Luigi Shehadeh Triumphs at 888Live Barcelona Main Event

Between May 11-22nd, the Gran Casino de Barcelona played host to the 888Live festival, with many of the brand’s top sponsored pros there to help add excitement to the proceedings, including Bruno Politano, Dominik Nitsche, Bruno Kawauti, Nicolau Villa Lobos, as well as Kara Scott, Sofia Lovgren and Natalie Hof.
Needless to say, the stop proved a great success and culminated in its €1,100 Main Event, with 609 players entering the tournament to create a prize pool worth €584,640 ($649,737). On Day 3, Italian player Luigi Shehadeh subsequently managed to overcome the field, including Spanish player Carlos Rodriguez heads-up, to claim the title, and a first place prize of €110,000 ($122,248).
The 888Live Barcelona Main Event saw a few notable pros make the money, one of which was William Kassouf who made a deep run in the tournament before eventually being eliminated in 11th place for €8,000. Meanwhile, Cate Hall managed to progress all the way through to the final table, where she made further ground after her pocket queens beat Jaime Sampedro’s pocket kings to send him to the rail in 7th.
When just four players remained, Hall (Ac-6s) then re-raised all-in against Shehadeh (Kd-10s) preflop, but after the dealer laid out an As-Qs-7c-Js-10c board, the last woman standing departed in 4th place, followed by Jose Gonzalez in 3rd, leaving Shehadeh and Rodriguez to battle it out for the title.
At this stage, Luigi Shehadeh held a commanding 8-1 chip lead, but 35 minutes would still ensue before the deciding hand was played with Shahedeh (8-8) and Rodriguez (A-7) all-in preflop, and Shahedeh’s pocket pair subsequently holding on a 6-5-4-6-9 board to secure the victory. Luigi Shehadeh has now recorded 5 live cashes for $245,148 in career earnings, and only last month took down the €200 buy-in Barracudas 27 Main Event in Campione d’Italia for €100,000 ($106,498).
Final Table Payouts:
1: Luigi Shehadeh €115,000
2: Carlos Rodriguez €75,000
3: Jose Gonzalez €50,000
4: Cate Hall €35,000
5: Stefan Eriksson €27,000
6: Hamza Miri €22,000
7: Jaime Sampedro €18,000
8: Marco Regonaschi €15,000
9: Javier Miquel €11,240