FC Barcelona stars scooped almost half a million Euros after competing in the PokerStars EPT Barcelona single-day high roller tournament this past weekend.
Gerard Pique and Arturo Vidal finished second and fifth respectively, with the ex-Manchester United man pipped to the top spot by Spanish poker pro Juan Pardo, who knocked out seven of the eight finalists to claim the top prize of €491,600.
The Spain and Chile internationals made it to the final table in the 70-entry field, which PokerStars stressed “boasted some of the most accomplished poker professionals”.
Both Pique and Vidal reached the money, with the top nine players sharing a prize pot that came in at a grand total of €1,680,700.
Vidal, in his second season at the Catalan club after moving from German giants Bayern Munich in August 2018, finished in fifth place during his PokerStars EPT debut, earning €134,460 in the €25,000 buy-in tournament.
Pique, surpassing his team-mate, is widely known for his passion for poker and has been attending the EPT in his hometown for years.
His previous best result came two years ago when he finished fifth in a €25,000 buy-in event and banked €129,350, a feat topped this time around on his way to the runners up spot and a €352,950 prize pot.
Following on from his win, Pique joined the special ‘Chase Your Dream – Play Against Your Heroes’ live-streamed tournament at European Poker Tournament Barcelona, alongside PokerStars Ambassador Bruce Buffer and a host of poker professionals such as Chris Moneymaker, Lex Veldhuis and Fatima de Melo.
Pique and Vidal made their appearance at Casino Barcelona a day after Barcelona’s first win of the new La Liga season, which came in the second game.
After a late 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao courtesy of Aritz Aduriz, Barcelona came from behind to triumph at their Nou Camp home 5-2 over Real Betis with Vidal netting the fifth.
