Now only 3 tables and 24 players remain in the European Poker tour main event in Madrid. Mike "Timex" McDonald, the day 2 chip leader, is one of the players who will return to play Day 4 today with 883k chips - not even half the stack of the new chip leader, João Paulo Simão. Simão, 23, from Belo Horizonte in Brazil, crushed everyone who got in his way during Day 3 and boosted his stack from 169k to amazing 1,973,000 chips, which must be some kind of record in EPT history.
Simão has about 800k more than his closest opponent, Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, and he will for sure make it to the final table if he plays his cards right during Day 4. The average stack is about 600,000, so you can just imagine what a big lead he has!
Prize Payouts
All of the 24 remaining players are guaranteed to get at least €13,000 each. The ones who make it to the final table will be guaranteed €35,000 each. The winner of the tournament will take home nothing less than €545,000, while the runner up gets €365,000.
