The Estrellas Poker main event being held in Barcelona is over. Lucien Cohen, the Ratman, won the record-breaking event to score a prize of 676,230 euros.
The main event had an entry-free of 1,100 euros, inviting over 7,398 participants. Supported by PokerStars, the event became the biggest live tournament in history.
Cohen became the talk of the event even before winning it. The player got coffee spilled on him at the event and continued to wear the stained shirt during the competition. Deeming it a lucky charm, Cohen went on to outperform almost 7,400 participants.
The sheer amount of players led to the organizers extending the event by a day. The final heads-up play was played between Ferdinando D’Alessio and Lucien Cohen with Cohen emerging on top.
Due to the massive entry pool, the overall prize pool ended up at a whopping 7,102,080 euros. In terms of US dollars, the prize pool converts to 7.7 million dollars.
The event previously had 6,313 participants, showcasing a yearly growth of 17%. Players from 86 countries entered the tournament with 4,107 re-entries.
According to the poker news, this was Cohen’s second-largest win of his career, only behind the 1.2 million dollars the Poker veteran won at the 2011 EPT Deauville event. The Paris-based player has now won over 2.3 million dollars in lifetime winnings.
The 8-day-long tournament had several ups and downs, including an extra day to conduct everything seamlessly. By August 25th, the tournament had secured players who were eligible for a winning amount.
Parker Talbot leaving the final table at 7th place was a notable occurrence as the player secured 114,037 dollars. However, everything else was overshadowed by Cohen’s performance.
The poker veteran kept eliminating competitors from the final table. In the end, Cohen secured a strong pair against D’Alessio, kicking him out for a second-spot finish. D’Alessio secured 448,546 dollars for the position.
