The EPT Season 13 Barcelona stop was completed in a spectacular manner. A 21-year-old poker newbie from Poland took down the €5,300 Main Event, thus turning himself into a millionaire, and American poker pro Connor Drinan topped the field of the €10,300 High Roller to add another substantial amount to his poker bankroll and another prestigious title to his growing portfolio of accomplishments.
This has been the last Barcelona poker festival in EPT’s current form. Organizers from PokerStars have recently announced that the European Poker Tour will be transformed into a larger international one that will also include non-European stops. Europe’s biggest and certainly most popular poker festival will exist in its current form up until this year’s end. In 2017, fans of the game from all over the world will be able to enter what will become known as the PokerStars Championship from a multiple select locations.
As mentioned above, players did their best to bid the EPT Barcelona farewell in a manner that will be long remembered. Poland’s Sebastian Malec won the €5,300 Main Event on Sunday after an 11-hour thrilling finale that included the champion himself and six other players. The young Pole was rewarded for his excellent performance by collecting a first-place payout of €1,122,800 and the tournament trophy, of course.
Of his achievement, the player said that it meant everything to him and that although he enjoyed the considerable amount of money he received, all he had thought about during heads-up was to lay his hands on the trophy.
Shedding tears of joy, Malec made his debut to the big poker scene last night. The player beat down a field of 1,785 entries, with some of poker’s biggest names being among those. The Barcelona Main Event generated a prize pool of close to €9 million, with the money being distributed to the top 359 finishers.
The major tournament’s final day started with seven finalists coming back at the Main Event’s final table, led by Germany’s Uri Reichenstein. The player could not maintain his advantage for a long time after action-packed play kicked off at Casino Barcelona. However, by the time there were only four players left, he regained his lead. It is also interesting to note that the four finalists discussed the opportunity to split the remaining prize pool based on their chip counts. No agreement was reached and they continued playing until Malec was the last man standing.
Sitting, taking occasional walks around the table, blabbering and singing to himself, the young Pole seemed all but focused throughout the day. Yet, only he knew what it took him to maintain his composure while playing against poker’s biggest over the past several days. Like many other, Malec entered the event through an online satellite. In fact, his entry into the Main Event cost him a total of €27.
Malec faced start-of-the-day chip leader Uri Reichenstein heads-up, with the two players concluding the tournament in spectacular fashion. Two-handed play kicked off with Reichenstein holding a slight lead over his opponent. After a longish and strenuous battle the German, who now resides in the UK, eventually succumbed to his younger opponent.
On what turned out to be the last hand in play, Malec was just slightly ahead with 26.7 million in chips against Reichenstein’s 25.6 million. The Pole limped from the button and his opponent checked. The board came [Js][6h][Qh] on the flop to see Reichenstein bet 800,000 and Malec raise to 3,000,000. Giving it some thought, the German decided to call.
The [8h], which turned out to be the card that decided the whole tournament, appeared on the turn. Malec bet 5,000,000 and Reichenstein called. The [8d] ran out on the river to see Reichenstein check and Malec move all in. The two players discussed their possible hands for a while. Malec even stood up, walked to the rail, and took selfies with spectators until his opponent finally called.
Reichenstein tabled [10h][9c] for an unfortunate straight and Malec turned over [Ah][3h] for a flush, thus collecting the final pot and taking down the whole event.
Reichenstein scooped a €807,100 for his runner-up finish. Adam Owen from the UK finished 3rd in the tournament for a payout of €646,250. Thomas De Rooij from the Netherlands took 4th place, good for €535,100. Zorlu Er from Turkey was paid the amount of €431,550 for his fifth-place finish.
Greek Andreas Chalkiadakis took home €330,290 for finishing 6th. Spaniard Harcharan Dogra Dogra took 7th place for €230,950. Pavel Plesuv from Moldova rounded out the official eight-handed final table for a total of €165,950.
