Max Silver Wins PokerStars EPT Barcelona €10K High Roller (€600,924)
Max Silver has won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona €10,300 High Roller for €540,924 after a three-way deal plus €60,000 for winning it. Silver outlasted a field of 439 players of the course of three days to take home the trophy and prize money.
Hungarian Norbert Szecsi finished as runner-up with Dutch player Joris Ruijs, who already won a €2,000 Side Event here in Barcelona was third.
Here is a full rundown of the final table:
| Seat | Name | Country | Payout (EUR) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Silver | United Kingdom | €600,924* | $697,072* |
| 2 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | €626,357* | $726,574* |
| 3 | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | €488,819* | $567,030* |
| 4 | Richard Kirsch | United States | € 295,960 | $343,314 |
| 5 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | € 232,080 | $269,213 |
| 6 | Cord Garcia | United States | € 181,830 | $210,923 |
| 7 | Zhong Chen | Netherlands | € 136,700 | $158,572 |
| 8 | Niall Farrell | United Kingdom | € 97,100 | $112,636 |
*denotes three-way deal
Silver has tasted PokerStars success before winning UKIPT Dublin in 2010 and then UKIPT High Rollers in 2012 and 2013. Last year as well by winning his first WSOP bracelet, as well as taking down a €2,000 Side Event at the PokerStars Championship in Monte Carlo.
"It feels great!" Silver said shortly after his win. "There's nothing like getting stuck many buy-ins and then at the last minute climbing out of it! Barcelona is always one of the biggest 10k fields of the year, so it's logical there is more value in it than usual 10ks. There were still a ton of tough players; the final table was also tough but I thought everyone played well."
"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!"
Final Day Action
With the final table resuming with 18 players, there were early doubles for Gen Nose and Zhong Chen before Rens Feenstra became the first casualty of the day.
It was a double elimination that got play down to the final table; queens for Johnny Nedved holding to send Siarhei Chudapal and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau to the rail. This handed the chip lead to Nedved, but only just over Cord Garcia, Seth Davies and Joris Ruijs.
Louis Nyberg was one of three short stacks hovering around or just under ten big blinds, and he was soon eliminated. Meanwhile, there was a big double for Orpen Kisacikoglu when pocket aces held against the ace-king of Davies, before Rustam Hajiyev was eliminated after losing a flip to Norbert Szecsi.
Eder Takashi Murata was unlucky to run into kings to bust next, with the field down to 12 players at the first break. Davies, Nose and Marcin Chmielewski were the next to bust as the unofficial final table of nine was reached.
By this stage, it was JRuijs who held the chip lead but had to weather an early onslaught, with Richard Kirsch doubling through him before former chip leader Nedved was eliminated after losing a flip to Kisacikoglu to bust in ninth.
By the second break, it was Garcia in the lead but the chips kept flowing back and forth it appeared difficult for anyone to convert the chip lead into any meaningful pressure.
Niall Farrell had, in his own words, put on a "masterclass of laddering" but he would fall next after getting it in against Szecsi with an inferior ace.
The short-stacked Chen would bust next before a huge blind-on-blind confrontation sent Garcia to the rail. Szecsi held pocket kings against the ace-king of the American, and with no ace coming he was eliminated, giving Szecsi more than a third of the chips in play.
For the first time all day, someone managed to keep hold of the chip lead. Szecsi eliminated Kisacikoglu and Kirsch in fifth and fourth, leaving him with more than half the chips in play three-handed.
The players returned from dinner and immediately agreed on a deal which would leave €60,000 and the trophy to the winner.
Short stack Ruijs would bust in third; getting it in with two pairs against the rivered straight of Silver. With the chip lead, Silver looked to press on, and once both players picked up pairs and got it in, Silver's tens held to seal the victory.
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
