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EPT Barcelona ME: Simon Brandstrom the new champion!

The 2019 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona €5,300 Main Event saw the triumph of a new champion at Casino Barcelona recently. Simon Brandstrom lifted the trophy after topping a field of 1,988 entries in this record-breaking tournament.

Brandstrom was declared as the ‘Player of the Year’ for the WPTDS Europe Season XVII and won the WPT €1,500 Barcelona Main Event too. He is now the 11^th player from Sweden to become an EPT champion. Brandstrom played Marton Czuczor in heads-up, eventually concluding with an agreement by chopping off a large share of the €9.6 million prize pool. Brandstorm secured €1.29 million while Czuczor, locked up €1.25 million.

The EPT Barcelona 2019 saw an enormous field of participants that edged the past year’s record of 1,931 entries. However, this increased participation was still slightly short of the magical prize pool of €10 million.

All hearts were pounding and all eyes stuck on the event which observed the participation of global poker players like Isaac Haxton finishing at 18th position, €1,100 National champion Markku Koplimaa at 28th position, Simon Mattsson at 39th, €100,000 High Roller winner Sergi Reixach at 48^th and many others.

The massive tournament cannot forget the increasing number of Indian players to join the flagship festival. Our very own Sahil Chutani, grabbing his career-best live cash of €25,650 (~INR 20.26 Lakh), survived till Day 5.

Along with Indian players, the event witnessed some Indian-origin participants from various places. Several of them made a deep run in the ME. Ajay Chabra (~INR 8.76 Lakhs) followed by Kully Sidhu who finished 9^th (~INR 96.17 Lakhs), and Balakrishna Patur who ended in 11^th position (~INR 80.42 Lakhs).

The winner has engraved his name in the history of the Barcelona Main Event, beginning with Alenander Stevic from Sweden who became the first champion in Barcelona in September 2004. When Joe Stapleton asked Brandstrom if he was ready to become a legend, the latter replied “Yeah, for sure!”

“I made a comeback on Day 1 and was down to 12K and spun it up a bit. And last night I was down to nine bigs with 15 players left and made a big rush from there, ended up as the chip leader,” said Brandstrom. He also added “Marton played very good. I probably didn’t play my A-Game, but the cards came my way.”

Final Table Chip Counts:

1. Simon Brandstrom – €1,290,166 
2. Marton Czuczor – €1,253,234
3. Rui Sousa – €607,400
4. Diego Falcone – €436,760
5. Giovani Torre – €364,660
6. Yunye Lu – €295,520
7. Johan Storakers – €226,490
8. Pasquale Braco – €159,580
9. Kully Sidhu – €121,760

The EPT Barcelona Main Event wrapped up by breaking all records. The next most awaited EPT Main Event will take place in December 2019 in Prague. To get more updates on EPT Barcelona, a crown jewel of live tours, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com and stay tuned!

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