Martin Schleich has taken the victory at the PokerStars European Poker Tour main event in Barcelona, Spain, after winning against the local hero Dragan Kostic in the heads-up. The German player has taken home €850,000 in prize money for his victory.
Although Eugene Katchalov started the day of the last position by the chip count, he was able to double up early on, increasing his shances to get the triple crown. But his dreams were shattered by the champoion of the tournament eliminating him in the third place for €315,000 in prize money.
Martin Schleich had a great torunament. He started on day 1a taking the chip lead at the end of the day. He had some troubles on day 3 finishing in the second place from behind, but was able to come back on day 4 and finish the day in the 5th position on the final table. After eliminating Eugene Katchalov, he was up against Dragan Kostic heads up with a 1.75-to-1 chip advantage. Kostic was able to closen up the chip advantage but he was eliminated shortly afterwards with a weaker kicker. He took home the €532,000 consolidation prize for the second place.
The next stop of the PokerStars European Poker Tour will be in London at the end of september.
Final table standings and payouts:
1st – Martin Schleich – €850,000
2nd – Dragan Kostic – €532,000
3rd – Eugene Katchalov – €315,000
4th – Raul Mestre – €244,000
5th – Tomeu Gomila – €185,000
7th – Saar Wilf – €145,000
8th – Juan Manuel Perez – €105,000
9th – Isabel Baltazar – €73,000
Tomeu Gomila is holding more than twice the average chip count with 6,985,000 in chips, while the second placed Saar Wilf and the third placed Raul Mestre are the only ones with more the average chip count with 4,555,000 and 4,260,000 in chips, respectively.
Although the name of the event is Poker in the Park, besides various Sit and Go tournaments, visitors will also be able to learn about chess, backgammon and mah-jong. There will also be tournaments for the various game, and the mah-jong tournament is said to be the biggest ever held in United Kingdom.
Leading the field of 24 survivors is Tomeu Gomila with 2,543,000 in chips, followed by Raul Mestre with 2,363,000 in chips. The two players were also the only ones to breache the two million mark. The chip leader ater day 2, Xavier Carruggi, finished the day in the 14th position with 542,000 in chips while Guillaume Darcourt, the chip leader of day one was eliminated just short of the final 24.