The Grand Final of the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS tour ended in Barcelona over the weekend with all eyes set on the winner of the €10,300 Main Event, Canadian player Pascal Lefrancois. The 31-year-old high-stakes pro defeated the 1,175 entrant field to take home the bounty of €1.7 million on Sunday. But there was another exciting event at Hotel Barcelona that crowned a champion – the €10,300 High Roller taken down by the less experienced Bulgarian Fahredin Mustafov who grabbed the €400,000 first place prize for his largest ever live tournament score.
The 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final that took place in Barcelona over the past week turned out to be one of the richest poker events of the year. The €23 million GTD festival gave more than €30 million in prize money during its nine events and various live satellites. Pulling in €11,397,500 overall, the Main Event easily surpassed its €10 million guarantee due to the massive 1,175 entrant field. The €2 million GTD High Roller, on the other hand, fell short by €60,000 as only 194 players decided to take part. Still, those who remained for the final table pocketed nice cash prizes of at least €70,000.
Among them, there were famous poker pros and legendary players such as WSOP bracelet winner Joey Weissman, partypoker ambassador Isaac (Ike) Haxton, U.S. poker star Alex Foxen, and Canadian player Andrew Chen. Other big poker names such as Michael Watson, Anatoly Filatov and Barny Boatman did not even make it to the final table. Clearly, in order to win, Bulgarian Fahredin Mustafov, who has taken part in mostly local tournaments so far, had to overcome quite a strong opposition. This is the best live tournament cash prize for him, although he in October last year, he won the €5,000 High Roller at the WSOP International Circuit festival in Rozvadov for €70,300 ($83,195). In April 2017, he won the trophy and the first place prize of €44,210 at the €1,850 Buy-in WSOPC High Roller 8Max tournament in Rozvadov.
Final Table Action
Play at the final table started at noon with the chip leader Alex Foxen who eliminated Jake Schindler (8th, €70,000) with Ace-King against Schindler’s pocket Jacks. The next casualty was Brazilian player and partypoker Team Online member Dayane Kotoviezy who left with her biggest live cash score of €85,000 after she faced Joey Weissman. Next was Andrew Chen who could not beat Haxton’s Ace-King with his pocket Queens and had to exit at 6th place and a €100,000 in cash.
The final five played for more than a couple of hours before the next elimination. This was Weissman who was defeated by Mustafov when the two held the same hands (Ace-Jack) but the Bulgarian managed to take him down with a Flush thanks to the board full of Spades. For his 5th place finish, Weissman took home €120,000. Mustafov then took out Foxen (4th, €150,000) with a pair of 9s against Ace-9, while with a hand of Ace-6, Haxton eliminated Benjamin Pollack and his King-8. Pollack left at the third position and won €200,000 in cash prize.
In the final heads-up, Mustafov had the chip lead and managed to take the trophy after a close call in the final hand. On a J-10-2-3-5 board, his Ace-Jack and a top pair (J-J) defeated Haxton’s Ace-Ten (10-10). Haxton went home with a €275,000 consolation prize while the High Roller champ, Mustafov, took the trophy and the grand prize of €400,000 or almost half a million US dollars ($493,632).
