PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event Goes to Swedish Semi-Professional Player
Originally a warehouse worker, Sebastian Sorensson is a semi-professional poker player from Sweden who hit the headlines this week after winning the 2017 PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event.
Usually a player of low-stakes online poker games, Sorensson won a €215 satellite into the Barcelona €5,300 buy-in with a €7 million guaranteed no-limit Hold’em main event, taking a seat among the total of 1,682 entries.
“When I arrived here and saw over a thousand people on the first day, I felt so intimidated.”, he said.
Playing his second-ever live poker tournament, the 27-year-old Swede emerged with a triumphant smile on his face roughly a week after the first hand was dealt, scooping a whopping €987,043 award which translates into life-changing $1,176,901.
“Do I continue working in a warehouse? I don’t think so.”, Sorensson commented after his win.
The Swedish warehouse worker beat the likes of Raffaele Sorentino to the title, leaving Lachezar Petkov, Brian Kaufman Esposito and Andre Akkari also trailing behind him.
The second-placed Petkov scooped $1,093,799, while the third-place finisher Sorrentino bagged $1,013,629.
In addition to the staggering payouts, the Barcelona event awarded plenty of Card Player of the Year points.
Sorensson scored 2,160 points for his win which propelled him into the 53rd place despite the Swedish player had no prior live cashes to boast with this year.
In other news, the online poker giant PokerStars has recently announced the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) that will take place from 3 to 26 September.
The tournament will consist of 81 events with the Main Event standing in the spotlight with a $5,200 buy-in and a $10 million guarantee. The total of $60 million in guarantees will be spread across the coveted competition.
PokerStars are aiming to make the WCOOP a more competitive tournament that will provide recreational players with a proper chance of fighting for glory with the top dogs. Low-stake tiers will allow recs and poker enthusiasts to test their skill against the very best have a chance of getting crowned as champs.
Those who do not feel comfortable joining the top-level competition just yet can polish their poker skills at PokerStars Play – the free to play social casino and poker application which offers Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Spin & Go and casino games for the United States and Australia players across Android and iOS devices.
