The 2018 Partypoker Live Millions Grand Final Barcelona is proving to be quite the poker festival. We already highlighted wins by Davidi Kitai and Andreas Eiler, and now another trio of big-name pros have joined them.
Seven Figures for Greenwood
The €50,000 ($61,680) Super High Roller saw 57 entrants battle it out for their share of the €2,764,500 ($3,394,232) prize pool. The tournament was a lengthy one, especially around the money bubble when it took seven 30-minute levels to go from nine down to seven players. Seth Davies ultimately bubbled.
It proved to be a remarkable win for Sam Greenwood, who came back from just 600K chips at the 250K/500K blind level. Ultimately, he found himself heads-up against Spain’s Sergio Aido.
In the final hand of the tournament, the blinds were 600,000/1,200,000 when Greenwood min-raised with the A♦9♣ and Aido called with the J♣10♠ to see a 4♥8♠A♠ flop. Greenwood continued for 1.2 million and Aido called before checking the Q♣ turn.
Greenwood upped his bet to 5 million, Aido called, and the 10♣ completed the board on the river. Greenwood moved all in and Aido thought for 40 seconds before calling off for 14.1 million. Unfortunately for him, his pair of tens wasn’t enough to beat Greenwood’s aces.
“He is a tough player, we didn’t have much to play with on 30 big blinds at heads-up,” Greenwood said of his opponent. “I just had the best hand most of the time on the river, so that was easy.”
The win was Greenwood’s largest career score, surpassing the $1,023,701 he won for finishing runner-up to Fedor Holz in the EPT13 €50K Super High Roller in Barcelona. It was also his second prestigious Partypoker title since winning the 2017 Partypoker Live Caribbean Poker Party Main Event.
Greenwood now has $9,170,480 in lifetime earnings, which puts him at sixth on Canada’s all-time live tournament money list.
Final Table Results
1 Sam Greenwood (Canada) €1,000,000 ($1,227,792)
2 Sergio Aido (Spain) €600,000 ($736,675)
3 Patrik Antonius (Finland) €400,000 ($491,117)
4 Keith Tilston (USA) €284,500 ($349,307)
5 Jean Noel-Thorel (France) €210,000 ($257,836)
6 Joao Simao (Brazil) €160,000 ($196,447)
7 Matthias Eibinger (Austria) €110,000 ($135,057)
Surpassing a World Champ
While winning a million is nice, winning two is even nicer. And that’s exactly what Jake Schindler did when he beat out 47 other entrants to win the €100K Super High Roller for €1,750,000 ($2,163,698). It was the second-largest score of his career since his runner-up finish to Christoph Vogelsang in last year’s $300K Super High Roller Bowl for $2,151,754.
Schindler squared off against the UK’s Stephen Chidwick in heads-up play. It took two hours, but eventually things came to a head in Level 22 (175,000/350,000) when Schindler raised to 875,000 with the A♠3♥ and Chidwick defended, holding the Q♠6♥. The 4♠A♦2♠ flop saw Chidwick check-call a bet of 500,000 and then checked the 5♣ turn.
Schindler bet 1.8 million and called when Chidwick check-raised to 5.1 million. When the 7♠ landed on the river, Chidwick jammed for 9.45 million and Schindler called to win the tournament with a pair of aces. For his performance, Chidwick added a career-high €1,100,000 ($1,360,038) to his bankroll.
It’s been a stellar year for Schindler, who has already won $3,367,766 in 2018 including two wins in Aria High Roller events in two days, good for $283,500 and $128,800. He also placed second in the US Poker Open Event #8: $50,000 NLHE for $429,000.
The win also vaulted him to $15,619,824 in career earnings, which allowed him to pass Joe McKeehen ($14,560,121) atop Pennsylvania’s all-time money list.
Final Table Results
1 Jake Schindler (United States) €1,750,000 ($2,163,698)
2 Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) €1,100,000 ($1,360,038)
3 Jean-Noel Thorel (France) €726,000 ($909,989)
4 Jason Koon (United States) €500,000 ($618,199)
5 Bryn Kenney (United States) €340,000 ($420,374)
6 Erik Seidel (United States) €240,000 ($296,735)
A Delightful Victory
Finally, the €1,100 Millions Grand Final Open drew 1,716 entries, which created a €1,664,520 ($2,040,178) prize pool.
Among the 158 players to get paid were Joey Weissman (2nd for $191,923), Christophe De Meulder (6th for $46,882), Anthony Spinella (37th for $7,967), former NFL player Richard Seymour (84th for $5,822), and Jason Wheeler (119th for $4,903).
At the end of the tournament, Scotland’s Ludovic Geilich was the last player standing to win €250,000 ($309,587).
It marked the second-largest score of Geilich’s career after he finished fourth in the EPT10 London for $313,482.
Final Table Results
1 Ludovic Geilich (United Kingdom) €250,000 ($309,587)
2 Joey Weissman (United States) €155,000 ($191,923)
3 Rasmus Vogt (Denmark) €105,000 ($130,027)
4 Balazs Biri (Hungary) €75,000 ($92,866)
5 Martin Gerrits (Netherlands) €54,870 ($67,941)
6 Christophe De Meulder (Belgium) €38,250 ($47,359)
7 Mauricio Sanchez (Israel) €27,500 ($34,049)
8 Rodrigo Jose Mendes Alexandre (Portugal) €20,000 ($24,763)
9 Jani Vilmunen (Finland) €15,000 ($18,572)
