Stephen Chidwick Wins the €25,500 Single-Day High Roller (€690,400)
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The €25,500 Single-Day High Roller is always a big one in Barcelona. While it was smaller than last year's edition, it was still massive. A total of 112 entries were made into the tournament, making for a prize pool of €2,744,000.
After 14 hours of play, Stephen Chidwick took home the biggest share. The €690,400 he won is the biggest score of his live poker tournament career, more than doubling his previous best result.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | €690,400 |
| 2 | Bryn Kenney | United States | €466,500 |
| 3 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Ukraine | €303,200 |
| 4 | Isaac Haxton | United States | €251,100 |
| 5 | Quan Zhou | China | €202,500 |
| 6 | Jan Eric Schwippert | Germany | €159,700 |
| 7 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | €122,100 |
| 8 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russia | €91,940 |
The first of 2 Single-Day high rollers this festival got underway at 12:30 local time with some of the biggest names in poker showing up for level 1. The 100,000 in chips and blinds of 500 and 1,000 made for a lot of post flop action. Since the blinds moved up every half hour, a different game emerged soon enough with more focus on pre flop action.
Daniel Dvoress and Jean-Noel Thorel were among the first players to bust both their initial entry and their reentry. Others, like Benjamin Pollak, Igor Kurganov, Ben Tollerene and Mustapha Kanit, lasted longer but they, too, came not even close to cashing.
Several players were short on the bubble but it would be Imad Derwiche to be the one that bubbled. He shoved with pocket sixes and got called by Adrian Mateos with deuces. Mateos spiked a set on the river to burst the bubble and guarantee the remaining 17 players a pay day of at least €43,080.
With relatively short blind levels and a 30-second shot clock in place, the action was fast and furious. Players busted out left and right after the money stage of the tournament was reached. Especially the German contingent hit the rail quick as Koray Aldemir (17th, €43,080), Steffen Sontheimer (14th, €45,250), Stefan Schillhabel (13th, €49,400), and Manig Loeser (12th, €49,400) all made the money but fell short of the final table. Dominykas Karmazinas (16th, €43,080), Byron Kaverman (15th, €45,250), Ryan McEathron (10th, €56,250), and Erik Seidel (11th, €56,250) were the other players to reach the money without getting a seat on the last table.
Action didn't slow down on the unofficial final table as Spaniard Sergi Reixach, who won one of the Single-Day high rollers in Prague last year, exited in 9th place in one of the first hands. He was already extremely short when he got it in with king-ten to Isaac Haxton's pocket sevens. No help for Reixach and he had to settle for 9th place, good for €68,600.
The final table was a truly international affair with 7 nationalities represented. China, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Spain all had a single player represent them, the United States had two.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy hit the rail first, shoving with jack-four into Stephen Chidwick's ace-king. Two kings on the flop just about sealed it. A nine on the turn gave Troyanovskiy a gutshot but a blank on the river ended it for the Russian rounder. €91,940 was his share of the prize pool.
Next up in line for the payout was WSOPE Main Event and high roller regular Adrian Mateos. His nine-ten suited couldn't outrun Igor Yaroshevskyy's pocket nines and he collected €122,100 for his 7th place finish.
Jan Eric Schwippert joined his fellow Germans on the rail getting it in with sixes against Yaroshevskyy's nines. No help on the flop, turn, or river and Schwippert banked €159,700.
Haxton then tried to bluff Yaroshevskyy in a big pot but the Ukrainian wasn't folding his underrepresented aces. As the final break of the day commenced, Yaroshevskyy had 8 of the 11 million in play with only Chidwick in possession of more than a million.
Quan Zhou lost the last couple of his chips after the break. Zhou, who stone bubbled the WSOP Main Event in Vegas this year, did not improve with jack-nine to Stephen Chidwick's ace-ten and thus had to settle for 5th place (€202,500).
The other shorty, Isaac Haxton, followed Zhou out the door, getting outdrawn with ace-ten suited by Igor Yaroshevskyy's five-deuce suited. A deuce on the flop ended it all for Haxton who collected €251,100 for his 4th place finish.
While Stephen Chidwick had gained some chips, it was still Igor Yaroshevskyy with the demanding lead 3-handed. A series of big hands later saw the long-time chip leader go out in 3rd place, however. Yaroshevskyy doubled Chidwick twice and Kenney once before he got it in with ace-ten to Chidwick's ace-king. A king on the flop made for a situation where Yaroshevskyy was drawing dead on the turn. Yaroshevskyy collected €303,200 for his 3rd place finish, the best result of his poker career.
The heads up between Bryn Kenney and Stephen Chidwick didn't last long. While there were 93 big blinds in play when the battle began, it only took a couple of hands for Stephen Chidwick to get them all in front of him. In the last hand, Kenney shoved with treys and Chidwick called with eights. A board full of blanks later resulted in Kenney on the rail and Chidwick lifting the trophy.
With that, the first Single-Day High Roller had crowned a winner. In two days, the next €25,500 Single-Day High Roller starts. Again, PokerNews.com will be there to cover it all. But first, Day 2 of the Main Event awaits.
