Igor Kurganov Wins PokerStars Championship Barcelona Super High Roller
PokerStars Team Pro Igor Kurganov has won the PokerStars Championship Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller. It's his 12th tournament win and, despite being a regular on the Super High Roller circuit for many years, it's his first win in one in Europe.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igor Kurganov | Russia | €1,078,106* |
| 2 | Bartlomiej Machon | Poland | €864,694* |
| 3 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | €528,500 |
| 4 | Dietrich Fast | Germany | €406,790 |
| 5 | Ivan Luca | Argentina | €322,100 |
| 6 | Christopher Kruk | Canada | €251,900 |
| 7 | Bryn Kenney | United States | €198,200 |
| 8 | Stanley Choi | China | €154,900 |
| 9 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | €117,700 |
| 10 | Daniel Colman | United States | €103,200 |
| 11 | Isaac Haxton | United States | €103,200 |
Daniel Negreanu is the all time money leader in poker, having won a total of $34,093,588 in his career. He holds five WSOP bracelets, two WPT titles and was player of the year at the WSOP twice. But spade cups were still missing in his trophy room. You could bet people were paying attention when he made the final nine in the PokerStars Championship Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller where 11 players cashed.
Unfortunately for the PokerStars Team Pro, he would be the first to go. He first doubled Dietrich Fast with ace-king against sevens and lost the remainder of his stack all in the next hand. He made a pair with seven-five but fellow Team Pro Igor Kurganov had a higher pair with queen-jack and no seven or five hit the turn or river.
Down to eight players, Stanley Choi was next to go. Again Kurganov was the one doing the dirty work. Choi got it in with jacks against the ace-queen of Kurganov and saw the latter hit an ace on the flop. After the turn and river bricked, Choi said his goodbyes.
Bryn Kenney followed Choi to the rail five minutes later. Action folded to him in the small blind and he pushed with king-seven. Christopher Kruk called from the big blind with ace-deuce and after neither player improved, Kenney hit the rail in 7th place.
The next to go was Ivan Luca. The Argentinian high roller ran ace-nine into Koray Aldemir's ace-ten and collected €322,100 for his troubles as the board, again, improved no one.
It wouldn't take long for Kurganov to claim another victim. This time, Dietrich Fast was the one shipping over his chips to the Russian Team Pro. Fast got it in with deuces against the jacks of Kurganov and after the flop brought a jack, Fast was just about drawing dead. The turn did just that and Fast had to settle for 4th place (€406,790).
You guessed it, the player falling in 3rd place was also moving his chips to Kurganov. Koray Aldemir stood little chance getting it in with king-queen against Kurganov's ace-queen. The flop and turn brought nothing but blanks and the river ace only added insult to injury.
Down to just two players, Kurganov and his opponent Bartlomiej Machon took a look at the numbers. They agreed on restructuring the payouts a bit, with them dividing the difference between 1st and 2nd in half and adding that to 2nd place. The other half would be divided according to chip counts.
With the deal done, it didn't take long for the tournament to end. Machon first lost a sizable pot and then handed over the rest soon after as he got it in with queen-jack suited to Kurganov's queens. Machon had a gutshot on the turn to double but missed on the river and Kurganov lifted his 12th trophy.
