John Juanda Wins 2015 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main EventFive-Time WSOP Bracelet Winner Captures First EPT Title and €1,022,593 Payday |
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The 2015 European Poker Tour Barcelona €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event was the largest event ever in the tour’s history. The first main event event of the twelfth season drew 1,694 players, beating the Season 7 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event’s 1,560 players to become the biggest EPT main event field ever.
Such a historic event deserved a historic champion and in the end that’s just what it got in five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Juanda. For the win Juanda earned €1,022,593 ($1,186,208 USD) and his first EPT title. The 44-year-old poker pro had finished runner up in an EPT event before, coming in second to David Vamplew in the EPT London main event in 2010.
With this latest win Juana increased his life tournament earnings to more than $16.7 million, enough to move him into 10th place on the all-time money list.
In addition to the title and the money Juanda was also awarded 2,160 Card Player Player of the Year points, a massive chunk of points that was enough to catapult him into 36th place in the overall POY standings despite this being his first final table finish of the year.
Juanda came into the final day in fifth chip position with 25 big blinds. Denys Shafikov held the chip lead with over 100 big blinds, but was not able to convert that lead into a title. The Ukranian eventually finished fourth, leaving Juanda, Steve Warbuton and 2012 EPT Madrid main event champion Frederik Jensen to battle it out. The three made a deal that redistributed the remaining prize pool as follows:
Steve Warburton: €941,613
John Juanda: €922,593
Frederik Jensen: €810,294
€100,000 from the prize pool and of course the title and the trophy were set aside to play for. Juanda eliminated Jensen in third place to take a roughly 4-to-1 chip lead into heads-up play with Warburton. The 28-year-old from the UK lasted 21 hands, running 88 into Juanda’s QQ. Warburton was unable to come from behind and was sent to the rail as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | John Juanda | $1,186,208* | 2,160 |
2 | Steve Warburton | $1,092,271* | 1,800 |
3 | Frederik Jensen | $939,941* | 1,440 |
4 | Denys Shafikov | $469,916 | 1,080 |
5 | Rainer Kempe | $371,664 | 900 |
6 | Andreas Samuelsson | $294,524 | 720 |
7 | Amir Touma | $225,156 | 540 |
8 | Mario Sanchez | $159,013 | 360 |
Photo courtesy of PokerStars / Neil Stoddart.