The final table of the PokerStars Championship Barcelona €5,300 Main Event included a PokerStars Team Pro member and a former PokerStars Championship Main Event winner. And understandably, eyes were mostly set on these two players. However, it was eventually a live tournament poker newbie who scooped the title and the amount of €987,043 in prize money.
That lucky player was Sweden’s Sebastian Sorensson. The Swede took down the Main Event last night after a grueling final day. Prior to his participation in the Barcelona tournament, Sorensson had mainly been playing poker online. Being used to the dynamics of micro stakes, the player sometimes found it a bit difficult to endure the 13-hour-plus-long days of the Barcelona Main Event.
The Swede qualified for the Main Event through a $200 online satellite on PokerStars. He clearly did not expect and was not prepared for the type of action live tournaments of this scale offer. Yet, he proved that poker is an unpredictable game and that experience cannot always secure you with a title.
How Did Action Unfold on Day 6 of the Barcelona Main Event?
Day 6 of the Barcelona Main Event kicked off with six players, who were led by Italy’s Raffaele Sorrentino. The player was vying for his second PokerStars Championship Main Event title. He took down the Monte Carlo Main Event just four months ago. If he had won the Barcelona title, he would have been the first player in the history of PokerStars Championships to have achieved that.
Usman Siddique from the UK, who started the day as the short stack, was the player to leave first. It then took more than five hours of play and around 70 hands before another player was eliminated. Brazil’s Andre Akkari, a PokerStars Pro member, was that unfortunate one. He was followed by Uruguay’s Brian Kaufman Esposito.
The three remaining players – Sorensson, Bulgaria’s Lachezar Petkov, and Raffaele Sorrentino discussed a deal, before starting three-handed play. Being the chip leader at the time, Petkov locked €917,347 from the tournament, Sorrentino secured €850,110, and Sorensson’s share of the money totaled €887,043. The players left aside €100,000 for the winner.
And while Sorrentino was all hopes that he would grab that final portion of the prize pool and the tittle to make history, Fortuna had other plans for the tournament’s outcome. Sorrentino was eventually eliminated in third place.
Petkov may have started three-handed play as the chip leader, but it was Sorensson who emerged as the chip leader at some point. The player entered the heads-up match with a 4:1 chip advantage. Many believed that two-handed play would not take long, but they were proved wrong. The two players battled it out for 60 hands before the name of the winner became clear.
Hand #186 was the final one to be dealt. Petkov shoved for his 18.2 million and Sorensson called. Petkov turned over [Kc][9h] against his final opponent’s [Ac][Kh]. The board ran out [As][2d][3c][Jd][10s] to secure the Swede with the victory and his first live poker accomplishment.
