€10,200 Mystery Bounty
Day 2 Completed
2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
€10,200 Mystery Bounty
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
Buy-in
€10,200
Prize Pool
€347,800
Entries
74
Level
25
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
120,000
Entries
51
Players Left
1
Level 25
: Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
After nearly 12 hours of play on Day 2, PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton has topped a field of 74 entries to claim the title in the €10,200 Mystery Bounty event. The 2023 PokerStars EPT presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® is well underway now and the first winner has been crowned, pocketing Grafton a total of €145,400.
Grafton overcame a huge heads-up deficit in order to claim the victory, his first of 2023. Grafton was on the edge of defeat multiple times in his heads-up battle with Sam Greenwood but managed to avoid disaster each and every time. The big turning point for the British poker pro was a two-outer he hit with pocket threes against the pocket jacks of Greenwood. Grafton took a commanding lead after the big double-up and finished the match just moments later.
The two players embraced in a hug after the match and Grafton admitted that he was very lucky to come out as the winner. "You deserved that one, Sam. Very unlucky, sorry about that." Grafton will take it any way he can as he joked earlier in the day that he was playing with the top 0.1% luckiest players in the world.
€10,200 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Sam Grafton | United Kingdom | € 97,900 | $107,604 |
| 2nd | Sam Greenwood | Canada | € 63,200 | $69,464 |
| 3rd | Conor Beresford | United Kingdom | € 45,150 | $49,625 |
| 4th | Artur Martirosian | Russia | € 34,750 | $38,194 |
| 5th | Maksim Vaskresenski | Poland | € 26,700 | $29,347 |
| 6th | Julien Sitbon | France | € 21,250 | $23,356 |
| 7th | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | € 17,000 | $18,685 |
| 8th | Guram Andronikashvili | United Kingdom | € 13,600 | $14,948 |
Day 2 Action
There were 29 players who returned to their seats from Day 1 with late registration open for an additional two levels into Day 2. That encouraged plenty of action for the first hour with stacks coming and going throughout. When all was settled, a total of 74 entries were recorded and just 26 players made it to the first break.
In total, there was €370,000 up for grabs in the bounty prize pool, spread across 26 envelopes. The largest prize was the €50,000 envelope and two of them were made available. The first one belonged to Conor Beresford who was one of the first players to draw from the treasure chest. Couple that with four additional bounties, Beresford managed to walk away with €127,650.
The other top bounty went to Nacho Barbero who only picked up one knockout on the day. Barbero made good use of it, picking up €50,000 to go along with his seventh-place finish. The other big bounty winners included Erik Seidel (€25,000) who failed to cash and Artur Martirosian (€25,000) who bowed out in fourth place for an additional €34,750.
The chip lead in the early part of the day belonged to Felipe Ketzer who was dominating the field, but a slight overstep in aggression while chasing down the bounties led to Ketzer becoming the short stack at the hands of Grafton. Ketzer was eliminated just short of the money but was able to pick up a couple of bounties in the process.
The bubble belonged to Sosia Jiang who was grinding the short stack bit couldn't make it last any longer. Her big slick was no match for the suited connectors of Beresford and the money bubble burst on the very first hand. The rest of the field was guaranteed at least €8,700 and some of the min-cashes went the way of Kayhan Mokri, Joao Vieira, Paul Newey, and Guram Andronikashvili.
The eliminations at the final table slowed drastically with just six players left at the dinner break. Over the next two hours, Julien Sitbon was the only player eliminated in that time frame. Eventually, the blinds would catch up with the short stacks as Maksim Vaskresenski and Martirosian were forced to get their chips in the middle with subpar holdings.
It was a swingy match for the final three players who took turns taking the chip lead and spent their fair share on the short stack. Beresford eventually bowed out in third place but not without the dramatics as all three players had their entire stack in the middle at the same time. Greenwood's pocket jacks prevailed which left him as a massive favorite entering heads-up with Grafton.
Greenwood was on the brink of capturing another title multiple times in the heads-up match but a combination of bad luck or no luck at all left the Canadian frustrated. In the end, Greenwood went for the hero call on the river but Grafton was able to turn over the goods with a straight to earn the victory. It is expected that many, if not all of these players, will be back in the ring tomorrow when the single-day €25,000 event takes place.
That wraps up this event for PokerNews but keep it tuned in here as there will be plenty more action over the next week at the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo.
