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

Main Event
Day: 2
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

Main Event

Day 2 Completed

Max Martinez Leads the EPT Grand Final Day 2

Level 14 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Max Martinez is our chip leader
Max Martinez is our chip leader

Day 2 of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final has concluded and we have a Team PokerStars Pro at the top of the chip counts. Max Martinez started the day with 63,400 chips and when the 130 players bagged up and departed for good night's sleep Martinez had increased that stack to 456,300.

It wasn't plain sailing for the Italian and at one point he really did have to dig deep into his poker reserves. It was the penultimate level of the day when Martinez picked up pocket aces at the same time that Fabrice Soulier picked up pocket queens. The two of them decided to play for stacks and it was a pre flop pot worth 210,000 and a top ten spot in the chip counts. Soulier hit one of his two outs on the flop and Martinez was reduced to 65,000 chips and when we left him he was muttering to himself in despair.

Rather than tilt and blow his final 65,000 chips, Martinez went on what could only be described as a monumental tear. In the last level of play Martinez turned 65,000 chips into 456,300 chips climaxing in the elimination of Ivan Kudriavtcev when his pocket sevens ran into the pocket tens of the Team PokerStars Pro.

The chip leader at the start of the day was Nick Yunis and he will not be joining us in the line up for Day 3. Yunis was sat on 143BB when his six-bet shove was called by Mohsin Charania. Charania held pocket aces and Yunis held {A-Clubs} {10-Spades} and five community cards later Charania was sitting on 380,000 chips and for a long time seemed likely to be the end of day chip leader. In the end Charania ended the day in 2nd place with 413,500 chips. The third prominent player is the man who has won more live tournament dollars that anyone who has ever graced this planet. Erik Seidel has had a frugal 2012 and today he quietly amassed 360,200 chips, once again proving he can rise on the big occasions.

Team PokerStars Pros in the bag for Day 3 are the likes of Johnny Lodden (46,200), Richard Toth (265,800), Nacho Barbero (185,000), Pierre Neuville (82,500) & Sandra Naujoks (127,700).

Notable eliminations included Phil Ivey, Samuel Chartier, David Vamplew, John Eames and Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst, Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree, Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein.

We return for 12:00 (CET) so join us at Pokernews for all of the action. In the meantime check out the full chip counts of the end of Day 2 below.

Tags: Erik SeidelMax MartinezMohsin Charania

End of Day 2 Chip Counts (full)

Player Chips Progress
Max Martinez it
Max Martinez
456,300 391,300
Mohsin Charania us
Mohsin Charania
EPT 1X Winner
413,500 -66,500
Erik Seidel us
Erik Seidel
Poker Hall of Famer
362,200 102,200
Anatoly Gurtovoy
Anatoly Gurtovoy
339,100 129,100
Geert-Jan Potijk nl
Geert-Jan Potijk
324,600 2,600
Vadzim Kursevich by
Vadzim Kursevich
317,800 264,500
Lawrie Inman
Lawrie Inman
303,500 202,700
John Andress us
John Andress
301,200 214,200
Giuseppe Pantaleo de
Giuseppe Pantaleo
294,400 4,400
Tudor Grangure
Tudor Grangure
293,900 251,900
Daniel Gomez
Daniel Gomez
291,800 31,800
Griffin Benger ca
Griffin Benger
284,100 204,100
David Sands us
David Sands
281,800 1,800
Andrew Badecker us
Andrew Badecker
279,200 119,200
Frank Koopmann de
Frank Koopmann
276,400 162,500
Guillaume Darcourt fr
Guillaume Darcourt
274,800 14,800
Christopher Brammer gb
Christopher Brammer
267,400 199,900
Santiago Nadal us
Santiago Nadal
267,400
Mikhail Korotkikh ru
Mikhail Korotkikh
261,300 26,300
Vadzim Markushevski
Vadzim Markushevski
249,800 109,800
Bruno Fitoussi fr
Bruno Fitoussi
245,500 -23,500
Clayton Mozdzen ca
Clayton Mozdzen
238,800 78,800
Dominykas Karmazinas lt
Dominykas Karmazinas
238,700 85,700
Dan Abouaf fr
Dan Abouaf
234,500 84,500
Adrian Schaap nl
Adrian Schaap
227,200 150,800

