Marti Roca De Torres is a 36-year-old former economics teacher and poker pro, born in Barcelona and currently lives in Matarzo / Catalunya. He has earned $30,712 for his efforts so far with a biggest payday of $7,866 and qualified for the event through online satellites at 888poker.
Roca De Torres has one prior WSOP cash to date after finishing 114th in the € 1,100 No Limit Hold'em - Little One for One Drop (Event #8) for €1,660, and he will best that score by far at this final table. The Spaniard starts the final day second in chips with 7,260,000, trailing only Maria Ho at the top of the counts by a few big blinds.
Dutchman Mathijs Jonkers lives in his home country in Ermelo and is 27 years old. He is the owner of the open Dutch Championship of Poker, an amateur poker championship with more than 10,000 players competing each year in an individual and team championship. Jonkers is friends with Marcel Luske, who was on the rail for the late stages of the tournament to support his countryman.
Jonkers doesn't have any WSOP cash yet and mostly plays in €100-€500 tournaments with cashes of $8,580 so far. He was one of the most interactive and talkative players at the tables, exchanging jokes and banter with his opponents. The Dutchman reached the final day with 2,785,000 in chips, good enough for almost 28 big blinds when play resumes.
Robert Bickley is 29 years old and works in the sand bag manufacturing industry. He was born in Bristol, and currently lives in Manchester / United Kingdom. With the new structure of the WSOPE Main Event in Rozvadov, players were able to re-enter once and enter the tournament before the start of Day 2. The Brit was among those to take advantage of that and signed up before the cards got underway for Day 2, joining the action with his first entry at the last possible minute.
Bickley has three WSOP cashes for a total of $9,654 and his total live earnings include $75,871 with all results split between Las Vegas and two tiny scores in Recurring Tournaments in Manchester back in 2016. The Brit enters the final day as the short stack with just under 11 big blinds.
Maria Ho is 34 years old, born in Taiwan and lives in Los Angeles / USA. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego in the summer of 2005 with a major in Communications and a minor in Law, and started playing poker in her second year of college.
Ho is a professional poker player and TV host for eSports and poker. She has three prior WSOP final table appearances to her name and came close to a victory in Event #4: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em back in 2011 after finishing runner-up to Allen Bari for a career-best score of $540,020.
Ho claimed the top spot after Day 4 and Day 5 respectively, and enters the final day with 7,830,000 in chips. She may become the second woman to win a World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, following into the foot steps of Annette Obrestad.
Gianluca Speranza is 30 years of age and was born in L'Aquila / Italy, but currently resides in Vienna / Austria along with other Italian poker pros such as Mustapha Kanit. The poker pro has already racked up more than $880,000 in cashes on the international poker circuit, including 11 WSOP cashes for a total of $221,288.
Speranza already came close to winning a WSOP bracelet in 2011 after finishing 2nd to Andrew Hinrichsen in a €1,000 Event of the WSOPE in Cannes, taking home €91,262 for his efforts.
After a late double up on Day 5, Speranza claimed 4,400,000 for the final day and will be third in chips when action resums.
Niall Farrell was the first player from Scotland to win a WSOP bracelet a few days ago at the King's Casino in Rozvadov. The 30 year old professional poker player from Dumfries was the eighth player to earn the live Triple Crown with victories in the EPT, WPT and the WSOP.
His impressive poker resume with 36 prior WSOP cashes for $2,283,405 in total saw him take down Event #9: €25,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller for his first WSOP bracelet and a payday of €745,287 earlier in the series, besting a field of the biggest names on the live poker circuit.
Farrell was among those players involved in the late all in showdowns of Day 5 and bagged up 3,025,000 for the final day, good enough for 30 big blinds when action resumes.
After five tournament days, only six hopefuls out of a 529-entry strong field remain in the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe €10,350 Main Event and it is Maria Ho that leads the charge with 7,830,000 after bagging up the most chips for the second day in a row.
Ho is closely followed by Marti Roca De Torres with 7,260,000, and the Spaniard won his entry to the tournament in a €250 winner takes it all satellite on 888poker.es. Third in chips is Gianluca Speranza with 4,400,000 while live Triple Crown winner Niall Farrell sits in fourth with 3,025,000. Furthermore, Mathijs Jonkers (2,785,000) and Robert Bickley (1,085,000) round out the list of contenders for one of the most prestigious titles in the world of poker.
Seat
Player
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Niall Farrell
United Kingdom
3,025,000
30
2
Gianluca Speranza
Italy
4,400,000
40
3
Maria Ho
United States
7,830,000
78
4
Robert Bickley
United Kingdom
1,085,000
11
5
Mathijs Jonkers
Netherlands
2,785,000
28
6
Marti Roca De Torres
Spain
7,260,000
72
The lion's share of the €5,025,500 prize pool is still up for grabs at the King's Casino in Rozvadov and all six finalists have at least €174,365 for their efforts, while the coveted gold bracelet and first-place payout of €1,115,207 await for the winner.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Payout (in EUR)
Payout (in USD)
1
€1,115,207
$1,296,919
2
€689,246
$801,552
3
€476,585
$554,240
4
€335,089
$389,688
5
€239,639
$278,686
6
€174,365
$202,776
Action resumes at 12 p.m. local time with 42:17 minutes left in level 28 and blinds of 50,000/10,000 and a running ante of 15,000. The live stream with hole cards displayed is on a security delay of 30 minutes and the PokerNews hand-for-hand coverage will be published accordingly.
Hand #77: Marti Roca De Torres received a walk in the big blind with the .
Hand #78: Maria Ho raised to 260,000 from the hijack with the and Mathijs Jonkers moved all in from the button with the . Jonkers was at risk for 1.99 million and was hiding his face behind the hoodie, Ho folded after brief consideration.
Hand #79: Roca De Torres raised to 275,000 with the on the button and Gianluca Speranza defended the big blind with . The Italian checked the flop and Roca De Torres continued for 310,000 to force a fold from Speranza.
Hand #80: Niall Farrell raised to 275,000 and Ho in the big blind asked Farrell for his stack size before moving all in from the big blind. Farrell snap-called for 3.255 million for the following showdown.
Maria Ho:
Niall Farrell:
The board ran out and Farrel doubled up, sending Ho to the bottom of the counts.
Hand #90: Maria Ho moved all in for 1.26 million from early position and Marti Roca De Torres in the small blind asked for a count before reluctantly calling. Niall Farrell in the big blind glanced at his cards, then asked the Spaniard if he was covered before moving all in for 6.86 million chips. Roca de Torres snap-called and was in prime shape to eliminate two opponents.
The board ran out and Ho was eliminated in 6th place for €174,365, while Farrell with the bigger stack was eliminated in 5th place for €239,639. Roca De Torres jumped into a commanding lead with four players remaining, holding two third of the chips in play.
Hand #100: Marti Roca De Torres raised under the gun with , making it 325,000. Mathijs Jonkers went all in with and Roca De Torres called.
The board ran out and Jonkers doubled up.
Hand #101: Jonkers was in the small blind with and raised to 400,000. Roca De Torres looked down at in the big blind and shoved all in. Jonkers snap called.
The board ran out and Jonkers doubled up for the second hand in a row through Roca De Torres.