Feature Coverage
Jour 9 terminé
2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT
Feature Coverage
Jours 9
44 Players Advance in the €25,000 High Roller; [Removed:414] Leads the Way
In a week of High Roller action, the latest event got underway today with ten levels of action in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT €25,000 High Roller. In total, it gathered 112 entries including 22 re-entries. At the end of the ten levels it is Dutch player [Removed:414] who is the overwhelming chip leader, having amassed 416,500 from the starting stack of 50,000.
The nearest player to Beumers is Belarussian Mikalai Vaskaboinikau (315,500) who finished second in the PCA $25,000 High Roller, with Rainer Kempe not too far behind him. The German High Roller regular, who has $15 million in lifetime earnings, won the last hand of the night to clip the wings of Beumers (albeit not by much) and bag a respectable 268,000.
Earlier in the day there were big names galore, as the four High Roller regular winners so far at EPT Monte Carlo joined the field. Juan Pardo, Sam Greenwood, Justin Bonomo and Steve O'Dwyer all jumped in, along with PSC Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller winner and de facto defending champion Julian Stuer.
Alongside the familiar faces there were a couple of new ones; Maria Konnikova (pictured above) and Bruno Lopes aka French rap legend Kool Shen were making their €25,000 High Roller debuts, but Konnikova would bust in Level 4, after losing an earlier hand with ace-queen against the ace-king of [Removed:17].
Another early elimination was David Grieco, who min-cashed yesterdays €25,000 Single Day High Roller. After running pocket jacks into the aces of Beumers, he re-entered only to be eliminated almost immediately at the hands of Eric Sfez.
Among the early chip leaders was Albert Daher, and he would hold onto that chip lead until the dinner break, with Beumers breathing down his neck along with Jean-Noel Thorel, who had earlier eliminated €10,000 High Roller champion Pardo.
With two levels to go, Daher had slipped back after a confrontation with Mustapha Kanit, and Beumers had grasped the initiative as the heads of state settled into their positions at the top of the chip counts. Beumers made trip nines against Lijo Lander to strengthen his position, and although Vaskaboinikau (pictured above) finished strongly, it was Beumers who holds the chip lead ahead of Day 2.
The prize pool is already over €2.6 million and is expected to grow by the time play resumes Friday at 12:30 p.m. local time, with late registration and single re-entry open until the start of play. Stay up to date with all the action from the €25,000 High Roller right here on PokerNews.
End of Day 1 Chip Counts (full)
| Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| [Removed:414] | Netherlands | 416,500 |
| Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | 315,500 |
| Bryn Kenney | USA | 273,500 |
| Rainer Kempe | Germany | 268,000 |
| Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 262,000 |
| Lucas Reeves | UK | 213,000 |
| Nick Petrangelo | USA | 200,000 |
| Saar Wilf | Israel | 189,000 |
| Pascal Hartmann | Germany | 185,000 |
| Albert Daher | Lebanon | 174,500 |
| Fady Kamar | Lebanon | 168,000 |
| Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | 148,500 |
| Sam Greenwood | Canada | 145,000 |
| Alexander Uskov | Russia | 141,500 |
| Bruno Lopes | France | 129,500 |
| Joao Vieira | Portugal | 129,000 |
| Juan Pardo | Spain | 128,000 |
| Christopher Frank | Germany | 128,000 |
| Ryan Riess | USA | 128,000 |
| Markus Durnegger | Austria | 126,500 |
| Conor Beresford | UK | 108,500 |
| Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 102,500 |
| Julian Stuer | Germany | 101,000 |
| Yan Shing Tsang | Hong Kong | 99,000 |
| Dario Sammartino | Italy | 97,500 |
| Roman Emelyanov | Russia | 92,000 |
| Jonathan Concepcion | Spain | 89,000 |
| Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | 82,500 |
| Martin Finger | Germany | 81,500 |
| Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 80,500 |
| Dov Malnik | Israel | 79,500 |
| Shyngis Satubayev | Kazakhstan | 79,000 |
| Oleksii Khoroshenin | Ukraine | 79,000 |
| Justin Bonomo | USA | 75,500 |
| Julian Thomas | Germany | 74,000 |
| Lijo Lander | Spain | 73,500 |
| Liwei Sun | China | 71,500 |
| Stephen Chidwick | UK | 68,000 |
| Benjamin Pollak | France | 65,100 |
| Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 43,500 |
| Chen An Lin | Taiwan | 38,000 |
| [Removed:17] | New Zealand | 32,000 |
| Benoit Lam | France | 21,500 |
€25,000 High Roller Pictures
€25k Update: Big Guns Still Firing With Two Levels Left
There have been a veritable slew of High Rollers during the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT, and it's only fitting that those big names feature in the €25,000 High Roller.
