Sporting legends aren’t a complete novelty at poker tournaments, but yesterday footballer Gerard Piqué came closer than any before to winning a big title. The FC Barcelona star came second in the PokerStars EPT €25k High Roller in his home city, a €352,950 runner-up cash behind winner Juan Pardo.
Gerard Pique 💸 €352,950
Arturo Vidal 💸 €134,460The Barcelona team-mates won almost €500,000 at a European Poker Tour event on Monday 😎 pic.twitter.com/iLqWsMkQIa
— GOAL (@goal) August 27, 2019
The FC Barcelona center-back is no stranger to poker, having cashed at four previous Barcelona EPT’s, but this was the closest the 32-year old has come to victory.
Gerard Piqué was joined in the first Single-Day High Roller of the 2019 stop by his team-mate, Chilean international Arturo Vidal, the pair part of the squad that had defeated Real Betis 5-2 the previous day at the Nou Camp stadium.
There are no teammates at the poker table. 🙃
Today @3gerardpique and @kingarturo23 faced-off against each other in the #EPTBarcelona 25K High Roller. pic.twitter.com/jhqrsFVAdt— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) August 26, 2019
There was to be more success, this time on the green felt, as both men ran deep – surrounded by some of the biggest names in high-stakes tournament poker.
Former WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess was there, as was Australian highroller Michael Addamo.
Canada’s Mike Watson, fresh from several recent cashes in the Short Deck highroller events in London and, this week, Barcelona, was in the mix.
Japanese singer, songwriter and actor ‘Gackt’ is playing all the highroller tournaments this week, so far without success.
Riess, who scooped $8,361,570 for his 2013 Main Event victory in Vegas, would also be out of luck – and the money spots – bubbling in 10th place.
Pardo disposed of three of the first four bustouts, with Piqué winning a flip against Joao Vieira to send him to the rail.
It was Pardo, however, who was in destructive mood – despite admitting: “I was like a little kid with Piqué and Vidal at the tables!”
The Spaniard, pictured above left with the FC Barcelona duo, accounted for seven of his eight final table opponents, including Vidal, finding himself heads-up against his footballing hero Piqué.
It would be a short-lived affair. Piqué missed his outs despite his ace-nine suited picking up a flush draw against Pardo’s pocket deuces.
The biggest payday of Pardo’s career – €491,600 – and some excellent play from the footballers made this one of the more memorable highrollers in recent poker history.
[go_pricing id=”my_first_5d67a1308006a”]
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