EPT Barcelona: Final table player profiles
The last six are set in the third-biggest EPT Main Event of all time. Here’s the final table player profiles for this incredible event in Barcelona.
SEAT 1 – JULIÁN PINEDA, 37, SAMANÁ, COLOMBIA – 9,700,000 CHIPS
Julián Pineda
Julián Pineda discovered poker when he first arrived in Medellin around 20 years ago, and has been a professional tournament player for about 15 years. He lived abroad for about four years when PokerStars and other operators left the country, but returned some time ago.
This is his third visit to EPT Barcelona and already by far his best result to date in the country, beating his previous highest finish of 18th in the 2023 EPT Mystery Bounty. Most of his poker travel tends to be in the Americas, particularly in Brazil and the United States. His exploits there have taken him to seventh on the Colombian money list, with close to $1.1 million in documented earnings. His biggest career score was a prize of $237,713 in 2023 in Brazil.
In his opinion, the game in Brazil is more similar to the European game. He says it’s more aggressive and technical, at least compared with the United States, whose slow tournament structures encourage more passive play. He says that the fact that online poker services have not been available in the United States for a few years has meant that the technical aspect has not evolved as quickly.
Pineda usually travels with his wife and 1-year-old son, but they are supporting from home on this trip to Europe. He says that the increased expenses and responsibilities that come with a young family has made him even more motivated than ever to succeed.
Beyond poker, he loves soccer, although he says he no longer plays it, and is a fan of Atlético Nacional de Medellín. He also likes movies.
SEAT 2 – ANTON SUAREZ, 35, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN — 8,400,000 CHIPS
Anton Suarez
Anton Suarez is the only player in the remaining field who already has a €1m poker prize to his name, earned at a €10K buy-in event in Nottingham, UK, in 2020. He has also shown his chops in PokerStars sponsored events, finishing runner up in a massive Eureka Main Event in Prague in 2022, where second place from a 4,017-entry field earned him more than €300K.
The EPT Barcelona Main Event first prize trumps that, and would offer the 35-year-old from Stockholm the chance to become the 14th Swedish champion on the tour. Not only that, he has the chance to become the second player from a 50 square-metre area of the Swedish capital to take down the Barcelona Main Event. He and Simon Brandstrom, the 2019 champion, are close neighbours.
Naturally, Suarez has been taking a few tips from Brandstrom as this tournament progresses, but he has an absolutely elite cheering section. He says that Niklas “Lena900” Astedt and Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson are his best friends in poker, and he talks to them all the time about the game.
He’s a pro player, who mainly favours PLO, both cash and tournaments, live and online. He’s been in the game since 2009. But the massive prize pools on offer in hold’em draws him sometimes to the two-card game.
His girlfriend and one-and-a-half-year-old son are watching his tournament progress from home, but Suarez says (understandably) that the youngster doesn’t quite understand what’s going on just yet. He is, however, enjoying seeing his dad on the stream.
Suarez assumed the tournament chip lead when he knocked out fellow Scandinavian pro Tobias Leknes in 13th position, and entered Day 6 with a significant lead. “I like my spot,” Suarez said at the time. “I like my chances.”
Though he was pegged back through the four levels on the penultimate day, he takes his place among the last six nonetheless.
THOMAS EYCHENNE: 35, FROM LYON, FRANCE, LIVES IN MALTA — 11,375,000 chips
Thomas Eychenne
Thomas Eychenne started playing poker online while he was at business school, trying nearly every format before realising that heads ups and short-stack play suited him best. So he specialised in those.
Originally from Lyon, France, Eychenne moved to Malta in 2011 and has since enjoyed its vibrant poker and social life, and met his longtime girlfriend there. The couple got engaged last year.
The hard-working Eychenne has always been highly regarded in French poker circles and these days he not only develops his own game but also helps others. For a while, Eychenne ran a coaching and a staking team, where he mentored young players.
During the Covid pandemic, he decided to record a bankroll challenge, building from €50 to €50,000 in only 50 days, all while streaming on Twitch, and continuing until he reached €100,000. Then, in 2021, he launched an even harder challenge, this time aiming to run up €10 to €1 million. When he was around 20 or 30 percent of the way, he figured he could play live to achieve it faster. A seventh-place finish in the PSPC 2023, worth $801,000, pushed him across the goal line.
The result ignited a new passion for live tournaments and he has become an EPT regular over the past couple of years, as he continues to study to improve his game. It seems to be working. He finished 47th in the WSOP Main Event this summer and has now reached the final table in the third biggest EPT Main Event in history.
TOMASZ BRZEZINSKI, 37, FROM LESZNO, POLAND, LIVES IN MALTA — 7,625,000 chips
Tomasz Brzezinski
Tomasz Brzezinski is originally from Leszno but relocated to Malta 10 years ago. He works in the sports-betting industry and plays poker in his free time. He’s had a few deep runs in the past, including a second place for €34,500 here in Barcelona in the spring, but none of the previous results can match reaching an EPT Main Event final table.
Brzezinski thanked the support he’s received on a Maltese expat poker forum on Facebook, as well as several friends who are on the rail on-site.
The 37-year-old Lech Poznań fan likes to play padel but hasn’t competed in any of the EPT’s own padel events yet – simply because they always collided with his poker schedule.
He will have another chance to get the first EPT padel experience in October when the tour stops in his backyard. “I already had that festival in my plans before this run,” Brzezinski confirmed his attendance.
Maybe he will show up at EPT Malta not only as Poland’s 20th finalist but also the nation’s sixth Main Event champion.
STEFAN-SEBASTIAN IONITA, 27, TECUCI, ROMANIA – 14,725,000 CHIPS
Stefan Sebastian Ionita
If you’ve noticed a particular piquancy to Stefan Sebastian Ionita’s play it’s because this 27-year-old is a proud resident of Tecuci. “This is where the mustard is made in Romania!” he says. “It’s very famous.”
Ionita is not directly involved in the condiments industry, but he still plays an active roll in his family business, established by his father in 1991, which sells industrial products for factories. “Welding products, fasteners, hand tools, electric tools,” he says.
However he says that poker is “in his heart” and he has been playing more and more recently, with increasing success. “I don’t know if I consider myself professional, but I’ve been playing for a few years,” he says, adding that he is mostly an online player and travels only for major festivals.
This is his third EPT and his final-table appearance represents his best result to date. His biggest career score came for a third-place finish in Cyprus earlier this year, but he also has an outright win to his name, having beaten a field of 477 entries to win a €320 buy-in event in Bucharest last year.
He has travelled alone to Barcelona, but says he is enjoying the experience immensely. “I enjoy playing against very good players,” he says.
As chip leader coming into the final day, Ionita has the opportunity to be only the second Romanian to win an EPT Main Event after Razvan Belea triumphed in Paris in 2023.
UMBERTO ZAFFAGNINI, 36, LUGO, ITALY – 9,525,000 chips
Umberto Zaffagnini
Umberto Zaffagnini started playing poker about 10 years ago and although he is still just a recreational player, he says he is always eager to improve, especially in his favoured live cash games.
His previous tournament results are modest – before this, €12,000 is his biggest prize – but has played them only very occasionally for about five years. But he is very proud of the game he has played this week and is happy that it has paid dividends with an appearance at the final in such an enormous event.
Unlike many of his adversaries in Barcelona, Zaffagnini says he doesn’t like online poker; for him, the most beautiful form of poker is live.
He owns a company in Italy that manufactures peristaltic pumps (for liquids), and poker is his hobby, along with football. He is an ardent supporter of Juventus.
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