It was a long final day and night for the last players of the €10,000 EPT High Roller at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) at Casino Barcelona.

At 2 a.m., the tournament came to an end with Ka Kwan Lau being the last player standing. He was the one who raised the trophy and won the first-place prize of €910,400.

Lau was the chip leader throughout the final table and managed to eliminate the final six players. So with almost all the chips, he dominated Ouassini Mansouri in a short heads-up battle and beat a total field of 475 entrants.

Vladas Tamasauskas completed the podium ahead of two French players, Eric Sfez who finished fourth and Alexandre Reard in sixth, with Tunisia’s Maher Nouira taking fifth place.

€10,000 EPT High Roller Final Table Results

“It was insanely long”

“This last day was insanely long,” Lau said a few minutes after he won. “We returned with 40 players left on Day 3, which is a lot. So we knew it would be long if we were on the final table. But I didn’t expect it to be that long.”

But even though he was proud of this title, Lau remained humble: “I know it would be hard to reach the first place, as No-Limit Hold’em is not my main game. So I was not very confident when I played. But from the start of Day 1, everything was going very well. I had good situations, and I ran very well during the whole tournament.”

This first-place finish closed a very good festival for Lau, as he finished 31st in the €5,300 EPT Main Event for €36,100. Eliminated on Day 5, he was one of the chip leaders on Day 3. “But on Day 4, I played one hand badly. Then I ran with ace-king into aces, and I lost two flips. So this win compensates for the disappointment of the Main Event.”

Day 3 Action

Forty players out of 475 entrants successfully qualified for Day 3 of the €10,300 EPT High Roller with only one goal: take the first-place prize of €910,400. But this dream quickly turned into a nightmare for Song Xue, Edilson Marques, and PokerStars ambassador Rafael Moraes, who were the first players eliminated of the day.

After Lau showed a crazy bluff with seven-four in a four-bet pot, the second level saw the eliminations of the three Romanian players who made Day 3. Adrian Chiforescu and Adrian Cretu went to the cashier almost at the same time and they were followed by Razvan Belea, who couldn’t win his last flip to take another prestigious EPT tournament this year, after he won EPT Paris in February.

The two other EPT champions in the field didn’t get much further, as Patrik Antonius ran into a set to finish 28th (€25,550), and Dominik Panka (23rd, €33,800) was eliminated shortly after the three table redraw.

A host of bust outs then set up the final table and it was one of the shortest stacks, Nicholas Palma, who missed out on making the final nine. He lost a flip to finish tenth for €71,050.

The first final table elimination would take place after two more hours of play. Francesco Pilato’s tournament finally ended in ninth place (€85,250). Minutes later, Toby Joyce was out of the tournament too (8th – €109,450).

Lau then went on a heater at the right time and sent Aleksandr Shevliakov, Reard, Nouira, Sfez, Tamasauskas to the wrong side of the rail in a quick fashion. Lau then sealed the win on the second hand of heads-up.

France’s Simon Wiciak ended up as the chip leader each of the last three days of the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event and had no plans of giving up those chips. He wound up with every chip in play after defeating João Sydenstricker heads-up to win the event for €1,134,375.

Wiciak, who is primarily an online grinder but recently switched his focus to live tournaments, bested the field of 2,120 runners for the golden trophy, his first major live poker title, and the career-best seven-figure score.

“I didn’t want to play the second bullet, because it’s my second bullet in this Main Event,” Wiciak told PokerNews in a winner’s interview. “But some of my stakers pushed me to do it again…so I did it again, and obviously, it was good event. I’m going to start playing more and more, live of course.”

The Frenchman struck a three-handed deal with Sydenstricker and Britain’s Carl Shaw that flattened the payouts, then the trio played on for the trophy and an additional €108,975 in prize money.

Also at the final table in the second-largest EPT Main Event (which came up short of surpassing last year’s record-breaking field of 2,294 runners) were Canada’s Santiago Plante (4th – €511,300), Argenina’s Ezequiel Waigel (6th – €302,500) and Brazil’s Andre Akkari, a veteran PokerStars Team Pro who put on a short-stack clinic before bowing out in fifth place for €393,300.

Check Out The EPT Barcelona Hands Of The Week!

