The 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

€100,000 Super High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info

The 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
j9
Prize
€1,746,400
Event Info
Buy-in
€98,000
Prize Pool
€4,851,000
Entries
50
Level Info
Level
21
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000

Jason Mercier Leads 30 Super High Rollers After Day 1

Level 8 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
Jason Mercier
Jason Mercier

The biggest and final event of the ninth EPT season started today and had a massive €100,000 buy in. After eight levels of play just 30 players remain but there is still an option to re-enter for any of the eliminated players. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier is the overnight chip leader with 1,183,000 chips and he's miles ahead of Sorel Mizzi who's second in chips with 885,000.

The day started with 16 players but that quickly changed as there was a line at registration bumping the total up to 25. Throughout the day players kept registering and Patrik Antonius was among the last to buy in for first time during the final two hours of play. Many other players had already done some re-entries at that point and it was Phil Ivey who did the first one. Sam Trickett had a dream start as he doubled up with a flopped full house against PokerStars Team Online's Isaac Haxton.

Full Tilt's Professional Viktor Blom jumped ahead to an early lead as he managed to pick up many big pots. Defending champion Just Bonomo stepped into the spotlights early on when he busted Phil Ivey's first bullet. Bonomo check-raised all in on the turn with a double gutshot and flush draw against Ivey's set and he managed to hit on the river. Two Russians were next to go as Mikhail Smirnov and Ilya Bulychev were eliminated. The former bought back in while Bulychev remained on the rail. Moments later another player was knocked out as Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel ran his pocket tens into Bonomo's queens.

Duhamel was among the players that chose not to re-enter right away. Joseph Cheong, Sergii Baranov, Tom Marchese, John Juanda, Steven Silverman, Bertrand Grospellier, Marc-Andra Ladouceur also decided to call it an early night after losing their initial buy in. Ivey was the only player that was knocked out twice. Mike McDonald was responsible for Ivey's second elimination as he won a coin flip with ace-king versus tens. Ivey is likely to return tomorrow morning to put another €100,000 at risk.

Fabian Quoss bought back in after getting knocked out by Mike Watson but his second chance went a lot better. Quoss won aces versus kings against Andrew Lichtenberger and ended the day with 797,000 chips. GPI Player of the Year, Dan Smith was knocked out by Faraz Jaka when he ran his jacks into kings. Smith also re-entered and ended the day with 177,000.

Mercier climbed to the top after winning two huge hands in a row. First he doubled up through Bonomo and then he won a pot off Blom. Mercier made sure he went to sleep with the chip lead when he busted former chip leader Bonomo. Mercier turned a straight and ended up busting Bonomo who held a flopped set. Bonomo bought in again and start tomorrow with 260,000.

Right when the day was about to end Vladimir Troyanovsky pulled off an amazing call. This was without a doubt the hand of the day as Philipp Gruissem yelled, "WHAT!!!" when the Russian pulled the trigger. Troyanovsky called all in for a pot-sized bet with two sixes on a jack-nine-deuce-ten-four board. Troyanovski's opponent, Dani Stern, showed ace-queen and the Russian had just made a very impressive call. Troyanovski survived the day with 737,000 and that puts him fifth on the leader board.

The action resumes tomorrow at 12:00 Noon and players can decided up until that point whether or not they want to re . So far 41 have bought in, seven of which have done a re entry. We would like to see you again tomorrow as PokerNews brings you all the live updates of the €100,000 Super High Roller.

Tags: Jason Mercier

Massive Pot Goes to Mercier

Level 8 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
Justin Bonomo knocked out
Justin Bonomo knocked out

Scott Seiver raised to 12,000 and Talal Shakerchi made the call. Justin Bonomo proceeded to call from the small blind and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier did the same from the big blind.

The flop brought {Q-Clubs}{10-Diamonds}{4-Hearts} and the action was checked to Shakerchi who bet 30,000 and Bonomo called. Mercier called from the big blind and the turn brought the {8-Spades}. Bonomo checked again and Mercier bet 68,000. Shakerchi made the call and Bonomo moved all in for right around 270,000. Mercier moved all in over the top and Shakerchi open-folded {Q-}{10-}.

Mercier: {J-Hearts}{9-Spades}
Bonomo: {4-Spades}{4-Clubs}

The river brought the {6-Diamonds} and Bonomo was knocked out. Mercier has a massive chip lead with not that much time left on the day.

Player Chips Progress
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
1,360,000 629,000
Justin Bonomo us
Justin Bonomo
Busted

Tags: Jason MercierJustin BonomoScott SeiverTalal Shakerchi

Mercier Skyrockets To the Top

Level 6 : 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Jason Mercier
Jason Mercier

Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier has had quite an amazing last ten minutes that saw him shoot up to the top of the leader board. First, Mercier doubled through Justin Bonomo. Then, he won a big pot off Viktor Blom on the very next hand.

On the first hand of the two, Scott Seiver opened with a raise from the hijack seat to 7,000. Paul Newey flatted on the button, Bonomo called from the small blind, and Mercier called from the big blind.

The flop came down {A-Clubs}{4-Spades}{2-Clubs}, and Bonomo checked. Mercier bet 14,300, Seiver and Newey folded, then Bonomo called.

The turn was the {10-Spades}, and Bonomo check-called another bet from Mercier — this time for 37,500. Then, the river completed the board with the {7-Hearts}. Bonomo checked, and Mercier fired 81,000 with 260,000 behind. Bonomo check-raised all in, having Mercier covered, and Mercier went into the tank. He eventually called, and his {A-Hearts}{4-Hearts} was best against Bonomo's {5-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}.

