Jonathan Rees Lands Career-Best Score with PartyPoker Tour Castellón Main Event Win (€30,000)

Welshman Jonathan Rees has emerged as a worthy champion in the PartyPoker Tour Castellón Main Event, securing the trophy and a career-best score of €30,000 after defeating Pau Veciana of Spain heads-up.

The Swansea native was the last player standing from a 368-runner field, taking the lion’s share of the €163,760 prize pool, and was able to maintain his composure through periods of adversity at the final table.

The result represents Rees’ 11th live tournament win, but is by far his most significant result, overtaking his runner-up finish in the APAT World Amateur Poker Championship in 2025 for £8,500.

• Read more: Veciana Leads Final 18 in PartyPoker Tour Castellón Main Event Final as Moschakis Wins Side Event and Pauceanu Leads Mystery Bounty
• Read more: Ipfelkofer and Alvez Top Main Event Flights as Romain and Perez Take Trophies at PartyPoker Tour Castellón
• Read more: Marius-Laurentiu Dinu Shakes Off Cobwebs to Win PartyPoker Tour Castellón €150 Mini Main Event (€16,000)
• Read more: Christian Martin Holds Slender Lead into Mini Main Event Final Table
• Read more: Christian Martin Holds Commanding Lead as Boatman in the Mix in PartyPoker Tour Castellón Mini Main Event
• Read more: Huge Numbers in Castellón as Hardisty Bags Top Ten Stack and Dinu Leads 41 Qualifiers in Day 1a
• Read more: Rebecca Hardisty on Satellites, Tour Trophies and Playing Outside Your Comfort Zone
• Follow all the action: The PartyPoker Tour Castellón: Live reported at poker.pro.

2026 PartyPoker Tour Castellón €500 Main Event Final Table Results

The final table results for the event are below, while the full results can be found here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Jonathan Rees	United Kingdom	€30,000
2	Pau Veciana	Spain	€20,000
3	Jose Maria Perez	Spain	€14,500
4	Juan Ocampo	Colombia	€11,000
5	Erico Iervasi	Italy	€8,500
6	Barry Carter	United Kingdom	€6,500
7	Matt Staples	Canada	€4,800
8	Dorian Dizy	Spain	€3,810
9	Ian Simpson	United Kingdom	€3,000

Winner's Reaction

Rees described himself as a passionate amateur, and said "I came into the day thinking anything could happen, just go for every spot possible. I got off to a good start at the final table but then was card dead for a bit, but it was okay as people were getting knocked out, and then I really had to start playing again with five or six left.

I probably could have had it won a bit earlier, but that's the way it goes, and then I got lucky as well heads-up so it evened itself out."

On maintaining his composure "Those two players I'd played a lot with the last two days so we knew each other, there was a bit of history, and I knew it wouldn't necessarily have to be a cooler to be a big hand with them. I had a feeling it was coming for some reason, it was just one of those things. I've started this tour this year, three Main Events, three cashes, but I'm not sure I'm going to do better than this. I'll definitely be going to Cork now, I have to try to make it two in a row, of course!"

Final Day Recap

A total of 18 players returned for the final day, with Veciana holding a substantial lead over fellow Spaniards Jose Maria Perez and Dorian Dizy, while Rees was sitting in fifth.

In addition, two PartyPoker Tour team members were in with a shot at the trophy in the form of Barry Carter (1,345,000) and Matt Staples (1,260,000), Staples hoping to improve on his fifth place finish in the Mini Main Event.

Fireworks came early, as Juan Ocampo tripled up in a battle of three pairs, which busted Stavros Kokotsakis and damaged Veciana.

Sebastian Hitz, Roberto Corona and Lucas Bel all fell by the wayside in short order, before Rees picked up his first elimination of the day when he turned a two-outer against Stefan Stroffek.

Veciana got back on track when he knocked out Alfonso Lapaz, and Rees would send another opponent to the payout desk in the form of Marcin Jackowski, before Erico Iervasi set the final table by knocking out short stacks Francisco Mendez and Jose Manuel Saez in quick succession.

Iervasi had a slight lead over Rees at the start of play, while Carter was the short-stack, and it wasn't long before blood was in the water.

Carter doubled in the first hand through Dizy, before a battle of the blinds between Rees and Ian Simpson went haywire. In the face of a triple-barrel from Rees, who had turned a straight, Simpson jammed with king-high, having missed his own straight draw, putting Rees out in front.

That hand seemed tame in comparison to what came next. A huge cooler erupted between Staples, Dizy and Perez - Staples with kings, Perez with ace-king and Dizy with ace-jack. In brutal fashion, Perez went runner-runner for a one-card flush to gasps of shock from the watching crowd, sending both opponents to the rail, and allowing Perez to join Rees with clear daylight to the chasing pack.

Matters unravelled for Carter quickly when he looked up Ocampo's small blind jam and was ahead, but was outflopped, and was pipped by Veciana shortly after.

Perez appeared to be taking command when he eliminated Iervasi in fifth, but the chip leaders clashed when Rees four-bet light and got a fold, and Perez then lost the classic race to double Veciana.