2023 EPT Barcelona Main Event Final Table Results

_{*Denotes three-handed deal}

“I Was Ready”

Anything less than a victory for Wiciak would have been unfitting in the EPT Barcelona Main Event. The 30-year-old ended Day 5 with the chip lead over his 15 remaining opponents and maintained the lead the next day as the field dwindled to six with the eliminations of the likes of Van Marcus and 2013 EPT London Champion Robin Ylitalo.

Wiciak kept the chip lead for most of Day 7 but gave it up during four-handed and three-handed play as Shaw and Sydenstricker pulled ahead.

“At three-handed, we were like even,” said Wiciak. “So it was not that easy. And for me, it was a lot of money, that’s why we actually took the deal. If it had been a lower pay jump, maybe I would have refused [in order] to play my edge. But with this amount of money, I didn’t refuse it.”

Once the deal had been made, Wiciak returned his focus to taking home the trophy despite starting to lose some pots when they got three-handed.

“You know that’s it’s not going to be easy, but I was ready,” he said.

With two Brazilians at the final table for the second year in a row, it was a raucous few hours in the main tournament room at Casino Barcelona. Thankfully for Wiciak, he had a deep rail of French supporters to cheer him on as he played with millions on the line.

“Some of my friends were in the club last night, eight hours driving, they just [left] the club, took some stuff with them, and drove eight hours to come here,” Wiciak said. “So, obviously, I’m really, really happy with all of this. And on top of that, I got to [have] a call with my dad, and I heard him crying for the first time. So it was amazing.”

Day 7 Action

As play got underway on Day 7, it wasn’t long before a player was at risk. Waigel three-bet jammed his short stack with ace-seven, only to find himself dominated by the Big Slick of Sydenstricker, and was eliminated amid a choir of Brazilian cheers after failing to get help from the board.

Fan favorite Akkari, who entered the final two days of play as the short stack, finally hit the rail when he got it in with a flopped flush draw and couldn’t improve, to be chopped up by Shaw and his fellow Brazilian.

Plante was the next player at risk as he found his suited queen-ten dominated by the ace-queen of Wiciak before a rivered flush kept him alive. Plante’s luck changed for the worse when he later found himself all in with pocket queens to dominate the queen-nine of Shaw, who flopped an open-ended straight draw before binking it on the turn to drain the life out of Plante.

Shortly after the three remaining players reached a deal, Shaw found his king-queen dominated by Wiciak’s ace-queen to go out in third place and give the Frenchman a formidable chip lead over Sydenstricker.

After a brief heads-up battle, Sydenstricker and Wiciak found themselves in a memorable final hand that began with an open from Sydenstricker with queen-ten offsuit and a three-bet from Wiciak with six-five of clubs. Wiciak continued on the nine-five-deuce rainbow flop as Sydenstricker floated and then took the betting lead on the four of spades turn. With just queen-high, Sydenstricker moved all in when the nine of hearts river paired the board and Wiciak went into the tank before making a big call with just a pair of fives to win the tournament.

“The [bet] sizing [on the turn] was really small,” said Wiciak. “He went like less than one-third of the pot. Pretty [big] sizing tell for me…I think every time seeing his hand, basically he bet big when he has it and he bet small when he does not, if I had to simplify it. So he bet really small on the turn.”

“The last information he gave for me is he didn’t put his hood on. I played with him for the last few days, he always put his hoodie on, he’s really relaxed when he had trips against queens. He was stuck, didn’t move a bit, so everything put together made me make this call.”

That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team’s coverage of the EPT Barcelona Main Event here on the Mediterranean Coast. Be sure to check out the EPT Barcelona live reporting hub for coverage of other events.

The 2023 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona €5,300 EPT Main Event is nearing its end, but leading up to it there was a week’s worth of side events including the €100,000 EPT Super High Roller, a pair of €25,000 NLH events, and the record-breaking €1,100 Estreallas Poker Tour Main Event.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team has been on hand at all of them to capture all the action, and during that time they documented some big hands, be they bad beats, sick cools, or just game-changing in nature.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest hands from the EPT Barcelona festival.

Follow live updates from the 2023 EPT Barcelona here!

High Tide Sweeps Away Heimiller

On Day 1a of the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event, reporter Connor Richards caught a big hand in Level 9 (600/1,200/1,200). It happened when Dan Heimiller opened to 3,000 in early position and Rodrigo Noceda called on the button before Ryan Dansie three-bet jammed a stack of around 22,000 from the small blind. Heimiller called and Noceda re-shoved for around 75,000.

Heimiller went deep in the tank and counted his remaining stack of around 50,000 and ultimately found a call. “I apologize in advance,” Heimiller said as he put himself at risk.

