2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

€10,600 Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a8
Prize
€1,082,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€5,640,000
Entries
564
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Players Info - Day 1b

A Look at the Former EPT Grand Final Champions

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
SeasonPlayerField SizePrize
1Rob Hollink211 players€635,000
2Jeff Williams298 players€900,000
3Gavin Griffin706 players€1,825,010
4Glen Chorny842 players€2,020,000
5Pieter De Korver935 players€2,300,000
6Nicolas Chouity848 players€1,700,000
7Ivan Freitez686 players€1,500,000
8Mohsin Charania665 players1,350,000
9Steve O'Dwyer531 players€1,224,000
10Antonio Buonanno650 players€1,240,000

Nastasi Eliminates Charania

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Mohsin Charania
Mohsin Charania

Mohsin "chicagocards1" Charania, a former champion here at European Poker Tour Monte Carlo who also has a pair of WPT wins to his name, just had his tournament ended by Eros Nastasi. A player opened for 1,500 in middle position, and Charania shipped all in for 6,725 in the cutoff. Action folded to big blind Eros Nastasi, who called, and the opener dumped his hand.

Charania: {a-Diamonds}{9-Spades}
Nastasi: {a-Hearts}{j-Clubs}

The Italian had Charania dominated, and the board ran out {10-Hearts}{2-Clubs}{10-Spades}{3-Hearts}{q-Diamonds}, booting Charania from the tournament.

Player Chips Progress
Eros Nastasi it
Eros Nastasi
28,300
Mohsin Charania us
Mohsin Charania
EPT 1X Winner
Busted

Tags: Mohsin CharaniaEros Nastasi

Ausmus Comes Out on Top of Four-Way Action

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Nikolay Komcharokov limped from early position and Jeremy Ausmus did the same from the hijack. Senh Ung called from the button, Brazil's Habib Esses came along from the small blind, and then the player in the big raised to 2,500. Komcharokov called, as did Ausmus and Ung, before Esses three-bet all in for 9,600 from the small blind.

The player in the big blind called, Komcharokov got out of the way, and Ausmus made the call. Ung came along and three active and one all-in player saw the {2-Diamonds}{a-Spades}{5-Clubs} flop, which checked around. The action repeated itself on the {5-Spades} turn, and then Ausmus bet 20,000 after the big blind checked the {10-Hearts}. Ung folded and so did the big blind.

Ausmus showed the {5-Hearts}{7-Hearts} for trips, and it was good as Esses only held {3-}{3-}.

Player Chips Progress
Jeremy Ausmus us
Jeremy Ausmus
75,000 21,000
Senh Ung gb
Senh Ung
30,000 -19,000

Tags: Senh UngJeremy AusmusHabib Esses

Level: 8

Blinds: 300/600

Ante: 75

Bardah Doubles up Through Srinivasan

Level 7 : 250/500, 50 ante

With less than ten big blinds, Ronnie Bardah had been looking for a hand to double up with. He moved all-in from the button with only the blinds remaining in the hand. Shyam Srinivasan was in the small blind and called and the big blind got out of the way.

Bardah: {A-Hearts}{10-Clubs}
Srinivasan: {Q-Diamonds}{K-Diamonds}

Bardah was ahead and was poised to double up. The board ran out {2-Clubs}{9-Spades}{9-Diamonds}{7-Diamonds}{7-Clubs} and Bardah doubled up, giving him roughly 20 big blinds to work with for the rest of the day.

Player Chips Progress
Shyam Srinivasan ca
Shyam Srinivasan
40,000 -8,000
Ronnie Bardah us
Ronnie Bardah
9,100 -5,900

Tags: Ronnie BardahShyam Srinivasan

Cardyn Done in by Big Slick

Level 7 : 250/500, 50 ante

We missed the action unfold, but we do know that Nicolas Cardyn got his short stack all in on a {6-Diamonds}{9-Hearts}{8-Spades} flop and was in dire straits against Thomas Popov.

Cardyn: {a-Hearts}{q-Diamonds}
Popov: {a-Diamonds}{k-Clubs}

Cardyn had some major kicker issues, and they didn't get resolved as the {2-Hearts} blanked on the turn followed by the {7-Hearts} on the river.

Player Chips Progress
Thomas Popov ca
Thomas Popov
90,000
Nicolas Cardyn fr
Nicolas Cardyn
Busted

Tags: Nicolas CardynThomas Popov

Sammartino Tanks to the Max

Level 7 : 250/500, 50 ante

We found Dario Sammartino on the button, heads up against the big blind on a completed board of {10-Clubs}{2-Hearts}{6-Spades}{k-Spades}{7-Spades}. His opponent cut chips for a minute then told the dealer he was all in. Sammartino tanked for a few minutes, while his opponent kept himself busy. The player grabbed what appeared to be a pentagonal Rubik's Cube-like puzzle that doubled as a card protector and began spinning it, attempting to line up the colors.

Moments later, he had four or five of the colors lined up perfectly and proudly pointed it out to Sammartino. "Good," he simply said with a smile.

Someone called the clock on the Super High Roller fourth-place finisher, and he continued to think through the countdown. Finally, the tournament director reached zero and the hand was dead.

Player Chips Progress
Dario Sammartino it
Dario Sammartino
56,000 -13,000

Tags: Dario Sammartino

Philbort Flounders

Level 7 : 250/500, 50 ante

A short-stacked Philipp Gruissem moved all in for a bit under 10,000 and received a call from Samy Salah. The rest of the field folded and Gruissem discovered the bad news.

Gruissem: {j-Hearts}{j-Diamonds}
Salah: {k-Diamonds}{k-Clubs}

Gruissem was in need of some big-time help, but it wasn't in the cards as the board ran out a clean {k-Spades}{6-Hearts}{q-Spades}{4-Spades}{3-Spades}.

Player Chips Progress
Philipp Gruissem de
Philipp Gruissem
Busted

Tags: Samy SalahPhilipp Gruissem