08 September 2025
Tom 'hitthehole' Middleton is the champion of the 10th season of the PokerStars sponsored European Poker Tour Barcelona! The 6 intense days of poker culminated with a british victory - a victory that came with a trophy and €948,000.
By the 6th day of the EPT Barcelona, only 8 players returned to the table led by Tom Middleton, the chip leader of the last three days of the event. The action was on and the table was organized as follows:
Andreas Christoforou - 2,560,000
Kimmo Kurko - 2,265,000
Pasi Sormunen - 3,070,000
Tom Middleton - 9,850,000
Eduard Bhaggoe - 1,615,000
Luca Fiorini - 4,610,000
Kresten Nielsen - 7,300,000
Benoit Gury - 5,610,000
The first elimination of the day happened quickly - although it was unexpected. The Cypriot player, Andreas Christoforou, was one of the stars of the fifth day, due to his table talk and slow pace when taking a decision, but he eventually finished the day in 8th place after his all-in with AcJc fell victim to Kimmo Kurko's JhJd.
The next one out was the dutch Eduard Bhaggoe - he moved all in with TT, Kurko snap called with AhKd. All was good for Bhaggoe... until, of course, the river completed a flush for Kurko.
The next two players to face off were Kresten Nielsen and Benoit Gury. "Lady Luck" sided with Nielsen and the french player was out.
Pasi Sormunen, in a creative play, took care of shortening the final table by one, when he was eliminated by Luca Fiorini.
Sormunem opens the pot in early position with Kd7d, and Luca Fiorini, the small blind, 3bets the pot with AsKc. Sormunem then tries to scare the italian player with an all-in of more than 4.5 million chips, but gets called.
A 9d-4d-8s flop still gave the finnish player some hope, but as the turn came Qs and the river Qh, Sormunem was out.
With only four participants in play, some players argued for an agreement to split the prize. Middleton ruled against it, and the action was on again - this after a discussion that lasted for more than half an hour!
Lucas Fiorini was the short stack of the table; when he raised under the gun with AhJd, Middleton looks down and sees his QcQd; Middleton's bet was still being counted when Fiorini declared himself all-in. Showdown time.
The board came 4s-10h-9d-Qh-9c and that was it for Fiorini.
Nielsen, who also goes by the nickname of "Big Toro", was the next to be crushed under Kimmo Kurko's heel.
Middleton folds the button, Kresten Nielsen (the small blind) opens the pot with Kd8d and Kimmo Kurko defends the big blind with 7c4c.
The flop comes 5h-8s-6d and the danish player bets 635.000 chips; Kurko thinks it over and then re-raises to 1.41 millions. Nielsen re-raises again to 3.325 millions and Kurko moves all-in - Nielsen instantly calls, not counting on Kurko's straight.
As the turn and river came 5c and Qd, Nielsen was out and the pot of 14 millions was awarded to Kurko.
Heads-up time; but, first, Kurko and Middleton decided to reach an agreement that concluded with the following prize distribution:
1º - €948.000
2º - €759.000
The heads-up was slow paced - it took more than 5 hours for Middleton to claim the title. Halfway through the heads-up, Middleton got ahead in chip-count, with a 2:1 advantage.
The final moments unfolded like this: Kimmo Kurko opens in the button to 800k chips and Tom Middleton 3bets to 2 millions. Kurko thinks it over... and announces his all-in. Middleton called and the showdown was, well, somewhat unexpected:
Tom Middleton shows 55 and Kurko shows A4!
Eventually, an uneventful boards makes Middleton the champion of the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
Check below the final positions (and prizes, of course) of the 8 final table players:
- Tom Middleton - €948,000
- Kimmo Kurko - €759,000
- Kresten Nielsen - €440,500
- Luca Fiorini - €328,000
- Pasi Sormunen - €253,000
- Benoit Gury - €188,000
- Eduard Bhaggoe - €143,000
- Andreas Christoforou - €102,430