On the very next hand, Bonomo opened to 6,500 from the button, Mercier reraised from the small blind to 18,200, and Blom reraised from the big blind to 46,800. Bonomo folded, and Mercier made the call.

The flop came down {A-}{8-}{8-}, and Mercier check-called a bet of 36,200 to see a {6-} on the turn. Mercier checked, and Blom fired 74,800. Mercier tanked, then called.

Another {8-} hit the board on the river, and Mercier checked. Blom quickly checked behind and showed {K-}{J-} offsuit. Mercier tabled {Q-}{Q-} for a full house and scooped in the pot.

Thanks to these two big hands, Mercier shot up to the top of the counts with 965,000 in chips. Bonomo was left with 310,000 and Blom slipped back to 730,000.

Player Chips Progress
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
965,000 549,000
Viktor Blom se
Viktor Blom
Full Tilt
730,000 -249,000
Justin Bonomo us
Justin Bonomo
310,000 -300,000

Tags: Jason MercierJustin BonomoPaul NeweyScott SeiverViktor Blom

Huge Lead For Blom

Level 5 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Viktor Blom
Viktor Blom

The flop read {4-Clubs}{3-Clubs}{10-Hearts} when Full Tilt's Professional Viktor Blom bet 18,400 from the small blind. Tom Marchese put in a raise to 37,000 and we picked up the action right when Blom moved all in. Marchese looked back down at his cards and called about five seconds later for his total 180,000-chip stack.

Marchese: {A-Diamonds}{10-Clubs}
Blom: {A-Clubs}{6-Clubs}

The board ran out {8-Diamonds}, {2-Clubs} and Blom hit his flush. Marchese was knocked out while Blom took a very big chip lead.

Player Chips Progress
Viktor Blom se
Viktor Blom
Full Tilt
979,000 399,000
Tom Marchese us
Tom Marchese
Busted

Tags: Tom MarcheseViktor Blom

Bonomo Gets There and Busts Ivey

Level 3 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey

Last year's champion, Justin Bonomo, just stormed his way to 550,000 in chips after busting Phil Ivey from the tournament, but it wasn't without a bit of luck to give Bonomo the win.

Bonomo, Ilya Bulychev and Ivey put in 10,000 each preflop with Ivey in position. The flop came down {7-Clubs}{6-Diamonds}{4-Diamonds}, and action was checked by Bonomo and Bulychev in that order before Ivey fired 15,000. Bonomo called, then Bulychev folded.

The turn was the {K-Clubs}, and this was where the fireworks shot off. First, Bonomo checked, which seemed pretty innocent, until he check-raised all in after Ivey bet 40,000. Ivey quickly called with the {7-Hearts}{7-Spades} for a set of sevens. Bonomo had the {10-Diamonds}{8-Diamonds} for a double gutter and flush draw.

Needing any diamond that didn't pair the board, a nine or a five, Bonomo found what he needed when the dealer ripped off the {5-Clubs} on the river. That gave him a straight, and Ivey was left felted.

Ivey was up and out of his chair immediately and made a straight shot for the exit of the venue. He'll still have all day today and until play begins tomorrow to re-enter, so we'll keep you posted on what he decides.

Player Chips Progress
Justin Bonomo us
Justin Bonomo
550,000 225,000
Phil Ivey us
Phil Ivey
Poker Hall of Famer
Busted

Tags: Justin BonomoPhil Ivey

EPT9 Grand Final: Welcome to the €100,000 Super High Roller Event

Gorgeous Monaco
Gorgeous Monaco

The 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final will finish this spectacular 10-day festival in style over the next three days with the highly-anticipated €100,000 Super High Roller.

The smaller sibling of this event, the €25,000 High Roller, was a single re-entry tournament, but the shackles have been taken off for this one. Registration is open until the beginning of Day 2, and the players can re-enter as many times as they want up until that point. Yes, you heard that right: the very deep-pocketed players can fire as any €100,000 bullets as they wish.

Last season's Grand Final Super High Roller took place at the beginning of the festival and drew 45 entries. Justin Bonomo was the last player standing, and he took home the €1.64 million first-place prize after he defeated Tobias Reinkemeier heads-up.

Both these players are planned to be back and will be joined by a star-studded cast that to include Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Antonio Esfandiari, Sam Trickett, Gus Hansen, Isaac Haxton, Scott Seiver, Talal Shakerchi, Dan Smith and Philipp Gruissem.

Steven Silverman won the €25,000 High Roller last night after winning his way in through a €3,000 satellite. He won €775,400 for that victory, and he's playing today to see how far he can "run the gauntlet" as they say. Also playing are Tony Gregg — second place to Silverman — and Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier, who both came very close to winning the €10,000 Main Event after making the final table yesterday.

Each player that enters will begin with 250,000 in tournament chips, and the levels will last 60 minutes. Cards are due in the air at 12 p.m. CET, so be sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team back here then for the start of play. This is one you surely do not want to miss!

Tags: Anthony GreggAntonio EsfandiariDan SmithDaniel NegreanuGus HansenIsaac HaxtonJason MercierJustin BonomoPatrik AntoniusPhil IveyPhilipp GruissemSam TrickettScott SeiverSteven SilvermanTalal ShakerchiTobias Reinkemeier