Poker News 
/ Short-Stacked Shamus / 02 September 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Martin Schleich, 2011 EPT Barcelona Champion (Photo credit: PokerNews / PokerStars)
After five long days of play, Martin Schleich of Germany has bested a field of 811 to claim the Season 8 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event title. Schleich survived a hard-fought, 14-hour final table that finally came to an end with his elimination of the Spaniard Dragan Kostic in second. Eugene Katchalov finished third, just missing in his quest for poker's triple crown.
Katchalov entered Thursday's final table as the short stack among the final eight, but the Ukrainian quickly went to work, scoring two double-ups early on, the second resulting in the elimination of the last woman standing in the event, Isabel Baltazar of France.
First Katchalov managed to get his short stack all in with Ah-Qs versus Saar Wilf's Qc-9c and survived. Then just a few minutes later Baltazar ran her pocket queens into Katchalov's Ad-Ac to hit the rail in eighth.
That brought Katchalov back to the middle of the pack with close to 3 million chips, though there was still much ground between him and leaders Raul Mestre (Spain), Tomeu Gomila (Spain), and Wilf (Israel), all of whom were sitting in the 5-5.5 million range.
Spaniard Juan Manuel Perez was the next elimination in seventh, ousted by Gomila after the latter's 10c-10d held up versus Perez' Ad-Kh. Then Katchalov, who'd become short-stacked again, managed to score two more double-ups through Gomila and Mestre, including one in which Katchalov caught a needed three-outer on the river to survive.
In that hand -- versus Gomila -- Katchalov was all in before the flop with Ah-Jh against Gomila's As-4c. The flop came 6d-4h-8d, pairing Gomila's four, and after the 9d turn things looked especially bleak for Katchalov. But the Jc landed on the river to save him.
Then, after doubling through Mestre and winning a few more pots, Katchalov was suddenly atop the counts with six players left. Meanwhile, Wilf had slipped into short-stack status, and soon was all in with As-2d versus Katchalov who held 3d-3c. The five community cards came Jc-5c-4s-10h-2s, and Wilf was out in sixth.
That hand increased Katchalov's lead, pushing him up around 9 million chips and making his prospects for achieving that triple crown -- a WSOP bracelet, a WPT title, and an EPT title -- look very possible.
Gomila was the next to depart in fifth, losing a race with As-Kh versus Schleich's Qc-Qd. Then it was Katchalov busting yet Mestre in fourth. In that one Mestre was all in with Ad-5d versus Katchalov's Qc-10d, but by the turn Mestre was already drawing dead as Katchalov had made a queen-high straight.
The remaining three players -- Katchalov, Schleich, and Kostic -- battled for over four hours (with breaks), their stacks near even for the start of that period, then eventually Katchalov becoming the short stack.
Finally Katchalov reraised his remaining 3.3 million all in with 7s-7s and was called by Schleich who held 9s-9h. A seven flopped, but so did a nine as the first three cards came out 7d-9c-3d. The turn was the 8s and the river the 2s, and Katchalov was out in third.
That hand gave Schleich about a two-to-one advantage over Kostic with 15.5 million to Kostic's 8.775 million.
Those two fought for nearly an hour, with Kostic closing the gap then falling back again. Finally, with the blinds at 120,000/240,000, Kostic open-raised all in with Ac-7h and was called by Schleich who tabled Ah-9s. The board came Qc-5h-2c-Kc-9h, and Schleich had claimed the EPT trophy and €850,000 first prize.
The EPT's next stop will be in London at the Hilton Metropole Hotel September 30-Oct 6. After breaking records with the 811 entrants at EPT Barcelona, it will be interesting to see if the tour can top the field of 848 who played last year's EPT London Main Event where David Vamplew of Scotland won the title and £900,000.
Final Table Payouts
1st: Martin Schleich (Germany) -- €850,000
2nd: Dragan Kostic (Spain) -- €532,000
3rd: Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) -- €315,000?
4th: Raul Mestre (Spain) -- €244,000?
5th: Tomeu Gomila (Spain) -- €185,000?
6th: Saar Wilf (Israel) -- €145,000?
7th: Juan Manuel Perez (Spain) -- €105,000
8th: Isabel Baltazar (France) -- €73,000
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