Youness Barakat Wirummy nabob 41ns DPS Tallinn €5,200 The 5k Million

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Table Of Contents

• DPS PLO Grand Slam Tallinn €5,200 Million
• Day 2 Action

What promised to be a marathon day inside the Chesterfield Poker Club on the way to crowning a champion of the Diamond Poker Series PLO Grand Slam Tallinn €5,200 Million certainly lived up to that billing. It also became something which was harder to predict: the most jovial, fun-loving, carefree final table in recent memory.

Youness Barakat, originally from Italy but currently residing in the United Kingdom, was the one to emerge as the champion after defeating 2019 WSOP Main Event champ Hossein Ensan heads-up to win the trophy and €157,940 top prize for conquering the 202-player field. The win was Barakat’s largest career score and pushes his live earnings past $1,000,000.

DPS PLO Grand Slam Tallinn €5,200 Million

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Youness Barakat	United Kingdom	€157,940*
2	Hossein Ensan	Germany	€146,000*
3	Leonid Yanovski	Israel	€146,000*
4	Aki Vihikainen	Finland	€79,650
5	Tomasz Krzesinski	Poland	€63,510
6	Vitalijs Korhs	Estonia	€48,800
7	Tom-Aksel Bedell	Norway	€35,510
8	Fredrik Lindstrom	Finland	€25,730
9	Filip Lovric	Sweden	€21,270

*- denotes a three-way deal

“It’s definitely the biggest tournament I’ve ever won for sure,” Barakat said after finally bringing the tournament to an end as the clock pushed 7 a.m. local time. “PLO has been my main game for a couple of years. PLO tournaments seem to really suit my style and the way I think about poker and the way I go about poker. They’re my cup of tea, as an English guy would say. Having a PLO-only series is like paradise for me.”

Barakat has proven his four-card mastery in the short history of the Diamond Poker Series. He had made the final table of this same event in both previous stops in Tirana, finishing third in November and fourth in January. He also won a €5,200 Single Day event during the first series.

Barakat entered the final day as chip leader and ended with the trophy, but some doubt still crept in over the course of the long day. It was his constant battles with tablemate Alexander Petersen that he remembered most after the tournament was through. “I think I played generally speaking fine, but there were a lot of spots that demoralized me. Especially playing against Alex Petersen,” Barakat said.

“Against him, you need to play in completely different ways. So my highlight would be him. I really struggled adjusting to him. I think he got the better of me. I know I just won, but that makes me think that there’s so much I need to improve. There’s so many improvements I need to make and think about the game in different ways.”

Once Petersen had departed and Barakat found himself at the final table, the atmosphere turned. The finalists seemed like they were playing in a home game rather than for a €200,000 top prize. Barakat ribbed Leonid Yanovski about the way he was sitting in his chair. He and Ensan ended the night both standing up from their seats for the last few hands and barely taking any time at all with their decisions. They shared jabs and quibs with each other, and even a few drinks courtesy of Daniel Rezaei on the rail. They were all trying to win, but that didn’t stop them from having some fun along the way.

“It is serious, but it’s a different type of serious. It’s people that understand the swings, how swingly the game can be and take it more lightheartedly. Their life isn’t hanging by a thread. They go with their gut. It’s more fun because it’s not just about the money. It becomes more about problem-solving, puzzles, and solving the spots,” Barakat said.

“PLO tournaments are so f**king interesting. They’re really complicated. I would argue even more complicated than Hold’em ones in different ways. It’s so stimulating and makes it, rather than just being about the money, there’s just so much to it.”

Day 2 Action

Day 2 began at 3 p.m. local time with 51 new arrivals joining 44 Day 1 survivors to create a total field of 202 and €949,400 prize pool. Among those to depart before the money were €2,200 Million Opener champion Puk Nabuurs, Joni Jouhkimainen, online legend Ilari Sahamies, Vivian Saliba, Dario Alioto, and Farid Jattin.

