Benjamin Pollak has taken down the €50,000 Single-Day High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona, beating his compatriot Jean-Noel Thorel in heads-up action.
Pollak has been in outstanding form since coming third in the 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $3,500,000, cashing 16-times, winning two titles, and taking $4,567,377 away from the tables.
The €50k attracted 54 entrants, 15 re-entries, and created a prize pool of €3,347,190.
The whole thing lasted a mere 20-levels.
Let’s see how Pollak tied this one up.
Level 1: 500/1000/1000
Jean-Noel Thorel’s first bullet didn’t last long. The French amateur sunk to 20,000 before moving them across the line with pocket treys and Seth Davies sucked them up like a Dyson, holding KQdd. The American flopped the flush, and Broadway straight draws and hit them both when the Td hit the turn.
Level 3: 1000/1500/1500
Scott Margereson, Almedin Imsirovic and the Global Poker Index #1, Stephen Chidwick, all busted while all around them people were still entering.
Level 5: 1000/2500/2500
Daniel Dvoress hit the sack early.
Chi Zhang sent Jean Ferreira to the rail when his pocket sixes cracked pocket eights when a third six hit the flop are after the pair got it in pre-flop.
Level 6: 1500/3000/3000
Chidwick and Margereson lost their second bullet. Mark Teltscher, Helio Neves, Frederik Jensen, David Peters, Bryn Kenney and Adrian Mateos also busted.
Level 7: 2000/4000/4000
Jack Salter tripled up after taking care of Thomas Muehloecker and Orpen Kisacikoglu. The Austrian opened the action with a raise to 85,000, Kisacikoglu three-bet all-in for 22,000, Salter four-bet to 34,000, Muehloecker moved all-in, and Salter called.
Salter: KhKd
Muehloecker: AdQc
Kisacikoglu: 2s2d
Board: 9c9s7dJdQh
The Cowboys held, and Salter moved up to 395,000. Muehloecker bought back in immediately for 25 big blinds.
Level 8: 2500/5000/5000
Adrian Mateos sent the hottest player in Barcelona to the rail when he got it in A8hh>K5dd. An ace on the flop strengthened Mateos’ lead, a king gave Badziakouski some help on the turn, but a third ace on the river sealed things, and the €100k Super High Roller champion walked over to the cash desk to buy back in.
Jean-Noel Thorel sent Lim Chin Wei packing. The pair got it in on QcTc4d with Thorel holding KTss for the middle pin, and Wei holding K9cc for the draws that never arrived.
Level 9: 3000/6000/6000
Chi Zhang, David Peters, Aaron Been and Ben Heath ended up thinking about a day without poker in this level.
Jan-Eric Schwippert sent Tsugunari Toma to the pool when his pocket tens beat QTo, all-in, pre-flop. Stefan Schillhabel and Henrik Hecklen also exited stage left.
Byron Kaverman’s pocket fives cracked Linus Leoliger’s pocket jacks to give the American a much-needed double-up. And he did it again when J8ss, found a Jack to double through Sam Greenwood’s pocket fours. The €100,000 Super High Roller runner-up, Ahadpur Khangah was not so lucky, hitting the rail hard in this level.
Level 10: 4000/8000/8000
Bill Perkins moved all-in holding AsTh, and Dietrich Fast called with pocket jacks. The jacks held, and Perkins was out. Nick Petrangelo also busted in this level.
Then we lost Kisacikoglu for the second time.
Matthew Eibinger opened to 17,000, Dean Nolan called on the button, and Kisacikoglu did likewise from the big blind. The flop was JdTd2c, and everyone checked to the 4d turn. Kisacikoglu opened with a 30,000 bet, and both players called. The river was the Ah, and this time Kisacikoglu checked. Eibinger bet 73,000, Nolan folded, and Kisacikoglu moved all-in. Eibinger sighed but called, and it was good. The Austrian showed AJo for the top two pairs, and Kisacikoglu showed A5o for the one pair.
Alex Foxen eliminated Steffen Sontheimer A8>QT, and Sean Winter also left the tournament in this level.
Level 11: 5000/10000/10000
Not long after eliminating Perkins, Fast also found the exit sign. The Russian born star got his chips in against Bryn Kenney holding A8<A9, and he never saw them again.
Seth Davies eliminated Badziakouski for the second time when AK beat A7, and Alex Foxen continued to be a significant player in this one when his pocket queens took care of the KTo of Ramin Hajiyev.
Michael Soyza is in splendid form, but couldn’t carry it into the higher buy-in event losing his last life in a three-way all-in against Mikalai Vaskaboinikau and Jan-Eric Schwippert. Soyza held QJss, and his two opponents both held AK. The superior hands held, and the pair chopped Soyza’s stack like a piece of steak.
And then Foxen took the chip lead with 21 players remaining, eliminating Sam Greenwood AK>AQ, all-in, pre-flop, before busting Kenney QQ>TT. Ryan Riess doubled through Sergio Aido AQ>99, and then Pollak made his mark on the event, tripling up in a monster hand versus Cary Katz and Adrian Mateos.
The Spaniard opened to 20,000 from early position, Katz made the call in the next pew before Pollak moved all-in for 128,000 in the big blind. Mateos moved all-in, and Katz called.
Pollak: AdAh
Katz: AcKd
Mateos: KsTs
The board steered clear of any mishaps, and the Frenchman tripled up. Katz and Mateos left the hand with 248,000 and 105,000 respectively.
