Yes, poker still writes these kinds of stories.
The winner of the Spanish leg of 888poker’s buzzing new live series is Patrick Byrne, who was playing in his first-ever live tournament.
Battling a capped-out field of 200 players, including 888poker pro Sofia Lövgren and Sweden's Ken Lennaárd, Byrne claimed the win last night after just a couple of hands heads-up.
Byrne was lucky enough to spike an ace in a flip against tens and that meant the €17,000 up top went into for his pocket for his first-ever foray into live poker.
With just a €220 buy-in, that makes for quite a good ROI for his live career.
€50k Guarantee Crushed
164 players started the main event of the 888Live Local event in Marbella over the weekend. By the time late registration and re-entry ended that number had bloomed to an impressive 202.
Considering that the official cap for players in this event was 200, that’s what you call precision.
The prize pool went up to €77,565 thus easily crushing the €50,000 guarantee.
With 888 ambassador Lövgren and veteran Lennaárd there were two high-profile players in the mix to add a bit of the pro-tour feel.
888poker was also offering some special prizes on top of the prize pool. The first full house with eights full received a GoPro camera.
That was gone within the first hour and the winner was Cristian Ilie Visoiu from Romania.
There was also an iPhone 6 for anyone who made a Royal Flush and a pair of Sony Headphones to comfort the unlucky bubble boy.
Bad Beat Can Comes Out
As a special gimmick 888poker provided the “Bad Beat Can," a metal can with exactly what you need after getting sucked out by a one-outer or a runner, runner inside straight:
A big shot of vodka and two glasses to have a toast with the lucky guy on the other side of the table.
It eventually went to Tito, who flopped trips with K-J on a board J-J-4 but still lost to A-K when the turn and river fell Q-T.
Fifty-nine players made it to the second day with both Lövgren and Lennaárd advancing. Lövgren was around average with 70,500 chips while Lennaárd had 214k, enough to become the overnight chip leader.
On Day 2 the bubble burst in the last level before the dinner break. The unlucky player was Maxin Sandvian, who managed to blind himself down to half an ante before he was automatically all-in with T-9, which faced K-J.
Sandvian didn’t find any help on a K-high board and had to settle with the official 888poker chip set and some minor sympathy of the remaining players who had all made it into the money.
Lennaárd and Lövgren both busted before the final table. Lövgren made it into the money in 15th place.
Bounty Freeroll and Open Bar
On 4:30 pm on Saturday 888poker started the bounty freeroll for all the players who had busted from the main event.
Forty-six players sat down for the extra fun and there were several staff members among them with a bounty of $30 on their heads.
That’s just enough for a step 5 satellite on 888poker to win a ticket for the WSOP or the Battle of Malta. The winner eventually took the main prize of $1,000.
And with that, two long days of poker and one day of golf are over with only one thing left to do.
It was high time to head over to the Aqwa-Mist Club where an open bar was waiting for everybody who took the chance to come to Marbella for this 888live event.
