Laszlo Bujtas Wins, Juan Pardo Fourth in Latest EPT Barcelona €25K
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In what turned out to be a 15 hour day of poker, Laszlo Bujtas has reigned victorious in the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller II. Bujtas overcame a rather large field of 118 entries and defeated Charlie Carrel heads-up in order to claim the first-place prize of €712,810 at the 2019 PokerStars EPT Barcelona.
Bujtas, who is more famously known as "omaha4rollz" as his online screen name, mostly spends his poker time at the cash game tables. However, he likes to dabble in some of the higher buy-in tournaments and this is his first recorded tournament victory since 2015.
Juan Pardo who has been crushing the high roller scene in his home country with first a win in the €25K and then another in the €50K, made another strong run. He was neck-and-neck with Bujtas for a stretch but faded out for a fourth-place finish, banking another six-figure score for €259,240.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize in € | Prize in $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | €712,810 | $787,947 |
| 2 | Charlie Carrel | United Kingdom | €481,640 | $532,410 |
| 3 | Pedro Marques | Portugal | €313,070 | $346,071 |
| 4 | Juan Pardo | Spain | €259,240 | $286,566 |
| 5 | Steven van Zadelhoff | Netherlands | €209,090 | $231,130 |
| 6 | Sergio Aido | Spain | €164,690 | $182,050 |
| 7 | James Chen | Taiwan | €126,080 | $139,370 |
| 8 | Jorryt van Hoof | Netherlands | €94,910 | $104,914 |
Pollak Bubbles
There was a flurry of action in the opening few levels with over 70 entries already tallied by the first break. Many familiar faces took their seats but there were also plenty of new ones making their first appearance in the high-roller tournaments this week. With an unlimited number of reentries available, the total number of entries kept ticking.
Sam Grafton, Steve O'Dwyer, and Ali Imsirovic each put in four entries. Unfortunately for them, none were able to make a deep run into the money. When late registration finally closed after eight levels, there were a total of 118 entries, easily surpassing the total from last year.
Once late registration closed, the short stacks wasted little time getting their chips in the middle, trying to double up or get out. For many, it was unsuccessful and within a couple of levels the field was down to just 22 players. That number remained the same for quite some time with the tournament staff monintoring the pace of play on each table as the money bubble approached. Unfortunately for Benjamin Pollak, he was the last player eliminated without receiving any money for his efforts.
Pardo Finally Falls
That left just 17 players in the field but the final table of nine players was quickly assembled. Starting with just five big blinds, Alex Komaromi was in need of some help but couldn't pick up the cards to do anything. Eventually down to just over one big blind, Komaromi found himself in a dominated position against Sergio Aido and was unable to find any help.
Just a couple of hands later, Jorryt van Hoof followed him out the door when his stack of four big blinds couldn't survive against Bujtas, who held the chip lead.
James Chen entered the final table as one of the chip leaders but with the stacks as shallow as they were, it only took a couple of poor hands to turn the tides. Chen called off his 10 big blind stack with ace-high but couldn't fade Bujtas spiking a pair to avoid elimination.
Next on the chopping block was Aido who found some success throughout the middle of the day but faltered late when his pocket sixes ran into Carrel's pocket sevens.
With just five players left, the rail got rather exuberant in the tournament room and was eventually asked to leave. At the same moment, Steven van Zadelhoff found himself all in and at risk with ace-queen against the ace-king of Pedro Marques. A king on the flop all but sealed van Zadelhoff's fate as he exited in fifth place.
Four-handed play continued for a bit with each player taking turns shoving all in. After a few double ups in a row, Pardo's epic run finally ended when he had to settle for fourth, confirming for the rest of the high roller community that he is, in fact, beatable.
Bujtas Closes Out
Once the action got down to three-handed, Bujtas started to take control by applying pressure to his shorter stacks. He opened a large chip lead and after getting the chip in the middle against Marques as a slight favorite, he found a pair on the flop to put Marques in jeopardy. Bujtas managed to hold to eliminate Marques and set up the heads-up battle with Carrel.
A rather long day turned it into a quick heads-up match with Bujtas starting as a 4.5-to-1 chip leader. After a couple of Bujtas' shoves got through, Carrel finally took a stand with king-six but ran into the king-jack of Bujtas. Carrel flopped top pair but it wasn't good enough to overcome Bujtas' two pair and Carrel was forced to settle for second place.
After the match, Bujtas asked how it felt to win one of these tournaments and he admitted that it felt pretty good.
"I'm usually playing cash games, so yeah, this one feels good," he said.
The Hungarian's largest recorded tournament score came in the 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event where he finished in second place for just under €700,000. With his rail on the outside of the tournament room looking in, he was finally able to celebrate the win and embrace them with hugs afterward.
That wraps up another day of coverage at Casino Barcelona, but the PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow with plenty of more live updates.
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