GPI National Spain | Top 10

Many in the poker world will turn their focus to Barcelona next week as Season 10 on the European Poker Tour will kickoff in the Catalonian capital city. Some Spanish poker pros have also made waves in the past few weeks – including the lady in first, El Matador and a duo who recently entered the GPI300.

With all the buzz surrounding Spain, we bring you the Top 10 on the GPI National Spain rankings:

#10 | Leo Margets

The countdown starts with one of the most recognizable faces in Spanish poker, Margets’ first cash on the live tournament circuit was over five years ago at the Campeonato Espana de Poker in Sevilla but it’s her deep run in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event where she made the final three players.

Margets joined Team PokerStars back in March.

#9 | Mario Sanchez

Other than a few tiny cashes in 2010 and 2011, Sanchez’ name wasn’t a recognizable one on the circuit … that is until this season as the Spaniard won GSOP Live Marbella, earned a Top 10 finish at WPT Barcelona and cashed in three events at the 44th World Series of Poker this summer in Vegas.

#8 | Juan Manuel Pastor

It has been a fairly quiet year on the circuit for Pastor, a regular on the European Poker Tour. Pastor final tabled EPT London back in September of 2011. Pastor would end up finishing in fourth position as Benjamin Spindler and Stephen O’Dwyer would go on to battle for the title … Spindler would eventually win his first EPT title.

#7 | Andoni Larrabe Sanchez

Despite having only a few cashes on the circuit, Andoni Larrabe Sanchez has certainly made them count. Highlight scores include an 11th place finish in the EPT Grand Final in 2012 and a side event victory at the PCA earlier this year, earning over 218K USD for his efforts.

The Spaniard is coming off three cashes at the WSOP … he also cashed in the ISPT Wembley event prior to his arrival at the WSOP.

#6 | Tomeu Gomila

The PartyPoker pro has enjoyed success on the circuit for a few years now. Career highlights include a final table performance at EPT Barcelona in 2011 as well as two Top 10 finishes in other major events – a pair of eighth place finishes: The WPT Spanish Championship in 2010 and the Partouche Tour Grand Final in Cannes last season.

#5 | Cesar Garcia

Contrary to a few of his fellow Spaniards, Garcia has been fairly active on the circuit this season with seven cashes to his credit including a final table appearance at the UKIPT Main Event during the EPT London Festival in March. That event was also highlighted by two fellow Spanish pros as the previously mentioned Pastor would finish in ninth position and Sergio Espina would go to win the event … more on Espina shortly.

Garcia final tabled EPT Berlin during Season 8, finishing in sixth position. Davidi Kitai would end up winning that event defeating Andrew Chen in a thrilling heads-up match.

#4 | Sergio Aido Espina

One of two Spanish-born players to enter the GPI300 last week, this is Espina’s second stint on the GPI300. He spent two weeks inside the 300 earlier this season, prior to the start of the WSOP.

As previously mentioned, Espina won the UKIPT London Main Event earlier this year at EPT London, defeating a 1,099-player field in order to secure another win on tour. After winning WPT National Series Barcelona near the start of his career on the live tournament circuit, Espina most recently collected the W in the High Roller event at UKIPT Galway.

#3 | Raul Paez Corral

His first live tournament score on record came way back in 2005 where he cashed in a Bellagio Weekly Tournament in Las Vegas. He is certainly a veteran on the circuit with over 1.8M USD in live tournament earnings including a victory in a $500 buy-in PLO event at the World Poker Open in 2005. With 284 entries and 399 rebuys, he was able to collect over 100K USD for the victory! Like Espina, he entered the GPI300 last week – for the first time of his career – following an 11th place finish at UKIPT Galway.

#2 | Carlos Mortensen

El Matador. The 2001 WSOP World Champion certainly had us hoping that he would join the November Nine this past summer. Mortensen, who was extremely short-stacked on Day 3, made an incredible comeback and came oh so close to making the WSOP final bowing out in 10th position.

The two-time bracelet winner and former WPT World Champion is also one of, if not the, most successful poker players to ever play on the WPT. Mortensen has three wins on the WPT circuit to go with five final tables and over just under 6.5M USD in earnings.

#1 | Ana Marquez

While the WSOP was in full swing at the Rio this past summer, The M Resort was hosting the Hollywood Poker Open right outside the strip. Plenty of big name pros would enter the event (including EPT Prague Champ Ramzi Jelassi, Sam Stein and EPT Berlin High Roller winnerGriffin Benger – who all earned Top 10 finishes) but it was Ana Marquez who would end up with the title!

With over 500K in live tournament earnings, 2013 has already been the best of Marquez’ career .. and with EPT Barcelona right around the corner, Marquez could be looking at even more success on the live tournament circuit!

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