In what was a game-changing pot on the very first hand of Day 5, Diego De Martino open-raised to 110,000 from the cutoff, Enrico Coppola called on the button, and Andreas Goeller called in the big blind.
The flop came 7♣A♣A♠ and Goeller led out for 150,000, De Martino called, and Coppola raised it up to 550,000. Goeller then reraised to 1,100,000, De Martino folded and Coppola called in what was now a very valuable pot.
On the 2♦ turn, Goeller ripped in his stack for around 1,800,000 and Coppola used a couple of time bank cards before flicking in a chip to make the call.
Goeller had 10♦7♥ for two pair, sevens and aces. Coppola had A♦5♠ for trip aces, leaving Goeller drawing dead as the river came the 3♠.
Coppola had his opponent covered and raked in a pot that brought his stack up to 6,400,000, putting him well out in first place. Goeller was eliminated from the tournament in 18th place for €34,600.
Having survived the field of 1,195 entrants, only 18 players remain in contention for the title on Day 5 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo Main Event.
Among them is Boris Angelov, the 2024 runner-up who narrowly lost out to Derk van Luijk following a six-hour heads-up duel last year. Angelov returns to the tables here at the Sporting Monte-Carlo venue with 3,450,000 and a dream to make history on the 20th anniversary of the event.
Angelov starts the day in fourth place with only a few big blinds seperating himself, third place Khossein Kokhestani and second place Diego De Martino. Aleksandr Shevliakov is the current chip leader, out in front with 4,000,000 after a fantastic run on Day 4.
Start of Day 3 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Aleksandr Shevliakov
Russia
4,000,000
80
2
Diego De Martino
Italy
3,650,000
73
3
Khossein Kokhestani
Ukraine
3,590,000
72
4
Boris Angelov
Bulgaria
3,450,000
69
5
Enrico Coppola
Italy
3,180,000
64
6
Andreas Goeller
Italy
3,100,000
62
7
Miguel Capriles
Venezuela
2,205,000
44
8
Mateusz Moolhuizen
Netherlands
1,990,000
40
9
Artem Shaganov
Russia
1,615,000
32
10
Jamil Wakil
Canada
1,560,000
31
11
Leon Zeaiter
Germany
1,255,000
25
12
Kestutis Jungevicius
Lithuania
1,080,000
22
13
Mariusz Golinski
Poland
1,045,000
21
14
Malcolm Franchi
France
1,030,000
21
15
Mykhailo Demydenko
Ukraine
930,000
19
16
Stanislav Petriv
Ukraine
860,000
17
17
Manuel Cortada
Spain
845,000
17
18
Alexandros Kolonias
Greece
290,000
6
Aleksandr Shevliakov
The remaining players have 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 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
Day 5 commences at 12 p.m. local time on Friday, May 9, 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.
