Simon Wiciak, who is from La Rochelle, France, was crowned the winner of the 2023 European Poker Tour in Barcelona, a 5,300 euros buy-in no-limit hold-em main event. The tournament witnessed 2,120 players competing against each other, and after defeating them all, Wiciak walked away with a winning amount of 108,975 euros.
Wiciak is known to be an expert in the field of online poker. However, in a live poker game, he was up against odds he had not been exposed to before. As per his words, this was the only EPT main event he had ever taken part in. His previous conquests consisted of more than $100,000 in the form of winnings played out through 12 tournaments. The prime game was when he managed to win $44,700 in the World Series of Poker main event. This victory, however, is in no way comparable to anything he had experienced before.
Wiciak passed on the entire credit of his win to the sheer dedication and preparations he had made for the tournament. He also appreciated the backing from his team members. The 2023 EPT Barcelona comes second in line if one is to consider the turnout of players in 2022. The Casino Barcelona, filled with participants, had a prize pool of 1,134,375which was offered to the top 303 players. The event panned out from the 27th of August to the 3rd of September, 2023. By the end of the second day of play, there remained only 303 players fighting for the crown. This included seasoned players like Patrick Antonius, Stephen Song, Robin Ylitalo, and others.
As the game was being played out, Wiciak remained with the maximum number of chips. The prime players who had to make their exit were Ezequiel Waigel and Andre Akkari. Finally, it was Wiciak up against Joao Sydenstricker and Carl Shaw, who was compelled to leave the game. Wiciak took the game away from Sydenstricker and walked off with the winner’s crown.
