On the 13th episode of the Remko Report, host Remko Rinkema speaks with Igor Kurganov, Liv Boeree, Adriano Mannino, and Ruairí Donnelly about the charity Raising for Effective Giving, otherwise known as REG.
Hand #130: Johnny Lodden made it 160,000 on the button holding . Adrian Mateos in the small blind found and three-bet to 440,000. Lodden made the call.
The flop came and Mateos bet 350,000 into the 1 million pot. Lodden called in position. The on the turn gave both players a full house. Mateos checked, Lodden bet 350,000 into the 1.7 million pot. Mateos called.
The hit the river and Mateos checked again. Lodden tanked for a long time. Eventually, he shoved all in for 1,290,000 into the 2.4 million pot. Mateos instantly folded.
Hand #131: Mateos opened on the button with a raise to 160,000. El Asmar in the big blind defended with . The flop came and El Asmar check folded to Mateos' 160,000 bet.
Hand #132: El Asmar limped in with from the small blind, Lodden checked with the in the big blind. The flop came and El Asmar check-called a bet of 105,000. Both players checked the . The hit the river and El Asmar bet 180,000. Lodden folded.
Hand #133: We missed this hand because there was a short promo shown for a documentary film made about Daniel Negreanu.
Beyond all of the tournament titles that everyone guns for on the European Poker Tour, many strive to win the PokerStars EPT Player of the Year award.
Powered by the Global Poker Index, the EPT Player of the Year award is broken down into three tiers. According to EPT.com, "the Silver tier will award points for all events with a buy-in of $600 and lower; the Gold tier will award points for all events with a buy-in of $3,000 and lower; and the Platinum tier will count all events across the EPT Festivals, no matter the buy-in, so every EPT player can take their shot at Player of the Year glory."
Points are accumulated using the GPI formula — "an independent points scoring system that ranks live tournament poker players." There are a few factors that apply to the formula, and you can learn about how it all works by clicking here.
As it stands right now, Dzmitry Urbanovich leads the Platinum level with 3,457.79 points. He's over 160 points of Joao Vieira in second place, and then Vladimir Troyanovskiy is the only other player above 3,000. In a note to the media from PokerStars, Urbanovich was quoted as saying that the award "means more to me than the money."
Platinum Standings
Rank
Player
Points
1
Dzmitry Urbanovich
3,457.79
2
Joao Vieira
3,295.89
3
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
3,128.43
4
Davidi Kitai
2,899.21
5
Benjamin Pollak
2,531.25
6
Fedor Holz
2,484.32
7
Daniel Dvoress
2,418.42
8
Dario Sammartino
2,411.31
9
David Peters
2,392.58
10
Ivan Luca
2,384.55
With the festival coming to a close, all members in the top 10 have been seen trying to squeak out every last-second points they can. Urbanovich is definitely one of those grinding away in the tournament room, and although he has a solid lead, there could certainly be some movement and pressure at Season 11 comes to a close.
Urbanovich also tops the Gold standings, and he's up again over Vieira. This time, though, Urbanovich is over 350 points ahead of his counterpart, so his lead is slightly more comfortable.
Gold Standings
Rank
Player
Points
1
Dzmitry Urbanovich
1,944.53
2
Joao Vieira
1,592.74
3
Giuliano Bendinelli
1,579.25
4
Atanas Kavrakov
1,512.22
5
Georges Yazbeck
1,445.01
6
David Peters
1,431.14
7
Paul Hoefer
1,324.30
8
Jose Carlos Garcia
1,276.09
9
Dario Sammartino
1,187.77
10
Frederik Jensen
1,135.49
As for the Silver ranks, France's Jean-Jacques Zeitoun leads with 143.85 points. He's ahead of Stavros Avdoulos with 128.14 points in second place.
Silver Standings
Rank
Player
Points
1
Jean-Jacques Zeitoun
143.85
2
Stavros Avdoulos
128.14
3
Felix Trau
121.48
4
Julian Salvesen
114.06
5
Vincent Siri
112.07
6
Mariano Martiradonna
109.50
7
Bryan Ponce Zerna
108.85
8
Alejandro Perez Torres
105.48
9
Daragh Davey
99.21
10
Adam Owen
98.23
With today, Friday, May 8, being the last day of the festival and three scheduled events, the race for all three leaderboards should be a fighting finish until the end.
Hand #134: Lodden made it 160,000 to got with and Adrian Mateos with on the button called. Fares in the small blind called with , El Asmar had in the big blind and called as well. Family pot!