Although only eight 60-minute levels are in the books, the winner of the €100,000 Super High Roller along with the winners of the €25,000 and €50,000 Single Day High Rollers are still in the mix.
€100,000 Super High Roller Winner Sam Greenwood
Greenwood sat down in level one and has had a quiet day. He currently sits on just over starting stack of 55,000. That may have something to do with who is sat to his direct right...
€50,000 Single Day High Roller Winner Steve O'Dwyer
O'Dwyer is that player sat to his right, and the presence of other big names including [Removed:17], Benjamin Pollak and Julian Thomas have also reigned in O'Dwyer's progress. In addition to winning the €50,000 Single Day High Roller, he also finished runner-up in the €25,000 High Roller which was won by...
€25,000 Single Day High Roller Winner Justin Bonomo
Last night in his winner's interview Bonomo said that he'd be bringing his A-Game to the €25,000 High Roller and it's clear to see that that's the case. Bonomo currently sits on 160,000, way above the average of 80,000 at this point. Bonomo is seated at a tricky table, mainly because it contains...
Defending Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller Winner Julian Stuer
Stuer is sitting on a healthy average stack as he looks to take down this event for the second time in two years. Last year he defeated John Juanda heads-up and with Juanda out of the tournament, he'll be hoping for another deep run!
There are two levels left in Day 1 of the €25,000 High Roller after which players will bag for the evening. Late registration and single re-entry will close at the start of Day 2.
€25k Update: A Masseuse For Every Table (Almost)
There are still two days of action left in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT, but there are obviously some soar and achy bodies out there, especially in the €25,000 High Roller.
How do we know that? Well, we can count six masseuses in action midway through the seventh level of play. And, with ten levels scheduled on Day 1 tonight, there is sure to be more players wanting a massage, hence another masseuse is standing by.
The six masseuses in action in the Main Event suddenly became five with the elimination of former EPT champion Hossein Ensan, who decided to continue his massage off the felt, now perhaps with an even greater need to relieve the tension in the German's shoulders.
To those familiar with High Roller tournaments, it's the usual suspects getting their knots kneaded. Jack Sinclair is a particular massage aficionado as shown by his tweet from earlier this month:
Monaco update: 73rd in the first event for €2.8k, which almost covered my massage expenses, but I did get the ## fl… https://t.co/SW8drtPCpK
— Jack Sinclair (@jacksincredible)
The tournament currently sits with 66 players remaining from a field of 104 (including 15 re-entries). Late registration is open until the start of Day 2, and it's a single re-entry format. One of the more recent players to take advantage of this was Jan-Eric Schwippert who was eliminated by Albert Daher on his first bullet, but is back for more.
There is also a special satellite added to the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT schedule. Tonight at 22:00 local time there will be a €2,000+100 seat qualifier into either Event #29: €25,000 High Roller, with late registration closing before the start of Day 2 tomorrow, or Event #40, which is another last-minute €25,000 tournament that organisers have added to the schedule. The levels in this qualifier will be 10-minutes long and players will receive a stack of 15,000. Late registration in the qualifier is open for eight levels (23:20).
