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Battling through the largest ever tournament field in Spanish history, Germany’s Martin Schleich overcame a difficult final table to take home the title at the European Poker Tour stop at the Casino de Barcelona last night.

The eight players who came to the final table on Thursday spanned the globe, but were heavily weighted with the hometown Spanish players. There were four Spaniards, a Frenchman and a German in the mix, but the attention of much of the crowd was on two top pros that made the final table. The Ukraine’s Eugene Katchalov, looking to complete the mythical poker “Triple Crown,” was in tough shape at the start on the short stack, while Israel’s Saar Wilf was looking to take down his first major title.

After a noon start, the players wasted little time getting into the action. Katchalov improved on his standing by doubling up twice in the early going, but the action wouldn’t be as kind to the final woman left in the event. France’s Isabel Baltazar got her stack to the center with a pair of ladies, but ran into Katchalov’s pocket Aces. After an uneventful board, she was eliminated in eighth place.

One of the Spaniards at the table, Juan Manuel Perez, was eliminated by chip leader Tomeu Gomilla in seventh before Katchalov would strike again. This time Katchalov, holding pocket threes, was able to outrun a short stacked Wilf’s A-2, moving the Ukrainian up the ladder again and sending Wilf out of the event in sixth place.

Katchalov would continue to run well through the final table, eventually moving into the chip lead. After Schleich defeated Gomilla in a classic race situation, pocket Queens against A-K, to eliminate Gomilla in fifth, Katchalov would once again dismiss one of his tablemates. After Raul Mestre pushed his stack to the center, Katchalov made the call and was in difficult straits. Behind Mestre’s A-5 of diamonds with his Q-10 off suit, Katchalov would eventually wind up with a Queen high straight to eliminate Mestre in fourth place.

The remaining three players – Katchalov, Schleich and Spain’s Dragan Kostic – would then enter into an extended battle for the crown. Over four hours of play, none of the men could take a firm hold of the final table. When the end came for one of the players, it was in a truly dramatic fashion.

Katchalov, whose earlier rush seemed to leave him, found a hand to get the remainder of his chips to the center with, pocket sevens. He was called down by Schleich, however, who had him trumped with pocket nines. The first card in the window was a surprising seven, sending Katchalov’s followers into a frenzy, but once the cards were fanned, a nine was in the mix as well. The set over set situation didn’t change by the river, eliminating Katchalov short of his Triple Crown aspirations in third place.

When heads up play began, Schleich held an almost 2:1 lead over Kostic, who was attempting to become the first Spaniard to win the EPT Barcelona. Kostic was able to pull close to Schleich during the heads up action but would fall short. Kostic reraised all in on the final hand with A-7, only to find that Schleich had him trumped with an A-9. After a Q-5-2-K-9 board was revealed, the European Poker Tour had a new champion in Martin Schleich.

1. Martin Schleich (Germany) €850,000
2. Dragan Kostic (Spain) €532,000
3. Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) €315,000
4. Raul Mestre (Spain) €244,000
5. Tomeu Gomila (Spain) €185,000
6. Saar Wilf (Israel) €145,000
7. Juan Manuel Perez (Spain) €105,000
8. Isabel Baltazar (France) €73,000

The 811 player field for the tournament was impressive on several accounts and EPT officials have to be encouraged about the rest of the season for 2011. The Barcelona tournament was the second stop for the Season Eight schedule of the EPT and it improved on what were dismal numbers from the first stop of the season in Tallinn, Estonia. That tournament only drew a 282 player field, vastly down from the 420 runners who took to the felt in 2010. This year’s EPT Barcelona also set a record for the largest ever tournament in Spain, eclipsing last year’s 758 player field for the event.

The reasons for the increase could be twofold. Barcelona tournaments normally draw better than other European events due to the picturesque locale. Secondly, the EPT tournament this year featured a €5000 buy in versus the €10,000 buy in of 2010.

The next stop for the EPT is in one of its old stomping grounds, the Hilton London Metropole for the EPT London. That tournament begins on September 30, with the final table to be played out in the £5000 tournament scheduled for October 6.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is being investigated by Major League Baseball for his participation in a high-stakes poker game that included A-list celebrities such as Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Rodriguez, currently on the disabled list following knee surgery, could face a suspension if his participation in the games is confirmed, according to an anonymous MLB executive.

