Day 3 Coverage of the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo will be featured here. Click refresh and scroll to the bottom of this post to see the lastest coverage. Again, many thanks to the newly formed Team Blog: Nigel, Russell, and Mad. Without them, this job doesn’t get done.

1:59pm–The 31 remaining players are taking their seats. For a look at how they made it this far, see the Monte Carlo Day 2 Coverage links. Four players who are sitting right now will walk away with nothing. Right now, with blinds going up to 1500/3000/300, Jan Boubli (EPT Barcelona winner) is in the moost danger with his meager 6500 in chips.

2:05pm–I’ve just been told that this tournament has recently been confirmed as having the biggest prize pool ever outside of the United States (created completely buy player buy-ins). These PokerStars qualifiers have to be happy about that.

Jeff Williams (Cash Qualifier)
Dustin Dirksen (Cash Qualifier)
Arshad Hussain (FPP Qualifier)
Radu Butan (Cash Qualifier)
Kim Darling Wittendorff (Cash Qualifier)
Alain Bilodeau (FPP Qualifier)
Matthew Davey (FPP Qualifier)
Jim Kerrigan
Marc Karam

2:14pm–In a hand that was both surprising and, well not, Jan Boubli becomes the 31st place finisher. Thomas Wahlroos came in for a large raise, Jan Boubli pushe din his remianing 6500 chips, and Arnaud Mimran announced he was all in. All of us expected to see, at the worst, AK. Wahlroos shrugged and folded. Boubli showed A4o. Mimran showed…J8 suited. He ended up making both his jack and his diamond flush.

2:26pm–Tony Chessa just had his aces cracked by jacks. Subsequently, he says he will push his stack in blind from the big blind. Everyone else folds around to him…he turns over pocket tens.

2:31pm–Tony Chessa has been eliminated in 30th place. He got his pocket fives in versus Radu Butan’s nines. Butan flopped a set, Chessa made a heart draw on the turn, but Butan made a full house on the river.

2:32pm–Johnny Lodden is out in 29th place. He got his AJ in versus Jeff Williams’ 56. The board came 964/4/9.

2:36pm–With 28 players remaining, we are on the bubble and dealing hand for hand. As the action slows down a bit, I have to think Matthew Davey should be feeling quite fortunate right now. He began the day with 27,300 in chips, barely enough to survive a few rounds. Now, he actually has a chance to cash.

2:41pm–I won’t call it fearless, but I will call it a nice display of heart. On the bubble, Matthew Davey pushed in his remaining chips with a pair of tens. Martin Wendt called with K5 offsuit. By the river, Wendt had a gutshot draw to go with his overcard. None of the six outs materialized and Davey doubled up.

2:49pm–This, I suppose, IS fearless, but no surprise coming from Martin Wendt. He pushed with K9 suited in clubs on the bubble. Thierry Cazals called wih pocket jacks. Wendt flopped two clubs and made another club on the river to double through.

3:13pm–So, what do you do when you flop the nuts? It’s always an interesting time among the synapses. So, Thomas Wahlroos holds A9 suited in diamonds, has his opponent bet into him on an ALL DIAMOND FLOP, and then jokingly says, “Well, I guess I’m all in.” Thusly, he pushed in his chips and exposed his hand. One problem…his opponent hadn’t acted on the raise yet. Exposing your hand before your opponent acts is a no-no. What’s more, it gave Wahlroos’ opponent a chance to fold a very good hand…top pair, with the king of diamonds. And to make matters worse, Wahlroos’ was assessed a ten-minute penalty. So, now he has to sit out for ten minutes on the bubble. While I can think of worse times to be penalized, sitting out is never good. Oh, and I can’t reprint Wahlroos’ reaction. In so many words, he indicated he had just copulated with himself.

3:19pm–Russell reports Dustin Dirksen is on a slow burn, down from 148,000 in starting chips to now less than 40K.

