Adrian Costin Constantin Wins the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event for €114,025
Romania's Adrian Costin Constantin won the 2018 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event for €114,025. The Romanian agreed to a heads-up deal with Spain's Joel Isla, which awarded the Spaniard the same prize with the duo battling it out for the trophy.
Constantin qualified into the Main Event for just €110 via a live satellite held at the casino. The six-figure cash represents Constantin's largest cash and doubles the amount of total cashes he has recorded at The Hendon Mob.
The Main Event smashed its €500,000 guarantee after attracting 709 entrants to generate a massive €709,000 prize pool. The tournament featured three opening flights with 203 players starting on Day 2 and it was trimmed down to just 27 players to begin the third and final day.
2018 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrian Costin Constantin | Romania | €114,025* |
| 2 | Joel Isla | Spain | €114,025* |
| 3 | Manuel Navarro Perez | Spain | €55,800 |
| 4 | Cosmin Rusu | Romania | €38,200 |
| 5 | Corrado Martinelli | Italy | €27,200 |
| 6 | Oscar Casado Diaz | Spain | €22,150 |
| 7 | Luigi Andrea Shehadeh | Italy | €16,350 |
| 8 | Sergiu Sirbu | Romania | €12,250 |
| 9 | Tomasz Aleksander Chmiel | Poland | €9,350 |
*Donates heads-up deal (original prizes first = €140,550, second = €87,500)
Joel Isla began the final day in the chip lead and maintained it through most of the day. The final table was set after Spain's Adria Diaz Dalmau jammed with king-queen and didn't get there against the pocket queens held by Isla to take the 10th place prize of €7,420.
Poland's Tomasz Aleksander Chmiel was the first to go at the feature table in ninth place for €9,350 after his pocket eights proved to be no match for the pocket kings held by Isla.
Another 1 1/2 blind levels passed before the next elimination took place. Romania's Sergiu Sirbu was ousted in eighth place for €12,250 after his ace-four didn't hold against the king-jack suited held by Constantin. While Sirbu was unable to hoist the trophy, he did qualify into the event via a freeroll at 888poker and parlayed this into a five-figure payday in Barcelona.
Shortly afterward, last year's 888poker LIVE Barcelona champion Luigi Andrea Shehadeh from Italy hit the showers in seventh place for €16,350 after his ace-five didn't improve against the ace-jack held by Isla. After this hand, Isla had about half of the chips in play.
Spain's Oscar Casado Diaz was the next play to exit the tournament in sixth place for €22,150 after his ace-jack was no good against the big slick held by Constantin. Shortly after, Constantin took the chip lead away from Isla for the first time on the final day.
Isla got the lead back after he eliminated Italy's Corrado Martinelli in fifth place for €27,200 when his pocket fives out-flipped his opponent's jack-ten suited.
Constantin then eliminated Romanian countrymate Cosmin Rusu in fourth place for €38,200 after his ace-queen out-raced his opponent's pocket tens.
Spain's Manuel Navarro Perez finished in third place for €55,800 when his jack-nine was no good against Isla's ace-queen suited.
Heads-up play began with Isla holding a 3:1 chip advantage over Constantin. A deal was initially discussed but not agreed upon. The duo played for two hours with the lead changing back and forth several times.
When the next break occurred, Constantin held an almost 4:1 chip advantage over Isla. The duo agreed to a heads-up deal to pay them €114,025 each and to keep playing for the rights to the trophy. With blinds high, this lowered the variance for previously playing for a €144,550 top prize with each player already guaranteed €87,500 for second place.
About 15 minutes after the deal was made, Isla jammed all-in with jack-six suited and didn't improve against Constantin's ace-nine. Despite not winning the trophy, this was by far Isla's biggest cash to date.
This wraps up the PokerNews coverage of the 2018 888poker Barcelona Main Event.
