by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Mar 16, 2012 | Updated on Mar 16, 2012If you’ve never heard of João Paulo Simão, don’t feel like you’re missing something; the Brazilian had come into the 2012 European Poker Tour Madrid Main Event with just three small cashes on his live tournament record, all from his native Brazil. But now, Simao has the chance to leave Spain with a major title and the biggest payday of his life.Simao jumped to the lead at EPT Madrid Thursday, taking the lead after an exciting Day 3. He has a total of 1,973,000 chips, a lead of over 800,000 over his nearest competitor. With just 24 players remaining in contention, that puts him in great position to make the final table.But as always on the EPT, it won’t be easy, as there is still a strong field of players remaining who are looking for a big score of their own. In particular, two players of note remain with dangerous stacks: Mike McDonald, who sits in 5th place, and Frenchman Nicholas Levi, who has a stack slightly under the current chip average of 596,000. McDonald is looking to win his second EPT title – a feat that, amazingly, has never been accomplished in the decade that the tour has been in existence.A few other big names were in the hunt going into the third day of play, but found themselves exiting on Thursday. However, since 72 players made the money, many of these players did take home small prizes despite being eliminated. Melanie Weisner (28th), Olivier Busquet (34th), Alex Kravchenko (35th) and Kevin MacPhee (36th) all won €11,000, while Barny Boatman took home €7,500 for a 64th place finish.The remaining players will return to the felt on Friday, when the tournament will play down to the final table of eight. The final table will be contested on Saturday, with the winner taking down a prize of €545,000.
