€50,000 Super High Roller
Dia 3 Iniciado
2013 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona
€50,000 Super High Roller
Dias: 3
Event Info
Resultado Final
Event Info
Informações sobre o nível
2013 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona
Buy-in
€48,500
Entradas
51
Nível
24
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000
Day 3 Action Begins on the Money Bubble as we Look to Crown a Winner
For the past two days, the Casino Barcelona has played host to the European Poker Tour Season 10 Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller, an event that drew 40 unique players that accounted for 11 re-entries to create a prize pool of €2,448,765. Eight of those player remain in contention for the €771,300 first-place prize, but only seven of them will finish in the money. That means someone will leave here empty handed and miss out on a minimum payday of €128,515.
The man best positioned to make a run at the title is Ole Schemion, who leads the final table with 2,835,000. On the flip side, Timothy Adams is in the most danger of finishing as the bubble boy as he sits on the short stack with 845,000. Other still in contention are Steve O'Dwyer, Mike McDonald, Erik Seidel, Fabian Quoss, David Benefield and Vitaly Lunkin.
Action will resume in Level 19 (30,000/60,000/5,000), so we don't expect it'll take too long for the bubble to bust.
EPT 10 Barcelona Super High Roller Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy Adams | 845,000 |
| 2 | Steve O'Dwyer | 1,015,000 |
| 3 | Mike McDonald | 2,300,000 |
| 4 | Fabian Quoss | 1,120,000 |
| 5 | Erik Seidel | 1,145,000 |
| 6 | Ole Schemion | 2,835,000 |
| 7 | David Benefield | 1,020,000 |
| 8 | Vitaly Lunkin | 2,470,000 |
Action will kick off at 1:00 CET, but we won't begin live reporting until an hour later to coincide with the EPT live stream. Be sure to join us then as we bring you all the action and eliminations from the €50,000 Super High Roller here in Barcelona!
You can also check out PokerNews' coverage of the Season 10 EPT Barcelona Main Event, which kicked off today.
While you wait, check out this interview with Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu from earlier this week when he talks about his new hair:
Seat 8: Vitaly Lunkin (2,470,000)
Vitaly Lunkin is 42-years-old professional poker player from Russia and the proud winner of over $4 million in career tournament earnings. Lunkin got his first cash in a tournament in 2003 when he took down a pot-limit Omaha event at the Moscow Open in 2003. He earned almost $12,000 for that win.
It wouldn’t be until 2006 that Lunkin would get his first World Series of Poker cash. He finished in the money in the Main Event that year for about $5,000 profit. The following year in 2007, Lunkin hit a score worth $25,500 in the Moscow Millions Main Event.
Big things would happen to Vitaly come 2008. He traveled back to Las Vegas for the WSOP and placed first in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event. Lunkin earned $629,417 for the win, not to mention his first WSOP gold bracelet.
In 2009, Lunkin cashed in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo before returning to his home of Moscow, Russia for the Russian Poker Tour’s Main Event. The event was a $7,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event and Lunkin walked away with the victory and over $440,000. That same month, Lunkin’s poker career would get a lot better back in Vegas.
That is where a special $40,000 buy-in anniversary event was being held at the WSOP. That event attracted 201 of the toughest players in the game. When all said and done, Lunkin bested Isaac Haxton in heads-up play to earn the nearly $1.9 million first-place prize. It was not only considered one of the greatest tournament victories of all time, but also marked Lunkin’s second WSOP gold bracelet.
Seat 7: David Benefield (1,020,000)
In the realm of online poker, 27-year-old David Benefield is a legend known by the name “Raptor.” That’s the moniker Benefield used when he first ran $450 into $20,000. Years later, that sum would be in the millions. Now, the better part of a decade later, the man who bought a half-million-dollar house in Fort Worth with Tom “durrrr” Dwan when he was 20, is not only at this final table, but also at the final table of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event as the short stack in this year's November Nine.
Credited with creating the quad monitor set-up – a grind station system used by hundreds of online players nowadays – Benefield once posted a “Raptor Challenge” on Two Plus Two stating that he wanted to make enough money to buy a $1.4-million vacation home in Costa Rica, and while that may have been a dream of days gone by, he’ll be at least halfway there as he’s guaranteed $733,224 as a member of the November Nine.
Prior to this year, Benefield’s largest score was for $150,035 after finishing eighth in the €50,000 Majestic Super High Roller at the 2012 WSOP Europe. He also took sixth in the 2010 Event #17 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $135,718. Other notable live accomplishments include 73rd in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for $77,200, 13th in the 2008 WSOP Event #1 $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold’em for $41,360 and 10th in Event #50: $10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Omaha for $53,721 the same year.
