Isidoro Barreña Triumphs in UKIPT Marbella

The UKIPT Marbella final table got off to a quick start as most of the remaining players were knocked out of the event within the first few hours. However, the final two players put up a major fight before Spanish poker shark Isidoro Barreña was the last man sitting in the event.

Barreña was, at times throughout the event, one of the tournament’s chip leaders, but he had the third lowest stack of the remaining eight players when the final table got underway. That did not deter him though as he played well en route to taking out the event and its €150,800 (around US$171,240) top place cash prize.

Fellow Spanish player Juan Bautista was the first player to be eliminated from the final table. He called Sam Grafton’s all-in with Pocket Queens, while Grafton was behind with Pocket Deuces. However, another Deuce was shown on the flop to put Grafton in front and Bautista with an ultra-small stack, which was eventually lost a few hands later.

Seventh place went to Dutchman Jeffrey Brouwer, who was eliminated from the event by then-chip leader Jose Angel Latorre. It came when Brouwer moved all-in pre-flop with Ace Eight off-suit and was called by Latorre, who had him dominated with Ace Queen.

Latorre cemented his lead even further when he made a two pair on the board, which put an exclamation mark on the win and put the final table down to six.

Sam Grafton was the player who was out next as he became Barreña’s first final table scalp. The short stack went all-in pre-flop with Queen Five and was called by Barreña and his King Nine, which went further in the lead as the Spaniard hit a pair of Kings on the flop.

Latorre then claimed his second final table scalp when he knocked David Vedral out of the event in fifth place. Vedral went all-in with Ace Ten off-suit, but unfortunately for him Latorre was waiting in the wings with Pocket Aces, which held on the board to win the hand.

Fourth place went to Dario Carrion Morenilla, who was the chip leader earlier in the event. He went all-in pre-flop with Pocket Queens and was called by the eventual winner, who had Ace Jack. While Carrion was initially ahead, that soon changed after Barreña’s Ace High turned into a Full House, which put Carrion out of the event while giving Barreña a much needed chip boost.

Barreña then made it two scalps in a row when he eliminated Rodrigo Rosales from the event in third place after his Ace Jack continued to dominate the Ace Five of Rosales. Rosales’ elimination put Barreña and Latorre in heads-up play, with Latorre having a three to one chip lead over Barreña when the play began.

However, momentum had already begun to swing behind Barreña, and it wasn’t long before he took the chip lead in decisive fashion. In what would be the last hand of the event, Barreña moved all-in pre-flop with aq and Latorre eventually made the call with a [J_dimas]

The 745 on the flop kept Barreña’s dominant hand in the lead, while the [Q_clubs on the turn dashed all hopes of Latorre to stay in the event. Irrelevant 8 on the river sealed the deal, awarding Barreña the final pot of the evening and the 2015 UKIPT Marbella title.

Photo: Mickey May, PokerStars Blog