Seth Davies Ready to Ride Momentum at EPT Barcelona Fresh Off SHRB Win

Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Aug 31, 2024 3 min read

Is momentum a real thing in poker (or any game/sport)? Seth Davies is sure hoping so coming off a $3.2 million score for winning the Super High Roller Bowl Cyprus on Aug. 25.

The high-stakes grinder had little time to celebrate the big win. He's already back in action at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona €100,000 EPT Super High Roller, which kicked off on Saturday at Casino Barcelona.

"With this one having Barcelona just right behind it, it was kind of a more back to the grind thing," Davies told PokerNews on a Day 1 break when asked if he spent time celebrating or straight back into poker following the SHRB win. "But I did take a couple of days to reflect on things, and that's like when you have a score like that it doesn't get much better. So, it was nice to have those couple of days."

"I think after Barcelona I'll do a little more relaxing."

Can Davies Ride the Momentum to Another Huge Win?

Davies enters EPT Barcelona with just over $29 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. That puts him tops on Oregon's all-time list, ahead of fellow high roller star Chris Brewer ($24.2 million). But Davies had never cashed in a tournament for near as much as he did in the SHRB. His previous biggest score was for $1.8 million.

The recent major tournament champion would love for momentum to carry him to another high-stakes win. That is assuming he finds momentum to even be a thing.

"I think momentum's definitely real," Davies said. "What it does to people is it kind of frees them up to, it makes them confident and gives them freedom, you know. If you're on a downswing, it's a lot easier to second guess what you're doing and kind of play tense, and maybe not go for a bluff you would have gone for had you been playing with confidence. So, yeah, it's definitely a real thing and it's nice to be on the upper of that right now because I can feel really free and confident."

Riding the momentum wave to Barcelona is never an easy task against the tough competition in European high rollers. Davies is an American poker player who often travels around the world to compete in the highest stakes events. If there's a tournament with a six-figure buy-in, he'll be there. But does he find the European high rollers to be tougher tournaments than is his homeland?

"The high roller scene in Europe, especially at the EPT, is quite good because there's a handful of recreational's that you get that always show up, and you don't really get that in the US anymore where the high-stakes have kind of died down a little bit. You don't really see 100k's in the US anymore, so it's a lot more lively in Europe. So, yeah, there's a bunch of incredible good European players too, but the stakes are just higher here and you don't really see it as much as, say, Aria anymore. It's more like 10k's and 25k's."

The momentum continues to be on Davies' side as he bagged the biggest stack out of the 18 players who bagged on Day 1 of the Super High Roller. He'll return to action on Sunday with a sizable chip advantage over Kayhan Mokri, his nearest competitor.

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Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

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