Every poker player wants to head to a major poker festival in good form, perhaps with a win or two under their belts. Team PokerStars' Sam "SamSquid" Grafton has done exactly that, warming up for the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona festival by taking down the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up online at PokerStars.
There is little doubt Grafton will be jetting off to Barcelona, especially because the Casino Barcelona has proved to be a happy hunting ground for the popular Brit. It was at the 2019 EPT Barcelona stop where Grafton enjoyed a career-best score, reeling in €1,303,950 after finishing second to Sergi Reixach in the €100,000 No Limit Hold'em Super High Roller.
Grafton has $11,671 of the €100,000 buy-on already, thanks to his latest win at PokerStars. A compact field of 32 entrants bought into this weekend's $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up, meaning only the top four finishers won a slice of the $32,000 pie. Brazil's Rodrigo "Seijistar" Seiji was the unfortunate soul who popped the money bubble, his fifth-place finish meaning he logged off empty-handed.
Seiji's fellow Brazilian, Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani was the first player to receive some prize money, $3,618 to be exact. Ukrainian superstar Andrey "Anjeyyyy" Novak busted in third for $5,661, leaving Grafton heads-up with recent addition to the WSOP bracelet club, Patrick "pads1161" Leonard.
The heads-up duo struck a deal to conclude the tournament, that deal awarding Leonard $11,049 and Grafton $11,671 and the title of champion. Grafton later went on to finish sixth in the $1,050 Sunday High Roller for an additional $4,164.
$1,050 Sunday Warm-Up Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam "SamSquid" Grafton | United Kingdom | $11,671* |
| 2 | Patrick "pads1161" Leonard | United Kingdom | $11,049* |
| 3 | Andrey "Anjeyyy" Novak | Ukraine | $5,661 |
| 4 | Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani | Brazil | $3,618 |
*reflects a heads-up deal
Baca4b Binks the $5,200 Titans Event
At the start of 2022, Polish player "Baca4b" finished second in a PokerStars Winter Series tournament and walked away with a career-best $61,499. The Pole made amends for not winning that tournament by getting his hands on the Titans Event title. Baca4b outlasted 46 opponents to reel in $85,009 of the $235,000 prize pool.
The tournament's entry list read like a who's who of the online poker world, although most fell by the wayside before PokerStars dished out the prize money. Dominik "Bounatirou" Nitsche and Henrik "hhecklen" Hecklen put together deep runs but fell short of the final table, while Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski bubble the final table.
Christoph "26071985" Vogelsang, who hit the headlines at the 2022 WSOP for excessive tanking, burst the money bubble when his tournament ended in a fifth-place finish.
Rodrigo "SELOUAN1991" Selouan collected $20,217 when he dusted off his stack in fifth, with Mexico-based Russian star Andrey "Kot_Spartac" Kotelnikov falling in fourth, a finish worth $28,950.
Third-place went to Damian "pampa27" Salas; the Argentinian scooped $41,456. Heads-up pitted Montenegro's "AcidValue" against Baca4b. No deal was struck despite a near $26,000 difference in payouts. This meant Baca4b banked $85,009 when they got the job done heads-up, resigning AcidValue to a $59,365 consolation prize.
$5,200 Titans Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baca4b | Poland | $85,009 |
| 2 | AcidValue | Montenegro | $59,365 |
| 3 | Damian "pampa27" Salas | Argentina | $41,456 |
| 4 | Andrey "Kot_Spartac" Kotelnikov | Mexico | $28,950 |
| 5 | Rodrigo "SELOUAN1991" Selouan | Brazil | $20,217 |
Other Notable PokerStars Victories on August 7
Jakob "Succeeed" Miegel helped himself to $24,346 by being the last man standing in the $1,050 Sunday High Roller; Miegel's prize included bounty payments.
The biggest win aside from that of Baca4b mentioned earlier, went to Tudor "tdr01" Lazar, who reeled in a haul worth $41,405 after triumphing in the $530 Bounty Builder.
- Tudor "tdr01" Lazar – first-place in the $530 Bounty Builder for $41,405*
- Jakob "Succeeed" Miegel – first-place in the $1,050 Sunday High Roller for $24,346*
- CannaGrower1 – first-place in the $109 Sunday Cooldown for $20,891*
- Yuri "tecaoo" Martins – first-place in the $109 Sunday Warm-Up for $19,831
- foxjoke – first-place in the $109 Bounty Builder for $17,124*
- Pkr Hal – first-place in the $215 Sunday Supersonic for $13,763
- .COM??LOL – first-place in the $1,050 Sunday Cooldown for $12,655*
- tonybardio – first-place in the $215 Bounty Builder for $10,200*
- Tapio "PikkuHUMPPA" Vihakas – first-place in the Hotter $109 for $5,530*
- arnynz – first-place in the $109 Sunday Kickoff for $4,808
*includes bounty payments
