The European Poker tour is about to land in Barcelona and with a mammoth fortnight of poker action ahead, players can expect a packed Main Event, an exciting opening Mystery Bounty event and the usual raft of great-value recreational buy-in events and mouthwatering high roller clashes. With James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton heading out to the Catalan capital, action is up for grabs to buyers and sellers with the festival about to kick off.
A Historic Stop on the Tour
EPT Barcelona is a hugely important stop not only on the European Poker Tour, but the poker live circuit in general. For the last 19 years, the EPT has been returning time and time again to the paradise-like Spanish beach resort, with some of poker’s biggest-ever winners on the EPT coming in Barcelona.
The first-ever winner of a European Poker Tour Main Event was the Swedish player Alexander Stevic and while the top prizes certainly got bigger than the $87,000 or so he claimed in 2004, he made history by winning that event, setting the tone for the EPT’s almost unique blend of grandeur and aspiration that makes winning it so special. He is one of four Swedish players to claim the title.
While the EPT took break from live poker in the years 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID19 virus, it returned with a vengeance in 2022, and including the PSC (PokerStars Championship) Main Event in 2017 which was EPT in all but name, there have been 17 EPT Main Event winners in all. Incredibly, not one of them have come from the home country of Spain.
Here are all the previous winners of this historic live poker tournament.
EPT Barcelona Main Event Winners: |
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| Season | Date | Winner | Country | Top Prize |
| 1 | Sept 2004 | Alexander Stevic | Sweden | $87,000 |
| 2 | Sept 2005 | Jan Boubli | France | $463,000 |
| 3 | Sept 2006 | Bjørn-Erik Glenne | Norway | $751,000 |
| 4 | Sept 2007 | Sander Lylloff | Denmark | $1,272,500 |
| 5 | Sept 2008 | Sebastian Ruthenberg | Germany | $1,479,000 |
| 6 | Sept 2009 | Carter Phillips | United States | $924,000 |
| 7 | Nov 2010 | Kent Lundmark | Sweden | $897,000 |
| 8 | Sept 2011 | Martin Schleich | Germany | $924,000 |
| 9 | Aug 2012 | Mikakai Pobal | Belarus | $1,095,000 |
| 10 | Sept 2013 | Tom Middleton | United Kingdom | $1,004,000 |
| 11 | Aug 2014 | Andre Lettau | Germany | $863,000 |
| 12 | Aug 2015 | John Juanda | Indonesia | $1,111,000 |
| 13 | Aug 2016 | Sebastian Malec | Poland | $1,220,500 |
| PSC* | Aug 2017 | Sebastian Sorensson | Sweden | $1,073,000 |
| 14 | Sept 2018 | Piotr Nurzynski | Poland | $1,127,000 |
| 15 | Sept 2019 | Simon Brändström | Sweden | $1,402,000 |
| 16 | Aug 2022 | Giuliano Bendinelli | Italy | $1,621,000 |
High Roller Highlights
This year’s schedule is a great one and including the Estrellas Tour that takes place as a warm-up act to the EPT proper, there are some superb events taking place. The €5,300-entry Main Event is obviously a highlight, but while that is the crown jewel of the tour taking place between August 27th and September 3rd, there are loads of other great events to get your teeth into before then.
One of the biggest events kicks off on August 21st, with the Estrellas Main Event. Costing €1,100 to play, it always has a huge field. If you prefer a Mystery Bounty format, then a €10,200 buy-in event of exactly that format kicks off of the same day. It’s not long before the first of four €25,000-entry No Limit Hold’em High Roller events starts on the 23rd of this month, with each taking place over one day.
Two massive Super High Rollers are on the schedule, too. The €100,000-entry version takes place between August 26th and 28th, while the €50,000 ‘little brother’ Super High Roller gets in on the act from August 29th, ending a day later on the 30th of the month. It’s quite feasible that one player could win both, with no overlap between Super High Roller events.
Here are just some of the massive events taking place at Casino Barcelona on the European and Estrellas Poker Tours in the following fortnight:
Estrellas and EPT Barcelona 2023 Festival Highlights: |
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| Event # | Dates | Details | Entry Fee |
| 1 | August 21st-27th | Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event | €1,100 |
| 2 | August 21st-22nd | Mystery Bounty | €10,200 |
| 3 | August 23rd | NLHE High Roller #1 | €25,000 |
| 4 | August 25th | High Roller | €50,000 |
| 5 | August 26th-28th | Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller | €2,200 |
| 6 | August 26th-28th | Super High Roller | €100,000 |
| 7 | August 27th-Sept. 3rd | Main Event | €5,300 |
| 8 | August 29th-30th | Super High Roller Second Chance | €50,000 |
| 9 | August 30th | NLHE High Roller #2 | €25,000 |
| 10 | August 30th – Sept. 1st | Mystery Bounty | €3,000 |
| 11 | August 31, 2023 | NLHE High Roller #3 | €25,000 |
| 12 | September 1st-3rd | High Roller | €10,300 |
| 13 | September 2nd-3rd | NLHE High Roller #4 | €25,000 |
Who is Selling Action to EPT Barcelona?
With just hours to go until the big kick-off, there are some very big names offering pieces of packages into various EPT Barcelona events on the PokerStake EPT Barcelona Staking Page. One of the most exciting players to stake is a brand-new one, with Russian crusher Artur Martirosian joining the fray with his first-ever raft of packages on sale. Taking part from the get-go in the €10,200-entry Mystery Bounty event, Martirosian’s vast experience and phenomenal composure in the highest of rollers puts him up there as a ‘must buy’.
American player Justin Saliba has made the trip to Southern Spain and has put packages on sale for four €25,000-entry events. A true high roller legend, Saliba is a player who has quietly amassed a fortune in poker, winning almost $4 million, oftentimes in high roller events. Cashing for $59,000 in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open High Roller just a fortnight ago, he’s in great form and would only have travelled to Spain if he thought he had a serious edge. He does.
Three more stars of the felt who have packages on offer in Spain are Max Pescatori, Tom Hall and Victoria Livschitz. While both Hall and Pescatori’s mark-up is a little higher at an average of around 1.3, Livschitz’s various events are on sale with no mark-up at all. Livschitz, known as the ‘Trekker’ is a renowned journeywoman of poker and cashed six times in the summer alone, including in WSOP events costing $2,000 and $5,000 to enter.
As EPT Barcelona is set to begin, we’ll leave you with this refresher of the greatest final table in the long-running festival’s history and a final hand that might just be the most entertaining of all-time. Take it away, 2016 EPT Barcelona Main Event winner, Sebastian Malec.
