Stephen Song Wins 2024 EPT Barcelona Main Event Grand Prize

The EPT Barcelona Main Event 2024 has recently concluded, and it saw the top 6 competitors from the week-long event compete in high-stakes poker to win the €1,512,000 top prize. After the dust had settled, Stephen Song emerged victorious, besting 5 other professional poker players to win the tournament.

Song was the chip leader heading into the Main Event among his competitors, and the final round saw him defeat England’s Andrew Hulme after agreeing to a heads-up deal. This meant that both players were guaranteed well over a million euros, with €56,800 and the title remaining to play for.

Song would pocket €1,290,386 (US $1,425,652), while Hulme eventually earned €1,165,614 ($1,284,098) for second place.

How Did Stephen Song Win the EPT Barcelona Main Event 2024?

Stephen Song’s road to winning the EPT Barcelona Main Event 2024 had him face elimination a number of times during the course of the high-stakes poker tournament. Song was the chip leader on the first few hands, and the other competitors, namely Marius-Catalin Pertea, were nipping at his heels.

Song found himself down to a little after five big blinds when he doubled up twice. The second one saw him race against Pertea when he flopped a set of fives to keep his place on the table.

This gave Song some maneuvering room, though he saw himself short again against Hulme, who was at that point during four-handed action the dominant leader. After a jack-high flop, Hulme checked, Song bet, Hulme check-raised, Song moved all in, and Hulme called. Song had an Ace and King, but Hulme’s King and Jack had the advantage.

Song needed an ace to survive, and Lady Luck smiled upon him on the river when an Ace appeared to start chipping away at Hulme’s lead.

The next hand saw Song beating Pertea’s aces with a rivered flush that pushed Song into the lead and left Pertea on the shortest stack. Pertea managed to get ahead of Nasreddine by doubling through once, resulting in him getting third place, but both Nasreddine and Pertea eventually bowed out.

After Pertea’s exit, Song had a narrow lead over Hulme, and the final two players then agreed to a deal that guaranteed each player well over a million euros, with €56,800 and the title remaining to play for.

The heads-up play favored Song, and he finished the action with another come-from-behind hand. Song had an Ace of Clubs and a 7 of Hearts, while Hulme had a pair of 8s. Hulme opted to go all in, and the flop resulted in a 5 of Diamonds, 3 of Diamonds, and a 6 of Clubs. The turn then saw a 4 of Spades come up, giving Song the straight. The 9 of Diamonds appeared on the river, but it missed Hulme’s three-out redraw to a better straight.

Through a mix of luck and risky plays, Stephen Song came out on top of the EPT Barcelona Main Event 2024.

Takeaways from the EPT Barcelona Main Event 2024

Stephen Song’s win in EPT Barcelona Main Event 2024 is his largest career win to date. His recent accolades include major wins on several tours, as well as winning a WSOP bracelet in 2019.

Song has also collected six Circuit rings across the United States, on top of winning the 2022 WPT Prime Championship amid the WPT’s inaugural World Championship festival. This streak propelled him to win two Global Poker Awards honors – the 2022 GPI Player of the Year and the Mid-Major Player of the Year. Song’s big win on Sunday also moved him to nearly $8 million in lifetime tournament winnings.

Meanwhile, Rania Nasreddine’s fourth-place finish was a noteworthy effort – she is the first woman to make back-to-back EPT final tables. Nasreddine finished third in the 2024 EPT Monte Carlo main event in her last EPT appearance.

The 2024 EPT Barcelona main event goes down as the fourth-largest main event in the stop’s long history. The main event drew 1,975 entries and offered a €9,578,750 prize pool.

Moreover, Song’s win was the 17th EPT main-event triumph by an American. Kevin Schulz was the last American who won the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Previous winners of the EPT Main Event were British players who have won 19 EPT main events, leading other countries in the said category.