Juan Pardo wins a €25k & €50k High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour in Barcelona, and Sergi Reixach takes down the €100k.
Until this morning, the only Spanish explorer whose name had burrowed itself into my head like a Dung beetle hiding its payload was Dora The Explorer.
Now I have another one.
Juan Pardo.
Long before Shaggy sang its name, Pardo became the first man to put down Spanish roots in what’s today known as South Carolina. He also founded Fort San Juan in North Carolina.
That was in the sixteenth century.
Fast forward to modern times. Another Juan Pardo has his compass out, and his internal GPS coordinates have sent him to the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona searching for treasure chests full of gold, and he’s found two of them.
When it comes to 2019 live tournament prowess, Pardo has been a walnut shell that nobody seems to be able to crack. His win, beating 70-entrants in the €25,000 Single Day High Roller, was his fifth of the year, after winning four $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Rollers at ARIA during the summer.
After winning €491,600, some would retire to an expensive suite to plume their feathers while slurping on oysters – not Pardo. The Spaniard hopped into the 76-entrant €50,000 No-Limit Hold’em and won that as well, for a career-high €1,013,860.
Incredibly, Pardo didn’t even make the headlines. Not only am I putting Dora the Explorer and Pardo the Explorer ahead of him in the pecking order, but the appearance of Barcelona FC’s stars Gerard Piqué and Arturo Vidal on the final table of the €25,000 also edged him a few paragraphs down. Vidal finished fifth for his first-ever score. Piqué lost heads-up, three places higher than he finished in this event in 2017.
€25k final table results
1. Juan Pardo – €491,600
2. Gerard Piqué – €352,950
3. Michael Addamo – €229,420
4. Hiokazu Kobayashi – €173,110
5. Arturo Vidal – €134,460
6. Kazuhiko Yotsushika – €104,200
7. Ramin Hajiyev – €82,350
8. Joao Vieira – €63,870
9. Mike Watson – €48,740
€50k final table results
1. Juan Pardo – €1,013,860
2. Seth Davies – €720,760
3. Chin Wei Lim – €471,910
4. Lucas Greenwood – €363,150
5. Ali Imsirovic – €287,570
6. Timothy Adams – €224,890
7. Steve O’Dwyer – €176,960
8. Laurynas Levinskas – €138,250
The best of the rest
Mikhail Rudoy registered the first live tournament win of his career after taking down the 24-entrant €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck event. The Russian beat Chin Wei Lim, heads-up, to take the title and €213,210 first prize. Yake Wu finished third, Isaac Haxton was fourth, and Michael Watson eked into the money in the fifth position.
Alexander Ivarsson conquered a massive 1,491-entrant field in the €2,200 EPT National High Roller. The Swede overcame a final table that housed Ari Engel and Anthony Zinno to collect the €498,520 first prize.
Last but certainly not least – Sergo Reixach claimed the largest single prize at EPT Barcelona this year when he trounced a field of 64-entrants to win the €100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller. The Spaniard earned €1,816,210 for the win, beating the UK’s Sam Grafton, heads-up, for the title.
€100k final table results
1. Sergi Reixach – €1,816,210
2. Sam Grafton – €1,303,950
3. Daniel Tang – €847,570
4. Kahle Burns – €639,560
5. Tsugunari Toma – €639,560
6. Lucas Greenwood – €384,980
7. Steve O’Dwyer – €304,250
8. Rui Ferreira – €235,950
9. Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – €180,070
