PokerStars Festival: The Squid wins in Bucharest; Bansal wins in Manila

PokerStars Festival: The Squid wins in Bucharest; Bansal wins in Manila

Sam Grafton earned the largest live score of his career when he took down the inaugural PokerStars Festival Main Event in Bucharest, and India’s Uday Bansal did the same in Manila.

After I have finished writing this, I will take a bath with my nipper. We’ll read the world’s first noisy water book {that hardly makes a sound}, and play with her bath toys, amongst which is a squid we call SamSquid. 

PokerStars Festival: The Squid wins in Bucharest; Bansal wins in ManilaIt even has the same accent.

Sam ‘SamSquid’ Grafton isn’t just a famous bath toy that lives in Cardiff. He is one of the most loved poker players in Europe. Grafton has earned close to $5m as one of the hardest working online grinders in the business. But it’s his personable presence on the live felt that has made him a star, and he is started to rack up some impressive scores to go along with that gift of the gab.

The Squid has just taken down the inaugural PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event. It was his largest live score to date and takes him within a tentacle of a million bucks in live MTT scores.

The €1,100 Main Event attracted 736 entrants via three starting flights, and Grafton, who qualified for the event via an online satellite, beat the lot to take the €117,707 first prize after cutting a deal with the Turkish player, Anil Ozdemir.

It was a resounding success for the PokerStars brand, with €706,560 heading to the coffers, easily smashing the €500,000 guarantee, after the event made the history books as the largest live poker tournament ever held in Romania.

The win was Grafton’s third six-figure live score of his career. The other two were a victory in the 2012 Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour (GUKPT) Grand Final for $163,953 and a victory in a side event at the 2017 Aussie Millions for $106,156.

I’m not sure how much he picks up in royalties for his bathtub toy side gig.

Final Table Results

1. Sam Grafton – €117,707*
2. Anil Ozdemir – €96,933*
3. Daniel Nietrzebka – €57,600
4. Fahredin Mustafov – €43,500
5. Patrick Bueno – €34,400
6. Johann Eclapier – €26,091
7. Traian Bostan – €18,720
8. Yuriy Kudrynskyy – €12,790
*Indicates a deal

In the other PokerStars Festival Bucharest results Or Patreanu defeated 120 entrants to capture the €55,500 first prize in the €2,200 High Roller. Alexandru Anghel topped a field of 756 entrants to bank the €15,440 first prize in a MegaStack side event. And Stefan Dragonmir battered 200 participants on his way to a €3,500 score in a Progressive Knockout event.