Laurent Polito Wins EPT Barcelona €10,000 High Roller (€270,229)!
After a very long day of action yesterday for Day 2 of the 2012 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona €10,000 High Roller, Day 3 ended in a flash. It took just about seven hours of play before crowning a champion and that player proved to be France's Laurent Polito, who earned €270,229, the title and the Shamballa Jewels bracelet.
Polito began the day third in chips behind Tobias Reinkemeier and Alex Bilokur. Together, the three of them made it down to three-handed play before Reinkemeier fell in third place, setting the stage for a heads-up clinic put on by Polito.
When the heads-up match began, Polito was down nearly one million in chips, but that didn't deter him from crushing. First, a deal was struck between the two where Bilokur would take home €295,451 and Polito €270,229, based on the chip counts. Left to play for was the title, the trophy and the Shamballa bracelet.
Nearly the entire match went Polito's way, as he constantly had the upper hand (or better hand) against Bilokur, specifically at the showdown. Bilokur just couldn't get anything going and Polito stole the show by winning pot after pot. After taking the chip lead, Polito continued to take chunks from Bilokur before the final hand came up.
The final hand summed up the entire heads-up match altogether, as it was Polito who held the better of it when Bilokur put the money in. Even though Bilokur went all in with pocket nines, which could be considered a preflop monster heads up, Polito held two queens. No help came for Bilokur on the flop, turn or river and he was eliminated in second place.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laurent Polito | €270,229 |
| 2 | Alex Bilokur | €295,451 |
| 3 | Tobias Reinkemeier | €119,660 |
| 4 | Stanislav Labutkin | €95,180 |
| 5 | Carlos Mora | €73,430 |
| 6 | Jean-Noel Thorel | €54,390 |
| 7 | Bertrand Grospellier | €43,150 |
| 8 | Joao Vieira | €32,630 |
That wraps up PokerNews' coverage from the €10,000 High Roller, but there's still plenty of action left here at EPT Barcelona. The Main Event still has four players remaining with over €1 million to first place. Be sure to check out that coverage as well.