The first day of the 12th season for the PokerStars.es European Poker Tour Barcelona broke all attendance records, but it will also go down in Latin American poker history because of the turnout, the payouts obtained by the players and most of all, the titles coming home. 

The European Poker Festival saw the Latin Armada get awards in 34 out of the 58 events that were scheduled among the High Roller’s, Main Event’s and Side Events, an unprecedented number for all previous editions of the EPT. We introduce you to them here:

Event #2 Neymar Jr Charity Home Game €150
Entrants: 59
Paid places: 9
Champion: Steve O’Dwyer
Latin ITM:
3° Joao de Moraes

The first big win came at the #5 Event, the Estrellas Main Event €1.100; Argentine Mario López  took down a field of 3,292 players to keep the title to an event that had been won by fellow Argentine player , Matías Ruzzi   last year.

Event #5 Estrellas Main Event €1.100
Entrants: 3.292
Prize pool: €3.193.240
Paid Places: 487
Champion: Mario López  €408,000*
Latin ITM:
55° Ezequiel Kleinman  €7,560
80° Andre Akkari  €4,950 Team PokerStars Pro
108° Edgar Almeida  €4,150
186° Rodrigo Diniz  €2,585
189° Marcelo Valadares  €2,585
204° Brian Ganon  €2,585
226° Michelle Reyes  €2,270
252° Kleber Da Silva  €2,270
267° Carlos Mora  €2,075
336° Rodrigo Padilha  €1,915
359° Rodrigo Requiao  €1,915
453° Tiago Carvalho  €1,820
484° Gabriel Otranto  €1,755

Event #7 Barcelona CUP €300
Entrants: 3,011
Prize pool: €876,201
Paid Places: 453
Champion: Thomas Scholze  €122,100
Latin ITM:
6° Sanjay Sahijwani  €25,700
29° Fabio Batista  €3,150
78° Rodrigo Padilha  €1,400
200° Fabio Foroni  €750
244° Myro Garcia  €650
375° Carlos Mejía  €550
450° Rubén Hurinich  €510

Event #8 NL Hold’em Turbo €1,100
Entradas: 209
Prize pool: €202,730
Paid Places: 27
Champion: Jack Salter  €44,910
Latin ITM:
18° Francisco García  €2,240

Event #10 NL Hold’em €2,150
Entrants: 114
Prize pool: €221,160
Paid Places: 17
Champion: Ville Mattila  €55,640
Latin ITM:
13° Fernando Sily   €3,980

Event #11 NL Hold’em Hyperturbo €550
Entrants: 189
Prize pool: €91,665
Paid Places: 27
Campeón: Miguel Seoane  €20,300
Latinos ITM:
12° Joao Simao   €1,510
15° Rubén Celis  €1,370

Event #13 8-Game €5,300
Entrants: 29
Prize pool: €140,650
Paid Places: 5
Champion: Zhao Wei  €52,040
Latin ITM:
2° Marcelo Costa   €35,870

Evento #15 Hyperturbo €1.100
Entrants: 220
Prize pool: €213,400
Paid Places: 31
Campeón: Roberto Morra  €45,140
Latin ITM:
8° Mario López  €5,570
26° Edgar Briga  €2,090
28° Daniel Ades  €1,880

Event #19 Super High Roller €50,000
Entrants: 99
Prize pool: €4,753,485
Paid Placed: 15
Champion: Sylvain Loosli  €1,224,000
Latin ITM:
4° Juan Carlos Alvarado  €446,800
6° Iván Lucá  €280,500

Event #20 Seniors Event €1,000
Entrants: 164
Prize pool: €159,080
Paid Places: 23
Champion: Heinz Traut  €36,990
Latin ITM:
4° Laercio Yamauti  €13,680

A special recognition goes out to Event #21 the Women’s Event €200 where a total 148 ladies signed up to battle it out for the title, now in the hands of the beautiful, Lynn Gilmartin , girlfriend of Mexican player, Ángel Guillén . Also, the event broke all records, Luiza Pillar , wife of Joao Simao  and Connie Lampropulos , girlfriend of Iván Lucá  , as well as Brazilian Ana Dias . were there.

