Francisco Benitez Wins Back-To-Back Titles To Kick Off 2022 European Poker Tour Barcelona

Francisco Benitez is off to an incredible start at the 2022 European Poker Tour Barcelona festival. The Uruguayan poker pro has won the two largest-buy-in events held through the opening few days of the festival, taking down the €10,200 no-limit hold’em mystery bounty event and the €25,000 high roller within a two-day span for back-to-back titles.

The pair of victories saw Benitez earn a total of $589,318 when rendered in US dollars. He took home $235,952 USD for his first win in the first event, with roughly half of those earnings coming from mystery bounty payouts he secured after knocking out opponents. He then added another $353,366 USD as the champion of the high-roller tournament. These two payouts were his second and third-largest ever, trailing only the $759,419 he secured as the runner-up in a $10,000 high roller event during the 2021 World Series of Poker Online.

Benitez now has nearly $2.3 million in recorded tournament earnings. He also has 960 Card Player Player of the Year points thanks to his recent success, enough to move him inside the top 400 in the 2022 POY race, presented by Global Poker.

The mystery bounty event began on the first day of the EPT Barcelona series, which is running from Aug. 8-21 at the Casino Barcelona in the coastal Spanish metropolis. The tournament attracted 91 entries to create a prize pool of $909,181, with roughly half of that money reserved for the mystery bounties that began to be handed out on day 2 of the event.

There were 39 bounties available, and Benitez earned 13 of them, including the second-largest up for grabs: a €50,000 ($51,591 USD) payout. All told, his bounties amounted to $113,534 USD.

The largest bounty that was paid out was for €100,000. It was ultimately drawn by Joris Ruijs, who finished fourth in the event. Other notables to make the final table included WSOP bracelet winner Arthur Conan (6th), Brazilian online star Bruno Volkmann, and Ukrainian tournament star Igor Yaroshevskyy (2nd).

The high roller event, the first of several to be held throughout the festival, attracted 50 entries by the time that registration came to a close. As a result, the prize pool swelled to more than $1.2 million USD.

The top seven finishers made the money, with Spain’s all-time money leader Adrian Mateos being the unfortunate bubble boy in this event. The four-time bracelet winner will have to wait for another tournament to add to his $29.4 million in career earnings.

With Mateos’ elimination, the remaining seven players all locked up at least $65,551. Plenty of big names made the final table, including bracelet winner and multi-time Super High Roller Bowl event winner Timothy Adams (7th), nine-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel (6th), EPT Sochi champion Artur Martirosian (4th), and Triton Poker co-founder Paul Phua (3rd).

Benitez and Ramiro Petrone struck a heads-up deal that redistributed the remaining prize money based on ICM, with Benitez earning the larger payout as the chip leader at the time. The pair shook on the agreement and then dealt a hand to determine the champion via a flip. Benitez won, flopping a pair of sevens to take the lead and holding from there to bring the tournament to its end. Petrone earned $317,302 USD as the runner-up.

Below is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at both final tables.

€10,200 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty

€25,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Winner photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Danny Maxwell.

Related Articles

Eelis Parssinen Proves PLO Dominance At Triton

'Gambledore' Vanquishes Triton Wizards For $4.3M

Ben Tollerene Takes Triton PLO Title For $1 Million

Most Viewed Articles