€10,200 Mystery Bounty
Day 2 Completed
2022 PokerStars EPT Barcelona
€10,200 Mystery Bounty
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
2022 PokerStars EPT Barcelona
Buy-in
€10,200
Prize Pool
€882,700
Entries
91
Level
24
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
100,000
Entries
91
Players Left
1
Level 24
: Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
Uruguay's Francisco Benitez has started the 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona?Casino European Poker Tour off with a bang by taking down €10,200 Mystery Bounty for €114,080. Benitez defeated Ukraine's Igor Yaroshevskyy after a brief heads-up battle that left the runner-up taking home €73,610.
One of the first events of EPT Barcelona's return after a three-year hiatus, the mystery bounty event attracted 91 runners and generated a prize pool of €882,700, about half of which went into the bounty pool.
Other players who ran deep in the third event of the Spain series include Brazil's Gabriel Moura (9th - €13,250) and Bruno "great dant" Volkmann (5th - €32,340) and Northern Europe's Joris Ruijs (4th - €40,440) and Anton Suarez (3rd - €52,560).
€10,200 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (IN EUR) | |
| 1 | Francisco Benitez | Uruguay | €114,080 | |
| 2 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Ukraine | €73,610 | |
| 3 | Anton Suarez | Sweden | €52,560 | |
| 4 | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | €40,440 | |
| 5 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | €32,340 | |
| 6 | Arthur Conan | France | €25,880 | |
| 7 | Yazan Mdanat | Jordan | €20,700 | |
| 8 | Igor Pihela | Estonia | €16,560 | |
| 9 | Gabriel Moura | Brazil | €13,250 |
A Good Start
In a winner's interview, Benitez told PokerNews he ran "very good" throughout the two-day event and "won a lot of big hands and flips."
“I feel very good," he said. "(It was a) good start and (gives me) more confidence for the rest of the tournaments.”
While the €114,080 first-place prize was a nice cherry on top of Benitez' tournament run, the South American had already locked up a six-figure score by pulling a staggering 13 of 39 bounties, including the second single-biggest bounty of €50,000.
Benitez also pulled 12 bounties worth €5,000 for a total bounty score of €110,000, nearly the same amount as his first-place prize. The elusive €100,000 bounty, meanwhile, went to fourth-place finisher Ruijs.
“It’s good," Benitez laughed about his hot bounty run.
With the victory, Benitez picks up his biggest-ever live cash, squeaking past a $107,754 score he earned in June from a runner-up finish in the Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP) Main Event, according to The Hendon Mob.
Benitez won more than seven times that when he finished second in the 2021 WSOP Online $10,000 No Limit Hold'em - Super MILLION$ High Roller. He lost to none other than Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel, who made Day 2 of this week's Mystery Bounty event but was eliminated in the first hand of the day.
Final Table Action
Moura was first to go at the final table when he was involved in a three-way all-in against Igor Pihela and Ruijs, the latter of whom flopped a set and held against the flush draw of Pihela. Pihela bowed out next when he ran his queen-jack into the kings of Ruijs and couldn't improve as the board ran out.
The €100,000 bounty grabber couldn't continue his run-good forever and fell in fourth place after getting his short stack in with queen-deuce and being out-flopped by the nine-six of Yaroshevskyy.
Sweden's Suarez, meanwhile, finished third when he called off with king-four against the ace-six of Benitez, whose ace-high held up after an inconsequential runout.
Despite Benitez and Yaroshevskyy entering heads-up play nearly even in chips, it only took a few hands for a winner to emerge. In the final hand, the two got to the river on a four-flush paired board and Benitez raised all in with a king-high bluff. Benitez called after confirming he had the ace-high flush that was the end of that.
Benitez told PokerNews he is happy about his hot start to EPT Barcelona and plans on grinding the remaining series.
“I will play everything," he said. "Every high roller, the Main Event; everything.”
That wraps up PokerNews' coverage of the €10,200 Mystery Bounty, but be sure to check out the live reporting team's coverage of other events here at the prestigious EPT Barcelona.
Level 24
: Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
Igor Yaroshevskyy limped the small blind and called when Francisco Benitez raised to 450,000 in the big blind.
The dealer spread the 
flop and Benitez check-called for 350,000.
The 
landed on the turn and Benitez check-called for 400,000.
The 
fell on the river, and after some time to take a look at the board, Benitez led for 600,000. Yaroshevskyy briefly deliberated before moving all in, and Benitez checked his cards once more before quickly putting in the chips.
Yaroshevskyy could only show 
, while Benitez tabled 
for the rivered flush to take the pot, giving him all of the chips. Yaroshevskyy takes home €73,610 for his runner-up finish, while Benitez claims the victory, the trophy, and €114,080.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
9,100,000
4,010,000
|
4,010,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 24
: Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
The two remaining players are now on a 15-minute break.
Level 24
: Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
Francisco Benitez moved all in from the big blind and Anton Suarez called with his stack of about 800,000 to put himself at risk.
Francisco Benitez: 
Anton Suarez: 
Benitez was ahead with ace-high and stayed ahead as the board ran out 
to send Suarez to the rail. Benitez enters heads-up play with a slight chip advantage against Igor Yaroshevskyy.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,090,000
390,000
|
390,000 |
|
|
4,010,000
1,110,000
|
1,110,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 24
: Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
Francisco Benitez limped the small blind and called when Anton Suarez raised to 300,000 in the big blind.
Benitez check-called for 225,000 on the 
flop, and both players checked the 
turn.
The 
completed the board, Benitez checked, Suarez bet 450,000, and Benitez thought about it before moving all in. Suarez folded to concede the pot and Benitez added to his stack to hold more than half of the total chips in play.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,700,000
1,400,000
|
1,400,000 |
|
|
2,900,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
|
1,500,000
-650,000
|
-650,000 |
Level: 24
Blinds: 50,000/100,000
Ante: 100,000
Level 23
: Blinds 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante
Now that three-handed play has been reached, levels have shortened from 30 minutes to 15 minutes, which should drive the action plenty.
Level 23
: Blinds 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante
Joris Ruijs open-shoved his short stack of 390,000 from the small blind and Igor Yaroshevskyy let out a sigh as he made the call from the big blind.
Joris Ruijs: 
Igor Yaroshevskyy: 
Ruijs was ahead with queen-high until the flop came 
to give Yaroshevskyy the lead with a pair of nines. The runout of 
didn't change things and Ruijs was eliminated.
Before he left, Ruijs pulled two €5,000 bounties after earlier peeling the single €100,000 bounty to make him one of the day's biggest winners.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,800,000 | |
|
Busted |
Level: 23
Blinds: 40,000/80,000
Ante: 80,000