Event #24 NL Hold’em Estrellas High Roller €2,200
Entrants: 1,055
Prize pool: €2,046,700
Paid Places: 151
Campeón: Javier Tazón  €202,630*
Latin ITM:
2° Rodrigo Pérez  €251,010*
59° Joao Simao  €5,550
95° Diego Casco  €4,670
125° Hanibael Saneh  €3,725
136° Rodrigo Pfeifer  €3,725
138° Juan Villegas  €3,725
150° José Espinoza  €3,600

Event #27 NL Hold’em Hyperturbo €1,000
Entrants: 530
Prize pool: €249,100
Paid Places: 80
Champion: Pedro Lamarca  €36,260*
Latin ITM:
18° Pablo Reis  €2,020
68° Brian Ganon  €920

And then came the awaited 12th EPT  Barcelona Main Event €5,300 where 77 Latin players competed, although only 8 of them made it to the cashing instances;  Mario Lopez being the better positioned one, finished number 20 in an unforgettable tournament.

12 EPT  Barcelona Main Event €5,300
Entrants: 1,694
Prize pool: €8,215,900
Places Paid: 247
Champion: John Juanda €1,022,593*
Latin ITM:
20° Mario López  €53,570
32° Andre Akkari  €27,400
35° Diego Casco  €27,400
42° Rafael Do Prado €22,840
75° Miguel Cieri  €15,600
124° José Ignacio Barbero  €11,500
207° Pablo Harfouche  €9,450
223° Jorge Arias  €9,450

Eleven Latin American countries had representatives in Barcelona, with the Argentine team having the most representatives at the Main Event with 27 players, followed by Brazil with 23 players. It is important to mention that both Mexico and Costa Rica had a player born in American territory and decided not to register under their current country of residence.

Latin American Players per Country:

Argentina : 27
Brazil : 23
Mexico : 6
Uruguay : 6
Venezuela : 5
Chile : 2
Colombia : 2
Ecuador : 2
Peru : 2
Costa Rica : 1
Panama: 1

Event #34 NL Hold’em Hyperturbo €2,150
Entrants: 169
Prize pool: €325,920
Paid Places: 23
Champion: Anas Caudroy  €61,035*
Latin ITM:
7° Francisco Benítez  €12,985

Event #36 NL Hold’em High Roller €25,500
Entrants: 118
Prize pool: €3,724,000
Paid Places: 24*
Champion: Martin Finger  €865,900
Latin ITM:
22° Leo Fernández  €43,200 Team PokerStars Pro
24° Iván Lucá  €21,600*

Event #38 NL Hold’em Turbo €2,150
Entrants: 220
Prize pool: €426,800
Paid Places: 31
Champion: Aram Sargsyan €90,250
Latin ITM:
13° Ariel Mantel  €6,960

Event #40 NL Hold’em Turbo €500
Entrants: 251
Prize pool: €121,735
Paid Place: 31
Champion: Vitek Pesta  €25,750
Latin ITM:
21° Fabio Batista  €1,315
24° Amos Ben  €1,190

Event #41 PLO €5,300
Entrants: 74
Prize pool: €358,900
Paid Places: 11
Champion: Pedro Zagalo  €70,160
Latin ITM:
3° Farid Jattin  €35,350

Event #42 Limit Stud Hi/Lo €550
Entrants: 66
Prize pool: €32,010
Paid Places: 9
Champion: Matthew Grapenthien  €9,360
Latin ITM:
9° Martín Lategui  €930

Another spade came from  Event #43 NL Hold’em €2,200 where Argentine Richard Dubini  stood tall at the top of the podium taking a €142,376 prize  after cutting a three way deal with  Jack Salter  and Zachary Korik .

Event #43 NL Hold’em €2,200
Entrants: 510
Prize pool: €989,400
Paid Places: 71
Champion: Richard Dubini  €142,376*
Latin ITM:
35° Sanjay Sahijwani  €4,950

Event #45 NL Hold’em Turbo €220
Entrants: 624
Prize pool: €121,056
Paid Places: 87
Champion: Marek Grzeska  €23,170
Latin ITM:
10° Ana Dias  €1.620
46° Luiz De Almeida  €475
56° Rodrigo De Almeida  €425

Event #48 NL Hold’em Turbo €1,100
Entrants: 575
Prize pool: €654,750
Paid Places: 95
Champion: Clement Thumy  €124,700
Latin ITM:
30° Rafael Porzecanski  €3,235
49° Alex Manzano  €2,450

