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PokerStars ran the inaugural live Spin & Go Championship during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague festival, and Spain’s Carlos Gurdiel will forever be known as the competition’s first-ever champion. Gurdiel fought his way through the 81-strong crowd and helped himself to the €25,000 top prize.

Spin & Go tournaments are immensely popular at PokerStars but they had only been played in an online poker setting until the recent EPT Prague stop. PokerStars invited 81 players, consisting of 74 online qualifiers and seven special guests, to Prague to compete in the inaugural Spin & Go Championship.

Day 1 saw the 81 entrants face off across 27 tables, each having to win four matches to progress to Round 2. Twenty-seven players locked horns and butted heads during the second round, with the nine players who won five games navigating to Round 3.

The three players who won five live Spin & Go tournaments during Round 3 progressed to the final, where they were guaranteed a prize of €10,000, €15,000, or €25,000.

The final was played in a first-to-six format, and Spain’s Carlos Gurdiel, Lithuania’s Mantas Meskevicius, and Brazil’s Murilo Monterio faced off in a series of Spin & Gos.

Unsurprisingly, all three finalists grind Spin & Go tournaments online at PokerStars. Maeskevicius has played the three-handed hyper-turbo jackpot games exclusively for three years, while Monteiro won his place by topping the low-stakes Spin & Go leaderboard. The Brazilian mostly plays $5 Spin & Gos yet found himself with a legitimate shot of becoming this event’s first champion.

Gurdiel Dominates the Final Round

Gurdiel was by far the most experienced at Spin & Go games than the other two finalists. A former Supernova Elite, Gurdiel used to grind sit & go tournaments before switching to Spin & Go games. His ability to log incredible volume in this fast-paced format had already seen Gurdiel bag a Platinum Pass to the 2023 PokerStars Players Championship, and he bulldozed his way to a package to this maiden Spin & Go Championship by topping one of the promotional leaderboards.

Gurdiel dominated proceedings, running out a 6-2-2 winner and raking in a €25,000 prize. During the decisive game, Monteiro busted in third, leaving Gurdiel heads-up against Meskevicius. The winning hand saw Gurdiel limp on the button with nine-seven and call when Meskevicius raised with what ultimately turned out to be seven-three.

Meskevicius continued on the draw-heavy queen-jack-king flop with two clubs, and Gurdiel called. Meskevicius continued his bluff by moving all in on the ten of clubs turn, but Gurdiel called with his straight, which left Meskevicius drawing dead. A queen on the river completed the board, and Gurdiel became the inaugural live Spin & Go Championship champion.

As Meskevicius and Monteiro were tied on two victories, they faced off in a one-off heads-up match to determine the runner-up.

The clash was action-packed, and Meskevicius enjoyed a substantial chip lead when his king-four of clubs held against Monteiro’s jack-nine of clubs. However, Monteiro twice doubled up, first finding pocket jacks that beat nine-six, then spiking a third queen on the river to ensure his queen-six beat Meskevicius’ ace-ten, which had flopped an ace.

A short-stacked Meskevicius committed the last of his chips with queen-nine, and Monteiro called with king-jack. A king appeared on the flop, and Meskevicius never caught back up.

The Spin & Go Championship debut went down a storm in Prague, so it will not be a surprise to see the format appear at another live stop during 2025. As always, as soon as PokerNews learns of any plans for a follow-up event, you will be the first to know.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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