EPT Barcelona 2026 Is Exploding: 2,471 Entries Already, €100K Super High Roller and €5,300 Main Event Next

Barcelona has become the center of the poker world again.

EPT Barcelona 2026 is now underway at Casino Barcelona, and the first major numbers are already enormous. The €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event has reached 2,471 entries and built a €3,558,240 prize pool, with 524 players remaining after the opening flights.

And that is only the warm-up.

The €100,000 EPT Super High Roller begins on August 21. The €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event starts on August 22. A €25,000 PLO High Roller, €3,250 Mystery Bounty and €10,300 EPT High Roller are also waiting later in the festival.

PokerStars has even introduced a completely new tournament concept called In the Money at 180,000, where a player who reaches a 180,000-chip target immediately bags their stack, qualifies for Day 2 and locks up a cash.

That combination makes EPT Barcelona one of the biggest live poker search stories of August 2026.

This guide covers the current EPT Barcelona results, the €5,300 Main Event schedule, the €100K Super High Roller, the new 180,000-chip format, streaming dates, satellites and the tournaments worth watching between now and the August 29 finale.

If you are building a wider live schedule beyond Barcelona, use our global poker tournament calendar to compare the biggest upcoming stops.

EPT Barcelona 2026 Quick Facts

Why EPT Barcelona Is One of Poker’s Biggest Events Right Now

EPT Barcelona has always been one of the European Poker Tour’s flagship stops, but the timing of the 2026 edition gives it even more attention.

The WSOP summer has ended. WSOP Online has started. Major online series are running across several platforms. Yet thousands of live players have now shifted their focus to Barcelona for one of the largest international festivals outside Las Vegas.

The 2025 EPT Barcelona Main Event ranked among the three largest Main Events in EPT history and created a prize pool close to €10 million. The 2026 festival is trying to build on that momentum.

The early evidence is strong.

The €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event has already produced 2,471 entries and a prize pool of €3,558,240. Those numbers arrived before the EPT Main Event and the festival’s biggest high rollers even started.

For players thinking about travelling to major live events, Barcelona also combines tournament volume with one of Europe’s most popular poker destinations. Our best poker travel destinations guide explains why Barcelona continues to attract international players beyond the tournament schedule itself.

The €1,650 PokerStars Open Has Already Passed €3.5 Million

The first major tournament of the festival has set the tone.

The €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event runs from August 16 through August 22 and used multiple starting flights to build a huge field.

The current event page lists:

• 2,471 total entries
• €3,558,240 prize pool
• 524 players remaining

That means more than €3.5 million is already in play before the €5,300 EPT Main Event begins.

The Open also matters because it reaches a different player pool from the €100,000 Super High Roller. Recreational players, satellite qualifiers, mid-stakes professionals and established tournament regulars can all appear in the same field.

That mix is one of the reasons Barcelona routinely generates huge entry numbers.

Early EPT Barcelona Winners Are Already Emerging

The festival was only a few days old when multiple champions had already been crowned.

Finland’s Elias Suhonen produced one of the first six-figure scores of the stop by winning a €10,200 No-Limit Hold’em side event. He topped a 31-entry field and collected €114,200 from a €310,000 prize pool.

That is a useful preview of what is coming.

Once the €30K, €50K and €100K buy-ins begin, the prize pools can rise very quickly even when the fields are relatively small.

EPT Barcelona 2026 Key Events From Here

These are the headline events, not the full festival schedule. Barcelona also includes qualifiers, PLO, mixed games, hyper turbos, second-chance tournaments and additional high rollers.

The €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event Starts August 22

The tournament most players are searching for is the EPT Barcelona Main Event.

Day 1A begins on Saturday, August 22 at 12:00 local time.

Day 1B follows on August 23.

Day 2 begins August 24, and the tournament continues through the scheduled final on August 29.

The buy-in is €5,300, and the event allows a single re-entry under the published schedule.

Last year’s edition nearly reached a €10 million prize pool, so expectations are high again in 2026.

Anyone considering a direct €5,300 entry should treat the buy-in as a serious bankroll decision rather than simply another festival tournament. Our poker bankroll management guide explains why one prestigious event should not override normal risk limits.

Can You Qualify for the EPT Main Event?

Yes.

The Barcelona schedule includes several seat-only qualifiers to the €5,300 Main Event, including €1,155 and €600 qualifying events around the opening flights.

Satellite strategy is very different from normal tournament strategy because the objective is the seat, not necessarily every chip in play.

