Sylvain Loosli Wins EPT Barcelona Super High Roller Event

French poker player Sylvain Loosli has been gaining a reputation as one of the strongest poker players in Europe today.

He came fourth in last year’s WSOP Main Event (which won him US$2,792,533) and was the runner-up in the €5,000 No Limit Hold’Em 8 Handed Event at this year’s EPT Grand Final.

However, despite the strong accolades, the Frenchman had never won a major live poker tournament.

That was until Loosli took out the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller Event earlier this week.

Loosli beat a total field of 85 players (and 14 re-entries) to win the event and the €1,224,000 (around US$1,409,130) top place cash prize.

The first player to exit the final table was British player Paul Newey, who was eliminated when his Pocket Queens were cracked by JC Alvarado’s Ace King.

A similar situation occurred in the next elimination when Paul O’Dwyer moved all-in with Pocket Jacks, only to be called by Ivan Luca and his Ace King.

Luca hit a King on the flop, which eventually won him the hand to eliminate O’Dwyer in seventh place.

Although Luca managed to get a final table scalp, he wound up getting eliminated from the event in sixth place.

It came as he engaged in a showdown against Polish player Dzmitry Urbanovich – Luca had Pocket Size and Urbanovich had Pocket Tens.

Luca was unable to catch a break on the board and he was knocked out of the tournament in sixth spot.

Urbanovitch then claimed his second straight final table scalp when he eliminated Australian Michael Egan in fifth place.

Egan’s Ace Ten was dominated by Urbanovitch’s Ace Jack, and he was unable to improve his hand on the board.

Next to go was Alvarado, who went all-in with Four Nine of Hearts before he was called by Loosli, who was ahead with Ace Six off suit.

Neither player hit anything on the board, which meant that Loosli’s Ace High held up to him the hand for the Frenchman while putting the event down to its last three players.

Loosli then got a second straight final table scalp of his own when he knocked Cristoph Vogelsang out of the event in third.

It came when the short stacked Vogelsang went all in after the flop with Queen Eight off suit (a Queen high post-flop). He was promptly called by Loosli who had Ace Eight off suit, which gave him a pair of Aces.

Vogelsang needed either Two Queens on the turn and river or a King to stay in the event, but neither of those cards came and he was eliminated as a result.

Vogelsang’s elimination put Loosli and Urbanovitch in heads-up play, with Loosli having held a slight chip lead when play got underway.

Urbanovitch played valiantly in heads-up and he came extremely close to retaking the chip lead at one stage of play.

However, it just was not his night as Loosli eventually became the last man sitting.

In the last hand of the event, Urbanovitch went all-in pre flop with Jack Ten off suit and was called by Loosli, who was narrowly ahead with Pocket Fives.

The flop came King of Hearts, Four of Diamonds and Two of Hearts, which kept Loosli in the lead but still gave Urbanovitch a number of outs.

That all changed when the Five of Clubs came on the turn, however, which gave the Frenchman Trips and the tournament win.

The King of Spades on the river was not able to help Urbanovitch, but it gave Loosli a full house which put an exclamation mark on his EPT Barcelona Super High Roller event win.

Despite coming second place, the €841,500 (around US$949,970) cash prize for Urbanovitch has put his live poker tournament earnings for 2015 at over US$3.5 million.

Loosli’s win puts his total live earnings just short of US$4.7 million.