Meet the Final Table of the 2024 EPT Barcelona Main Event

The EPT Barcelona Main Event has turned itself into an outright American invasion, as three of the final six players in contention for the 1.5 million first-place prize also look to break a long dry spell on the opposite side of the Atlantic.

It’s been almost 10 years since a player from the United States has won an EPT title on European soil, dating back to Stephen Graner‘s EPT Prague win in December 2014. The three American in question each carry significant weight into their respective title pushes as well.

Stephen Song, who enters Sunday as the chip leader, has a victory in the 2022 WPT Prime Championship and a WSOP bracelet to his nam with over $6.5 million in lifetime live tournament earnings. David Coleman is fresh off a win in one of the $25,000 WPT Alpha8 Trifecta events at Wynn Las Vegas over the summer, and his high roller tournament experience will likely suit him well with the big dollar amounts on the line.

And then there’s Rania Nasreddine.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma native made waves this spring during her run at EPT Monte Carlo, where she ultimately finished in third place. Nasreddine has locked up a rare feat by making a second consecutive EPT Main Event final table, and she’ll get her second shot at a major title on Sunday.

The three Europeans still in the hunt are no pushovers by any means. Marius Pertea of Romania sits just behind Song in the chip counts, and after some close calls in the past he’s finally made his first EPT Main Event final table.

Andrew Hulme of England and Boris Kuzmanovic of Croatia are the two shortest stacks, but well within range. Each set career high water marks at the World Series of Poker in las Vegas over the last two years, but stand to add to those significant sums regardless of where they finish.

After a long Day 6 at Casino Barcelona, the 16 players were finally whittled down to the targeted final six with just 30 minutes left on the clock. Play will resume at 1 p.m. in Barcelona, with live streaming coverage on PokerStars’ broadcast channels starting on a one-hour delay at 2 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET).

Here’s what the final six will be playing for:

Ahead of Sunday’s restart, this is what you need to know about the six players at the final table of the 2024 EPT Barcelona Main Event.

Stats and tournament earnings courtesy of The Hendon Mob. Additional information supplemented by PokerStars Blog.

Stephen Song – 15,150,000 (61 big blinds)

29 Years Old Greenwich, Connecticut, United States Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings:$6,542,031 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $712,650, 1st, 2022 WPT Prime Championship Other Prominent Scores: $476,990, 2nd, 2022 WSOP $5,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em; $341,854, 1st, 2019 WSOP $1,000 No Limit Hold’em

Stephen Song has accomplished a great deal in his poker career, and his performance thus far in the EPT Barcelona Main Event has been nothing short of masterful. He’s ended each day of play among the chip leaders, and has managed to wield that stack in a way that’s kept him out of major danger, save for one memorable moment where Song found a two-outer on the river to score a major knockout on the featured streaming table.

While winning this tournament wouldn’t technically qualify him for poker’s Triple Crown, when combined with his WPT Prime Championship win and WSOP bracelet, such a victory would put Song in some rarified air. He’d also more than double his career-best live cash.

End of Day 1 chips 230,500 (19/625) End of Day 2 chips – 459,000 (17/290) End of Day 3 chips – 1,382,000 (4/112) End of Day 4 chips – 4,130,000 (1/40) End of Day 5 chips – 6,725,000 (2/16)

Marius Pertea – 14,575,000 (58 big blinds)

44 Years Old Buzau, Romania Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $374,438 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $107,754, 1st, 2017 Unibet Open Bucharest 1,000 Main Event Other Prominent Scores: $68,153, 4th, 2018 EPT Monte Carlo 2,200 No Limit Hold’em; $48,223, 11th, 2017 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event; $32,124, 8th, 2018 WPT European Championship (Berlin)

Before this tournament, Marius Pertea’s poker career could be defined by a series of close calls in his biggest spots. He finished 11th on PokerStars’ biggest live stage in Monte Carlo in 2017, and then one year later in Berlin, Pertea narrowly missed out on the final table of the WPT European Championship with an eighth-place result.

