“He found the only guy in all of Monaco he covers!”
So cried Jacques Guenni with a big grin after watching a short-stacked Anthony Mathieu all in (again) and called by an even shorter Steponas Venckus. All chuckled at the observation — as indeed each had pushed in what were perhaps the smallest stacks among the 180 or so players remaining.
In the end Mathieu’s K♣ Qâ™ outdrew Venckus’s 7♣ 7♥ by making a straight on the turn, and Venckus wished all good luck amid a relatively jovial scene.
Things should turn a bit more tense here shortly, however, as with the end of Level 15 they are now down to 171 — just 28 eliminations away from the cash.
Speaking of having things covered, we’ve got some other notes from the last-completed level here at the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event.
A couple of Team PokerStars Pros — Christophe De Meulder and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier — also saw their stacks depleted and then taken away altogether during that level, ending their tourney runs. For de Meulder it was a slow, gradual slide, while ElkY a bit more dramatically charged ace-king into pocket rockets.
Julien Brecard is still in, though, as is Andre Akkari (albeit with even fewer chips than the last time we checked in — click here for the explanation).
In other France Poker Series news from today in Monte Carlo, the FPS Monaco €2K High Roller event is underway with a whopping 266 players having registered thus far.
Lots of big names have ventured into that one, including Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov and Jake Cody, EPT Malta champion Jean Montury, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche, PCA final tablist Shyam Srinivasan, UKIPT Dublin champion Max Silver, and Polish pop star Wojciech Lozowski.
EPT Player of the Year contender Joao Vieira, last season’s FPS Monaco champion Yury Nesterenko, EPT founder John Duthie, EPT Warsaw champion Christophe Benzimra, and Imad Derwiche who has jumped in after busting the Super High Roller.
Here’s a glimpse at the other local tour High Roller winners from EPT Season 11:
– Eureka in Prague: Louis Salter topped 621 to win €124,560 after a seven-way deal
– Estrellas in Barcelona: Henrik Hecklen bested 802 to win €293,000Â
– UKIPT in London: Olivier Busquet outlasted a 276-entry field to win £107,300Â
– France Poker Series in Deauville: Vladimir Troyanovskiy won €141,000 as the last of 415
– IPT in Malta: Keith Johnson beat out a field of 473 to win €144,500
Key FPS Monaco Main Event Facts:
– At the start of Level 16, 171 players remain from the starting field of 993
– Recent eliminations include Christophe De Meulder, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Ami Barer, Daniel Fuchs, Aaron Shunu Zang, and Max Greenwood
– The tournament is scheduled to play 8 one-hour levels today, with 15-minute breaks every two levels (there is no dinner break)
To get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts, don’t forget to download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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