There are seven very happy players in Monaco tonight as the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT9 Grand Final Super High Roller reached the money. Seven is way less than those who fell along the way and they are thinking about how much money they left behind. That's poker though! Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier led when 30 players remained last night and he leads with seven remaining tonight after a very profitable day saw him close with 4,165,000.
Two more players bought in this morning to take the total number up to 50 and they all helped create a prize pool close to the five million Euro mark (€4,851,000). Samir Taouint drove in from France in his Ferrari and nearly missed the buy-in deadline after struggling to find a parking space this morning. Phil Ivey was the other player to stump up €100,000, his third bullet of the event, and the only one in for so much.
Mercier, rightly so, spent the whole day on the feature table and either watched or helped as players fell all around him. Igor Kurganov and Mikhail Smirnov went early before Mercier's great day was set up by a cooler of a hand that saw him elminate Faraz Jaka. Mercier flopped a set and managed to fade Jaka's open-ended flush draw to win a massive pot for that stage of the tournament. Mercier was in cruise mode (or "BeastMode" as he described it) for most of the day and only briefly lost the chip lead to Sorel Mizzi who was making a nuisance of himself at the outer table.
Ivey took his third bullet all the way to tenth place but that was as far as he went. He four-bet all in with ace-jack only for Mercier to call with ace-queen and hold. After his elimination the remaining players were moved onto the TV table but, as only seven places paid, the tournament went through a double-bubble period.
As all the remaining players were on one table, finishing in ninth seemed just as bad as eighth. It was high roller specialist, Fabian Quoss, who had to deal with busting in that spot and the lost of €200,000. Yet again it was Mercier who did the damage. He flopped top set in three-bet pot and faded Quoss' nut flush draw.
It took another two hours for the second stage of the bubble to burst and it ended up with Mercier busting another player. Erik Seidel was down to just four big blinds when he shoved with queen-eight. Mercier called from the big blind with ace-ten and flopped an ace to finish the day. All the remaining players are guaranteed a bumper €218,300 payday.
Heres how the final seven looks heading into the final day:
Seat
Name
Country
Chip Count
1
Timothy Adams
United States
830,000
2
Sorel Mizzi
Canada
2,140,000
3
Vladimir Troyanovsky
Russia
2,150,000
4
Jason Mercier
United States
4,165,000
5
Max Altergott
Germany
2,110,000
6
Scott Seiver
United States
625,000
7
Mike Watson
Canada
480,000
They will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. CET where a cards face-up live stream production will be in progress. As with the Main Event final table, the integrity of the tournament needs to be protected so there will be a one-hour delay on the stream and all updates appearing on PokerNews. That means our coverage will begin at 2 p.m. For now, here's a reminder on the large amounts of money going to be won tomorrow
Erik Seidel was blinded down to just 165,000 when he decided to move all in from under the gun plus two. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier called from the big blind and the showdown went as following.
Seidel:
Mercier:
The board ran out and Seidel was knocked out in eight place. The seven remaining players are guaranteed €218,300 while there's €1,746,400 up to for the eventual winner.
Jason Mercier has soared further clear at the top after he eliminated Fabian Quoss.
Quoss opened to 60,000 from under the gun before the Team PokerStars Pro three-bet to 133,000 from the small blind. Quoss called to see an action flop.
Mercier continued for 93,000 and snapped Quoss off when he shoved for his remaining 494,000.
Mercier: for top set.
Quoss: for the nut flush draw.
Mercier winced when he saw what he was up against but his mood changed as the board ran out to make him a full house.
Phil Ivey needed fifth place or better to profit in this event after firing three bullets, but he would come up short as Jason Mercier eliminated the nine-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner in 10th place.
Vladimir Troyanovsky opened from early position before the Team PokerStars Pro three-bet from the small blind. Ivey was in the big blind and four-bet all in for 524,000. Troyanovsky folded to leave Mercier to make the call.
Mercier:
Ivey:
The board ran and the player most people agree ins the best in the world has departed. Mercier is back into the chip lead.
The remaining nine players will be drawn onto one table. From there, two more players have to bust before the bubble bursts and play ends for the day.
After being knocked down to 400,000 chips things didn't seem to promising for Fabian Quoss, but he just managed to turn things around. Paul Newey raised to 35,000 from the hijack after which Sorel Mizzi called from his immediate left.
The action was folded to Quoss who checked Newey's stack before three-betting to 115,000 from the big blind. Newey moved all in for 360,000 and Mizzi folded. Quoss made the call and the showdown went as following.
Quoss:
Newey:
The board brought out and Newey was knocked out short of the final table. Just 11 players remain.
Faraz Jaka and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier just clashed in the biggest pot of the tournament!
The action started when Mercier raised to 12,000 from the button, and Jaka three-bet from the small blind to 31,000. The big blind folded, and Mercier made the call.
The flop brought the , and this soon proved to be a set up for disaster for Jaka. He fired out 39,000, and Mercier decided to raise it up to 93,000. Jaka tanked for a bit before making it 205,000. Mercier moved all in, and Jaka made the call.
Jaka:
Mercier:
Jaka had a huge draw against Mercier's set, but the turn brought the , which kept the set of sixes in front. On the river, the hit, and that was it for Jaka. He missed his big draw and was left with just ten high, giving Mercier the pot. Jaka was all in for around 650,000, and this pot was worth around 1.5 million chips. Mercier is now up to 1.9 million chips with 12.5 million in play.
At least 30 players will return today for Day 2 of the 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final Super High Roller with Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier in the lead. Up until play starts at 12:00 Noon today players are able to buy in but we already know that this year's event has broken last year's record.
Last year Justin Bonomo beat a field of 38 players, seven of which reentered, and walked away with the €1,640,000 first place prize after beating Tobias Reinkemeier heads up. Both Bonomo and Reinkemeier are still in the tournament as is fourth place finisher Patrik Antonius. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand Grospellier finished third last year, he was knocked out yesterday but can still choose to reenter. Currently 41 players entered the tournament and seven already bought back in.
Today promises to be a very exciting day of poker as the Super High Rollers are playing down to the final table. A spot at the final table doesn't guarantee a payday, but it does mean that you're in a great position to win a huge sum of money!