Vitalijs Zavorotnijs Wins WPT Barcelona for $678K
The European poker world has had its attention focused squarely on Barcelona for the past week as 1,227 players entered World Poker Tour Barcelona to create one of the biggest WPT events in history. Sunday’s final table saw Vitalijs Zavorotnijs go wire-to-wire to claim his first major title and $678,000.
Alain Zeidan started the final table with just 16 big blinds and it took him just eight hands to find a hand to go to battle with. From UTG, Boris Kolev raised to 250,000 with 
and Niko Coop called from the cutoff with 
. Zeidan shoved for 1,300,000 with 
from the small blind and Zavorotnijs called from the big blind with 
. Kolev called and Koop folded. Kolev and Zavorotnijs checked through the 
flop. After the 
turn, Zavorotnijs check-folded to Kolev’s bet of 850,000. Zeldan actually made a set of his own with the 
river but it wasn’t enough to be Kolev’s top set and he was eliminated in sixth place.
It took an hour of play to get another player to bust and once again Zavorotnijs and Kolev were involved. Zavorotnijs raised to 400,000 from the button with 
, Kolev called from the small blind with 
before Jerry Odeen moved all in for 975,000 from the big blind with 
. Zavorotnijs and Kolev called and then checked through the 
runout to give Kolev the pot and eliminate Odeen in fifth. The $180,000 score is the biggest of Odeen’s live or online career.
Two hands after losing half of his stack to Zavorotnijs, Koop was the next to go. Kolev raised to 400,000 with 
from UTG. Next to act, Koop responded by moving all in for 3,000,000 with 
. Zavorotnijs called from the big blind with 
and Kolev folded. The 
flop changed nothing and neither did the 
turn or 
river and Koop was out in fourth place.
Zavorotnijs continued to pick up hands and apply pressure and picked up another elimination because of it. Kolev opened to 400,000 from the button with 
, Eric Sfez shoved from the small blind for 3,600,000 with and Zavorotnijs called from the big blind with , allowing Kolev to fold. The board ran out 
to give both players a pair, but Zavorotnijs’ pair of kings was best to eliminate Sfez in third.
Zavorotnijs began heads up play with a 3.5-1 lead over Kolev and it took him about 10 minutes to finish the job. Zavorotnijs opened to 425,000 with 
before Kolev re-raised to 1,700,000 with a and Zavorotnijs called. After the 
flop, Kolev bet 1,200,000 and Zavorotnijs called. The turn was the 
and Kolev moved all in for 5,700,000. Zavorotnijs used two time banks before calling. The river was the to give Zavorotnijs a flush and the WPT Barcelona title, eliminating Kolev in second place.
Final Table Payouts
- Vitalijs Zavorotnijs – $678,000
- Boris Kolev – $423,750
- Eric Sfez – $318,174
- Niko Koop – $242,950
- Jerry Odeen – $180,800
- Alain Zeidan – $135,600