Jose Carlos Garcia opened to 16,000 from the hijack and his neighbor Quan Zhou three-bet to 39,000 from the cutoff. The button and both blinds folded, Garcia made the call.
The man from Poland with the oh so Spanish name, check-called a bet of 41,000 on . Both players checked the on the turn and the completed the board. Garcia announced all in, effectively betting 351,000 into a pot of 179,000!
Zhou tanked long and hard, and eventually decided to fold. Garcia didn't show his overbet, he mucked it without showing anything.
Jean Montury took down the EPT Malta last month, which meant he had a chance to become the first-ever back-to-back EPT champ. Montury gave it a go here in Monaco, but his hope of doing so just came to an end.
Up at the feature table, Montury got his last 79,000 all in under the gun and watched as Muhyedine Fares, who had 81,000, moved all in a couple spots over. The rest of the players folded and the cards were turned up.
Montury:
Fares:
Montury's best chance at surviving was to catch an ace, but he failed to do so on the flop. The turn gave Montury a wheel draw, but it didn't materialize as the blanked on the river.
Dzmitry Urbanovich, who is the favorite to become the EPT11 Player of the Year, was just eliminated from the feature table.
We missed the early details, but it appeared there was 107,000 in the pot and a flop of when Urbanovich bet a hefty 179,000 from the big blind, leaving himself just 17,000 behind. Hady El Asmar, who was in the cutoff, made the call, and then Urbanovich got the rest of his chips in on the turn.
El Asmar:
Urbanovich:
Urbanovich, who finished runner-up in the €100,000 Super High Roller a few days back, had bet big with two pair, but ended up getting falling behind when the spiked on the river to give El Asmar a bigger two pair. Urbanovich earned some more coveted PoY points, and we expect we'll see him back in action in tomorrow's €25,000 High Roller.
Andre Akkari opened for 16,000 under the gun and action folded to Josh Prager who made it 45,000. "I'm happy to show you" Prager said with a smile, trying to convince Akkari to just lay it down.
Akkari asked how much it was, and then four-bet to 125,000. "I show you" he replied with a smile.
"Ok, I'm all in" Prager said. Akkari made the call for 296,000 total.
Josh Prager:
Andre Akkari:
The flop came and everyone held their breath. The on the turn was a blank but the on the river wasn't.
"Two tough days" Prager mumbled, "Just take it!"
Prager's chips weren't all taken by Akkari, Prager had 70,000 left after the hand.
"He's the nicest guy in poker" Akkari said, talking about Prager, "Sorry man!"
"That's a bad beat man" Prager's neighbor Ole Schemion added.
On Episode 11 of the Remko Report, Dong 'donger kim' Kim joined Remko Rinkema in Seoul, South Korea, to talk about the local culture, competing against the best heads-up players in the world, and much more.
Day 3 of the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €10,600 Main Event saw 114 players from a 564-player field return for five 90-minute levels of play. By the time the last second ticked off the clock, just 34 remained in contention for the €1,082,000 first-place prize.
Jose Carlos Garcia, who was the overall Day 1 chip leader, is best positioned to make a run at the top prize as the chip leader with 1.71 million, but he faces some stiff competition that includes the only other player over a million, Connor Drinan (1.065 million); two-time World Poker Tour champ and last year's 20th-place finisher Scott Clements (909,000); and Global Poker Index Player of the Year Ole Schemion (823,000), just to name a few.
Garcia not only played well, he ran well and picked up quality hands in big spots. For instance, in Level 18 (3,000/6,000/1,000) there was 409,000 in the pot and a flop of when Bulgaria's Nikolay Tsanev got his last 217,000 all in against Garcia.
Tsanev:
Garcia:
It was a cooler for Tsanev, and no miracle lady would appear as the blanked on the turn followed by the on the river. Tsanev exited in 58th place for €20,900, though not everyone was fortunate enough to cash. Toss in a big one in the last hand of the night, and Garcia bagged up a hefty lead.
The day began with everyone intent on making the money at the top 79, but 35 players fell short of accomplishing that goal. Among those to fall in the first few levels and leave empty handed were Dan Heimiller, Randal Flowers, Mayu Roca, Charlie Carrel, Nick Petrangelo, Bryan Paris, Giuliano Bendinelli, Scott Davies, Vanessa Selbst, Ami Barer, David Peters, and Eric Sfez, who earned the unfortunate distinction as bubble boy.
It happened in Level 17 (2,500/5,000/5000 when Sfez, who had dwindled to just three big blinds, got his stack all in preflop and was at risk against Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier.
Sfez:
Mercier:
The flop gave Mercier a wheel draw, but it'd be the turn that would give him the best hand. The river failed to save Sfez, and he made the long walk out of the room while the remaining players each locked up €19,175.
From there, the in-the-money finishes came at a rapid place and included former EPT Grand Final champs Nicolas Chouity (78th - €19,175) and Steve O'Dwyer (74th - €19,175); Lasse Frost, who collapsed on Day 1b and was rushed to the hospital only to return before he was blinded off (72nd - €19,175); Americans Maria Ho (69th - €20,900) and Jason Wheeler (63rd - €20,900); Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (64th - €20,900); and Jean Montury (43rd - €23,125), who won the EPT Malta last month for €687,400.
While many fell, plenty of big names punched their ticket to Day 4 including Team PokerStars Pros Johnny Lodden (728,000), Andre Akkari (574,000), Jason Mercier (539,000) and Isaac Haxton (112,000); EPT regular Tom Hall (539,000); German wunderkind Christopher Frank (435,000); the UK's Stephen Chidwick (383,000); former World Series of Poker Europe champ Adrian Mateos (376,000); the €50,000 Super High Roller champ Mustapha Kanit (213,000); and online star Liviu "0Human0" Ignat (211,000)
Day 4 will kick off at Noon local time on Wednesday, and the plan is to play down to either the final 16 players or the end of Level 24, whichever comes first. In addition, the three-day €25,000 High Roller event will commence at 12:30 p.m. PokerNews will be providing live updates from both events.
Until then, check out this video of Jeremy Ausmus talking about America vs. Europe:
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
. Both players checked the 
on the turn and the 
completed the board. Garcia announced all in, effectively betting 351,000 into a pot of 179,000!
flop. The 
turn gave Montury a wheel draw, but it didn't materialize as the 
blanked on the river.
when Urbanovich bet a hefty 179,000 from the big blind, leaving himself just 17,000 behind. Hady El Asmar, who was in the cutoff, made the call, and then Urbanovich got the rest of his chips in on the 
turn.
spiked on the river to give El Asmar a bigger two pair. Urbanovich earned some more coveted PoY points, and we expect we'll see him back in action in tomorrow's €25,000 High Roller.
on the turn was a blank but the 
on the river wasn't. 
on the river. Tsanev exited in 58th place for €20,900, though not everyone was fortunate enough to cash. Toss in a 
river failed to save Sfez, and he made the long walk out of the room while the remaining players each locked up €19,175.