Stephen Song Wins 2024 PokerStars EPT Barcelona Main Event

Twenty years in the past, Alexander Stevic etched his identify in poker historical past by successful the inaugural European Poker Tour (EPT) Major Occasion. The 2004 sequence featured simply 5 occasions, a humble starting in comparison with immediately’s expansive, star-studded EPT circuit. That modest begin grew to become a springboard for aspiring poker gamers, remodeling younger upstarts into legends of the sport.

Family poker names like Jason Mercier, Victoria Coren-Mitchell, and Corridor of Famer Patrik Antonius launched their careers and started their stand up the ranks after discovering success on the EPT’s iconic blue felt. Now, one other rising famous person has left their mark on one among poker’s most prestigious excursions.

Regardless of the black clouds and torrential downpour exterior On line casino Barcelona, which contrasted with the sunny scenes of earlier PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Major Occasions, Stephen Track supplied the heat wanted within the room as he proudly hoisted the twentieth Anniversary Golden Shard trophy.

2024 EPT Barcelona Major Occasion Closing Desk Outcomes

*denotes heads-up deal

Prayers From Mother Increase Track Over the Line

On the ultimate day of the Major Occasion, Track discovered himself all-in and in danger on 5 separate events. Woman luck smiled down upon him every time as he scratched and clawed his method to the win. However what was the key to working so pure?

“You simply hold displaying up and ultimately you are simply going to win, proper? Simply mathematically, it has to occur,” Track advised PokerNews.

“I’ll say that my mother mentioned she was praying for me very exhausting throughout this match. I have been sun-running the entire seven days, so I am positively grateful for that.”

Track was already an completed skilled earlier than immediately. He’s properly revered by his friends and has the outcomes to again it up, with a WSOP bracelet, a WPT Prime Championship, and an EPT aspect occasion win on his resume. He was named the GPI Participant of the Yr in 2022 however factors to this triumph as essentially the most notable of his profession.

“This, for certain, is primary. WPT Prime [Championship] was superior, too. My household was there, and my mother was there, in order that was unimaginable. However that is [EPT Main Events]; there’s simply not that lots of them. And to now be capable of say I am an EPT winner is simply unreal.”

First EPT Champion Alexander Stevic is Again in Barcelona The place He Gained it All in 2004

EPT Barcelona Major Occasion By the Numbers

The EPT Barcelona Major Occasion was one of many greatest in EPT historical past, rating because the fourth-largest occasion with 1,975 complete entries. The prize pool reached a powerful €9,578,750, with payouts for 287 gamers and an preliminary prime prize of €1,512,000. The min-cash was €8,700.

The EPT’s progress is obvious not solely in its spectacular numbers but in addition in its world attain. This Major Occasion attracted gamers from 82 totally different international locations. From Albania to Vietnam and america to South Africa, it appears no corners of the world are untouched or unaffected by the EPT’s affect. The highest 5 nations had been France (205 gamers), Italy (144), Spain (124), Brazil (89), and the UK (76).

European Poker Tour (EPT)’s twentieth Anniversary: Wanting Again on the Previous Ten Years

Track Hits the Proper Notes

With historical past being the dominating theme over the previous two weeks, it was becoming that Rania Nasreddine made a little bit of her personal by changing into the ninth participant to make back-to-back EPT Major Occasion ultimate tables. Nonetheless, her begin to the finale was nothing wanting a catastrophe. The 2024 EPT Monte Carlo Major Occasion third-place finisher bumped into aces on the opening hand of Day 7 after a mistimed back-jam with pocket nines. Nonetheless, some aggressive strikes and a rivered full home adopted shortly after, and the lawyer managed to efficiently attraction her manner again into competition. Nasreddine additional solidified her place on the ultimate desk after busting Boris Kuzmanovic with Large Slick.

By the primary break, Andrew Hulme went from quick stack to chip chief. Former frontrunner Track had tumbled down the counts and was solely propped up by David Coleman. Track doubled twice to get himself out of the hazard zone, however Coleman couldn’t replicate his compatriot and bowed out to Hulme’s queens in fifth place.

Track, recognized for excelling in all-in conditions, continued residing as much as his status. He jammed into prime pair however spiked an ace on the river in opposition to Hulme to maintain the Major Occasion a four-handed affair. Regardless of the hit, Hulme nonetheless led, with Track and Nasreddine floating above Marius-Catalin Pertea going into the second break.

Hulme, Track and Pertea traded pots, every leaping into prime spot all through Stage 36. Track reestablished himself because the chip chief, cracking Pertea’s aces after the river bailed him out once more. Nasreddine tread water however grew to become the quick stack after one other Pertea double. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, native could not get better and was denied changing into the fourth feminine EPT Major Occasion winner. The €518,600 fourth-place payout was a brand new excessive rating for Nasreddine, regardless of falling in a single place sooner than she did on the French Riviera.

Pertea exited a number of palms later, establishing the heads-up duel between Track and Hulme. The duo shortly agreed a deal. Track held a slim lead and secured €1,233,586, whereas Hulme banked €1,165,614. With each gamers claiming their payouts, all that remained on the road was the title, the trophy, and a further €56,800.

Heads-up started with small pots being traded, however Track pressured Hulme to fold prime pair after he bluff-shoved the river on a four-to-a-straight board. His lead prolonged by greater than two-to-one forward of the 45-minute dinner break.

Track sealed the victory on the primary all-in and name showdown. Like many instances all through the EPT Major Occasion, Track discovered himself because the underdog when the playing cards flipped over. When the flip hit the desk, his ace-seven made a straight, besting Hulme’s pocket eights.

Track celebrated his win, marking twenty years of EPT historical past, surrounded by family and friends. However the way forward for the EPT is but to be written—and who is aware of? The following chapter might be yours.

Calum has been part of the PokerNews workforce since September 2021 after working within the UK power sector. He performed his first hand of poker in 2017 and instantly fell in love with the sport.

Calum has written for varied poker shops however discovered his house at PokerNews, the place he has contributed to varied articles and dwell updates, offering insights and reporting on main poker occasions, together with the World Sequence of Poker (WSOP).