The European Poker Tour is underway in Barcelona, and we have already seen some great poker hands. What makes this EPT stop unique is that many local celebrities take part in it, and one of them is Gerard Pique, a legendary soccer player from FC Barcelona.
For those of you who don’t follow soccer, you might have heard about him as he has been Shakira’s husband for quite a while now with whom he has two sons.
What many did not know about Gerard is that he is also a poker player — and a good one actually! In fact, Pique managed to earn a total of €352,950 by taking part in an event that is a part of EPT Barcelona.
The soccer player took part in EPT Barcelona €25,000 Single-Day High Roller event and managed to end up second. In fact, Pique ended up playing heads-up with Juan Pardo, his fellow countryman.
Although he lost the battle, in the end, he still stole the spotlight from Pardo, simply because Pardo is not a soccer legend in Spain, whereas Pique achieved some of the best results in this sport. Pardo won the trophy as well as the cash prize of €491,600.
However, Pique was not the only soccer player who took part in this very same event. Namely, another popular Spanish player named Arturo Vidal also made a very astonishing result, ending up in fifth place and winning a total of €134,460.
The two players are actually playing for the same team at the moment, and they are both doing pretty well. In fact, only a day before they enrolled in the tournament, they were playing together against Real Betis, winning 5–2 in the end.
Are Soccer and Poker Similar?
If you know anything about soccer, it is that it creates friendships that last for life. Many soccer players love playing other games outside of their professional careers, and Pique and Vidal chose to play poker.
Other important things that connect these two sports is the element of luck and willingness to take a risk. You see, soccer is a sport where technique and skills play very important roles. However, no matter how right you play your cards, you still need a little bit of luck to score.
The same thing goes for poker, and that’s why many soccer players also love this card game. In fact, some are really devoted to playing poker, such as the currently best Brazilian soccer player Neymar.
Brazilians love their poker, and another legendary footballer who has been into poker a lot is Ronaldo. Ronaldo had a very fruitful soccer career, winning the World Cup with his nation, along with many other trophies.
He devoted his life to poker after retiring from soccer and has had some pretty good results. Unlike Pique, who made almost half a million in poker tournaments, Ronaldo is not that successful, and his biggest score is $42,180.
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