Feature Coverage
Day 3 Started
2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT
Feature Coverage
Day: 3
Busy Day Ahead as the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Rolls On
On the third day of the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT, no less than 6 tournaments grace the schedule, promising an eventful day at Le Sporting Casino in the Monte Carlo Bay Resort & Hotel. The €10,300 No-Limit Hold'em opening event is on its final day and will play down until a winner is crowned. It's been Timothy Adams his tournament from the start, holding the chip lead after both Day 1 and Day 2. The eventual champion will walk away €201,500 richer and cards will be in the air from 12:30 p.m. onwards.
The biggest tournament of the series will kick off at noon local time when the €100,000 Super High Roller commences. It's a fitting tournament for the rich principality at the Mediterranean sea, and the best of the best will duke it out in eight 60-minute levels on Day 1.
Defending champion in the Super High Roller is Bryn Kenney, who topped a 61-strong field last year to claim the first place prize of €1,784,600. Late registration will be open up until the start of Day 2. With 250,000 in chips and a single reentry allowed, there's plenty of room to make moves. As with all big events, the 30-second shot clock will be in play, and players are granted 6 30-second time bank extension cards as well.
In addition to the Super High Roller, yesterday's Day 1a of the €1,100 EPT National will also start at noon. Day 1a will play down until players are in the money before chips are bagged for the day. Day 1b will begin at noon as well and features a shorter 30-minute level schedule. Day 1c kicks off at 7 p.m. and will be even speedier with just 20-minute levels to play.
At 8 p.m., the ever-popular €330 EPT Cup will begin with its first of four starting days, allowing those with thinner wallets a shot at EPT glory as well. PokerNews will be on the floor throughout the day to bring you all the news and stories from the events as it happens here in Monte Carlo.
Interview with Sunday Million Anniversary Take 2 winner "Daenarys T" ($1,000,044): "I'm Still in Shock!"
Want to win a million dollars with online poker? You better be pretty good to achieve it. For cash games, you likely need to play at the highest levels, whereas in tournaments, you need to play a lot, be very good ánd have a ton of fortune to boot. If you want to do it in a single tournament, well, there's just a few chances to do so. One of them was the Sunday Million Anniversary Take 2 this past Sunday and Monday, and Dutchman "Daenarys T" was the one to accomplish it!
On Skype, Frank op de Woerd spoke with the 24-year old full-time poker player from Amsterdam. Although he prefers not to mention his real name publicly, he fully opened up about the biggest score of his poker career.
Online, "Daenarys T" was mostly a tournament player before focusing on PLO cash games. Lately, he decided to make the switch back to his former love. Sunday's latest session was his third or fourth sessions since rekindling his passion for tournament poker. Although he admitted, he's become lazier after moving to Amsterdam, playing mostly live instead of grinding online.
"I was truly stressed at the final three and two tables, as well as the final table. I almost fainted, man, I went totally crazy."
On the first day, the focus wasn't even on the Sunday Million for long and "Daenarys T" admitted he wasn't paying that much attention. "I had to play that final table and wasn't really attention to the Sunday Million. It went well; I had a large stack but can't remember much more aside from that. Nothing specific comes to mind. The reason was mostly because this past Sunday, I had my biggest ever online score up until that point, $19,000!" That amount is relatively nothing compared to the $1,000,044 he'd win a day later, but on Sunday the $109 Bounty Builder, where he'd eventually would finish in second place, had priority.
When the Sunday Million resumed on Monday, there was no stress at the start, even with just 735 out of 56,130 players remaining and $1,102 already locked up. That all changed once players started busting in rapid succession and "Daenarys T" was building his stack. "I was truly stressed at the final three and two tables, as well as the final table. I almost fainted, man, I went totally crazy!"
Playing for those amounts might be stressful, it didn't result in a scared-like approach. On the contrary: "I've kept on hammering because everyone was insane scared money. I played ridiculously aggressive throughout the entire day." Even though never playing for these amounts of money, "Daenarys T" wasn't scared money himself. "I was just playing my game and won a lot of all ins. I've lost quite a few as well, but I won every important one. That was nice."
The level of opposition didn't impress him much at the final three tables. "In my opinion, there weren't that many good players left. Everyone was just folding all the time. I simply clicked raise and everyone folded. I was playing ridiculously aggressive and it worked; everyone was extremely scared."
"Daenarys T" dwindled down to a shorter stack at the final two tables and had to adjust his game slightly. At the start of the final table, he was short as well, and tighter play became the norm. "It was a very surreal experience; every time someone got eliminated, I received a hundred thousand dollars more. That's pretty extreme. I don't know man, I thought it was pretty sick. It's the first time I made such a big final table, so it was exciting in that regard."
