Congratulations to Martin Schleich, 2011 EPT Barcelona Champion (€850,000)!
The 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event is all over and emerging victorious is German Martin Schleich with the €850,000 first-place prize.
Schleich came into the final table fifth in chips. He battled his way all the way through, but there was a long period of time when everyone watching thought Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov was going to run away with things. Katchalov began the final table as the shortest stack and was chasing a Triple Crown, but the cards weren't with him today and he was eliminated in third place.
When play got down to heads up, Schleich had nearly a two-to-one chip lead over his opponent Dragan Kostic. Heads-up play didn't last too long before Schleich made the last call of an all-in opponent with the 
. Kostic held the 
and failed to improve after the board ran out 
. For his runner-up finish, Kostic earned €532,000 while Schleich walked away with the title of 2011 EPT Barcelona champion!
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Schleich | €850,000 |
| 2 | Dragan Kostic | €532,000 |
| 3 | Eugene Katchalov | €315,000 |
| 4 | Raul Mestre | €244,000 |
| 5 | Tomeu Gomila | €185,000 |
| 6 | Saar Wilf | €145,000 |
| 7 | Juan Manuel Perez | €105,000 |
| 8 | Isabel Baltazar | €73,000 |
Congratulations to all the winners here in Barcelona, Spain and especially to Martin Schleich for becoming the latest EPT victor. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all further coverage of poker tournaments from around the world including the next stop on the EPT Season 8. We'll see you then!