We have just been informed that the final table will not begin until 1:00 PM local time. We'll see you in a little under an hour.
2011 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona
Main Event
Day: 5
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€4,055,000
Entries
811
Level
34
Blinds
120,000 / 240,000
Ante
30,000
The last day of the 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Barcelona is upon us and in just a short period of time, the first hand will be dealt for the final table. Leading the way is Spaniard Tomeu “Amatos” Gomila with 6.985 million in chips.
A few days ago, the Main Event began with 811 players coming out to form the largest live poker tournament on Spanish soil. With just eight remaining, the stage is set for one of these players to cement his or her name on the trophy and claim the €850,000 first-place prize. Right now, each player has locked up a minimum payday of €73,000, but that's the last thing on their mind as they chase the title.
Joining Gomila at the final table are notables Saar Wilf and Raul Mestre, sitting in second and third place, respectively. The most notable player to make the last stage of the tournament is Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov and he'll be bringing up the rear with the short stack of 690,000. He's the only competitor left with under one million in chips.
Katchalov has the chance to earn poker's Triple Crown if he can capture this title. He already holds two-thirds of that achievement with a World Poker Tour Title and World Series of Poker bracelet, so a victory here would cap that off. Unfortunately for him, he has a large mountain to climb that's going to make things a little harder than normal.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saar Wilf | 4,555,000 |
| 2 | Martin Schleich | 2,260,000 |
| 3 | Juan Manuel Perez | 1,090,000 |
| 4 | Eugene Katchalov | 690,000 |
| 5 | Isabel Baltazar | 2,270,000 |
| 6 | Dragan Kostic | 2,155,000 |
| 7 | Raul Mestre | 4,260,000 |
| 8 | Tomeu Gomila | 6,985,000 |
The final table is set to kick off at noon local time here in Barcelona, Spain. You won't want to miss any of the action, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the live coverage!
Technology entrepreneur Saar Wilf may class himself as a recreational player, but that certainly doesn’t make him a fish. The 36-year-old Israeli has amassed $288,859 in live tournament winnings, which is pretty impressive for someone that claims, “I just play the big tournaments, the ones in places that I feel like visiting. I don’t play much at home.” It certainly doesn’t show.
Wilf finished 32nd at European Poker Tour Berlin last year for €17,500, a tournament that we look back at as one of the toughest of last season. His performance here so far has been more than commendable. Perhaps it’s the freedom with which the self-made man plays, he does say that it would be “fun” to win, but that he’s unlikely to feel the pressure of the money jumps.
In other results, Wilf has nine World Series of Poker cashes including a 16th-place finish in the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2009. He also has one deep run in a World Poker Tour event coming in 2010 where he placed 20th in the Bellagio Cup VI.
He currently rates Tomeu Gomila as the biggest challenge to his title ambitions and said, “He’s the only one that covers me. He’s very active and I’m sure we’ll get in some messy situations tomorrow. I could bust to him.” Wilf may be honest in his assessment, but given that he has direct position on Gomila it may be the Spaniard that has more to fear.
Willf will enter the final table with 4.555 million in chips. That's nearly 2.5 million less than the chip leader Gomila and just a tad more than Raul Mestre in third standing.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars
Martin Schleich started playing poker online with No-Limit Hold'em cash games in 2006 and later decided to play more tournament poker, both live and online. He works part-time in customer service, but his poker expertise is demonstrated by the fact that, in cash games, he reached the highest ranking achievable in a big German online poker school.
He has already played a couple of European Poker Tour events and cashed once in the EPT Season 5 San Remo Main Event -- 81st for €9,200. He also cashed in two side events at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January.
Schleich was the player who made this final table happen, eliminating Jose Miguel Esteban Nieto in ninth place last night right around dinner time. You can relive the action from that hand by reading yesterday's blog here.
If it wasn't for that last pot of the night, Schleich could have entered the final table as a much shorter stack, but by busting Esteban, he earned an extra 700,000 chips. The 29-year-old PokerStars player will enter the final table fifth in chips with 2.26 million.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars
Originally from Buenos Aires, 32-year-old José Manuel "Pibe" Pérez has been living in Lugo, North Spain for the last 14 years. “Pibe” started playing 5-Card Draw when he was a child to get his start in poker.
Together with his wife, Pibe owns a cafeteria in his home town, but considers himself a semi-professional poker player, competing regularly on the European Poker Tour circuit and also the La Toja Poker League in Pontevedra, Galicia.
His best result on record was third in an EPT Vilamoura side event last season. He also plays the Sunday Majors on PokerStars and once finished fourth in the Sunday Warm-Up as well as making two final tables in PokerStars $100 rebuy tourneys.
Pérez will enter the final table just over one million in chips and sitting in second-to-last place overall.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars
Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov is a player that needs little introduction, but let’s indulge him anyway.
Katchalov is a Team Pro with $6,489,636 in live tournament winnings. Back in 2007, he made his big splash with a win at the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic for $2,482,605. Earlier this year, the Ukranian-born player beat Daniel Negreanu heads up at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure to win the $100,000 Super High Roller for $1,500,000. He then went on to finish 74th in the PCA Main Event for $28,000 before then taking second in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller for $131,920. That's quite the start to the year, but it only gets better.
