Dan Smith has earned a cool €963k for topping the 64-strong field (55 entrants, nine re-buys) at this weekend’s European Poker Tour Barcelona €50k Super High Roller event. Smith is having one hell of a year, having won (a) the $100k Challenge at this year’s Aussie Millions and (b) three side events at this year’s EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo plus a third-place finish at a $5k NLHE at the 2012 World Series of Poker. Smith started Sunday’s final table as chip leader, a position he briefly lost during heads-up play with JC Alvarado, but Smith wouldn’t be denied. Alvarado earned €788k for his runner-up finish after he and Smith chopped the pot and played for the final €100k and the Shamballa Jewels bracelet. The rest of the eight-handed final table finished thus: Mike Watson (€399k), Ilari Sahamies (€292k), Mike McDonald (€215k), Erik Seidel (€153k), Talal Shakerchi (€138k) and Jim McCrink (€123k).
Meanwhile, Day 1A of the EPT Barcelona Main Event is in the books, with 403 players having taken their seats and 222 surviving to return on Day 2. A larger contingent is expected to buy-in on Day 1B. Aku Joentausta led the Day 1A survivors, with Guy Thomas and Emanoil Savin not far behind. Also in Barcelona, the Estrellas Poker Tour closed out its third season in fine form, fielding 1,036 players for its main event at Casino Barcelona. Lorenzo Sabato took home €200k for defeating Russian Andrey Demidov heads-up. Demidov earned €122k for his bridesmaid finish, while Niclas Svensson took third and €76k.
Stateside, Anthony Gregg earned $417k for winning the World Poker Tour Parx Open Poker Classic main event. A field of 500 players came up with the $3,500 entry fee for the first American stop on the WPT’s Season XI at the Parx Casino just outside Philadelphia, which was also the first time the WPT has held a main event in Pennsylvania. It was Gregg’s fourth final table this year – including the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event and the WSOP $2,500 NLH Four-Handed event – but this weekend’s appearance earned Gregg his first major live tourney triumph and boosted his career live earnings over $3.5m. Stephen Reynolds played second-fiddle, collecting $244k while Chris Lee took third and $158k.
The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s Talking Stick Resort played host to the 8th Annual Arizona State Poker Championship, which was won on Tuesday by the impressively named Eltorna ‘BG’ Gant II. Gant le Deux earned a handsome $233k for outlasting the record field of 1,233 entrants who ponied up the $1k buy-in. Gant’s fellow Arizonan, Matt Elsby, finished second for $148k while District of Columbia native Adam White took third and $97k.
Finally, the World Series of Poker Circuit IP Biloxi Day 2 is in the books. From an original field of 296, it only took two days to reach the 10-handed final table, and only six of those remained when play was halted just before midnight. When the six players reconvene Monday, Kyle Cartwright will hold a nearly 2:1 advantage over his closest opponent John Dolan.
