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Where Are They Now: Season 9 EPT Barcelona Champ Mikalai Pobal
Last season's European Poker Tour Barcelona champion, Mikalai Pobal, is in the field today for Day 1a and looking to defend his title. Recently, PokerNews' Chad Holloway took a look at the reigning EPT Barcelona champion in a Where Are They Now piece.
It’s a little early to ask just where the defending champ is now considering it’s only been a year since his win. Mikalai Pobal, who hailed from Belarus where he studied International Economic Relations at Belarus State Economic University and played on PokerStars under the name “leanod,” had to overcome a stacked final table on his way to winning the Season 9 EPT, which drew 1,082 entries and created a prize pool of €5,247,700.
Last year’s final table included John Juanda (8th - €76,100), Anaras Alekberovas (4th - €301,750), Joni Jouhkimainen (3rd - €404,050) and Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (2nd - €629,700), so you can see that saying it was “stacked” wasn’t an understatement. We won’t go into detail on how Pobal finished the job, but we’ll just say alcohol and shiny hats were involved during three-handed play. You can read about that in last year’s live blog.
Prior to his win, Pobal’s only cash was 104th in the 2012 EPT Berlin Main Event for €7,500, while his only one since the win was 10th in the 2012 EPT Sanremo €10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max for €20,600.