Ryan Dansie: A♠5♠
Dan Heimiller: K♠7♠
Rodrigo Noceda: 10♥10♦

“I have a king,” Heimiller said as he evaluated his live outs. The board then ran out 9♣Q♥6♦J♥7♦ to keep Noceda’s tens ahead for a double elimination.

Dias Scores Double Elimination

In Level 3 (100/300/300) of the same tournament, Ben Weiss reported Yucheng Liu opened to 900 from middle position, before Saymon Dias in the cutoff made it 3,200. Marius Lussi called from the small blind, and so too did Liu as it went three ways to the flop.

It came 2♥3♣3♥. Both Lussi and Liu checked, prompting Dias to make it 3,500. Lussi called, but Liu chose to raise to 10,000. Dias, the original raiser, then shoved all in. It didn’t take long for Lussi and Liu to make the call for all of their remaining chips, with Dias having them both covered, and it was a three-way showdown with the turn and river to come.

Marius Lussi: A♠3♠
Yucheng Liu: A♥K♥
Saymon Dias: 10♦10♣

A stunned gasp was heard from the table, as the 10♥ turn completed Liu’s flush draw, but in the process gave Dias a full house. Lussi was then drawing completely dead and Liu had to hit the last remaining three in the deck to survive.

It didn’t come, as the 8♣ landed on the river, sending both Lussi and Liu to the rail in dramatic fashion and seeing Dias emerge as one of the chip leaders.

PN Pod: $20K Mistake, Negreanu Beats Polk, NAPT Returns, & Guest Tom Orpaz EPT Barcelona Heater

Big Swings for Kassouf

In the same flight in Level 7 (400/800/800), Ollie Garland saw a player in middle position open to 1,800,Cillian O’Donnell on the button moved all in for 3,500, Maxim Weingardt shoved all in for his remaining 8,000 from the small blind and Will Kassouf moved all in from the big blind for his last 30,000. The original raiser folded.

Cillian O’Donnell: A♦J♥
Maxim Weingardt: A♣J♠
Will Kassouf: 9♣9♦

Kassouf was in good shape until the flop landed Q♥A♠5♦. The turn and river came the 4♥ and 7♦ respectively and Kassouf had to pay off both his opponents.

The very next hand O’Donnell moved all in from the cutoff for his last 6,100. Kassouf called the bet in the small blind and the hand went to a showdown.

Cillian O’Donnell: 7♠7♥
Will Kassouf: A♥A♦

Kassouf preemptively called that a seven was coming on the flop, and he wasn’t wrong; the dealer spread 7♣6♥10♦.

The 10♥ turned and Kassouf sarcastically announced “Go on! 7♦ on the river!”. However, the dealer placed the A♠, and Kassouf sent O’Donnell to the rail.

Theodoridis Eliminates Alnuaimi in Brutal Cooler

On Day 2 of the tournament, it was Level 20 (6,000/12,000/12,000) players at a table recounted a hand to reporter Ryan Lashmar. At they explained, Aristidis Theodoridis opened to 22,000 and Ali Alnuaimi three-bet to 65,000. Theodoridis made the call.

The flop came A♠Q♦9♥. Alnuaimi checked, Theodoridis bet 36,000 and Alnuaimi called.

Alnuaimi check-called another bet on the 2♣ turn, this time for 75,000.

The river came the Q♠. Alnuaimi checked and Theodoridis moved all in with a covering stack. Alnuaimi snap-called.

Alnuaimi tabled AxAx for top full house while Theodoridis showed down QxQx for quad queens to take down a colossal pot and send Alnuaimi to the rail in horrific fashion.

Set Over Set, Flush Draw Hits, Millions of Chips Change Hands

On Day 2 of the €2,200 Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller, it was Level 29 (50,000/100,000/100,000) when Matt Warburton captured a big hand. It started when Thomas Saminadin raised to 160,000 from the hijack and was called by the button, Sal Al Fakih in the small blind and Frederic Breton called in the big blind.

The flop came 8♦3♦6♠. Action checked to Saminadin, who bet 250,000. Al Fakih called and Breton reraised to 700,000. Saminadin then moved all in for 2,790,000. Al Fakih called with a shorter stack and Breton called to make it a three-way all-in worth millions of chips. Players flipped their cards.

