Mario Lopez Takes Out EPT Barcelona Estrellas Main Event

This year’ EPT Barcelona was a successful one, with 3,292 players having turned out to play in the Estrellas Main Event.

Argentinian player Mario Lopez topped the field to win the event and the €408,000 (around US$471,570) top place cash prize in the Spanish city.

Eight players turned out for the final day of play, but that soon went down to seven after Daniel Selles was the first player to be eliminated on Day 4.

Selles went all-in with Ace King but was called with Knut Nystedt, whose Pocket Aces held on the board to win the hand.

Next to go was Swiss player Simon Sennhauser, who was sent packing after his Pocket Kings were beaten Jose Carlos Garcia’s Ace King.

Nystedt then claimed his second scalp of the final table when he eliminated Moroccan Konah Abdelhadi from the event in sixth spot.

The Norwegian then made it two in a row after he knocked Eduard Sanchez out the event in fifth after Nystedt was able to hit a pair on the board.

Garcia was the chip leader when the final day of play began, and while he played well throughout the final table, he had to settle for fourth place after he was eliminated by Jonn Forst.

The short stacked Garcia went all-in preflop with Queen Two and was called by both Nystedt and Forst, who checked down the board. Forst hit a pair of Tens on the board, which beat Garcia’s Queen High to put the tournament down to three.

Forst then claimed his second straight final table scalp after he eliminated Nystedt from the event.

It came as Nystedt went all-in pre flop with Ace Ten off suit before he was called by Forst, who had Ace Seven of Clubs.

Neither player hit on the board nor the turn, but the Seven of Hearts on the river gave Forst a pair and ultimately the hand.

Nystedt’s elimination put Forst and Lopez in heads-up play, with Forst having held an extremely small chip lead (41.1 million vs. 40.9 million chips) when play began.

The virtually even chip counts led both players to make a deal before heads-up play began, but it didn’t take long for the cards to be dealt once again.

Lopez gradually boosted his stack by winning a series of small pots, which eventually gave him a massive chip lead him that enabled Lopez to deal the final blow.

In the last hand of the event, Forst went all-in pre flop with Ace Six off-suit and was quickly called by Lopez, whose Ace Queen was in front.

The flop and turn gave Forst a straight draw, but it didn’t come on the river, which meant Lopez’s Ace Queen held up to win him the hand and the EPT Barcelona Estrellas Main Event.