EPT Barcelona Hands of the Week: Flopped Royal Flush, Failed Bluffs & an Incredible Call

The 2023 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona recently wrapped up. We already brought you some of the biggest hands from the early part of the series, and we thought we'd round it off with some more hands from the latter half, which included the €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team was on hand all series long to capture all the action, and during that time they documented some big hands, be they bad beats, sick coolers, or just game-changing in nature. Here’s a look at some of the biggest hands from the latter half of the EPT Barcelona festival.

Matrai Soars As Benitez Runs Kings Into Aces
On Day 2 of the EPT Barcelona Main Event, it was Level 13 (1,000/2,500/2,500) when reporter Connor Richards saw Francisco Benitez open to 5,000 from early position and Andras Matrai three-bet jammed a stack of around 25,000 from the button. Morelli Felipe cold-called in the big blind and Benitez took some time before four-bet jamming with Felipe covered. Felipe snap-called for around 140,000.

Morelli Felipe: 7
♥
7
♦

Andras Matrai: A
♣
A
♠

Francisco Benitez: K
♠
K
♣

Matrai was on the right side of the massive preflop cooler and improved to a set on the 2
♥
A
♦
Q
♥
flop before the board finished out 3
♠
J
♠
to earn him the big pot and send Felipe to the rail.

 

[mosesdera]

It's always fascinating to see big hands unfold at major poker tournaments like the EPT. Flopping a royal flush is such a rare occurrence, that Matrai player must have been in disbelief. Though it was unfortunate for Benitez to get his kings cracked by aces, that's just the nature of the game - sometimes you run into bad beats no matter how strong your hand looks pre-flop. Poker is as much a mental challenge as anything.