Written by :
Published on :
EPT Barcelona Super High Roller champion Dan Smith is leading the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final at the end of Day 1a. Smith won €962,925 for his SHR victory in Barcelona last August. He also won three €5k events at last season's Grand Final as well as the €5k NL event in Prague this season.
There are 53 players through to Day 2 from the 108 who started the day; they include Freddy Deeb (3rd), Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody (5th) plus Team PokerStars Pros Barry Greenstein, Johnny Lodden, Ike Haxton and Ville Wahlbeck. Also still in: Team Online's Tatiana Barausova, Ole Schemion, James Mitchell, Torsten Brinkmann, Justin Bonomo, Pratyush Buddiga, Masters Finale winner & Berlin 11th placed Robert Auer and EPT Berlin runner-up Robert Haigh.
The EPT Grand Final Main Event is taking place in the stunning Salles des Etoiles room at Le Sporting, with the EPT Grand Final cash game festival next door in the Salle des Palmiers. The EPT Grand Final is running from May 6-15 and features 50 events including the €100k Super High Roller, €25k High Roller and first ever €500,000 guaranteed €1,000 Monaco Cup.
CASH GAMES TAKE OFF AT EPT GRAND FINAL The EPT Grand Final cash game festival is already proving a huge attraction for players with nearly 20 tables up and running on the first day of the event. Team PokerStars Pros Matthias and Christophe De Meulder arrived in Monaco - straight off the plane from Antwerp - and headed immediately to the Salle des Palmiers where the cash games are being held at Le Sporting. Matthias said: “Yes, we came straight here. We got in about 20 seconds ago!! It’s great! Really when you look at a room like this, you no longer think of the EPT as just tournaments. Now an EPT has everything; everything that poker has to offer, you can find it right here.”
VICTOR RAMDIN LEADS €2K OPEN FACE CHINESE TOURNEY Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramin is leading the €2k Open Face Chinese tourney with five players left. Also still in contention for the € 48,000 first prize is fellow Pro Jason Mercier, who late-regged at the very last minute, Alex Kravchenko, Yakov Onuchin and EPT Warsaw finalist Alex Klimashin. There were 70 entries in all creating a €135,800 prize pool. Eight places are being paid.
PETTER NORTHUG WINS YET AGAIN AGAINST FELLOW OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST MARCUS HELLNER Olympic gold medal ski champions Petter Northug from Norway and Marcus Hellner from Sweden were at it again today – in their own “triathlon” prop bet to raise money for young skiers. The pair first started challenging each other in 2010 when they raced on roller-skis round The Palms parking lot in Las Vegas. The second bet, involving both tennis match and heads-up, took place at last season's Grand Final while this year's bet has involved a jet-ski race, heads-up match and Last Longer.