Read full

Bagging and Tagging

Level 14 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante

The players are done with their final seven hands and are bagging and tagging their chips. We'll have a wrap-up post coming shortly along with some chip counts. Right now, it looks like Team PokerStars Pro Max Martinez is the chip leader with over 450,000 and then Mohsin Charania in second place.

Harsh End for Minieri

Dario Minieri
Dario Minieri

Dario Minieri has busted with moments left in the day, and it was quiet unlucky for him.

He was heads up to a {3-Diamonds}{5-Hearts}{7-Diamonds} flop with Giuseppe Pantaleo and all the chips ended up in the middle. Pantaleo opened the drawing {j-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds}, behind to the Team PokerStars Pro's {5-Spades}{5-Clubs} for a set.

The {2-Spades} was in Italy's favour but {4-Diamonds} river was all Germany. It made Pantaleo's flush and ended Mineri's dreams for this season. Pantaleo said sorry and Minieri said, "That's poker!"

Player Chips Progress
Giuseppe Pantaleo de
Giuseppe Pantaleo
290,000 220,000
Dario Minieri it
Dario Minieri
Busted

Tags: Dario MinieriGiuseppe Pantaleo

Boeken Building

Noah Boeken found a nice spot to squeeze and had two black aces to back him up.

Vojtech Ruzicka opened to 5,200 from mid position and was called in one spot before Boeken three-bet to 16,000. Ruzicka shoved with {q-Spades}{j-Hearts} and that was enough to force out the caller but not Boeken, obviously, who called.

The board ran {9-Clubs}{J-Spades}{2-Spades} | {7-Clubs} | {9-Hearts} and after a countdown of stacks Ruzicka's was confirmed busto.

Player Chips Progress
Noah Boeken nl
Noah Boeken
EPT 1X Winner
188,600 157,600

Tags: Noah BoekenVojtech Ruzicka

More Chips for Mo

Mohsin Charania is crushing the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event. Before this hand, we had Charania at 435,000 in chips, but now he's up to a bit more than that. Here's a recent hand from him.

Charania raised from middle position to 4,800 and action folded to Paul Testud on the button. He reraised to 11,000 and play folded through the blinds and back to Charania. He reraised to 36,000. Testud had about 110,000 behind and made the call to take a flop.

The flop came down {7-Clubs}{6-Hearts}{4-Clubs} and Charania wasted little time. Right away, he announced that he was all in and put a tall stack of blue T5,000 chips in the middle. Testud took a few moments, then folded his hand and Charania won the pot. He's up to 480,000 now.

Player Chips Progress
Mohsin Charania us
Mohsin Charania
EPT 1X Winner
480,000 50,000
Paul Testud fr
Paul Testud
75,000 46,100

Tags: Mohsin CharaniaPaul Testud

Checking Back the Nuts?

Pierre Neuville
Pierre Neuville

Pierre Neuville had a flummoxed look upon his face after Adrian Schaap checked back the nuts to him on the river.

They were heads up to a {10-Diamonds}{q-Spades}{4-Diamonds} flop and Neuville led for 8,000. Call. The turn was {j-Hearts} and Schaap bet 11,000 when the Team PokerStars Pro checked to him, and he called when check-raised to 30,000. The river was {a-Clubs} and the action went check-check.

Schaap tabled {k-Spades}{9-Spades} for the nuts! I can't explain that hand at all.

Player Chips Progress
Pierre Neuville be
Pierre Neuville
98,000 21,000

Tags: Adrian SchaapPierre Neuville