Level 12: 6000/12000/12000
Seth Davies sent Timothy Adams to the souvenir shop when his K5cc beat A4o all-in, pre-flop. Vaskaboinikau, who qualified for the event via a €5k satellite, eliminated Nolan in a flush-over-flush hand. And Chin Wei Lim’s tournament ended after running jacks into Stanley Choi’s kings, and then K3o v KTo of Eibinger.
And then Jean-Noel Thorel, the man first to lose a bullet, became a man to be feared, eliminating Mateos and Kaverman when his AQ beat KQ and A7 all-in, pre-flop.
The top ten chip counts with two tables remaining looked like this:
- Alex Foxen – 1,300,000
- Jean-Noel Thorel – 830,000
- Matthias Eibinger – 800,000
- Ivan Leow – 630,000
- Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 480,000
- Jack Salter – 420,000
- Jan-Eric Schwippert – 420,000
- Cary Katz – 380,000
- Luc Greenwood – 380,000
- Benjamin Pollak – 350,000
Pollak began his ascent, eliminating Aido KK>A6o, and Luc Greenwood 88>44, and by the time we reached the break at the end of Level 12, the Frenchman was second in chips to Alex Foxen.
Level 13: 8000/16000/16000
Another level.
More Pollak power.
This time Katz felt the pain when he got it in holding pocket tens against Pollak’s AKo, and an ace on the river and a king on the turn gave Pollak two pairs. Katz was out; Pollak was the new chip leader.
Riess doubled through Salter JJ>AK. Salter did hit his ace on the flop, but the former World Champion hit a two outer on the turn to survive. Vaskaboinikau doubled through Leow AK>88 after flopping a king, and Salter got some back when he doubled through Eibinger 87cc>KTss after flopping a seven.
Level 14: 10000/20000/20000
Riess doubled again, this time KK>JJ of Eibinger, Pollak eliminated the short-stacked Leow when his A3cc beat pocket queens after flopping two pairs. And Pollak continued his onslaught eliminating Loeliger and Choi on the bubble, finding pocket aces to bust KQss, and AKo.
Moving into the final table, Pollak had a commanding lead.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Benjamin Pollak – 2,275,000
- Jean-Noel Thorel – 1,095,000
- Ryan Riess – 810,000
- Alex Foxen – 735,000
- Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 540,000
- Seth Davies – 380,000
- Jack Salter – 355,000
- Jan-Eric Schwippert – 345,000
- Matthias Eibinger – 230,000
Eibinger added €97,090 to the €97,500 he won in the €25k REG Charity event, and €759,680 for coming third in the €100,000 event after leaving the party in ninth. The Austrian got it in with deuces and found callers in two spots. Pollak held pocket sevens, but Seth Davies woke up with aces to triple up.
Level 15: 10000/25000/25000
Salter doubled through Foxen 66>AK.
Then we lost Schwippert.
Riess made it 60,000 to play on the button, and the German called in the big blind. The dealer placed 8c6h5c on the flop, Schwippert checked, Riess bet 60,000, Schwippert check-raised all-in, and Riess called.
Schwippert held T4cc for the flush and straight draws. Riess held pocket queens. The ladies got through another two streets with their crowns intact, and Schwippert was out, earning €127,200.
Level 16: 15000/30000/30000
Jack Salter’s run ended in seventh for €164,000 when he got it in holding AKdd versus the pocket aces of Foxen.
Level 17: 20000/40000/40000
Foxen continued his hatchet job, taking care of Davies. Once again, Foxen found the rockets. Davies’ K7o paling in comparison and €207,500 would have to do for the American.
Vaskaboinikau turned €5k into €267,800 after busting in fifth place. Firstly, the Belarusian doubled through Foxen when his pocket fours managed to avoid any mishaps against A8o, but his AK couldn’t cause one when it came up against the pocket queens of Pollak.
Level 18: 250000/50000/50000
The former World Champ left the competition in fourth for €344,700. Riess looked lively when he got it in with pocket sevens against the pocket threes of Thorel, but a third trey appeared on the turn to send Riess back to his hotel room.
Level 19: 30000/60000/30000
Alex Foxen left the two Frenchman to fight for the title when he exited in third for €456,900. Pollak’s AQ beating his KQo, all-in, pre-flop, to make Pollak the favourite going into the end zone.
Heads-Up Chip Counts
Thorel – 3,800,00
Pollak – 3,100,00
Level 20: 40000/80000/80000
Pollak pulls into the lead after a series of pots went his way.
Down to only seven big blinds, Thorel made a stand with A3o, and Pollak peeled back his cards to see A9o.
Call.
Five community cards later, and Pollak was our winner.
Benjamin Pollak powers to #EPTBarcelona €50K Single-Day High Roller title, outlasts fellow Frenchman Jean-Noel Thorel heads-up. Recap and updates from the day: https://t.co/UutVy82En6 pic.twitter.com/2ezI8U4T4p
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) August 28, 2018
Final Table Results
- Ben Pollak – €979,000
- Jean-Noel Thorel – €703,000
- Alex Foxen – €456,900
- Ryan Riess – €344,700
- Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – €267,800
- Seth Davies – €207,500
- Jack Salter – €164,000
- Jan-Eric Schwippert – €127,200
- Matthias Eibinger – €97,090