Gonzalo Mencia shoved for 4,525,000 from the small blind and Josep Valls, who had him slightly covered, snap-called from the big blind to put him at risk.
Gonzalo Mencia: A?10?
Josep Valls: A?Q?
Valls was a huge favorite preflop but the K?K?3? flop gave Mencia a flush draw and from that point the two players were on a near-even flip. The 7? turn and 5? river were favorable to Valls who took the pot while Mencia's deep run came to an end in third place.
Jose Criado shoved from the button for 8,525,000 and was called by Josep Valls who held a covering stack to put Criado at risk.
Jose Criado: Q?J?
Josep Valls: A?4?
Valls was ahead preflop but Criado picked up some outs after making a gutshot straight draw on the 10?8?2? flop. The K? turn gave Criado even more outs to a straight but the 3? river was a brick and Valls took down the final pot of the night while Criado was forced to settle for second place.
The action has come to a close on the final day of the 888poker LIVE Barcelona €888 Main Event here at Casino Barcelona. It took just under 11 hours for a winner to emerge from the 11 hopefuls who made it to the final day.
Josep Valls began the day with the chip lead and by the end of the night he was the last player standing with every chip in play. Several other players would take turns with the chip lead throughout the final table but Valls never lost control and was able to fight back into contention every time he found himself short-stacked, ultimately prevailing over Jose Criado after a back and forth heads-up duel to take home the trophy.
Valls came into this tournament with just over $40,000 in career tournament earnings, a number that he has more than doubled with his victory in today's event.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Josep Valls
Romania
€ 61,550*
2
Jose Criado
Spain
€ 41,985*
3
Gonzalo Mencia
Spain
€ 37,895*
4
Leo Jubien
France
€ 35,570*
5
Guillem Morgo
Spain
€ 15,000
6
Jose Massa
Spain
€ 10,800
7
Scott Fritz
United States
€ 8,550
8
Fernando Marco
Spain
€ 6,900
9
Daguang Lin
Spain
€ 5,500
*Denotes a four-way ICM chop
Final Day Action
The Main Event was another success for 888poker LIVE, attracting 476 entrants to generate a prize pool of €369,450, up from last year's Main Event which drew 369 entrants. Of those 476 entrants, only 11 players managed to advance to the final day.
Valls, Gonzalo Mencia and Criado were at the top of the counts to start the day. Guillem Morgo was short-stacked and all other players held very similar stack sizes in the middle. It took less than an hour before Mindaugas Pagareckas lost a flip to become the first bustout of the day while Florens Feenstra fell in tenth place after a painful runout to make way for the nine-handed final table.
Daguang Lin became the first final table casualty at the hands of Guillem Morgo, who had doubled up more than once to establish himself as one of the bigger stacks at the final table after starting the day with the shortest stack. On the flip side Criado, who had started the day third in chips, found himself very short-stacked at this time until hitting a miraculous three-outer on the river to keep himself in contention.
Jose Criado
After Fernando Marcowas eliminated in eighth place at the hands of Scott Fritz it would take over an hour for the next elimination to occur. Fritz himself was next to fall in seventh place after losing a flip to Morgo. By that point, Morgo was the outright chip leader with six players remaining.
Following the elimination of Fritz the action again ground down to a halt, with Jose Massa finding himself as the short stack for the better part of two hours. The other players were forced to play conservatively to outlast Massa, who despite showing incredible resilience was finally the next to fall in sixth place. Morgo followed him out the door in fifth after a roller coaster runout against Criado where the lead changed on the flop, turn, and river.
Final Four
With just four players remaining and effective stacks becoming extremely short the remaining four players agreed to an ICM chop that left €17,700 up top for the winner. In the very next hand after the ICM deal was reached, Leo Jubien was sent to the rail after running Queen-Jack into Mencia’s King-Queen.
Mencia soon found himself short-stacked at the final three after folding the best hand to Criado. He bowed out in third shortly afterward to make way for a heads-up battle between Criado and Valls, who started the day third and first in chips respectively.
Josep Valls and Jose Criado Heads Up
Heads-up play lasted for just under an hour. Criado began with a slight lead but both players were close to even. Criado extended his lead early in the duel, but it would not be long before Valls clawed his way back. Criado came close to pulling even a few times but ultimately moved all in with queen-jack after the blinds had rapidly increased leaving both players with very shallow stacks. Valls woke up with an ace and held to take down the final pot of the night, the trophy and the top prize of €61,550.
That’s a wrap from 888poker LIVE Bucharest, but be sure to check out the PokerNewslive reporting hub for coverage of events around the globe!
