’s best young players.
Dwyer spent 15 years working in the food industry before launching Pigsback.com in 2000.
The rewards and discount platform became a major success. Dwyer eventually sold the business in 2019 in a deal reportedly worth around €25 million.
Poker then became much more serious.
He had been playing tournaments long before the sale, recording his first live cash at the Irish Open in 2005, but suddenly had more time to dedicate to the game.
Dwyer began studying game theory and working with coaches. Irish poker legend Andy Black has also helped him with the mental side of the game.
The work has produced results.
In 2024, Dwyer recorded an online tournament score worth approximately $1.3 million.
His live résumé has never contained anything comparable, however.
Before Barcelona, his biggest recorded live result was €86,350.
He is now guaranteed more than three times that amount.
There is a family element to the story too. Dwyer’s brother John also cashed in this Main Event, finishing 105th for €15,050.
Michael is still playing.
Victory would make him the third Irish EPT Main Event champion.
Nicolas Chouity: Sixteen Years Later, Another EPT Title Is Possible
There is only one former EPT Main Event champion among the final six.
Nicolas Chouity knows exactly what it feels like to win one of these.
The Lebanese player produced one of the most dominant final-table performances in EPT history when he won the 2010 Monte Carlo Grand Final.
Chouity arrived with a huge stack, overwhelmed the final table and collected €1.7 million.
Sixteen years later, he has another chance.
His route this time could hardly be more different.
Chouity enters the final day as the short stack with 1.975 million, equivalent to around ten big blinds.
That leaves very little room for error, but also enough chips for one double-up to change everything.
The 40-year-old remains a regular at EPT festivals, although he generally prefers high rollers because of their shorter structures.
Going deep in a Main Event changes things.
This will be Chouity’s 16th EPT Main Event cash and his second final table.
Winning would put him into an extremely small group of players with multiple EPT Main Event titles.
Ferrari and Criado Set for a Battle at the Top
The structure of the final table creates two very different contests.
Ferrari and Criado are almost level at the top. Zheng is close enough to put serious pressure on either of them.
Then comes a significant gap.
Van Eeden and Dwyer have 25 and 23 big blinds respectively, while Chouity begins with ten.
That does not necessarily mean the title belongs to one of the big stacks.
EPT Barcelona has already shown how quickly tournament fortunes can change.
The festival began with huge fields and major victories, including Thomas Eychenne winning the PokerStars Open High Roller before his attempt to defend the Main Event title came to an end.
Earlier in this Main Event, Grzegorz Kozieja led the final 205 players with more than one million chips. None of the players who occupied the top five at that point have reached the final six.
Ferrari is the leader who matters now.
But there are five players still capable of taking the trophy from him.
EPT Barcelona Main Event Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | €1,370,050 |
| 2nd | €855,100 |
| 3rd | €610,800 |
| 4th | €469,850 |
| 5th | €361,400 |
| 6th | €278,950 |
The difference between sixth and first is more than €1 million.
For Van Eeden and Dwyer, even the minimum payout represents by far their biggest recorded live tournament score.
For Chouity, there is history to chase.
For Zheng, there is the possibility of becoming China’s first EPT Main Event champion.
For Criado, victory would finally give Spain an EPT Barcelona Main Event winner.
And for Ferrari, the tournament represents the chance to complete his rapid rise through PokerStars festivals with the biggest title of them all.
After 1,823 entries, seven days of poker and an €8.84 million prize pool, only six possibilities remain.
