2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT

Feature Coverage
Day: 5

PokerStars Team Online Fintan Hand Wins Right to Play Charity Tournament

Fintan Hand Right To Play Charity Tournament Winner
Fintan Hand Right To Play Charity Tournament Winner

As has been the case at previous EPT stops, PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT featured the popular €150 buy-in charity tournament which concluded earlier this evening. Participants helped to raise funds for PokerStars’ official charity partner Right To Play, potentially be in with a chance of winning some amazing prizes for making it into the top five.

And when the dust had settled, it was PokerStars Team Online member Fintan Hand who walked away with a brand new iPhone, €1,000 in tournament credit and a PokerStars trophy. As you can see from the tweet below, he was pretty confident going into the tournament:

He was heads-up against Firas Nassar with an overwhelming chip lead. He got it in on the very first hand with {a-Spades}{10-Clubs} against Nassar's {k-Diamonds}{9-Clubs}. Hand was railed by fellow Team Online member Ben Spragg, and as the board came {2-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}{6-Clubs}{6-Spades} it was Hand shouting "Trophy me!" while Spragg called for a nine. The river was the {9-Hearts} and Nassar doubled up.

A short while later, it was all over. Nassar shoved with {a-Spades}{3-Hearts} into the {10-Hearts}{10-Clubs} of Hand. This time Hand was shouting "Give me trophy!" and the board came {2-Spades}{5-Hearts}{6-Spades}{9-Clubs}{k-Spades} and the trophy was his.

"It's really nice to get a win," Hand said after taking down the tournament, "It's my first ever PokerStars trophy, and hopefully not my last!

"It also means my record this year when heads-up for trophies against [fellow Team Online member] Ben Spragg is extended; I think it's 6-3 now. I reckon live ones have to count for at least two, so I'm pretty happy, whereas he looks visibly stressed at the thought of me having this in the back of my stream!"

Fellow Team Pro Igor Kurganov also took part in the Right to Play charity tournament, and Hand was seated to his direct left earlier in the tournament.

"It was the dream seat," he explained, "Chips were coming to me left and right. It was just plain sailing from beginning to end."

This is Hand's first time in Monte Carlo, and in his words, it's been "pretty insane."

"It's like a whole different world. I was driving into the hotel seeing McLarens, Porsches, Lamborghinis...It's pretty wild. The atmosphere in the room has been incredible and it was fun to play the tournament for Right to Play."

You can catch more of Fintan Hand on tomorrow's special winner-takes-all Twitch tournament for him and his fellow PokerStars ambassadors.

Hand will be joined by Ben Spragg, Lex Veldhuis, Randy Lew, Celina Lin, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Liv Boeree and Jake Cody in battling it out in a contest featuring many hilarious poker and non-poker challenges. Poker fans can enjoy the show on both Twitch and PokerStars TV, and the winner will walk away with a $5,000 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event ticket.

Joe Stapleton will be on the floor, refereeing the action and communicating the challenges to the players while James Hartigan will color the action from the commentary booth.

Tags: Fintan Hand