Perez recovered to double through Ocampo, who was left as the clear short-stack, and the Colombian would quickly exit to Veciana just outside the podium places.

At the start of three-handed play, Rees had almost double the stack of Veciana and Perez, who were essentially level, before he encountered a couple of difficult moments.

Rees must have thought the title was essentially his when he had Veciana all-in on the flop with bottom two pair against Veciana's top pair, but the Spaniard found two pair on the turn to double. The hand propelled Veciana into a significant lead, but Rees closed the gap to a 2:1 deficit when he won a flip to bust Perez in third.

In the very first hand of the heads-up contest, Rees found queens. The ladies were reduced to second pair on the flop, and Rees ended up jamming the turn, having picked up a flush draw. He was in trouble versus Veciana's two pair, but he drilled the flush on the river to survive.

From there, Rees turned the screws, raising the turn and barreling the river with air, before he turned a queen in the final hand to overcome Veciana's king-high.

Ian Simpson Turns Main Event Heartbreak into High Roller Glory at PartyPoker Tour Castellón (€14,500)

Ian Simpson made sure the final day of PartyPoker Tour Castellón ended with a trophy in his hands. On the same day he finished ninth in the Main Event, the Briton took down the €1,000 High Roller 7-Max, and he collected a nice €14,500 after defeating Gonzalo Vazquez heads-up.

A total of 46 entries created a €41,400 prize pool, with seven players cashing. Vazquez had to settle for €9,500 as the runner-up, while Adam Lewis Buxton completed the podium for €6,000, ahead of Natalie Bromley (€4,000) and Ruben Cortes (€3,000). Dara O'Kearney rounded out the paid places in seventh for €2,000.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Ian Simpson	United Kingdom	€14,500
2	Gonzalo Vazquez	Spain	€9,500
3	Adam Lewis Buxton	United Kingdom	€6,000
4	Natalie Bromley	United Kingdom	€4,000
5	Ruben Cortes	Spain	€3,000
6	Iurii	Ukraine	€2,400
7	Dara O'Kearney	Ireland	€2,000

Javier Llobregat Wins €250 Mystery Bounty (€5,400)

A total of 207 entries across three starting flights created a €44,505 prize pool, with €23,805 of that paid out in placement prizes and the remainder in mystery bounties. Javier Llobregat took the trophy and €5,400 after defeating Michael Sollfrank of Germany heads-up, with Sollfrank collecting €3,200 for second place.

Jose Luis Ferrer Gimenez completed the podium with €2,200, while 32 players cashed in total, including overall Day 1 chip leader Rares Pauceanu in 11th (€450), Matthew Gray in 12th (€400) and Mini Main Event champion Marius-Laurentiu Dinu in 15th (€350).

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Javier Llobregat	Spain	€5,400
2	Michael Sollfrank	Germany	€3,200
3	Jose Luis Ferrer Gimenez	Spain	€2,200
4	Daniel Smith	United Kingdom	€1,700
5	Rafael Arizo	Spain	€1,400
6	Sergio Soler	Spain	€1,100
7	Marius Stanescu	Romania	€900
8	Sergio Bausa	Spain	€700
9	Ion Cristinel Dita	Romania	€555

Sam Acheampong Takes Down the €100 Last Chance NLH Double Board (€2,000)

A total of 98 entries created an €8,330 prize pool in the Last Chance NLH Double Board, and PartyPoker Tour team member Sam Acheampong took the trophy and €2,000 after defeating Sebastian Hitz heads-up. Hitz had to settle for €1,140, while Michele Marzi finished third for €980. A total of 15 players cashed, with the full results below.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Sam Acheampong	United Kingdom	€2,000
2	Sebastian Hitz	Switzerland	€1,140
3	Michele Marzi	Italy	€980
4	Luis Ayllon de Mingo	United States	€880
5	Grzegorz Staniszewski	Poland	€550
6	Alejandra Cieza Garcia	Spain	€450
7	Hady-Ahmed-Marian Sirbu	Romania	€380
8	Amin Lakhal Ali		€330
9	Zakariae Admi	Morocco	€280
10	Daniel Petrov	Bulgaria	€250
11	Jorge Andres Jimenez	Spain	€250
12	Uros Kanic-Mitrovic	Belgium	€220
13	Marcin Jackowski	Poland	€220
14	Matthew Gray	United Kingdom	€200
15	Luis Navarro	Spain	€200

Next Stop: PartyPoker Tour Cork

That's a wrap on PartyPoker Tour Castellón, but the tour rolls on, with the next stop in Cork from November 9 to 15, followed by Murcia from November 30 to December 6.

Fancy a shot at the next trophy? You can qualify online on partypoker, and take your seat in Cork without paying the full buy-in. Come join us and try to follow in the footsteps of Jonathan Rees as a PartyPoker Tour champion!

The next stop on the tour is in Cork from November 9 - 15, followed by another trip to Spain in Murcia from November 30 - December 6, so if you want to try to follow in the footsteps of Jonathan Rees as a PartyPoker Tour champion, come join us!