Manuel Ferrari experienced the greatest moment of his poker career this Saturday (29). The Italian won the Main Event of the EPT Barcelona 2026 and secured € 1,002,488. In addition, he earned his third PokerStars trophy in just 14 months.
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Thus, the tournament gathered 1,823 entries and formed a prize pool of € 8,841,550. With that, Ferrari overcame a high-level competition to claim the title. The player also confirmed his progress on the European circuit after previous wins in Málaga and Campione.
In this way, in June 2025, he won the Main Event of the PokerStars Open Málaga for just over € 200 thousand. Later, he won the High Roller of the PokerStars Open in Campione. Therefore, the title in Barcelona completes a series of significant results.
Additionally, Ferrari reached the final table as the chip leader. He maintained the lead for two consecutive days and started the final with an advantage over his opponents. In the 3-handed, however, Lukas van Eeden closed in and Jose Criado was also strong. Thus, the three players decided to negotiate a deal.
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Check out the final table payouts:
| Position | Name | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manuel Ferrari | Italy | € 1,002,488* |
| 2 | Lukas van Eeden | Netherlands | € 927,420* |
| 3 | Jose Criado | Spain | € 910,642* |
| 4 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | € 471,250 |
| 5 | Michael Dwyer | Ireland | € 362,500 |
| 6 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | € 278,950 |
| 7 | Gerard Carbo | Spain | € 214,600 |
| 8 | Edward Pak | South Korea | € 165,050 |
*deal
Ferrari confirms favoritism and wins the EPT Barcelona title
However, the deal guaranteed more than € 900 thousand for each of the top three finishers. Still, Ferrari wanted to keep playing for the trophy and the remaining € 100 thousand allocated to the winner. Initially, the Italian tried to negotiate a higher payout. However, tired and with fewer chips at that moment, he accepted the values set by the ICM.
Meanwhile, Jose Criado finished in third place after losing a coin flip to Ferrari. Thus, the Italian started the heads-up against Lukas van Eeden with a good chip advantage. The duel, however, lasted only about 30 minutes.
Finally, Ferrari reduced Van Eeden’s stack to just over 20 big blinds. The Dutchman pushed all-in with K♠6♦. Ferrari called with A♦Q♥ and improved to two pairs on the board. In this way, the Italian confirmed the title and won his first EPT Main Event.
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