Erik Bauer has won the EPT Barcelona €10,200 No-Limit Hold’em event, banking a career best score of €151,400.
The Slovakian saw off David Dongwoo Ko in an entertaining heads-up fight to deny him the chance of a second EPT title in one week.
We saw a total of 48 entries over the two days, with 12 joining the 16 players who remained in contention at the start of Day 2. In total the prize pool still rose to a respectable €465,600.
Bauer was beaming after his win, informing his interviewer that he now sits in ninth place in the Slovakian all-time money winners list.
“I feel very nice, I always wanted one of those spades, so it’s nice to have one.
“I started with average so it started pretty well, then I lost a really big one with ace-king against jack-ten which either I would have the chip lead or be the short stack.
“Then I got lucky in a three-way all in, then I got very lucky with ace-ten against ace-king, and then I just ran very hot. I felt like I played heads up very well.”
Action Recap
PokerStars Team Pro Maria Konnikova was one of the early exits from Day 2, quickly followed by Ren Lin, Sam Greenwood, Stoyan Madanzhiev, and Krasimir Yankov.
Russia’s Eduard Barsegyan was the unfortunate soul who broke the money bubble after his ace-king was seen off by the ace-queen of Ko.
Later on, Bauer was on a tear after being on the brink of elimination with only three big blinds to his name. And then he returned the favour to Ko, beating his ace-king with ace-ten.
Bauer then knocked out Aram Zobian in fifth place to solidify his chip lead which had come out of nowhere.
Zobian opened with K♥ K♣ from UTG and Bauer jammed with A♣ J♣ from the next seat. Zobian snap-called, half expecting to be knocking one rival out whilst taking the chip lead.
But the board ran out 9♣ J♥ A♠ A♥ 6♣ and it was the American who was heading to the exit.
Samuel Ju must have been counting his lucky stars during the final table stage.
Spending most of his time as the shortest stack in perpetual danger of being knocked out, he rode his luck as rivals fell by the wayside and finished in fourth place after running ace-jack into the pocket queens of Bauer.
Only a couple of hands later, James Collopy ended his tournament in a flip against Ko to leave only two players to fight for the title and much sought after Spadie trophy.
The heads-up portion of the event saw the two challengers sit with almost equal stacks, but it wasn’t long before chips were flying.
Bauer got off to the best start, at one point reaching a three-to-one advantage but Ko responded in the best possible way, calling off a huge pot with only ace-high to even the stacks.
There was no way Bauer was going to take that lying down and the momentum shifted back to the Slovakian who steadily ground Ko down.
Bauer was crowned champion when the chips went all-in with his top pair needing to dodge a straight draw which he duly did.
EPT Barcelona €10,200 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Erik Bauer | Slovakia | €151,400 |
| 2 | Dongwoo Ko | Canada | €100,100 |
| 3 | James Collopy | United States | €67,500 |
| 4 | Samuel Ju | Germany | €51,200 |
| 5 | Aram Zobian | United States | €39,600 |
| 6 | Jeremie Zouari | France | €31,400 |
| 7 | Zachary Habayeb | Canada | €24,400 |
- Get the best rakeback deals
- See the best poker promotions
- View the latest poker news
- Get the best No Deposit Poker Bonuses
- Benefit from the biggest poker bonus
- Calculate your rakeback with the rakeback calculator
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org.