It seemed as though Pertea could wind up with a similarly painful outcome late on Day 6 as well, when he and Fabiano Kovalski squared off in a massive pot that all but boiled down to a coinflip. Pertea held against Kovalski’s pocket eights on a flop. And rather than hit the flush, Pertea spiked the on the turn for a massive double-up.

After playing on n almost directly opposite trajectory to Song as one of the short stacks at the end of almost every day of play in this tournament, Pertea suddenly finds himself directly in the mix and just off the chip lead.

End of Day 1 chips 73,000 (336/625) End of Day 2 chips – 105,000 (206/290) End of Day 3 chips – 354,000 (67/112) End of Day 4 chips – 700,000 (33/40) End of Day 5 chips – 2,535,000 (12/16)

David Coleman – 10,425,000 (42 big blinds)

31 Years Old Livingston, New Jersey, United States Resides: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $6,648,959 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $730,300, 1st, 2024 $25,000 WPT Alpha8 Trifecta #3 Other Prominent Scores: $642,900, 2nd, 2024 Triton High Roller Series Jeju $52,000 Turbo Bounty Quattro; $455,000, 2nd, 2021 PokerGO Cup $50,000 No Limit Hold’em; $364,000, 2nd 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe $50,000 No Limit Hold’em

David Coleman has played for serious sums of money on poker’s high roller tournament circuit over the last four years, and after racking up some tough runner-up finishes in several big spots Coleman broke through in a big way over the summer in Las Vegas. In the third and final edition of the WPT Alpha8 Trifecta series, Coleman broke through with a $730,300 victory at Wynn Las Vegas.

Running through a field of 1,975 entries is a different task entirely than taking on 100 of the world’s best, but no less impressive a feat to reach the final six among such a contingent. And like Song, Coleman stands a chance to more than double his career-best cash with a win on Sunday in Barcelona. He spent several stretches on Day 6 of the tournament among some of the shorter stacks, but thrust himself into contention when his pocket kings held to eliminate Alexandre Fournier in seventh place to end the night Saturday.

End of Day 1 chips 233,000 (18/625) End of Day 2 chips – 185,000 (136/290) End of Day 3 chips – 615,000 (36/112) End of Day 4 chips – 3,900,000 (2/40) End of Day 5 chips – 3,570,000 (7/16)

Rania Nasreddine – 8,300,000 (33 big blinds)

44 Years Old Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,179,439 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $473,639, 3rd, 2024 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Other Prominent Scores: $87,750, 8th, 2011 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $25,000 High Roller; $60,380, 1st, 2022 WSOP Circuit Tulsa $400 No Limit Hold’em.

It’s been a breakout 2024 in every sense of the word for Rania Nasreddine, who took the poker world by storm in late April and early May with her run to the final table of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. She made a tremendous impression as she entertained viewers worldwide during that stretch, and it’s only been magnified as Nasreddine claimed a slice of poker history by making it back-to-back final tables with her performance in Barcelona.

Nasreddine began Day 6 as the chip leader, but slid back to the pack on the way down to a single table. She did a lot of the dirty work in getting the field down to six players; first, when her pocket jacks held up to knock Kovalski out in ninth.

Then came a hand that will likely be played on PokerStars highlight reels for years to come against Jianwei Lin.

A fifth-place finish would essentially match what Nasreddine did in Monte Carlo, but with a second bite at the apple, Nasreddine is poised for another shot at an EPT title.

End of Day 1 chips 239,000 (14/625) End of Day 2 chips – 609,000 (7/290) End of Day 3 chips – 1,330,000 (5/112) End of Day 4 chips – 2,005,000 (10/40) End of Day 5 chips – 7,200,000 (1/16)

Andrew Hulme – 5,525,000 (22 big blinds)

36 Years Old Nottingham, United Kingdom Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $2,281,721 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $345,000, 18th, 2023 WSOP Main Event Other Prominent Scores: $167,864, 4th, 2022 EPT Prague Eureka High Roller; $159,319, 1st, 2018 GUKPT London Main Event

Andrew Hulme has made a considerable career for himself in poker, accumulating almost $2.3 million in lifetime live tournament earnings. He made a run in poker’s largest showcase, reaching the final two tables of the 2023 WSOP Main Eent before bowing out.