Star magazine reported on Wednesday that Rodriguez “played in an underground, illegal poker game where cocaine was openly used,” according to poker pro Dan Bilzerian. Another source told Star that Rodriguez was in attendance when a fight nearly broke at one of the games and added that Rodriguez “tried to distance himself from the game” once the violence broke out.

“He didn’t want to deal with it at all,” the source told Star. “He was like, ‘OK, whatever. It’s your game.’ I would estimate A-Rod lost, like, a few thousand dollars that night. After everything that happened, he paid-up and left.”

World Series of Poker bracelet winner Kenny Tran and high-stakes regular Rick Salomon also participated in the game, according to Bilzerian.

Regarding Rodriguez, Major League Baseball released a statement on Wednesday: “We take this matter very seriously and have been investigating it since the initial investigation. As part of the investigation, the commissioner’s office will interview Mr. Rodriguez.”

In 2005, Rodriguez was warned about gambling in underground poker clubs by the Yankees and by baseball commissioner Bud Selig. The league has attempted to distance itself from any sort of gambling, and while poker doesn’t fall in the same category as sports betting, the fact Rodriguez ignored the commissioner’s demands could be enough to warrant a suspension.

Richard Rubenstein, Rodriguez’s spokesman, told the New York Daily News in July that his client “has not participated in these poker games.” However, according to a report by RadarOnline, a source claims Rodriguez played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at the Beverly Hills mansion of a Hollywood record label owner.

The games Rodriguez allegedly played in could be the same for which Spiderman star Tobey Maguire is being sued. Maguire is set to appear in court on January 30, 2012, following a lawsuit filed by a trustee for investors seeking the return of winnings that Maguire won while playing in multiple high-stakes cash games.

Maguire is being sued for more than $300,000 for winnings he earned from the invitation-only Texas Hold ‘em games, organized by businessman Bradley Ruderman, who’s currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for running a Ponzi scheme to pay off debts.

Maguire is among 22 people, including former High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan and private equity billionaire Alec Gores, sued by Ehrenberg. Rodriguez was not mentioned in the suit despite allegedly playing in at least one of the games organized by Ruderman, Star reports.

ESPN New York reports that the league has yet to positively determine that Rodriguez took part in the games, but the anonymous MLB executive says that Selig has at least two investigators working on the case.

“I could see us trying to pursue this a lot further,” the executive told ESPN. “The truth is still out there somewhere.”

The $10,000 Main Event of the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is set to launch this week, but despite the thousands of players expected to compete, the electric atmosphere, and all the pomp and circumstance that comes with the biggest poker tournament in the world, there will be a noticeable void at the Rio this year.  Doyle Brunson will not be in attendance.

“The Godfather of Poker,” arguably the most famous poker player of all-time and one of eighteen living members of the Poker Hall of Fame, announced early Monday morning that he will be sitting out the No-Limit Hold’em World Championship this year, tweeting, “No main event for me.”  In the same post, he took a jab at the United States Department of Justice for its actions against online poker, adding, “maybe the DOJ will stake me.”

Despite that staking comment, the reason for Brunson’s decision is not likely to be a lack of bankroll, assuming a tweet later in the day is true.  Responding to a flood of comments, Brunson said, “Tx for all the tweets about my skipping the main event. It’s not about money, I’ve lost a lot of passion for the game since Black Friday.”

In addition to the Black Friday frustration, Brunson may be a bit upset about his recent WSOP performance, as he has not had a successful WSOP, failing to cash in any event for the second year in a row.  His final tournament this year was the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, in which he busted out during Day 2.  Showing obvious frustration, he tweeted, “Busted… Total nightmare… Goodbye WSOP.”

Shortly thereafter, Brunson made his official Twitter announcement regarding his decision to not play in the Main Event.

Sheer fatigue could also be a factor.  A single, prolonged day playing in a tournament at the World Series of Poker is exhausting for even the most spry poker players, but for a soon-to-be 78-year old, the idea of possibly playing for eight days if all goes well can be downright intimidating.

That said, it’s not like Brunson hasn’t had any success in big tournaments in the last several years.  He placed 24th in May’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, 18th in last December’s WPT event that bear’s his name (2010 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic), 17th in the 2009 WSOP-Europe Main Event, and made the final table in the 2009 WSOP Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event.

