Piqué Busts €20,000 Buy-In Tournament at the EPT in Barcelona

Summary:

• Gerard Piqué has busted in a high stakes poker tournament at the PokerStars European Poker Tournament in Barcelona.
• The football icon joined the €20,000 buy-in tournament alongside poker legends Erik Seidel, Mike Watson, and Niklas Astedt.
• While familiar with the world of professional poker, Piqué fell below his high standards.

When football (soccer) legend and known Spanish poker aficionado Gerard Piqué arrived at Casino Barcelona for the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Barcelona, he was eager to challenge some of the best players in the world.

Among them, Poker Hall of Famer and owner of 10 WSOP bracelets Erik Seidel, fellow American Mike Watson with a 32 GPI rank and three crown wins, and Swede Niklas Astedt known for his 2024 WSOP Main Event third-place finish and $7,031,191 in total live earnings and counting. 

They all paid the €20,000 buy-in for the high stakes tournament, but all eyes were on Piqué. The player is well-acquainted with the world of high stakes poker after playing the World Series of Poker as well as other EPTs. 

The winner of the World Cup, however, did not rise to his regular high standards in poker on this particular occasion in Barcelona.

How It All Went Down

His bust-out hand came in Level 8 that featured 1,000/2,500/2,500 big blind ante blinds. 

The player raised from the small blind to 5,000 while Jules Dickerson made it 16,000 from the big blind.

The football legend took his time before four-betting all in for roughly 80,000. Dickerson soon called as the covering stack.

The former FC Barcelona player was looking for a deuce to keep going, but the K♦10♣8♦ flop placed Dickerson on top, leaving his opponent facing a draw to runner-runner quads. 

He made his exit on the 6♠ turn. The following 10♥ river was just a formality for the star who tapped the table and left the tournament area.

“I Like to Compete Against the Best Players”

Piqué’s 2014 appearance at the WSOP in Las Vegas may have taken some by surprise, even though his first recorded poker cash was recorded three years earlier, in 2011.

In a 2016 interview, the football icon said he loves to compete “in many situations”, including “against the best players in anything, in this case, poker“.

He added that he truly enjoys being seated at a table where he knows some of the players “because they are really good”.

In 2019, Shakira’s former spouse finished the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller in second position, taking home €352,950. 

In 2022, he returned to the EPT poker tables in Prague at the €50,000 EPT Super High Roller. While he fired two bullets in the event, he didn’t make it in the paid places ranking.

Last year, he recorded a sixth-place finish in the EPT Barcelona’s €50,000 Super High Roller Second Chance, scooping up €65,000.