Level 25
: Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Sam Grafton limped his button and Sam Greenwood checked his option in the big blind.
The pair saw a flop of 4♦A♣7♦ and Greenwood checked to Grafton, who put out a bet of 150,000. Greenwood called and the 3♣ turn rolled off. Greenwood checked again and Grafton continued for 350,000 this time. Again Greenwood obliged with a call.
The river fell 10♦ and Greenwood checked for a third time. Grafton now put Greenwood all-in for his remaining 875,000. Greenwood looked around the room, seemed to do some calculations, and made the call.
Sam Greenwood: 10♣2♣
Sam Grafton: 5♦2♠
Greenwood rivered a pair, but it was no match against the turned straight of Grafton. Greenwood finished as runner-up while Grafton was the last one standing, hoisting the trophy.
Stay tuned for a full recap of the final day of the €10,200 Mystery Bounty.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
7,400,000
1,350,000
|
1,350,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 25
: Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Sam Greenwood limped in on the button and Sam Grafton ripped all in for 3,025,000 in the big blind. Greenwood snap-called and was staring down the barrel of another title.
Sam Grafton: 3♠3♣
Sam Greenwood: J♠J♥
The flop came A♠10♦3♦ with the three as the last card to be revealed. The 5♦ turn and the K♣ river gave Grafton a big double-up as he took over the chip lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,050,000
2,500,000
|
2,500,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
1,350,000
-2,490,000
|
-2,490,000 |
|
|
||
Level 25
: Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Sam Greenwood open-jammed his button for Sam Grafton's remaining 1,700,000 and his opponent instantly called.
Sam Grafton: 3♣3♦
Sam Greenwood: 7♦5♦
A flip which would result in the trophy for Greenwood if he won. However, the board ran out 10♠Q♦2♦K♣6♥ and Grafton secured the double-up.
The fierce competitors continue the heads up with nearly even stacks.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,840,000
-1,420,000
|
-1,420,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
3,550,000
1,410,000
|
1,410,000 |
|
|
||
Level 25
: Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
The final two players have agreed to shorted the blind levels to just 15 minutes going forward.
Level: 25
Blinds: 60,000/120,000
Ante: 120,000
Level 25
: Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Sam Grafton moved all in for his last 505,000 on the button and Sam Greenwood called from the big blind. Grafton tabled K♣10♣ and was up against the Q♦5♣ from Greenwood. The board ran out 10♦8♠4♠4♥8♦ and Grafton earned his first double-up.
On the next hand, the two players got all of their chips in the middle again, this time with Grafton being at risk for 1,010,000.
Sam Grafton: 6♠6♦
Sam Greenwood: 2♥2♣
The flop came 10♠6♥5♣ and Grafton took a huge lead with a set of sixes. The A♦ and A♠ runout secured another double-up for Grafton to get him back into the match.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,260,000
-1,640,000
|
-1,640,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,140,000
1,640,000
|
1,640,000 |
|
|
||
Level 24
: Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
Sam Greenwood limped his button and Conor Beresford went all in for 140,000 from the small blind. Sam Grafton was in the big blind and also went all in, barely covering Greenwood's 3,320,000 stack.
Greenwood snap-called, much to Grafton's dismay.
Conor Beresford: 6♠7♥
Sam Greenwood: J♥J♠
Sam Grafton: J♦8♣
A huge opportunity for Greenwood to begin heads-up with a gigantic chip lead and he did just so as the board ran out without a sweat: 4♦10♠4♥6♦3♦
Beresford was eliminated in third place, while Grafton was left very short in the forthcoming heads-up battle with Greenwood.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,900,000
3,990,000
|
3,990,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
500,000
-3,920,000
|
-3,920,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 25
: Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Sam Greenwood limped in on the button and Conor Beresford just called in the small blind, leaving 70,000 chips behind. Sam Grafton checked his option and they went three ways to a flop of K♦10♠7♣.
The action checked through to the A♦ on the turn and the 10♣ on the river. Greenwood finally made a bet of 300,000 which got Beresford to fold but Grafton looked him up. Greenwood sheepishly tabled 5♦3♦ to play the board while Grafton held J♥9♣ to scoop the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,420,000
520,000
|
520,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,910,000
-520,000
|
-520,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
70,000
-115,000
|
-115,000 |