Byron Kaverman has taken down the EPT Barcelona €25,000 NL Hold’em after defeating Markkos Ladev heads-up to claim the €381,060 winner’s prize.
This was the first €25K event of the EPT Barcelona which remains one of the most popular stops on the calendar.
Kaverman looks to be on a bit of a roll right now, after bagging €119,400 only two days earlier with a runner-up finish in the €12,300 Cuatro Knockout.
We’re sure he will be elated with his recent performances but this final table that the American ended up topping included names such as Niklas Astedt and Sam Grafton. A great achievement.
In total, there were 46 entries for this high roller tournament, creating a prize pool of €1,104,460.
Action Recap
The 46 entries came from 29 unique players, including Poker Hall of Fame members Erik Seidel and Patrik Antonius, who both headed to the rail in the early going.
Sam Greenwood soon followed them, narrowly missing out on what would have been his third final table of this series.
Steve O’Dwyer was the winner of the €12,300 Cuatro Knockout a couple of days ago but he could only manage 11th place in this €25K NL.
Earlier in the day, O’Dwyer had found out that Spanish football legend Gerard Pique thought he was his favourite player to play against. This came as the American rivered a royal flush against the Spaniard to take a chunk of his stack.
Jean-Noel Thorel also dipped out on another final table appearance, busting in tenth place.
Pique was the first to leave the final table, after O’Dwyer had crippled his stack. Ren Lin only lasted a few more hands.
Nick Petrangelo was next, just missing out on the money.
Now the pace slowed considerably, with two hours passing until Sam Grafton ran out of luck.
Niklas Astedt was one of the favourites for the win here, but with only a ten big blind stack he was forced into taking risks in a blind versus blind situation and Italy’s Enrico Camosci cleaned him out to leave only four players in the hunt.
Camosci’s run of good fortune didn’t materialise, however, because after doubling up Keverman he was on his way back to his hotel room.
It was Mike Watson who was the man in charge now, holding a considerable chip lead, but Kaverman was ready for his turn to shine, turning the tables after a timely win in a flip.
Ladev was also making a turnaround to leave Watson as the short stack, before he hoovered up his last 12 big blinds to set up a heads-up battle with almost equal stacks.
That situation wasn’t to last for long, though, because Kaverman soon ground his way to a two-to-one lead before getting Ladev to fold in a pot where he had put in more than half of his chips.
A standard all-in confrontation ended the event a couple of hands later to leave Kaverman as the champion in one of the toughest events we will see in Barcelona.
EPT Barcelona €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
| 1 | Byron Kaverman | United States | €381,060 |
| 2 | Markkos Ladev | Estonia | €248,500 |
| 3 | Mike Watson | Canada | €171,200 |
| 4 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | €127,000 |
| 5 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | €99,400 |
| 6 | Sam Grafton | United Kingdom | €77,300 |
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