Another champion has been crowned here at PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona, after Brazilian Diego Beirigo emerged triumphant in the €550 PokerStars Estrellas Cup.
Beirigo takes home the trophy and first-place prize of €155,840, after defeating Jacob Witt heads-up, Beirigo finishing the battle by making a magnificent river hero call with fourth pair.
The victory marks Beirigo's second six-figure score after his runner-up finish in the 2019 Brazilian Series of Poker Millions Main Event. It pushes his recorded career winnings toward the $400,000 mark. Witt, meanwhile, can console himself with a score that dwarfs his previous recorded lifetime cashes of less than $9,000.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diego Beirigo | Brazil | €155,840 |
| 2 | Jacob Witt | Denmark | €97,170 |
| 3 | Mohamed Aissaoui | France | €69,410 |
| 4 | Carlos Egea | Spain | €53,390 |
| 5 | Samy Khaled | France | €41,070 |
| 6 | Joao Sydenstricker | Brazil | €31,590 |
| 7 | Ahmed Ibrahimi | Netherlands | €24,300 |
| 8 | Jorge Pereira | Portugal | €18,700 |
| 9 | Piotr Druzba | Poland | €14,390 |
From the 2,175 entrants, 326 players returned for Day 2, all of whom were guaranteed a minimum cash of €840.
The knockouts came thick and fast at the start of the day, with the field being whittled down to 143 players by the time of the first break. Notable names such as Tero Laurila, Paul Runcan, and Ankit Ahuja fell by the wayside at this stage, while PokerStars Ambassador Kenny Hallaert, and Day 1 chip leader Edgar Ishida also departed shortly after that.
Nils Veipans took the chip lead around this time after scoring a double knockout with aces. By the time of the second break, the field had been further reduced to 69 players, and Carlos Egea and Joao Sydenstricker, both of whom would make the final table, were towards the top of the leaderboard.
Marcin Puczylowski, Marian Fridrich, and Jack Oliver also all departed before the final three tables.
The pace of the knockouts slowed considerably at this point, and it would be almost three hours before the final table was set when Veipans lost a flip against Egea.
With all players guaranteed a €14,390 payday, Egea came into the final table with a slight lead over Sydenstricker and Beirigo, while Mohamed Aissaoui, Ahmed Ibrahimi and Samy Khaled were all playing fewer than 11 big blinds. Witt was right in the middle of the pack.
Piotr Druzba was the first player to depart the final table, when he moved his short-stack into the middle with jack-high but ran into Beirigo's pocket tens.
Knockouts subsequently came in a flurry as Jorge Pereira exited in eighth after his king-high couldn't overtake Aissaoui's ace-high post flop, while Ibrahimi ran big slick into rockets to depart in seventh.
Sydenstricker ran ace-queen into Egea's ace-king to be left with crumbs, and he left the stage in sixth when Witt left him drawing dead after the flop.
Beirigo proceeded to claim the scalp of Khaled in fifth when his ace-high held versus his opponent’s king-high, before he also knocked out Egea in fourth in a button versus big blind three-bet jam spot.
Beirigo then claimed a third knockout when he got lucky to hit a runner-runner flush to dispose of Aissaoui in third.
Beirigo came into heads-up play with a significant advantage over Witt. However, the Dane fought back valiantly, doubling up and, at one stage, briefly taking the lead, before Beirigo made the aforementioned hero call against Witt's busted draws to end the battle and give him the title.
That concludes PokerNewscoverage of this event, but check out our coverage of other tournaments from EPT Barcelona, and around the world.
