2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Barcelona

€5,300 Main Event
Day: 6
Event Info

2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Barcelona

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
qq
Prize
€1,022,593
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€8,215,900
Entries
1,694
Level Info
Level
38
Blinds
300,000 / 600,000
Ante
100,000

€5,300 Main Event

Day 6 Started

Seat 9: Andreas Samuelsson, 29, Sweden – PokerStars qualifier - 7,005,000 (39 Big Blinds)

Andreas Samuelsson
Andreas Samuelsson

EPT regular Samuelsson has had a good year at EPT's so far. Back in January, he finished 20th in the PCA Main Event for $58,020 and then won a €2k side event at EPT Malta for €53,000 – his best live cash to date.

Barcelona is clearly one of his favourite EPT stops – he first competed here in Season 8 and has played every year since. He won his €5,300 prize package for the Main Event in a €530 qualifier back in June.

Player Chips Progress
Andreas Samuelsson se
Andreas Samuelsson
7,005,000

Tags: Andreas Samuelsson

Seat 8: Frederik Jensen, 33, Denmark – PokerStars qualifier - 5,580,000 (35 Big Blinds)

Frederik Jensen
Frederik Jensen

EPT Madrid champion Frederik Jensen has been playing EPT's since Season 4 and was already a regular face when he took down the EPT Madrid stop in Season 8 for €495,000. Madrid was actually his second final table – he finished sixth at EPT Vilamoura two years earlier for €74,496.

His best live result however remains the $1m he won for a runner-up finish in the 2010 Aussie Millions. Most recently, Jensen – who is ranked #4 in the Danish all-time money list with nearly $2.7m in winnings – picked up a nice cash at EPT Malta last season when he was runner-up to Pratyush Buddiga in a €2k side event for €44,730. Jensen has made the final six partly thanks to a hand which has been dubbed “The Biggest Hero Call of the Tournament”. Facing elimination, the 33-year-old Dane called a massive shove by Uruguay player Daniel Casco in one of the last hands of the night on Day 4. It put him in the top ten for the start of play today with 2,280,000.

Jensen won his seat in to EPT Barcelona in a €320 Deep Hyper-Turbo back in June.

Player Chips Progress
Frederik Jensen dk
Frederik Jensen
EPT 1X Winner
5,580,000

Tags: Frederik Jensen

Seat 7: Mario “LostToRiver” Sanchez, 27, Spain - 2,885,000 (18 Big Blinds)

Mario Sanchez
Mario Sanchez

Like so many Spanish internet pros, Mario Sanchez has moved to London to carry on playing online.

The 27-year-old is an EPT and Estrellas regular but also competes in the States, especially at the World Series of Poker. His best live result prior to now came in Marbella however – close to his home city of Malaga - when he took down a GSOP event in 2013 for €74,150.

He usually plays cash in PokerStars and he is Supernova Elite. This isn't his first EPT, he was ITM in EPT10 montecarlo (76th, €8.434). He’s had good results online playing as 'LostToTiver'.

Player Chips Progress
Mario Sanchez es
Mario Sanchez
2,885,000

Tags: Mario Sanchez

Seat 6: John Juanda, 44, Indonesia - 4,040,000 (25 Big Blinds)

John Juanda
John Juanda

John Juanda is by far the highest-earning player to make the final six at EPT Barcelona, with more than $16m to his name already in live tournament winnings. The 44-year-old is almost certainly the most experienced as well with recorded cashes going back nearly 20 years.

His biggest win on the European Poker Tour came when was runner-up to David Vamplew in the EPT7 London Main Event. London was also the scene for another celebrated event when he was runner-up to Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier in the £20k High Roller in 2008. His other big EPT cash was fourth place in the EPT Grand Final €25k High Roller for €426,800 last season and 11th in the Main Event in Monaco in Season 10.

Player Chips Progress
John Juanda id
John Juanda
Poker Hall of Famer
EPT 1X Winner
4,040,000

Tags: John Juanda

Seat 5: Victor Bogdanov, 42, Russia - 1,415,000 (9 Big Blinds)

Victor Bogdanov
Victor Bogdanov

Victor Bogdanov has been a recreational poker player for the last five years, but is now coming straight in to the spotlight at EPT Barcelona. The 42-year-old Russian businessman has won a few small tournaments, but this is his first EPT cash.

