Gerard Pique turns hand to poker again at EPT Barcelona after banking huge paydays

Barcelona and Spain legend Gerard Pique competed in the £17,000 (€20,000) high-roller poker tournament at PokerStars’ 20th anniversary of the EPT Barcelona.

The World Cup winner has scooped some huge paydays in the past, most notably taking home £300,000 when finishing second in the one-day high roller in 2019.

He also banked £42,000 in Prague and £55,000 in another Barcelona event recently.

The football icon has a total poker career earnings of £622,000 and was first spotted at a table in 2011.

But his luck was out this week when he went all-in on a pair of twos, losing to triple kings.

Pique had a glittering footballing career winning the Premier League and Champions League with Manchester United in 2008 before joining Barcelona a few months later.

It’s there in his home city where he had the most success, claiming nine La Liga titles and three Champions League.

He was part of the epic Spanish side that dominated internationally between 2008 and 2012.

Since retiring in 2019, Pique has had many interests that are away from football. He bought a majority share of the Davis Cup, attempting to breathe a new lease of life into the World Cup of tennis.

More recently he kicked off the King’s League, a new seven-a-side football event that dramatically changes the rules of the game.

But there has been one constant throughout his playing career and retirement – poker.

“I like that you have to use your mind. It is very competitive and also you have to read your enemies. I like it a lot,” Pique told Express Sport.

“It feels very different from football but it is very competitive and every time that I’ve joined I’ve been able to win some kind of prizes so I am quite happy about the experience overall.”

Many footballers, including Neymar, are regularly spotted playing poker in their time away from professional sport.

But are there any similarities between the two?

“There are not a lof of similarities (between poker and football). Maybe people that read the game inside the pitch, you have to read a lot on a poker table, how every player behaves and plays,” Pique explained.

“This could be similar to football but for the rest it is a different environment and a different sport.

“You play as a team in sport but here you are playing alone. It is quite different.”