After having played for over 13 hours on what was supposed to be the final day of the €2,200 FPS High Roller here at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®, seven players return to the final table here at the beautiful Sporting Monte-Carlo at 11 a.m. CEST.
With 1,234 entries collected over the two starting flights, a staggering prize pool of €2,369,280 was created. Each player has guaranteed themselves at least €63,610 for their efforts, but the eventual winner will be claiming the first-place prize of €406,670 and a pretty trophy to come with it.
Malaysia's Sim Kok Wai has the chip lead with 8,650,000 but is followed closely behind by Yiannis Liperis who is no stranger to deep runs in EPT events as he finished in fourth place at this EPT stop and in this exact same tournament.
They are the only two players who will return to the felt with more than 20 big blinds, as the rest will all be looking to build up their stacks quickly while Day 1b of the Main is slated to start at noon local time.
FPS High Roller Final Table
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Yiannis Liperis
Cyprus
7,850,000
26
2
Marco Regonaschi
Italy
4,800,000
16
3
Weiran Pu
China
5,175,000
17
4
Paolo Boi
Italy
2,000,000
7
5
Candido Cappiello
Italy
4,625,000
15
6
Walter Ripper
Brazil
3,900,000
13
7
Sim Kok Wai
Malaysia
8,650,000
29
When play resumes, they will resume with Level 34 with a small blind of 150,000, a big blind of 300,000, and a big blind ante of 300,000. The levels will remain 40 minutes long until only three players remain, and then they will be halved.
This is what they are all still competing for:
Place
Prize (EUR)
Prize (USD)
1
€406,670
$447,459
2
€254,350
$279,861
3
€181,680
$199,903
4
€139,750
$153,767
5
€107,500
$118,282
6
€82,690
$90,984
7
€63,610
$69,990
The PokerNews live reporting team will be there from the first pitch until the final river so make sure to follow along with all the action.
On the very first hand of the day, action folded to Yiannis Liperis in the cutoff. He opted to shove and both the button and small blind folded but Paolo Boi looked down at his cards in the big blind and took a few seconds before he decided to go all in for 1,700,000. Liperis called with the bigger stack.
Paolo Boi: 4♣4♦
Yiannis Liperis: A♥8♥
The flop came 8♦2♥10♠ for Liperis to hit the higher pair of eights and for Boi to get up from his seat.
The turn was the 10♦ which didn't change much and as the A♠ completed the board, Liperis improved his hand to complete the picture for Boi, who busted in seventh place for €63,610.
Walter Ripper shoved from the cutoff for 3,000,000 and Yiannis Liperis made the call from the small blind after checking out Marco Regonaschi's stack in the big blind. Regonaschi snap-folded to get out of the way.
Walter Ripper: A♦4♥
Yiannis Liperis: A♠9♠
The board ran out 6♣3♣8♣9♥10♠ for Liperis to stay ahead and even improve to a pair of nines on the turn to eliminate Ripper in sixth place for €82,690.
Yiannis Liperis shoved from the small blind and Weiran Pu made the call for his last 3,900,000 in the big blind.
Weiran Pu: K♥6♦
Yiannis Liperis: 3♠3♥
The board ran out 10♠2♠10♥2♥5♥ for two pair on the board but for the higher two pair for Liperis with his pocket treys to bust Pu in fourth place for €139,750.
At the end of this level, the level duration will be reduced to 20 minutes each as there are only three players left.
Yiannis Liperis shoved from the small blind, and Candido Cappiello made the call for his last 2,700,000.
Candido Cappiello: K♠2♦
Yiannis Liperis: A♣6♣
The flop came with the 6♥ in the window and the dealer then revealed the J♥ and 2♣ for both of them to hit a pair. The rail rallied around for another deuce but the rest of the board was completed with the J♦ and 4♦ to keep Liperis ahead to get the tournament to the heads-up stage. Cappiello was eliminated in third place for €181,680.
