Six days of play in this year's EPT Barcelona Main Event led up to the formation of the final six, which appeared yesterday in the final game for the title. The quick final, lasting only about 4 hours, brought the elimination of Ezequiel Waigel right at the start, who took home €302,500 after the A 7 clash against A K . He was followed by Brazilian professional Andre Akkari, who as the biggest short managed to survive at least one payjump and took home €393,300.
Subsequently, the players handed each other the chip leader's seat, until a truly unlucky moment came for Santiago Plante. He was disappointed in fourth place by pocket Q Q , with which he had a 90% chance of winning against Shaw with Q 9 , but it wouldn't be poker if ite couldn't bring moments like these:
After that elimination of Santiago Plante in the fourth place, the last three got into a deal debate that found common ground. The agreement provided the players with approximately one million euros, but there was still a finish for the title and an extra €108,975 ahead of us:
- Sydenstricker – 1,048,550€*
- Wiciak – 1,025,400€*
- Shaw – 901,070€*
It didn't take long and Simon Wiciak took care of eliminating Carl Shaw (A Q vs K Q ), thanks to which he carried a 38m:25m advantage into the final heads-up. During more than half an hour of play, Sydenstricker managed to quickly erase the deficit and even take the lead, but after a failed bluff, the Frenchman still had to enjoy the title.
The final hand to the entire tournament, including Wiciak's life streak, was given by the last hand, in which his opponent Sydenstricker bluffed all-in with Q T on the river 9 5 2 4 9. Wiciak tanked for a long time, as he revealed in the interview, carefully watching his opponent, looking for some tells, but when he finally found them, he decided to call with the 6 5 combination. That was enough to win this spot, but at the same time it caused an explosion of joy in the French camp.
The chip leader of the last three days, Simon Wiciak, deservedly became the champion of the second largest EPT Main Event in history, for which he took home a total of €1,134,375. "The win means a lot to me, I'm glad to be able to share the joy with my friends who traveled with me 8 hours by car. What touched me the most was when I called my father and heard him cry for the first time in his life. It was amazing. I will definitely start playing more live poker after this success."
Final results of the final table:
- Simon Wiciak – 1,134,375€*
- Joao Sydenstricker – 1,048,550€*
- Carl Shaw – 901,070€*
- Santiago Plante – 511,300€
- Andre Akkari – 393,300€
- Ezequiel Waigel – 302,500€
Source: PSlive, PokerNews, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr
