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Marti Roca De Torres Turns 888poker Satellite into WSOP-E Main Event Title

The 2017 World Series of Poker Europe is in the books and the Main Event has an unlikely champion. Former economics teach turned poker pro Marti Roca De Torres won his entry to the event via an online satellite at 888poker and turned that entry into his first career WSOP bracelet and $1.29 million.

Maria Ho Suffers Epic Collapse at Final Table

The 2017 WSOP-E Main Event kicked off last Saturday and drew a solid field of 529 entries, just making the €5,000,000 guarantee. Early on, all eyes were on John Racener to see if he could manage a deep run to challenge Chris Ferguson for WSOP Player of the Year. When Racener busted on Day 2, this gave Ferguson Player of the Year.

As the event marched along, all focus started shifting to last year’s Main Event champion Kevin MacPhee and Maria Ho. Ho took the chip lead on Day 4 and carried that all the way to the final table. MacPhee made a deep run yet again in this year’s Main Event and was in contention all the way until Day 5. However, he fell short of the final table, finishing in 10th place.

When the final table of six was reached on Day 6, Maria Ho found herself in the chip lead and many wondered if she would finally break through for her first bracelet. Unfortunately, things went south for Ho from the start.

After slipping out of the chip lead into 2nd overall, she decided to take a stand with pocket deuces. She come over the top of a pre-flop raise from Niall Farrell with a shove but Farrell had pocket jacks and made the easy call. The jacks held and she went from 2nd in chips to a short stack.

A bit later, Ho was dealt As-Jd in early position and moved all-in. Marti Roca De Torres made the call but then Niall Farrell then shoved all-in for 6.87 million. De Torres had Farrell covered and made the easy call – with pocket aces! Farrell was well behind with pocket kings. The board missed all players and both Ho and Farrell were knocked out.

Ho went from starting the final table as the chip leader to being the first player eliminated. She finished in 6th place for €174,365.

Marti Roca De Torres Wins WSOP-E Main Event

After the double elimination, Marti Roca De Torres was a massive chip leader with a 5:1 lead over the other three players. However, Mathjis Jonkers managed a pair of double-ups through De Torres to take the chip lead. From that point action was fast and furious and it took quiet some time to eliminate the next player.

Robert Bickley finished in 4th after his steal attempt with 3d-2c ran into the As-7s of Jonkers. Jonkers then fell in 3rd after shoving with Ah-7c and running into the As-10s of Gianluca Speranza.

This left De Torres and Speranza battling for the title. Speranza held a 3:1 chip lead at the start of heads-up play with a 19.95 to 6.5 million chip lead. Action continued for a few more hours as De Torres steadily and consistently chipped away at Speranza’s stack with small pot after small pot.

The ultimate turning point of the match was when players were about even in chips and De Torres moved all-in with pocket fives pre-flop. Speranza looked down to Ac-Jh and made the call. An ace hit the flop to give Speranza the lead but a five on the turn gave De Torres a set and an overwhelming chip lead.

The very next hand, Speranza shoved pre-flop for his lat 775k with 10s-8d and De Torres called with Qh-5d. A five on the flop proved more than enough to take the hand and the bracelet.

Marti Roca De Torres won his entry into the WSOP-E Main Event via a €220 satellite on 888poker and has turned that entry into his first career WSOP bracelet and €1.11 million ($1.29 million USD). He joins the ranks of Chris Moneymaker and others to turn an online entry into life-changing money and a major live tournament poker title.

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