But there’s another reason to believe that the bright lights of an EPT final table with over $1.6 million awaiting the champion won’t phase Hulme in the least. Hulme is perhaps best known in England for his runs on the long-running game show Countdown. After appearing for the first time at just 11 years old, Hulme won a Junior Championship at age 13 and then returned seven years later to run off eight consecutive victories and the honor of becoming an “octochamp.”

Hulme has already matched his career-best cash by locking up a top-six finish in Barcelona, and any pay jumps would only add to that achievement.

End of Day 1 chips 135,500 (113/625) End of Day 2 chips – 437,000 (22/290) End of Day 3 chips – 724,000 (25/112) End of Day 4 chips – 780,000 (31/40) End of Day 5 chips – 1,670,000 (13/16)

Boris Kuzmanovic – 5,275,000 (21 big blinds)

37 Years Old Zagreb, Croatia Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $547,735 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $133,479, 8th, 2024 WSOP $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship Other Prominent Scores: $62,084, 2nd, Eureka Poker Tour Dubrovnik Main Event; $47,674, 19th, 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event

Like Hulme, Boris Kuzmanovic has had a few brushes with major results over the course of his career, accumulating over $500K in live tournament earnings along the way. The 37-year-old computer consultant made his first major final table over the summer at the WSOP, but his run thus far in Barcelona dwarfs everything else he’s done in his poker career thus far.

Kuzmanovic sat in third in chips when players went to the dinner break on Sunday, and despite largely staying out of the way as he slowly fell down the pecking order Kuzmanovic is likely happy to have guaranteed himself more than double what he was guaranteed by simply surviving from ninth players down to six – and he’s still well within range of making a run at the title.

End of Day 1 chips 121,000 (153/625) End of Day 2 chips – 210,000 (111/290) End of Day 3 chips – 270,000 (79/112) End of Day 4 chips – 1,230,000 (20/40) End of Day 5 chips – 6,565,000 (3/16)

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It was one of those things where I realized I was just going to have to make a choice. That was September 2022. Less than a month later, Seward was in Vegas and nearly immediately booked his first win taking down a $400 Venetian Deepstack event for $27,000 – his first live recorded tournament score in one of his first-ever live tournaments. For Seward, an East Coast native, Sin City was a culture shock. But thinking streets ahead, he created a soft landing spot for himself by laying the groundwork ahead of time. In terms of poker, Seward was a lone wolf while in college, but one can tell from his humble, affable nature that hes also the kind of guy whos likely good at making friends. So, without any previous connections, he cold reached out to Matt Berkey, co-founder of Solve For Why and lead voice of the Only Friends podcast. Seward offered to help in any way he could and while there was no formal position available, the Only Friends team took to Seward and he quickly became friendly with another guy who knew a lot about moving to Las Vegas to take a shot, Landon Tice. From there Seward found a way to continue to expand his new poker circle. Landon was one of my first friends in Vegas and from there, obviously I met more people, he said. I would say that my biggest role models in poker and people who have been very, very helpful to the progression of my career thus far are David Coleman, Sam Laskowitz, and Landon. We work together pretty intently and theyve helped me a ton. Sewards a grinder, both live and online, but also very big on taking days away from the felt to spend time in the lab, studying the game. I kind of live and breathe , 95% of my time is spent either playing or studying or doing something poker-related. And with that dedication, the results have come. He notched 41 live results in 2023 including a final table appearance in the 2023 $3,500 Wynn Summer Classic for a $320,631 score. He followed that up this summer with a gold bracelet performance in the $3,000 WSOP NLHE Six Handed, fading a tough field for a new career-high score of $516,135. Its a victory he called very surreal. From the moment that I knew what a bracelet was, I knew I wanted one at some point in my life, he said. To win my first one two years into his career was so special and it was pretty hard to grasp that concept that I had won in that moment. When asked about his success coming out of the 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Florida, where he took home two trophies in back-to-back days, and whether he thought it was built on a backbone of studying or riding a wave of confidence due to results Seward was candid about what he feels has been the motivation behind his recent success. Im actually somebody that struggles with self-doubt quite a bit. Its one of those things where I think its a product of that I sort of have always had a perfectionist mentalityand that has pros and cons to it. Im really hard on myself when I make mistakes at the table, but I think that has improved as Ive spent more time studying. So I would say a big thing, especially in any series, is I want to feel prepared and the way I feel prepared is by putting in the maximum amount of time off the table. Then translating that on the table, I think that the biggest thing is I just want to focus on execution because its one thing to sit there and spend hours upon hours learning something, but if you cant properly implement that at the table, its somewhat useless. So thats been a big focal point and as long as I can do both of those things, I think thats where the confidence stems from. Seward says his father has warmed up to his sons decision to make poker a career and sure, obviously it helps to have results. Those results are bringing Seward the kind of attention in the Las Vegas poker scene akin to his peers Tice and Jeremy Becker. For Seward, while its nice right now, hes hoping that its just the start of something big. My mindset has kind of always been the same within poker. I mean obviously money is nice, but that is just the last motive that I have for staying in the game, he said My ultimate goal is to succeed at the highest level of the game. Triton, PokerGO Tour, and all of the higher stake stuff – succeeding in that arena. And that obviously takes a very, very long time. But that’s my ultimate goal. And at the end of the day, I want to, above all else, I just want to be as good as I can be. And when I’m all done, I want to look back and say confidently that I gave it my all. And if that feeling is succeeding in that arena, then great. But yeah, at the end of the day, I really want to give it my all and try to succeed at the highest level. That’s the biggest thing for me.

