EPT Barcelona: Can a former champion do it again?
It was notable at the start of Day 3 of the EPT Barcelona Main Event that not only were there eight former EPT champions still in the mix, but also that three of them had won their previous title here in Barcelona.
Why is that notable?
Well, through 22 years of the European Poker Tour, only three players have ever won two Main Events in a brick and mortar environment, and none has ever done it in the same venue. (Anton “WhatIfGod” Bergstrom won two EPT Online events.)
One of John Juanda, Sebastian Malec or Simon Wiciak still has the chance to make a little piece of EPT history this week if they can go all the way. Again.
Of course, it’s exceptionally difficult to win just one of these things, and the odds of a repeat are stacked against even these supremely talented players. But what’s a realistic goal at this stage? What’s the best a former EPT Barcelona champion has ever managed on a subsequent return.
A LOOK THROUGH THE RESULTS
Looking back through the available results of the 20 previous champions, it’s actually Juanda who has come closest to claiming a second title. The boom-era great, who won in Barcelona in 2015, narrowly missed a second trip to the final table in 2017, when his run ended in ninth.
John Juanda’s ninth place is the best performance by a previous winner
That finish earned Juanda €118,265 and is, by a long way, the best a former champion has ever fared in a subsequent EPT Main Event.
Only the 2005 winner Jan Boubli has ever made the top 20 again, finishing 19th in 2009, when the field was 428 entries. Close behind, Bjorn-Erik Glenne, the 2006 champion, came 35th (from 543) four years after his win.
In the more recent era of massive fields, Wiciak has actually turned in the best repeat performance after Juanda. After winning the title in 2023, he made it to 36th in the following year, banking €26,900 for getting to the last four tables. Simon Brandstrom did something similar, making it to 54th in 2022, having won the event in 2019. (This was a title defence owing to the Covid break. There was no EPT Barcelona in either 2021 or 2022.)
Simon Wiciak made the last four tables as he defended his title
FORMER CHAMPIONS WITH SOLID TITLE DEFENCES
It’s interesting actually in studying the stats how frequently tournament players are able to make the money as they attempt to defend their titles. Glenne, Mikalai Pobal, Sebastian Sorensson, Brändström and Wiciak all cashed in the year immediately after they won. While any tournament player will always suffer at the whims of variance, perhaps they are particularly dialled in during efforts to defend a title.
Perhaps also it’s just that some players tend to have a particular affinity with a particular destination, which brings out the best in them. Eleven of the former EPT Barcelona champions for whom results are known have cashed at least once in the same event after winning. (And it was only really the fact that he was too busy winning the PokerStars Open High Roller that made Thomas Eychenne’s potential title defence this year so difficult.
Meanwhile, Wiciak and Juanda now draw alongside 2010 winner Kent Lundmark in cashing the EPT Barcelona Main Event three times since winning the title.
Can either of them — or perhaps Malec — break the mould and make it all the way to the final?
Sebastian Malec, the 2016 winner, is back and battling a decade later
Read more about all EPT Barcelona’s former champions
FORMER EPT BARCELONA CHAMPIONS SUBSEQUENT RESULTS
Alexander Stevic – 2004
Cashed 86th for €12,700 in 2013
Jan Boubli – 2005
Cashed 71st for €11,000 in 2010
Cashed 18th for €26,000 in 2009
Bjorn-Erik Glenne – 2006
Cashed 35th for €14,650 in 2007
Sander Lylloff – 2007
Hasn’t cashed again in EPT Barcelona Main Event
Sebastian Ruthenberg – 2008
Hasn’t cashed again in EPT Barcelona Main Event
Carter Phillips – 2009
Hasn’t cashed again in EPT Barcelona Main Event
Kent Lundmark – 2010
Cashed 74th for €13,160 in 2016
Cashed 195th for €8,500 in 2014
Cashed 64th for #14,960 in 2013
Martin Schleich – 2011
Results not known
Mikalai Pobal – 2012
Cashed 85th for €13,900 in 2014
Cashed 79th for €12,700 in 2013
Tom Middleton – 2013
Cashed 137th for #13,300 in 2024
Andre Lettau – 2014
Results not known
John Juanda – 2015
Cashed 245th for €10,200 in 2023
Cashed 9th for €118,265 in 2018
ITM in 2026 – finishing position not yet known
Sebastian Malec – 2016
Cashed 227th for €9,800 in 2025
Cashed 194th for €11,730 in 2022
ITM in 2026 – finishing position not yet known
Sebastian Sorensson – 2017
Cashed 197th for €9,740 in 2018
Piotr Nurzynski – 2018
Hasn’t cashed again in EPT Barcelona Main Event
Simon Brändström – 2019
Cashed 134th for €15,000 in 2025
Cashed 53rd for €27,100 in 2022
Giuliano Bendinelli – 2022
Hasn’t cashed again in EPT Barcelona Main Event
Simon Wiciak – 2023
Cashed 36th for €26,900 in 2024
ITM in 2026 – finishing position not yet known
Stephen Song – 2024
Hasn’t cashed again in EPT Barcelona Main Event
Thomas Eychenne – 2025
Hasn’t cashed again in EPT Barcelona Main Event
Read more
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