The 2012 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

The 2012 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
qq
Prize
€1,350,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€10,000
Entries
665
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000

Rosen Chips Up Through Renkers

From middle position, Patrick Renkers raised to an unknown amount. Jamie Rosen three-bet to 2,500 from the cutoff seat and action folded back to Renkers. He called and took the {9-Diamonds}{6-Hearts}{3-Spades} flop. Both players checked and the turn was the {3-Hearts}. Renkers checked and Rosen bet 2,800. Renkers folded and Rosen chipped up a bit more.

Player Chips Progress
Jamie Rosen us
Jamie Rosen
60,000
Patrick Renkers nl
Patrick Renkers
36,000

Tags: Jamie RosenPatrick Renkers

De Melo Doubles

Fatima Moreira De Melo raised from under the gun to 1,200 and Ashley Mason reraised from middle position to 2,700. Action folded back to De Melo and she made the call.

The flop was {7-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}{3-Spades} and De Melo check-called 3,100 to see the {4-Clubs} land on the turn. De Melo checked again and Mason bet 7,000. De Melo made the call.

The river was the {4-Diamonds} and De Melo checked with 21,950 behind. Mason put her all in and De Melo tanked for several long minutes. She finally made the call and Mason showed just ace high with the {A-Diamonds}{J-Spades}. De Melo showed the {8-Hearts}{8-Spades} and won the pot to double up.

Player Chips Progress
Fatima Moreira De Melo nl
Fatima Moreira De Melo
70,000
32,000
32,000
PokerStars

Tags: Fatima Moreira De MeloAshley Mason

It's a Numbers Game

Level 7 : 250/500, 50 ante

The final number for today’s field came to 394 players, meaning the total main event number has been confirmed at 665 players. This is down from the 686 attracted in Madrid last season and down even more from the 848 players that attended the Grand Final the last time we were in Monaco, two seasons ago. On the face of it this doesn’t look great, but the figures hide some key facts.

  • Monaco is an expensive place and this is the first time we've been back here since Black Friday.
  • Many more Nordic players turned up in Madrid last season as the tax penalties on playing in the EU are less severe than outside its boundaries. Monaco is technically outside the EU so those tax penalties put a lot of these players off coming.
  • More localised PokerStars sites in Europe (eg. PokerStars.it, PokerStars.ee, PokerStars.fr etc) due to regulation means more split qualification pools and less qualifiers in total.
  • Italians have made up a large number of the players on the EPT the past four seasons. Laws in Italy have changed so they have to pay more tax now on winnings outside Italy. This twinned with the fact that there is a €2k Italian Poker Tour scheduled next week has meany many have opted to stay away.

So basically the ground has shifted on the Grand Final and it's unfair to compare to past seasons' numbers. It's much fairer to compare it to the WSOPE held it Cannes a little more than six months ago. This is because it is the only other €10k Main Event to be held in Europe, Cannes has similar living costs for players to contend with, and it was held within a similar time period to be affected by by all financial implications the poker world and world in general are dealing with. They attracted 593 players so number here looks pretty good!

Vedes Climbing Some More

On the {8-Spades}{3-Spades}{3-Hearts} flop, Jean-Noel Thorel checked to Tommy Vedes. Vedes bet 3,075 and Thorel check-raised to 7,000. Vedes called.

The turn was the {J-Hearts} and the river the {9-Spades}. On both streets, Thorel and Vedes checked. At the showdown, Thorel showed the {2-Spades}{2-Clubs} and Vedes the {A-Clubs}{8-Clubs}. Vedes' hand was best and he won the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Jean-Noel Thorel fr
Jean-Noel Thorel
65,000
-45,000
-45,000
Tommy Vedes us
Tommy Vedes
51,000
21,000
21,000

Tags: Tommy VedesJean-Noel Thorel

Penalty for ElkY

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier just received a one-round penalty. Disgusted with a recent hand, Grospellier tossed his cards in, but they spun a bit out of control and hit the dealer. Because of this, Grospellier was issued with a one-round penalty and not too happy about it because he was already short on chips.

