For a while on Saturday, Finnish rising star Joni Jouhkimainen (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 84th) - who began final table play as the short stack - was pitching a perfect game, he was making the correct reads, raising at opportune times, folding when most would not have had the guts to.
The Finn found himself with 75% of the chips and it looked like a no-brainer, Jouhkimainen would be earning his tournament victory on a major poker circuit ... well, sometimes things don't go as planned.
But two hands in a small span of time did Jouhkimainen in. He first called Mikalai Pobal's all-in - his ace-jack was never able to get there against Pobal's 88.
Then, it was an all-Finn showdown versus Ziigmund. Jouhkimainen held Kings to Sahamies' 87 on a 8-J-7 rainbow board. The turn and river wouldn't help Jouhkimainen. Joni still held the chip lead at that point, but, it sure did look as if these were two signs of what was to come as a few hours later he was on the rail.
Mikalai Pobal (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-76th) eventually outlasted the two Finns - who appeared to have shared a couple of drinks during the dinner break ... one wonders if that affected their performance at the final table post-meal - Pobal takes home over 1M EURO for his big victory.
Ziigmund (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-132nd) was the runner-up here at EPT Barcelona. It sure was great to see Ziigmund back on the circuit.
John Juanda (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-359th) suffered a sick end to his tournament. Juanda, who came into today's final table as one of the favourites, was the first player ousted from final table play.
FT PAYOUTS (EURO) Mikalai Pobal € 1,007,550 Ilari Sahamies € 629,700 Joni Jouhkimainen € 404,050 Anaras Alekberovas € 301,750 Samuel Rodriguez € 230,900 Sinel Anton € 178,400 Antonin Duda € 125,950 John Juanda € 76,100 RELATED POSTS > POLITO WINS HR > NO RESOLUTION AT HR > DAMYANOV PEEVSK WINS SIDE > ANOTHER UNKNOWN LEADS BARCA > DUDA DOMINATES ON DAY 3 > GIVE SMITH HIS NUBS! > SABATO WINS ESTRELLAS > KATCHALOV THIRD AT BARCELONA > LUNDMARK WINS BARCELONA DEFENDING CHAMPION Martin Schleich 2012 PTPR Points: 0 NEXT EPT EVENT EPT San Remo Festival Casino San Remo, Italy October 3-11, 2012 | PTPR PREMIER EVENT EUROPEAN POKER TOUR PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona NLH Main Event August 19-25, 2012 Casino di Barcelona | Spain Buy-in: $6,235 | Prizepool: $6,544,930 Entries: 1,082 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION MIKALAI POBAL 135 ILARI SAHAMIES 85 JONI JOUHKIMAINEN 55 ANARAS ALEKBEROVAS 45 SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ 40 SINEL ANTON 35 ANTONIN DUDA 35 JOHN JUANDA 20 OLE SCHEMION 20 MORTEN MORTENSEN 20 JONATHAN KARAMALIKIS 20 MIKOLAJ ZAWADZKI 18 ALEX CASALS 18 AKU JOENTAUSTA 18 ELIAS GUTIERREZ HERNANDEZ 18 FATIMA MOREIRA DE MELO 15 JAVIER PIAZUELO 15 MAURO CANAVESE 15 |