Event #49 HORSE €5,300
Entrants: 26
Prize pool: €126,100
Paid Places: 5
Champion: Andrey Zhigalov  €40,332*
Latin ITM:
5° Leo Fernández  €11,980

Event #50 PLO €550
Entrants: 255
Prize pool: €123,.675
Paid Places: 31
Champion: Ove Stenberg  €26,155
Latin ITM:
27° Yvan Marquéz  €1,210

Event #53 NL Hold’em Turbo Win The Button €220
Entrants: 514
Prize pool: €99,716
Places Paid: 72*
Champion: Karam Alfonse  €23,170
Latin ITM:
26° Guzmán González  €655
49° Amos Ben  €430

Event #54 NL Hold’em Hyperturbo €5,200
Entrants: 105
Prize pool: €509,250
Paid Places: 16*
Champion: Murad Akhundov €131,130
Latin ITM:
9° Francisco García  €13,240

Evento #57 NL Hold’em €550
Entrants: 476
Prize pool: €296,335
Places Paid: 87
Champion: Florian Duta  €39,000*
Latin ITM:
5° Enio Bozzano  €15,400
71° Federico Borello  €1,040
85° Leo Liberal  €920

EPT 12 Barcelona €10K High Roller
Entrants: 506
Prize pool: €4,908,200
Paid Places: 71
Champion: Mustapha Kanit  €738,759*
Latin ITM:
39° Leo Fernández  €24,600
61° Matías Ruzzi  €18,650
66° Ángel Guillén  €18,650

Event #60 NL Hold’em Turbo Bounty €2,150
Entrants: 296
Prize pool: €278,240
Paid Places: 39*
Champion: Daniele Primerano  €44,870
Latin ITM:
30° Carlos Mora  €2,170

Event #66 Saturday Night SuperStack €220
Entrants: 312
Prize pool: €60.528
Paid  Places: 47
Champion: Daniel Peche  €11,800
Latin ITM:
14° Mariela Blanco  €805

Event #67 NL Hold’em Turbo €1,100
Entrants: 245
Prize pool: €245,000
Paid Places: 31
Champion: Luigi Curcio  €50,260
Latin ITM:
19° Diego Ventura  €2,810
23° Victor Gones  €2,570

Event #68 NL Hold’em Turbo Edition EPT Main Event €330
Entrants: 350
Prize pool: €101,850
Paid Places: 48
Champion: Danilo Patella  €19,850
Latin ITM:
20° Gabriel Otranto  €1,050
34° Victor Zabukas  €650

Event #69 NL Hold’em Turbo 6-Max €5,200
Entrants: 92
Prize pool: €446,200
Paid Places: 13
Champion: Benjamin Pollack  €118,460
Latin ITM:
11° Iván Luca  €9,595

The last spade belongs to Farid Jattin  who took Event #70 NL Hold’em Turbo 6-Max €2,150 for a  €83.290 prize at a final table which was completely dominated by the Colombian player.

Event #70 NL Hold’em Turbo 6-Max €2,150
Entrants: 203
Prize pool: €393,820
Paid Places: 31
Champion: Farid Jattin  €83,290

Event #71 NL Hold’em Hyperturbo €120
Entrants: 264
Prize pool: €25,608
Paid Places: 39
Champion: Gregory Torrents  €5,130
Latin ITM:
5° Iván Raich  €1,580

No doubt, it was a different series for the combined Latin American team that keeps showing its astonishing growth. It was rare to see the name of a Latin American representative in the registration records, but now it’s become pretty normal to see the players up on the payout chart or, as is the case in Barcelona, taking several spades home. Here are the numbers:

Titles: 3
Total ITM : 92
Total Payout: €2,286,441

ITM  per Country:

Argentina  30
Brazil  33
Uruguay  8
Chile  5
Colombia  5
Mexico  4
Venezuela  3
Peru  2
Bolivia  1
Ecuador  1

Payout per Country:

Argentina  €1.388.010
Mexico  €469.695
Brazil  €168.630
Colombia  €124.285
Uruguay  €65.355
Chile  €34.720
Venezuela  €26.260
Peru  €6.410
Ecuador  €2.270
Bolivia  €805

Codigo Poker gave you first hand information on all the details involving an event that’s been but a taste of what the second day of the 12th PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Malta which will take place from October, 20eth to October, 31st at the Portomaso Casino.