Dara O’Kearney recounts his experience at EPT Barcelona. [Image: PokerStars.com]

But first, Estrellas

I’ve been coming to Barcelona for about a decade, to various tours. First it was EMOP, the now defunct tour of one of my first sponsors, Irish Eyes. Then it was the also now defunct MPN tour, and in more recent years the once defunct, recently revived European Poker Tour (EPT).

My Power Path gold pass bestowed upon me entries to the 1k Estrellas Main Event, the 550 Cup, and the 5k EPT Main Event. Of these, Estrellas was up first, and even before we made the money, I got a nice, unexpected bonus. As an incentive for people to link their PSLive and PokerStars accounts, the organizers were running all-in shootouts at the second break on day one for qualified players at each table. I was pleasantly surprised to see my Jack-Six off outdraw my five opponents to prevail. The prize had to be pulled from an envelope, mostly bronze passes (worth $109) with a small number of silver passes (worth $2,500 in online tickets) sprinkled in around the room. Luckbox that I am, I obviously pulled a silver pass.

a testament to the success of the event and the top-notch live events team

I made Day 2 (in the money) well below average, but managed to duck and dive for several hours to secure many ladders before ultimately busting in time to late reg the cup. A victim of its own success, there was a very long alternate list already, one my colleague David Lappin also found himself on. One of the many excellent features of the PSLive app is you can keep track of the list without being on-site, so we decamped to nearby ice cream parlor Farggi’s while we waited. When we eventually got in, my dealer told us that literally every seat at every table in the entire venue was now full across all the events. It’s a testament to the success of the event and the top-notch live events team that they kept the whole thing running smoothly.

Before the EPT Main Event there was an outing organized by Stars. Normally I don’t attend these, preferring to spend my downtime socializing with my actual friends, chilling, and studying, but I was specifically requested to attend to do an interview, which, attention whore that I am, is a great way to get me to go anywhere. It was certainly a memorable experience, and one I’ll recount in full in my next article.

EPT Barcelona Main Event Day 1

I decided to enter the EPT on the second Day 1, choosing to spend Day 1A grinding live satellites, which are always good, particularly the closer you get to the target event. I played three, winning one, and honestly was somewhat unlucky it wasn’t at least two (and it could have been three), as I lost flips in both of the ones I was unsuccessful in, and got to 95% of the target in one of them. I already shared some fresh thoughts on the format in my last article and will share some new strategic insights that only occurred to me recently in a forthcoming article.

So I spent a long day playing the satellites and decided to skip the first couple of levels of the main the next day so as not to be too tired. When I got to my table, an American lady I didn’t recognize was holding court, charming the table with her patter. Cameras were in attendance, so I figured I should recognize her, but I didn’t. Neither did any of my American friends to whom I sent my Instagram story.

unwillingness to give Ryanair an extra cent for excess baggage

She was admiring the special commemorative EPT20 jackets Stars were giving qualifiers, complaining she’d tried to buy one, but they were sold out. One tablemate jokingly (I hope) offered to sell his for 20 grand. I hadn’t bothered to collect mine as I figured it would just end up left behind in my hotel room due to my already packed to capacity with crazy shirts suitcase and unwillingness to give Ryanair an extra cent for excess baggage. So I offered to get one in her size at the break, giving it to her when we came back from that break.

Shortly afterwards, we got it all in on J-9-7. I had the nut flush draw and two overs, she had the second nut flush draw and one over, and a third player in the hand had 88. I hit one of my overs to scoop, eliminating them both, my fastest ever start to an EPT. That early near treble-up allowed me to weather almost total card death for the rest of the day. I got the bag, but not the big one I was hoping for after the great start.

On to a short Day 2

I was on the feature table at the start of Day 2, with notables Tom Middleton, Ryan Mandara, and last year’s winner Simon Wiciak. An already tough table got considerably tougher when Rob Einhorn joined, and it was against him I played my most interesting hand. I posted the details on Twitter, so I’ll spare you the repeat. Unfortunately, I busted before the first break, well before the money.

Meanwhile, I’d found out that the lady I gave my qualifier jacket to was Rania Nasreddine, who had final-tabled EPT Monte Carlo. She was going deep again, ultimately busting in 4th, a phenomenal back-to-back in the context. Heads-up came down to a transatlantic matchup as two of the good guys, Andrew Hulme and Stephen Song, chopped the money and then duked it out for the glory. It was Stephen who claimed the victory.

Winning is good, but living is better

While I was there, I played as much as I could. I scraped into the money in a 1k hyper, and also cashed the 500 event on the last day. The older I get the more I realize the relative unimportance of short-term results. Obviously, I remember the big scores, but those aside, the things I remember looking back at trips are the good times with good friends. This trip exceeded most on that front, as I got to catch up with Daragh Davey (my roommate until Lappin got there), Jennifer Shahade, Jack Sinclair, Maria Konnikova, Jamie Nixon, Michael Dwyer, Cassandra Yong, Bo Jin, KerryJane Craigie, Sabrina Chevannes, Michel Molenaar, Niall Farrell, Willie Elliot, and Pargos and his girlfriend Christine.

in Barcelona, as in the other great European cities, I eat as well or better than I do back home

One of the (many) great things I love about Barcelona as a poker stop is how easy (and inexpensive) it is to eat healthy.  I always come back from Vegas feeling run down, but in Barcelona, as in the other great European cities, I eat as well or better than I do back home. Particular shout out to my favorite brunch joint, Gabby’s.

I’ll end with another shout out and a plug for Joe Stapleton, who gave me a signed copy of his comic, the subject of a great review here at VegasSlotsOnline News by David Lappin. As a fellow author, I wish Joe all the best with his book; it deserves to be a massive success.