Viewpoints: Five Years Since Steve O'Dwyer's Grand Final Triumph
Five years ago Steve O’Dwyer took down what was arguably the most-stacked final table in European Poker Tour history, as he beat off competition from Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody and Jason Mercier (among others) to win the EPT Grand Final and €1,224,000 in prize money.
Made the final 8!! 1.6m and the sickest EPT final table in history, plays out tomorrow
— Jake Cody (@JakeCody)
For those of you who don't remember, here's the final table results:
| Position | Name | Country | Payout (€) | Payout ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve O'Dwyer | United States | €1,224,000 | $1,604,972 |
| 2 | Andrew Pantling | Canada | €842,000 | $1,104,074 |
| 3 | Johnny Lodden | Norway | €467,000 | $612,355 |
| 4 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | €321,000 | $420,912 |
| 5 | Jake Cody | England | €251,000 | $329,124 |
| 6 | Noah Schwartz | United States | €189,000 | $247,827 |
| 7 | Jason Mercier | United States | €137,000 | $179,642 |
| 8 | Grant Levy | Australia | €103,000 | $135,059 |
O'Dwyer had already had some close shaves before he finally got over the line in 2013. In 2011 he finished runner-up to Benny Spindler in the EPT London Main Event, taking home £465,000 ($726,790). He then finished seventh in EPT Copenhagen a year later for a further DKr 290,000 ($51,265).
Then, just two months before the Grand Final, O'Dwyer made his third EPT final table at EPT London, finishing fifth for £146,000 $219,704.
Since his Grand Final win, O'Dwyer has taken down three additional tournaments for seven-figure scores, with all three coming in Macau! He has already had a good start to the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT, with a runner-up finish in the €25,000 Single Day High Roller to go with the €50,000 Single Day High Roller title he won two days earlier. Those two cashes saw him take home over $1m in prize money overall.
Here we get some thoughts from players and media about that infamous 2013 final table, including from John Juanda who finished 11th that year.
Dominik Nitsche
“Obviously I remember that final table! From what I remember that was the season Steve O’Dwyer had his real break-through. He also final-tabled EPT London. I suppose that was the beginning of the run of Steve O’Dwyer. And to this day it hasn’t stopped – he still does not lose!”
John Juanda
“I remember that there was an amazing last two tables. Oh and Daniel [Negreanu] was there, I remember now. There were some very talented players who went deep, especially for the Main Event. Usually you get a bunch of random players! I lost two big pots to Steve O’Dwyer. He won a coin flip against me; I think it was ace-king against tens. The fact that he won that coin flip probably helped him!”
Jack Sinclair
“I wasn’t around for that event at the time, but I was watching some highlights from O’Dwyer on the livestream this week and I was like ‘What event was this from?’ I mean I couldn’t believe it was the Main Event.”
Kenny Hallaert
“Nowadays Monte Carlo is just another tournament on the schedule, another 5k tournament, but back then it was still a 10,000 tournament and it was the most prestigious tournament in Europe. I remember it ran out with a pretty stacked field!”
Stephen Bartley - PokerStars Blog
“So many final tables slip your mind. But this one was something else. There were no weak spots. Had any of the other finalists won the title it would have made for a great story. But O’Dwyer seemed to fit the moment. When he won, he looked exhausted. As if he’d just achieved something even he doubted he could do. Which when you think of it, is exactly how you want champions to look.”
€25k Update: Konnikova Out; Hallaert and Daher Among Chip Leaders
So far in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT €25,000 High Roller there have been 95 entries, including seven re-entries and 78 players still remain in the field.
The seven re-entries are Mustapha Kanit, Aleksander Uskov, Stephen Chidwick, Daniel Dvoress, Juan Pardo, Nicola Grieco and Matthias Eibinger. Grieco was the second player to bust after €10,000 High Roller winner Juan Pardo, and he was the third player to bust after losing all his chips on his second bullet.
Others who have hit the rail are Ryan Riess, John Juanda, Igor Yaroshevskyy and Maria Konnikova.
