Vanessa Selbst had called an under-the-gun raise on the button and Fabian Quoss had three-bet from the big blind. The original raiser had called and when action was on Selbst a waiter arrived with her order and was asking for payment.
“It’s free.” Selbst told him. Steve O’Dwyer to her right clarified as he gestured to the Super High Roller area, “Everything’s free here.” That seemed to satisfy the waiter and Selbst folded her hand.
Free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't.
The European Poker Tour Season 10 Player of the Year race was a heated affair between Ole Schemion, Vanessa Selbst, and Thomas Muhlocker, but that changed last weekend in Sanremo when Schemion walked away with the €10,000 High Roller title. The win gave him a seemingly insurmountable lead (he has 1,026 pts, which us 263 ahead of Muhlocker and 283 over Selbst), which means he will be the EPT10 POY barring some miracle performances here in Monte Carlo.
That said, we've seen some memorable performance already this season from both Schemion and Selbst. Most notably, they are the only two players to cash in all three cornerstone events at the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. If you recall, Schemion took seventh in the PCA $100K Super High Roller for $277,080; 144th in the Main Event for $17,600; and seventh in the PCA $25,000 High Roller for $216,040. As for Selbst, she placed third in the PCA $100K SHR for $760,640; 42nd in the Main Event for $32,000; and third in the $25,000 High Roller (the same event she won the year before for $1,424,420) for $607,580.
As if that wasn't impressive enough, Schemion actually did it at Barcelona too at the start of the season. It was there that he took sixth in the €50,000 Super High Roller for €159,200; 123rd in the €5,000 Main Event for €10,000l and sixth in the €10,000 High Roller Reentry for €90,700.
The buy-in is a stagering €100,000, and for that amount you get 250 big blinds. One might expect people to play tight because of that, but the contrary is reality here in the first level. We've already seen some big pots, and an allin from Haxton.
On a board we saw Sam Trickett in the cutoff check to next door neighbor Olivier Busquet on the button. Busquet made a 12,000 bet and action was back on Trickett. Trickett picked up a 25,000 chip, added some smaller denomination chips and slid them forward; 37,000 total. Busquet, who had been staring at one point in the room the whole time, looked at the bet and called.
The fell on the river and Trickett bet out 63,000. Busquet thought about it for a little bit and then announced his allin for 167,500. Trickett double checked his cards, and folded after less than a minute of thinking.
In the last hand of Level 1, Alec Torelli opened for 2,500 from the button and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier called from the small blind. Igor Kurganov then three-bet to 11,000 from the big blind, both his opponents called, and three players saw a flop of .
Grospellier checked, Kurganov bet 17,000, and only Torelli called, which brought about the turn. Kurganov proceeded to check-call a big bet of 38,000 and the checked the river. Torelli thought for a few moments before betting 40,500, and Kurganov tanked for about a minute before laying down his hand.
Monte Carlo Casino roof opened for start of play as a plane flys over head
Max Altergott, who won this event last year, has just picked up a couple of decent pots against Philip Gruissem. First he check-called a 10,000 bet on the turn of a board before both players checked the river. Altergott's was still good.
In the next hand, the two were in the blinds, Altergott limped in and Gruissem checked his option. Again it was another heart-heavy board coming . Altergott fired 1,300 and Gruissem made the call to see the on the turn. Both of the Germans checked this card to see the on the river. Altergott now fired 2,800 and Gruissem made the call but the latter mucked when he saw Altergott's .
Despite these two setbacks, Gruissem still has around his starting stack.
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier has sat down in seat seven on the same table as Haxton and Cates, and shortly after he was joined by Alec Torelli who took the 6 seat. Toreli told his neighbour that he had been spending a lot of time in Macau recently , seeing some sights as well as playing a lot of poker.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
board we saw Sam Trickett in the cutoff check to next door neighbor Olivier Busquet on the button. Busquet made a 12,000 bet and action was back on Trickett. Trickett picked up a 25,000 chip, added some smaller denomination chips and slid them forward; 37,000 total. Busquet, who had been staring at one point in the room the whole time, looked at the bet and called.
fell on the river and Trickett bet out 63,000. Busquet thought about it for a little bit and then announced his allin for 167,500. Trickett double checked his cards, and folded after less than a minute of thinking.
.
river. Torelli thought for a few moments before betting 40,500, and Kurganov tanked for about a minute before laying down his hand.
board, Johannes Strassmann had bet 76,000 and Ole Schemion thought for several minutes before making the call.
for top set and Schemion mucked.
board before both players checked the 
river. Altergott's 
was still good.
. Altergott fired 1,300 and Gruissem made the call to see the 
on the turn. Both of the Germans checked this card to see the 
on the river. Altergott now fired 2,800 and Gruissem made the call but the latter mucked when he saw Altergott's 
