Marti Roca De Torres created history at the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) by winning the €10,350 No-limit Hold’em Main Event and won his first WSOP gold bracelet at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic.
A total of 529 entries were reported at the 2017 WSOP Europe Main Event which was a first in the event’s history. Some of the top poker players from all over the world took part in the Main Event which was eventually won by the 36-year old Spanish poker pro Marti Roca De Torres who took home €1,115,207.
He went head to head with Italian poker pro Gianluca Speranza for over four hours as the two poker pros battled it out to determine the eventual winner.
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Roca De Torres’ victory was a roller coaster journey, as he alternated between commanding leads and tight head-to- heads. During his post-game interview, Roca De Torres said that there were moments when he was so sure he was going to win and then came moments he thought he was definitely going to lose. To keep his head, he stopped thinking of the next deal and tried to play it out hand by hand.
The Italian poker pro was the more experienced of the two players but in the end De Torres triumphed and Speranza finished in second place with €689,246. American pro and four-time WSOP final table contender Maria Ho entered the main event as the chip leader but finished in 6th place and took home €174,365 winnings. The final day payouts also saw Mathijs Jonkers in third place (€476,585), Robert Bickley in fourth (€335,089) and Niall Farrell in fifth (€239,639).
Coming into the main event, Roca De Torres was in second place in terms of chip count. He was among the least experienced pros at the table, with a little over $30,000 in career earnings prior to his victory. De Torres was an economics teacher before he decided to quit his job a few years back and focus on being a professional poker player.
His decision paid off as he accomplished an amazing feat, qualifying to the tournament via a €220 satellite on 888poker.es and achieving 506,912 percent return-on- investment in a week. He is also the first Catalan to win the WSOPE main event bracelet.
De Torres said it was a dream come true to win a WSOPE Main Event and said that he was struggling to express himself because he was so happy.
