The Poker Digest ♠
ISSUE #53 · SEPTEMBER 5, 2026
Hey Poker Fam! Last week I told you Barcelona was rolling. This week it delivered a 1,823-entry Main Event, past champions going for second titles, a Brazilian trailblazer making history again, and a royal flush at the final table that the winner never even showed. I have thoughts on that hand in Strategy Corner. The week also brought sadder news: Poker lost one of its most beloved late bloomers.
This Week in Poker
🔥 LEAD STORY
Wire to Wire: Manuel Ferrari Wins the EPT Barcelona Main Event
The €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event turned into a monster — 1,823 entries and a €8,841,550 prize pool — and Italy's Manuel Ferrari owned the ending. According to PokerNews, he held the chip lead for three straight days and never let it go, closing out the title for €1,002,488. The final three struck a deal that locked up more than €900,000 apiece and left €100,000 plus the trophy to play for; heads-up, Ferrari's ace-queen held against a king-six shove to seal it.
The runner-up? Lukas van Eeden — yes, the royal flush guy from Strategy Corner below — who banked €927,420, while Spanish online qualifier Jose Criado's home-soil dream ended in third for €910,642. The deep runs were everywhere too: former champions John Juanda and Sebastian Malec both chased second Barcelona titles before falling short of the final table, and per PokerNews, Brazil's Barbara Akemi — the first Brazilian woman with both a Sunday Million title and a WSOP bracelet — went deeper in an EPT Main Event than any Brazilian woman before her, bowing out in 10th.
Full results and payouts on the official EPT Barcelona page.
01 Poker Says Goodbye to Pierre Neuville
Belgian legend Pierre Neuville — the "Serial Qualifier" — passed away this week at 83, according to PokerNews. Neuville was proof it's never too late: he set a world record by qualifying for 23 consecutive EPT Main Events, and at age 72 he became one of the November Nine in the 2015 WSOP Main Event, finishing 7th for $1,203,293.
Before that final table, he told PokerNews: "I am living a dream, the most beautiful dream for someone as in love with Poker as I am." That's about as good a way to be remembered as this game offers. Rest easy, Pierre.
02 Jason Wheeler's 20-Year Grind Gets Its Crown Jewel
Longtime pro Jason Wheeler topped a massive 4,333-entry field in the €1,650 PokerStars Open Barcelona Main Event for €731,000 — about $848,000 and the biggest single score of his career, according to PokerNews and Card Player. The man has been grinding the circuit for two decades, and this one clearly meant something.
"It's right up there next to the bracelet, pretty much," Wheeler told PokerNews afterward. Over 4,000 entries at a €1,650 buy-in, by the way — the mid-stakes tournament economy is alive and very well.
03 Tom Fuchs Conquers the €100K Super High Roller
At the other end of the buy-in spectrum, Germany's Tom Fuchs took down the €100,000 EPT Super High Roller in Barcelona for €1,126,540 — roughly $1.3 million, per Card Player. The event drew 27 entries, and according to PokerNews, Fuchs beat Norway's Kayhan Mokri heads-up for the title.
The super high roller scene keeps producing new champions faster than the old guard can defend — worth remembering next time someone tells you the games at the top are solved.
04 The Venetian's $7.2 Million Compliance Bill
The Nevada Gaming Commission approved a $7.2 million fine against the Venetian this week over illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who was allowed to gamble heavily at the property from 2019 to 2021, according to Card Player and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. If Bowyer's name rings a bell, he's the bookmaker at the center of the Shohei Ohtani interpreter scandal.
It's one of the largest fines Nevada regulators have handed out in recent memory, and a loud signal to every property on the Strip about who they let sit down in the big games.
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In the Know
♠ Ari Engel flipped for a trophy — and won. The grinder's grinder took down the WPT Cambodia Championship, outlasting 391 entries in the $1,300 event for $91,444. According to PokerNews and Card Player, Engel and Aditya Agarwal struck a deal heads-up and then literally flipped for the title. Card Player counts it as career win number 69.
♥ A new WPT champion in Cyprus. Iran's Farbod Nazari won the $3,500 WPT Cyprus Championship for $368,900, topping a 520-entry field. That's two WPT trophies handed out on two continents in the same week.
♦ Heads-up Poker is back on your TV. The first four episodes of the 2026 National Heads-Up Poker Championship are now streaming on Peacock and NBC Sports NOW, per Card Player. The bracket format made this appointment viewing back in the day — worth a watch if you missed the era.
Strategy Corner
The Royal Flush Nobody Saw — and What It Teaches About Betting the Nuts
The hand of the week came from Day 6 of the EPT Barcelona Main Event. According to PokerNews, Dutch amateur Lukas van Eeden held KJcc against Jose Criado's 64dd, and the board ran out 2sAcTc3cQc — turning the nut flush and rivering the royal. Van Eeden led the river for 650,000, Criado folded his busted hand, and the pot was his. Then came the part everyone's talking about: with no showdown required, van Eeden slid the best hand in Poker face-down into the muck rather than show the table what he'd made. "I was a bit flabbergasted by getting a Royal Flush," he said afterward — fair enough.
Here's the strategy question buried in the fun: when that fourth club lands on the river, what is your bet actually trying to accomplish? Your opponent's continuing range has collapsed — one-pair hands shut down, and you hold the two cards that make it nearly impossible for them to have a big flush themselves. Blast the river and the only hands that call were beating a bluff anyway.
Your hand doesn't decide how much you win — your opponent's calling range does. With the absolute nuts on a frightening board, the small bet that keeps worse hands in earns more than the big bet that folds everything out.
So on four-flush and four-straight rivers, think about what can pay you before you think about how big you can go. Sometimes the royal flush is worth one modest bet — and that's still the most profitable line available. If you want to build out your river sizing game properly, start with my free Poker training.
Clip of the Week
▶ WATCH NOW
The Pocket Tens Hand Jennifer Tilly Broke Down Live
With all this final table drama in Barcelona, here's one of my own: a huge TT hand from my deep run to the WSOP Ladies Championship final table — with Jennifer Tilly on live commentary breaking down my play as it happened. The link drops you right into the hand. Watch the hand →
And subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next from the road: youtube.com/@LexyGavinPoker