The 2024 PokerStars EPT Barcelona Main Event was a thrilling tournament of fierce competition and extraordinary plays. In the end, the USA’s Stephen Song emerged as the champion, banking a career-high €1,290,386, but not without knocking out some serious contenders along the way. Among them was India’s poker sensation Sriharsha Doddapaneni.
The year’s WPT Vietnam Megastack High Roller winner, Sriharsha was looking to etch his name in poker history as the first Indian EPT Main Event champion. Starting Day 6 with the 8th largest stack among 16 players, the Bengaluru pro had both the skills and experience to go the distance. However, it wasn’t to be as he ended up running his king-jack into Song`s ace-king, which ended his dream run for the main event title in 12th place but earned him a career-best €89,550 (INR 83.56 Lakhs).
Hand Analysis & Breakdown
With the blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 ante in play during level 29, Sriharsha moved all in for 1,620,000 from the button, and the eventual champion Song made the call from the small blind.
Sriharsha: ♠️K♦️J
Song: ♠️A♦️K
Board: ♣️10 ♣️8 ♠️6 ♣️5 ♠️8
Analysis of Sriharsha’s All-In with Kd Jh & Song’s Call with Ad Ks
Sitting on the button with a strong hand like K-J is a good opportunity to be aggressive, especially for the short stacks in late stage tournaments that put pressure on you to amass chips. It was a strong enough hand for a short-stack shove with over 16 blinds. Sriharsha probably hoped to steal the blinds and antes. This move was not just about surviving, it was about building a stack that could compete.
While Sriharsha made a good move in an attempt to double up, Song had a better holding in the small blind with Ad Ks. Holding a premium hand to call and sitting with a significantly much larger stack, it was an easy decision for him and he made the call. The 10c 8c 6s 5c 8s board did not provide any real help for Sriharsha. As expected, Song’s Ace-King remained strong, and Sriharsha’s dream of becoming the first Indian to win the EPT Main Event came to an end. Though disappointed with the outcome, he exited with a career-high €89,550 ( INR 83.56 Lakhs)- the best score by any Indian in EPT Main Event history. We congratulate Sriharsha for his brave run and wish him good luck for the future!
Keep following PokerProNews for the latest updates and thrilling hands from the world of live poker!
Image & Hand Credit: PokerStars/PokerNews/EPT
