Posted on by Sean Chaffin

POKER PODIUM: A Look at Big August Live & Online Winners

Plenty of action continues for online and live players in the coming weeks on the international poker scene. August saw some big winners across the spectrum and that included some massive wins at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona stop.

A PartyPoker ambassador had a nice run as well with more bracelet winners also finding nice payouts at GGPoker. Day 1 in the 888poker ChampionChip Games also brought some nice scores in the low roller series. Poker Podium once again takes a look at some major poker winners.

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PokerStars

The European Poker Tour Barcelona was a huge event in August for PokerStars attracting record numbers for the Main Event. The festival ran from Aug. 8-21 at Casino Barcelona.

 The  €5,300 Main Event brought in 2,294 entries with 1,686 unique players for a €11.1 million prize pool. Italy’s Giuliano Bendinelli found the top spot for €1.5 million. He came back to win after being down to a single big blind at one point.

Online poker regular Mikita Badziakouski scored the win in the €100,000 Super High Roller for €2 million. The event saw 68 entries, 16 re-entries, and a €6.6 million prize pool. American poker pro and Hall of Famer Erik Seidel scored second place for €1.3 million.

PokerStars ambassador and Twitch streamer Mason Pye scored a nice win as well in Barcelona. He took down the €550 HORSE for €17,290. Pye added a SCOOP title in April and now has an EPT title to go along with it.

Online qualifier heads to EPT for only $5

Ireland’s Jenny Steele also recorded a motivational story for online poker players in August. The recreational player earned a seat into the EPT Main Event for only $5.

“I said, I really want to play in the EPT Main Event,” Steele told the PokerStars blog. “So I played a fiver satellite, and won into the next round, which was €55. I played the €55, won that one, into the €530. Played the €530 and won that one. All in one night.”

Steele and her husband run a printing business back in Ireland. Both are regular players as well and are always working on their skills.

“Me and my husband are a good tag team, he helps me and I help him,” she said. “But I’m better.”

For a complete recap of the EPT Barcelona, click here. Next up at PokerStars is the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), running Sept. 4-28 with $85 million guaranteed. Buy-ins range from $5.50 to $25,000 and the schedule also includes 12 World Championship events. For a complete preview and schedule of the series, click here.

PartyPoker

One PartyPoker ambassador made some waves recently in the recent McLaren Turbo Series. Twitch streamer Jaime Staples made two final tables in a single weekend.

While he didn’t find the winner’s circle, Staples scored fourth in the $109 Seven-Max Weekender for $4,436. He then went on to take sixth in the $55 Daily Sprint for $710.

Staples followed that up Monday with a third-place finish in the $320 Grand Prix as well for a $11,786 win. 

In the Grand Prix Summer Series, Brazil’s Lucas Alves found the top spot in the $109 Main Event.

Two other Brazilian players also made final table appearances. The event brought in 765 entries for a $521,000 prize pool.

The action at PartyPoker now turns to the upcoming Millions Online, which kicks off Thursday. Millions has become one of the biggest series in online poker and runs Sept. 1-27. Look for several tournament formats including six-max, seven-max, eight-max, progressive knockouts (PKO), and more.

The $3,200 Main Event highlights the series and comes with a $2 million guarantee. The first Main Event starting flight is set for Sept. 4. For a complete preview and schedule for the series , click here.

GGPoker

The World Series of Poker Online continues at GG from Aug. 14 – Sept. 27. So far 12 winners have been crowned with the biggest win coming in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker. The tournament brought in  4,706 entries for a $6.7 million prize pool.

Markus Prinz came out on top for a massive $1.2 million payday. The founder of DTOPoker training site locked up one of the biggest wins of his career on Monday.

The second largest winner’s payout came in the $5,000 Six-Handed Championship, which brought in 430 entries for a $2 million prize pool. Daniele Sesta came out on top for $400,213.

Many eyes were also on the Million Dollar Mystery Bounty. “PH14” came out on top for $367,953, but the bigger prize went to one lucky bounty winner.

Two-time bracelet winner Scott “ItsRumcake” Ball had the lucky draw for a cool million bucks. It took a bit for Ball to realize how big he’d actually won.

Look for more winners later in the week in PokerScout’s next WSOP Online update. For a complete preview of the series, click here.

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888poker

The ChampionChip Games got underway this week at 888poker. The series runs through Sept. 6 and features lower buy-ins, most priced at under $30. The first day of the series saw 5,575 total entries for $92,030 in prize money awarded.

Day 1 featured six events and players could buy into all of those for under $80. Two of those titles went to players in the United Kingdom and two also went to Brazilian players.

The $33 Opening Event featured a $30,000 guarantee and actually found 912 entries, 282 re-entries, and a $35,820 prize pool. Ukraine’s “Dkfdyulr” found the winner’s circle for a $4,235 payday.

The second-biggest winner on the day came in the $22 Triple Threat PKO, which attracted 1,071 entries for a $21,420 prize pool. Kazakhstan “SlevinK161” scored the win for $2,796. For a complete preview of the series, click here.