If you think of winning two titles on the European Poker Tour and you’re bound to think of two-time champs Victoria Coren Mitchell and Pavel Plesuv. But what about players winning two tournaments at the same event?

Well that’s exactly what happened at the 2022 PokerStars EPT Prague festival — not once, but twice!

After Ben Heath went back-to-back in €25,000 Single Day High Rollers, Rodrigo Seiji duly followed that up by winning the €50,000 Super High Roller to go along with his €10,200 Mystery Bounty title.

Here are some other players who have “done the double” on Europe’s most prestigious poker tour.

Alejandro Lococo

You don’t have to go back far to find someone who has achieved this rare feat. Earlier this year, Alejandro “PapoMC” Lococo took down the EPT Prague €1,100 Eureka Main Event for €417,820.

Just six months prior, the Argentinian PokerStars Ambassador had finished seventh in the 2021 WSOP Main Event, and his rungood was set to continue, winning a €2,200 Deep Stack event just nine days after his Eureka victory.

He recently told PokerStars that he is looking forward to travelling more and potentially win even more trophies.

“That is what I like about poker: the chance to discover other cultures, what they think, what they eat,” he told PokerStars. “That’s what I think is the best part of poker.

“I think I make poker more funny. I think it’s an amazing game”

“So right now I’m not thinking of stopping that. I’m only thinking of travelling to the most important tournaments and getting more trophies.

At this moment, I’m not tempted to try a Super High Roller. It’s really hard to battle them. You have to give a lot of hours of your life to be a winner in that kind of event.

“I think I make poker more funny. I think it’s an amazing game. Sometimes the players get so serious, but I like taking it back to basics. I like the show.”

Francisco Benitez

Our next two stories come from one of the most popular EPT festivals — Barcelona.

Not just any EPT Barcelona, but the record-breaking 2022 edition that saw massive fields throughout the entire festival.

Francisco Benitez had previously won High Roller titles on the LAPT and UKIPT. Then in June 2022 he won the BSOP Rio de Janeiro Main Event, and soon followed that up with near back-to-back victories in the EPT Barcelona Mystery Bounty and €25,000 Single Day High Roller.

How Uruguay’s Francisco Benitez Dominated EPT Barcelona

Unbelievably, it could have got even better for the Uruguayan who now sits third on his country’s all-time money list, as he racked up two further top-five finishes in €25,000 High Rollers, eventually walking away from the festival with total cashes of over €1 million.

Juan Pardo

Spaniards have a long and rich history on the EPT, even though it took until 2015 for the first Spanish EPT Main Event winner.

But at the High Roller tables, Spaniard Juan Pardo had an incredible EPT Barcelona in 2019 winning two High Roller titles.

The first Single-Day High Roller saw Pardo defeat professional football Gerard Pique heads-up before adding a €50,000 High Roller title just 12 hours later.

Sander van Wesemael

Ok so it wasn’t the European Poker Tour, and it wasn’t in the same event — but this achievement certainly warrants a mention.

In 2017, Sander van Wesemael won three PokerStars Cups. Not bad right? But he won them in-a-row. First in Marbella, then Lille and finally in Barcelona; combined he beat close to 4,000 players to win over €190,000. Not bad for a €330 tournament!

Back-To-Back at the WSOP

Finally, away from the EPT, there are certainly some special doubles at the World Series of Poker. No we’re not talking about Mark Newhouse making back-to-back final tables or Dan “Jungleman” Cates retaining his $50,000 Players Championship title in 2022.

In 2021, no fewer than SIX players won multiple bracelets in the same year. Since the WSOP started, only a select group of players have achieved this feat Scotty Nguyen, Max Pescatori and Brian Rast, with Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth among a select group to have done it twice!

Executive Editor E.U.

Will Shillibier is based in the United Kingdom. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German, and then studied for a NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism at Sportsbeat in Manchester. He previously worked as a freelance live reporter, and video presenter for the World Poker Tour.

It took only one hour and 45 minutes for the latest GGPoker Super MILLION$ final table to play out, and it was Canada’s “LJoseph62” who was the last player standing once the dust settled. LJoseph62 has previously finished third, then second in the $10,300 Super MILLION$, they continued the trend of going one place deeper to emerge victoriously for the first time in this event, a finish worth $291,188.

LJoseph62’s maiden Super MILLION$ victory denied Michael Addamo a record sixth title, and prevented Thomas Muehlocker from banking his second, and Anatoly Filatov his third. Here is how the final table action went down on December 13.

GGPoker Super MILLION$ Final Table Results

_{Countries as displayed in the GGPoker lobby}

It took 30 minutes before the final table lost its first player, and Argentina’s “Be Myself” was the first finalists out of the door. Be Myself sat down at the final table as the shortest stack, and allowed their chips to dwindle to a shade over three big blinds. The action folded to LJoseph62 in the small blind and they moved all-in with jack-four of diamonds. Be Myself called with the superior ace-nine, but a jack on the flop sent the Argentinian to the showers in ninth place.

Dzivielevski Done and Dusted

Eighth place went to the talented Brazilian Yuri Dzivielevski. Again, it was a battle of the blinds that resulted in an elimination. LJoseph62 min-raised to 80,000 from the cutoff, Dzivielevski three-bet shoved for 19 big blinds from the small blind with ace-jack, and will consider himself unlucky that Muehloecker woke up in the big blind with the dominating ace-king. Muehlocker called, LJoseph62 got out of the way, and Muehloecker’s king-kicker was enough to bust Dzivielevski.