Patrick ‘Egption’ Tardif Makes Major Splash at WPT Summer Festival

Making a major final table of any kind is a milestone by any measure, and Patrick Tardif best known by his online moniker Egption enjoyed one of the biggest of his career on Sunday. The freshly minted WPT Global Ambassador got heads up for the WPT Summer Festival $3,500 Championship, and while Tardif ultimately finished second to pas1161br there was much to be celebrated. The $130,640 payout stands among the best cashes of Tardifs career, and he got to share the moment with upwards of 1,200 viewers on his Twitch channel, who followed along with him for the entirety of Day 2. With the ups and the downs, seeing chat explode whenever things go well, and seeing chat explode where things don’t, it’s always a unique experience, said Tardif. Especially when things go well. I’ve been somebody that’s always livestreamed throughout almost my entire full-time poker-playing career, its essentially all been documented. And it’s nice to be able to share the moment with anyone that’s been supporting me. Since launching his Twitch channel in 2016, Tardif has amassed a following of more than 54,600 followers who have collectively streamed over 2.28 million hours of his content. Hes represented several different online pker platforms over the years, and in May Tardif signed on to become the newest ambassador for WPT Global. One thing that happens when you’re when you’re a streamer and you play on multiple sites is there’s definitely a little bit more pressure to try to make that deep run on the site that you’re sponsored by, Tardif said. Any time we play a tournament on WPT Global, there’s a little bit of, a little bit of stress added to hoping that I win some all-ins or get some good cards, because then that means I get more screen time for the site, and I’m able to show off the product a lot more. It was the culmination of a truly successful WPT Sumer Festival on WPT Global for Tardif, who also finished 10th in the WPT500 event and, at the same time he was making his run in the $3,500 WPT Championship, took third in the $220 Summer Festival Championship for another $25,859. On a stream that lasted nearly nine hours, Tardif made the most of a chance to showcase the platform. I am playing on a poker site that is still in its infancy, on the rise, and because of that a lot of professional players have not adopted playing on WPT yet, said Tardif. Ive been enjoying the relatively softer games. This particular Sunday, everything seemed to be clicking. Not only did we have the run in the $3,500, but we had the well over 2000 player field, $200 tournament where we were very, very close to winning that one as well. When cards are going your way and things are going as well as they do, you feel pretty damn confident. I was able to put out one of my better performances and then finish with second. With this result, Tardif continued a trend of WPT Ambassadors making serious runs at a permanent spot on the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup. Fellow Ambassador Brad Owen, who also made a deep run on Sunday (finishing 31st), made the final table of the Season 21 WPT Gardens Championship as well as WPT Prime Montreal earlier this year. WPT Montreal was Tardifs first opportunity to represent the WPT brand, and his first time sporting a WPT Global patch. He took part in his first official meetup game at Playground Poker Club and also took part in all of the signature live tournament events on the schedule. There’s not very much that can rival a WPT event, especially the championship, and everything that comes along with it, said Tardif. Being able to be there for the return to Canada we hadnt had a WPT in Canada since 2020, and not in Montreal since 2018 – it was good to be there. Good to see Canadian poker reignite with WPT being there. Despite building up the majority of his following online as a streamer, Tardif is excited to step into the live arena as part of his new role as a WPT Global Ambassador. Over the last few years hes managed several significant live results, including a career-best $159,157 cash in a $2,500 side event during WPT Fallsview in 2020, and a 97th place finish in the 2023 WSOP Main Event. In the coming weeks, Tardif will make his first international appearance with WPT, and hes looking forward to stepping into an entirely unknown environment to him. Im heading to WPT Prime Liechtenstein, and Ill get to see what WPT is like is out in Europe, said Tardif. I’m really looking forward to exploring a part of Europe where Ive never been, and I’m expecting as good of an experience as I would any other WPT; if they run a live series, it’s going to be a good one. On Wednesday, WPTs return to Montreal was announced for October, which will be another chance for Tardif to play for a title closer to home. Theres also considerable excitement ahead for Tardifs first WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas as an Ambassador. But before he gets too wrapped up in the excitement of whats to come, Tardifs certainly enjoying the moment hes in right now, banking the kind of major online result that should set him up well for the rest of the year while checking all the boxes WPT Global had for him when they brought him on board. I’ve got a permanent memory that can eventually get dropped into a YouTube highlight and some Instagram clips, and I’ll be able to reflect upon this moment for the rest of my life, which is always cool.

