16 Players Remain of Penultimate Day of the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event
At noon local time, cards will be back in the air for Day 5 of the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT €5,300 EPT Main Event. It's taken four days to whittle a field of 777 entries down to its last 16 hopefuls. Each of them is already guaranteed a slice of €31,700 of the €3,768,450 prize pool, but all eyes are locked on that first place prize of €712,000 and coveted EPT title that awaits the winner on Friday, May 4.
No fewer than three former EPT champions are still in the hunt to become a two-time EPT winner: Adrian Mateos, Patrik Antonius and Davidi Kitai. Mateos could even accomplish a rarer feat, as he won this very same event back in 2015. However, the biggest stack going into the penultimate day belongs to Tomas Jozonis. A set-fueled day on Day 4 vaulted Jozonis to the top of the leaderboard, where he sits alone with 4,075,000.
Jozonis is far from winning it outright, as he has to navigate his way through a stacked table containing the likes of Ole Schemion (2,630,000), the aforementioned Antonius (1,505,000) and Mateos (1,495,000), as well as Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari (960,000). Davor Lanini (900,000), Sadri Saleh (610,000) and Dan Abouaf (595,000) are the short stacks at the table.
The improbable run of qualifier Krisztian Gyorgyi is still going on, as the Hungarian sits in 5th place with 1,770,000. Gyorgyi has no previously recorded live cashes and qualified for this event for just €5 on PokerStars. Gyorgyi will take place at the other table and has to deal with the likes of Javier Fernandez (2,120,000), Honglin Jiang (1,890,000), David Peters (1,675,000), Stefan Huber (975,000), Kitai (825,00), Josip Simunic (690,000) and Nicolas Dumont (500,000).
There's a little over 5 minutes remaining in level 22 with blinds of 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000. Levels will be 90 minutes each for the remainder of the tournament and play will continue until 6 players are left, who will then return on Friday, May 4, to play for the title and the first place prize of €712,000.
Don't miss any of the action right here on PokerNews as we get one step closer to crowning the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event champion!
EPT Main Event Day 5 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Stefan Huber | Switzerland | 975,000 | 49 |
| 1 | 2 | David Peters | USA | 1,675,000 | 84 |
| 1 | 3 | Josip Simunic | Austria | 690,000 | 35 |
| 1 | 4 | Javier Fernandez | Spain | 2,120,000 | 106 |
| 1 | 5 | Krisztian Gyorgyi | Hungary | 1,770,000 | 89 |
| 1 | 6 | Davidi Kitai | Belgium | 825,000 | 41 |
| 1 | 7 | Nicolas Dumont | France | 500,000 | 25 |
| 1 | 8 | Honglin Jiang | New Zealand | 1,890,000 | 95 |
| 2 | 1 | Ole Schemion | Germany | 2,630,000 | 132 |
| 2 | 2 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | 960,000 | 48 |
| 2 | 3 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 1,495,000 | 75 |
| 2 | 4 | Tomas Jozonis | Lithuania | 4,075,000 | 204 |
| 2 | 5 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | 1,505,000 | 75 |
| 2 | 6 | Sadri Saleh | Canada | 610,000 | 31 |
| 2 | 7 | Davor Lanini | Italy | 900,000 | 45 |
| 2 | 8 | Dan Abouaf | France | 595,000 | 30 |
flop but neither the 
turn nor 
river was the queen he needed. Abouaf was left with just 5,000, half a small blind, literally a chip and a chair.
and Andre Akkari isolated with 
to get it heads-up. The flop was 
to pair up Abouaf, but after the 
turn and 
river Akkari's best hand preflop was best at showdown.
and Lanini checked. Schemion bet 130,000 and the Italian called.
turn, Lanini came out leading with a bet of 250,000. Schemion pondered for a short while before shoving and Lanini snap-called it off.
. Mateos shook hands with his tablemates and said his goodbyes in 13th place.
. The 
turn and the 
, Jozonis elected to call. Gyorgyi put on his hoodie before the flop fell 
