Feature Coverage Dia 5 | 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT

2018-04-28 22:03 UTC+2

€1,100 EPT National Down to Final Three After Amazing Rundown

KaleGozer

After former chipleader Michal Mrakes had bowed out in 5th place (€57,840), an amazing hand ran out to end Danilo Cangianiello's deep run in 4th place (€74,120). In his final hand, Cangianiello was all in for his last 7.5m in chips and Guillaume Diaz had looked him up.

Danilo Cangianiello:
Guillaume Diaz:

The packed French rail, by now en masse behind their countryman Diaz, yelled for an ace in unison. The dealer failed to oblige on the flop, but the landed on the turn to provide Diaz with one additional out.

"Cinq, cinq!", the French word for 'five', became the frantic new request from the rail.

As if scripted, the fell on the river and a massive cheer erupted from the Salle d'Etoiles. Diaz couldn't believe it, Abdullatif Attia, who has been laddering up with a short stack couldn't believe it either and both ran to their friends on the rail. Cangianello gracefully accepted his cruel fate and went off to the payout desk.

The stacks are now Diaz 25.2 million, Petruzzelli 16 million and Attia 3.8 million.

Tags: Danilo Cangianiello Federico Petruzzelli Guillaume Diaz Michal Mrakes

2018-04-28 21:14 UTC+2

€1,100 EPT National: Petruzzelli's Lead Crumbles as Diaz Rises

KaleGozer

Federico Petruzzelli came out of the dinner break holding a massive lead of more than 50% of the chips in play. However, in two hands most of those chips went to Guillaume Diaz, who is now the monster chipleader with five players remaining.

In the first hand, Petruzzelli opened on the button and Diaz three-bet shoved 26 big blinds from the big blind holding . Petruzzelli called with but was left basically drawing dead after the flop.

A couple of hands later, Diaz raised to 500,000 from under the gun, Petruzzelli three-bet to 1.8 million from the big blind and Diaz called. Petruzzelli kept firing with 1.5 million on the flop, 2.6 million on the turn, then the rest on the river. It was a dream scenario for Diaz, who simply had to call with his on each street to scoop up the monster pot.

Petruzzelli showed for a complete airball and dropped below 7 million in chips. Diaz rose to 22 million and is now the one with more than half the chips in play.

Tags: Federico Petruzzelli Guillaume Diaz

2018-04-28 20:38 UTC+2

€2,200 EPT National High Roller Final Table About to Start

KaleGozer

The nine remaining players in the €2,200 EPT National High Roller have returned to the Salle d'Etoiles in Le Sporting to kick off the final table. Smain Mamouni from France holds the overwhelming chip lead. Last year, Mamouni finished fourth in an 1K event in Monte Carlo, where he won €22,550, and needs to finish 7th or better this year to outperform on that.

Also at the final table is Italian high roller Dario Sammartino, who has slipped back to 700,000, Isabel Baltazar (970,000) and Alexandre Reard (525,000) also have a shot at the first place prize of €173,000. The blinds will resume in the level 20,000/40,000.

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Raffaele Carnevale	Italy	810,000	20
2	Isabel Baltazar	France	970,000	24
3	Christopher Chaudey	France	580,000	17
4	Honglin Jiang	New Zealand	535,000	15
5	Dario Sammartino	Italy	700,000	18
6	Smain Mamouni	France	2,525,000	63
7	Karim Abdelmoumene	France	1,210,000	30
8	Dmitry Shchepkin	Russia	1,390,000	35
9	Alexandre Reard	France	525,000	13

Payouts

Place	Prize (in €)
1	173,000
2	109,000
3	78,000
4	62,000
5	48,500
6	38,000
7	28,580
8	20,000
9	15,500

Tags: Alexandre Reard Christopher Chaudey Dario Sammartino Isabel Baltazar Smain Mamouni

2018-04-28 19:25 UTC+2

SHR: Ole Schemion Eliminated in 4th Place (€513,000)

will_shill

Moments after Christoph Vogelsang opened from the button to 200,000 with and folded to a jam from Sam Greenwood with , it was Greenwood opening from the button to 200,000 with .

