Ben Pollak Wins EPT Barcelona €50k Single-Day High Roller for €979k

Ben Pollak Wins EPT Barcelona €50k Single-Day High Roller for €979k

French pro Benjamin Pollak has claimed victory at the EPT Barcelona €50,000 Single-Day High Roller event after defeating a field of 69 entries (15 re-entries), including fellow countryman Jean-Noel Thorel heads-up, to walk away with a huge €979,000 ($1,140,215) first place prize. Following his remarkable performance, Pollak commented:

“You know, there is usually a key moment in a tournament and as of twenty left, everything went my way and the stack kept getting bigger.”

In 2017, Benjamin Pollak reached the WSOP Main Event’s final table, eventually finishing in 3rd place for $3.5 million. Following his latest success, Pollak now boasts $11,029,100 in tournament winnings since 2007, placing him at number two on France’s ‘All Time Money List’, and narrowing the gap between himself and Bertrand Grospellier on $13,603,274.

€50,000 Single-Day High Roller

The €50,000 Single-Day High Roller featured a €3,347,190 ($3,898,382) prize pool, meaning just nine players would see a return on their huge buy-ins. By the time the unofficial final table of nine was set, Pollak was lying in pole position on a 114 big blind stack, or more than double that of nearest contender Jean-Noel Thorel.

Seth Davies (A-A) then eliminated Matthias Eibinger (2-2) in 9th place, while Ryan Riess (Qh-Qc) took care of Jan-Eric Schwippert (10c-4c) in 8th after the latter moved all-in on an 8c-6h-5c flop, but then failed to hit either his straight or flush draws.

Next, Alex Foxen’s pocket rockets were good enough to see off Jack Salter (A-K) in 7th, with Foxen’s same pocket pair also consigned Seth Davies (K-7) to a 6th place finish after he called all-in on a K-9-8 flop, but received no relief from the 8 turn and 6 river.

Continuing his run, Foxen (A-8) dispatched Mikalai Vaskaboinikau (4-4) to the rail in 5th, before Jean Noel Thorel entered the fray in a pocket threes versus pocket sevens preflop all-in against Ryan Riess, who subsequently exited in 4th when the dealer laid out a Q-Q-2-3-5 board. Finally, it was Alex Foxen’s time to depart after finding himself badly dominated in a K-Q versus A-Q mismatch against Pollack, with the ensuing 8-7-2-4-4 board securing a 3rd place finish for the pro worth €456,900.

Benjamin Pollak vs Jean Noel Thorel

Thorel started heads-up sitting on a roughly a 5-to-4 chip lead, but Pollack soon managed to forge ahead to a 11-to-1 advantage by the time the final hand arose an hour later. Pollak (A-9) called Thorel’s (A-3) all-in shove, and after the board ran J-7-6-J-10 the latter had to settle for a runner-up finish worth €703,000 ($822,510). In April, Thorel also placed 3rd at the €100K Super High Roller partypoker MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona for €726,000 ($892,671), and following his latest score the 71-year-old currently boasts $4,666,894 in career earnings.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Pollak was crowned the €50k High Roller champion, and has now made nine final tables and won two titles in 2018 alone, the other being at the $26,000 US Poker Open Las Vegas for $416,500.

Final Table Results (US$)

1: Benjamin Pollak $1,145,430
2: Jean Noel Thorel $822,510
3: Alex Foxen $534,573
4: Ryan Riess $403,299
5: Mikalai Vaskaboinikau $313,326
6: Seth Davies $242,775
7: Jack Salter $191,880
8: Jan Eric Schwippert $148,824

€5,300 Main Event

The European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona features 34 events throughout its 12-day run from August 21 to September 2. The €50,000 Single-Day High Roller was the second highest buy-in event at the Casino Barcelona, with Belarusian number one Mikita Badziakouski taking down its €100,000 Super High Roller event for €1,650,300 ($1,912,903).

Meanwhile, all eye’s are currently on its flagship €5,300 Main Event, which attracted a huge field of 1,474 players to create a prize pool worth €9,365,350. Following two starting days, the competition is now into Day 3 with just 206 players remaining. A €1,611,500 prize awaits its eventual winner, and leading the way so far is Ben Wilinofsky (880k), followed by Almedin Imsirovic (810k) and David Petrzelka (771k). Also still in contention is Fernando Pons (678k), Mark Radoja (511k), Mustapha Kanit (385k), Shaun Deeb (363k), and Leo Margets (340k), to name but a few.