Who's Going To Be the Champion?
After two days of high stakes action in Barcelona, the Super High Roller crowd of 99 is down to just 9 players. Already well into the money, the finalists will battle it out for the €1,224,000 first place prize at 12:30 pm (in about 75 minutes).
Yesterday's day was an exciting one, with most of the drama coming from the bubble. Viacheslav Buldygin was the unfortunate player to go out in 16th place, guaranteeing the remaining 15 layers a pay day of at least €80,800. For some, that didn't get them even for the tournament just yet, as more than one player had invested 2 bullets to get where they were.
Where most tournaments see lots of players fall after the bubble bursts, this Super High Roller continued for quite a while without any new casualties. Eventually, players did go broke and Igor Kurganov (15th, €80,800), Stephen Chidwick (14th, €80,800), Max Altergott (13th, €87,900), Mike McDonald (12th, €87,900), Fedor Holz (11thth, €99,800), and Ben Tollerene (10th, €99,800) eventually fell before play was halted after the ten levels scheduled were played out.
The remaining nine players will battle it out this afternoon for that first place prize of €1,224,000. Australian Michael Egan, who's live cashes all have come from tournaments in Australia, is on the verge of beating his best live result to date. Unless he finishes ninth, he'll beat his old record of $144,000 - the sum of money he received for winning the Victorian Poker Championship in Melbourne back in 2010. JC Alvarado, who finished runner up in the inaugural EPT Barcelona Super High Roller back in 2012, is back and placed in the middle of the pack this time. Here's the starting line up for todays final table:
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | 4,325,000 | 72 |
| 2 | Steve O'Dwyer | 2,450,000 | 41 |
| 3 | Christoph Vogelsang | 4,765,000 | 79 |
| 4 | JC Alvarado | 2,485,000 | 41 |
| 5 | Byron Kaverman | 495,000 | 8 |
| 6 | Sylvain Loosli | 1,200,000 | 20 |
| 7 | Ivan Luca | 2,580,000 | 43 |
| 8 | Paul Newey | 1,035,000 | 17 |
| 9 | Michael Egan | 5,410,000 | 90 |
The 2011 edition of the PokerStars EPT Barcelona festival had a €10,000 single reentry tournament, won by Philipp Gruissem. The 2012 edition featured a €50,000 Super High Roller, a first for the tour's stop, and the tournament has been a fixture on the schedule ever since.
| Season | Year | Entries | Super High Roller Champion | Super High Roller Runner-Up | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 9 | 64 | Dan Smith | €962.925 | JC Alvarado | €788,674 |
| 2013 | 10 | 51 | Vitaly Lunkin | €771,300 | Erik Seidel | €557,100 |
| 2014 | 11 | 77 | Olivier Busquet | €896,434 | Daniel Colman | €843,066 |
| 2015 | 12 | 99 | --TBD-- | €1,224,000 | --TBD-- | €841,500 |
Before play starts, and you keep your fingers on the refresh button to check all the updates right here on PokerNews.com, check out the interview we did with EPT debutant Ben Tollerene:
| Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
|---|---|---|
|
5,410,000 | |
|
4,765,000 | |
|
4,325,000 | |
|
||
|
2,580,000 | |
|
2,485,000 | |
|
2,450,000 | |
|
|
||
|
1,200,000 | |
|
1,035,000 | |
|
495,000 | |
and Egan checked. Urbanovich, now receiving a cappuccino from a waitress and gulping it down, bet out 155,000. Vogelsang called, Egan quickly released. The 
on the turn made Urbanovich check. Vogelsang carefully gathered some chips and bet 350,000. Urbanovich, now offered some granola by his neighbour O'Dwyer, made the call.
and while Urbanovich was busy downing a bottle of still water, Vogelsang asked if he had checked. Urbanovich, a man of little words, just shook his head. After his water was done for, Urbanovich bet out a mere 285,000. Vogelsang called.
, but it wasn't going to win him the pot. Vogelsang tabled 
and took it down.
flop. Urbanovich check called a bet of 150,000. The Polish prodigy check called another 375,000 on the 
turn. 
hit the river and Urbanovich checked for a third time. Vogelsang carefully cut out 850,000 and slid them forward. Urbanovich wasn't the happiest camper in the world, but after some tanking he did somewhat reluctantly toss in a single 5,000 chip to indicate he was calling.
and Urbanovich revealed 
for the full house.
, and after counting down the stacks Kaverman was left with just 115,000 chips.
on the turn didn't bring the man at risk any fortune though, and neither did the 
on the river.
and O'Dwyer was knocked out in seventh place.