The average stack at the moment is around 70,000, with Rainer Kempe (120,000), Kenny Hallaert (140,000), Albert Daher (165,000) and [Removed:414] (170,000) among the bigger stacks.
Late registration is open until the start of Day 2.
Maria Ho on her Induction to the Women in Poker Hall of Fame
In her first year of eligibility, Maria Ho has been selected as an inductee for the Class of 2018 in the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHoF) alongside WiPHoF founder Lupe Soto. We caught up with Ho while at the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT to talk about how she felt about the prestigious honor bestowed to only 17 women since 2008.
Ho said she hadn’t even realized that she had become eligible, and was honored to be selected among the initial 11 nominees.
“I literally just turned 35 a week or two before the public nomination process ended, so when I found out that I was nominated I was really surprised. I’ve been in the industry for 12 years, which is a fair bit of time. I know there are so many amazing and deserving womean that have done so much for this industry that would — and perhaps should — get nominated before me."
Earlier this week, it was announced that following a vote by WiPHoF Hall Members and selected media members, Ho had been selected for the Class of 2018.
“I honestly didn’t believe it at first. It really was one of those things where it was just an honor to be nominated. I know that’s something that everybody says but it really was! I really wasn’t expecting to be voted in. I felt like I was up against so many incredible women that I was just happy to be part of the group of nominees!”
Ho is no stranger to the WiPHoF after speaking at the 2016 ceremony where Debbie Burkhead and two-time EPT champion Victoria Coren-Mitchell were inducted.
“It was an honor to be asked to speak at the Induction Luncheon. It was a priority! I was playing in a tournament, but I came and spoke and then headed back to the tournament! It’s such a great celebration and I know some of the people already voted in and I have tremendous respect for all of them.”
According to Ho, she calls WiPHoF members and poker legends Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher her “poker moms”.
“I look up to the pair of them so much. They’ve always been huge proponents of everything that has to do with women in poker. I’m just happy to have a chance now to be even closer with this bond we now share of being in the WiPHof.”
Poker Results
Throughout her career, Ho has had several remarkable scores, not least in being the only player to ever hold the title Last Woman Standing on four separate occasions across WSOP and WSOPE Main Events.
The first of these was in 2007 where she finished 38th in the WSOP Main Event for $237,865, with Ho just a year and a half into a professional poker-playing career.
“To be able to have such big results on a stage as big as the Main Event is nothing you can prepare for or imagine, especially in your early career. It wasn’t just the best learning experience I could have gotten at the time, but it also just opened up so many doors for me. Not just in terms of opportunities, but have the realization personally that maybe I have the opportunity to do more in poker than I thought. When I first got into the game, I viewed my career purely in terms of playing. I didn’t think of the possible platform I could have moving forward or the ways I could help or impact other females trying to get into the game."
They’re just not things you think about until you have a run like the one I did in 2007, where you realize that there’s actually some importance in this finish. I took that responsibility very seriously. I remember being like ‘Maybe this is a turning point, where I look at poker as more than just playing the game?’”
Four years later, Ho made history by recording the largest ever cash by a woman at the WSOP, after finishing second in Event #4: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em for the astonishing amount of $540,020.
In her runner-up interview at the time, an emotional Ho — now in her sixth year as a professional poker player — was disappointed with her runner-up finish.
“I feel bad for saying that because I won a lot of money,” she said at the time, “And I should be proud, but there is a point in every poker player’s career where you want that bracelet. It’s so tough to get here. But if my finish, and how I do, and any success in poker I have had is something that other females can share and enjoy and that will perhaps bring them into the game, then I feel happy to say I contributed to that.”
Now, nearly seven years on, Ho still admits that she was humbled by her biggest success.
“I was so close to winning a bracelet, but I was denied. Even having that realization makes you want it so much more, and makes you realize the work that has to go into getting to that next level, and setting myself up to have that opportunity again.
“The result also meant I stopped looking at my poker as having to prove something. In poker, you always feel like you have to prove yourself, not just if you’re a woman. You always feel like there are better players than yourself judging what you’re doing. That moment [in 2011] was where I felt like I had started doing it for myself and I was believing in myself and the work that I’ve put into the game.