3:27pm–The self-help book should be titled, “How to survive being all-in on the bubble” by Matthew Davey. The PokerStars FPP qualifier just survived a 77 vs. A3 all in. Davey took some sort of rune rock out of his pocket and spun in three times before making his decision. Apparently, the rock said to push all-in. Smart rock. Davey just doubled up.

3:41pm–Thoms Kremser, the tournament director, has canceled the break at the ened of the level, vowing to push through until the bubble bursts. We’re now at 2000/4000/400.

3:45pm–Paul Jackson just doubled through Ross Boatman, AJ vs QJ.

3:55pm–“He’s done it again, hasn’t he?” That was the question from across the room as I ran back to the computer. Indeed, Matthew Davey just picked up pocket queens vs. Jeff Williams pocket eights. Davey=still alive.

4:08pm–Frode Fagerli just busted on the bubble after Alan Bilodeau limped from the small blind with tens. Fagerli thought to pick up the blinds and antes and went for a steal from the big blind with J7 suited. He flopped a seven, but didn’t improve further. We’re on a 25 minute break.

4:17pm–Matthew Davey now has his wife and beautiful baby daughter on the rail. An emotional Davey sends a message to geflepoker.se. “I hope to do you proud guys”

4:21pm–Just announced: Frode Fagerli will not walk away empty-handed for his bubble finish. PokerStars will give him a free entry and hotel room next year at the EPT Grand Final here in Monte Carlo.

4:29pm–Players are getting ready to resume, in the money.

4:49pm–Updated chip counts

MIMRAN, ARNAUD 300K
WILLIAMS, JEFF 278K
GOLSER, MARKUS 180K
CAZALS, THIERRY 50K
STRANDLI, ALEKSANDER (Unknown–at feature table)
DUNPHY,FRASER (Unknown–Feature table)
GRUNDY, BEN 200K
DIRKSEN, DUSTIN 35K
TELTSCHER,MARK 140K
KARAM, MARC 120K
HUSSAIN, ARSHAD 110K
HALLIDAY,TERENCE 90K
KABBAJ,JOHN 50K
KERRIGAN, JIM 53K
WAHLROOS, THOMAS 80K
GIBSON,NICK 75K
BUTAN, RADU 120K
BOATMAN,ROSS 165K
WITTENDORFF, KIM DARLING 72K
BILODEAU, ALAIN 80K
WENDT,MARTIN 45K
MINERI, DARIO 40K
LUSKE, MARCEL 120K
GOULD,PETER 55K
DAVEY, MATTHEW 60K

4:58pm–Mark Bolliger exits in 27th place. Paul Jackson out in 26th. Both earn €16,800

5:05pm–Dustin Dirksen has departed in 25th place for €16,800. With only 34,200 left in his stack, he pushed under the gun with 7T. Ross Boatman called with 99 and his hand held up.

5:19pm–Peter Gould and Mark Teltscher went to the races for all of Gould’s chips. Gould held TT to Mark’s JA. The door card was an ace and Gould departed in 24th place for €16,800.

5:21pm–Seconds later, John Kabbaj tried his hand with pocket tens as well. Chip-herder Arnaud Mimran went with his KJ and made two pair. Kabbaj finishes in 23rd for €16,800.

5:24pm–Faster than I can type, players fall. Dario Minieri just put in his short-stack with A8o versus Marcel Luske’s pocket kings. No ace or draw appeared and Dario left in 22nd place earning €16,800.

5:41pm–The biggest pot of the tournament…was sort of anticlimatic. Facing an early position raise from 3000 t 12,000, Marcel Luske made it 52K to go. After several minutes of consideration Kim Darling Wittendorff pushed all in for more than 50K more. Marcel called. Both players held AK.

5:44pm–Martin Wendt falls to Jeff Williams. Wendt gets in QJo versus Williams’ pair of jacks. The pot was worth about 90K. Williams is on a major rush and may have the chip lead. Wendt will be rushing for the bar…or the bank with €16,800 for his 21st place finish.

Seconds later, Kim Darling Wittendorf decided to play his whole stack with AK suited. Ran into Ross Boatman’s pair of ace. Wittendorf takes 20th place and earns €16,800.