From the moment play got down to three-handed, "Daenarys T" could bring out his favored aggressive game again. Heads-up, he was facing Rick "ThEcLaiMEer" Trigg, a British regular. There was no deal, even though the difference between winning ($1,000,044) and second ($715,335) was substantial. This wasn't mainly because of PokerStars demanding at least $225,000 to be left to play for heads-up. This way, "only" $60,000 was left to deal. "That's a lot of money, but not that much relatively. And at the end, I simply thought 'this guy is truly bad, let's just play'."
"I just clicked raise the entire time and everyone folded."
The fact that, if he'd win, he could say he'd won a million dollars also counted as well. It turned out to be the right choice when looking at the results. "Heads-up I simply crushed that guy. He's a good tournament player; he was the only regular left at the final three tables, but heads-up isn't his speciality while I'm relatively strong there. I was also running really well, I was done with him in about fifteen minutes."
What happened next read like something out of a movie script. "Daenarys T" was overcome with joy, screaming with happiness as he ran through his house. Upon returning, he said goodbye to his railbirds at Skype and ended up in tears. Afterwards, he called his girlfriend and cried even more. His girlfriend insisted he'd only call her up if he'd finish fifth or better, making up for the lack of sleep. "I called her and woke her up, in shock, so happy!"
Fifteen minutes later, his roommates came home and he had some beers with them, then walked his dog which still needed to be done. That night he only slept one hour. The night after wasn't much better, with just two nights of sleep. The adrenaline was still raging throughout his body.
"It was a very surreal experience; every time someone got eliminated, I received a hundred thousand dollars more.
His avatar, a picture of Dutch cult hero Tim "FysioTim" Hendriks, brought extra attention. Hendriks himself tweeted a lot about it, and the story on his picture even appeared in the Dutch mainstream media. "I don't really know him, I just thought it was funny to have that picture", "Daenarys T". said, "It's just a funny picture.". Even though the avatar brought him good fortune, he's not planning on keeping it. "I'm going to change it again, he's received enough attention by now."
With one million dollar in his PokerStars account, and soon on his bank account, life has taken a sudden turn for the Dutchman. Being part of a backing deal, "Daenarys T" received 49% of first place prize money himself, still a massive amount. Where some people might consider their options first, "Daenarys T" made his first large purchase already: he's wearing a brand-new Rolex around his wrist. He's not really a connoisseur and wasn't able to tell which model it was on the top of his head. Or maybe it was because of the lack of sleep, because he's still stunned by the win. "I'm completely spent, man, I'm still in shock"
Next week, "Daenarys T" will fly with his girlfriend to Ibiza. Upon returning, the SCOOP awaits and after that, plans are still up in the air. He's considering playing on his own dime online, as opposed to having a backer. Live, there's less doubt in his mind: "Live, I'm definitely keeping a backing deal. I'm already playing €1k, €2k, €4k tournaments live, money can go really fast."
There are no specific live tournaments planned on his calendar just yet, but one tournament where he likely won't appear is the WSOP Main Event. With the Dutch government forcing a 29% tax on tournament winnings in the United States, playing the fabled event doesn't seem like the smartest investment to "Daenarys T". The tournaments that will be played is something the Dutchman will decide soon. Remember, if you meet someone with a brand-new Rolex at your table, chances are it's "Daenarys T"!
Sunday Million Anniversary Take 2
| Date | April 22 |
| Buy-in | $215 |
| Guarantee | $10,000,000 |
| Entries | 56,310 |
| Prize pool | $11,262,000 |
| ITM | 9,296 |
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daenarys T | Netherlands | $1,000,043 |
| 2 | Rick “ThEcLaiMEer” Trigg | United Kingdom | $715,335 |
| 3 | Noobanx | Mongolia | $505,818 |
| 4 | peter788502 | Bulgaria | $357,667 |
| 5 | Hidey7 | United Kingdom | $252,910 |
| 6 | Mike180373 | Russia | $178,834 |
| 7 | Sholkey989 | Mongolia | $126,456 |
| 8 | kaizerdrea | Norway | $89,418 |
| 9 | Rippedut | Canada | $63,229 |
Photos: PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT €10K Eight-Handed Shot Clock Single Reentry Day 3
Photos by Rene Velli.
