Poker in the News — Weekly Round-up for September 7, 2018

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Sep 7, 2018

Hungarian Victory In EPT Barcelona High Roller Event

Andras Nemeth takes home Euro 605,600

Hungarian poker pro Andras Nemeth has pulled off a surprise victory in the EPT Barcelona Euro 25,000 buy-in Single Day High Roller competition after besting a field of 95 players – many of them internationally respected professionals.

The registrations included Michael Dyer, Stephen Chidwick, Bryn Kenney, Luc and Sam Greenwood, Nick Petrangelo, Patrik Antonius, Dan Shak, Timothy Adams, Alex Foxen, Ryan Riess, Mikita Badziakouski, and Daniel Negreanu, although none of those managed to cash in the event.

On the final table Austrian pro Matt Elbinger dominated play but lost momentum and the chip lead at the three handed stage and was eventually eliminated at third for Euro 278,280, reprising his performance earlier in the week when he finished deep in the Euro 100,000 buy-in Super High Roller.

That left Nemeth facing Malaysian pro Wai Leong Chan in the heads up, with the Malaysian holding the lead.

The duo played for a relatively short time and was even in chip counts when the final hand began, with Nemeth at one point dangerously close to busting. However, in a last-minute rally around good cards, the Hungarian managed to snatch victory from a clearly surprised Chan, leaving him with the runner up prize of Euro 420,800.

Nemeth’s last-minute triumph brought him a main prize of Euro 605,600.

New Online Poker Offering From Pokerstars?

Company begins promoting Six Plus Hold’em (Short Deck Poker)

Media and forum reports this week indicate that PokerStars is continuing its pursuit of new and interesting product offerings by promoting Six Plus Hold’em (Short Deck Poker), a variant reportedly popular with high roller players in cash games and on the tournament circuit in Asia.

The variant differs from Texas Hold’em; deuces through fives are taken out of the deck (leaving just 36 cards) before the game is played in the traditional Texas Hold’em format.

Taking out the low value cards changes hand rankings, with straights higher than flushes, increasing opportunities to create significantly stronger hands.

The promotion of Six Plus follows other innovative offerings from PokerStars in recent times such as Unfold, Split Hold’em, and Showtime Hold’em.

Satellite Winner Takes Down Ept Barcelona Main Event

Polish amateur player displays steely determination to win Euro 1,037,109

Piotr Nurzynski is a Polish amateur poker player who entered a $250 online poker satellite competition whilst travelling in South America and won a seat in the Euro 5,300 buy-in European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event.

Today he is Euro 1,037,109 wealthier after winning the event following a four-way chop…and he has a $30,000 PokerStars Platinum pass to boot.

This year’s main event attracted a record field of 1,931 entries, boosting the prize pool well beyond the guarantee to Euro 9,365,350

On the final day, with the final table roll call down to just four players, a halt was called to negotiate a chop. Nurzynski, Chinese amateur Haoxiang Wang, Ognyan Dimov from Bulgaria and Portugal’s Pedro Marques agreed to a division which would see a Platinum pass, the trophy and Euro 180,000 left on the table for the winner, and play resumed.

Marques was the next to head for the exit at fourth place with his agreed share of the chop of Euro 698,369, and he was followed by Dimov at third for Euro 725,621.

That left Wang holding a significant chip lead and facing Nurzynski in the heads up, but the Pole was far from done, exhibiting a steely determination and unreadable face as the two played on. Then a key point in the competition was reached when Nurzynski scored a big pot with pocket kings against the middle pair and straight draw of Wang, helping him to grab the lead soon after.

A little later the Pole followed that crushing blow by winning another major pot with jacks vs. nines; Wang was unable to recover and soon after he was eliminated, collecting Euro 1,023,701 as his runner-up reward.

In related news, UK poker pro Max Silver emerged victorious from the Euro 10,000 buy-in EPT Barcelona High Roller, winning Euro 600,924 after a three-way chop involving Norbert Szecsi of Hungary and Joris Ruijs from the Netherlands. The agreement left the trophy and Euro 60,000 on the table for the winner.

439 entries were recorded for the event, which took three days to complete.

With the chop agreed, the action resumed with Szecsi holding the chip lead, but Silver took it away from him after eliminating Ruijs at third for Euro 488,819.

Heads up, Silver made short work of the Hungarian, eliminating him at second for Euro 626,357 to claim the trophy and the main prize of Euro 600,924.

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