€10,600 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final
€10,600 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€5,640,000
Entries
564
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Saturday was filled with great poker action at the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final, which saw the €100,000 Super High Roller play down to a winner, and the start of the cornerstone €10,600 Main Event.
Day 1a attracted 219 runners, which was a bit more than last year's 214 entries. After eight levels of play, the field was whittled down to 113 with Poland's Juan Carlos Garcia and his stack of 182,800 leading the way. Others who advanced to Day 2 with healthy stacks were Joao Simao (179,100), Nicolas Chouity (168,200), Steven Zhou (158,000), and Roger Hairabedian (153,800).
Garcia managed to get a good deal of his chips in the last level of the night. It happened in a four-bet pot after Garcia bet about half pot on a 
flop. Atanas Malinov called, and the 
peeled off on the turn. Garcia slowed down with a check, but then woke up with an all-in check-raise to around 120,000 total after Malinov had bet 24,000. Malinov seemed tortured by the decision and hit the tank hard. Eventually another player at the table called the clock, and Malinov let it expire before folding his hand.
"Show one, it's going to be on the news," Garcia was encouraged by Charlie Carrel. The youngster from Poland obliged and showed the 
. With that, Garcia took over the chip lead.
Long before that, the day kicked off with a bang when Dan Smith, who won three €5,000 side events at this very stop back in Season 8, was crippled in the first hand he played after running his top full house smack dab into queens. Smith was finished off a short time later, making him the first elimination of the EPT11 Grand Final Main Event.
Of course he had company before too long. Last year's €100,000 Super High Roller champ and reigning Big One for One Drop champ Daniel Colman made an early exit after calling off with kings only to be shown aces by Argentina's Ivan Luca, while the defending champ, Italy's Antonio Buonanno was bounced in Level 3 (100/200).
It happened on a 
flop when Buonanno, who was in the small blind, bet out 600 and Zhou raised to 1,700. Buonanno called, the 
appeared on the turn, and Buonanno checked to Zhou, who bet 2,725. A call was made, the river brought the 
, and once again Buonanno checked. Zhou bet enough to put Buonanno to the test, and the Italian thought long and hard. Eventually the clock was called and Buonanno committed. Zhou turned over the 
for a rivered full house, and Buonanno meekly turned over the 
for two pair before making his way to the exit.
Other who fell on Day 1a were Max Silver, Dani Stern, Anatoly FIlatov, Tobias Reinkemeier, Bryn Kenney, Justin Bonomo, Scott Seiver, Patrik Antonius, and Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer. The reigning World Series of Poker Player of the Year fell just before the dinner break when he got his stack all in on an 
flop holding the 
. Unfortunately for him, the UK's Victor Ilyukhin held the 
and hit his straight after the dealer burned and turned the 
.
While dozens fell, a multitude of notables survived the night including Ole Schemion (121,600), Steve O'Dwyer (109,000), Ivan Soshnikov (64,700), Dan Heimiller (53,200), Mike "Timex" McDonald (49,500), Martin Jacobson (42,000), and Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari (114,900), Eugene Katchalov (95,600), Jason Mercier (74,900) and Isaac Haxton (33,200).
On Sunday, a whole new flight of players will take to the felt to test their mettle in one of the most prestigious tournament of the year. Day 1b is always significantly bigger than the opening flight, so expect the field to swell, especially since late registration is open until the start of Day 2.
The plan for tomorrow is to play eight more 75-minute levels. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there every step of the way to capture all the action in our live blog, so be sure to check back then. While you wait, check out this video featuring Akkari talking about his recent Shark Cage experience:
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
182,800
-17,200
|
-17,200 |
|
179,100
49,100
|
49,100 |
|
168,200
12,200
|
12,200 |
|
||
|
158,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
153,800
49,800
|
49,800 |
|
153,400
103,400
|
103,400 |
|
138,800
-6,200
|
-6,200 |
|
||
|
132,300
132,300
|
132,300 |
|
121,600
31,600
|
31,600 |
|
114,900
-15,100
|
-15,100 |
|
||
|
109,000
32,000
|
32,000 |
|
|
||
|
106,600
106,600
|
106,600 |
|
98,300
98,300
|
98,300 |
|
95,600
49,600
|
49,600 |
|
|
||
|
91,300
-7,700
|
-7,700 |
|
89,600 | |
|
|
||
|
82,000
58,000
|
58,000 |
|
81,900
81,900
|
81,900 |
|
76,000
46,000
|
46,000 |
|
74,900
19,900
|
19,900 |
|
|
||
|
65,900
17,900
|
17,900 |
|
||
|
64,700
-12,300
|
-12,300 |
|
58,500
38,000
|
38,000 |
|
54,000
54,000
|
54,000 |
|
53,200
23,200
|
23,200 |
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play six more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. We're headed down to the tournament floor to capture any late action and to compile a list of chip counts. Stay tuned for those as well as a full recap of the Day 1a action.
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
We missed the amounts, but we do know that Atanas Malinov three-bet in middle position after a player in front of him had opened with a raise. Jose Carlos Garcia, who isn't donning his usual cap, then four-bet from the small blind, the original raiser folded, and Malinov made the call.
The flop saw Garcia lead out for about half pot, Malinov call, and the peel off on the turn. Garcia slowed down with a check, but then woke up with an all-in check-raise to around 120,000 total after Malinov had bet 24,000. Malinov seemed tortured by the decision and hit the tank hard. Eventually another player at the table called the clock, and Malinov let it expire before folding his hand.
"Show one, it's going to be on the news," Garcia was encouraged by Charlie Carrel. The youngster from Poland obliged and showed the . With that, Garcia chipped up to 200,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
200,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
80,000
-65,000
|
-65,000 |
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Remko meets up with Vanessa Rousso at WPT National Johannesburg to discuss her relationship with the organizers in South Africa, her difficult 2014, her love for music and philanthropy, and much more.
You can subscribe to the entire iBus Media Network , or . The PokerNews family of podcasts is
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Steve O'Dwyer, Piotr Franczak, Andrei Streitsou and Leonid Martin were the four players who all had put in 4,500 pre-flop, and saw a board of 
.
Leonid Martin bet 7,400 and got calls from Franczak and O'Dwyer. The rolled off on the turn and this time Martin considered raising, shuffling his chips back and forth for over two minutes before chcecking to O'Dwyer. With the pot now at roughly 40,000 chips, O'Dwyer, with only a pot-sized bet behind, moved all-in for his remaining chips.
Franczak folded which meant the action was back on Martin. The chip totals were tight, but O'Dwyer looked to have the advantage. Martin eventually folded.
"Jack-king?" said Franczack, "Show one?"
O'Dwyer turned over the 
and Leonard Martin grimaced. This big pot gave O'Dwyer a handy boost as Day 1a comes to a close
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
77,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
||
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
A short-stacked Martin Jacobson, who you of course know as the winner of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event for $10 million, shoved all in for 8,025 from early position and Dominik Nitsche called from the button. The blinds both folded and Jacobson discovered he was between a rock and a hard place.
Nitsche:
Jacobson: 
The 
flop was no help to Jacobson, but the 
was just what he was looking for. The 
river failed to help Nitsche, and he frustratingly send some chips to the Swede.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
40,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
17,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Some players had a request. Nothing too fancy, just, say, a €5k turbo with a single re-entry, with maybe a seat to the $50K Super High Roller tomorrow to the winner. Was that something that could be arranged? .
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
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|
Busted | |
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|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |