Jose Jaraiz Wins the 2024 CEP Barcelona Main Event For a Career-Best Score
The Casino Barcelona hosted the 2024 edition of the Campeonato Espana de Poker (CEP) Barcelona festival before PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona kicked off, and it's fair to say it was a roaring success. The €500 buy-in CEP Barcelona Main Event was the second-largest in the tour's history, with 1,737 players entering. Only the 2023 edition, with its 1,960 entrants, is larger.
Thanks to the massive prize pool, all but one of the nine finalists walked away with a five-figure haul. The tournament ended in a three-way deal, with Madrid's Jose Jaraiz claiming €72,285 and the title.
CEP Barcelona Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Jaraiz | Spain | €72,285* |
| 2 | David Xarau | Spain | €67,480* |
| 3 | Guillem Nuez | Spain | €57,735* |
| 4 | Ivan Karatayeu | Belarus | €30,800 |
| 5 | Mohamed Lakhal | Estonia | €24,000 |
| 6 | Marc Colom | Spain | €19,100 |
| 7 | Henri Lansade | France | €15,200 |
| 8 | Adrian Coman | Romania | €12,000 |
| 9 | Adria Colomina | Spain | €9,634 |
*reflects a three-handed deal
Adria Colomina busted in ninth for €9,364. Colomina finished second in this event in 2021. Since then, Colomina has had several final table appearances in Spanish events, including a seventh-place finish in the €3,300 ESPT/UKIPT Malaga Main Event in June.
Romania's Adrian Coman banked a career-best €12,000 for his eighth-place finish before Henri Lansade of France ran out of steam in seventh, a finish good for €15,200.
Marc Colom and Mohamed Lakhal were the next casualties, raking in €19,100 and €24,000, respectively.
Fourth place and €30,800 went to Belarusian Ivan Karatayeu. It was the second five-figure haul of Karatayeu's career following his €14,665 score for a tenth-place finish at the PokerStars Eureka Poker Tour Rozvadov in March.
The final three players struck a deal that locked in career-high prizes for each. Guillem Nuez collected €57,735, smashing his previous best score of £18,650 in the process. David Xarau was the runner-up. He scooped €67,480 in his first recorded live cash since May 2018; what a way to return to the action.
Jose Jaraiz is the man who will forever be known as the 2024 CEP Barcelona Main Event champion. Jaraiz has several notable scores on his resume, including a tenth-place finish in the 2022 Irish Open Main Event (€20,490), a 105th-place finish in the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event ($62,500), and a 592nd-place finish in the 2023 WSOP Main Event ($32,500).
No doubt, Jaraiz will be one to watch as the 2024 PokerStars EPT Barcelona festival progresses over the next week or so.
