On the last day of the https://www.pokernews.com/tours/ept/2024-pokerstars-ept-barcelona/, the conclusion of the €10,200 No-Limit Hold'em event played out in the Pau Cassals room at Casino Barcelona, where Erik Bauer put on a short-stack masterclass to emerge victorious and take home the €151,400 top prize.
Bauer navigated through a field of 48 entries to take home the lion's share of the €465,600 prize pool, and overcame Canada's Dongwoo Ko in a short but gripping heads-up duel that spanned two levels.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erik Bauer | Slovakia | €151,400 |
| 2 | Dongwoo Ko | Canada | €100,100 |
| 3 | James Collopy | United States | €67,500 |
| 4 | Samuel Ju | Germany | €51,200 |
| 5 | Aram Zobian | United States | €39,600 |
| 6 | Jeremie Zouari | France | €31,400 |
| 7 | Zachary Habayeb | Canada | €24,400 |
"I feel very nice, I always wanted one of those spades, so it's nice to have one," were Bauer's first words after he caught up with PokerNews.
"I started [the final table] with average so it started pretty well, then I lost a really big one with ace-king against jack-ten which either I would have the chip lead or be the short stack. Then I got lucky in a three-way all in, then I got very lucky with ace-ten against ace-king, and then I just ran very hot. I felt like I played heads up very well."
"I always wanted one of those spades, so it's nice to have one,"
PokerNewsinformed Bauer then he had broken into the top ten on Slovakia's all-time money list after jumping from 22nd to ninth with this victory.
"To be honest, that's always been a goal for me to get into the top ten so that's really nice for me. I didn't even know I was in the top ten."
After playing through ten levels on Day 1, the sixteen survivors were joined by twelve more late registrants, bringing the total number of entries up to 48. Those that fell short of making the money include PokerStars Team Pro Maria Konnikova, who was eliminated by Vladas Tamasauskas in the second level of the day.
Ren Lin, Sam Greenwood, Stoyan Madanzhiev, and Krasimir Yankov were also eliminated before the money and the unfortunate title of bubble boy went to Eduard Barsegyan. The Russian player got his chips in good with ace-king against the ace-queen of Ko, but a queen on the flop meant he was the last player to leave empty-handed.
Once the bubble had burst, Zachary Habayeb lost a flip with ace-queen against the pocket jacks of Aram Zobian, which left him out in seventh. After an intense battle between the short stacks, it was Jeremie Zouari who finally succumbed in sixth when he got in his last big blind but couldn’t manage to spin up a stack.
Somebody that did spin up a stack is Bauer, who went from the table short stack with three big blinds all the way up to chip leader in the space of a few moments, albeit with a little help from the dealer.
Fortune certainly wasn’t on Zobian’s side today as his pocket kings were taken down by Bauer’s ace-jack, which left him very short-stacked. Shortly after, he shoved pocket fours and ran into the pocket aces of James Collopy, which ended his run in fifth.
Samuel Ju was short-stacked for the majority of the final table but managed to ladder up a few spots before he ran ace-jack into the eventual champion's pocket queens, which left him out in fourth, just shy of the podium places.
Play wasn't three-handed for long as Collopy flipped for his tournament life against Ko, and came off second best after the Canadian player rivered a full house.
The stacks were almost identical going into heads-up play and it was Bauer who took an early lead and reached a three-to-one chip advantage before Ko Correctly called with ace-high to even out the stacks again.
Bauer didn't let that deter him as he continued to chip away at his opponent. In the last hand of the night, he got the chips in good with top pair and managed to fade the open-ended straight draw of Ko.
