The European Poker Tour’s 20^th Anniversary was celebrated in the Spanish city of Barcelona this weekend, and no-one was happier in the Catalan home of history than the American player Stephen Song. The United States professional took down the EPT Barcelona Main Event for over $1.4m, the biggest score of his professional poker career, and in doing so won the second leg of a possible Triple Crown.

A Moment in Time

If Song’s winning tune was the perfect way to celebrate 20 years of PokerStars’ flagship event, then the final table was another illustration of just how far poker has come. Of the final nine players, household names abounded, which was in stark contrast to 20 years ago, when the relatively unknown Alexander Stevic won the inaugural event in Barcelona for just $98,000. Today’s top prize, over ten times that amount was battled over by some of the best players in the world of poker today.

The event was a huge success on its own merit, with 1,975 entries and a prizepool of over $10.5 million that was divided between the top 287 players. Not equally, of course, with a min-cash worth just $9,600, a fine return on the $5,850 buy-in, but nowhere near the seven-figure top prize.

By the time the final nine were reached, Stephen Song had the lead, albeit a slim one, with his stack of 13.93 million chips ahead of Marius-Catalin Pertea from Romania, who had 13m himself. PokerStake player David Coleman went into the final table third in chips on 7.35 million, with Rania Nasreddine (4.83m) and Andrew Hulme (3.1m) both threatening if given a chance.

The Brazilian player Fabiano Kovalski started the final nine of just five big blinds and soon, those were lost too. All-in with , Kovalski lost to Nasreddine’s when a dry board of played out to send him home with a score of $154,335.

Coleman Can’t Pass Muster

With eight remaining, the last remaining Chinese player, Jianwei Lin crashed out for $200,550. All-in pre-flop for around the same number of big blinds as Kovalski, this time holding , Lin was usurped by Nasreddine, whose got there on a painful river of a board showing , a runner-runner Broadway straight giving the American the pot at a vital time.

Next to go was the Canadian player Alexandre Fournier, who defended his big blind with and check-shoved the flop of . Coleman snap-called with the well-concealed and the turn of a gave him a set. Any spade would still save Fournier but it didn’t come as the river broke his poker heart and sent him back to Canada with $260,740.

Play paused overnight as players who had battled to the final six were given one last night’s restless sleep ahead of a final table that could change their lives. When they returned, it was Song with 61 big blinds who led but even the short-stacked Boris Kuzmanovic from Croatia had a very playable stack of 22 bigs.

It was the Croatian Kuzmanovic who ended up sliding out in sixth for $338,930. All-in pre-flop for just over 10 big blinds with , he lost to Rania Nasreddine’s when a nine-high board came to take him out of the running and propel Nasreddine up the leaderboard. With Nasreddine up from fifth to third in the rankings, chip-wise, the pressure was on.

David Coleman had enjoyed yet another profitable trip at a major festival, but the PokerStake player ran out of luck in fifth place. A board of had arrived, with British player Andrew Hulme shoving with . Coleman called it off to his doom with for a flopped top pair and hit the rail, albeit with another huge score, this time $440,590.

Song Calls the Tune

With four remaining, Stephen Song survived on two occasions where he needed fortune to favor his earlier bravery, before Rania Nasreddine busted for $572,725. All-in pre-flop with against Pertea’s , a nine on the flop saved Pertea and put Nasreddine down to just under three big blinds. Those went soon after when her lost to Hulme’s and the popular player departed.

Three-handed, Pertea was still short and busted when pocket fives lost to Hulme’s . That saw the Romania depart with $744,510 and talked turned to a deal between the two highly experienced remaining players. Agreeing on a deal that guaranteed the runner-up just under $1.3 million they played on for around $65,000 and the trophy after ICM gave Song more than Hulme.

Eventually, it took a bit of luck for Song to get over the line, and he grew his lead when got it in with around a 4:1 chip lead holding . Hulme called it off correctly with but while the flop was safe, a on the turn saw Song land a straight. Only of three sevens could save Hulme, but it never came, as one card away, the fell to hand Stephen Song the first EPT title of his career as Hulme came up just short but still went home with a seven-figure score. Both men took home the biggest prizes of their poker careers to date with the results.

Watch exactly how it all went down right here at the PokerStars EPT Barcelona 2024 Main Event final table.

Headline photograph by award-nominated photographer Danny Maxwell for PokerStars, the home of the European Poker Tour.