Written by :
Published on :
After five intense days of poker action, Italian player Lorenzo “bovediroma” Sabato has become the first Estrellas Barcelona Main Event champion. Sabato won the €200,000 first prize after defeating Russian player Andrey Demidov heads-up; Demidov took €122,500 for his runner-up place and Sweden’s Niclas Svensson took home €76,500 for third.
The €1,000 Main Event of Season 3 of the Estrellas Poker Tour was held at Casino Barcelona from August 15 to 19. This last event of the season made history as the biggest tournament ever organised in Spain, with a total of 1,036 players from 55 different countries generating a massive €1,004,940 prize pool.
A total of 128 players were paid including French player Jacques Zaicik, one of Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier’s closest friends, bubbled the final for €12,500. Tomeu Gomila, who finished fifth at EPT Barcelona last season cashed in tenth place, while Juan Maceiras finished 12th, EPT Vienna champion Michael Eiler was 16th and EPT Prague winner Martin Finger 21st. Also in the money were PokerStars Greek Challenger Stavros Kalfas, Kenny Hallaert, EPT Warsaw winner and Champion of Champions Christophe Benzimra, former EPT Player of the Year Fernando Brito, Team PokerStars Pros Marcin Horecki and Jude Ainsworth.
The final table started off with eight players; the first to exit was Swiss player Jonas Garstick, who secured a prize of €16,000, followed two hours later by Spain’s Artur Alabart Urgelles in 7th place for €22,000. Just ten minutes later, Catalan player Pere Estatuet was sent home in 6th place with a prize of €30,100 for his efforts. Just after the second break, the last Spanish player Samuel Barnabeu exited in 5th place for €44,200.
After a quick start, the game started to slow down with those remaining fighting hard to take stay in the game but, three hours after the last elimination, Demidov stepped up the pace and kicked out the last Spanish player left in the tournament, PokerStars Qualifier Miguel Mora, who finished 4th (€59,200). The last three players decided to forego their dinner break and keep playing. Sabato, known online as “bovediroma” (Ox of Rome), brought the game to its conclusion by eliminating both Svensson and Demidov in less than 30 minutes. Sabato, the first ever Estrellas Poker Tour Barcelona champion, said: “I’m really happy to have won. I would to thank my family and friends who have been supporting me since I became a professional poker player”.
Source: www.pokerstars.com