Sal Al Fakih: 6♥6♣
Thomas Saminadin: K♦J♦
Frederic Breton: 3♠3♣

Breton had a set of threes and Al Fakih had a set of sixes. He screamed out in joy. Saminadin had a flush draw. The turn came the 7♦ and the river the 4♣.

Saminadin hit his flush on the turn to win the pot and chip up to 5,700,000. Al Fakih was eliminated from the tournament and Breton was left with around 2,500,000. It was a game-changing pot, one that left Al Fakih unhappy and Saminadin counting what was now one of the biggest stacks.

Click here to see who won the €2,200 Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller!

Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

Simon Wiciak ended Day 4 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event as the chip leader. He was still atop the leaderboard at the end of Day 5. And the Frenchman remains the man to beat as only six players remain to chase the trophy after an action-packed Day 6.

Wiciak ended the night with 22,875,000 and the chip lead for the third consecutive day over the remaining six players who are all that’s left from the once-massive field of 2,120. Wiciak, who had just over $100,000 in total live earnings before the event, is already guaranteed £302,500 but will have his eye on the €1,488,000 top prize when the final table resumes on Sunday.

2023 EPT Barcelona Main Event Final Six Chip Counts

Chasing him is Carl Shaw, who was on the fortunate end of the biggest pot of the tournament on Day 6 that helped propel him to 17,400,000 by the end of the night. Shaw busted Daniyar Aubakirov with the nut straight against a set, then eliminated Curtis Knight in seventh place to end the day. The Englishman already has a WSOP bracelet and made the final table of the Irish Open in April.

Wiciak and Shaw combined hold more than 63 percent of the total chips in play. Santiago Plante (7,500,000), Joao Sydenstricker (6,150,000), and Ezequiel Waigel (5,150,000) will have to try to track them down tomorrow.

Then there’s PokerStars Team pro Andre Akkari, who has been the event’s ultimate survivor over the last three days, winning numerous all-ins and nursing a short stack most of the time. The Brazilian superstar, cheered on by a raucous rail, finds himself at the bottom of the leaderboard once again with 4,500,000.

Day 6 Action

Day 6 began with 16 players looking to secure their spot in the final six. Mircea Flutur, who won his entry into this event in an online qualifier, was the first elimination and took home €63,250 for his 16th-place finish.

Van Marcus, who earlier ran kings into Plante’s aces, busted in 15th. Then came a pot that swung the momentum of the day. Shaw and Aubakirov built a pot of more than 17,000,000 as Aubakirov was all in with a set but Shaw had a flopped straight. The board failed to pair on the river and Shaw raked in the massive pot, boosting his stack past 19,000,000 and into the chip lead.

Oshri Lahmani (13th), Mohamad El Rais (12th), and Markku Koplimaa (11th) followed to the rail. Plante then made trip threes to bust Jose Rodriguez Zurita in 10th place, setting up the nine-handed unofficial final table.

Sydenstricker donned a V for Vendetta mask at the final table, hoping for a miracle to augment his short stack. He found it right away. Sydenstricker was all in with king-jack but ran right into Plante’s pocket kings. The flop gave him flush and straight draws as his Brazilian rail pleaded for help. None arrived on the turn, but a queen on the river gave him a straight and kept him in the tournament (although, after a visit from a tournament official, he was forced to ditch the mask).

Final Nine Underway

The final nine played for nearly three hours until Mihai Niste jammed with ace-ten into the sixes of Shaw and couldn’t win the race. Robin Ylitalo, champion of EPT London nearly a decade ago, then moved all in on the river with just king-high and Wiciak snap-called with a straight to end Ylitalo’s hopes for a second title.

Knight was the last player who couldn’t survive the day, snap-calling from the big blind with tens when Shaw shoved from the small blind with jack-ten. A lucky jack on the flop left Knight looking for a single out to stay alive, but no miracles came on the turn and river to bring Day 6 to a close.

Akkari Chases an Elusive Title

Wiciak and Shaw hold most of the chips, but it’s Akkari who took the spotlight at the final table. Akkari first cashed in an EPT event more than 15 years ago. He’s one spot away from matching his fifth-place finish from EPT Barcelona in 2017. But first, he needed some magic to happen on Day 6.

Akkari had fewer than 10 big blinds at the start of the day. On one of the first hands, he found pocket queens and tripled up against Knight’s tens and Wiciak’s sevens. He then won a race with tens against Niste’s ace-king at the final table.

