The Canadian poker professional Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson took home the trophy in the last €10,000-entry EPT Barcelona High Roller as Italian Enrico Camosci bagged the biggest score after a heads-up deal. With legends of the felt such as Markkos Ladev and Jesse Lonis both making the final table of nine, it was a race to the finish and $1.5m between the top two places as some greats of the game went for one last score in the Catalan city.

Another Huge High Roller Field

With an amazing 431 entries, a prizepool of over $4,300,000 was up for grabs in the final high role event of the 2024 EPT Barcelona festival, with the €10,000 ($11,050) buy-in attracting so many players that 63 of them were paid, with players like Mark Teltscher, Teun Mulder and Alec Torelli among those to earn a $19,110 min-cash.

Other big names made the money but couldn’t get to the final table, with Ben ‘Spraggy’ Spragg (49^th for $20,990), Alejandro Lococo (35^th for $24,135), Niall Farrell (31^st for $27,785), Erik Seidel (20^th for $42,200) and 10^th-placed Thomas Achene ($80,425) all falling short of the final nine. Reaching the final table with the lead was Camosci, and no sooner had the table began, there was an exit.

All-in with , Enrico Coppola ensured that while two Italian players made the final nine, only one would progress further. Moving all-in from the button, Coppola was called by the Estonian Markkos Ladev’s and a cruel board of played out to send Coppola home with $88,490, the final five-figure cash of the tournament.

Lonis Left Out of Latter Stages

Jesse Lonis was one of plenty of American players who made it to Barcelona and made their presence felt, running deep and cashing often. Lonis banked $115,810 in eight place but fell just short of what seem to have become customary appearances in the very late stages of big money events. All-in with , Lonis lost out as Markkos Ladev had the bigger stack and his call of Lonis’ four-bet shove with held with ease through the nine-high board.

Out next was Canadian Joshua Hopkins, whose all-in move with couldn’t hold against the call from Camosci with . A flop of set the Italian into the lead and no help came for Hopkins on the turn. A on the river saw Camosci improve to two-pair, with Hopkins heading home after collecting $141,225.

French player Malcolm Franchi left the party for $183,605 in sixth place when his pocket eights couldn’t beat Camosci’s pocket jacks and soon, the field was down to four. Markkos Ladev ran short over a period before moving his last chips into the middle on a flop of holding . Both players he and Mike Watson were open-ended, with the Canadian holding but the turn and river sunk Ladev, leaving him to claim $238,640 in fifth place.

Watson Wins but Camosci Cleans Up

Down to four players, Jon Kyte was very short. The Norwegian lost a big pot to Brazil’s Ronaldo Araujo before an even bigger pot cost him his tournament life for $310,245. On a flop of , Kyte shoved with and was called by Mike Watson with . Sir Watts’ got the pot when false hopes of a miracle on the turn for Kyte were killed stone dead on the river.

Despite winning that recent hand, Araujo was soon on the rail, left to console himself with $403,400. All-in on a board of that was wetter than the Besòs River, Araujo’s had hit plenty of it. Sadly for him, he wasn’t the winner as Camosci’s had turned the straight.

Heads-up, Camosci had almost four times the chips of Watson, with the Italian’s stack of 16.7m chips was way ahead of Camosci’s 4.8 million. Play was paused for a deal discussion and Camosci took the bulk of it with ICM actually helping Watson lock up more than his share. As often happens, the deal affected play and two double-ups for Watson gave the Canadian a slim lead.

Both men had the lead on multiple occasions thereafter but Watson held a 10:1 advantage when he called Camosci’s shove. The Italian had but lost to Watson’s when the board of fell to cruelly offer hope on the turn before dashing it away on the river.

Here are all the winners from a thrilling final table in Barcelona.

Headline photograph by Manuel Kovsca for PokerStars, the home of the European Poker Tour.