5:59pm––Fresh chip count

MIMRAN, ARNAUD 330K
WILLIAMS, JEFF 419K
GOLSER, MARKUS 175K
CAZALS, THIERRY 60K
STRANDLI, ALEKSANDER 65K
DUNPHY,FRASER 180K
GRUNDY, BEN 200K
TELTSCHER,MARK 160K
KARAM, MARC 132K
HUSSAIN, ARSHAD 130K
HALLIDAY,TERENCE 43K
KERRIGAN, JIM 75K
WAHLROOS, THOMAS 100K
GIBSON,NICK 80K
BUTAN, RADU 130K
BOATMAN,ROSS 335K
BILODEAU, ALAIN 110K
LUSKE, MARCEL 210K
DAVEY, MATTHEW 92K

6:08pm–Aleksander Strandli just doubled through Nick Gibson with AJo vs. Gibson’s QJs.

6:10pm–Blinds are 3000/6000/600

6:13pm–Nick Gibson has been eliminated in 19th place after getting shortstacked and putting KTo in versus Marcel Luske’s KQs. Gibson wins €16,800.

6:52pm–Would you believe the Southern Europe’s internet connectiono just went to sleep for half an hour?

6:55pm–Quick update on what you’ve missed while we’ve been in the dark:

–Terrence Halliday went out in 18th place after his KQ failed to outdraw Thomas Wahlroos’ AA. Halliday cashes for €22,400.
–Thieryy Cazals doubled through Arshad’s Hussain’s 44 with TT and then doubled through Jeff Williams after catching a four-outer on the river.
–Arshad 88 vs Alain Bilodeau’s 44 results in Alain’s 17th place departure. Bilodeau makes €22,400.
— We re-draw for the final 16 players at two tables.

7:05pm–Fresh Chip counts:

BOATMAN,ROSS 387K
WILLIAMS, JEFF 366K
MIMRAN, ARNAUD 281K
GRUNDY, BEN 225K
TELTSCHER,MARK 220K
LUSKE, MARCEL 217K
KARAM, MARC 170K
HUSSAIN, ARSHAD 166K
CAZALS, THIERRY 159K
DAVEY, MATTHEW 126K
DUNPHY,FRASER 126K
WAHLROOS, THOMAS 121K
BUTAN, RADU 118K
STRANDLI, ALEKSANDER 100K
GOLSER, MARKUS 65K
KERRIGAN, JIM 30K

7:20pm–Jim Kerrigan just got unlucky. His TT flopped a set, but the board ran out a straight for Fraser Dunphy’s AJ. Kerrigan departs in 16th place for €22,400.

7:37pm–It was a heartbreaking defeat for Radu Butan. All-in pre-flop with pocket eights versus Ben Grundy’s AK, the first four crads on the board are meaningless. The river spiked a king. Grundy had turned away and didn’t even ee the river fall. “I had given up,” he said. Grundy has moved within sniffing distance of the chip lead. Radu takes home €28,100.

7:41pm–Battleship news, courtesy of Mad:

It was a pretty easy start for Noah Boeken in his EPT Battleship semi-final match against Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier today because ElkY was fast asleep in his hotel room. EPT winner Ram Vaswani offered to play in ElkY’s place (an offer Noah politely declined) but eventually, some 12 minutes late, ElkY rushed in saying his alarm had failed to go off.

Meanwhile, at the next door table, the Thomas Fougeron / Bernd Stadlbauer match was going pretty evenly with no massives wins or losses. Then the whole match was struck by a Monte Carlo internet meltdown and had to be paused. It’s running again now.

7:44pm–On a flop of K94, Theirry Cazals bet out and Markus Golser pushed all in. Markus grimaced when Cazals called. Markus showed 95 to Theirry’s KQ. THe turn and river didn’t help Golser and he departed in 14th place for €28,100.

7:49pm–Players will be heading for their dinner break in just a couple of minutes.

Back to Top