TJ Jurkiewicz Finds Joy in Helping Poker Community Get Healthy

In 2020, everyone had their own way of passing the time while they were stuck at home. Some people got deep into video games. Others learned how to bake homemade bread or grow out their gardens. TJ Jurkiewicz decided to take it as an opportunity to change career paths, walking away from a decade of playing poker professionally in pursuit of nutrition and fitness coaching. I had been burned out on poker since like 2018, when I moved to Vegas. I think this town just sucked the joy out of poker for me, said Jurkiewicz. During COVID, I saw an ad to get a certification to be a nutrition coach. And I thought that sounded pretty interesting. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. By July 2021, Jurkiewicz had all of his ducks in a row and officially launched All In Fitness Coaching. Even as poker had become a thing of his past, his experiences away from the table while fighting his way up the cash game ranks presented him with an opportunity and a steady client base in a familiar community. I had lived the poker player lifestyle from 2013 to 2020, a professional poker players lifestyle, said Jurkiewicz. When I first started playing poker professionally I put on a lot of weight, and I knew that the lifestyle was congruent with not being healthy. Then I got in shape while playing poker, so in figuring that out, I knew I had a path to help people the same way. In the lead-up to launching All In Fitness Coaching, Jurkiewicz got himself into the best shape of his life, a far cry from both his heaviest point as a poker player and weight maintenance issues dating back to his teenage years, during which he consistently struggled with maintaining a consistent regiment. Jurkiewicz solving his own longtime search for the key to a consistent diet and exercise plan led him to discover a handful of core pillars for Jurkiewicz to instill in the clients who would soon join him. I know we’re all very good at losing weight. We’re just absolutely horribly keeping it off, said Jurkiewicz. I knew I was doing it in a way that a lot of people could do it, too. I wasn’t just eating leftovers out of Tupperware and going to the gym seven days a week, things that I knew people wouldn’t want to do. Poker leads itself to a very unhealthy lifestyle, and I thought that I could connect with these people and show them a way that’s easier. Poker players looking to lose weight is not a new idea by any means. Weight loss prop bets pop up every year around the start of the summer, with Shaun Deeb representing the latest player to cash in big on getting smaller. By February of this year, he had already secured an $800,000 windfall when Bill Perkins bought out of their bet that he could get himself down to 17% body fat. And while Deeb in particular doesnt seem to be slowing down his weight loss journey, the type of motivation behind such bets is indicative of how many poker players prioritize short-term gains over a more sustainable overall lifestyle. There’s always a weight loss prop bet going on. There’s one with a giant group of people that happens before the WSOP every year, but the same people are in the same thing, weighing the same amount every single year. And that that pains me to see. Getting out of the cycle of yo-yo-ing weight isnt typically an easy task, and Jurkiewicz quickly learned that the same approach isnt going to work for every client. The adaptability skills Jurkiewicz developed in his time as a poker player have served him well as his client roster has grown and hes gained more experience and knowledge. It’s definitely evolved a ton since those early days, said Jurkiewicz. I think I made a mistake in the beginning, where I would throw too much at people too soon. I would say drink this much water, eat this much food, work out this much. And it wasn’t like I was asking a crazy amount of volume per metric that I was asking them to track, but I was asking them to track far too many metrics. Nowadays, in the first month that I work together with someone, I roll out things one by one, or start very basic in like four or five key areas, and then we just build on that. Instead of giving them everything all at once, now I sort of get people to that point over a period of time, getting to know them more and getting to know their existing lifestyle before we start working together