Near a satellite bubble, surviving can become much more important than taking a small chip-EV edge against another stack.

Our Poker Satellites 2026 guide explains why players often make huge mistakes when a seat is worth far more than the next few chips.

The €100,000 Super High Roller Could Be the Toughest Field of the Festival

The EPT Super High Roller begins August 21 with a €100,000 buy-in and unlimited re-entries.

PokerStars has already identified several major names expected or confirmed around the event.

Kayhan Mokri is confirmed for Barcelona and has already won this specific Super High Roller twice. Mikita Badziakouski has also won the event twice. Fedor Holz, David Coleman, Niklas Astedt, Klemens Roiter, Enrico Camosci, Eelis Parssinen, Sam Mullur and Dejan Kaladjurdjevic are among the players PokerStars has highlighted for the stop.

Jason Koon is not expected to play this one because of family commitments.

With unlimited re-entry and a six-figure buy-in, even a field of a few dozen players can create an enormous prize pool.

For a broader look at why these tournaments keep getting bigger, see our High Stakes Poker 2026 report.

Barcelona’s New Tournament Could Remove the Money Bubble

The most interesting structural experiment at the festival may not be the Main Event or the €100K.

PokerStars has introduced a €2,200 tournament called In the Money at 180,000.

The concept is simple:

Reach 180,000 chips, immediately bag your stack, qualify for Day 2 and lock up a cash.

There is no traditional moment where the tournament pauses with one player left to eliminate before everyone gets paid.

Instead, each player’s personal target is visible from the beginning.

That changes tournament psychology dramatically.

Imagine having 165,000 chips while another player at the table has 70,000. In a normal event, the correct decision depends on ranges, stacks, payouts and tournament stage. In this format, the value of reaching 180,000 adds another strategic layer.

A player close to the target may become more cautious. Another may attack because they know the target stack does not want to lose progress. Large pots can instantly end a player’s Day 1 because reaching the threshold means play stops for that player.

The published schedule lists these events with a 300-player cap and single re-entry.

If the concept becomes popular, it could influence how other live tours design qualification-style tournaments in the future.

Why the 180,000 Rule Is More Than a Gimmick

Traditional tournament bubbles create one of poker’s strangest incentives.

A player may fold a profitable hand because the value of surviving one more elimination is enormous.

The 180,000 format shifts that pressure from a shared field bubble to an individual chip target.

It is almost a hybrid between a normal MTT and a milestone satellite.

That makes stack preservation, pressure and risk premiums especially interesting.

Players who understand ICM in poker will immediately recognize that chip value is no longer purely linear near the target.

The €3,250 Mystery Bounty Starts August 25

Barcelona also brings one of poker’s most popular modern formats to the EPT schedule.

The €3,250 EPT Mystery Bounty begins August 25 and runs through August 27. The published description allocates €1,000 of the buy-in to the mystery bounty component.

Mystery Bounty tournaments create a second layer of equity because eliminating another player can have immediate cash value beyond the chips in the pot.

That can widen calling ranges once bounties are active, but players still need to compare bounty value against tournament risk.

Our Mystery Bounty Poker 2026 guide covers the math and the most common bounty-hunting mistakes.

PLO Players Get Serious High-Roller Action Too

The festival is not purely No-Limit Hold’em.

On August 22, a €25,000 EPT Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller begins. The wider schedule also includes €2,200 PLO, €15,000 PLO and €10,250 PLO events.

This matters because many modern high-stakes festival players move between Hold’em and Omaha rather than specializing in only one format.

The stronger PLO schedule also makes Barcelona more attractive to international high rollers who want multiple premium events during one trip.

How to Watch EPT Barcelona 2026

PokerStars has scheduled seven days of live streaming beginning August 23.

The coverage is expected to focus on the biggest stages of the festival as the Super High Roller and Main Event move deeper.

PokerStars has listed Twitch and Facebook among its official streaming channels for the event.

PokerNews is also providing live event updates, chip counts, results, interviews and reporting from Casino Barcelona.

This makes August 23 an important date even for fans who are not travelling to Spain.

What Makes Barcelona Different From a Normal Live Tournament?

Volume.

A player can begin with a mid-stakes PokerStars Open event and still have access to satellites, high rollers, mixed games, Omaha, Mystery Bounty and the EPT Main Event within the same festival.

That means one trip can easily turn into a much larger schedule than originally planned.

A player who arrives intending to play only the €1,650 Open may suddenly consider a €2,700 High Roller, €3,250 Mystery Bounty and €5,300 Main Event.

