Duncan McLellan is the champion of the 2013 UK and Ireland Poker Tour Isle of Man Main Event! The 49-year-old builder from Corby Northampton defeated olympic field hockey legend and PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo heads-up to claim the title and £94,090. Moreira de Melo, who began the final table as the short stack, didn't seem too disappointed with her second place finish for £59,660 (the biggest cash of her poker career).
"It used to never be good enough for me [talking about defeats in her hockey career]. When I was playing field hockey we lost the final to Germany in 2004 at the Olympics and we were devastated. Now I'm playing poker I've been thinking more in terms of percentages and I can deal with loss way better than when I was an active hockey player. Whenever I've made the right decisions I can deal with the loss way better."
Today is the day when the remaining 8 of 379 players will be fighting it out for a £94,090 first place prize at the 2013 PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour Isle of Man final table! PokerStars qualifier Jamie O'Connor is the chip leader with 1,243,000, and he will be joined at the final table by 6 fellow countrymen, of which 4 (including himself) are PokerStars qualifiers.
Day 4 of the EPT Barcelona main event just came to an end with 24 survivors. Samuel Rodiguez, who started the day with the 2nd largest stack, is now in a big lead with 5,330,000. Antonin Duda, who lead the way into Day 4 with 1.47 million chips, is also alive, but he has dropped to 4th possition with 2,054,000 chips.
Notables such as John Juanda, Ilari Sahamies and PokerStars Team SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo will also return to play today with hopes of making it to the final table, where some serious cash is up for grabs. The next 8 players to hit the rail will receive €29,400 each, which is nothing compared to the money that is up for grabs on the final table. For example: the winner of the tournament will get €1,007,550, the runner-up gets €629,700 and a 3rd place finish pays €404,050.
After 3 days of play, PokerStars' European Poker Tour Barcelona main event player field has been narrowed down from 1082 players to only 61. Day 4 will begin in a few hours with Antonio Duda as the chip leader (1.47 million), closely followed by Samuel Rodriquez (1,141,600). In third place is no one else other than the Finnish high-stakes guru Ilari Sahamies with 1,269,000 chips, followed by John Juanda (968k) and Fatima Moreira de Melo (955k) in 4th and 5th place, so expect Day 4 to be something special!
All of the remaining players are guaranteed to walk away with €11,550 each. The 9 players who make it to the final table will be guaranteed at least €55,100 each. However, no one will probably be happy with that amount since the first prize is an astounding €1,007,550!
Martins Adeniya started Day 2 with 115,000 chips and ended the day with amazing 512,00 and the chip lead. Most of the chips he accumulated during Day 2 came from a young, aggressive poker player that tried to bluff him in several pots. Adeniya figured out his young opponent's "strategy" quickly and managed to win some huge pots.
"I came into the day with 115,000," said Adeniya. "My stack swung around between 100,000 and 150,000 for a while, but then a young kid at my table tried to bluff me. I made a huge call on the river to get a full double-up to 250,000. I've just been building from there, picking up small pots."
Day 1a of EPT Barcelona attracted a field of 263 players. At the end of the day 137 players had survived and they will now have a 1 day break before it's time for Day 2. The one who will bring the most chips, 217,700, to Day 2 from Day 1a is an unknown player called Loic Sa. Loic Sa has only won about $8-9k before this tournament, so we can only wish him the best of luck with the rest of the tournament!
Most interesting hand during Day 1a was for sure the all-in between Team PokerStars Sportstar Fatima Moreira De Melo and Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes. Fatima pushed all-in with 3 of a kind, and Gomes called with a flush draw/royal flush draw. The turn card gave Fatima a full house, and Gomes turned to the poker gods for help. BAM! Gomes one outer landed on the river and gave him a royal flush. De Melo had been eliminated from the tournament! De Melo looked a bit chocked when she left the casino, and who can blame her for that!?