And, of course, as most poker fans know, Doyle Brunson has won ten WSOP gold bracelets, tied with Johnny Chan for second all-time, just one behind Phil Hellmuth.  His last bracelet was won in 2005, when he took down the $5,000 Short Handed No-Limit Hold’em event.  He started his bracelet run by winning five from 1976 through 1978, including back-to-back Main Event championships in 1976 and 1977.

Over the weekend, Brunson even stated that he might be done with major live tournaments altogether.  Two days before his WSOP announcement, he posted on Twitter, “…you might be watching my last tournament. If I don’t play well (up to my standards), I may retire from tournament poker.”

There is no indication, however, that “Texas Dolly” will stop playing cash games.  In fact, he responded to a Twitter follower by saying that he was not quitting live poker.

All told, Brunson has won over $6 million in his live tournament career, placing him 39th on the all-time money list once invitationals and buy-ins of more than $50,000 are excluded.

If you didn’t know the name Jake Cody before now, it’s time to start paying attention. The 22-year-old from Rochdale, England accomplished an extraordinary feat late Friday evening, taking down the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship at the World Series of Poker to complete the last leg of poker’s Triple Crown. Cody has now won events at the WSOP, European Poker Tour (EPT), and World Poker Tour (WPT). And they all came within a 15 month period. Incredible.

Cody wiped out two world-class players Friday to earn the coveted gold bracelet and $851,192 in prize money. He first defeated Gus Hansen in the semifinals, a shock to many considering Hansen had won 12 straight WSOP heads up matches going back to his bracelet win in the WSOP Europe Heads Up event last year.

Cody advanced to play another young superstar, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, in the final. Timoshenko defeated two-time bracelet winner Eric “E-Fro” Froelich in the semis, and like Cody was eyeing his first bracelet. Both players had a rail of noisy supporters in their corner, setting up a ferocious bout at the ESPN feature stage.

After nearly three hours of play, both players were getting low on wiggle room and the match turned into a pre-flop shoving contest. Cody would get the best of it, as on the final hand of the match Timoshenko limped the button, Cody moved all in and Timoshenko called. Cody turned over Kc-9c, which trailed Timoshenko’s Ac-5s. But the Kh-Qd-4h-6h-4d board gave Cody a pair of Kings, securing the title and placing him in a class with the likes of Roland de Wolfe and Gavin Griffin.

His rail busted out into a chant of “Triple Crown, Triple Crown,” as Cody smiled proudly and took in what he had just accomplished. Timoshenko, meanwhile, collected $525,980 for his second-place finish. It was a disappointing result for the former WPT Championship winner, who told ESPN’s Kara Scott that it was the tournament he wanted to win most at this year’s WSOP.

Here’s a look at Top 8 finishers at the WSOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship:

1. Jake Cody — $851,192
2. Yevgeniy Timoshenko — $525,980
3. Gus Hansen — $283,966
3. Eric Froehlich — $283,966
5. Matt Marafioti — $138,852
5. Anthony Guetti — $138,852
5. Nikolay Evdakov — $138,852
5. David Paredes — $138,852

Also picking up hardware on Friday was Francesco Barbaro, who defeated the biggest Omaha Hi-Low field in WSOP history to collect $262,283. Event #3 began with a whopping 925 players and Barbaro was the last man standing after defeating Kostas Kalathakis heads-up for the victory.

The final table began with three familiar pros, the most recognizable being Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes, who was the lone bracelet winner at the 10-handed final table. He was joined by Matt Waxman and last year’s Russian sensation, Vladimir Schemelev. Waxman survived to make the top three, but it was clearly Barbaro’s tournament from the beginning as he sent both Waxman and Kalathakis to the rail to secure his first WSOP bracelet.

WSOP $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better Results:

1. Francesco Barbaro — $262,283
2. Kostas Kalathakis — $161,675
3. Matt Waxman — $104,770
4. Bradley Helm — $76,673
5. Michael Deveronica — $56,943
6. Humberto Brenes — $42,857
7. Cam McKinley — $32,654
8. Vladimir Schemelev — $25,174
9. Travis Pearson — $19,617
10. Richard Monroe — $15,484

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily as we recap all the action from Saturday’s events at the Rio in Las Vegas.

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