This could almost be considered a “home soil” appearance as Victor and his family moved to Barcelona just two weeks ago. His wife and two sons are supporting him right here in the casino. Bogdanov only speaks a little English, but his younger son willingly helped translate for our interview. Both his sons are enrolled to study at Barcelona University but the family plan to split living 50/50 between here and Moscow.

Bogdanov says if he wins the Main Event, the celebrations will be back in Russia where a ton of friends are following his progress via the live coverage. When asked what would he do with the first prize, he answered simply – “I would buy some champagne!”

Player Chips Progress
Victor Bogdanov ru
Victor Bogdanov
1,415,000

Tags: Victor Bogdanov

Seat 4: Steve Warburton, 28, UK - 7,180,000 (45 Big Blinds)

Steve Warburton
Steve Warburton

Warburton is a 28-year-old pro from Manchester in the UK. He travels the world playing live poker events and became such good friends with Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Meulder at the WSOP this summer that the pair decided to share an apartment for EPT Barcelona (Scott Margereson and Eric Lescot are also in the flat which they have dubbed “The Orphanage”).

Warburton has played EPT's in London, Prague, Deauville and Malta but this is his first in Barcelona. His best result before now was runner-up in the WPT Amsterdam Main Event in May for €150,000. He also had a deep run at EPT London in Season 10 finishing 22nd for £19,920 and made the final of the UKIPT Nottingham High Roller last year for £11,200.

Warburton is also something of a pundit and has appeared on Sky Sports talking about poker.

Player Chips Progress
Steve Warburton gb
Steve Warburton
7,180,000

Tags: Steve Warburton

Seat 3: Rainer Kempe, 26, Berlin, Germany, now UK – PokerStars qualifier - 3,775,000 (21 Big Blinds)

Rainer Kempe
Rainer Kempe

Kempe is one of numerous German players who have moved to the UK to play online. Most settle in London but Kempe has headed down to the lovely seaside resort of Brighton on the South Coast, a city which is also home to EPT Berlin runner up Robert Haigh and British pro James Dempsey.

Kempe, who hails from Berlin but studied at the University of Potsdam, already has a string of good live results including seventh in the $1.111 Little One for One Drop in Vegas this summer for a lifetime best cash of $90,189.

His best EPT result was fifth in a €2k NL Turbo side event at the EPT Grand Final in May, cashing for €15,820. Kempe won his seat in to EPT Barcelona in a €320 Deep Hyper-Turbo back in June.

Player Chips Progress
Rainer Kempe de
Rainer Kempe
3,775,000

Tags: Rainer Kempe

Seat 2: Amir Touma, 41, Lebanon - 1,180,000 (7 Big Blinds)

Amir Touma
Amir Touma

Touma’s biggest result to date was just $23,251 for making the final of the Merit Middle East Poker Championship in Cyprus back in 2011.

This is only his second EPT – he also played the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final back in May and has also cashed in a few side events. Nearly all his recorded results come from events in Kyrenia, Cyprus however. His live tournament winnings amount to $71,596 so far – a sum totally dwarfed by the life-changing €104,000 he’s guaranteed for making the nine.

If Touma takes it down, he will be our third EPT champion from Lebanon after EPT London winner Joseph Mouawad and EPT Grand Final champ Nicolas Chouity.

Player Chips Progress
Amir Touma lb
Amir Touma
1,180,000

Tags: Amir Touma

Seat 1: Denys Shafikov, 36, Ukraine - 17,515,000 (109 Big Blinds)

Denys Shafikov
Denys Shafikov

Shafikov is principally a cash game player and has played relatively few EPT's. However, Barcelona is clearly becoming a favourite stop – he was here last season as well.

He’s already notched up one result during this season’s festival, finishing 128th in the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event for €3,385. That was his best ever cash and brought his lifetime live tournament winnings up to the grand total of $23,826; he’ll be getting at least ten times that amount if he makes the final six in the EPT Main Event. Aside from Estrellas, all Shafikov’s other recorded results have come in the Ukraine capital of Kyiv.

Player Chips Progress
Denys Shafikov ua
Denys Shafikov
17,515,000