Rising Star Ben Farrell Continues 2019 Heater in EPT Barcelona Main Event
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A rising star out of England, Ben Farrell is on the live heater of his life, keeping it going in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event. After posting under $74,000 in the three previous years combined, the past five months have seen Farrell rack up more than $600,000 in tournament earnings.
“I just started off as a degenerate gambler,” Farrell told PokerNews during a break in the action in Barcelona. “I used to gamble on everything. And then I found poker and I realized you could actually win at gambling - and then I haven’t stopped playing since.”
A familiar story to many, Farrell played part-time for five or six years, grinding online when he got home every day from his IT job doing technical support. Eventually, he went all-in on poker and transitioned to playing mostly live, which he’s been doing for nearly four years now.
The past several months have provided ample validation for this career choice as the 30-year-old rides the wave of the best live tournament run of his life to date.
Asked to what he attributes the recent surge, Farrell said: “I’m not sure, it’s probably just variance but I’ve really been taking my time a bit more playing live, just taking each situation, each hand as it comes. I might have been rushing things a bit too much before because I’m used to playing online and snap-acting. Just been taking it easy and it’s been going really well.”
The Heater, Las Vegas
Streaks in poker are real and Farrell can surely attest to that.
"I might have been rushing things a bit too much before because I’m used to playing online and snap-acting."
Before he got back to Las Vegas to grind tournaments around town all summer, Farrell played in the Merit Poker Classic in Cypress where he final tabled the $2,200 Warm-Up and finished 22nd in the $5,300 Main Event. Both finishes earned him just under $23,000.
In Vegas, Farrell booked a few smaller WSOP cashes early in the series, then final tabled the $3,000 Shootout, finishing sixth for around $37,000. A week later, he won the WPT500 at ARIA for $155,000 – and the heater was on. He finished out the WSOP with a couple more small cashes before heading over to Planet Hollywood and winning the $1,600 GOLIATH Main Event there for another $162,400.
A few weeks later, Farrell finished runner-up in the Venetian $400 Closer for about $33,000 to wrap the Vegas grind and he stopped by the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Florida before making his way back to Europe. There, he cashed twice more including final tabling the $5,300 Championship event, taking sixth for another six-figure score: $140,000.
EPT Barcelona
With 15 cashes including three six-figure scores in less than five months, Farrell is riding the heater and he's hoping the fire continues through this EPT Main Event. He has already made Day 4 and locked up over €30,000 but he has his sights set higher – on the €1,659,000 first-place prize.
"I’ve been running too good so I kind of expect to final table it to be honest."
Farrell played Day 1b and bagged a healthy 138,500 from a starting stack of 30,000. He spun that up to 760,000 on Day 2 and had a bit of a rollercoaster of a Day 3. Farrell got off to a hot start and peaked at around 2 million before dropping back to around 1 million at dinner break. He ended the day with just over a million for 40 big blinds.
About potentially final tabling, Farrell joked, “Oh it’d just be like a normal day, you know.” He followed with: “It’d be great. I’ve been running too good so I kind of expect to final table it to be honest. I’m only kidding - it’s funny to joke about.”
All jokes aside, poker tournament results often come in waves and for Farrell, he’s been riding high.
“I’ve just been playing way too much recently. I’m hoping to change that,” Farrell said. For now, he has no set plans besides riding out his heater. “I’m just going to continue to play and see what happens.”
Continue following the action right here at PokerNews as the EPT Barcelona Main Event approaches a final table here at Casino Barcelona.