more. In getting poker players on the right path in their health journeys, Jurkiewicz has tapped into a positivity that was sorely missing at the tail end of his full-time poker playing days. For the better part of a decade, Jurkiewicz chased the poker dream with ferocity. By his mid-20s Jurkiewicz was playing seriously, staked to play $2/$5 cash games in Maryland and ultimately working his way up to as high as $25/$50/$100. He moved to Las Vegas like so many other poker players, and despite being almost exclusively focused on cash games managed a significant tournament success. Despite being down to his last $700, and anticipating a return to playing on a stake, Jurkiewicz fired off most of what he had left and made a run to the final table of the $1,000 Tag Team event at the 2019 World Series of Poker. Jurkiewicz and Zachary Gruneberg ultimately finished fourth in that tournament, and despite that success, the afterglow simply wasnt enough to reignite his passion for the game. Despite the Vegas poker world sapping Jurkiewiczs remaining enthusiasm for the game, its also the city where he found his calling. Hes helped poker players like Jeff Platt and Matt Affleck achieve their health goals, and by proxy made an impact on the poker world that Jurkiewicz is truly proud of. There’s no better feeling for me, Jurkiewicz said. Coming from poker where, at the tail end of when I stopped playing, I was getting zero enjoyment, even when I was winning. There was no meaning behind what I was doing. And I’m not saying poker is a thankless, meaningless grind, even though it kind of is, some people do find ways to make it productive. I just wasn’t one of them. So to come from that I enter this position where I can help people directly with things that I struggled with directly, and really improve their lives, said Jurkiewicz. To have them thank me for improving their lives, You’ve added years to my life, like now I can play with my kids. Hearing those things, it really fuels me up and gives me a strong reason to get out of bed some days. I struggle with things, and one thing that I can always count on to be an anchor point is my clients that I know I’m doing a good job for them. Jurkiewicz is keenly aware that he has to consistently balance his professional ambitions with his own health and fitness goals. With his poker days largely fading into the background he been on the hunt for something else that can consistently fulfill his competitive urges, and he seems to have found an ideal outlet in Muay Thai. I’m 35 now, and that made me reflect on getting older, said Jurkiewicz. I realized that I wanted to be someone who aged more gracefully than others. I wanted to be in my 60s, still able to hike, still able to travel. And I’ve sort of taken the focus off of present-day me. Right now my goal is to be one of the most in-shape 40-year-olds I can be. Martial arts is my main outlet for exercise these days, I really fell in love with it. It’s much more enjoyable for me than traditional methods of cardio or training. I still lift weights, but it’s mostly for me, outdoor runs, martial arts, and lifting weights a few times a week now, and a lot of mobility work. Jurkiewicz currently attends five Muay Thai classes a week in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture, and in an effort to continue to set lofty goals the same approach that brought him success early on in his poker career Jurkiewicz has booked himself an intensive month of training in Thailand at the Fairtex Training Camp. It’s great because it’s motivating me in the present day. I do not want to show up there out of shape, because as far as I know, the day starts with a 7 a.m. hourlong run, and then you train for two and a half hours, take a four-hour break and then you train again for two-and-a-half hours. Six hours of work, six days a week. I’m not far off the best shape of my life right now. That’s my goal, and then obviously coming out of that month, I’ll probably even take that up another level. So I’m excited to see what’s possible. By pushing his limits and continuing his own efforts in approaching health and wellness, Jurkiewicz will be setting another example of what can be achieved when his clients work with him to find their own best path forward. I’m going to struggle, Jurkiewicz said. But I want to go in there and get the most out of the experience.