Akkari showed an incredible survival instinct. Just when it seemed like his run was about to come to an end, he found the cards he needed to stay alive. After Plante hit a flush on the river to double up, Akkari made his own flush to double against Wiciak. He then hit a running flush and blasted Wiciak off the flopped straight.

An EPT title is all that’s missing from Akkari’s career resume which already includes a WSOP bracelet, an EPT final table, and more than $3,000,000 in live earnings. It seemed impossible when Akkari was in 32nd out of 32 to start Day 5, and improbable when he was 16th out of 16 when Day 6 began; but Akkari gave his rail something to celebrate today, and his hopes are still very much alive heading into the final six.

Final Table Payouts

Poker League of Nations (PLON), a prominent women’s poker organization, will host a poker cruise in October out of Miami, and all members of the group are eligible to win a spot for free.

Nadya Magnus, the 2021 GPI Female Player of the Year, and Lena Evans, PLON’s founder, are giving out three packages worth $5,500 total, which includes a cruise aboard Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Oct. 22-27 and entry into the PLON Main Event, which takes place in the WPT at Sea Poker Room.

The ship will set sail from South Florida and stop in Costa Maya and Bimini Beach. While there will be plenty of opportunity for some relaxation, cocktails, and to soak up the sun, poker will be on the forefront of this excursion.

Cruise and Play Poker for Free?

On Sept. 9, there will be an opportunity for PLON members to win one of three spots on the cruise by competing in an online poker freeroll tournament.

The top three players from that freeroll will receive a travel and poker package worth $1,838. Not only will the winners receive a free spot on the cruise and into the PLON Main Event, they will also eat for free on the ship and get a $150 bar credit. Airfare is about the only thing that isn’t included in what figures to be a memorable vacation.

“Poker cruises are a fun and popular way for players to meet new poker friends. I am looking forward to days of floating under blue skies and night stars, plus breathing clean air with little need for decisions except for which poker game I am playing next! Nadya and Lena’s participation and PLON-sponsored ladies tournaments on board made it an easy decision,” PLON Co-President Janie Maddox said.

Poker League of Nations has members from all around the world. The organization promotes women in poker and often hosts various live and online events that help and encourage more women to play poker.

“Our mission is promoting and supporting women in the poker world,” Evans said.

Generous Poker Player

Magnus, who has nearly $2 million in The Hendon Mob results, has a lengthy history of generosity when it comes to helping women. As such, Evans said she is “pleased to partner with” the talented poker player. On top of donating money to give out free spots on the cruise, Magnus will give award a free entry into the $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December, set to become the largest guaranteed tournament ever with a promised $40 million minimum prize pool. Evans has also donated a ClubWPT Diamond Membership valued at $1,800, and other items to the prize pool.

At the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Magnus awarded a $10,000 Main Event seat via a contest to a lucky woman. She also awarded a 2024 WSOP Main Event seat to the woman who busted closest to the bubble in this year’s world championship event and has run similar contests to help promote women in poker.

During the same WSOP, Evans and PLON awarded a number of WSOP $1,000 Mini Main event seats, partnered with notables Kristen Foxen, Maria Ho, Victoria Livschitz, Lara Eisenberg, Chris Moneymaker, and Phil Hellmuth. Over its six year history, PLON has done many giveaways to women, including multiple $10,000 WSOP Main Event and Poker Masters $10k High Roller seats, and seats to many international series.

The October poker cruise will take place among a gorgeous Virgin Voyages cruise ship. Inside that ship is a WPT at Sea Poker Room, which hosts cash games and special events, including World Poker Tour-sponsored tournaments.

Nadya Magnus Wins GPI Player of the Year

With three titles already racked up, one player — “FlushMe2Tears” — has stood out ahead of the rest in the PokerGO Global Poker U.S. Poker Open series.

The series began Aug. 21 on the US-facing social poker site with the first two of 32 total Gold Coins (GC) and 32 Sweeps Coins (SC) events through Sept. 3. Each day during the series, Global Poker is hosting a Low and High tournament both for GC and SC players.

In our last update, we told you about “FlushMe2Tears’s” two wins on the GC side for a combined GC 8,100,000. This player did it again on Aug. 29 by taking down Event #10-H: GC 99,000 Super Bounty, a GC 25,000,000 guaranteed no-limit hold’em tournament, for GC 3,221,280.

