The PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona slapped a €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller on the card for the first time, and when it came down to form, there was one man everyone had to beat.
Justin Bonomo is the hottest player in the world right now. But when Bonomo doesn’t turn up for work, that mantle becomes the responsibility of Mikita Badziakouski.
The Belarusian star came into this event after winning back-to-back Triton Poker Series Main Events in Montenegro and Jeju. Add a fourth-place finish in the Super High Roller Bowl to that collection, as well as a series of other sterling results, and you’re looking at an annual haul of $12,411,966 – only Bonomo has won more ($24,945,435). Badziakouski’s form would have seen him top the live yearly tournament earnings charts in three of the past four years.
Could anyone stop him?
The headline is a bit of a giveaway.
Let’s see how he took it down.
Day 1
44 entrants participated in eight levels of 60-minutes, at the end of the day 28 remained with Badziakouski bagging up 402,000 chips, good enough for 80 big blinds.
Top Ten Chip Counts
- Ahadpur Khangah – 1,155,000
- Pascal LeFrancois – 647,000
- David Peters – 638,000
- Seth Davies – 622,000
- Timothy Adams – 587,000
- Jan-Eric Schwippert – 545,000
- Patrik Antonius – 517,000
- Jean-Hoel Thorel – 496,000
- Bryn Kenney – 494,000
- Benjamin Pollak – 469,000
Day 2
Ten people took advantage of the late registration, making the final field size, 54. The prize pool was €5,239,080.
Here were the payouts:
Payouts
- €1,650,300
- €1,191,900
- €759,680
- €576,300
- €445,300
- €340,550
- €274,050
Level 10, with blinds at 4,000/8,000/8,000, and a critical hand for Badziakouski.
Badziakouski opened to 21,000, Adams three-bet to 69,000 and Badziakouski called. The flop was Ts6h2c; Adams bet 38,000, Badziaouski raised to 100,000, Adams moved all-in, and Badziakouski called for his tournament life. The Belarusian showed ATcc for top pair, and backdoor flush draw, but Adam was ahead with pocket queens. The As landed on the turn to give Badziakouski two pairs, and after a blank river he doubled up to 780,000.
By the time we reached the final three tables, Badziakouski was third in chips.
Top Five Chip Counts
- Ahadpur Khangah – 1,819,000
- Matthias Eibinger – 1,200,000
- Mikita Badziakouski – 960,000
- David Peters – 940,000
- Daniel Negreanu – 685,000
With blinds at 8,000/16,000/16,000, Badziakouski took care of Pascal LeFrancois. Le Francois opened to 36,000 on the button, Badziakouski three-bet to 140,000 from the small blind, and LeFrancois called. The flop was 8d5h2d, Badziakouski made an 80,000 c-bet, LeFrancois moved all-in, and Badziakouski called.
Badziakouski: KhKd
LeFrancois: Kc5c
Badziakouski was light years ahead, and another king on the turn sealed the deal. Badziakouski moved up to 1,550,000 to solidify his #3 spot behind Matthias Eibinger (the new runaway chip leader), and Khangah.
The next player to feel the power of Badziakouski’s hands was Christoph Vogelsang. The former Super High Roller Bowl winner opened to 44,000 (with blinds at 10k/20k/20k), Badziakouski three-bet to 135,000, and Vogelsang made the call.
Flop: 5h3s2s
Both players checked.
Turn: 7s
Vogelsang bet 120,000; Badziakouski called.
River: 9s
With four spades on the board, Vogelsang checked his option, and Badziakouski put him all-in. The German star made the call and left the building after Badziakouski’s pocket aces (with the ace of spades) beat the pocket tens (ten of spades) of Vogelsang.
At the dinner break, Badziakouski had moved into the second spot.
Top Five Counts
- Matthias Eibinger – 2,580,000
- Mikita Badziakouski – 2,300,000
- Bryn Kenney – 1,200,000
- Daniel Negreanu – 1,040,000
- Cary Katz – 910,000
Timothy Adams eliminated Daniel Negreanu, Ahadpur Khanga took care of Adrian Mateos and Bryn Kenney, and we had a final table.
Nine players remained.
Only seven would win any money.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Matthias Eibinger – 3,040,000
- Mikita Badziakouski – 2,570,000
- Ahadpur Khangah – 2,105,000
- Cary Katz – 1,425,000
- Timothy Adams – 1,245,000
- Rui Neves Ferreira – 1,020,000
- Benjamin Pollak- 765,000
- Jean Ferreira – 720,000
- Byron Kaverman – 610,000
Day 3
The first player to exit was Cary Katz, and it was a brutal way to go. The Poker Central founder got it in with pocket queens against the KTcc of Matthias Eibinger. The ultra dry flop of Qs6c2h gave Katz an incredible opportunity to double up, only for the Austrian to hit runner-runner clubs to eliminate Katz with a flush.
The elimination of Katz led to the bubble, and the last player to leave with nothing was Byron Kaverman. Once again Eibinger played the role of Albert Pierrepoint, tightening the noose around the American’s neck with 87o>A8dd, and letting the trap door go when a seven hit the turn to give Eibinger the win.
Jean Ferreira earned €275,050 for a seventh-place finish after running AJo into the pocket kings of Khangah all-in, pre-flop. Badziakouski doubled up through the chip leader, Eibinger, when his pocket tens won a flip against the AQ of the Austrian. And Rui Neves Ferreira became the second Ferreira to leave the final table when his pocket queens lost out to the KQ of Khangah after the Iranian flopped the second cowboy.
The former November Niner, Benjamin Pollak, took €445,300 for a fifth-place finish when Eibinger sent him packing 86cc>AJo after flopping an eight and rivering a six in an all-in, pre-flop encounter. Timothy Adams banked €576,300 after losing a flip 88<KQ to Eibinger. And we reached heads-up play after Badziakouski’s AQ found an ace on the flop to eliminate Eibinger who was holding pocket tens.
Heads-Up Chip Counts
Badziakouski – 7,700,000
Khangah – 5,800,000
Khangah finished sixth in the 2016 €50,000 Super High Roller in this very building, and also finished seventh in the €111,111 One Drop High Roller at the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), but he is no match for the silky skills of the Belarusian.
Khangah would need the luck to be on his side, and it stayed in the deck.
Badziakouski won a succession of pots to take a commanding chip lead before busting his opponent after both players flopped top pair. The money went in on the turn after Badziakouski turned his weaker top pair hand into two pairs.
Mikita Badziakouski bags another monster, wins €1.6 million in #EPTBarcelona Super High Roller. https://t.co/qlw2l4Sdn6
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) August 27, 2018
It was an excellent run for the Iranian, but he was up against one of the hottest poker players in the world.
Here are the final table results.
Final Table Results
- Mikita Badziakouski – €1,650,300
- Ahadpur Khangah – €1,191,900
- Matthias Eibinger – €759,680
- Timothy Adams – €576,300
- Benjamin Pollak – €445,300
- Rui Ferreira – €340,550
- Jean-Christophe Ferreira – €275,050
“Are you going to be in Manila for Triton in December?” I asked Badziakouski after his win.
“I guess I have to be now,” said a calm as you like Badziakouski.
That’s not good news for anyone else heading that way.