Gabriele Rossi Wins the 2019 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event (€110,000)
The 2019 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event has crowned a champion and it was Gabriele Rossi that claimed the trophy, a top prize of €110,000 and trip to Las Vegas in a few weeks. Rossi defeated Dutch online qualifier Cornelis de Jong in a short heads-up encounter and was railed by 2017 champion and 2018 finalist Luigi Shehadeh en route to victory.
“The way he looks like, no beard, nothing, they probably won't even let him into the casino in Vegas,” one of his Italian countrymen on the rail joked. The 23-year-old mentioned in the interview after his victory that it was his dream to play in the Main Event and that dream will now come true thanks to the added package worth $12,600 for the 2019 WSOP Main Event courtesy of 888poker.
De Jong had won a package for the previous stop in Malta, but couldn't go for family reasons. The Dutchman contacted support and was allowed to play in Barcelona instead, turning that into a payday of €80,000. The Dutchman was smiling all day long en route to his runner-up finish and will try to qualify for further live events.
Several other stories were to be made on the final day, as the final 17 hopefuls out of 551 total entries featured five 888poker online qualfiiers, 2014 WSOP Main Event champion and 888poker ambassador Martin Jacobson, former WSOP Main Event finalist Fernando Pons and expecting father Stefano Schiano.
But nobody was able to stop Rossi, who doubled into the chip lead very early on and steamrolled through the final table to emerge victorious in clinical fashion.
Final Result 2019 888poker LIVE Barcelona €1,100 Main Event
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in EUR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriele Rossi | Italy | €110,000 | $123,121 |
| 2 | Cornelis de Jong | Netherlands | €80,000 | $89,542 |
| 3 | Kristian Larsson | Norway | €55,000 | $61,560 |
| 4 | Ferran Corominas | Spain | €35,000 | $39,175 |
| 5 | Stefano Schiano | Italy | €26,000 | $29,101 |
| 6 | Ricardo Pinto | Portugal | €19,000 | $21,266 |
| 7 | Samuel Hernandez | Spain | €14,000 | $15,670 |
| 8 | Henrik Ahlstroem | Sweden | €11,000 | $12,312 |
| 9 | Jai Saha | United Kingdom | €8,500 | $9,514 |
Action of the final day
Professional football player Ferran Corominas was leading the final 17 hopefuls into the final day, however, it was eventual champion Rossi that took over the top spot in the first level of the day and didn't surrender his lead anymore for all but a few minutes. In a three-way three-bet pot, Rossi called with ace-five suited and flopped a wheel. Samuel Hernandez open-shoved with pocket tens and went from one of the chip leaders to short stack within the first hour of play.
Frederik De Linde Farrington became the first casualty of the final day and he was joined on the rail by the two Dutchmen Zhong Chen and David Hu. The first 888poker qualifier to run out of chips was Sweden's Mikael Johansson, who ran with jack-ten suited into the pocket aces of Stefano Schiano.
For Fernando Pons and Martin Jacobson, the day finished far earlier than they hoped for and they had to settle for 13th and 12th place respectively. Pons got his short stack in with king-queen versus pocket queens and found no help. Soon after, Jacobson lost three key hands in quick succession and missed out on the final table. Ricardo Pinto flopped the nut flush in a three-way pot, in which Jacobson hit top two pair, and the Swede then doubled Laszlo-Istvan Salamon before losing a flip with pocket nines against the ace-jack suited of Tom-Aksel Bedell.
Salamon would be next to fall and Bedell also missed out on the final table. The Norwegian and Spanish resident made a move with king-queen suited only to see Rossi call with ace-ten suited for top pair. That pot vaulted Rossi further into the lead and he remained there from start to finish on the final table.
Jai Saha and Henrik Ahlstroem , who both qualified for the event on 888poker, were the next two players to head to the rail and one particular hand showcased the domination of Rossi with eight hopefuls remaining. Stefano Schiano had raised with pocket queens and Cornelis de Jong called with ace-jack, as did Rossi in the big blind with ace-seven suited. De Jong led the jack-trey-trey flop and picked up two calls before firing another bet on a blank six on the turn. Rossi used the power of his chips and raised to force two reluctant folds.
Just a few minutes later, Ahlstroem jammed ace-seven into the pocket aces of the Italian and Samuel Hernandez could not come from behind with ace-ten versus ace-king either. The short stacks were fighting for their tournament life with Rossi way ahead and Ricardo Pinto went from hero to zero after he lost most of his chips with king-queen suited versus ace-queen suited.
Expecting father Schiano jammed at the wrong time with king-deuce into the pocket tens of Kristian Larsson and had to settle for fifth place. The action didn't slow down at all, as de Jong doubled through Ferran Corominas and the former player of Espanyol Barcelona and currently active as striker in the Indian League was unable to spin up his short stack. Down to the last three, Rossi had an overwhelming lead and dispatched Larsson with ace-queen versus ace-seven.
Despite facing a 1-7 chip deficit, de Jong didn't surrender in heads-up against Rossi. The duel lasted for for around 40 minutes and the Dutchman eventually jammed at the wrong time with ace-jack when Rossi had flopped trips with five-try suited to let the Italian rail celebrate.
That wraps up the PokerNews updates from Barcelona and 888poker will send plenty of qualifiers to the 2019 World Series of Poker, including Rossi, who will be taking part in the $10,000 Main Event thanks to his victory at Casino Barcelona.