Before this week, Mario Lopez had well proven himself on the poker table already over recent years. The Argentinian traveled to the Spanish coastal city having previously amassed nearly $1 million in tournament earnings with an LAPT Main Event title in Chile last year and a runner-up in a WSOP event this summer highlighting an illustrious catalogue of cashes.

He's been here per week and can be sticking around for one more because the festival continues. But if he does leave, he'll be doing so together with his standing within the poker world having been further heightened way to an outstanding victory within the record-breaking 3,292-player Estrellas Barcelona Main Event.

Today Lopez is standing tall.

Outstanding!

From that gigantic field a last table of eight convened early this afternoon to figure out how the last €1.39 million or so of the tournament's huge €3,193,240 prize pool could be divided. Jonn Forst began the day with the chip lead, having wrestled it clear of Jose Carlos Garcia late on Day 3.

Like Lopez, Garcia -- certainly one of a couple of young Polish phenoms taking poker by storm of late -- arrived at this event with a heady reputation of his own after having final tabled two other big EPT events this year, taking fourth at LAPT Bahamas in January and fifth on the EPT Grand Final in Monaco in May.

In fact, it was a very important hand by which Lopez managed to search out a large call -- for his tournament life -- against a river bluff by the aggressive Garcia that proved the turning point for both players today, helping propel Lopez to victory.

It was an eclectic group who assembled for today's final table, representing seven different countries and a number of backgrounds and ages.

The excited eight

The excitement began from the day's second hand when the short-stacked Spaniard Daniel Selles picked up ace-king and ran not only into pocket kings but Knut Nystedt's pocket aces, too, to finish his day early in eighth.

Daniel Selles - 8th place

The player with kings in that hand -- Simon Sennhauser of Switzerland -- was hit hard as well, then not too long after can be disappointed by cowboys a second time to be knocked out in seventh. Garcia's ace-jack outdrew his K-K that point to carve the sector to six.

Simon Sennhauser - 7th place

Those two eliminations allowed Morocco's Konah Abdelhadi to ladder up a few spots before running into some bad fortune with pocket tens versus Nystedt's pair of deuces. Abdelhadi flopped a set, then watched Nystedt draw out a runner-runner wheel to cause him to complete in sixth.

Kondah Abdelhadi - 6th place

One more small stack -- that belonging to Eduard Sanchez of Spain -- was claimed shortly thereafter in a similarly hard-luck way, his ace-eight falling to Nystedt's ace-seven when a seven came a number of the community cards.

Eduard Sanchez - 5th place

It was at four-handed that Garcia put Lopez to the test, shoving the river with an important overbet in what have been an innocuous-seeming hand to that time. On a 9♦5♥J♣5♦3♣ board, Lopez found how to call with Q♦9♠, then saw Garcia had but 7♠4♣.

Suddenly Lopez was leader, Garcia was the quick stack, and later in a three-way pot would lose the last of his chips to take fourth.

Jose Carlos Garcia - 4th place

Nystedt, for whom things had gone so well early today, then saw his fortunes slip thereafter to finish with a third-place finish after the overall trio couldn't conform to a deal. The Norwegian's knockout uncannily echoed how he had taken out Sanchez earlier, as his ace-ten fell to Jonn Forst's ace-seven when a seven rudely fell at the river.

Knut Nystedt - 3rd place

That pot gave Forst the chip result in start heads-up play, but only barely with 41.1 million to Lopez's 40.9 million, the adaptation coming right down to a single chip because the lowest in play then was worth 100K.

Speaking of differences, the pair then decided to reduce the only scheduled between first- and second-place payouts (a whopping €240K), with each taking €338K and playing for just €70K thereafter.

Two players, one trophy

Lopez immediately seized the advantage and started chipping up against Forst, then finally used ace-queen to best Forst's ace-six to forestall the Austrian's run one spot shy of the title.

Jonn Forst - 2nd place

Lopez is a medical doctor, and he certainly diagnosed his opponents today well -- especially Garcia in that memorable bluff-call -- on his approach to victory. Congratulations to him and all eight of these who made it in the course of the record ESPT Barcelona field.

Mario Lopez, ESPT Barcelona Main Event champion

Event #5: Estrellas Main Event Day 1A €1,000 + €100
Entrants: 3,292
Prize pool: €3,193,240Places paid: 487

1. Mario Lopez (Argentina) €408,000*2. Jonn Forst (Austria) €338,000*3. Knut Nystedt (Norway) €168,0004. Jose Carlos Garcia (Poland) €139,5005. Eduard Sanchez (Spain) €116,5406. Kondah Abdelhadi (Morocco) €93,6007. Simon Sennhauser (Switzerland) €71,4008. Daniel Selles (Spain) €52,100*= denotes a two-way deal

Click here for detailed live updates of all the final table. And for a whole list of payouts for the 487 who cashed in ESPT Barcelona, click here.

Thanks for following our coverage of the Estrellas Main Event, and stick close here at PokerStars Blog for far more excitement as more players find how you can stand tall in Barcelona.

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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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