“Ideally, a Platinum Pass winner will take it,” we all said when they announced the $25k PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC), “but it’s not likely to happen.” But Ramon Colillas from Spain -whose previous claim to fame was a 19th place finish at a Winamax event- just beat the odds spectacularly.
Vamos! Congratulations to #PlatinumPass winner Ramon Colillas on taking down the #PSPC and winning $5.1M! 🇪🇸🏆 🎉🥳 pic.twitter.com/tRN2We6x6m
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) 11 de enero de 2019
Ramon Colillas got his Platinum Pass by winning the Campeonato de España de Poker (CEP), a PokerStars sponsored event held every year in Barcelona. He’s been grinding as a professional poker player for years, making a little over $10,000 in live earnings before entering the PSPC.
Despite his prosaic live resume, Ramon became the Platinum Pass winner to watch throughout the tournament. Going from an average stack at the end of Day 1 to becoming chip leader in Day 3 and entering the Final Table fourth in chips.
On the final table, he had a front-row seat to Julien Martini’s impressive domination over the stacked field; only himself and fellow Platinum Pass Winner Marc Rivera remained after the smoke cleared.
Martini soon busted Rivera, giving himself a 2-1 advantage over Colillas. After the spectacle Martini had given us, it was hard to believe we would get to see a Platinum Pass Champion, but fate intervened. A few hands in, a runner-runner gave Colillas a Full House over Martini’s flush, giving him the boost he needed to take Julien Martini down and the championship.
https://twitter.com/PokerStarsLIVE
Oh. My. God. #PSPC
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) 10 de enero de 2019
➡️ https://t.co/hRFaQAqWdk pic.twitter.com/iIdCviV1At
Are Ramon Colillas and Julien Martini the new Chris Moneymaker and Sam Farha for a new decade? Only time will tell. What we know is that they have begun 2019’s poker calendar with a hell of a bang!