After stringing together a few more results, including a deep run at the NBC National Heads-Up Championship, a second-place finish at the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller Bounty Shootout at the North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun and a 27th-place in the European Poker Tour Grand Final, Katchalov went on to win his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet. He conquered the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event for $122,909 after defeating Alessio Isaia heads up. He also made another WSOP final table later in the Series, but came up just short in fourth place.
With his amazing results year after year, Katchalov found himself seeded towards the top of the Global Poker Index that ranks the best players in the world based on a plethora of criteria. Katchalov made sure to prove he belonged there by placing eighth in the Epic Poker League's first event in August for over $70,000. That brings us to this EPT final table, where Katchalov has the chance to earn poker's Triple Crown achievement.
Already having a WPT title and WSOP bracelet, all Katchalov needs is to win an EPT Main Event. He has that chance today and when asked about it said, “Records do mean something in any sport. It’s certainly on my mind. It’s been a long road for me and I’m excited for it."
It may look like an uphill struggle at the moment — Katchalov comes into the final table with the least amount of chips at just 690,000 — but it would be very hard to say that he’s not the most dangerous player at the final table, as he’s certainly the most experienced. Speaking about his position, Katchalov said, “I know mathematically I’m at a disadvantage but I’m very comfortable playing a short stack — playing 14 big blinds — so if I catch some cards or run decent tomorrow, I know I can run it up."
If the Team PokerStars Pro does get an early double up the rest of the table could be in some serious trouble.
On Day 4, PokerNews' very own Kristy Arnett caught up with Katchalov and you can find that interview below.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars
Isabel Baltazar -- 44 and of French and Portuguese descent -- is a professional restauranteur, but has always enjoyed playing cards at casinos in her free time. She took up poker five years ago and, in fact, her 19-year-old daughter is about to start a course to become a croupier.
Passionate about playing live, Baltazar’s best results to date were third place in a Partouche Poker Tour side event and fourth place in a €600 2010 Campeonato Espana De Poker tourney in Spain.
She finds it interesting that tomorrow’s final -- by far the biggest of her career -- will take place in Spain, which lies sandwiched between her two “home” countries of France and Portugal. She says her aim for the final is to last as long as possible and focus on playing her usual solid style of play.
Baltazar will enter the final table with 2.27 million in chips. That's right in the middle of the pack in fourth place.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars
Dragan Kostic is 47 years old and was born in Serbia, but has lived in Spain for the last 20 years. He took up poker in 2001 -- the year that the Euro was introduced in Spain. He said, “I remember it was that year because I was losing a lot of Euros!”
Kostic actually learned Texas Hold’em at private clubs while running a restaurant in Innsbruck, Austria. Although he plays a lot of live events in Mallorca, the European Poker Tour is by far the biggest live tournament he has ever entered. The married father of three won his seat in a live satellite on the eve of the Main Event.
On making the final table he said, “I’m very happy to reach the final because, at the start of Day 3, I only had 30,000," which was the same amount the players began the tournament with on Day 1. "I always aimed to make it, but that means not making a single error -- because if you make just one mistake, you’re out!”
His wife Simona is supporting him from home while looking after the couple’s youngest daughter. Hopefully he'll be bringing an EPT title home to them when the day is complete.
Kostic enters the day sixth in chips out of the final eight with 2.155 million.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars
The explosion in poker in Spain owes a lot to 29-year-old Raul Mestre, a former chemistry student turned high-stakes cash player, poker coach and writer. Mestre has been a key figure in developing poker in Spain -- teaching people how to play and helping set up a team of professional players.
This is Mestre’s second European Poker Tour final table, but he’s looking forward to this one a lot more than EPT Prague in Season 5 where he came into the final as the shortest stack by far and wound up finishing in eighth place for €71,800.
“It was very frustrating,” he said. “I was eliminated in the second or third hand. But this time, I’m in great shape. I have twice the average stack and the time to make good choices. I’m going to enjoy this final.”
Although he does most of his playing -- and winning -- online, Mestre also won a € 10,000 No Limit Hold'em High Roller event in Madrid two years ago for €40,000 and has a couple of high finishes on the World Poker Tour's Spanish Championship in 2008 and 2007 to his name.
The chip lead Tomeu Gomila, Mestre has one World Series of Poker Main Event cash on record. Mestre's came in 2009 and was good for $27,469 after he finished in 427th place.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars
Local poker media consider Tomeu “Amatos” Gomila one of the most respected and trusted players in the Spanish poker community. His extensive experience in all kinds of live events, both national and international, as well as good online results have made Gomila one of the most competent all-round players in the country.
Gomila was also a co-founder of PokerVD, so fans have been able to see his philosophy and strategy for tournaments at first hand thanks to the hundreds of videos that he’s made.
His best live results have been a second in the €1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event at the Full Tilt Poker Series in Madrid earlier this year in March for €40,000, winning a €1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha side event for €31,030 at European Poker Tour Barcelona last season and an eighth-place finish in the World Poker Your Spanish Championship for €31,000. Gomila also has one World Series of Poker Main Event cash, which came in 2010. He placed 378th and earned $36,463.
His online results are also impressive; he has won the PokerStars $109 rebuy several times.
Gomila will enter the final table with the largest stack at 6.985 million in chips. That's nearly 2.5 million chips more than his closest competitor, Saar Wilf. Coming into Day 4, Gomila held the chip lead as well and was able to maintain that position for most of the day before finishing in the same pole position he started at.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars