Kayhan Mokri Gets His Second EPT Barcelona Title in the €20,000 No-Limit Hold'em

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Aug 29, 2024 4 min read

Whether it’s the warm breeze blowing in off the Mediterranean or just the fact that some of the top players in the world gather in the Catalan capital for one of the biggest poker festivals of the year, but Kayhan Mokri can feel something in the air whenever he comes to Barcelona.

Mokri burst onto the poker scene when he made a run to sixth place in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event in 2022. The following year, he took down the €100,000 Super High Roller title for €750,960, his first-ever live tournament victory. He had to wait an entire year for his second, and, to no surprise, it came here in Barcelona as he emerged the champion over a 47-player field in the €20,000 No-Limit Hold’em event.

€20,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table results

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Mokri Loves His Time in Barcelona

“I run good in Barcelona. I like Barcelona. So it’s very nice, very happy,” Mokri said after securing his second EPT spade trophy.

Mokri has emerged as a familiar face in some of the biggest buy-in tournaments on the poker calendar. Since the start of 2022, he’s won more than $2.7 million in EPT events as he continuously battles with the game’s top names. He cherishes the thrill of competition and the friendly atmosphere that competing against those same opponents builds.

“I enjoy the competition a lot. I think it’s very fun. I think it’s very competitive. We’re all very friendly so it’s a very good atmosphere to play in. I love it,” he said.

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Recap of the Action

The event drew a total of 47 entries, including Spanish soccer legend Gerard Pique, Nacho Barbero, Niklas Astedt, and Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel. Ren Lin fired four bullets but didn’t go far on any of them as the field rapidly went down to the final two tables.

Santhosh Suvarna then ran his tens into the kings of Albanian businessman Elton Ostreni. Patrik Antonius committed a near-fatal misclick when he miscounted his stack and Samuel Ju scooped a three-way all in. The new Poker Hall of Famer was then eliminated by Mokri, who turned a straight to send Antonius and Jean-Noel Thorel to the rail in the same hand as he climbed up close to 1,000,000.

Steve O’Dwyer, who won the €12,000 Cuatro Knockout event yesterday to open his EPT Barcelona experience, was eliminated by Sam Greenwood to set the nine-handed final table. Markkos Ladev got the rest of his short stack in with a pair of fives, but Thomas Santerne had flopped a set of jacks to bust the Estonian in ninth place. Harvey Jackson then hit a full house to eliminate Ju in eighth, setting up what proved to be a lengthy money bubble as only six players would receive a payday out of the €902,776 prize pool.

Santerne was the first to double when he spiked a straight on the turn against Ostreni’s top two pair. Mokri doubled up off Jesse Lonis with ace-queen to ace-jack, leaving Lonis with less than two big blinds as he and fellow short-stack Jules Dickerson battled to avoid being the unfortunate bubble boy. Dickerson cracked Santerne’s set with a flush on the river to double, then Lonis tripled up. Dickerson also triped up with a pair of jacks, while Lonis hit an ace on the flop to double off Santerne.

Greenwood began to pull away from the field, crossing 2,000,000 and using his big stack to apply max pressure, but it proved costly as Santerne woke up with kings and called Greenwood’s all-in shove for 825,000 to double up and take over the chip lead. Finally, after nearly two hours of bubble play, Ostreni got his last 20,000 in the middle with pocket jacks but Greenwood turned a straight to eliminate him in seventh.

With the blinds rapidly increasing, the post-bubble eliminations came at a frantic pace. Dickerson busted in a three-way pot as Greenwood took a chunk off Santerne with two pair. Lonis was also involved in a three-way pot as Santerne ended up with a pair of jacks to bust Lonis in fifth.

Santerne then shoved the small blind, and Jackson called for 250,000 in the big blind. Mokri also called for 785,000 on the button as Jackson showed two nines, Mokri ace-queen and Santerne ace-four. The flop gave Mokri the nut straight and the massive pot, sending Jackson to the rail in fourth place while earning a double-up off Santerne. Mokri then won a race with two fours against Santerne’s ace-eight to eliminate him in third as he led Greenwood 2,450,000 to 2,250,000 at the start of heads-up.

The two remaining players then agreed to a deal, Mokri taking €259,646 and Greenwood €255,030. They flipped for the trophy as Mokri ended up with a pair of aces to win the pot and the title.

Mokri finally got another piece of hardware to add to his collection, but he’s not done there. He’ll be back to play the rest of the high rollers and the Main Event here in Barcelona, including defending his title in the Super High Roller.

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