2009 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final

€10,000 EPT Grand Final Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info

2009 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
96
Prize
€2,300,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€9,350,000
Entries
935
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
120,000 / 240,000
Ante
0

And Now for Something Completely Different

The tournament was progressing nicely, a side event satellite about to start, when all of a sudden a repeated banging disturbed the otherwise tranquil sound of chip riffling. A guy on the top level of the rail had decided that he could keep silent no longer.

"I'll tell you! Where is Isai [Pokerstars owner]? You tell me RIGHT NOW!" he shouted so loudly that the riffling and murmur of forty poker tables died down.

"Online poker is no longer f***ing rigged!" he nearly screamed, while pulling what looked like his white t-shirt up and over his head like Rorschach's mask in Watchmen. "If any of you take my picture, for your magazine, or your website, you'll be next!" he ended, as Thomas Kremser escorted him from the room.

250 perplexed poker players gave him a round of applause. I think he got his message the wrong way round, but he sure got their attention.

Tags: scary

The Knave of Hearts He Stole Some Pots

Danzer: back in the game
Danzer: back in the game
Oh, how cruel the river. George Danzer just received the benefit (though someone has to, I suppose), as his {A-?} {J-?} hit two pair on an {A-?} {K-?} {J-?} flop. His opponent (slightly shorter stacked than him) got it all in on the {4-?} turn, calling when Danzer moved all in. Sure enough, he had {A-?} {K-?} for top two pair, but when another {J-?} hit the river it was no longer good. "Oooooh," went Danzer's entire table as he collected the spoils of the outdraw.

A few hands later, Danzer took down a small pot on a flop of {K-Diamonds} {9-Clubs} {A-Clubs} with a bet of 8,000 and showed another two pair, {A-?} {9-?}. That pot increased his count to 344,000 and prompted Danzer to start talking to his neighbors. Danzer claims that he played forty "major" tournaments in a row without cashing, and that when the drought was finally broken, it wasn't in convincing fashion. "I crawled over the finish line," he said. But once he did that, he felt like the monkey was off his back.

The field still has to be cut in half one more time in order for Danzer to make the money here in Monte Carlo, but those 344,000 chips put him in good shape.

Tags: George Danzer

Glo and Bo

Just before the dinner break, tennis legend Boris Becker shared his thoughts with our own Gloria Balding. Becker has been an Ambassador for PokerStars for more than a year now, and he is representing his sponsors well this week in Monte Carlo, running himself deep into the night here on Day 2. Here's what he had to say:

Tags: Boris Becker

Level: 15

Blinds: 2,000/4,000

Ante: 400

No Break!

... but we still love break photos
... but we still love break photos
It seems that the last fifteen-minute break of the day has been quashed in favor of getting out of here that much sooner. Onwards to the last level of the night we go.

Dutch-on-Dutch Action; Dutchman Wins

Jan Hlobil is down to 85,000 after a bit of an encounter with fellow Dutchman Julien Maugenest.

I caught up with it at the turn of the {6-Hearts} {4-Spades} {Q-Clubs} {6-Clubs} board, when Hlobil checked and Maugenest bet 6,000. Hlobil raised to 19,000 and stared blankly at the board; after a while Maugenest called.

Hlobil checked again on the {8-Diamonds} river and then Maugenest bet 35,000. After a little while, Hlobil folded. Maugenest is up to 360,000.

Tags: Jan Hlobil

Not Much Doom at the Table of Doom

Remember the other Table of Doom? The original Table of Doom? That was the one by media row at which Dennis Phillips, Sorel Mizzi, Liya Gerasimova and Ilari Sahamies were all seated. They're all still there. Sahamies just took down a pot by betting 7,900 on a flop of {A-Diamonds} {Q-Hearts} {4-Diamonds} and following it up with a bet of 20,500 on the turn {3-Hearts} after his opponent called the flop bet.

Adding those chips to his stack moved Sahamies to 240,000. Mizzi's at 205,000, Phillips has 142,000, and Gerasimova is bringing up the rear with roughly 120,000.

Tags: Dennis PhillipsIlari SahamiesLiya GerasimovaSorel Mizzi

Tulchinskiy High

Mikhail Tulchinskiy just doubled through Phil Laak to around 140k. I would guess much of the stack got in on the {K-Hearts} {Q-Clubs} {10-Clubs} flop, seeing as Tulchinskiy held {A-Diamonds} {Q-Spades} and Laak {Q-Diamonds} {J-Clubs} . The rest of the board came low, though, and Laak, who's grinded back a decent stack over the last two hours, just handed over a third of it again.

Tags: Mikhail TulchinskiyPhil Laak

Do We Cover Canadians? Yes!

Mercier: bridging the nationality gap in my chip counts
Mercier: bridging the nationality gap in my chip counts
A personable, young player with a good stack just came up and asked if we were covering Canadians. But of course. Isn't Ami Barer Canadian? He's definitely been in this blog. And now, so are you, Norman 'Norm427' Gautron.

And here is a seamless passage from Canadian to French chip counts via a French-Canadian:

Norman Gautron - 250k
Isabelle Mercier - 67k
Ludovic Lacay - 190k.

Tags: Isabelle MercierLudovic LacayNorman Gautron

Killer Kelopuro

Just before that Barer/Tureniec hand, Sami Kelopuro managed to get himself involved with Jean Paul Pasqualini on a {Q-Hearts} {6-Clubs} {2-Clubs} {7-Hearts} {3-Clubs} board, on the river of which Kelopuro bet 59,400 from the button. After some thought, twirling a chip around on the top of his rather phallic stack of yellow 5,000 chips, Pasqualini folded, leaving himself with 180,000.

Tags: Sami Kelopuro