While things are going great for Benefield now, that wasn’t always the case for the former CardRunners instructor and member of the famed Ship It Holla Ballas. “For some reason, I am just not all that happy with what I am doing,” Benefield admitted in a blog post back in 2008. “I have made a ton of money, have set myself up for life, but can’t seem to get any fulfillment out of poker. I am working on some lifestyle changes, and they are coming along nicely.”
Among those lifestyle changes were eating healthfully, practicing yoga and moving to New Mexico to study philosophy and literature at St. John’s College. Benefield proceeded to announce his “retirement” from poker and two years later and transferred to Colombia University, where he is currently a part-time student studying Chinese and political science. While Benefield left the life of an online poker pro behind, he still traveled to the WSOP every year and as you know, while Benefield may have been done with poker, the game wasn’t done with him.
Interestingly, Benefield is guaranteed $733,224 in this year's WSOP, but he can surpass that if he were to managed a victory here today!
For more on Benefield we recommend you check out Ship It Holla Ballas!: How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker's Loudest, Craziest, and Richest Crew by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback.
Seat 6: Ole Schemion (2,835,000)
Ole Schemion is one of Germany's brightest up-and-coming stars; what's more, he's established that reputation all before the age of 21! The youngster has already amassed more than $3 million in career live tournament earnings, including wins in the 2012 Masters Classics of Poker in Amsterdam for $368,895 and the 2012 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event for $1,474,671. He has also won side events at EPT Berlin in both 2011 ($77,138) and 2012 ($90,075).
Schemion won a huge pot on Day 2 toward the start of the day when he woke up with pocket kings against Daniel Alaei's ace-king. From there, Schemion continued his dominance by consistently winning both small pots and big pots alike. Our Live Reporting team caught a particularly interesting hand involving Schemion and Steve O'Dwyer where Schemion three-barreled into O'Dwyer and showed one of his hole cards after a fold on the river. What Schemion held is still a mystery!
Schemion begins the final table with a big chip lead and barring a reversal of luck, he's primed to not the second-biggest score of his career. All he has to do is finish third or better and he'll do it.
Seat 5: Erik Seidel (1,145,000)
Erik Seidel is no stranger to the poker scene, and he's especially no stranger to high buy-in events like this one. He won the Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge in 2011 for AU$2,500,000. That same year Seidel took third in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$625,000. Needless to say, the Poker Hall of Famer, who has more than $17.6 million in career earnings, knows just what he is doing in big buy-in events.
In 2003, Seidel took fourth in the AU$2,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event for AU$9,200, then took second in the AU$1,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for AU$35,000. In 2007, Seidel placed second in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$550,000 and topped that earning the next year when he came runner-up in the Aussie Millions Main Event for AU$1,000,000. He then won the AU$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha in 2010 for AU$120,000 in 2010, but 2011 proved to be his best year ever Down Under.
Born in New York City in 1959, Seidel always had a gifted mind for games of all kinds. He took up backgammon while in college and soon dropped out to pursue a professional career playing the game. New York’s famous Mayfair Club was like a second home to Seidel. There he was able to hone his skills against some of the best players around.
Seidel traveled around playing backgammon tournaments for about eight years before making some forays into the stock market. With more and more people indulging in poker at the Mayfair Club, Seidel decided to give it a shot. Poker wasn’t his only source of income though, as Seidel took up a regular job as a stockbroker with much more of a secure income. The security of a regular paycheck went out the window though in 1987 when the stock market crashed and Seidel lost his job. Luckily, he still had poker.
The Mayfair Club was growing with players and Seidel soon became one of the best of them, along with the likes of Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington. It was around this time that Seidel took a shot in Vegas at the 1988 World Series where he ended up placing second in the Main Event to the world renowned Johnny Chan. A few years later in 1991, Seidel would return to place second in another WSOP event. It would only take one more year for his wrist to be wrapped in WSOP gold.
In 1992, Seidel captured his first bracelet followed by a second bracelet in 1993. Another year later saw Erik walk away from the WSOP with another bracelet. The 1998 was another good year at the Series for Seidel. He was able to cash four times and win his fourth bracelet. One more year later, Seidel made a run at the WSOP Main Event again, this time placing fourth for almost $280,000.
Taking the next logical step, Seidel moved out to Vegas with his wife and from there the winnings just seemed to pile up. The years 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 all saw Seidel walk away from WSOP with more gold wrapped around his wrist to give him a total of eight bracelets.