Hong Kong’s Biao Ding, last week’s Super MILLION$ runner-up, could only muster a seventh-place finish this time around. LJoseph62, now the chip leader, open-shoved from the small blind with what turned out to be king-jack. Ding called off his 19 big blind stack with pocket tens, and a jack on the turn reduced the player count by one.

The final six became five with the demise of Deividas “PDC Mayor” Daubaris. They came unstuck during the 25,000/50,000/6,000a level. Filatov min-raised to 100,000 from under the gun and called when Daubaris shoved rom the cutoff for 308,410. Filatov revealed pocket tens and was flipping against the all-in player’s ace-jack. A queen-high board missed Daubaris, and he headed for the exits.

Christmas Comes Early at GGPoker With the $150M Gtd WSOP Winter Circuit

The first six-figure prize of the evening went to Mexico-based Spaniard Sergi Reixach. LJoseph62 continued their loose-aggressive style with a min-raise to 120,000 with queen-five of diamonds from under the gun. Reixach called with ace-try of hearts in the big blinds, and the flop fell king-ace-four rainbow. Reixach check-called a 210,000 continuation bet. The turn was a five, and Reixach check-called a 607,425 bet, leading to another five on the river. Reixach checked for a third time, and LJoseph62 bet enough to put Reixach to the test for the 1,673,668 chips he had behind. After some deliberation, Reixach clicked the call button only to see his opponent had backed into trip fives.

LJoseph62 now had an 8.8 million chip stack with Addamo his nearest rival with little over two million chips. A big stack coupled with a very aggressive player was a nightmare combination for the other players.

Addamo Assassinated

Addamo’s quest for a sixth Super MILLION$ title ended in a fourth-place finish. Of course, it was LJoseph62 that dealt the killer blow. LJoseph62 min-raised to 120,000 with ace-nine on the button, and Addmo defended his big blind with eight-six of spades. A nine-deuce-nine flop saw Addamo check-raise a 75,000 bet to 234,000, and LJoseph called. The five of spades gave Addamo a flush draw, and he checked its arrival. LJoseph62 bet 245,760, Addamo check-raised to 600,000, and LJoseph62 called. The river was an eight, improving Addamo to a pair of eights, but it would ultimately proved to be an expensive second-best hand. LJoseph62 bet enough to set Addamo all-in, and Addamo made the call. Good game.

Huge WSOP Winter Circuit Scores Through First Four Ring Events

Heads-up was set 15 minutes later when Muehlocker bowed out. First, Muehlocker lost more than half his stack with pocket sixes against LJoseph62’s pocket aces, then his last five and a half big blinds went into the middle from the big blind with queen-trey after lJoseph62 had open-shoved from the small blind with the dominating ace-queen. Muehloecker missed the board and busted in third.

LJoseph62 held a ten-to-one chip advantage over Filatov going into heads-up, and Filatov could not claw his way back into contention. Filatov limped in from the button with king-try, and LJoseph62 checked his queen-seven. A queen-four-jack flop saw LJoseph62 check-call a 70,000 continuation bet. Filatov fired a 280,000 bet on the offsuit nine turn, and was called. The seven of diamonds on the river put a potential flush out there, and LJoseph62 checked. Filatov moved all-in for his 786,367 stack, and LJoseph62 snap-called with his two pair.

A dominant display from LJoseph62 who played aggressively, ran hot, and rode their luck, but became a worthy Super MILLION$ champion.

Season 2 Stop 1 of the PokerStars VR Metaverse Poker Tour is done and dusted and it is fair to say it was a roaring success enjoyed by everyone who donned a VR headset and battled it out at the immersive virtual felt. More than 7,000 players competed over the 48 events!

Macau 2050 was the state-of-the-art environment players from far and wide flocked to as they attempted to become a Metaverse Poker Tour champion. They had plenty of chances to sample the sweet taste of success with more than 40 action-packed events for players to get their teeth into.

However, the tournament every player had their eye on was the Season 2 Stop 1 Main Event, not only because of the prestige that comes with taking down such a tournament but also because all the Player of the Season points earned in the Main Event are multiplied by five!

Event #23 – Main Event Final Table Results

“A.Chan” triumphed in the Main Event and reeled in a staggering $283,600,000 of the in-game currency in addition to 400 Player of the Season points. There is no doubt that A.Chan will be found at the tables during future stops of Season 2 of the Metaverse Poker Tour.

Canada’s A.Chan defeated American “Piqel” heads-up to secure the victory and the lion’s share of the prize pool. Piqel collected $179,400,000 for their efforts. “xXsaberXx21” finished in third and reeled in an impressive $115,000,000 payout.

_{*”missing” event numbers were satellite tournaments}

Thanks to earning 400 Player of the Season points for their victory in the Metaverse Poker Tour Season 2 Stop 1 Main Event, plus another 70 from cashes in other events, A.Chan leads the way in the Player of the Season race. A.Chan has 470 points, some 65 more than second-placed and Main Event runner-up “Piqel.”

Those of you that are regulars in the PokerStars VR Metaverse will notice some of the names occupying some of the current top 10 of the Player of the Season race.

“Catfishox” finds themselves in fourth place after the first stop; they finished eighth last season. “NF42” is there too. Last season’s seventh-place finish is fifth right now.

Then in tenth, you find “FLAWSOME1020,” the Season 1 Player of the Season. FLAWSOME1020 triumphed in the $25,000 High Roller Event, starting as they mean to go on.

Metaverse Poker Tour Season 2 Player of the Season Table

Happy Holidays From the PokerStars VR Team!

The holiday season is upon us and everyone at PokerStars VR wishes its customers old and new the happiest of times.