Catalin Pop Wins 2017 888Live Barcelona €2,200 High Roller

Catalin Pop was crowned victor of the 2017 888Live Barcelona €2,200 High Roller.

Since the begining of the year the Romanian player has already won two 888Live poker tournaments, boosting his bankroll and making a statement that the poker community may have found its latest big star.

The player’s road to victory included reaching heads-up out of a field of 69 other players, facing UK’s Fraser MacIntyre, and defeating the latter to scoop a lion’s share of the prize pool, totaling €40,000.

The €2,200 High Roller that took place over two days at Casino Barcelona in the sun-kissed Spanish city. As already mentioned, the event drew 70 entries who almost tripled the originally announced guaranteed prize pool of €50,000 to a total of €134,400.

Spaniard Sergi Escote led the field with a stack almost twice as big as the next in the chip counts chart. The local player kicked off Day 2 play with 811,000 in front of him at the table. Escote maintained a good position all the way through the unofficial nine-handed final table. He entered that final stage of action as the chip leader, but very closely followed by MacIntyre. The former had 1,360,000 in chips at that point, while the latter held 1,359,000. Pop was third in chips at the time.

The three players steamed through the final table down to three-handed play. Escote was eventually eliminated in 3rd place for €18,000. Pop busted the Spaniard to set the heads-up match and to enter it with a massive chip lead over MacIntyre. The UK player managed to double, winning a big pot. However, his stack was quickly reduced to just 1.6 million before the final hand of the event was dealt.

And here it is how it was played. MacIntyre raised to 150,000 pre-flop and Pop three-bet. MacIntyre then shoved and his opponent called. The UK player turned over [Ad][Js] against Pop’s pocket tens. A [10d] on the flop decided the tournament’s winner. MacIntyre received €28,000 for his runner-up finish.

Pop added his first-place prize of €40,000 to his poker bankroll, which was boosted significantly back in February when the player bested the field of the 888Live King’s Festival Rozvadov €888 Main Event for €80,000.

In Romania’s Catalin Pop Wins 2017 888Live Barcelona €2,200 High Roller

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