€25,000 EPT High Roller Day 1 | 2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo

05-05-2023 00:20 UTC+2

Lococo Soars to Chip Lead as Gavrilovich Times Out

Frank Visser

Level 10 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Jenya Gavrilovich open-raised to 2,400 from middle position. Alejandro Lococo was seated next to him in the hijack and three-bet to 7,200. Gavrilovich made the call and the A♠3♠Q♣ flop hit the felt.

Lococo made a continuation-bet of the same 7,200 chips on the flop, after a check from Gavrilovich. Gavrilovich called once more, and the 7♦ turn was dealt.

Gavrilovich now decided to take the betting lead by betting a tiny 3,400. Lococo was having none of it and made the raise to 15,000. Agonized, Gavrilovich made the call.

On the 3♥ river Gavrilovich went back to a check, after which Lococo fired 38,000. Gavrilovich went deep into the tank. After four time bank extensions had been spent, he had none left. With 3 seconds remaining, he finally folded his hand before it was declared dead.

Lococo now plays over 300,000 chips and is among the top few stacks in the room.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alejandro Lococo	312,000 262,000	262,000

Jenya Gavrilovich	50,000 -120,000	-120,000

Tags: Alejandro Lococo Jenya Gavrilovich

05-05-2023 00:01 UTC+2

Sternheimer Finds Lucky Jack To Stay Alive

Andrew Knowles

Level 10 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Christopher Chaudey opened to 2,400 from under the gun and it folded to Philip Sternheimer in the cutoff who three-bet to 5,400. The rest of the table got out of the way and Chaudey moved all in, covering the 23,700 remaining for Sternheimer, who went deep in the tank. After close to a minute, Sternheimer made the call for his tournament life and the cards were shown.

Philip Sternheimer: A♦J♠
Christopher Chaudey: A♥Q♠

Sternheimer was in need of help against the better kicker for Chaudey, and when the board ran out 7♦4♦3♣J♦A♠, it was the turned jack that saved the day for Sternheimer to score a full double up and leave Chaudey short.

Player	Chips	Progress
Philip Sternheimer	48,000 18,000	18,000
Christopher Chaudey	17,500 -7,000	-7,000

Tags: Christopher Chaudey Philip Sternheimer

Level: 10

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 1,200

05-04-2023 23:51 UTC+2

Busts from the Penultimate Level

Frank Visser

Level 9 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Axel Hallay	Busted
Cedric Schwaederle	Busted
Alex Kulev	Busted
Joao Vieira	Busted
Sirzat Hissou	Busted
Yaman Nakdali	Busted
Ken Okada	Busted
Anton Makiievskyi	Busted
Laurent Polito	Busted
Andriy Lyubovetskiy	Busted
Benjamin Pollak	Busted
Luis Faria	Busted

05-04-2023 23:45 UTC+2

Rodrigues Lucky to Be Alive

Frank Visser

Level 9 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

There was 17,000 in the middle in a pot between Michael Rodrigues and Adrian Mateos. They had arrived on the turn on K♥Q♦5♦6♠, which they both checked.

The river came the 9♠ and Mateos put out a bet of 10,500. Rodrigues threw in a single T-500 chip for a call and Mateos slammed his K♣K♦ on the table, for top set.

Rodrigues looked dejected as he showed the table his slowplayed A♠A♦. ''Wow!'' exclaimed Yuan Li, also present at the table.

Had Rodrigues chosen to get it all in preflop, he would have been gone from the tournament. Now he was left with 14 big blinds to try and spin up towards the tail end of the day.

Player	Chips	Progress
Adrian Mateos	130,000 76,000	76,000

Michael Rodrigues	14,500 -35,500	-35,500

Tags: Adrian Mateos Michael Rodrigues Yuan Li

05-04-2023 23:37 UTC+2

Li Goes For It In Multi-Way Pot

Andrew Knowles

Level 9 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

In a three-way pot with 20,300 in the middle on a board showing A♣K♥9♣8♣, Yuan Li led out from the small blind to 5,500 and Leon Sturm quickly folded from the big blind. Christoph Vogelsang took some time before eventually making the call in early position and the pair saw the 2♥ river.