Once you don’t feel like you have anything to prove anymore, it’s a whole weight off your shoulders and you can approach the game from a different, more confident angle.”
Away from the Tables
Ho’s career has come a long way since then, taking on more roles away from the poker tables. In 2013, she joined the Heartland Poker Tour’s broadcast team, becoming the first woman in history hired to a poker television show as the resident strategic commentator. She has since co-hosted and commentated on a variety of other shows including the Super High Roller Bowl and was part of the WSOP Main Event broadcast team on ESPN in 2017, and now co-hosts WPT’s King of the Club on Fox Sports Net.
“In the last few years, in some ways playing poker has taken a little bit of a step back in my list of priorities and where I’m spending my time. With my ambassadorial and broadcasting roles, I’ve found that it’s giving me more fulfillment by branching out and doing different things.
"I love the challenge. Not that I don’t find poker challenging, it’s just that in these new roles you’re just a little less comfortable. I love finding things that maybe I don’t think I’m that good at, but that I want to be good at. There’s nothing like just putting yourself out there.”
However, Ho admits that she doesn’t want the game of poker to pass her by and that she constantly wants to be seen and known as a good poker player. In the 2017 WSOPE Main Event, she finished sixth for 174,365 ($202,875).
“Having a deep run in the WSOPE Main Event was really important to me because I don’t want a stagnant career. I want to put up new benchmarks and always feel like I’m outdoing myself. You see, certain people come and go or fade away, and I just always want to feel like I’m making sure that as long as I’m still passionate, I’m doing everything I can to improve and move forward.”
Ho says that over her career, she has seen women take great strides in the poker industry. She spoke about how she would often be the only female in the room, whereas now she is part of more than a handful in a given tournament.
“In my time in the game over the past decade, I’ve seen more and more women in the game which is already a huge win. There are always new faces and people that are very competitive, especially those who are at the top-end of the rankings, and playing 25k tournaments. It’s great to see that sort of progress and it’s great to feel that women are more comfortable in this environment.
“We’ve still got a long way to go. Women account for 3-4% of fields and I really think that there are so many elements of this game that actually favor females in some ways. I just want people to firstly be interested in poker, but also to be willing to put themselves out there in a situation that is different to what they’re used to.”
The Future
Before Ho leaves poker (she didn’t specify a timeframe), she says that she wants to contribute even more to the industry, especially with her experience with the Amazon eSports’ Mobile Masters.
“I’m always thinking about how we can make this an environment more welcoming to recreational players. Even from the broadcasting side, I am trying to think about how we can make it entertaining. I see how the eSports world has transformed the way people are watching video games and that whole experience, and I want people to get that similar experience from playing poker.
2020 is a long way away yet, but with two poker heavyweights scheduled to turn 35, the same age as Ho, we couldn’t help but ask her what she thought of the chances of Vanessa Selbst and Liv Boeree.
“I think Vanessa’s chances are great. She’s a shoe-in. If they let me in my first year... Vanessa should definitely be in. What she has done can’t be understated. She is one of the all-time greatest tournament players, and in females especially.
Liv as well, she’s done so much outside of poker with her TED talks among other things. To me it’s all about having that reach; someone like Liv really has that reach and that is very important to the poker community as a whole.
“I think both of their chances are great, but Vanessa’s definitely a shoe-in in my book.”
Tons of Free $30,000 Platinum Passes Still Up for Grabs in 2018; Ditz Latest Winner
Guillaume Diaz, Miguel Romero, Paul-Francois Tedeschi and Franz Ditz. These four guys all have all one thing in common: they're rocking a $30,000 Platinum Pass! Each of them won the elusive pass at the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT and will be travelling to the Bahamas in January 2019 to play the event of a lifetime: The PokerStars Players NL Hold'em Championship (PSPC).