Erik Seidel's Top 8 WSOP Results
| Year | Event | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | $2,500 Limit Hold'em | 1st | $168,000 |
| 1993 | $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better | 1st | $94,000 |
| 1994 | $5,000 Limit Hold'em | 1st | $210,000 |
| 1998 | $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw | 1st | $132,750 |
| 2001 | $3,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em | 1st | $411,300 |
| 2003 | $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha | 1st | $146,100 |
| 2005 | $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em | 1st | $611,795 |
| 2007 | $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw | 1st | $538,835 |
Australia and the WSOP aren't the only places Seidel shines. He had a deep, second-place run at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in 2002 along with wins at Festa Al Lago II and III, where he secured wins in both events. In 2008 Seidel took down the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic for almost $1 million.
The big questions is... can Seidel notch his first EPT win here today? Only time will tell!
Seat 4: Fabian Quoss (1,120,000)
Hailing from Nuremberg, Germany, Fabian Quoss is a professional poker player who is no stranger to success at the tables. Quoss, who has over $3.1 million in lifetime live tournament winnings, burst onto the live scene back in 2009. At the 40th World Series of Poker, Quoss made a deep run in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event that eventually resulted in a runner-up finish. This deep run allowed Quoss to pocket $427,911 and from there Quoss' tournament winnings continued to grow.
Just over one year later, Quoss added his first live tournament win to his resume when he took down the £3,500 English Poker Open Main Event in London.
While these early highlights showcase the talent that helped propel Quoss onto the live tournament scene, the young poker superstar has found much success in high roller tournaments as of late. Quoss scored his largest lifetime live score earlier this year at the 2013 Aussie Millions AU$250,000 Challenge when he finished in third place for a AU$750,000 payday. Just one month later, Quoss found himself with another third place finish, this time at the EPT 9 London High Roller event. Quoss is clearly no stranger to high pressure and high buy in events and will certainly be a force to be reckoned with at this final table.
Seat 3: Mike McDonald (2,300,000)
Born in 1989 in Waterloo, Ontario, Mike McDonald is a Canadian professional poker player best known for being the youngest-ever European Poker Tour champion. McDonald won the EPT Dortmund Main Event in 2008 and pocketed €933,600 for his impressive showing.
While his breakout showing in Dortmund remains McDonald's largest score on the EPT, he has found much success at other events since. In 2010, McDonald made a final table appearance that resulted in a third place finish at the EPT Prague Main Event. McDonald pocketed a cool €295,000 for this showing. Not too long after, McDonald claimed victory at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em side event where his first place showing won him over $146,000.
McDonald started playing poker when he was a teenager and soon became known at the online poker tables by his nickname “Timex”, a moniker that he still goes by to this day. Despite being a short stack for a majority of the early final table play during Day 2, McDonald managed to build a stack and will be entering this final table third in chips with 2.3 million.
Seat 2: Steve O'Dwyer (1,015,000)
Steve O'Dwyer is a familiar face on the European Poker Tour and may be best known for winning the 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final Main Event. In what was the final Main Event of the EPT 9 season, O'Dwyer bested what was one of the most stacked final tables in EPT history. O'Dwyer conquered the likes of Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody, Noah Schwartz, and Grant Levy to pocket the €1,224,000 in first-place prize money as well as the title and the trophy.
Prior to winning that prestigious event, O'Dwyer was still a staple of the tournament circuit and found much success worldwide. O’Dwyer’s first big score was back in 2009 when he came sixth in the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for more than $213,796, but it was 2011 when the communications graduate had his breakthrough year. O’Dwyer won nearly $1.5 million that year and snagged a further $880,000 in 2012, tearing through EPT Season 8 with a fifth place in the EPT Barcelona €10,000 High Roller, a runner-up finish at EPT London for £465,000, and seventh at EPT Copenhagen for DKr 290,000. O’Dwyer originally hails from the United States but now holds an Irish passport and now lives in Dublin where he plays poker online.
Seat 1: Timothy Adams (845,000)
Despite bringing the smallest stack into the final eight, Timothy Adams is no stranger to high pressure situations and success on the poker circuit. Adams, a Canadian professional poker player hailing from Burlington, ON, holds over $1.6 million in live tournament winnings to his name. Adams is also known for his online play under the name "Tim0thee".
Adams' live tournament results date back as far as 2007, but he found true glory during the summer of 2012 at the World Series of Poker. During that summer, Adams scored an impressive five cashes, one of which happened to be a victory and a WSOP bracelet. Adams conquered the field of Event 28: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Four-Handed to clinch his first bracelet win and pocket over $392,000 in prize money.
Despite his WSOP bracelet being one of, if not the most prestigious items on Adams' live poker resume, his largest cash came earlier this year at the 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final. Adams scored a fourth-place finish in the €100,000 Super High Roller which netted him €485,100 in prize money ($636,088) for the largest live tournament score of his life. If Adams can work his short stack up and best the field today, he will break his personal record set at the EPT Grand Final and find a new event sitting at the top of his resume.