The European Poker Tour is starting to take the look of the European Golf Tour in that it is reaching par with its American counterpart as far as prestige and prizes. This year the European Poker Tour was held in Barcelona and boasted the largest winnings in the history of the event as the winner took home $1.1 million. Over 1600 player took part in the event which was yet another record in what was the most successful European tournament of all time.
John Juanda has five World Series of Poker bracelets and this is the first European Poker Tour title of his career. The fact that he won simply added even more prestige to an event that garnered a considerable amount of momentum in its worn right. The 44 year old Juanda raked in a whopping 2,160 Card Player Player of the Year points which is a huge chunk of points that bumped him up to 36th overall in the standings.
Juanda entered the final day of action in fifth chip position with a total of 25 big blinds. Denys Shafikov was holding the chip lead with over 100 big blinds heading into the final day of action but he was not able to capitalize on his advantage with a rough and disappointing final finish. The Ukrainian Shafikov ended up with a final standing of fourth place. Steve Warburton and Frederik Jensen were also in the mix at the final table.
This could lead to a resurgence for Juanda in the months ahead.
