Unibet Open Barcelona 2011 Won By Sanchez Cebollada

Spaniard Ruben Sanchez Cebollada has triumphed at the 2011 Unibet Open Barcelona, after defeating a field of 387 players over three days to lift the title, and collect the €145,000 ($209,446) first place prize.
In total, the large field attracted to the €1,650 event managed to create a prize pool worth an impressive €551,500.
Eventually, by the time the final table of
nine had been reached Cebollada was the third biggest chip stack, and was one of three Spaniards remaining in the competition. His other two compatriots were Jose Marin Fuentes and Emilio Munoz Dominguez.
Also competing for a share of the prize-pool were three Dutch players (Daniel Reijmer, Pim Van Riet, Tuan Duy Ngo), as well as the Russian Andrei Vlassenko, Lithuanian Tomas Kesiunas, and Sweden’s Davor Pavic.
The final table then developed into a marathon 12 hour battle which became somewhat of a shove-fest after the exits of Tomas Kesiunas in 9th (€10,000), Tuan Duy Ngo in 8th (€12,400),  Daniel Reijmer in 7th (€17,300), and Andrei Vlassenko in 6th (€23,500).
At this point the remaining player’s average stack was just 20 big blinds, and with the blinds now incredibly high, the strategy then became a straightforward shove or fold.
Eventually, just Sanchez Cebollada and Sweden’s Davor Pavic were left to battle it out for the title. After a lengthy series of raise/fold hands, the blinds had reached 80,000/160,000 when the duo got all their chips into the centre of the table.
Soon, Cebollada saw the good news that his A-9 was dominating Pavic’s A-7, and with a 9 then hitting on the flop, Ruben Sanchez Cebollada was crowned the 2011 Unibet Open Barcelona Champion, while Davor Pavic had to content himself with a runner-up finish worth €90,000.
Next stop on the Unibet Tour will be held in Dublin from the 25th to 28th August. The €1,650 event will be capped at 400 players with qualifiers available at Unibet.com starting next week.