Early Reentry for Haxton in €100,000 Super High Roller
After the first two levels of play, 20 entries have been made into the €100,000 Super High Roller. 19 of them are unique, which means one unfortunate soul had to dig deep into his wallet to buy himself back into the event. It was Isaac Haxton who had to make the cashier trip to get a fresh stack of 250,000 in chips.
Haxton got clipped by Ali Reza Fatehi in the first level of the day, running kings into aces to leave himself with a mere 17,000. Those remaining chips went in shortly after on a 
flop, with Haxton holding 
. Steve O'Dwyer looked his countryman up with 
and after blanks on turn and river, Haxton was left empty-handed. As expected, Fatehi, the businessman from Iran who lives in Dubai is the early chipleader in this event. For all live updates of this event, head over to our friends at the PokerStars blog to read more.
Both the €1,100 EPT National Day 1a and Day 1b are fully underway as well. In Day 1a, 112 out of 515 entries currently remain, with Joao Vieira, Antonin Teisseire, Sonny Franco and Michal Mrakes among those in contention. Day 1b kicked off at noon as well, where already 505 players have taken their seats. Spotted in the field are Romain Lewis, Ramon Miguel Munoz, Martin Finger, Thomas Muehloecker, Gaelle Baumann, Friend of PokerStars Maria Konnikova, who busted Day 1a earlier today, Pete Chen and Kenny Hallaert.
Field Reduced to Five at First Break of Opening Event
Players are on their first break of the day in the €10K opening event here at 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT, and the landscape has changed considerably over the course of the first two hours.
Just five players remain at this point after early eliminations of Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Stephen Chidwick and Orpen Kisacikoglu.
Troyanovskiy shoved his last 10 big blinds in from the cutoff in an unraised pot, but Chidwick woke up with 
behind him and called. Troyanovskiy could only muster a dominated 
and brick-filled board left ace-high the winner.
Chidwick, however, would go to war with Ryan Riess and come out worse for the wear. Eventually, he three-bet a little under 20 big blinds from the button over Riess' cutoff open and then called off his last crumbs to the four-bet. Riess' 
was in great shape against 
and an ace-high flop signaled the end for the British crusher.
Kisacikoglu was left short after losing a couple of pots and shoved with 
in the small blind. It was only about five big blinds and Paul Newey, who has already won at least a couple of all-in pots for his tourney life, woke up with 
and called. Kisacikoglu flopped a gutter and two live cards he could pair but got no more help.
Where does all of that leave things? Riess now has a considerable chip lead with about 1.4 million of the 3.55 million in play. Here's how things stand after Rainer Kempe just doubled through Juan Pardo in a flip, eights over ace-nine:
| Seat | Player | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy Adams | 930,000 |
| 2 | Juan Pardo | 220,000 |
| 3 | Ryan Riess | 1,400,000 |
| 4 | Paul Newey | 445,000 |
| 5 | Rainer Kempe | 780,000 |
They continue at 10,000/20,000/20,000.
Faces in the Field of the €100,000 Super High Roller
Photos by Neil Stoddart / PokerStars.
Tight Race With Four Left in the €10K
The race has tightened in the €10K opening event as just one player went bust during the last two levels and everyone left will come back from the second break with less than 40 big blinds.
The only person heading to the payout line was Rainer Kempe over the past couple of hours. He paid off Ryan Riess in a big pot wherein Riess defended his big blind with 
and made fives full on the 
board. He bet 110,000 on the turn and 245,000 on the river and Kempe was left under 15 big blinds.
Shortly thereafter, Kempe stuck his last 310,000 in with 
and could not overcome the 
held by Timothy Adams on his left.
Adams, meanwhile, doubled up Paul Newey again when ace-high couldn't hold versus 
. He got all that back and more when his ace-king binked a king on the river against Juan Pardo, though.
Pardo got his own lucky triple up when he shoved with threes over an Adams button open and Riess called then folded to a reship by Adams. Pardo hit a set against Adams' kings.
Here's how things stand going into 15,000/30,000/30,000.
| Seat | Player | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy Adams | 1,020,000 |
| 2 | Juan Pardo | 900,000 |
| 3 | Ryan Riess | 1,050,000 |
| 4 | Paul Newey | 590,000 |
More €100,000 Super High Roller Photos
Photos by Neil Stoddart / PokerStars.
Adams Versus Pardo
Timothy Adams and Juan Pardo are the last two standing after Pardo busted Ryan Riess and Paul Newey. Adams is at a fairly significant chip deficit holding about 870,000 to Pardo's 2.7 million or so at 20,000/40,000/40,000. They're taking a short break and then resuming the action.