Joris Ruijs open-shoved his short stack of 390,000 from the small blind and Igor Yaroshevskyy let out a sigh as he made the call from the big blind.
Joris Ruijs:
Igor Yaroshevskyy:
Ruijs was ahead with queen-high until the flop came to give Yaroshevskyy the lead with a pair of nines. The runout of didn't change things and Ruijs was eliminated.
Before he left, Ruijs pulled two €5,000 bounties after earlier peeling the single €100,000 bounty to make him one of the day's biggest winners.
Francisco Benitez moved all in from the big blind and Anton Suarez called with his stack of about 800,000 to put himself at risk.
Francisco Benitez:
Anton Suarez:
Benitez was ahead with ace-high and stayed ahead as the board ran out to send Suarez to the rail. Benitez enters heads-up play with a slight chip advantage against Igor Yaroshevskyy.
Igor Yaroshevskyy limped the small blind and called when Francisco Benitez raised to 450,000 in the big blind.
The dealer spread the flop and Benitez check-called for 350,000.
The landed on the turn and Benitez check-called for 400,000.
The fell on the river, and after some time to take a look at the board, Benitez led for 600,000. Yaroshevskyy briefly deliberated before moving all in, and Benitez checked his cards once more before quickly putting in the chips.
Yaroshevskyy could only show , while Benitez tabled for the rivered flush to take the pot, giving him all of the chips. Yaroshevskyy takes home €73,610 for his runner-up finish, while Benitez claims the victory, the trophy, and €114,080.
One of the first events of EPT Barcelona's return after a three-year hiatus, the mystery bounty event attracted 91 runners and generated a prize pool of €882,700, about half of which went into the bounty pool.
Other players who ran deep in the third event of the Spain series include Brazil's Gabriel Moura (9th - €13,250) and Bruno "great dant" Volkmann (5th - €32,340) and Northern Europe's Joris Ruijs (4th - €40,440) and Anton Suarez (3rd - €52,560).
€10,200 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
PLACE
PLAYER
COUNTRY
PRIZE (IN EUR)
1
Francisco Benitez
Uruguay
€114,080
2
Igor Yaroshevskyy
Ukraine
€73,610
3
Anton Suarez
Sweden
€52,560
4
Joris Ruijs
Netherlands
€40,440
5
Bruno Volkmann
Brazil
€32,340
6
Arthur Conan
France
€25,880
7
Yazan Mdanat
Jordan
€20,700
8
Igor Pihela
Estonia
€16,560
9
Gabriel Moura
Brazil
€13,250
A Good Start
In a winner's interview, Benitez told PokerNews he ran "very good" throughout the two-day event and "won a lot of big hands and flips."
“I feel very good," he said. "(It was a) good start and (gives me) more confidence for the rest of the tournaments.”
While the €114,080 first-place prize was a nice cherry on top of Benitez' tournament run, the South American had already locked up a six-figure score by pulling a staggering 13 of 39 bounties, including the second single-biggest bounty of €50,000.
Benitez also pulled 12 bounties worth €5,000 for a total bounty score of €110,000, nearly the same amount as his first-place prize. The elusive €100,000 bounty, meanwhile, went to fourth-place finisher Ruijs.
“It’s good," Benitez laughed about his hot bounty run.
With the victory, Benitez picks up his biggest-ever live cash, squeaking past a $107,754 score he earned in June from a runner-up finish in the Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP) Main Event, according to The Hendon Mob.
Moura was first to go at the final table when he was involved in a three-way all-in against Igor Pihela and Ruijs, the latter of whom flopped a set and held against the flush draw of Pihela. Pihela bowed out next when he ran his queen-jack into the kings of Ruijs and couldn't improve as the board ran out.
The €100,000 bounty grabber couldn't continue his run-good forever and fell in fourth place after getting his short stack in with queen-deuce and being out-flopped by the nine-six of Yaroshevskyy.
Sweden's Suarez, meanwhile, finished third when he called off with king-four against the ace-six of Benitez, whose ace-high held up after an inconsequential runout.
Despite Benitez and Yaroshevskyy entering heads-up play nearly even in chips, it only took a few hands for a winner to emerge. In the final hand, the two got to the river on a four-flush paired board and Benitez raised all in with a king-high bluff. Benitez called after confirming he had the ace-high flush that was the end of that.
Benitez told PokerNews he is happy about his hot start to EPT Barcelona and plans on grinding the remaining series.
“I will play everything," he said. "Every high roller, the Main Event; everything.”