Ole Schemion three-bet all in with the suited connectors for around two million, and Greenwood called. The board came and Schemion was sent to the rail. He takes home a cool half a million euro, and has immediately jumped into the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event.

Tags: Christoph Vogelsang Ole Schemion Sam Greenwood

2018-04-28 19:04 UTC+2

Randy "nanonoko" Lew Eliminated at €1,100 EPT National Final Table

KaleGozer

In the final hand before the dinner break, a massive clash between Michal Mrakes, Randy Lew and Danilo Cangianiello in the €1,100 EPT National resulted in the Team PokerStars Pro Online biting the dust in 7th place (€33,740). After Mrakes had opened to 450,000, Lew moved all in for 3,230,000 to his direct left. Danilo Cangianiello called all in from the small blind for 1,445,000 and action was back on Mrakes.

The Czech tournament crusher thought long and hard before reluctantly putting a large stack of T-100,000 chips in to put both players at risk.

Danilo Cangianiello:
Michal Mrakes:
Randy Lew:

The flop was and Cangianiello clapped his hands in excitement. Neither the on the turn nor on the river changed anything and Cangianiello tripled up. Mrakes dragged the big side pot from Lew and has 4,300,000, while Lew said his goodbyes.

There are six players remaining as the field goes on a 75-minute dinner break. Runaway chipleader is Federico Petruzzelli, who's been on a tear since the start. Petruzzelli eliminated both Sorin Sufragiu in 9th (€18,910) and Giuseppe La Guardia (8th - €24,620) and already has over 50% of the chips in play in front of him.

Dinner Break Counts

Seat	Name	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Abdullatif Attia	France	5,725,000	29
2	Michal Mrakes	Czech Republic	4,300,000	22
4	Abraham Passet	Germany	3,175,000	16
6	Federico Petruzzelli	Italy	22,025,000	111
8	Danilo Cangianiello	Italy	4,650,000	23
9	Guillaume Diaz	France	5,125,000	25

Tags: Federico Petruzzelli Michal Mrakes Randy Lew

2018-04-28 17:58 UTC+2

Players and Staff Enjoy Carnival-Themed PokerStars Party

mnuwwarah

A big PokerStars Live event isn't complete without a PokerStars players party, and the one for PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT went down Friday night. It turned out to be quite the show, complete with a carnival theme, and seemed to be enjoyed by all who made the trip to the gala.

Things kicked off early in the evening and players and staff — those who didn't have to work deep into the night, anyway — headed out to find a typical setup with a dance floor and an open bar, which everyone began to enjoy. There was also a food spread featuring appetizers, pasta and lamb among the entrees, and a table with numerous dessert choices.

But that's all fairly standard for a PokerStars party. What made this one unique was the spread of carnival games and performers around to liven things up.

Those looking to flex their athletic muscles could compete with either arms or legs. For the former, there was a classic "throw an object at a pyramid of cans" setup where competitors could win little plush prizes if they knocked over all the cans. For the latter, a carnival-style soccer goal had been erected, with players tasked to kick the ball through holes in the goal worth different point values.

Other attractions included the classic claw game, grabbing prizes from a bin, and a shooting gallery.

Perhaps nothing, however, proved more popular than the mechanical bull.

And then, there were the performers. A man on stilts sauntered about, spinning glowing sticks. Others piloted actual robots, wandering them on to the dance floor where they did anything but fit into the crowd.

Drinks were downed. Food was consumed. Dances ranging from the graceful to the drunk and sloppy were on display. PokerStars Team Pros Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov went at each other in air hockey so hard their knuckles were in mortal danger.

By the time things wrapped up around midnight, everyone seemed to be in agreement that PokerStars had put together a strong party, and it was on to after hours for the adventurous or bed for the faint of heart.

2018-04-28 17:52 UTC+2

€1,100 EPT National: Final Table Photos

KaleGozer

Photos by René Velli / PokerStars.