Tags: Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier

Huge Double for Rosen

Andres Artinano Munoz raised from the hijack seat to 1,025 and Chris Oliver three-bet to 2,575 from the button. Jamie Rosen was in the small blind and four-bet to 5,950. Action moved back to Munoz and he reraised to 10,150. Oliver quickly folded, but Rosen took his time to think. If anyone knows Rosen or has watched him play, you'll know he rarely takes more than a few seconds with his decisions. That said, this seemed like an important one.

After a minute, Rosen fired back with a six-bet to 16,450. Munoz took about 30 seconds and then reraised all in. Rosen snapped with the {A-Clubs}{K-Hearts} and put all of his 53,650 in chips on the line. Munoz held the {A-Spades}{Q-Clubs}.

The board ran out a Rosen-favorable {4-Diamonds}{4-Clubs}{2-Spades}{3-Clubs}{8-Diamonds} and Rosen doubled up.

Player Chips Progress
Andres Artinano Munoz
Andres Artinano Munoz
116,000
-34,000
-34,000
Jamie Rosen us
Jamie Rosen
111,000
51,000
51,000

Tags: Jamie RosenAndres Artinano MunozChris Oliver

It's All About the Money, Money, Money

Level 7 : 250/500, 50 ante

The prizepool information has been released and the winner will take home a cool €1,500,000 for their efforts this week. Whoever finishes 97th won't be happy as the top 96 will cash, with a min-cash netting you €15,000. If you make the final table then the minimum you will take home will be €130,000. For the full details please click on the payouts tab, or if your cursor is near where you are focusing right now click here.

Chip Counts

Player Chips Progress
Ivan Kudrivtcev
Ivan Kudrivtcev
138,000
Ilan Boujenah il
Ilan Boujenah
130,000
37,000
37,000
Franck Blanc
Franck Blanc
130,000
Jamie Rosen us
Jamie Rosen
120,000
Romero Gomila
Romero Gomila
110,000
Ole Schemion de
Ole Schemion
105,000
Mathew Frankland gb
Mathew Frankland
100,000
44,000
44,000
Tom Marchese us
Tom Marchese
99,000
82,000
82,000
Haralabos Voulgaris ca
Haralabos Voulgaris
98,000
Stephen Chidwick gb
Stephen Chidwick
98,000
18,000
18,000
Andoni Larrabe es
Andoni Larrabe
94,000
Ana Marquez es
Ana Marquez
88,000
-7,000
-7,000
PokerStars
Casey Kastle si
Casey Kastle
86,000
42,000
42,000
Andres Artinano Munoz
Andres Artinano Munoz
85,000
-65,000
-65,000
Nicolas Yunis
Nicolas Yunis
85,000
Annette Obrestad no
Annette Obrestad
84,000
-1,000
-1,000
Fatima Moreira De Melo nl
Fatima Moreira De Melo
83,000
45,000
45,000
PokerStars
Sorel Mizzi ca
Sorel Mizzi
83,000
14,000
14,000
Jean-Noel Thorel fr
Jean-Noel Thorel
80,000
-30,000
-30,000
Martin Finger de
Martin Finger
80,000
-10,000
-10,000
EPT 1X Winner
Humberto Brenes cr
Humberto Brenes
78,000
30,000
30,000
PokerStars
Alessio Isaia it
Alessio Isaia
70,000
40,000
40,000
Dario Minieri it
Dario Minieri
70,000
-5,000
-5,000
Rupert Elder gb
Rupert Elder
70,000
30,000
30,000
EPT 1X Winner
Oleksii Kovalchuk ua
Oleksii Kovalchuk
70,000

Read full

Level: 8

Blinds: 300/600

Ante: 75

Max Martinez Eliminates Elpayaa

There was a raise to 1,000 in early position, Max Martinez three-bet to 3,200 and Joe Elpayaa moved all-in from the blinds. The early position raiser folded and Martinez made the call.

Martinez{K-Hearts} {K-Clubs}
Elpayaa{A-Spades} {K-Diamonds}

Board: {7-Diamonds} {4-Clubs} {3-Diamonds} {7-Hearts} {6-Clubs}

Martinez has eliminated a dangerous player and now has 78,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Max Martinez it
Max Martinez
75,000
12,000
12,000
PokerStars
Joseph Elpayaa us
Joseph Elpayaa
Busted

Tags: Joseph ElpayaaMax Martinez