Who Else Has "Done The Double" on the PokerStars European Poker Tour?
If you think of winning two titles on the European Poker Tour and you're bound to think of two-time champs Victoria Coren Mitchell and Pavel Plesuv. But what about players winning two tournaments at the same event?
Well that's exactly what happened at the 2022 PokerStars EPT Prague festival — not once, but twice!
After Ben Heath went back-to-back in €25,000 Single Day High Rollers, Rodrigo Seiji duly followed that up by winning the €50,000 Super High Roller to go along with his €10,200 Mystery Bounty title.
Here are some other players who have "done the double" on Europe's most prestigious poker tour.
Alejandro Lococo
You don't have to go back far to find someone who has achieved this rare feat. Earlier this year, Alejandro "PapoMC" Lococo took down the EPT Prague €1,100 Eureka Main Event for €417,820.
Just six months prior, the Argentinian PokerStars Ambassador had finished seventh in the 2021 WSOP Main Event, and his rungood was set to continue, winning a €2,200 Deep Stack event just nine days after his Eureka victory.
He recently told PokerStars that he is looking forward to travelling more and potentially win even more trophies.
"That is what I like about poker: the chance to discover other cultures, what they think, what they eat," he told PokerStars. "That’s what I think is the best part of poker.
"I think I make poker more funny. I think it’s an amazing game"
"So right now I’m not thinking of stopping that. I’m only thinking of travelling to the most important tournaments and getting more trophies.
At this moment, I’m not tempted to try a Super High Roller. It’s really hard to battle them. You have to give a lot of hours of your life to be a winner in that kind of event.
"I think I make poker more funny. I think it’s an amazing game. Sometimes the players get so serious, but I like taking it back to basics. I like the show."
Francisco Benitez
Our next two stories come from one of the most popular EPT festivals — Barcelona.
Not just any EPT Barcelona, but the record-breaking 2022 edition that saw massive fields throughout the entire festival.
Francisco Benitez had previously won High Roller titles on the LAPT and UKIPT. Then in June 2022 he won the BSOP Rio de Janeiro Main Event, and soon followed that up with near back-to-back victories in the EPT Barcelona Mystery Bounty and €25,000 Single Day High Roller.
How Uruguay's Francisco Benitez Dominated EPT Barcelona
Unbelievably, it could have got even better for the Uruguayan who now sits third on his country's all-time money list, as he racked up two further top-five finishes in €25,000 High Rollers, eventually walking away from the festival with total cashes of over €1 million.
| DATE | EVENT | PLACE | PRIZE (IN EURO) | PRIZE (IN USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug. 18, 2022 | Event #41: €25,000 No Limit Hold'em | 2nd | €421,480 | $432,687 |
| Aug. 12, 2022 | Event #16: €25,000 No Limit Hold'em | 4th | €191,790 | $197,272 |
| Aug. 10, 2022 | Event #11: €25,000 No Limit Hold'em | 1st | €341,565 | $350,647 |
| Aug. 8, 2022 | Event #3: €10,200 No Limit Hold'em - Mystery Bounty (Event #3) | 1st | €114,080 | $116,263 |
| Total Cashes: | €1,068,915 |
Juan Pardo
Spaniards have a long and rich history on the EPT, even though it took until 2015 for the first Spanish EPT Main Event winner.
But at the High Roller tables, Spaniard Juan Pardo had an incredible EPT Barcelona in 2019 winning two High Roller titles.
The first Single-Day High Roller saw Pardo defeat professional football Gerard Pique heads-up before adding a €50,000 High Roller title just 12 hours later.
Sander van Wesemael
Ok so it wasn't the European Poker Tour, and it wasn't in the same event — but this achievement certainly warrants a mention.
In 2017, Sander van Wesemael won three PokerStars Cups. Not bad right? But he won them in-a-row. First in Marbella, then Lille and finally in Barcelona; combined he beat close to 4,000 players to win over €190,000. Not bad for a €330 tournament!
| Year | Event | Field | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug-17 | PSC Barcelona | 2,648 | €127,000 |
| Jul-17 | PSF Lille | 558 | €28,704 |
| Jun-17 | PSF Marbella | 788 | €36,450 |
Back-To-Back at the WSOP
Finally, away from the EPT, there are certainly some special doubles at the World Series of Poker. No we're not talking about Mark Newhouse making back-to-back final tables or Dan "Jungleman" Cates retaining his $50,000 Players Championship title in 2022.
In 2021, no fewer than SIX players won multiple bracelets in the same year. Since the WSOP started, only a select group of players have achieved this feat Scotty Nguyen, Max Pescatori and Brian Rast, with Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth among a select group to have done it twice!
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.
In this Series
- 1 Join PokerNews in the Czech Republic for the 2022 EPT Prague Festival
- 2 Rodrigo Seiji Crowned 2022 EPT Prague €10,200 Mystery Bounty Champion
- 3 PokerStars EPT Prague Eureka Main Event: Royal Flush Runout Leaves Table Stunned
- 4 Ben Heath Wins 2022 PokerStars EPT Prague Event #10: €25,000 High Roller (€227,130)
- 5 Back-to-Back Victories for Ben Heath in 2022 PokerStars EPT Prague €25,000 Single-Day High Rollers
- 6 TWO Record Fields at EPT Prague; Eureka Main Event and High Roller Champions Crowned
- 7 Who Else Has "Done The Double" on the PokerStars European Poker Tour?
- 8 Roxanne Johnson Becomes Latest Female PSPC Platinum Pass Winner at EPT Prague
- 9 Mathieu Di Meglio Dominates EPT Prague €3,000 Mystery Bounty (€243,186)
- 10 Parker Talbot Falls Just Short of Joining Exclusive PokerStars Team Pro Club
- 11 Adrian Mateos Wins Final PokerStars EPT Prague €25,000 High Roller
- 12 Jordan Saccucci Wins Record-Breaking 2022 EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event (€913,250)
