Marti Roca De Torres Takes Down WSOP Europe Main Event for €1,115,207

It was Spaniard Marti Roca De Torres who emerged victorious at the WSOP Europe in Rozvadov last night, turning a €220 satellite entry into a €million+ victory at the King’s Casino, lifting the coveted bracelet and describing the win a “a dream come true!”

With barely €30K in previous tournament cashes to his name, it was a brave De Torres who packed in his job as an economics teacher a few years ago in order to concentrate on his passion of poker as reported by PokerNews, and he had to fend off a concerted challenge by the likes of Niall Farrell, Maria Ho and eventual runner-up Gianluca Speranza.

The €10,300 buy-in Main Event saw the €4million guarantee smashed, 529 entries adding over €1million to the prizefund and almost certainly guaranteeing that the winner would become an instant millionaire, with €1,115,207 ($1,297,552) up top.

Maria Ho had high hopes that it would be herself, making a hotly-debated laydown in a 4-way pot deep in the final day after flopping a set of 10’s, but shortly afterwards both Ho and Farrell ran into an extreme cooler… hitting the rails and leaving De Torres in a commanding position to take down the title…

Poker wins are rarely smooth, however, and the Catalonian player explained afterwards: “At this point I thought that I was going to win for sure because I was in a perfect situation. For a moment I thought it’s done. Then, for a moment it looked impossible,” reliving the rollercoaster ride which saw fellow contender, England’s Robert Bicknell, survive a dozen or more all-ins before finally falling in 4th for €335,089.

When Dutchman Mathijs Jonkers joined him, a €476,585 payday just reward for a fine run…

…it left De Torres facing Italy’s Gianluca Speranza heads-up, and it would take several hours and 270 hands to separate the gladiators, the WSOP updates describing the final action as ‘a simple coin flip decided the final outcome of the tournament. Roca De Torres shoved with pocket fives and Speranza called with ace-jack.’

‘An ace on the flop let the Italian rail cheer, but they fell silent as soon as a five on the turn left their favorite drawing dead. Speranza was all in for fewer than two big blinds the next hand with ten-eight versus queen-five and the miracle never happened to crown a champion more than 14 hours after the last six first sat back down in their chairs.’

When De Torres was asked “How do you feel right now?” by WSOP tournament director Jack Effel the happy Catalan man said:

“I don't know, I am more nervous now than before when I was playing! But for sure I am very happy and it is a dream come true, I don't know what to say.”

Final Result 2017 WSOPE Main Event