Pau Veciana Wins €888 Buy-in 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event for €70K!

The 2025 888poker LIVE Barcelona Festival was a huge success with our 888poker ambassadors and 888 StreamTeam putting in a strong showing. This Spring seasonal stop in Barcelona was one of the year's most exciting and thrilling series.

The Main Event proved very popular and the crown jewel of the series, attracting 459 entries with a prize pool of almost €350K, €70,000 up top and a min-cash of €2,500.

Coming out on top was Spaniard Pau Veciana, who had less than $10,000 in career earnings heading into this event. As a career architect, Paul admitted that even with the big score, his life both on and off the felt would probably stay the same:

“I think it’s not going to change a lot. I think I’m going to play the same tournaments I usually play. It’s a lot of money, but it’s not going to change my life,” he said.

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1A

Day 1A of the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event belonged to Chang Tan, who ended the night with 574,000 chips heading into Day 2.

Fifty-nine players threw their caps in the ring on Day 1A, with ten punching their tickets to Day 2, including local fan favourite, Ariel “Galactico” Faskowicz (367,000).

Although Team888 didn’t play on Day 1A, three 888poker ambassadors put in a decent showing in the 888pokerLIVE Barcelona High Roller.

💠5th Lucía Navarro 🇪🇸 - €5,700

💠7th Vivi Saliba 🇧🇷 - €3,850

💠8th Ian Simpson 🇬🇧 - €3,465

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1B

Day 1B of the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event attracted 102 entries, including Team888’s Aaron Barone, who bagged 349,500, good for fourth place on the leaderboard.

We found a bag. 349k coming back to 5k BB.

Average stack around 200k. pic.twitter.com/7ahIqNyuZu

— Aaron Barone (@abarone68) May 16, 2025

Teammate Vivian Saliba joined him on the leaderboard, bagging and tagging a very respectable 299,500 in chips.

Several 888poker ambassadors didn't make Day 2, including Nick "Eastyyy22" Eastwood, Ricardo Mateus, Jack "Jaack Maate" Dean, Ian Simpson, and Brazilian brothers Leo and Lua Jokura.

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1C

The first two opening days attracted 161 entries, with 34 players already securing their spot on Day 2.

The third of four starting flights was the biggest, and it didn't disappoint. A crowded field of 204 players packed Casino Barcelona. The 204 entries brought the field up to 365 through the first three days, with 81 securing their spots on Day 2.

888poker Ambassador Ian Simpson, Jack Hardcastle, David Algarra, and Marius Gicovanu were among those to fall on Day 1c.

888poker LIVE Barcelona - Day 1D TURBO & Day 2

With only the final day of action left on the cards, Day 2 kicked off with 15 new runners from Day 1D alongside the previous day's survivors.

By the end of the night, only nine would remain.

• 459 Total Entries
• 55 would make the money.
• The minimum cash was €2,500.
• First-place prize was €70,000.

888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Payouts

It was clear what side of the wheel of fortune Mauro Panto was playing on Day 2 of the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event. His unpredictable playing style, insane raises, and heavy-on-the-gas aggression catapulted him into a massive lead.

Panto finished the day on 9,730,000, more than double his closest challenger.

Teammates and 888poker ambassadors, Vivi and Ian, didn’t fare as well on Day 2 with both busting shy of the money.

Vivi Saliba busted in 119th place, and Ian Simpson busted in 57th place.

Teammate Lucia Navarro didn’t fare much better, also not making the money on Day 2.

However, 888 Streamer Aaron Barone managed to turn his Day 2 big stack into a 50th-place min-cash finish for €2,500.

888poker LIVE Barcelona – Day 3 Final Table

It took just under eight hours to crown a winner from among the nine hopefuls who made the final day.

Mauro Panto began the day with a dominant chip lead, with a 2:1 lead over the second-place challenger.

Mauro controlled the action with his aggressive playing style while Veciana stood on the sidelines. At one point, the Italian had almost 80% of the chips in play. But this hyper-aggressive is swingy as Panto quickly found out.

Final Table Chip Counts

• Martin Guerrero was first to hit the rail for €6,305 when his A♣️Q♣️ was outdrawn by Panto’s A♥️J♦️ when Mauro flopped trips.

• Alexander Sokolovsky was next to receive his marching orders shortly thereafter in a 5-way pre-flop pot. His A♠️K♣️ was no match for Pau Veciana’s K♠️Q♥️. (€8,000)

• Cipriano Bonet was sent to the rail in 7^th place for €10,200 after his A♣️J♠️ were unable to crack Mauro Panto’s A♠️A♥️.

• We had a double elimination in one hand where Mauro’s J♥️J♣️ dominated Hector Garcia’s A♠️K♦️ - out in 6^th for €13,000 - and Fabio Peluso’s A♥️K♠️- finished in 5th for €16,650.

• Johnny Lindroos’ A♦️4♦️ was no match for Pau Veciana’s A♣️Q♣️. He busted out in 4^th for €21,500.

• Mauro Panto’s roller-coaster ride came to an end when he punted J♣️7♣️ into Pau’s K♣️Q♠️, hitting the showers earlier than expected in 3^rd place for €30,000.

888poker LIVE Barcelona – Day 3 Heads-Up

At the start of heads-up play, Pau had a massive 3:1 chip lead:

The Brit fought valiantly and doubled up several times to survive elimination. One double-up involved David’s T♣️8♣️ vs Pau’s 8♠️7♣️, where both players hit the flop, but David’s ten kicker played.

McConachie grabbed a massive 6:1 chip lead.

However, Veciana was not going anywhere. David's missed straight draw and pair were outdrawn by Pau's bigger rivered pair, resulting in Veciana snatching back a 2:1 chip lead.

The final hand of play occurred over 3 hours after the start of heads-up play and an unsuccessful deal discussion. McConachie’s K♣️6♣️ was no match for Veciana’s K♦️9♣️.

Both players biked a K on the flop, and two-pair on the turn, but the seven on the river gave the win to Pau as his kicker played.

Gg to all players and see you at the next 888pokerLIVE event in London in September!

🎉 Congratulations to Pau Veciana on taking down the 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event!

After a hard fought heads-up battle David McConachie goes out in 2nd place for €43,500 🥈

🏆 Pau Veciana takes home the trophy and €70,000! pic.twitter.com/fYbfbZB0nq

— 888poker (@888poker) May 18, 2025

888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Final Table Results