€10,600 Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final
€10,600 Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€5,640,000
Entries
564
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Day 3 of the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €10,600 Main Event saw 114 players from a 564-player field return for five 90-minute levels of play. By the time the last second ticked off the clock, just 34 remained in contention for the €1,082,000 first-place prize.
Jose Carlos Garcia, who was the overall Day 1 chip leader, is best positioned to make a run at the top prize as the chip leader with 1.71 million, but he faces some stiff competition that includes the only other player over a million, Connor Drinan (1.065 million); two-time World Poker Tour champ and last year's 20th-place finisher Scott Clements (909,000); and Global Poker Index Player of the Year Ole Schemion (823,000), just to name a few.
Garcia not only played well, he ran well and picked up quality hands in big spots. For instance, in Level 18 (3,000/6,000/1,000) there was 409,000 in the pot and a flop of 
when Bulgaria's Nikolay Tsanev got his last 217,000 all in against Garcia.
Tsanev: 
Garcia: 
It was a cooler for Tsanev, and no miracle lady would appear as the 
blanked on the turn followed by the 
on the river. Tsanev exited in 58th place for €20,900, though not everyone was fortunate enough to cash. Toss in a big one in the last hand of the night, and Garcia bagged up a hefty lead.
The day began with everyone intent on making the money at the top 79, but 35 players fell short of accomplishing that goal. Among those to fall in the first few levels and leave empty handed were Dan Heimiller, Randal Flowers, Mayu Roca, Charlie Carrel, Nick Petrangelo, Bryan Paris, Giuliano Bendinelli, Scott Davies, Vanessa Selbst, Ami Barer, David Peters, and Eric Sfez, who earned the unfortunate distinction as bubble boy.
It happened in Level 17 (2,500/5,000/5000 when Sfez, who had dwindled to just three big blinds, got his stack all in preflop and was at risk against Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier.
Sfez: 
Mercier: 
The 
flop gave Mercier a wheel draw, but it'd be the 
turn that would give him the best hand. The 
river failed to save Sfez, and he made the long walk out of the room while the remaining players each locked up €19,175.
From there, the in-the-money finishes came at a rapid place and included former EPT Grand Final champs Nicolas Chouity (78th - €19,175) and Steve O'Dwyer (74th - €19,175); Lasse Frost, who collapsed on Day 1b and was rushed to the hospital only to return before he was blinded off (72nd - €19,175); Americans Maria Ho (69th - €20,900) and Jason Wheeler (63rd - €20,900); Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (64th - €20,900); and Jean Montury (43rd - €23,125), who won the EPT Malta last month for €687,400.
While many fell, plenty of big names punched their ticket to Day 4 including Team PokerStars Pros Johnny Lodden (728,000), Andre Akkari (574,000), Jason Mercier (539,000) and Isaac Haxton (112,000); EPT regular Tom Hall (539,000); German wunderkind Christopher Frank (435,000); the UK's Stephen Chidwick (383,000); former World Series of Poker Europe champ Adrian Mateos (376,000); the €50,000 Super High Roller champ Mustapha Kanit (213,000); and online star Liviu "0Human0" Ignat (211,000)
Day 4 will kick off at Noon local time on Wednesday, and the plan is to play down to either the final 16 players or the end of Level 24, whichever comes first. In addition, the three-day €25,000 High Roller event will commence at 12:30 p.m. PokerNews will be providing live updates from both events.
Until then, check out this video of Jeremy Ausmus talking about America vs. Europe:
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Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
With all of the other tables finished for the night, all eyes were on the table featuring the current chip-leader, Jose Carlos Garcia. In the last hand of the night Garcia opened from early position and Joao Simao called from the big blind. The flop was 
and Simao lead for 22,000, which then Garcia called.
The turn was the 
, but this time Simao checked, allowing Garcia to bet 68,000, which Simao called.
The river brought the , and this time Garcia bet 100,000. Simao called but mucked when Garcia showed 
. A big pot for the chip leader meant the ended the day just shy of 700,000 chips ahead of his nearest rival.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,710,000 |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,710,000
510,000
|
510,000 |
|
1,065,000
286,000
|
286,000 |
|
987,000
287,000
|
287,000 |
|
909,000
149,000
|
149,000 |
|
890,000
-93,000
|
-93,000 |
|
827,000
452,000
|
452,000 |
|
823,000
158,000
|
158,000 |
|
728,000
153,000
|
153,000 |
|
||
|
574,000
-38,000
|
-38,000 |
|
|
||
|
561,000
161,000
|
161,000 |
|
546,000
-284,000
|
-284,000 |
|
539,000
-112,000
|
-112,000 |
|
||
|
536,000
296,000
|
296,000 |
|
521,000
-93,000
|
-93,000 |
|
439,000
261,000
|
261,000 |
|
435,000
140,000
|
140,000 |
|
393,000
58,000
|
58,000 |
|
387,000
-76,000
|
-76,000 |
|
383,000
-55,000
|
-55,000 |
|
376,000
148,000
|
148,000 |
|
||
|
370,000
19,000
|
19,000 |
|
348,000
-176,000
|
-176,000 |
|
346,000
76,000
|
76,000 |
|
332,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
320,000
53,000
|
53,000 |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
We'll have a full list of chip counts shortly, along with a recap of the day's action. Stay tuned.
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Ludovic Geilich put Josh Prager all in blind versus blind, and Prager called.
Prager: 
Geilich:
The poor luck continued for Prager as he had a solid hand dominated, and the 
board meant he was done.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
270,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
A player opened to 16,000 in early position, and Anatoly Chen called. Juan Martin Pastor three-bet to 52,000 from the cutoff, folding out everyone but Chen, who decided to stick around. Chen stayed sticky on the 
board, check-calling 54,000 on the flop and 109,000 on the turn. He switched gears on the end though, jamming to put Pastor at risk. The Argentinian quickly folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
700,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
|
272,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
On Episode 11 of the Remko Report, Dong 'donger kim' Kim joined Remko Rinkema in Seoul, South Korea, to talk about the local culture, competing against the best heads-up players in the world, and much more.
You can subscribe to the entire iBus Media Network , or . The PokerNews family of podcasts is
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Andre Akkari opened for 16,000 under the gun and action folded to Josh Prager who made it 45,000. "I'm happy to show you" Prager said with a smile, trying to convince Akkari to just lay it down.
Akkari asked how much it was, and then four-bet to 125,000. "I show you" he replied with a smile.
"Ok, I'm all in" Prager said. Akkari made the call for 296,000 total.
Josh Prager: 
Andre Akkari: 
The flop came and everyone held their breath. The 
on the turn was a blank but the 
on the river wasn't.
"Two tough days" Prager mumbled, "Just take it!"
Prager's chips weren't all taken by Akkari, Prager had 70,000 left after the hand.
"He's the nicest guy in poker" Akkari said, talking about Prager, "Sorry man!"
"That's a bad beat man" Prager's neighbor Ole Schemion added.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
612,000
179,000
|
179,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
70,000
-310,000
|
-310,000 |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play five more levels before bagging and tagging for the night. We're headed out to capture any late action and to compile some chip counts. Stay tuned for those as well as a full recap of the Day 3 action.