The 2026 PokerStars Open Barcelona €1,650 no-limit maintain’em major occasion drew 4,333 complete entries throughout eight beginning flights. Turnout was down roughly 14 % from the 5,036 entries in the identical occasion final yr, however nonetheless produced a prize pool of almost $7.3 million.
After per week of play inside Casino Barcelona, Jason Wheeler emerged victorious with the title and prime prize of $847,960. This was the biggest rating but for the American poker professional, topping the $671,591 he earned because the runner-up within the 2017 PokerStars Championship Prague major occasion. The bracelet winner from Chicago, Illinois now has greater than $6.7 million in earnings throughout 350 profession cashes.
In addition to the cash and the {hardware}, Wheeler additionally scored 1,320 Card Player Player of the Year factors because the final participant standing. This was his first title and fifth final-table end of the yr. With 2,479 complete factors, he now sits inside the highest 100 within the 2026 POY standings introduced by CoinPoker.
Closing Out The Win
The remaining day of the kickoff event for this yr’s European Poker Tour Barcelona pageant started with simply eight gamers remaining from the sizable sea of entrants. Han Feng held the result in begin, whereas Wheeler sat in third chip place. The 27-year-old poker professional completed fifth within the World Series of Poker major occasion for $2,250,000 only a few weeks earlier. His dream of a world championship ended when the pocket nines of that occasion’s eventual runner-up, Lauri Saaskilahti, cracked his pocket aces in brutal style.
Feng outlasted Felipe Boianovsky (eighth – $101,976) and Gregoire Jarry (seventh – $132,576), however was finally eradicated in sixth place ($172,388). This was the second-largest rating of his profession. He’s now approaching $4.3 million in lifetime earnings. Feng additionally secured 440 POY factors, bringing his complete to 2,295. As a end result, he’s climbed to 113th place within the general rankings.
Mahersh Selvakumaran (fifth – $224,100) and Bogdan Petrascu (4th- $291,299) quickly adopted, leaving Wheeler in a three-handed conflict with Alexander Ivarsson and Darko Svesko. The Serbian finally bowed out in third place ($378,392), leaving Ivarsson within the lead going into heads-up play.
In the top, Wheeler was in a position to regain the lead after which shut out the win. Ivarsson earned $530,120 because the runner-up. This is the second-largest rating of the Swedish participant’s profession, trailing the $553,357 he earned for a win in a €2,200 buy-in occasion at this identical sequence again in 2019. His lifetime event earnings now sit at almost $2.9 million.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Jason Wheeler | $847,960 | 1,320 |
| 2 | Alexander Ivarsson | $530,120 | 1,100 |
| 3 | Darko Svesko | $378,392 | 880 |
| 4 | Bogdan Petrascu | $291,299 | 660 |
| 5 | Mahersh Selvakumaran | $224,100 | 550 |
| 6 | Han Feng | $172,388 | 440 |
| 7 | Gregoire Jarry | $132,576 | 330 |
| 8 | Felipe Boianovsky | $101,976 | 220 |
Photo credit: Eloy Cabacas, Manuel Kovsca / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
