UKIPT5 Marbella Main Event: Spain’s Isidoro Barrena Wins €150,800 First-Place Prize
When the United Kingdom Poker Tour (UKIPT) dropped anchor in sunny Marbella in 2014, it was Rodrigo Espinosa who won the Main Event ensuring the trophy stayed in Spain. That trophy is now set to remain in Spain for another 12 months because on Sunday afternoon Isidoro Barrena took down the 2015 edition of the UKIPT Marbella Main Event, securing a €150,800 payday in the process.
UKIPT5 Marbella Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isidoro Barrena | Spain | €150,800 |
| 2 | Jose Angel Latorre | Spain | €91,500 |
| 3 | Rodrigo Rosales | Spain | €64,600 |
| 4 | Dario Carrion | Spain | €48,400 |
| 5 | David Vedral | Austria | €38,200 |
| 6 | Sam Grafton | UK | €28,600 |
| 7 | Heffrey Brouwer | Netherlands | €20,100 |
| 8 | Juan Bautista | Spain | €14,100 |
When play at the final table got underway, most eyes were on two of the eight finalists. The UK’s Sam Grafton, who had reached back-to-back UKIPT Marbella Main Event final tables, was one of them, with the other being the PokerStars Supernova Elite Jose Angel Latorre.
Grafton doubled early into the final table action, his 2♠2♦ cracking the Q♦Q♠ of Juan Bautista when the board ran 2♥9♠K♠5♣10♠. Bautista fell 20 minutes later.
The Netherlands’ Jeffrey Brouwer fell next and he was followed into the sun by Grafton in sixth place. With blinds at 40,000/80,000/10,000, Grafton pushed all-in for 930,000 from the small blind with what turned out to be the Q♥5♦ and Barrena called from the big blind with the K♥9♦. Grafton caught a five on the K♦J♠5♠ flop but Barrena paired his king, and when the turn and river fell the 4♦ and the 7♥ respectively, Grafton’s quest for UKIPT glory was over.
Ten minutes later, the final table grew ever shorter when Austria’s David Vedral was eliminated, guaranteeing a Spanish champion in the process. Rodrigo Rosales opened to 190,000 and Vedral three-bet all-in for 1,190,000. Latorre called from the big blind and Rosales put in the extra chips to call.
A flop reading 4♣6♥10♦ saw Latorre bet 500,000 and Rosales call. The 3♠ landed on the turn and Latorre pushed all in, covering Rosales. After a brief pause, Rosales folded 9x9x face up and was right to do so because Vedral showed A♦10♥ and Latorre the powerhouse hand that is A♥A♣. The 4♦ river sealed Vedral’s fate and left only four players in the hunt for the €150,800 first place prize.
Latorre continued to chip up thanks to him using his vast high stakes sit-and-go experience to apply pressure to his opponents, but he took a break from doing so to allow Barrena to bust Dario Carrion. The latter committed his chips with Q♦Q♥ and Barrena looked him up with A♦J♦.
Those queens, like the ladies in the hand of eighth-place finisher Bautista, were cracked as the five community cards rolled off K♠A♣2♥K♦A♠ and Carrion was gone.
Barrena found A♦J♦ again a half hour later and it held in an all-in preflop confrontation with Rosales’ A♠5♠. Neither player improved their holdings by the river, leaving Barrena’s jack-kicker to come into play.
Latorre went into heads-up play holding 15,370,000 chips to Barrena’s 5,125,000 and it seemed like the writing was on the wall for Barrena, but he started to run red hot during the one-on-one phase, flopping pairs and scooping more than his fair share of pots.
After two hours of heads-up play, Barrena held a huge 17,375,000-to-3,125,000 lead over the Supernova Elite, yet it took almost two more hours for the champion to be decided. As the clocks displayed 7:50 p.m, Barrena raised to 500,000 and Latorre raised to 1,350,000. Barrena moved all in and Latorre made the call.
Latorre: A♦J♦
Barrena: A♥Q♥
A few moments later, the dealer had spread the 7♣4♠5♠Q♣8♠ board, Latorre bust, and Barrena was crowed the UKIPT5 Marbella Main Event champion.
Next up for the UKIPT is a return to British soil, Bristol to be exact. The UKIPT Bristol Main Event takes place between August 6-9th and satellites are running at PokerStars right now.
Lead image courtesy of Mickey May and the PokerStars Blog
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