Poker’s Olympic Dream Teams: U.S.A.

The worlds greatest athletes have all gathered in Paris, France for the Summer Olympics and while poker isnt an Olympic sport – or maybe even a sport at all – WPT.com couldnt help but take the opportunity to imagine what it just might look like if some of the worlds best poker players were representing their country in Paris. In the true Olympic spirit, each countrys organizing committee was tasked with filling a five-person roster consisting of a specialist in each of the following: The five players would also be accompanied by a coach from their country. Each player would compete ONLY in their respective discipline, earning not only individual glory – medals available for each event – but also team points that lead to gold, silver, and bronze medals for the top-performing country. With that in mind, weve put together teams from Canada, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, reat Britain, and the United States with insight from some of the top journalists in poker. Today, we present to you the 2024 United States of America Olympic Poker team with comments from PokerGO commentator and podcast co-host Donnie Peters. With over $46 million in live tournament earnings, two World Poker Tour titles, and 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, Phil Ivey is one of the most accomplished poker players in the game’s history. Hes also one of the most feared. Ivey has proven time and time again that on the biggest stages, when the stakes are at their highest, hes able to come through for the win. And plenty of that success has been in No Limit Holdem Tournaments. Team USA wouldnt be complete without the GOAT on the squad, and I can’t think of a better player to hang the country’s poker hat on – and yes, it can be a bucket hat. Phil Iveys biggest strength is his natural talent. No one is better than Ivey at reading his opponents and adjusting on the fly. He is an elite competitor,” said Donnie Peters. “If you were going to stake any poker player, that player is likely Ivey – it doesnt matter the location, the opponents, or the stakes. If Ivey had a weakness, it could be that he isn’t the most studied player when it comes to poker theory. That said, Ivey’s natural instincts and experience have always seemed to blow study out of the water. Ivey boasts 11 seven-figure scores, eight of which are in NLHE tournaments, including his current career-high cash of $3.58 million with his victory in the 2014 Aussie Millions $250K Poker Championship, a $1.5 million win in the 2008 WPT LAPC Championship, and his 7th place finish in the 2009 WSOP Main Event for $1.4 million among other. While Ivey may have competition in the discussion for who is the best all-time NLHE player in the world, hes got virtually none in the star power category. Hes in a category all by himself. Californias Dylan Weisman can do it all, but he is perhaps best known as a Pot Limit Omaha specialist and, in that regard, one of the best in the world at that variant. A look at his top three career scores showcases just that: a runner-up finish in the 2024 Triton Super High Roller PLO Main Event for $1.66 million, a victory in the PokerGO U.S. Poker Open $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha event for $416,000, and a 2024 World Series of Poker $1,500 win for $294,000 for one of his two WSOP bracelets in PLO. He has more than $6 million in career tournament earnings, with most of those cashes coming in PLO. Few players understand poker to the degree that Dylan Weisman understands Pot-Limit Omaha. It always seems as though Weisman knows where he is at in a PLO hand. Weismans biggest strength – and this is said with the biggest amount of love and respect – is that he is a supreme PLO nerd,” said Peters. “Hes the most studied, experienced PLO tournament player in the country, and his results speak for themselves. Another key strength of Weisman is that he seems to be devoid of emotions when he is playing, which is an incredible trait for any poker player to harness, especially a PLO player. Even though Garrett Adelstein doesnt appear on livestreamed cash games nearly as much as he used to, he still carries the reputation as being one of the nosebleed cash games biggest crushers in the modern era. A regular on the early episodes of Live At The Bike and subsequently Hustler Casino Live (until September of 2022) he has recorded more than $2.5 million in livestreamed earnings according to HighRoll Poker, sitting as the second biggest all-time winner on Live At The Bike and Hustler Casino Lives fifth highest earner. Garrett Adelstein