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Another fast-paced tournament at the 2018 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona is in the books. After 12 hours of action, the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller was taken down by Andras Nemeth (cover image) who topped 95 entrants to stake his claim on the title and a hefty payday of €605,600.
Nemeth was second in chips with 1,950,000 when action began on the final table, but he went on to change the momentum of his play and took over the lead. In heads-up play, he defeated Wai Leong Chan after completing a wheel on the river against Chan’s pocket aces.
The Single Day High Roller attracted many big names and several among them failed to take home a payday including, Sam Greenwood, Mikita Badziakouski, Alex Foxen, James Romero, Cary Katz, Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu, Dan Shak, Patrik Antonius, Nick Petrangelo, Stephen Chidwick, Luc Greenwood, James Chen and Dario Sammartino.
The top 13 finishers were paid a minimum assured €45,620 out of the €2,280,950 prize pool and as expected tension was palpable when the field was down to 14 players. The bubble level had to be extended since the short stacks resiliently fought on. Nemeth was among them, and he won a vital flip against Pascal Lefrancois with ace-ten to improve his stack.
The bubble finally burst on Juan Pardo Dominguez, who was comfortable with an above average stack but lost his stack to Matthias Elbinger. Elbinger pressured Dominguez to move all in, and Dominguez who held pocket aces, snap-called. He was leading against Elbinger’s ace-eight of clubs but Elbinger hit the nut flush on the board and Dominguez picked up the unfortunate bubble boy tag at the event.
Pascal Lefrancois (11th for €49,050), Salman Behbehani (12th for €49,050) and Seth Davies (13th for €45,620) also fell out subsequently.
The final table began after Dan Smith (10th for €49,050) made his way out of the game.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Matthias Eibinger – 2,150,000
2. Andras Nemeth – 1,950,000
3.Chin Wei Lim – 1,050,000
4. Jean-Noel Thorel – 825,000
5. Wai Leong Chan – 825,000
6. Vladimir Troyanovskiy – 820,000
7. Michel Dattani – 800,000
8. Sean Winter – 650,000
9. Byron Kaverman – 470,000
Final Table Recap
The final table saw its first elimination when Sean Winter clashed with Thorel in a hand where he tabled king-queen against Thorel’s pocket eights. Despite inching close to hitting a straight on the flop jack-ace-nine, Winter missed it altogether on the turn and the river and headed to the payout desk at ninth place.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy then ran his pocket threes against Lim’s pocket fours to hit the rail in eighth place.
Elbinger next eliminated Michel Dattani. Despite leading preflop with ace-nine against the formers eight-six and staying ahead on the king-five-seven flop, Dattani couldn’t match Elbinger’s hand after the latter hit a straight when the four appeared on the turn. Dattani bounced off in seventh place.
The biggest pot of the tournament saw Jean-Noel Thorel losing a massive pot to Chan that got him very short-stacked. He finally risked his tournament life by moving all in for his last four big blinds with and was called by Kaverman holding . Clearly, Kaverman was ahead preflop and paired his seven on the flop. Thorel clipped a pair on the turn but was still trailing and the bricked for him, sending him out in sixth place.
Chin Wei Lim’s tournament run ended in fifth place where the action folded to Nemeth who completed from the small blind followed by Lim in the big blind moving all in. Nemeth snap called and both players turned over their cards. Nemeth’s had Lim’s dominated and things stayed that way on the rundown to send Lim packing.
Next, Byron Kaverman raised to 300,000 from the cutoff and Chan made it 700,000 from the button. The blinds folded before Kaverman called and tabled against Chan’s . Chan flopped top pair on the board while Kaverman was eliminated in fourth place.
Matthias Elbinger, who had entered the final table with the biggest stack and was a serious contender for the title, was relegated to a third place finish. He moved all in for 1.3 Million from the button and was called by Chan from the small blind. Elbinger tabled vs. Chan’s . The flop came : and Chan paired his queen while Elbinger needed an ace or nine to survive. The turn was no help to him and Chan locked the pot hitting trips on the river to send Elbinger out in third place.
The heads-up match turned out to be a short and interesting show. Nemeth and Wai Leong Chan traded pots over a series of hands and were neck to neck in chips before Nemeth began to apply pressure and pull ahead. On the final hand, Nemeth called from the button and saw Chan make the raise. Nemeth opted to move all in and Chan responded with a quick call. Nemeth tabled against Chan’s . Chan looked well on his way to victory and the flop brought hope for Nemeth who picked a wheel draw. The much needed three didn’t hit the turn, where appeared but the river was a , sealing Chan’s fate to a second place finish as Nemeth won the title!
Final Table Results (Euro)
1. Andras Nemeth – €605,600
2. Wai Leong Chan – €420,800
3. Matthias Eibinger – €278,280
4. Byron Kaverman – €217,820
5. Chin Wei Lim – €175,600
6. Jean-Noel Thorel – €136,860
7. Michel Dattani – €108,350
8. Vladimir Troyanovskiy – €84,400
9. Sean Winter – €63,900
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