This is where bankroll discipline matters.

Large festivals create the illusion that every event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In reality, the fastest way to damage a tournament bankroll is to keep adding events because they are available.

Online Players Need to Adjust to Barcelona’s Live Pace

Many PokerStars qualifiers are strongest online.

Live poker requires different practical skills.

You see fewer hands per hour. Multiway pots can be more common. Physical bet sizes, verbal declarations and table procedure matter. Long days create fatigue that does not exist in the same way when you can simply close a laptop.

Our online vs live poker guide explains how to transfer online fundamentals without becoming impatient at the live table.

Players should also review basic poker etiquette before entering a major live event for the first time.

Deep Runs Will Be Won and Lost Through ICM

Large EPT fields create huge payout ladders.

Once the Main Event reaches the final few tables, the difference between finishing 18th, 9th, 5th and 1st can be enormous.

That creates pressure on medium stacks and allows large stacks to attack players who are trying to protect a major pay jump.

A player who treats tournament chips like cash-game chips will often make serious late-stage mistakes.

Our multi-table tournament deep-run guide covers how strategy changes when the field becomes small and every elimination affects real money.

Do Not Let One Barcelona Result Define Your Poker

Prestigious festivals can make variance feel more painful.

A player may travel internationally, pay for a hotel, enter a €5,300 Main Event, lose a flip and feel as though the entire trip was a failure.

That is not how tournament poker works.

Even very strong players can go through long stretches without a major live score. A single EPT event contains enormous short-term variance.

Our poker variance guide explains why good decisions and immediate results can move in opposite directions for a long time.

EPT Barcelona 2026 FAQs

When is EPT Barcelona 2026?

The festival runs from August 16 through August 29, 2026 at Casino Barcelona.

How much is the EPT Barcelona Main Event?

The EPT Main Event has a €5,300 buy-in.

When does the EPT Barcelona Main Event start?

Day 1A begins August 22, followed by Day 1B on August 23. The event is scheduled to finish August 29.

How big is the PokerStars Open field?

The current PokerNews event page lists 2,471 entries and a €3,558,240 prize pool, with 524 players remaining after the opening flights.

How much is the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller?

The EPT Super High Roller costs €100,000 and runs from August 21 through August 23.

Who is expected in the €100K Super High Roller?

PokerStars has highlighted players including Kayhan Mokri, Fedor Holz, David Coleman, Niklas Astedt, Eelis Parssinen, Sam Mullur, Klemens Roiter and Enrico Camosci among the confirmed or likely high-stakes field.

What is In the Money at 180,000?

It is a new €2,200 tournament format where a player who reaches 180,000 chips immediately bags their stack, qualifies for Day 2 and secures a cash instead of waiting for a traditional money bubble.

Is there a Mystery Bounty at EPT Barcelona?

Yes. The €3,250 EPT Mystery Bounty runs from August 25 through August 27, with €1,000 of the buy-in allocated to the mystery bounty component.

Are there PLO events?

Yes. The schedule includes several Pot-Limit Omaha events, including a €25,000 EPT PLO High Roller.

Can I qualify for the EPT Main Event?

Yes. The festival schedule includes multiple seat-only qualifiers for the €5,300 Main Event.

How can I watch EPT Barcelona?

PokerStars has scheduled seven days of live streaming beginning August 23, including coverage through its official Twitch and Facebook channels. PokerNews is also providing event reporting and updates.

Who won EPT Barcelona last year?

Thomas Eychenne won the 2025 EPT Barcelona Main Event for more than €1.2 million after one of the largest Main Event fields in EPT history.

Final Verdict

EPT Barcelona 2026 is only getting started.

The first major event has already attracted 2,471 entries and created more than €3.5 million in prize money.

The €30K warm-up begins next.

The €100K Super High Roller starts August 21.

The €5,300 Main Event begins August 22.

The €25K PLO High Roller, €3,250 Mystery Bounty and €10,300 EPT High Roller will keep the biggest names in poker busy through August 29.

And the new In the Money at 180,000 tournament gives the festival something genuinely different from the standard live schedule.

For fans, the next ten days will produce huge fields, six-figure buy-ins, international stars and one of the most important Main Events outside the WSOP.

For players, the challenge is simpler to describe and much harder to execute.

Choose the right events.

Protect the bankroll.

Understand the structure.

And if you are taking a shot at the €5,300 Main Event, remember that Barcelona has a habit of turning one deep run into a career-defining result.