14 Players Remain in Contention for German Poker Championhip Main Event Title in Rozvadov
Day 3 of the 2017 partypoker LIVE German Poker Championship €2,200 Main Event saw a total of 100 hopefuls return to the tables of the King's Casino in Rozvadov, and eight levels later the field was whittled down to the final 14. All remaining players have €8,000 locked up for their efforts already, but all eyes are set on the trophy and top prize of €200,000 that comes along with it.
Leading the survivors is Ngoc Minh "Milan" Hoang, who mainly focuses on online poker. Hoang's biggest score on the live circuit was a 2nd place finish to Marek Blasko in the €550 Israeli Poker Championship in May 2017 for €13,466. Hoang joined the big stacks throughout the last levels of the night and bagged up a healthy stack of 64,800,000. Russia's Albert Skobelev follows in 2nd place with 57,400,000 while Germany's Marc Döring is in third with 47,300,000.
The name Desset is well known at partypoker LIVE events, as Andrej won back-to-back Grand Prix Main Events in April 2017 for a combined payday of more than €190,000. His younger brother Dominik Desset remains in contention for the €200,000 first-place payout after bagging up 33,500,000 for the final day. Other notables among the final 14 include UK's Jonathan Wong (31,600,000), Philipp Zukernik (27,000,000), Robin Hegele (22,700,000), Sonay Kehya (16,100,000), Gerald Karlic (15,400,000) and Aleksandar Tomovic (10,700,000).
Main Event Seat Assignments for the Final Day
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | 1 | Jonathan Wong | United Kingdom | 31,600,000 | 40 |
| 38 | 2 | Albert Skobelev | Russia | 57,400,000 | 72 |
| 38 | 3 | Grzegorz Idziak | Poland | 26,400,000 | 33 |
| 38 | 4 | Arsenii Karmatckii | Russia | 31,000,000 | 39 |
| 38 | 5 | Aleksandar Tomovic | Serbia | 10,700,000 | 13 |
| 38 | 6 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | 15,400,000 | 19 |
| 38 | 7 | Sina Alamzad | Romania | 31,000,000 | 39 |
| 39 | 2 | Ngoc Minh Hoang | Czech Republic | 64,800,000 | 81 |
| 39 | 3 | Josef Šnejberg | Czech Republic | 23,500,000 | 29 |
| 39 | 4 | Dominik Desset | Slovakia | 33,500,000 | 42 |
| 39 | 5 | Philipp Zukernik | Canada | 27,000,000 | 34 |
| 39 | 6 | Marc Doring | Germany | 47,300,000 | 59 |
| 39 | 7 | Sonay Kehya | Netherlands | 16,100,000 | 20 |
| 39 | 8 | Robin Hegele | Germany | 22,700,000 | 28 |
Dutchman Kehya finished 7th in the partypoker Million Germany Main Event here in June this year for €22,500 and aims to bring the title to the Netherlands after Sandro Pitzanti missed out the last time around when finishing runner-up to Michal Mrakes. Pitzanti himself was also in contention on Day 3 and finished in 39th place for €4,500.
Among those to cash on Day 3 were Vojtech Ruzicka (98th for €2,000), Andreas Eiler and Hossein Ensan (86th respectively 85th for €2,000 each), partypoker sponsored pro Natalia Breviglieri (61st for €3,500), Matthias De Meulder (57th for €3,500), Vytautas Semaska (46th for €4,000), Maxi Lehmanski (42nd for €4,500), partypoker sponsored pro and €5,300 High Roller champion Anatoly Filatov (29th for €5,000), Martin Staszko (28th for €5,000), Philipp Gruissem (25th for €6,000), and aforementioned Marek Blasko (19th for €6,000).
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 200,000 | 236,407 |
| 2 | 120,000 | 141,844 |
| 3 | 83,500 | 98,700 |
| 4 | 60,000 | 70,922 |
| 5 | 42,500 | 50,236 |
| 6 | 30,000 | 35,461 |
| 7 | 21,500 | 25,414 |
| 8 | 15,000 | 17,731 |
| 9 | 11,000 | 13,002 |
| 10-12 | 9,000 | 10,638 |
| 13-14 | 8,000 | 9,456 |
Day 3 Action
Within the first level, no fewer than 20 players were sent to the rail as many short stacks were left over after the money bubble had burst in the last hand of the previous day. Among them was Hossein Ensan, who got it in good with ace-nine suited only to see Simon Trumper with jack-nine spike a jack.
Matthias De Meulder's five-bet jam with ace-king for 40 big blinds came at the worst possible time, as Matous Skorepa immediately called with pocket aces. By then, partypoker sponsored pro Natalia Breviglieri was already on the rail. Her pocket tens were no match against the pocket queens of Sonay Kehya and Breviglieri jumped into a Side Event right after.
Three of the players that qualified for this event through the partypoker Click & Collect promotion reached the money: Alexander Burkart ran with pocket kings into pocket aces and finished in 68th place for €3,000 and Enrique received the same payout after bowing out from the very same table immediately after in 66th place. Andreas Aulike made it even further and picked up €4,500 for his efforts, finishing in 43rd place.
Soon after the action at the tables accelerated and two double eliminations at almost the same time on different tables dimished the field significantly. Sina Alamzad with pocket jacks sent Sandro Pitzanti with ace-queen and Tonio Röder with pocket fives to the rail. SantaClaus emerged as the winner of a four-way all in with pocket queens from the big blind and that left partypoker sponsored pro Anatoly Filatov below the average, Filatov busted soon after with jack-ten versus ace-king.
The biggest pot of the tournament so far was played between Matous Skorepa and Marc Döring. The latter five-bet all in with ace-king off and Skorepa called with ace-king suited to see Döring improve to a flush thanks to four clubs on the board. Philipp Gruissem lost a flip with ace-ten against the pocket kings of Albert Skobelev to finish 25th and Skorepa never recovered from the huge blow to his stack, bowing out in 18th place for €7,000.
The last two tables were set in the penultimate level of the day and two further players were sent to the rail. Belgium's Fabrice Halleux lost a race with pocket tens against the ace-king of Marc Döring and Victor Tyurin's turned two pair with king-ten were no good as Albert Skobelev's king-queen got there with a straight on the river.
All remaining 14 players will return to the tables of Europe's biggest poker arena at 12 p.m. noon local time on Monday August 14th 2017 and play down to a champion. The final table will be streamed on the Twitch channel of the King's Casino and the PokerNews live reporting team will provide updates until the last river card is dealt.