Mikita Badziakouski Wins EPT Barcelona €100,000 Super High Roller
Mikita Badziakouski has done it again. The Belarussian pro has taken down yet another Super High Roller event, this time the € 100,000 Super High Roller at the EPT Barcelona. This time, Badziakouski earned $1.91 million to give him the third largest score of his poker career and in 2018. With the win, he has leapfrogged Jason Koon for second on the 2018 Money List and only trails Justin Bonomo.
Mikita Badziakouski Wins EPT Barcelona Super High Roller
The final day of the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller concluded on Monday with seven players looking to take down the title. Only seven would make the money in this event with Jean Ferreira, Ben Pollack, Timothy Adams, and Matthias Ebinger all making the final table.
Ultimately, it was Iranian Ahadpur Khangah facing Badziakouski for the title. The pair started about even in chips and Khangah managed to take the chip lead for a bit, but Badziakouski managed to retake the lead and eventually the title to win his second straight high roller event and his fourth of the year.
This time around, Badziakouski earned €1.65 million ($1.91 million USD), the third largest score of 2018 and the third largest of his career. He spoke to PokerNews after the win, telling them, “It feels great. I’m running pretty hot lately. Just being lucky – that’s it! It was the usual High Roller field, and the same structure. Only this time we had a really long bubble; we were nine-handed for three or something hours. Then it finished really fast.”
Mikita Badziakouski bags another monster, wins €1.6 million in #EPTBarcelona Super High Roller. https://t.co/qlw2l4Sdn6
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) August 27, 2018
Badziakouski Now 22nd On All-Time Money List
Badziakouski has been having a stellar 2018, earning a combined $12.41 million including his most recent victory. The victory allowed him to take over second on the 2018 Money List ahead of Jason Koon who has $11.27 million. Only Justin Bonomo has more earnings in 2018 with $24.94 million.
Badziakouski has four seven-figure scores in 2018. Back in May, he won the Main Event of the Triton Super High Roller Montenegro for $2.49 million. He then finished fourth in the Super High Roller Bowl in May for $1.6 million.
Late last month, Badziakouski won the Main Event of the Triton Super High Roller Jeju for his career-best $5.25 million.
Badziakouski now has a combined $18.59 million in career earnings for a career dating back to 2010. Up until 2015, his best year was in 2011 when he won $74,355. That’s a drop in the bucket to the insane scores he makes now for a single event.
Badziakouski cracked the seven-figure mark in 2016, earning $1.34 million. He easily eclipsed that mark in 2017 when he won $4.59 million and established himself as one of the best high rollers in the world.
Badziakouski is now 22nd on Poker’s All-Time Money List. He has skyrocketed up the list this, starting at 119th. Of course, massive years seem to be a trend in 2018. There are 11 players currently with more than $5 million in earnings this year and three with more than $10 million. Justin Bonomo rocketed his way up to #1 on the All-Time Money List and is the only person presently with more than $40 million in career earnings.
With four months left in 2018, it will be interesting to see where both Badziakouski and Bonomo finish and whether any other players will go on insane runs. There already 102 players with more than $1 million in earnings this year. Will we get 150 or more players with seven-figures in annual earnings? Will Badziakouski move over $20 million? Will Bonomo continue to crush souls and bankrolls? Only time will tell, but it will be a fun ride in the meantime.