There’s perhaps no player in the world who could win a trophy as casually as Jean-Noel Thorel. He strolled to a first-place finish in the €30,000 Super High Roller Warm-Up event at the Casino Barcelona, running as part of the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT).
Thorel came out on top against a field of 54 entries to take home the lion’s share of the €1,577,070 prize pool. The veteran French player entered the final table among the chip leaders and only went up from there. Following a heads-up battle with US high roller Justin Saliba, Thorel took €512,370 for first place, along with a PokerStars Spade for his trophy cabinet.
€30,000 Super High Roller Warm-Up Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean-Noel Thorel | France | € 512,370 |
| 2 | Justin Saliba | USA | € 339,100 |
| 3 | Maher Nouira | Tunisia | € 228,700 |
| 4 | Brock Wilson | USA | € 173,500 |
| 5 | Ottomar Ladva | Estonia | € 134,100 |
| 6 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | € 106,500 |
| 7 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | € 82,800 |
The field was full of well known faces, many of them who had been playing the previous day’s high roller tourneys at the EPT. Nacho Barbero, Niklas Astedt, and Sam Greenwood were among those to fall before the final table, while Teun Mulder and Nick Petrangelo made the final table but missed out on the money.
Boris Angelov of Bulgaria was the first to bust in the money after he lost out to Thorel’s straight for most of his chips. Antonius was involved in the pot and Thorel had all but wiped him out in the same hand. Moments later, Antonius ran his queens into Thorel’s kings and was sent to the exit.
Ottomar Ladva was next to go when he lost a flip to Saliba, and it was at this point that Saliba also started to establish himself as one of the likely players to make it all the way.
Brock Wilson and Maher Nouira both played valiantly but were ultimately up against the odds as the shorter stacks. Nouira won two all-ins in a row against Wilson, the first giving him the double-up and the second sending Wilson to the rail in fourth place.
By this point, Thorel was running away with it and Saliba had dropped down a position. Still, he doubled up before Thorel eliminated Nouira to take the competition heads-up, Thorel with a substantial chip lead.
After a little back and forth, Saliba managed to double up, but it wasn’t enough for him to gain momentum in the end. Saliba got his king-queen in against Thorel’s ace-five suited, and Thorel held to win the event, the top prize, and the PokerStars trophy.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage of the €30,000 Super High Roller Warm-Up event. Stay tuned to the EPT Barcelona coverage hub for much more.
