After 21 levels of 60 minutes each, the record-breaking field of 231 entries in the 2016 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €25,750 High Roller has been whittled down to the last 12 hopefuls and 2015 November Niner Zvi Stern leads the survivors with 1.638 million. All remaining players have €92,250 locked up for their efforts, but all eyes are set on the first-place payout of €1.197 million.
British poker pro Max Silver follows in second with 1.342 million and Alexandros "mexican222" Kolonias (1.338 million), Papazian (1.231 million), Ivan Deyra (1.16 million), and Rafael Da Silva Moraes (1.026 million) also bagged up with seven-figure chip counts for the final day of the event. Papazian finished runner up to Charlie Carrel one year ago in this very tournament and aims to do one spot better this time around.
The other finalists include [Removed:2] (907,000), three times World Poker Tour champion Anthony Zinno (816,000), Saar Wilf (509,000) and Thomas Miller (383,000) as well as Ramin Hajiyev (366,000) are the two short stacks upon restart.
Day 3 Seat Assignments
Table
Seat
Name
Country
Chips
1
1
Anthony Zinno
USA
816,000
1
2
--empty--
--
--
1
3
Imad Derwiche
France
840,000
1
4
Zvi Stern
Israel
1,638,000
1
5
Ramin Hajiyev
Azerbaijan
366,000
1
6
--empty--
--
--
1
7
[Removed:2]
Lebanon
907,000
1
8
Alexandru Papazian
Romania
1,231,000
2
1
Saar Wilf
Israel
509,000
2
2
Thomas Miller
USA
383,000
2
3
Max Silver
UK
1,342,000
2
4
Alexandros Kolonias
Greece
1,338,000
2
5
Rafael Da Silva Moraes
Brazil
1,026,000
2
6
Ivan Deyra
France
1,160,000
2
7
--empty--
--
--
2
8
--empty--
--
--
Play resumes at 12.30 p.m. local time with Level 22 and blinds of 12,000/24,000/3,000 and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand until the last river card is dealt. Make sure to tune back in regularly to find out who will lift the trophy and secure their spot in the history books of the most prestigious live event series in Europe.
The action folded to Ramin Hajiyev in the small blind, and the man from Azerbaijan moved all in only to get called right away by [Removed:2] in the big blind. Hajiyev was all in for around 300,000 chips, and the showdown went as follows.
Hajiyev:
Maksoud:
The board ran out and Hajiyev was the first player to get knocked out on the final day of this event.
Max Silver raised to 52,000 from under the gun and Thomas Miller called from the big blind to see a flop of . Miller checked, as did Silver, and they headed to the turn.
This time Miller led for 70,000 and Silver called to see the appear on the river. Miller moved all in for 273,000 and Silver took quite some time to make up his mind before making the call. It was a good one, as Miller showed for a missed double draw, Silver claimed the pot with .
At the same time as the double up of Alexandru Papazian took place on the other table, Max Silver had raised to 85,000 and Ivan Deyra was in the small blind and gave it some thought.
"You better wait," Silver joked and once the double up was confirmed, Deyra pondered about his decision some more before clicking to 385,000 with around 300,000 behind.
Silver immediately moved all in and Deyra called it off only to see himself in bad shape.
Deyra:
Silver:
The flop came and the French rail was demanding for a six, seven or deuce, Silver yawned. The huge sweat for Deyra ultimately blanked out, as the turn and river changed nothing whatsoever. There is now a short break to redraw for the unofficial final table of the last nine!
Saar Wilf moved all in for 690,000 chips and Anthony Zinno shoved over the top from the cutoff, which got all the other players to quickly fold their hands.
Imad Derwiche opened to 125,000 from the cutoff and then folded to a shove by Alexandros Kolonias from one seat over, leaving himself even shorter. One hand later, Anthony Zinno raised to 100,000 and now it was Derwiche who jammed. All other opponents went out of the way and Zinno quickly called.
Derwiche:
Zinno:
Derwiche initially just revealed the and the dealer then turned over his second card to see the Frenchman and runner up of last year at risk in a coin flip. "I need you," Derwiche said and walked behind Zinno to watch the board unfold. The flop came and Zinno picked up an additional flush draw.
The turn was a blank, but the river gave Zinno the best hand and Derwiche an 8th place finish for a payday of €147,710.
Anthony Zinno moved all in for 340,000 and Alexandros Kolonias splashed in a couple of T-100,000 chips. It was unclear at first if it was a call or raise but didn't matter, all other players got out of the way.
Zinno:
Kolonias:
On the flop, Zinno asked for a ten and got exactly what he wanted with the turn. The king Zinno asked for next however would not show up, as a blank river sent him to the rail in 6th place worth €276,750.
Zvi Stern moved all in from the button for 930,000 and Alexandru Papazian put in 2,040,000 from the small blind to put Rafael Da Silva Moraes all in as well. Moraes looked at his cards and tanked for a while, and with a deep sigh he eventually folded.
Papazian:
Stern:
The board ran out and Stern was sent to the rail in fourth place. Papazian now sits on 7.9 million chips and holds a commanding lead over his two remaining opponents.
Rafael Da Silva Moraes raised to 200,000 before the flop and Alexandru Papazian called from the big blind. The flop brought out and Papazian checked to Moraes who bet 175,000.
Papazian check-raised all in, and Moraes called right away for a total of 1.3 million.
Papazian:
Moraes:
The board ran out , and Moraes was knocked out in third place.
![[user20283]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Hajiyev was the first player to get knocked out on the final day of this event.
. Miller checked, as did Silver, and they headed to the 
turn.
appear on the river. Miller moved all in for 273,000 and Silver took quite some time to make up his mind before making the call. It was a good one, as Miller showed 
for a missed double draw, Silver claimed the pot with 
.
turn and 
river changed nothing whatsoever. There is now a short break to redraw for the unofficial final table of the last nine!
and Zinno picked up an additional flush draw.
turn was a blank, but the 
river gave Zinno the best hand and Derwiche an 8th place finish for a payday of €147,710.
