Vitalijs Zavorotnijs Wins 2019 World Poker Tour Barcelona €3,300 Main Event

The 2019 World Poker Tour Barcelona €3,300 no-limit hold’em main event featured a guaranteed of €3 million, which was easily surpasses when 1,227 entries were made to create a final prize pool of €3,570,570 ($4,034,744 USD). After five days of action at the Casino Barcelona, the massive field was narrowed down to just one player: Vitalijs Zavorotnijs. For the win the Latvian earned €600,000 ($678,000 USD) and his first WPT title.

“How I feel right now is hard to describe,” Zavorotnijs told WPT reporters after A mix of emotion and exhaustion. I’m really tired and really happy! When you work hard for something, and it happens, to be in this spot right now, it feels like a dream come true."

In addition to the title and the money, Zavorotnijs was also awarded 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was Zavorotnijs’ second win of the year already, having taken down the €1,100 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn main event for $96,738 USD and 600 POY points back in February. As a result of these two title runs, Zavorotnijs has moved into 11th place in the overall standings with 2,040 points and $774,389 in year-to-date earnings.

The final day of the event played out rapidly, taking just 67 hands to go narrow six players down to a champion. Zavorotnijs came into the final table essentially tied for the chip lead with France’s Eric Sfez. Both sat with over 10 million in chips, while their nearest competitor, Niko Koop, had just over 6.3 million.

The first elimination of the day came when Boris Kolev raised to 250,000 from under the gun with QQ and Niko Koop called from the cutoff with KJ. Alain Zeidan moved all in for 1.3 million from the small blind with 99 and Zavorotnijs called with the AK in the big blind. Kolev called and Koop folded. The board ran out Q5239 to give both Zeidan and Kolev sets, with Kolev’s three queens being the winning hand. Zeidan was eliminated in sixth place ($135,600 USD) while Zavorotnijs tumbled down the leaderboard.

Jerry Odeen was the next to be knocked out. He got all-in with the QJ and was called by Zavorotnijs with A5 and Kolev with 1010. The K9468 board secured the pot for Kolev. Odeen took home $180,800 USD as the fifth-place finisher.

On the very next hand Zavorotnijs found a crucial double up. He rivered a straight and getting all-in against the top two pair of Niko Koop to surge into the outright lead with four players remaining. Not long after that Koop get all-in with AQ and Zavorotnijs called with 1010. Neither player improved and Koop was knocked out in fourth place ($242,950 USD).

Zavorotnijs continued his spree by busting Eric Sfez in third place. Sfez moved all-in over the top of Kolev’s button raise holding A9 from the small blind. Zavorotnijs picked up AK in the big blind and made the call. Kolev folded and the KJ598 runout secured the pot for Zavorotnijs. Sfez was awarded $318,174 USD for his deep run.

With that Zavorotnijs took more than a 3-to-1 chip advantage into heads-up play against Kolev. He needed just three hands to convert that lead into a win. In the final hand Zavorotnijs raised to 425,000 from the button with K9. Kolev three-bet to 1,700,000 holding AQ. Zavorotnijs called and the flop came down QJ4. Kolev lead out for 1,200,000 and Zavorotnijs called. The 7 rolled off on the turn. Kolev shoved all in for 5,700,000 and Zavorotnijs made the call, having picked up a flush draw to go with his overcard and a gutshot straight draw. The 2 on the river gave Zavorotnijs the flush to seal the deal. Kolev was knocked out in second place, taking home $423,750 USD for his efforts.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo provided by WPT.

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