EPT Barcelona Main Event Hands Six Bet Shove

The late-August 2026 EPT Barcelona festival delivered a series of sharply contrasting hands in the €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event, a tournament that drew 1,823 entries and generated an €8,841,550 prize pool. Across the featured spots, players moved from flopped monsters and rivered redraws to a major Day 3 preflop collision that ended Alexander Ivarsson's run.

The hands stood out not just for their strength, but for how differently they developed. Mykhailo Gutyi had the nut flush from the flop, Ignat Liviu found quads on the river, Michael Dwyer reversed the outcome against pocket kings, and Ivarsson experienced both sides of tournament volatility in a short span.

Gutyi Turns a Flopped Nut Flush Into a Knockout

On Day 1a, Mykhailo Gutyi held the ace and four of spades against Piet Brandt and flopped the nut flush. The hand took place at Level 9, with blinds of 600/1,200 and a 1,200 ante.

Roughly 15,000 chips were already in the middle before the action intensified. A 3,500-chip bet was met by a 14,000-chip check-raise, and the betting eventually reached a 49,500-chip shove. Gutyi, whose stack had climbed to nearly 200,000 chips by that point, held the made nut flush and sent Brandt to the rail.

The hand was one of the clearest early examples of how quickly a Day 1 stack could shift when a disguised but dominant made hand collided with continued aggression.

River Cards Rewrite Two Major Pots

Ignat Liviu and Daniel Jackson played one of the more dramatic runouts among the featured hands. Liviu started with pocket sixes and improved to quads on the river, while Jackson's ace-queen had made trip queens during the hand. The final card turned an already strong holding into a rare hand that overtook Jackson at the finish.

Michael Dwyer also benefited from a decisive river. Holding jack-ten, Dwyer made two pair against Jakob Karlsson's pocket kings. Unlike Gutyi's hand, where the key edge was established immediately on the flop, Dwyer's winning improvement arrived at the last possible moment.

Ivarsson Makes a Straight Flush on Day 3

Alexander Ivarsson produced the rarest finish of the group during Day 3 when he held the six and five of clubs against Ivo Colaco's ace-king and completed a straight flush.

That hand came at Level 19, with blinds of 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 ante. The action included a 20,000 opening raise and a 45,000 three-bet, with approximately 200,000 chips behind before the hand reached its conclusion.

The straight flush gave Ivarsson one of the strongest possible poker hands, but it was not the defining moment of his Day 3. His next major confrontation unfolded in a much less favorable way.

The Six-Bet Shove Against Malec's Kings

Near the end of Day 3, Ivarsson became involved in a large preflop confrontation with Sebastian Malec. At Level 20, with blinds of 6,000/12,000 and a 12,000 ante, Ivarsson opened to 24,000 and Malec three-bet to 36,000.

The action continued through a 90,000 four-bet and a 149,000 forced min-raise before Ivarsson six-bet shoved approximately 700,000 chips with pocket eights. Malec called with pocket kings, holding the superior pair before the board was dealt.

Ivarsson did not improve, and Malec won the pot. The hand created a stark contrast with Ivarsson's earlier straight-flush win against Colaco: one pot ended with an exceptionally rare made hand, while the next major all-in left him needing help against a higher pair and ultimately ended his tournament at that stage.

What the Featured Hands Showed

Taken together, the hands captured several different forms of tournament pressure. Gutyi's hand showed the value of a made nut hand in an escalating pot. Liviu and Dwyer both demonstrated how rivers can overturn strong holdings. Ivarsson's Day 3 sequence showed how quickly momentum can shift, even after winning a pot with a straight flush.

In a €5,300 Main Event with 1,823 entries and an €8,841,550 prize pool, these spots carried more than spectacle. They reflected the swing points that define deep-field tournament poker: controlled aggression, narrow value windows, rare runouts, and the high cost of being on the wrong side of a premium pair.