Main Event Champ Tom Middleton Headlines EPT Barcelona Winners
Both the High Roller and Main Event crushed previous highs at EPT Barcelona in terms of turnouts, with 180 entries for the High Roller beating the previous record of 101 from last year and 1,234 entries in the ME topping last year's high of 1,082.
The first stop on the European Poker Tour has come to an end in Barcelona, with huge fields marking the launch of the EPT's 10th season. Highlighting the 27 different tourneys on the EPT Barcelona schedule were the €48,500+€1,500 Super High Roller, the €10,000+€300 High Roller, and the €5,000+€300 Main Event. Vitaly Lunkin took the Super High Roller title, Thomas Muhlocker outlasted Daniel Negreanu heads-up to win the High Roller, and Tom Middleton claimed the Main Event crown.
Super High Roller: Lunkin binks one
The festival at the Casino Barcelona -- inclusive of both the EPT events and several Estrellas Poker Tour tourneys as well -- kicked off with a three-day €48,500+€1,500 buy-in Super High Roller event that drew 51 entries total, including 11 players who rebought.
Only the top seven finishers made the cash, with the Russian Vitaly Lunkin ultimately topping a stacked final table including Erik Seidel heads-up to win a big €771,300 first prize.
Among those making the final table and the money were the young German Ole Schemion and November Niner David Benefield of the U.S. Both Schemion and Benefield earned the distinction of cashing in the Super High Roller, the High Roller, and the Main Event at EPT Barcelona.
Seidel had the chip lead to start heads-up play versus Lunkin, and in fact increased his advantage to more than 3-to-1 before Lunkin doubled up once with Ah-7s versus Seidel's pocket queens after an ace flopped. Soon it was Lunkin building a big lead before finally taking the last of Seidel's chips when his Ac-5h outlasted Seidel's Kd-Qc.
EPT10 Barcelona Super High Roller final table results:
1st: Vitaly Lunkin (Russia) -- €771,300
2nd: Erik Seidel (United States) -- €557,100
3rd: Steve O'Dwyer (Ireland) -- €355,100
4th: Mike McDonald (Canada) -- €269,400
5th: David Benefield (United States) -- €208,150
6th: Ole Schemion (Germany) -- €159,200
7th: Fabian Quoss (Germany) -- €128,515
High Roller: Muhlocker comeback foils Negreanu
The three-day €10,000+€300 High Roller played out from Thursday through Saturday, with stories of the start and finish dominated by Daniel Negreanu thanks to a bit of controversy early on Day 1 and his near triumph in the event, thwarted by the young Austrian Thomas Muhlocker who managed to overcome Negreanu heads-up.
The event ultimately attracted 180 entries, a huge jump over the 101 who played the same tournament a year ago. That total included 42 players who re-entered once (as permitted), one of those being Negreanu after busting in somewhat notable fashion during the second one-hour level on Day 1.
Negreanu had already lost more than half of his starting stack when a hand arose in which he posted his small blind then had his hand killed when he was standing away from his seat when the first card was dealt. Upset at the dealer's decision to apply in this instance the "At Your Seat" rule that requires players to be at their seats when the first card is dealt or risk having their hand killed, Negreanu argued his case to the floorperson to no avail, then on the following hand went all in without looking at his cards, ultimately losing his stack.
Negreanu would re-enter later on Day 1 and survive to the second day of the event with below average chips, then managed to build up his stack to sit third in chips behind Joni Jouhkimainen and Jean-Noel Thorel with nine left at the start of Day 3.
Negreanu grabbed the chip lead early on the final day and would keep it right up until heads-up play with Muhlocker. Negreanu had 7.7 million to Muhlocker's 1.3 million to begin their battle, but Muhlocker won two flips in a row to grab the lead, then picked up Ac-Ks versus Negreanu's Ah-Qs which led to another preflop all-in. Again Muhlocker's hand prevailed, and he won the title.
Meanwhile, Negreanu moved into third place on the all-time tournament winnings list -- jumping back ahead of Seidel who'd passed him thanks to his Super High Roller finish -- and into first position in the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race.
EPT10 Barcelona High Roller final table results:
1st: Thomas Muhlocker (Austria) -- €390,700
2nd: Daniel Negreanu (Canada) -- €263,800
3rd: Jean-Noel Thorel (France) -- €181,500
4th: Joni Jouhkimainen (Finland) -- €148,000
5th: Jonathan Duhamel (Canada) -- €118,000
6th: Ole Schemion (Germany) -- €90,700
7th: Richard Yong (United States) -- €66,000
8th: David Benefield (United States) -- €47,850
Main Event: Nearly nine-fiddy for "Middy"
Finally the €5,000+€300 EPT Barcelona Main Event also crushed records with a largest ever field of 1,234 for the event. That turnout produced a huge prize pool of nearly €6 million, with U.K. online star Tom "hitthehole" Middleton finishing a remarkable streak of end-of-day chip leads to win the title and a €942,500 first prize.
Middleton had the chip lead to end Day 3 with 79 players left, led the 24 who made it to the end of Day 4, and also led to start the eight-handed final table. He'd lose the lead each day before gaining it back, including on the last day when Kresten Nielsen of Denmark enjoyed the lead for much of the afternoon and evening.
By the time they reached four-handed on that final day, Italy's Luca Fiorini had nudged into the lead although all four players were close. That's when the four tried to come to terms regarding a four-way chop but ultimately could not, then Fiorini soon was eliminated in fourth after losing most of his stack to Kimmo Kurko of Finland, then the rest to Middleton.
Nielsen went out soon thereafter in third, setting up heads-up between Kurko and Middleton. Those two did manage to come to an agreement to even out the remaining prize money somewhat, then battled for more than three hours before Middleton prevailed.
Finally pushing out to a better than 2-to-1 advantage, the pair got all of Kurko's chips in the middle with Ac-4s versus Middleton's 5s-5h, and when the board came 10h-6c-7c-Kh-8h, "Middy" had won.
EPT10 Barcelona Main Event final table results:
1st: Tom Middleton (United Kingdom) -- €942,000*
2nd: Kimmo Kurko (Finland) -- €750,000*
3rd: Kresten Nielsen (Denmark) -- €440,500
4th: Luca Fiorini (Italy) -- €328,000
5th: Pasi Sormunen (Finland) -- €253,000
6th: Benoit Gury (France) -- €188,000
7th: Eduard Bhaggo (Netherlands) -- €143,000
8th: Andreas Christoforou (Cyprus) -- €102,430
*reflects two-way deal
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
