Considering he started out in the bottom half of the field, it's fair to say that Aleksandr Shevliakov has had the run of his life today on Day 4 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo Main Event, bagging an impressive 4,000,000 in chips to return as the outright chip leader heading into Day 5.
Shevliakov gradually built his stack as the tournament progressed, but the real turning point came when his pocket aces held to double up through Kestutis Jungevicius. From there, Shevliakov was seen successfully shoving the river against Stoyan Obreshkov and was paid off by [Removed:533] during the final hour of action to further increase his stack before busting the start of Day 4 chip leader Matthew Davenport.
Shevliakov is trailed by second place Diego De Martino, who bagged for 3,650,000 after rivering a one-outer when he got his kings in against Jungevicius' aces with one king already in the muck.
Third place Khossein Kokhestani delivered a consistent performance, starting the day in second place and ending it in third place with 3,590,000 after winning a huge pot with fourth pair.
Last year's runner-up Boris Angelov is also still in the mix and will be looking for back-to-back final tables after his epic six hour long heads-up battle against Derk Van Luijk ended in defeat. Could the prolific Bulgarian player go one further this year and take the title? He's got a long way to go, but is well positioned to make history on the 20th anniversary of the event here at Sporting Monte-Carlo, sitting in fourth place with 3,450,000.
End of Day 4 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksandr Shevliakov | Russia | 4,000,000 | 100 |
| 2 | Diego De Martino | Italy | 3,650,000 | 91 |
| 3 | Khossein Kokhestani | Ukraine | 3,590,000 | 90 |
| 4 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | 3,450,000 | 86 |
| 5 | Enrico Coppola | Italy | 3,180,000 | 80 |
| 6 | Andreas Goeller | Italy | 3,100,000 | 78 |
| 7 | Miguel Capriles | Venezuela | 2,205,000 | 55 |
| 8 | Mateusz Moolhuizen | Netherlands | 1,990,000 | 50 |
| 9 | Artem Shaganov | Russia | 1,615,000 | 40 |
| 10 | Jamil Wakil | Canada | 1,560,000 | 39 |
| 11 | Leon Zeaiter | Germany | 1,255,000 | 31 |
| 12 | Kestutis Jungevicius | Lithuania | 1,080,000 | 27 |
| 13 | Mariusz Golinski | Poland | 1,045,000 | 26 |
| 14 | Malcolm Franchi | France | 1,030,000 | 26 |
| 15 | Mykhailo Demydenko | Ukraine | 930,000 | 23 |
| 16 | Stanislav Petriv | Ukraine | 860,000 | 22 |
| 17 | Manuel Cortada | Spain | 845,000 | 21 |
| 18 | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | 290,000 | 7.5 |
Andreas Goeller has had an interesting run, full of ups and downs as the Italian player claimed the Day 2 chip lead before losing most of his chips on Day 3, recovering, starting with a below average stack on Day 4 and then spinning it back up to bag in sixth place.
Others weren't so fortunate. The 2016 EPT Barcelona Main Event champion Sebastian Malec was eliminated in 42nd place, Nacho Barbero fell in 31st, and legendary Spanish player Juan Pardo was the last to bust shortly before play drew to a conclusion, out in 19th place. Pardo fell to Enrico Coppola, which brought Coppola firmly into contention as he bagged in fifth place.
Out of the 1,195 strong field of total entries, the 18 remaining players have already locked up at least €34,600 from the €5,795,750 prize pool, with the winner set to walk away with a cool €1,000,000.
Remaining EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | € 1,000,000 | 8 | € 118,150 |
| 2 | € 615,000 | 9 | € 90,850 |
| 3 | € 439,200 | 10- 11 | € 69,850 |
| 4 | € 337,900 | 12- 13 | € 58,200 |
| 5 | € 259,900 | 14- 15 | € 48,450 |
| 6 | € 199,750 | 16- 17 | € 40,350 |
| 7 | € 153,600 | 18- 19 | € 34,600 |
Day 5 commences at 12 p.m. local time on Friday, 9th May and is scheduled to play down to the final six players. When the tournament resumes, blinds will be at 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as reporters follow the action and bring you live updates straight from the tournament floor.
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