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Home / Poker / The €334,180 is great, but it’s a winner’s photo Parker Talbot is chasing

The €334,180 is great, but it’s a winner’s photo Parker Talbot is chasing

February 23, 2024

Poker

by Jack Stanton

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4 Minute Read

Parker Talbot was hoping to win his first live title and break a fourteen-year spell. But ultimately, the PokerStars Team Pro would have to settle for the biggest score of his illustrious career.

We tried our best but it was not enough sadly. Not a bad score though I guess! https://t.co/jfRv1eKn7E

— Parker Talbot (@tonkaaaap) February 20, 2024

Talbot, a.k.a. “Tonkaaaa”, battled his way through an enormous field of 1,794 entries in the €2,200 France Poker Series (FPS) High Roller in Paris and fell one spot short of the trophy, earning €334,180 for his runner-up finish. It’s yet another fantastic result for the Canadian in huge-field events, and with it, he’s up to almost $1.7 million in live earnings.

“It feels really good, he says. “Someone asked if it was a monkey off my back, and I said yeah, for sure. I didn’t get a top-three finish for 11 consecutive years of live poker!”

Another huge live score for Talbot

The FPS High Roller was supposed to be a two-day affair, but when four players remained at 4 am on Day 2 – the latest time they could play to – it meant a third and final session was required.

Talbot entered the newly added Day 3 third in chips but when Spain’s Omar Del Pino and Guillermo Gordo departed in fourth and third respectively, he found himself heads-up against the dominating chip lead of Denmark’s Henrik Juncker. “I didn’t play for very long,” says Talbot. “But I’m glad I managed to ladder up.”

He says it so casually that you’d never believe those pay jumps he was laddered were worth around €50,000, then €100,000.

“It was super fun and it’s a really nice score,” he adds.

€2,200 FPS High Roller Final Table Results:

IN FINE FORM

Here’s an impressive statistic for you: Eight of Parker Talbot’s 18 most recent cashes on Hendon Mob have been final-table finishes.

His stellar run began at EPT Prague in 2022 when he finished fifth in the Main Event for €278,450. That was the second time he’d been a Prague finalist, having placed sixth in 2018 (the year Paul Michaelis won) for €179,360.

Talbot came close in another regional event in August 2023, racking up a seventh-place finish in the Estrellas Barcelona Main Event for €105,590. He then captured a fourth World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) title in one of the 2023 series’ biggest buy-ins – the $10,300 Super Tuesday – worth $213,228.

Talbot has more than $8.3 million in online winnings

He’s undoubtedly playing better than he ever has, and the big results are consistent. “Someone said the other day that I’ve been making a lot of deep runs and final tables recently, but I just don’t really feel like I have because I just don’t win, you know?”

We were about to ask Talbot whether trophies meant anything or if it was all about the money, but the way he delivered that last line made it clear there was a strong desire.

QUEST FOR A WINNER’S PHOTO

“In my early days of poker, I really didn’t give a **** about any of that,” he says. “All I wanted to do was make money.

“But a live win and a trophy would mean a lot at this point. I’ve streamed for a long time, I’m a PokerStars Pro now, and I think there would be a lot more meaning to it now. I want a winner’s photo, you know?

He’s seen his teammates and good friends get one recently. Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg came out top at UKIPT Brighton, and then Fintan “easywithaces” Hand did the same at UKIPT Edinburgh.

Talbot’s score in the FPS High Roller is bigger than both Spragg’s and Hand’s wins combined. “But they still got the trophies…” he says.

“All I’m doing is chasing a trophy, that’s how I feel about it right now,” he adds. “But yeah, I feel like it should come at some point.”