The flop came and it was checked around to Mateos. The Spaniard bet 275,000 and Fares with second pair called, El Asmar folded. Lodden now check-raised to 715,000. Mateos, with nothing but some back doors, called in position. Fares folded the best hand.
With 2,385,000 in the pot, the fell on the turn. Lodden (with 2.7 million behind) checked and Mateos bet 650,000. Lodden made the call.
The fell on the river and Lodden checked with 3,685,000 in the pot. Mateos moved all in after some heavy tanking. Lodden tanked even longer.
After about four minutes, he double checked his cards and said "Still the same cards" with a smile.
Eventually Lodden decided against it, and he folded the best hand. Mateos showed the bluff and Lodden couldn't hide his frustration, though he did it with class.
Hand #135: Mateos raised to 160,000 under the gun with and Lodden called in the big blind with . Lodden check-called a bet from Mateos bet of 130,000 on a flop. The on the turn was checked by both players, as was the on the river, and Lodden took it down with ace-high.
Hand #136: El Asmar raised from the button and took the blinds and antes.
Hand #137: Mateos raised small to big with . Fares called with , and both players checked. The turn was the and Mateos check-called a bet of 250,000 from Fares. The river was the and Mateos checked. Fares bet 350,000 and Mateos agonised over a decision, before folding.
Hand #138: For the second hand in a row Mateos raised to 160,000, this time from the button with . Fares had in the small blind and three-bet to 540,000. Mateos folded and Fares took down the pot.
Hand #139: El Asmar limped in from the small blind with only the showing. Lodden raised it up to 280,000 with from the big blind, El Asmar called. The flop came and El Asmar check-folded to Lodden's 200,000 bet. Lodden showed his hand.
Hand #140: Fares made it 260,000 under the gun and stole the blinds and antes. Lodden was one of the folders with , things were too expensive for his blood.
Hand #141: El Asmar made it 200,000 with under the gun. Mateos in the big blind found and three-bet to 500,000. Fares had but folded. El Asmar instantly called. The flop came and Mateos bet 375,000 into the 1,120,000 pot, and El Asmar folded after sighing for a bit.
Hand #142: Mateos with on the button made it 160,000. El Asmar called with in the big blind. The two checked the entire board of and the small pot went to El Asmar with his rivered pair of aces.
Hand #142: Mateos made it 160,000 with . Fares called with , El smar called with , Lodden did the same with .
The flop came and El Asmar checked. Lodden bet 290,000 and Mateos asked him how much he was playing. Mateos then raised it up to 740,000 and all players folded.
Hand #143: Adrian Mateos got a walk in the big blind and showed nines to his opponents.
Hand #144: Lodden raised from the button, and Mateos three-bet to 420,000 from the small blind. It folded back to Lodden who let the hand go.
Hand #145: Lodden raised again under the gun to 160,000 with and got three-bet to 400,000 by El Asmar in the big blind who had . Lodden thought for a while before folding.
Hand #146: Action was folded to Fares on the button who raised . El Asmar had in the big blind who three-bet to 500,000. Fares rechecked his cards before mucking them.
Hand #147: Lodden called 40,000 from the small blind with and Mateos checked in the big blind. The flop was and Lodden mucked.
Hand #148: Mateos made it 160,000 from the small blind with . Fares called with from the big blind. The flop came and Mateos bet 150,000. Fares folded.
Hand #149: Mateos raised to 160,000 with from the button. Fares in the small blind three-bet to 440,000 with . El Asmar had in the big blind and folded. Mateos followed suit and folded as well.
Hand #150: Mateos made it 160,000 with under the gun. El Asmar made it 440,000 with and everyone folded.
Hand #151: El Asmar with made it 180,000 to go. Mateos defended the big blind with . The flop came and Mateos check-folded to El Asmar's bet. The graphics displayed a bet of 585,000, but we're unsure that was in fact the size of the bet.
Hand #152: El Asmar folded ace-nine under the gun. Lodden found on the button and raised it up to 160,000. Mateos three-bet to 375,000 from the small blind with , and Lodden gave up.
Hand #153: Johnny Lodden found under the gun and made it 160,000. Commentators Joe Stapleton, James Hartigan and Daniel Negreanu knew what was coming, and predicted he would go with this hand whatever happened.
Muhyedine Fares in the small blind had and three-bet to 340,000. El Asmar tanked for a bit with in the big blind, but folded.
Lodden announced all in for 1,170,000 not much later. Fares called.
The flop came , devastating news for Lodden.
The on the turn and on the river didn't help, and Lodden exited in fourth place. Two years ago he finished third in this event for €467,000, this year he had to settle for €379,000.