The Last Main Event of the EPT Season 11 is About to Kick Off
Welcome to Day 1a of the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final €10,600 Main Event. While the €100,000 Super High Roller, which is down to the final eights players, will be playing down to a champion up at the feature table, hundreds of players will take their shot at poker glory in one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year.
One year ago, this very event attracted 650 entries and created a prize pool of €6.5 million. Some of the game's best cashed in that event including Stephen Chidwick (84th - €19,200), Sam Trickett (75th - €19,200), Igor Kurganov (52nd - €24,400), Ole Schemion (44th -€24,400), Scott Clements (20th - €49,350), and Ivan Soshnikov (13th - €69,000).
In the end, it came down to Italy's Antonio Buonanno versus the UK's Jack Salter for the title. It took over 300 hands, nearly 18 hours of final table play, and a lot of back-and-forth heads-up jostling before Buonnano finished as the last man standing to claim the €1,240,000 first-place prize. Buonnano joined a illustrious list of former EPT Grand Final winners that include Steve O'Dwyer (Season 9 - €1,224,000), Mohsin Charania (Season 8 - €1,350,000), and Ivan Freitez (Season 7 - €1,500,000), just to name a few.
Today is the first of two starting days, so it remains to be seen who will take their shot in the opening flight, and who will wait until tomorrow to jump into the fray. One thing's for sure, there are plenty of big names here in Monaco including Team PokerStars Pros George Danzer, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, and Jason Mercier; reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year Anthony Zinno; last year's Super High Roller champ Daniel Colman; and the man many consider to be the best in the world, Phil Ivey.
The plan for the day is to play eight 75-minute levels with a 20-minute break after every two. At the end of Level 6, there will be a 75-minute dinner break. Players will start with 30,000 in chips. Late registration will remain open until the start of play on Day 2.
Cards will be in the air in a couple of hours, so stay tuned as the PokerNews Live Reporting Team brings you all the latest and greatest straight from the tournament floor.