The World Poker Tour Spain took place from 11th October to 16th October in Barcelona. The first 4 days were held at one of Spain’s top venues; the Casino Barcelona, and the final table was held at Casino Peralada which is located inside a 17th century castle.
It was Austrian Markus Lehmann who emerged victorious from a field of 229 players to take the Spanish Championship title, the trophy and 537,000 euros.
Following the pattern of recent World Poker Tour events, some of the world’s top poker professionals were knocked out early on in the tournament as the competition of world poker intensified. Names such as Ram Vaswani, Pam Brunson, daughter of Doyle and Ted Lawson all busted out of the competition on day 1.
They were to be followed on day 2 by reigning World Series of Poker Europe Champion Annette Obrestad, Bill Elder, Barry Greenstein, Allen Cunningham, Steve Zolotow and Alexander Kravchenko. This shows just how intense the competition in world poker has become.
However, big names such as Gus Hansen, Steve Sung and Christer Johansson all made it through to the final table. In addition to these three players, Vladimir Poleschehuk, Ludovic Lacay and of course Markus Lehmann also made it to the final table. Going into the final table Gus Hansen had a chip lead with 950,000 chips and Lehmann was trailing behind in fifth place with 190,000 chips.
Vladimir Poleschehuk was the first casualty of the final table as he busted out to Steve Sung. Poleschehuk’s sixth place finish ensured him a prize fund of 83,900 euros. Gus Hansen picked up 100,600 euros for fifth place as he was the next player to be eliminated as his As 10s lost out to Christer Johansson’s pocket A’s. Steve Sung – playing against Ludovic Lacay – both had pocket As but Lacay picked up the other 4 cards for a heart flush, to defeat Sung into fourth place. Sung collected a prize of 117,400 euros. Markus Lehmann had made steady progress and he busted out Christer Johansson as his Q 10 was defeated by Lehmann’s paired K’s. Johansson’s third place earned him 151,000 euros.
So the final heads up action was between Lehmann and Lacay. This was to last only 22 hands. In the final hand Lehmann raised to 125,000. Lacay reraised to 350,000 leaving Lehmann to make the call. Lehmann eventually flopped top pair to beat Lacay’s second pair and take the title. Ludovic Lacay took the runners-up prize of 295,200 euros.
In addition to taking the title, the trophy and 537,000 euros, Lehmann also receives a freeroll entry into the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championships to be held at the Bellagio next year.
