Goran Mandic Wins Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller Trophy (€418,980), Antoine Labat Takes Top Prize Following Deal (€500,000)
The PokerStars Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller, which ran at the Casino Barcelona, has now concluded.
The event attracted 2,214 entries over the course of two starting flights to make for a prize pool of €4,250,880. Of those, 332 players made it through to Day 2 and locked up at least the min-cash of €3,400. By the end of Day 2, just ten players remained.
Conor Beresford came back to the felt as the chip leader on Day 3 and remained out in front until he lost a huge pot when his aces were cracked by Antoine Labat with pocket jacks.
Labat continued to accumulate chips and make it to third place as chip leader, at which point a deal was made. Labat earned the most from the deal, taking €500,000 in an ICM (Independent Chip Model) split.
The final three then flipped all in blind for the trophy. Goran Mandic came out on top to claim the trophy and the title as the official winner of the event. He earned €418,980 from the deal.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Goran Mandic | Croatia | €418,980* |
| 2nd | Antoine Labat | France | €500,000* |
| 3rd | Yunsheng Sun | China | €385,240* |
| 4th | Thomas Saminadin | France | €215,390 |
| 5th | Conor Beresford | UK | €165,230 |
| 6th | Rodrigo Noceda | Mexico | €126,630 |
| 7th | Candido Cappiello | Italy | €96,960 |
| 8th | Bart Lybaert | Belgium | €74,130 |
| 9th | Edilson Marques | Brazil | €58,580 |
* denotes three-way deal
Day 3 Action
Ten players returned to the felt for the final day of the Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller. After just 20 minutes of play, Castro was the first to bust after shoving from the small blind and getting called by Noceda in the big blind.
With that, the final table was drawn. Beresford had a significant chip lead going onto the final table, more than 2:1 over second place Noceda.
Marques was the first to bust from the final table when he shoved from the blinds and was called by Saminadin. Next to go was Lybaert, who shoved and was called by Cappiello, who held up with the better hand.
At this point, Beresford still held the chip lead, but that all changed when he got his aces in against Labat’s jacks. Labat rivered a set to win the pot and double up. That knocked Beresford off the top spot for the first time since the end of Day 2 and brought Labat into the lead.
Shortly afterwards, Sun doubled up through Cappiello. Saminadin was also gaining chips and momentarily took the lead when he got it in good to bust Cappiello in seventh place. Both Sun and Labat then doubled through Saminadin to bring his stack back down. Labat once again took the lead.
Soon after the first break, Noceda was next to bust. He shoved and was called by Saminadin, who held up and gained a few million for his stack.
Noceda was followed to the rail by Beresford, who made a reshove and ran into ace king. Beresford was the chip leader at the start of the day, but had to settle for fifth place and €165,230.
Saminadin’s deep run ended shortly after when he called off his chips in the big blind as slight favorite in the hand, only to be busted by Mandic. He came in fourth for €215,390.
The action went three handed and after only a few minutes, players decided to look at the numbers for a deal. An ICM deal was made and the final three payouts confirmed. Yunsheng Sun took €385,240 as third in chips, Mandic took €418,980 for second in chips, and Labat took €500,000 as the chip leader.
All that was left was to see who would claim the official title and trophy. For that, players opted to spin it blind. Four hands was all it took to decide the outcome. Mandic prevailed to earn himself the trophy.
That’s a wrap for the PokerNews coverage of the PokerStars Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller. Stay tuned for updates on the EPT Main Event and other prolific tournaments in the series.