has battled in the biggest games against tough lineups, making him a perfect fit for this role,” said Peters. “An important strength for Adelstein is that hes incredibly well-versed in live cash games, and that strength can pay big dividends here. If Adelstein has one weakness, everyone will point to the hand against Robbi Jade and the subsequent fallout. That could show an emotional or mental chink in Adelsteins armor, but its not something we have seen from Adelstein outside of this situation that would led itself to being a weakness Team USA is worried about. In December 2023, Adelstein returned from a self-imposed break and appeared on the WPT World Championship livestreamed cash games, picking up more than $250,000 in his return, just proving that even after taking time away from the table, he continues to be a cash-game force to be dealt with. One wouldnt even need the results from the 2024 World Series of Poker to be convinced that Scott Seiver is one of the worlds top talents when it comes to Mixed Games. But just in case you missed it, Seiver took a break from playing the biggest Mixed Game cash games this summer to show up and show out at the WSOP. He became just the sixth player in history to win three bracelets in a single summer series grabbing gold in the $10,000 Omaha8 Championship for $426K, the $1,500 Razz for $141K, and finally the $10,000 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw for another $411K. The result – Scott Seiver took home 2024 WSOP Player of the Year honors. But more than that, with nearly $27 million in lifetime tournament earnings, Siever has continually proven that it doesnt matter the variant of poker – hes going to be a favorite. Scott Seiver has long battled at the highest stakes for mixed games. This recent summer, he proved that his prowess extends beyond cash games, if there ever was any doubt, by winning three gold bracelets at the WSOP. Seiver is as well-rounded of a poker player as they come, and he certainly wont shy away from the moment,” said Peters. “Further, Seiver always seems to be in tune with his opponents and the energy surrounding him, which may not be quantifiable but it matters. Cutting his teeth and building his bankroll in the heads-up NL streets of online poker shortly after the poker boom, Doug Polk has curated a career as a specialist in the HU4Rollz arena. On his tournament resume, hes the runner-up in the 2023 World Series of Poker $25,000 Heads-Up Championship for $313,362. But the majority of Polks public heads-up accomplishments have taken place playing in livestreamed public cash games. Most notably Polk bested Daniel Negreanu in a grudge match of 25,000 heads-up hands online for more than $1.2 million. Polk has routinely taken on nearly anyone who has wanted to show up at his Lodge Card Club in Austin to battle heads up at high stakes where, according to HighRoll Poker, hes made a profit of $335,000. When it comes to heads-up poker experts, few are in the conversation. Doug Polk is undoubtedly in that conversation and could very well be the greatest heads-up No-Limit Holdem player of all time. It would be easy to point to Polks biggest weakness as being a slave to the sim but Polk is also a people person who can relate to an opponent and go beyond charts and theory when needed. Polk is an aggressive player who wont back down and you need that in heads-up play, said Peters. Great coaches are great leaders, with excellent communication skills, a wealth of knowledge and experience, the ability to adapt and relate, and shared respect. Jason Koon checks all of the boxes to be a great coach,” said Peters. It would be tough to find someone who has a better reputation in poker than Jason Koon. Both on and away from the felt. Koon is a nosebleed tournament specialist who has not only amassed more than $58 million in lifetime earnings, good for 4th on poker’s All-Time Money List, but also the respect of his competition and peers. Originally from West Virginia, Koon developed his poker talents from the early days of online poker and since has traveled the world accumulating 104 live scores of $100,000 or more. So, when it comes to the pressure of competition at the highest level, theres nothing in this game that he hasnt seen or done himself. “Hes been in the arena, knows what it takes to win, and has the respect of the players on the team. If Koon has a weakness, its that hes not as well-versed in mixed games as he is in the big-bet games. That deficiency can be minimized through Koons leadership qualities and general poker intelligence. stats courtesy of The Hendon Mob/GPI