Piotr Nurzynski Triumphs at EPT Barcelona Main Event for $1.2M

The 2018 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event proved the most popular of its 15 year run, with the 1,931 players who entered the tournament beating the previous record of 1,785 set in 2016. Each of them paid €5,300 apiece to enter the event, and following six days of action it was Oland’s Piotr Nurzynski who would eventually defeat his final opponent, China’s Haoxiang Wang, to walk away with a top prize of €1,611,500 ($1,213,418).

He also secured a Platinum Pass package that includes a $25,000 ticket through to the 2019 PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) set to take place in the Bahamas from January 6-10.

Online Qualifier

Nurzynski had just three cashes worth $11,812 going into the EPT Barcelona Main Event, with the 28-year-old doctor only qualifying for the competition via a €250 online satellite on PokerStars. Following a victory that propels him from 422nd to number 7 on Poland’s ‘All Time Money List’, Nurzynski stated:

“I can’t believe it.. it struck me. Wow. I ran really really well. I made two huge mistakes today and I was thinking I can’t win it. But it’s amazing.. I have been watching EPT serious for so many hours. It was my dream to end on the final table, but wow, it’s shocking.”

€5,300 EPT Main Event

The €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event featured a massive €9,365,350 ($10,907,572) prize pool, meaning 296 players would receive a cash payout. Amongst the recognizable pros seeing a return on their buy-ins was Michael Tureniec in 76th (€16,670), Mark Radoja in 58th (€19,760), Benjamin Pollak in 33rd (€30,150), Upeshka De Silva in 14th (€78,800), Daniel Tang in 13th (€88,250), and John Juanda in 9th (€118,265).

Final Table

At the final table, Patrick Clarke (A-A) moved all-in preflop against Nurzynski (K-J), and was eliminated after the board rolled out K-6-2-K-J. The A-K Nurzynski was subsequently dealt was also good enough to see off Mark Buckley (J-10) in 7th, after which the remaining six players took an overnight break. The next day, Nurzynski (9-9) continued from where he left off by sending Matthias Tikerpe (A-K) to the rail in 6th.

It was then the turn of Haoxiang Wang (8-8) to join the fray by eliminating Rodrigo Carmo (A-K) in 5th, at which point, the reaming four players agreed to the following payout split, whilst leaving €180,000 and the Platinum Pass set aside for the eventual winner.

Haoxiang Wang: €1,023,701
Piotr Nurzynski: €857,109
Ognyan Dimov: €725,621
Pedro Marques: €698,369

When play resumed, Wang (10-10) took care of Pedro Marques (A-3) in 4th, before being dealt K-8 and seeing off Ognyan Dimov’s (K-7) in 3rd to herald heads-up play for the prestigious title.

Piotr Nurzynski vs Haoxiang Wang

Haoxiang Wang started the final battle holding a 4-1 chip advantage. Nevertheless, Nurzynski managed to reverse the tables and stream to a similar lead by the time the final hand arose. Nurzynski (Ac-9c) called Wang (Ks-2d) from the button, and after the flop fell 6d-Kc-Ad Wang bet out and Nurzynski called. Wang subsequently check called the 7c turn, but was put to the ultimate test after checking the 4d river, only to see Nurzynski move all-in. Following much deliberation, Wang made the call and unfortunately for him had to settle for a runner-up finish, while full honors went to Piotr Nurzynski.

Final Table Results (US$)

1: Piotr Nurzynski $1,213,418
2: Haoxiang Wang $1,197,730
3: Ognyan Dimov $848,977
4: Pedro Marques $817,092
5: Rodrigo Carmo $414,414
6: Matthias Tikerpe $335,849
7: Mark Buckley $257,400
8: Patrick Clarke $181,350

EPT Barcelona Concludes

The PokerStars sponsored EPT Barcelona ran from August 21-September 2, and concluded with its €10,000 High Roller event, which managed to attract an impressive sized field of 439 player. One of them was UK pro Max Silver, who ultimately managed to triumph over his competitors, including Hungary’s Norbert Szécsi heads-up, to claim the biggest score of his professional career worth €600,924 ($702,006). As a result, he now boasts $4,486,191 in live winnings, and as he commented following his victory:

“I haven’t played much recently, so this is kind of a surprise. That being said, I felt comfortable in this event – any event you win, you end up feeling pretty comfortable! I’ve been playing a lot less poker recently, and with this win hopefully I can play even less!”