Jose “Nacho” Barbero won the event for 15,000 USD at Triton Poker
For Argentine player Jose Barbero, the year 2023 could not have started better. First, he took 4th place at the PokerStars Players Championship with a buy-in of 25,000 USD, earning 1,551,300 USD, and then became the champion of Triton Poker and replenished the bankroll for another 600,000 USD. Jose “Nacho” Barbero won the event for 15,000 USD at Triton Poker on March 3, beating Jans Arends in a heads-up.
Thanks to two good results, Barbero’s offline earnings amounted to almost 7.2 million USD, which is the best result among Argentine players. For the last victory, Barbero was credited with 936 POY points. Now with 2,616 points, the player takes 4th place in the CardPlayer rating.
172 players took part in the event for 15,000 USD, which was the best result in the history of the series. Curiously, the previous record was set just a day earlier. By the end of the first day, the circle of contenders for the title had narrowed to 37 players. The bubble burst on the second day, and such famous poker players as Stephen Chidwick (22nd place), Steve O’Dwyer (20th), Thomas Muehloecker (15th), Adrian Mateos (14th), Tan Xuan (13th), Michael Watson (11th) and Linus Loeliger (9th place) got in the prize zone.
In the heads-up, “Nacho” Barbero played against Jans Arends
Seth Davies became the first player to leave the official final table. The American player put his last few BBs with the J-4, facing the J-5 of Barbero. Barbero eventually collected a flush and knocked out his opponent. This is the seventh final for Davies in 2023. Following Davies, Alex Kulev went to rest, who lost a coin to Kiat Lee. Kulev earned 138,000 USD, taking 6th place.
Two-time bracelet winner Aleksejs Ponakovs dropped out when his A-K couldn’t beat Barbero’s pocket nines. Kiat Lee lost all his chips except 1 BB in the battle with Jans Arends. Lee failed to make a comeback, and he took 4th place. The owner of the bracelet Brian Kim with a short stack went all-in with A-10 against A-9 of Barbero, but the nine on the river destroyed all the plans of the American.
- Jose Barbero — 600,000 USD
- Jans Arends — 406,000 USD
- Brian Kim — 271,000 USD
- Kiat Lee — 222,000 USD
- Aleksejs Ponakovs — 178,000 USD
- Alex Kulev — 138,000 USD
- Seth Davies — 102,100 USD
In the heads-up, “Nacho” Barbero played against Jans Arends. The first had 22,100,000 chips in the asset, and the second had 12,300,000. By the final hand, the Argentine already had twice as many chips. In the last hand, the Dutchman went all-in with 7-6s; Barbero thought for a long time and eventually called with A-2. 8-4-4-A-3 appeared on the board, and Barbero became the champion.