Fernando Santa Maria Completes a Dream Run Through the EAPT Barcelona Main Event

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Oct 09, 2023 5 min read

Thirty years ago, the Dream Team put on the most dominating performance in sports history right here in Barcelona, outscoring opponents by 44 points on their way to the Olympic Gold Medal. Fernando Santa Maria may not be Michael Jordan, but he just had his own sensational run through the field in the EAPT Barcelona €560 Main Event.

Santa Maria ended Day 1a as the chip leader. He was leading again after Day 2. And he finished the tournament with every chip in play, putting together an incredible performance on his way to claiming the €26,625 top prize and EAPT trophy. Quite the achievement for a player who had no recorded live cashes before this event.

Originally from the Dominican Republic, he now works as an operations engineer in Barcelona. But for the past four days, he played like a seasoned professional as he navigated his way through the 357-entry field.

The man he beat heads-up had his own incredible journey, and he had a ton of fun doing it. His full name is Ariel Faskowicz, but here at Casino Barcelona, he’s known simply as “Galactico,” with all of his cashes going back more than a decade coming in this building.

Galactico entertained his tablemates with his conniving blend of table talk and jokes. He could burst into song at any moment, shout out his trademark “Show me the money” after winning a pot, and constantly show his opponents his cards. And he did it with a smile on his face the entire tournament as the fun-loving player seemed to be having the time of his life on his way to his runner-up finish.

Final Table results

Day 3 Action

The final day of the EAPT Barcelona Main Event began with 18 players assembled around the last two tables. Jaskirat Singh Bindra had a short day, being left on fumes the first hand when he ran a set of threes into the set of fives of Jose Rodriguez. He was eliminated the next hand as Antonio Perez picked up aces to double off Andre Carvalho.

Daniel Polkamp (17th) and Carvalho followed to the exit with three eliminations at the table within the first few hands of the day. Mark Buckley (15th), Sanjay Haran (14th), Antoine Nicoli (13th), David Carballas (12th), and Perez (11th) also fell short of the final table. Antonio Pagliuca then lost a race with fives to Santa Maria’s king-queen on the final table bubble.

Santa Maria began the nine-handed final table in second place with 2,200,000, trailing only Carlos Esquerdo’s 2,800,000. But he lost a big chunk of his chips early when Christopher Arpal completed a straight on the river.

Santa Maria then flopped two pair against Cedric Jaby’s top pair to double up and reclaim those lost chips immediately. Teddy Kamel, chip leader at one point in the day, was then all in for 835,000 with ace-jack but dominated by Galactico’s ace-king to fall in ninth place.

Hector De Gea was next to fall, moving all in for 435,000 with ace-six. Esquerdo called holding queen-jack and spiked a jack on the river to bust De Gea in eighth place. Jordi Mataix then shoved his last 815,000 into Esquerdo’s two aces as Esquerdo began to take a big chip lead over the rest of the field, holding nearly double the amount of chips as Santa Maria when the final six headed off on a 40-minute dinner break.

When they returned, Arpal shoved for 945,000 with two eights, and Galactico woke up with queens in the small blind to bust Arpal in sixth place. Arpal’s elimination ensured that Esquerdo won the “last man standing” contest as the final player still wearing an EAPT badge, earning a free seat into the Main Event of a future EAPT festival.

A brutal cooler was responsible for sending Jaby out in fifth place. He flopped top two pair, but Santa Maria had the nut straight to win the pot and score the knockout. Santa Maria was then involved in another all-in pot, but with the opposite result, as Rodriguez picked up kings to beat his ace-queen and knock Santa Maria down to a short stack.

The four remaining players then agreed to a deal, Esquerdo taking €27,400, Galactico €20,880, Santa Maria €20,625, and Rodriguez €19,275, leaving an additional €6,000 for first place and €3,795 for second.

The hand that began Santa Maria’s rise from short stack to eventual champion began on an eight-high flop, where Esquerdo bet 250,000. Santa Maria then raised to 700,000, Esquerdo moved all in, and Santa Maria called for 3,200,000 with two jacks and held against Esquerdo’s tens to double up and take the chip lead.

Galactico then had his turn as the leader when he snapped off a pre-flop shove with two aces. Galactico also made a full house on the river with pocket fours to send Rodriguez to the rail in fourth place, calling out, “Show me the money,” as he opened up a big lead. On the first hand back from break, however, Esquerdo picked up Kings and doubled up to drop Galactico back toward the pack.

Esquerdo was then all in for 2,100,000 with ace-king and poised for a double up back into contention as he had Santa Maria’s ace-nine dominated. The flop gave Esquerdo a pair of kings, but Santa Maria the nut flush draw as Esquerdo turned away from the table, barely able to watch. The turn confirmed his fears as Santa Maria completed his flush to bust Esquerdo. Despite the third-place finish, it was still a profitable event and festival for Esquerdo. Thanks to the deal, he took home the biggest payout while earning the “last longer” seat and a €5,000 package to the EAPT Grand Final in Cyprus next September. Esquerdo also won the EAPT Cup earlier this week, ensuring he would leave Barcelona with at least one trophy.

Santa Maria led Galactico 9,800,000 to 4,500,000 at the start of heads-up. Santa Maria took down most pots to extend his lead until the final hand when Galactico moved all in for 2,200,000 on the flop with a pair of eights. Santa Maria called with his own pair of eights but a better kicker and dodged a flush draw on the river to win the title.

Santa Maria joined a list of EAPT Main Event champions that extends back more than a decade to German star Marvin Rettenmaier. The next EAPT festival is in Bucharest in November, followed by stops in Madrid, Malta, and the United Kingdom next year before heading to Cyprus for the Grand Final.

New champions will emerge with their own stories in those events, but few will have as dominating a run as Santa Maria put on the past four days.

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