Over on the Sweeps Coins side, “PattyC” remains the only two-time winner during the current USPO series. There were two big winners since our last update. “Poker God 107” won SC 10,046 for beating out 301 entrants in Event #9-H: SC 99 No-Limit Hold’em. “Dtfbobsaget,” who is clearly a fan of the late great comedian Bob Saget, claimed SC 12,270 for winning Event #11-H SC 99 No-Limit Hold’em, which also had 301 entrants.

Turnout during the Global Poker U.S. Poker Open series has been high. No tournament — GC or SC — has had less than 232 entrants, and most have been well above 400 players.

2023 USPO Gold Coin Winners Thus Far…

2023 USPO Sweeps Coin Winners Thus Far…

Win a Trip to Las Vegas

The Global Poker US Open series will feature 64 unique trophy events and will be headlined by the GC 125,000,000 guaranteed and SC 250,000 guaranteed Main Events. In total, the series will feature GC 757,500,000 and SC 1,515,000 in guaranteed prize pools.

There will also be leaderboards for the players competing in the series. The overall GC Leaderboard Champion will win the GP X USPO Champion hoodie, additional Global Poker X USPO apparel, the Golden Crown Trophy and five free entries to a Global Poker Golden Scrimmage tournament.

Meanwhile, the overall SC leaderboard champion will win a $5,000 trip to Las Vegas, where they will be presented with a $5,000 check and other prizes inside the PokerGO Studio.

As of press time, “lapochka888” sits atop the Gold Coin leaderboard with 1,167.33 points with “FlushMe2Tears” hot on their heels with 1,116.48. On the Sweeps Coin leaderboard, “flush634” is on top with 547.52 points, while “PattyC” isn’t too far behind with 521.87 points.

The remaining Gold and Sweeps Coins schedules for the Global Poker USPO are available in the tables below.

Remaining Global Poker USPO Gold Coins Schedule

Remaining Global Poker USPO Sweeps Coins Schedule

The PokerStars European Poker Tour €3,000 Mystery Bounty event, running at Casino Barcelona, has now wrapped up. There were a total of 1,339 entries to the event, which created a prize pool of €2,297,724. After three days of action, a champion has been crowned.

Ricardo De Andrade of Portugal emerged as the outright winner, locking up a top prize of €374,064, which along with €21,000 in bounties, made for a total of €395,064. He beat Armin Rezaei heads-up to win the tournament. Rezaei, who had been the big stack for much of the final table, had to settle for second place and €233,890.

Jan Bronkhorst made the final table and finished in seventh place for €58,480. He also pulled one of the €200,000 bounties, so came out as one of the top winners in terms of overall prize money.

Final Table Payouts

Epic Bounty Prizes

Bounties came into play at the start of Day 2, with €1,000 of the entry fee going into the bounty pool. Incredible mystery prizes were up for grabs, including one €100,000 prize and two top prizes of €200,000.

Along with Bronkhorst, Samy Boujmala was the other player to draw a €200,000 prize.

Klas Lofberg won the €100,000 prize early in Day 2. Ahmed Ibrahimi, Anthony Michel Cruz, Zlatin Penev and Michel Dattani each claimed €50,000 bounty prizes.

By the time action reached the final table, only one €5,000 ticket remained in the box, along with the €1,000 tickets. This meant the tournament reverted to more of a regular format, with players aiming to increase their position for the maximum prize money rather than bust opponents.

Day 3 and Final Table

There were 22 players who returned for the final day, with Ismet Oral the chip leader and Razvan Belea second in chips. Stacks were fairly even between second and fifth place, so it was still anyone’s game.

Dan Heimiller was the first to bust on Day 3, but he was seen pulling seven bounty tickets out of the box, including one of the remaining €5,000 prizes.

A double bust soon followed, with De Andrade knocking out both Peter Tordai and Belea in one hand, the start of a run that would see him go all the way. The bustouts came thick and fast until the final table was reached around three-and-a-half hours into the day’s play.

By the time action went four handed, Rezaei had gained a massive chip lead. He then knocked out Kenne in fourth and accumulated 26,500,000 chips as the game went three-handed. He then eliminated Nakdali in third and went into heads-up with a near 8:1 chip advantage over his opponent.

That all changed when play resumed. De Andrade doubled up, won a few pots, and then doubled up again to take the chip lead. After less than one hour of heads-up action, De Andrade called Rezaei’s river bluff in the final pot of the night, winning the tournament and earning himself an EPT trophy.

