With more than $1.5 million in live tournament winnings, Ankit Ahuja is one of the more accomplished players on the final table. Ahuja’s first small-stakes results came in 2011, but the 37-year-old only really looks back at the last four years when reminiscing about his poker career. “Amateur? Pro? I don’t know,” he described enigmatically.
Ahuja is a versatile player who plays cash games and tournaments, both live and online. While Ahuja hails from India and lives in the Isle of Man, most of his live cashes came in Las Vegas, including a $330,134 career-high score. But Ahuja already thinks ahead, saying that his biggest accomplishment will be “this one when I win.”
It’s been an excellent summer for Danilo Velasevic, who came to Barcelona fresh off notching his biggest live score — $214,500. That result was for fifth place in a Triton high roller event in London, where the Serbian pro stopped last month.
Velasevic has recently elevated his game to the level required to compete in the high-stakes fields, a big step in his 13-year poker career. That alone makes him one of the top contenders on the final table. The 35-year-old from Belgrade backs it up with many excellent online results, including a $470,000 score and two PokerStars SCOOP titles.
While he’s not a poker pro, Ferdinando D’Alessio certainly doesn’t lack experience, having played the game for well over a decade. His first reported live cashes date back to 2009.
The 35-year-old lives in Charleroi, so it’s no surprise that most of his results come from Casino Namur, including the €46,502 fourth-place prize for fourth place in the 2011 Belgian Poker Series Main Event. Twelve years later, D’Alessio will finally top that result and potentially move up to as high as 11th place on the Belgian all-time money list, should he lift the trophy.
At that point, Karadimos had already eclipsed his previous best score by a mile. With around €7,500 in live tournament cashes, this marks the 22-year-old’s first significant deep run. Karadimos is a recreational poker player who prefers cash games over tournaments.
He picked up poker six years ago, and when he’s not at a table, you can find him working out or hanging out with friends in his home city of Athens.
Avihai Smadga had already finished quite deep in the Estrellas Barcelona Main Event. Seven years ago, he navigated through the then-biggest-ever 3,447-player contest to the last four tables. The 30th place and €8,430 payday had stayed his best score until he entered the same event this year, battling twice as many opponents.
The 40-year-old from Tel Aviv has been rolling straight from the get-go. He topped Day 1e and turned it into a final-table appearance, the biggest of his 20-year run in poker. Smadga plays tournaments recreationally, both live and online. He’s also into anything connected with the beach; be it partying, surfing, or other sports.
It’s been more than 12 years since Lucien Cohen became EPT champion, but his victory at EPT Deauville remains as memorable as ever thanks to the famous “Ratman” antiques that are simply unforgettable. Cohen, at the time, surely annoyed some of the players and spectators, yet the celebrations made him one of the most recognizable champs in poker history.
Now 59, Cohen still loves poker, citing it as his only hobby. The seasoned veteran is closing in on his second six-figure cash on the PokerStars-sponsored circuit, a testimony to the longevity of the passionate amateur who has been involved in the game for 25 years.
Excitement will be in the air at Casino Barcelona for an added day on the schedule, as the final six competitors return to crown a champion in the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event.
Day 5 of this record event at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona sees Lucien Cohen lead the way, sitting down with almost 30 percent of the chips for a sizeable advantage at the final table.
Lucien Cohen
The “Rat Man” will look to add an ESPT title to the EPT trophy he claimed in Deauville back in 2011. Petros Karadimos and Danilo Velasevic will also take their seats with healthy stacks, both sitting above 40 big blinds as play resumes.
The final six players standing from this record field of 7,398 entries have locked up at least €136,850, but everyone is chasing the largest piece of the record €7,102,080 prize pool, with today’s winner earning the €676,230 top prize.
Final Table Seat Draw
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Lucien Cohen
France
65,500,000
66
2
Avihai Smadga
Israel
11,000,000
11
3
Petros Karadimos
Greece
42,200,000
42
6
Ferdinando D'Alessio
Belgium
30,100,000
30
7
Danilo Velasevic
Serbia
40,900,000
41
8
Ankit Ahuja
India
32,200,000
32
Ferdinando D'Alessio
The others giving chase include veteran Ankit Ahuja, who boasts over $1.5 million in live tournament earnings. Ahuja is closing in on his career-best cash of $330,134, looking to surpass that total under the ESPT spotlight today.
Day 3 chip leader Ferdinando D'Alessio is next on the leaderboard after eliminating PokerStars Ambassador Parker Talbot on the final hand of Day 4, while Avihai Smadga enters the final day as the short stack. The native of Israel has already improved on his impressive 30th-place finish in this very event in Barcelona seven years ago.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
€ 676,230
2
€ 415,320
3
€ 294,620
4
€ 232,090
5
€ 177,810
6
€ 136,850
7
Parker Talbot
Canada
€ 105,590
8
Igor Kaufman
Israel
€ 81,230
Play will get underway at 12:30 p.m. local time, with all the action streamed on the PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels on a 30-minute delay. The tournament resumes on Level 38, seeing blinds of 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 big blind ante.
The final six will play down to a champion today, and the PokerNews reporting team will be there for complete coverage at EPT Barcelona.
