It’s been an absorbing week in Spanish sport. Former Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas suffered a heart attack, former Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez announced his plans to retire after 21-years in the game, and Sergio Aido won the €100,000 Super High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) in Monte Carlo.
It’s a little too early to call Aido a legend (only Carlos Mortenson deserves that status in Spain). However, with $10.5m in live tournament earnings, his first big high roller win under his belt, and the ability to bend the ear of Adrian Mateos then maybe there is a Fairy Godmother waiting in the wings ready to wave a magic wand above his head.
It was a remarkable win for Aido, who began the final table sitting behind a stack of seven big blinds, but two quick double ups gave him enough chips to start swinging. The first to donate was Mikita Badziakouki. The double Triton Poker Series Main Event winner, was way ahead with AK versus A9 only for the deck to come to Aido’s rescue when a second nine landed on the flop. Next Aido beat the starting day chip leader, Daniel Dvoress after AQ beat pocket fives in a flip.
Charlie Carrel was making his second final table of the series after finishing fourth in the €10,300 No-Limit Hold’em event, but the man with supernatural poker powers was unable to turn 9c5c into a world beater, and Aido sent him to the rail in sixth place.
The next player to fall was Badziakouski. After falling short, the Belarusian stuck his last few chips into the pot with 6c3c, and Jesus Cortes put them on his plate and ate them with a little help from AhQh.
Then we lost two Canadians thanks to back-to-back pocket kings.
First Aido’s pocket kings hammered the Ad9h of Dvoress, and then the most significant prong in the Greenwood Trident exited stage left. It was a fantastic run for the defending champion, but his AT couldn’t beat Aido’s pocket Kings when all the chips went into the middle.
That left us with an all Spanish heads-up with the new boy Cortes impressing once again after his third-place finish in the $100,000 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in the Bahamas. He would have his work cut out in this one with Aido’s 10,735,000 looking like a Bang & Olufson against the transistor radio of 2,265,000.
The duel lasted three hands before Aido had all of the chips when KcQh beat 9s2d to take the €1,589,190 first prize.
It’s the seventh live tournament victory for Aido, and the fourth time he has reached a final table in Monte Carlo (including a ninth in the 2017 €50,000). Aido sits third in the Spanish All-Time Money List with $10,542,720. Carlos Mortenson has $12,106,336, and Adrian Mateos has $17,301,912.
Here are the final table results.
Final Table Results
- Sergio Aido – €1,589,190
- Jesus Cortes – €1,147,750
- Sam Greenwood – €731,530
- Daniel Dvoress – €554,950
- Mikita Badziakouski – €428,830
- Charlie Carrel – €327,930
- Wiktor Malinowski – €264,860