Mikita Badziakouski has won the 2018 European Poker Tour Barcelona €100,000 NLH Super High event, beating a strong field of 54 entries to claim top prize of €1,650,300 ($1,930,851 USD). This was the Belarusian poker pro’s fourth live tournament title and seventh final table of the year 2018.
With $12,434,190 in his earnings, Badziakouski has cashed out for the second most money of any player in live tournaments, behind only Justin Bonomo’s record-breaking $24,811,941. As a result of his consistent performance, the player has now climbed into 18th place on the POY leaderboard.
Badziakouski entered the final day action of this event as the second largest stack among the remaining 9 players. Only the top seven players were paid out in this event with a min – cash of €275,050. The action was a bit slow among the final 9 until Byron Kaverman was eliminated in the 8th place, ensuring that the remaining seven players would record a minimum six-figure payout.
The man who started off in style was Ahadpur Khangah. He scored the first two eliminations of the final table, busting Jean Ferreira (7th – €275,050) and Rui Neves Ferreira (6th – €340,550) to become second largest stack behind Matthias Eibinger, who started the day as the chip leader.
A few hands later, things changed for Eibinger when Badziakouski’s Ac Qs won him a preflop confrontation against Eibinger’s 10h 10c. Badziakouski paired his ace on the turn to double up.
After this hand, Eibinger became short stack. He got all-in with the 10c 3h for two pair on a 10s 9c 3d board and was called by Khangah holding Jh 9s. The Jc on the turn gave Khangah the better two pair and the 5d sealed Eibinger’s fate. He earned $888,826 USD in prize for his third-place finish.
After Eibinger going in third place, it was heads-up where Badziakouski started as the chip lead. The battle became interesting especially after Khangah hit quads over Badziakouski’s full house to take the advantage. However, Badziakouski made a strong comeback and regained control after winning a sizeable pot with a pair of kings and an ace kicker, which bested Khangah’s kings with a jack kicker.
The final hand of the tournament saw Badziakouski holding Kd 2d and Khangah holding Kh 5c. The board ran out Kc Qs 9d 2c 7h where Badziakouski made two pairs to take down the coveted title.
Final Table Results (EURO):
- Mikita Badziakouski – €1,650,300
- Ahadpur Khangah – €1,191,900
- Matthias Eibinger – €759,680
- Timothy Adams – €576,300
- Benjamin Pollak – €445,300
- Rui Neves Ferreira – €340,550
- Jean Ferreira – €275,050