The first major event on the EPT Season 13 Barcelona schedule, which this year, too, has become the opening stop for the new season, has been completed last night with none other but American poker pro Nick Petrangelo scooping a €413,000 first-place prize. The famous player bested a tough field of seasoned high rollers to win the €10,300 Single Re-Entry High Roller.
The prestigious tournament attracted an overall field of 240 entries, 195 unique ones and 45 re-entries. As a result, a prize pool of €2,328,000 was accumulated and distributed to the first 55 finishers.
The event’s final day was played on Friday, with fourteen players returning to contend for a spot among the final eight. Once it all got to eight-handed play, the action began developing at an immensely quick pace. Players exchanged the chip lead within the span of several hands. Petrangelo himself emerged as the chip leader at the time there were only five players left but he, too, could not keep his advantage for long.
Three-handed play between the American poker pro, Poland’s Marcin Chmielewski, and Markku Koplimaa from Estonia was quite a spectacle. Chips swung back and forth and although Petrangelo was indisputably the most prominent player left at the table, it was absolutely impossible to determine the best performer at that time.
Eventually, Chmielewski busted Koplimaa in 3rd place to put an end to the awkward situation and to kick off heads-up match as the chip leader. However, Chmielewski’s reign did not continue for long. Petrangelo took the lead almost immediately and finished off his last remaining opponent. The Pole collected the amount of €285,410 for his runner-up finish.
Markku Koplimaa from Estonia took 3rd place in the event, good for €220,230. Russian Roman Korenev collected €173,670 for his 4th place. Pavel Plesuv from Moldova finished 5th to scoop a €134,100 share of the prize pool.
Kitty Kuo from Taiwan was paid €101,500 for her sixth-place finish in the tournament. UK’s Enzo Del Piero received €75,900 for taking 7th place. Rounding out the official final table, Chinese Yang Zhang was paid €57,270 for the deep run in the high roller event.
Including his latest victory, Petrangelo’s live tournament winnings now amount to a little less than $6 million. Holder of one WSOP gold bracelet and a number of other prestigious poker titles, the player is considered one of the best poker professionals of our time.
