Dutch player Jay Hoebe has won the Main Event as the WSOP Circuit made its Spanish debut. After a long heads-up battle with Argentina’s Nacho Barbero at Casino Gran Vía in Madrid on Sunday, Hoebe collected €207,000, the second Circuit ring of his career and a $5,000 package for the WSOP Paradise festival in the Bahamas next month.
The €1,500 tournament was a big success for the new Madrid stop. A total of 918 entries built a prize pool of €1,164,942, and the top 140 finishers shared the money with a minimum cash of €3,000, according to PokerExklusiv’s report on the final.
Jay Hoebe holds 25% of the total chips in play, but this final table is far from over! 👑🇪🇸
PSPC Champion Aliaksandr Shylko, High Roller regular Tom-Aksel Bedell, and fan-favorite Nacho Barbero all in the mix! @WSOP -C
https://www.pokernews.com/tours/wsop-circuit/2026-wsop-circuit-madrid/1500-wsop-c-main-event/chips.871637.htm
PokerNews (@PokerNews) November 1, 2026
From short stack to rival
Hoebe came into the last day as the clear favourite. He bagged 12,260,000 chips on Day 2, roughly a quarter of everything in play, while Barbero was bottom of the counts with just 2,430,000. That picture changed quickly. In the first two levels the Argentine picked up aces three times and kings three times, by Hoebe’s own count, and he climbed from last place to a commanding lead.
Barbero’s rush accounted for most of the early exits. Spain’s Luca Zapatero Martin went first in ninth for €14,200, followed by French poker journalist Fausto Munz (€18,200) and Cesar Montanes Alonso (€24,000), which ended home hopes. Aliaksandr Shylko, the 2023 PSPC champion, fell in sixth for €33,000, and Sweden’s Per Hildebrand followed in fifth for €45,000.
Cristobal Ochoa Aguilera was the next to go in fourth for €63,000. Norway’s Tom-Aksel Bedell then held on for a long spell three-handed before Hoebe’s ace-queen beat his ace-six, leaving the Norwegian with €90,000 for third.
A see-saw heads-up
The duel for the title lasted more than an hour and the lead swapped hands several times. Hoebe had a first chance to finish it with ace-king against king-ten, but a ten on the turn kept Barbero alive. On the last hand, as described in the PokerNews live reporting from Madrid, Hoebe moved all in from the button and Barbero called for his tournament life. Both flopped a pair and Barbero made trips on the turn, but the river handed Hoebe a bigger full house. Barbero took €130,000 for second.
Dutch site PokerCity singled out one call in the heads-up, when Hoebe looked up a river bluff from Barbero holding only a small pair.
Back from a nine-month break
Hoebe won his first Circuit ring in 2023, worth €36,999, but told PokerNews he had stepped away from the game for nine months before Madrid. “It’s a dream come true,” he said after the win. Asked about his plans, he added: “My dream is still to become a professional player. I tried, but it’s a hard grind.”
The Circuit stays in Europe for the rest of the year. Next up is Casino Middelkerke from 6 to 15 November, a stop we previewed last week, followed by Sanremo in Italy from 20 to 30 November. Hoebe’s package points him towards the Bahamas, where the Global Poker Awards will also be staged during the festival.