Li kept up the aggression with a bet of 17,500 and Vogelsang went deep in the tank. After using two time bank chips, Vogelsang reluctantly folded and the chips were sent to Li who continues to climb the leaderboard.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yuan Li	114,000 -13,000	-13,000
Leon Sturm	51,000 1,000	1,000
Christoph Vogelsang	38,000 -45,700	-45,700

Tags: Christoph Vogelsang Leon Sturm Yuan Li

05-04-2023 23:32 UTC+2

Delval Fails to Triple Up

Frank Visser

Level 9 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Frederic Delval was all in for his last 14,000 chips and had gotten called by both Tomas Jozonis and Patrik Jaros. The other two players did not create a side pot as they checked down the Q♥J♥4♠9♥2♦ runout and all three had to show their holdings.

Frederic Delval: A♦9♦
Tomas Jozonis: 10♠10♣
Patrik Jaros: 6♥6♠

''Almost!'' Delval laughed, as his pair of nines was just outdone by Jozonis' pair of tens. He said his goodbyes and left in jovial spirits.

Player	Chips	Progress
Patrik Jaros	115,000 65,000	65,000
Tomas Jozonis	110,000 42,000	42,000
Frederic Delval	Busted

Tags: Frederic Delval Patrik Jaros Tomas Jozonis

05-04-2023 23:17 UTC+2

Czuczor's Conquest in Full Force

Frank Visser

Level 9 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Aleksejs Ponakovs and Marton Czuczor had created a 12,000 pot before the turn was dealt. When the action was caught, Ponakovs put out a bet of 12,500, for the slightest of overbets, on the A♦6♣Q♣J♣ board. Czuczor made the call and the players both checked the 10♦ river thereafter.

At showdown, Ponakovs showed a rivered two pair with J♠10♣, but Czuczor rivered a straight with his A♠K♦. By winning this pot, Czuczor is now playing over double the average stack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Marton Czuczor	168,500 118,500	118,500
Aleksejs Ponakovs	110,000 -25,000	-25,000

Tags: Aleksejs Ponakovs Marton Czuczor

05-04-2023 23:09 UTC+2

Hissou Hands Haxton a Double

Frank Visser

Level 9 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Sirzat Hissou and Isaac Haxton were on a flop of Q♠4♣9♣. Hissou bet 4,000 in the pot of roughly 15,000. Haxton responded by three-betting all his chips in the middle, for a total of 33,200.

Hissou asked for a count and made the call before his shot clock ran out.

Isaac Haxton: A♠Q♥
Sirzat Hissou: J♣7♣

Top pair for Haxton and a flush draw for Hissou. Haxton faded clubs on the 6♥7♠ runout and doubled up on his second and final bullet.

Player	Chips	Progress
Isaac Haxton	82,500 32,500	32,500
Sirzat Hissou	47,100 25,100	25,100

Tags: Isaac Haxton Sirzat Hissou

05-04-2023 23:09 UTC+2

Guilbert Puts Sternheimer To The Test

Andrew Knowles

Level 9 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

In a heads-up pot with 5,500 in the middle on a flop showing K♣10♥3♣, Johan Guilbert took the betting lead from the big blind to 2,700 and Philip Sternheimer made the call in middle position.

On the 8♥ turn Guilbert continued his aggression with a size of 9,700. Sternheimer confirmed the amount with the dealer before eventually making the call.

The 7♣ completed the runout and Guilbert asked to see Sternheimer's stack before betting an amount of 20,500, leaving a single 100-chip behind. Sternheimer went deep in the tank, thinking for close to a minute.

"Are you going to show me Johan?" asked Sternheimer while he was deep in thought. In the end Sternheimer reluctantly folded and the pot was shipped to Guilbert.

Player	Chips	Progress
Johan Guilbert	57,000 24,300	24,300
Philip Sternheimer	30,000 -33,000	-33,000

Tags: Johan Guilbert Philip Sternheimer