Russian poker pro Vitaly Lunkin is celebrating his weekend victory in the Euro 50,000 buy-in European Poker Tour Super High Roller, in which he took home Euro 771,300 in prize money in a great start to the tenth edition of the popular Pokerstars series.
51 top players entered for the Super High Roller, which provided railbirds with an exciting display of talented and action-packed spectator entertainment in Barcelona over the weekend.
Final table seats and pay-outs were achieved by Lunkin and Erik Seidel, Steve O’Dwyer, Mike McDonald, David Benefield, Ole Schemion and Fabian Quoss – an international gathering of highly respected players.
When the heads up phase of play was reached it was Eric Seidel holding a small chip advantage as he faced Lunkin, but there was little in it as the duo battled to and fro and the hours passed.
Then Lunkin managed to pull ahead, forcing Seidel to up his game in closing the gap. It was all in vain however, as Lunkin scored a major double up that put him beyond contention and delivered the first prize of Euro 771,300, bringing his career earnings to well over $5 million.
Nevertheless, Seidel added Euro 557,100 as his second placing reward, boosting his career earnings to over $18 million.