2018-04-28 17:44 UTC+2

SHR: Justin Bonomo Eliminated in 5th Place (€401,000)

mnuwwarah

After an extended period of five-handed play, Justin Bonomo was the next domino to fall at the final table of the €100K Super High Roller. It came in a cooler situation blind versus blind on the 87th hand in.

Bonomo completed the blind with and Ali Reza Fatehi checked with . The flop came , giving each player two pair. Bonomo bet the minimum, 60,000, and Fatehi just called. On the turn, Bonomo fired again, big, for 225,000. Fatehi shoved all in and Bonomo quickly called for 595,000 more.

"Oh, Jesus Christ," Bonomo whispered with a wince.

The American superstar needed a three but didn't find one as a fell. Bonomo collected €401,000 and registered for the Main Event, while Fatehi stacked up to about 3.6 million and the chip lead.

Tags: Justin Bonomo Ali Reza Fatehi

2018-04-28 16:54 UTC+2

€2,200 EPT National High Roller Down to Two Tables; Margets and Kiletto Bust

KaleGozer

With the bustouts of Leo Margets in 18th and Lily Kiletto in 17th place, the €2,200 EPT National High Roller is now down to its final two tables. Seating and chip counts are as follows:

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	1	Karim Abdelmoumene	France	470,000
1	2	Jeff Hakim	Lebanon	190,000
1	3	Christopher Chaudey	France	560,000
1	4	Mikhail Soltanov	Russia	300,000
1	5	Honglin Jiang	New Zealand	1,200,000
1	6	Smain Mamouni	France	950,000
1	7	Benjamin Saada	France	350,000
1	8	Alexandre Reard	France	670,000

2	1	Yin Liu	China	480,000
2	2	Dmitry Shchepkin	Russia	470,000
2	3	Massou Cohen	France	220,000
2	4	Dario Sammartino	Italy	1,700,000
2	5	Xiaojie Cheng	China	180,000
2	6	Isabel Baltazar	France	300,000
2	7	Matous Houzvicek	Czech Republic	350,000
2	8	Raffaele Carnevale	Italy	770,000

Payouts

Place	Prize (in €)
1	173,000
2	109,000
3	78,000
4	62,000
5	48,500
6	38,000
7	28,580
8	20,000
9	15,500
10-11	13,000
12-13	11,000
14-15	9,700
16	8,600

2018-04-28 16:23 UTC+2

Two-Time EPT Champion Coren-Mitchell in the Main Event Field

will_shill

We've seen Mark Teltscher, Steve O'Dwyer and John Juanda. All are former EPT champions in their own right, and they've been joined in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT field by another former champion, and this one is a special one.

Victoria Coren-Mitchell took down EPT 3 London for £500,000, and then followed it up with a history-making second title at EPT 10 San Remo for a further €476,100. She spoke to us briefly and explained how she was enjoying a break with her husband and child.

"We took the train to Paris and then drove down from there," she explained, "It's a fun holiday now, but it's expensive! By the time you are here you have to come third to make your money back."

Coren-Mitchell could have been excused for thinking that, after the introduction of the PokerStars Championship tournaments, that her feat of winning two EPT titles was secure in the annals of history. However, with EPT Sochi a month ago, the tournament is back on the European poker calendar.

Now that it's back, how would she feel if a former champion joined her in the two-time club?

"I would be very happy for them," she said jovially, "I think it would show that there are still people and players around in poker today who have been playing poker for long enough that it's possible."

Last year Coren-Mitchell cashed in the PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Main Event, and she's back for another EPT stop this year. Will we be seeing more of her at tournaments in the future?

"Maybe. I was going to go to Barcelona but then I went on a proper holiday instead. I'd definitely play a bit more if they had a big tournament in London. I'm thinking of organizing a big tournament in London. It's a case of if you want something done, then you have to do it yourself!"

Kenny Hallaert and Victoria Coren-Mitchell

Tags: Victoria Coren-Mitchell