Main Event | 2010 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final - Monte Carlo

04-30-2010 11:29 UTC+2

Final Table Ahoy

[user46392]

Eight players have battled their way through one of the toughest fields in poker history, and have now arrived at their holy grail - the final table of the EPT Grand Final.

Given the number of poker A-listers and other famous faces who played this tournament, it is a relatively unfamiliar bunch who are fighting for EPT supremacy today, but it is today's unfamiliar faces who become the superstars of tomorrow, and today's final table promises to be nothing if not exciting.

Lebanese national Nicolas Chouity is currently chip monster at the table with 40% of the chips in play. You can watch all of this as it happens at EPT Live - but keep this tab open too as we'll be covering all the stories from the Salles des Etoiles floor.

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Herve Costa - 1,590,000
Seat 2: Roger Hairabedian - 1,130,000
Seat 3: Aleh Plauski - 1,695,000
Seat 4: Dominykas Karmazinas - 2,285,000
Seat 5: Josef Klinger - 1,170,000
Seat 6: [Removed:146] - 3,670,000
Seat 7: Nicolas Chouity - 10,280,000
Seat 8: Andrew Chen - 3,670,000

04-30-2010 11:33 UTC+2

Seat 1: Herve Costa, 47, St Paul de Vence, France - 1,590,000

[user46392]

Costa is truly a local coming from the beautiful Provencal village of St Paul de Vence near Nice. He is a recreational poker player and runs a bureau de change as his day job. Herve Costa finished 2nd at the Joaroyale Poker Tour Final which took place in Antibes in June 2009 where he pocketed €20,000. Two months later he won €13,500 for 44th place at the Grand Final of the Partouche Poker Tour II in Antibes.

Tags: Herve Costa

04-30-2010 11:34 UTC+2

Seat 2: Roger Hairabedian, 55, Cannes, France - 1,130,000

[user46392]

Hairabedian is a well-known French pro who has been playing the circuit all over France and Morocco for many years. His best result to date was winning the €10,000 Grand Prix De Paris tournament in 2008 for €419,520. The former martial arts practioner only plays live poker and was ranked the #1 tournament player in France in 2009 by magazine LivePoker. The award was presented at the France Poker Awards during EPT Deauville in January. Hairabedian is highly experienced and consistently does well.

Tags: Roger Hairabedian

04-30-2010 11:37 UTC+2

Seat 3: Aleh Plauski, 26, Minsk, Belarus - 1,695,000

[user46392]

PokerStars qualifier Plauski has had few live results apart from a 13th place at WPT Cyprus event won by Team PokerStars Pro Thomas Bichon last September. His best online result was in the Sunday 100 Rebuy. He prefers NLHE rebuy tournaments.

Tags: Aleh Plauski

04-30-2010 11:38 UTC+2

Seat 4: Dominykas Karmazinas, 22, Vilnius, Lithuania - 2,285,000

[user46392]

PokerStars player and student Dominykas Karmazinas set himself up nicely late on Day 3 when his KK crippled Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes’ 99 for a monster 1.2 million pot. He has been playing EPTs for two seasons and although he hasn’t had any main event cashes before, he came sixth in the EPT Berlin High Roller event for €24,000 and also went deep (8th and 9th places) in two EPT London side events. His favourite game is NLHE 6 Max.

Tags: Dominykas Karmazinas

04-30-2010 11:40 UTC+2

Seat 5: Josef Klinger, 42, Vienna, Austria - 1,170,000

[user46392]

Klinger rose to fame in his native Austria as a chess player in the 1980s, but quit chess in the '90s in favour of poker. When asked what his best results were, he deadpanned, "I have no success," but this is far from the case, as he has taken down several large tournaments in Vienna and his biggest live cash to date was for €85,000.

Tags: Josef "Pepe" Klinger Josef Klinger Pepe

04-30-2010 11:41 UTC+2

Seat 6: [Removed:146], 34, Paris, France - 3,670,000

[user76023]

[Removed:146] is an unfamiliar name on the EPT circuit but no stranger to tournament poker. The 34 year old Parisian has numerous live cashes, his biggest to date being seventh place in the 2009 Grand Prix de Paris for €52,440. His favourite game is Omaha, but he's proving here in Monte Carlo that he's got some skills in No Limit Hold'em too.

04-30-2010 11:41 UTC+2

Seat 7: Nicolas Chouity, 23, Beirut, Lebanon – 10,280,000

[user76023]

PokerStars qualifier Nicolas Chouity has been playing EPTs for the last two season and made it into the top 50 at last season’s EPT Grand Final for a €31,000 payday. He also came 124th for €8,000 at EPT Berlin this season.

Tags: Nicolas Chouity

04-30-2010 11:43 UTC+2

Andrew Chen, 22, Ontario, Canada – 3,670,000

[user76023]

PokerStars qualifier Chen is a well-known Canadian online pro who seems almost certain to win a major live title soon. He has come close many times. After making the final of the PokerStars LAPT Event in San Jose, Costa Rica in 2008, he then final tabled EPT Prague the next month and came third for €257,000. Last summer he was runner-up in a $1,500 WSOP side event for $412,632. This EPT season he has cashed at the EPT London main event and a side event as well as well as a deep run at the PokerStars.net NAPT Venetian tournament in February.

Tags: Andrew Chen