The EPT Barcelona final table was a brutally long affair. After 13 hours of play Eugene Katchalov toppled in third ending the Ukrainian’s hopes of completing his triple crown. It took an hour more for Martin Schleich to edge out Dragan Kostic to take the title, but not before one of the German’s ‘loyal’ supporters stumbled away from the table, one hand in the air and the other cradling one of a long string of beers , while shouting in his native tongue; “Martin, it is enough!”
It was a comedy moment which summed up what everyone in the tournament was thinking: will someone please just get this tournament won. Schleich obliged and his rail went wild yet our new champ looked hesitant of celebrating with them. “Martin! Martin! Martin!” they cried as if they were at a football match, and as they had for much of the previous few hours. They had been getting louder by the drink and they’d be plenty of those.
Like a centre back unused to scoring who has just netted the winner in a cup final, Schleich was sucked over the rail into the drunken embrace of his supporters: bewildered, confused but happy. There was, as it would turn out, a reason for his reticence. He was not simply shell-shocked at having won €850,000 and the title; he simply didn’t know any of them.
Those Germans, poker players or perhaps passing tourists, had somehow discovered that beers were on tap for people railing their man at the table (this is not usual practice, we’re still unsure of all the details) and these have-a-go heroes thought they’d chance their arm. It worked and it kept working all the way through that long final table. By the time Schleich won at 3.22am in the morning these plastic supporters were absolutely plastered, smashed, blotto, wasted, bombed and obliterated. But they had bought their own story. They were ecstatic their man had won and celebrated as such, even if they had no idea who he was.
Tournament snapshot
Level 31: blinds 60,000-120,000, ante 10,000
Players: 6 of 665
Average stack: 3,325,000
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