Jonas Kronwitter ran into Artur Teshaev’s trip aces to finish on the bubble as the remaining 27 players were in the money. Theo Jorgensen (24th), Aku Joentausta (20th), Andriy Lyubovetskiy (19th), and Stefan Lehner (17th) were then sent off to the payout desk.

Barakat’s nemesis Petersen was finally eliminated in 13th place when he ran into Ensan’s kings. The eliminations of Gergo Nagy (12th), Amir Mozaffarian (11th), and Teshaev (10th) brought the field down to a final table of nine.

Barakat was in second place at the start of the final table with 6,700,000, behind only Fredrik Lindstrom (7,300,000) who was making his second final-table run in as many days after finishing in third in the €2,200 Opener. Filip Lovric was the first casualty as he was all in for 2,000,000 but couldn’t beat Aki Vihikainen’s kings to fininsh in ninth place.

Barakat had taken the chip lead when he and Lindstrom played a pot that changed the dynamic of the final table. Barakat reraised to 1,300,000 on the button and Lindstrom called. Both players checked to the turn where Lindstrom bet 1,800,000. Barakat called to the river and moved all in, sending Lindstrom deep into the tank. He eventually called for 3,500,000 with a queen-high flush, but Barakat had a king-high flush to win the massive pot and send Lindstrom crashing to the rail in eighth place.

Tom-Aksel Bedell, champion of the €10,300 Championship at the last Diamond Poker Series in January, cracked Ensan’s aces by making a straight on the turn to double up and move into second place behind Barakat. Barakat moved further in front when he bet 1,800,000 on the river with the nut flush and Bedell paid him off. “I hate this game,” Bedell mused. Bedell also doubled up Tomasz Krzesinski before getting his last 2,500,000 in with a pair of nines, but Yanovski woke up with aces to eliminate him in seventh.

Ensan dropped down to just 2,000,000 after losing pots to Yanovski and Barakat, but it was Vitalijs Korhs who was next to go as Barakat made a straight to beat a pair of jacks. Vihikainen and Ensan both doubled up off Barakat to bring him back to the field. Yanovski then hit two pair on the river and busted a short-stacked Krzesinski in fifth.

Ensan took out Vihikainen in fourth with two pair as he climbed into the chip lead with 15,500,000. With the clock pushing 5 a.m. local time, the players agreed to a deal, Ensan and Yanovski each taking €146,000 and Barakat, now the short stack, €142,940 while leaving €15,000 to play for.

Ensan began pulling ahead before Barakat doubled up for 10,800,000 with two kings to retake the chip lead. Yanovski had been knocked down to just 1,300,000 as he and Barakat, matching the cheery mood of the table, turned over just one card each. Yanovski ended up with a pair of kings once the full board had been run out, but Barakat rivered two pair to win the pot and send Yanovski to the rail in third place.

Barakat and Ensan were nearly level when Barakat doubled up for 18,250,000 with two aces, knocking Ensan down to just 3,000,000. Ensan doubled up once, then flopped two pair to double yet again and pull in the lead once more. Barakat was then all in with ace-high against Ensan’s pair of nines as the turn brought no help, but he spiked an ace on the river to double. Left with just 200,000, Ensan was eliminated the next hand as Barakat, again showing just one card, rivered a flush.

Barakat had nothing but praise for his final two opponents, even insisting they pose with him in his winner’s photo, each of them plus Rezaei holding up one of his four winning cards. “The final table was fantastic. It was so fun,” Barakat said.

“Leo is so f**king good. He’s not scared whatsoever and he really knows how to squeeze every last drop of juice from every situation. He understands the game so well from a technical point of view, so it’s really hard to play against him. Hossein, I’m surprised because he’s mainly a Hold’em guy. For mainly a Hold’em guy who plays PLO, he’s f**king tough. He’s not kidding around. He’s not scared to put the money in and do the moves.”

The sun was already rising by the time Barakat posed with his new trophy, the Estonian capital already buzzing to life with people just starting their day while Barakat was ending his. It was a long wait, nearly 16 hours of play, but it was well worth it. And he had a lot of fun while he was doing it.