Home / Poker News August 2012 / 2012 EPT Barcelona High Roller Event – Dan Smith Wins
2012 EPT Barcelona High Roller Event – Dan Smith Wins
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2012-08-20 10:52
The first EPT title of the 9th season has found an owner on Sunday, when Dan Smith parlayed his massive final table chip lead into victory in the €50k Super High Roller Event in Barcelona. Smith’s victory netted him a €962,925 prize, together with a Shamballa bracelet and all the bragging rights that naturally come with accomplishments of this nature.
The beginning of the final table action saw the top three players hold about 80% of the chips in play. Mike McDonald, Dan Smith and JC Alvarado were the three players who were pretty much guaranteed a deep final table run based on their stack sizes. Of the three, McDonald was the one who wrecked his stack the earliest: he busted out in 5th place, picking up €215.1k for his efforts.
JC Alvarado made it all the way to 2nd place and after he struck a two way deal with the eventual winner, he ended up taking home €788.6k.
The first victim of the final table was Jim McCrink. Although he was the first to leave the table, he did so in possession of a 6-figure consolation-prize: he picked up €122k for his efforts. Talal Shakerchi followed him to the rail in 7th place. His reward was a €138.3k prize.
Erik Seidel played as well. He busted out in 6th place, picking up €153.6k for his efforts.
Another ‘name’ player in the field who drew quite a bit of attention was online daredevil Ilari Sahamies, a regular at the nosebleed stakes
cash games at PokerStars. The Finn put in a fine performance, finishing 4th for a €291.9k reward.
With Mike Watson out of the way in 3rd place, the two remaining players decided to strike a deal which left €100k and the bracelet up for grabs. The final hand of the event saw Alvarado’s pocket Ks fall to Dan Smith’s A,K and the rest is history.
