Josep Valls Wins €888 Buy-in 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event for €61,550!

The 2024 888poker LIVE Barcelona Festival was a blast with our 888poker ambassadors and StreamTeam members adding even more excitement and thrills to the event.

The Main Event was another massive success for 888poker LIVE, attracting 476 entries to generate a prize pool of €369,450, up from last year's event, which attracted 369 entries.

Topping the field was Romania’s Josep Valls who began the final day of play with the chip lead. By the end of the night, he was the last player standing holding every chip in play.

Valls entered this poker tournament with just over $40,000 in career tournament earnings. With this victory that netted him €61,550, he has more than doubled that number!

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1A

Day 1A of the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event attracted 86 entries, contributing €69,488 to the prize pool.

Leading the field on Day 1A was Viktor Moskalenko who bagged the biggest stack in the room, finishing with 400,000 chips.

Also, off to a hot start was Kristian Larsson (314,500) who doubled through Kings with pocket Aces.

Day 2 of the High Roller was happening on the same day and 888poker ambassador Ian Simpson was in the running. Although it was not to be, he finished in 3^rd place for a tidy €10,000 payday.

Another recognisable name was also in the running - Maria Lampropulos took down top honours for €22,000!

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1B

Day 1B attracted a further 141 entries contributing to the prize pool. By the end of the night, 46 players advanced to Day 2, with Romania's Gabriel Podovei finishing in the top spot.

888poker Ambassador Lucia Navarro also bagged a top ten stack, finishing the night with 264,500.

Also advancing to Day 2 were teammates and 888poker ambassadors Vivian Saliba (150,500) and Alexandre Mantovani (33,000).

Unfortunately, fellow ambassadors Ian Simpson, Nick Eastwood and Aaron Barone busted out before the end of the night.

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1C

The third of four starting flight concluded with another 191 entries bringing the total field size to 418 and prize pool to $337,744.

At this point, the 2024 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event had already surpassed 2023’s numbers with 369 entries.

We were about to see those figures completely smashed with 1D Turbo and late registration on Day 2 promising to inflate the numbers even more. 

Good news for Team888’s Ian Simpson who managed to bag and tag a (51,500) stack for Day 2.

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1D TURBO & Day 2

With only the final Day 3 of action left on the cards, Day2 kicked off with 172 runners. By the end of the night, only 11 would remain.

• 60 would make the money.

• The minimum cash was €2,350.

• First-place prize was €75,000. (€61,550 after 4-way deal)

888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Payouts

888poker ambassadors Lucia Navarro and Vivian Saliba made a good showing and made the money.

Lucia Navarro got short-stacked after the bubble. Her pocket Sixes were no match for pocket Jacks, and she min-cashed for of €2,350.

On the other hand, Vivian Saliba made it a few pay jumps further before losing a big preflop flip.

She received €2,600 for her 37th place finish in the event.

888poker LIVE Barcelona – Day 3 Final Day

It took just under eleven hours to crown a winner from among the eleven hopefuls who made the final day.

Josep Valls began the day with the chip lead and by the end of the night he was the last player standing with every chip in play.

Several other players would take turns with the chip lead throughout the final table. But Valls was ultimately in control throughout.

The day started with a two hour timeframe to make it down to the final table of nine players.

WHAT A RUNOUT 🤯

ON THE FT MAIN EVENT BUBBLE OF THE @888poker LIVE BARCELONA ❌ Morgos 88 had other plans for Feenstra 👀

Catch the Final Table live here: https://t.co/RA4U8T93h9 pic.twitter.com/kqlKFHCw74

— PokerNews (@PokerNews) May 20, 2024

The unlucky final table bubble boy was Florens Feenstra who flopped second-pair with his Ac9h.

Guillem Morgo’s pocket Eights looked doomed…

But the 7c on the turn gave Guillem a straight draw and the Jh on the river sealed the deal – sending Florens to the rail and out of the tournament.

Final Table Seat Draw

After several hours of intense play, five players were eliminated, and we were down to the final four.

• Daguang Lin went out in ninth for €5,500 when he ran pocket Fives into Guillem’s pocket Nines.
• Fernando Marco was next to receive his marching orders, falling short with KhJd versus Scott Fritz’ AcKc. (€6,900)
• Scott was sent to the rail in 7^th place for €8,550 after his pocket Fives were cracked by Guillem’s Ah9h.
• Jose Massa’s AsJs was no match for Josep Valls’ pocket Kings. He buster out in 6^th for €10,800.
• Guillem Morgo couldn’t bink a king or a jack with his KcJd up against the pocket Tens of Jose Craido. (€15,000)

It was at this point that an ICM deal was hashed out as effective stacks were becoming extremely short. The chop left €17,700 up top for the winner.

• Shortly afterwards, Leo Jubien was eliminated in fourth for €35,570. His suited QJ was no match for Gongalo Mencia’s KhQd.
• Mencia was next to find the rail – out in 3^rd place for €35,895. His AcTc was dominated by Valls’ AhQd.

Heads-up play lasted for just under an hour. In the final hand, Valls woke up with an ace and it held to take down the final pot of the night, the trophy and the top prize of €61,550.

Well played all, and see you at the next live event!

888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Final Table Results

*1-4 payouts after 4-way deal