Winner’s Reaction

“Yesterday, around the bubble, I was running really, really good. I was chip leading on the bubble. I couldn’t lose a pot, it was insane. Today things started quiet, nothing too important. I lost a huge pot at the final table against the guy who went heads-up with me.”

“Heads-up started with an almost ten-to-one disadvantage, but I regained my focus. I got lucky also, but first I doubled up and next I won two pots, three pots. When that happened, I felt like I’m going to take this down. The momentum was there and I was confident.”

“I mostly play online. Live, this is my second event. My first one was in March at Estrellas Madrid. This is my first time coming to an EPT and yeah, huge score.”

“My hands are shaking man, I don’t even know how to express it. Just to play an EPT is a dream come true, but to win an event is crazy. It’s crazy.”

“The money is important obviously, but I think the most important thing is the trophy and winning an EPT event.”

That wraps up the PokerNews coverage of the €3,000 Mystery Bounty. Stay tuned as live reporters follow the Main Event and others as the series concludes this weekend.

Phil Hellmuth can’t even avoid trash-talkers in a poker room he co-owns. The “Poker Brat” lost a big pot to NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Jason White (aka “J-White”) who then playfully taunted the Poker Hall of Famer during a live-stream at Champions Club in Houston, Texas.

PokerGO handled the live-streaming duties on YouTube for the relatively low-stakes cash games Wednesday and Thursday evenings — low-stakes by Hellmuth’s standards, at least.

Recreational Poker Player Does Poker Icon Dirty

White, a Canadian recreational poker player who is currently under a NASCAR suspension over a DUI arrest last month, bought in for $5,000 on Thursday. He’d go on to lose nearly $2,900, bringing his two-day cumulative losses to $7,800. But it could have been much worse for him if not for one huge pot he played against a poker legend.

Victoria Livschitz raised to $75 with A♠7♠ before J-White moved all in for $4,650 with Q♠Q♥. Hellmuth, in the small blind, then made it $10,000 with A♣K♣ and Livschitz folded.

White and the 17-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner would go heads up in a race for a $9,410 pot. They agreed to run the board just one time, and it came out 2♣2♠9♥3♥3♠, giving the NASCAR truck driver all the chips.

https://twitter.com/PokerGO/status/1697411972332228693

“Nice hand, J-White, nice hand,” Hellmuth said after losing the pot.

“Why would you go all in?” White asked. “You didn’t even have a pair. I thought you were the best in the world?”

Of course, J-White was just playfully taunting Hellmuth and meant no harm by it. The ribbing of the Poker Brat was all in good fun. There’s a slim chance they’ll switch roles one day and compete against each other in a NASCAR race, especially given Hellmuth’s “track” record in that arena.

Hellmuth, along with fellow poker legend Dewey Tomko, is a part owner of Champions Club in Houston, which opened a brand-new location in April. He’s done his part to promote the room, and showing up for the second time to play on the live-stream, given his stature within the poker community, sure doesn’t hurt.

In May, he competed in some much bigger games on the stream against some high-profile players such as Shaun Deeb and Dan “Jungleman” Cates.

Hellmuth ended up winning a whole $10 on the Thursday stream. That won’t even buy him dinner. But the $9,240 he won at Champions the night before certainly will.

Hellmuth Helps Promote Champions Club Grand Opening

On the latest PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Connor Richards, and Matt Hansen catch you up to speed on what’s been happening at EPT Barcelona, Daniel Negreanu defeating Doug Polk on High Stakes Duel, and the return of PokerStars’ North American Poker Tour (NAPT).

They also delve into the Global Poker US Poker Open (USPO), tell you about the first winner from the the PokerStars Summer Series, cover two big hands involving pocket queens from the past week, and debate arguably the hottest topic of the week — would you pay back $20K after a player grossly misread his hand and called off on the river (which actually happened on Hustler Casino Live)?

As for a guest, Connor and Matt were at EPT Barcelona and caught up with Tom Orpaz, a high-stakes real estate entrepreneur who in his spare time can be found grinding the EPT High Roller circuit. Orpaz, who made headlines in 2020 for purchasing the most expensive apartment in the world, went on a tear at EPT Barcelona that saw him winning €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em and €50,000 Super High Roller Second Chance for two trophies and over $1 million in winnings, proving he can hold his own among the top pros. PokerNews caught up with Orpaz, who has proven to be one of the most entertaining and talkative players on typically reserved High Roller Circuit.

Listen to those stories and more on the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast!

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Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.