Tero Laurila capitalized on his start-of-day chip lead to win the €1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event for €64,000. The Finn, who has over $70,000 in tournament cashes according to the Hendon Mob, defeated online qualifier Nils Lechner heads up to win the prestigious trophy at the beautiful Barcelona Casino.

Lechner qualified for this event from an $11 online step satellite on 888poker.com to win a package to the €1,100 buy-in Main Event. Lechner spoke to PokerNews yesterday on making the final table. “So it was like already, like, pretty big to come here. Just getting the accommodations paid and just enjoying. And I had no expectations going into this.” With no expectations, Lechner turned his $11 into a €46,000 payday. Lechner said he’d only played live once before, but at just 23 years old, it is unlikely this will be his last appearance on the live circuit.

€1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Final Table Results

*reflects a heads-up deal

Final Table Action

The final table started in electric fashion, and Nils Lechner was lucky to not be the first out when he four-bet his ace-king against Nuno Duarte. Duarte had pocket queens but decided Lechner was too strong, and made the hero fold.

However, Duarte wasn’t folding his pocket tens when he cold four-bet all in over Sergi Alonso‘s three-bet. Alonso had ace-king, but headed for an early exit when Duarte hit a set on the turn which left Alonso drawing dead.

Despite eliminating Alonso, Duarte himself was next to be eliminated when he moved all in with pocket kings over Laurila’s bet on the ace of spades turn. Chip leader Laurila had donked on the seven-high board with ace-jack but turned top pair. Duarte was a non-believer when he raised all in, which sent him home in eighth place for €9,300.

Lin Xia was gone soon after when he three-bet shoved ace-ten. Laurila looked Xia up with his pocket three, and Xia was eliminated (€12,000) when he couldn’t win the flip against the Finn. Six-handed play lasted a while before Juri Mereu ran cold against Catalan local Albert Grane. Grane, dressed as Rambo, had raised jacks from late position and called Mereu’s three-bet jam with queens. Luck would be on Grane’s side when a jack came on the turn to eliminate Mereu in sixth (€15,000).

Pekka Ikonen got his money in good when Tullio Bertoli shoved ace-six from the small blind into Ikonen’s ace-queen but the flop fell with two sixes which ensured Ikonen’s elimination for €20,000 in fifth. Four-handed play lasted a while before Bertoli himself was eliminated after the dinner break at the hands of Lechner. Lechner had already hero-folded ace-queen when Bertoli shoved on him with ace-jack but Lechner didn’t feel like folding twice when he called a three bet shove with pocket sevens against Bertoli’s ace-queen.The flip went Lechner’s way to move the contest into three-handed play.

Three-handed play was almost a heads-up match as Grane and Lechner went head to head in many pots while Laurila avoided confrontation with tight preflop play. Grane held the chip lead for several hours before Lechner took Grane for three streets with a better top pair. Grane eventually moved all in with jack-nine only to run into Laurila’s ace-king to bring the final table to heads-up play.

Heads-up play was a gruelling battle between the two, with lots of small ball poker being played with stacks equal for much of the battle. The players agreed on a deal early in the match, but Laurila eventually took control, leaving Lechner short. Lechner eventually three-bet shoved all in with nine-eight only to run into Laurila’s kings. Lechner picked up a flush draw on the flopbut couldn’t hit which gave the trophy to Laurila.