Casino Life Business Magazine edition no. 166

poker / CASINO LIFE & BUSINESS MAGAZINE
59
tă extraordinară după ce au făcut
o afacere. Cu toate acestea, exact
asta s-a întâmplat, deoarece Joao
Sydenstricker, Simon Wiciak și Carl
Shaw și-au garantat cu toții aproape
peste un milion de dolari. Doar
120.000 USD și trofeul EPT au rămas
de jucat.
Pe locul trei a fost Carl Shaw,
care a plecat când regele-regina
lui a fost dominat și învins de as-regina
eventualului campion Wiciak.
Un rege care a ieșit a fost crud, iar
asul care a aterizat după aceea ca
un pumnal în coaste pentru Shaw
în termeni de poker, când a plecat
cu 966.540 $.
Apoi a urmat bătălia heads-up,
cu stivele aproape egale. Un pot
devreme l-a pus pe Sydenstricker în
avantaj, dar Wiciak a câștigat unul
pentru a avansa într-un avantaj marginal
înainte de momentul final definitoriu
al unei mese finale distractive.
Pe o tablă care arată 9-5-2-4-9,
Sydenstricker a făcut all-in cu damă-zece.
Dificultatea pentru Wiciak
a fost că a ținut doar cinci-șase și
s-a confruntat cu o chemare uriașă
de erou pentru a lua titlul. Francezul
a procesat informațiile pe care
le avea și în cele din urmă a făcut
un call strălucit pentru a captura
cea mai mare victorie din cariera
sa de poker și primul Main
Event EPT.
Simon Wiciak wins 2023
European Poker Tour
Barcelona Main Event
Simon Wiciak has won
the 2023 European Poker Tour
Barcelona €5,300 buy-in no-limit
hold’em main event. The 30-yearold
from La Rochelle, France
outlasted a 2,120-entry field to
earn his first live tournament title
and the top prize of $1,225,125.
While this was Wiciak’s debut
victory on the live circuit, he is an
experienced online player. It’s not
always easy to transfer the skills
honed behind a computer screen
to a brick-and-mortar event.
Rare is it that you see someone
dominate a poker tournament
in the manner that France’s Simon
Wiciak did in Barcelona. Wiciak
took the lead of the 2023 European
Poker Tour Barcelona Main
Event on Day Four and, save for a
couple of moments on the penultimate
day and during the final table,
was never out of the lead, taking
the tournament in a thrashing fashion.
In picking up his first major
title on any circuit after defeating
Joao Sydenstricker, Wiciak pocketed
a €1.1 million-plus payday after
a negotiated deal.
“I have felt so many emotions.
Even if I looked in control and confident
in my plays, I am still a human,”
Wiciak told PokerStars reporters
after coming out on top.
“And this was the first time I played
an EPT main event.”
As the final table began, six players
had dreams of lifting the latest
European Poker Trophy Main Event
trophy and half the field were from
South America. Two swift eliminations
reduced that number considerably,
with Argentina’s Ezequiel
Waigel first to depart for a score of
$324,480 in sixth place.
Waigel moved all-in with aceseven
offsuit pre-flop, but his short
stack looked doomed as soon as
the Brazilian player Joao Sydenstricker
turned over ace-king. No
drama came on the flop, turn or
river to help Waigel and he was
busted first after a very short time.
Sydenstricker had busted one
of his fellow South Americans and
soon took out his countryman
and PokerStars Team Pro, Andre
Akkari. Akkari cashed for $421,880
but missed out on the top four.
Just a short time later, the field
was reduced to three. Canadian
poker pro Santiago Plante
shoved with the least chips. Plante
was uprooted from his seat when
a board of J-T-T-K-J gave Shaw a
turned straight, sending the Canadian
home with $548,450.
Sadly for Plante, things were
about to get even worse. There can
be few feelings in poker worse than
busting a major tournament, but
busting just before all three of your
remaining opponents lock up a
bumper payday after doing a deal.
That was exactly what happened,
however, as Joao Sydenstricker,
Simon Wiciak and Carl Shaw all
guaranteed themselves almost or
over a million dollars. Just $120,000
and the EPT were left to play for.
Busting in third place was Carl
Shaw, who left when his king-queen
was dominated and defeated
by the eventual champion Wiciak’s
ace-queen. A king coming out was
cruel, and the ace that landed afterwards
like a dagger in the ribs
for Shaw in poker terms as he left
with $966,540.
Then came the heads-up battle,
with the stacks almost even. An
early pot set Sydenstricker ahead,
but Wiciak won one to edge into a
marginal lead before the final defining
moment of an entertaining
final table.
On a board showing 9-5-2-4-
9, Sydenstricker shoved all-in with
queen-ten. The difficulty for Wiciak
was that he only held five-six
and faced a huge hero-call to take
down the title. The Frenchman processed
the information he had and
eventually made a brilliant call to
capture the biggest win of his poker
career and first EPT Main Event.
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Loc / Place Jucător / Player Câștiguri / Earnings
1 Simon Wiciak $1,225,125
2 Joao Sydenstricker $1,132,439
3 Carl Shaw $973,156
4 Santiago Plante $552,204
5 Andre Akkari $424,764
6 Ezequiel Waigel $326,700
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