The Pass is worth a whopping $30,000, consisting of the following:
• $25,000 entry to the PSPC event
• Six nights' accommodation at Atlantis Resort, Nassau, in The Bahamas
• $2,000 in food and beverage allowances
There's still tons of free $30,000 Platinum Pass packages up for grabs throughout all of 2018. They can be won online at PokerStars, as well as at PokerStars live events. See the table below to see which upcoming PokerStars live events award Platinum Passes.
| Date | Event | Platinum Passes |
|---|---|---|
| May 1-8 | Italian Poker Open Campione | 1 |
| May 11-14 | London Series | 1 |
| May 24-29 | BSOP Natal | 2 |
| May 28-June 3 | Mammoth Dublin | 2 |
| May 28-June 3 | Manila Super Series | 1 |
| June 1-3 | MEGASTACK London | 1 |
| June 4-10 | PokerStars Festival Marbella | 3 |
Four free Platinum Pass packages have already been awarded at the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT, with one more being awarded to the EPT Main Event winner. Romero (in the €1,100 EPT National) and Tedeschi (in the Main Event) proved their skills at the flipout tables, winning three flipouts in a row to collect their Pass. Diaz received one on top of winning the €1,100 EPT National.
Besides Passes in the EPT National and EPT Main Event, a €1,650 live satellite qualifier to the PSPC was held at EPT Monte Carlo on May 1. To spice things up, PokerStars added a free package to the prize pool. The tournament attracted 43 unique entries and 12 reentries, who created a total prize pool of €80,025. This was enough to award three packages for a dream trip to The Bahamas, plus the added one with coveted Platinum Pass. Franz Ditz, Jeff Hakim, Pablo Melogno and Nicolas Chouity were the four players that punched their tickets to The Bahamas by outlasting the other players. They kept playing for the Platinum Pass to receive the VIP perks and personal attention on top of the package. After Melogno and Chouity lost, Ditz and Hakim did five Omaha-flips (with a card added each time for good measure) for the Platinum Pass and Ditz became the winner.
The PokerStars Players NL Hold'em Championship (PSPC) is a taking place in the Bahamas in January 2019. PokerStars is adding $8 million to the prize pool, plus an extra $1 million to the first place prize! PokerStars is giving away more than 300 $30,000 Platinum Passes over the course of the year, giving everyone a shot at a dream trip of a lifetime.
€25k Update: Pardo First Elimination; Field Up to 50
With one level gone in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT €25,000 High Roller the field has reached 50 players. It includes all the names you would expect, with all but one of the EPT Monte Carlo High Roller winners so far in the field.
Steve O'Dwyer is the only one of the four to not have entered the tournament, but another of the cohort has already been eliminated. He narrowly missed out on a Single Day High Roller double yesterday evening after finishing runner-up to Justin Bonomo in the €25,000 after winning the €50,000 equivalent two days earlier.
| Event | Entrants | Prizepool | Winner | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €10,000 | 71 | €688,700 | Juan Pardo | €246,598 |
| €100,000 | 46 | €4,462,920 | Sam Greenwood | €1,520,000 |
| €50,000 Single Day | 41 | €1,988,910 | Steve O'Dwyer | €676,300 |
| €25,000 Single Day | 50 | €1,200,500 | Justin Bonomo | €378,000 |
Jean-Noel Thorel opened and Juan Pardo three-bet to 2,000. Thorel four-bet to 4,000 and Pardo called. The flop came 
and Thorel continued for 5,000. Pardo called. The turn was the 
and Thorel bet 10,000. Pardo called.
The river was the 
. Thorel checked and Pardo moved all in. Thorel called. Pardo showed 
for two pair, but Thorel had 
for a better two pair, and sent his opponent to the rail.
Other names in action already include 25k High Roller debutants Maria Konnikova and Bruno Lopes, along with regulars Stephen Chidwick, Nick Petrangelo, Paul Newey, Charlie Carrel, Christopher Frank, Isaac Haxton, Bryn Kenney and Vladimir Troyanovskiy.