Sim Kok Wai shoved from the button for the 6,400,000 he had behind and Yiannis Liperis asked for a count. The dealer confirmed the 6,400,000 Wai held for Liperis to look up to the ceiling for a second before making the call.
Sim Kok Wai: Q♦2♠
Yiannis Liperis: 10♠9♠
They both got up from their seats to watch the dealer burn a card.
The flop came A♣7♦10♥ for Liperis to hit a pair of tens.
The turn was the J♣ for Wai to pick up a gutshot to a Broadway but the river completed the board with the 6♦ for the rail to cheer and Wai to walk over and shake Liperis' hand. Wai finished as the runner-up for €254,350 while Liperis walks way with €406,670.
Yiannis Liperis showed everyone what he is worth as he crushed the final table of the €2,200 FPS High Roller here at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. With seven players returning to the felt on the unanticipated third day of the event, he took care of all of them as he eliminated them one by one in a calm demeanor.
He defeated Sim Kok Wai heads-up, who started the day with a slight chip lead over Liperis, pipping him with two big blinds when they bagged last night on Day 2. Liperis retains the top spot in the Cyprus all-time money list on The Hendon Mob by increasing the gap between him and Peter Costa to almost a million dollars.
His previous biggest cash came when he finished in 13th place in the inaugural PokerStars Players Championship back in 2019 for $261,750 and finished in fourth place in this exact tournament in 2022 for €99,190.
With two starting flights taking place, the tournament attracted 1,234 entries to create a total prize pool of €2,369,280, with 182 players cashing on Day 2 for at least €3,340. This meant another record-breaking event for PokerStars, as it stood at 918 previously.
€2,200 FPS High Roller Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (EUR)
Prize (USD)
1
Yiannis Liperis
Cyprus
€406,670
$447,459
2
Sim Kok Wai
Malaysia
€254,350
$279,861
3
Candido Cappiello
Italy
€181,680
$199,903
4
Weiran Pu
China
€139,750
$153,767
5
Marco Regonaschi
Italy
€107,500
$118,282
6
Walter Ripper
Brazil
€82,690
$90,984
7
Paolo Boi
Italy
€63,610
$69,990
8
Enrico Camosci
Italy
€48,920
$53,827
9
Tom Orpaz
Israel
€37,630
$41,404
A Liperis Masterclass
Liperis was the most experienced player at the final table, and he proved his skills as he took out every player who turned up today to play the tournament down to a winner. In the first hand of the day, he shoved from the cutoff to put pressure on the rest, and Paolo Boi took the bait by making the call with his pocket fours. Liperis held the ace-eight, flopped a higher pair, turned two pair, and improved to an even higher two pair on the river to signal the start of his run.
Thirty minutes later, he called the shove of Walter Ripper with ace-nine and turned the pair of nines even though he was ahead anyways against Ripper's ace-four. On the next hand, his king-four bested the pocket sevens of Marco Regonaschi when he flopped two pair.
But it didn't all go his way as Weiran Pu managed to double up once through Liperis with pocket kings before giving some of his chips away to Candido Cappiello. He then lost another chunk to Liperis when he called on a very draw-heavy board and mucked when he saw Liperis had turned a straight. He lost his final ten big blinds to the Cypriot when his king-six couldn't beat the pocket treys of Liperis.
With three players left, the level duration was reduced to 20 minutes each. Wai had been pretty quiet up till then, slowly blinding down but doubled up through Liperis once and then through Cappiello to leave the latter short. Cappiello managed to double up through Liperis too but eventually lost it all to him anyways when his king-deuce failed to beat the ace-six of Liperis.
Liperis went into the heads-up match with a 4:1 chip lead and never really looked back. Wai doubled up for his last nine big blinds with the higher kicker but then lost a big part of his stack when he made the wrong call as Liperis showed a turned pair of nines.
He doubled one more with his last five big blinds with a flopped pair of fives. But unfortunately for him, in the final hand of the day, his shove with queen-deuce couldn't beat the suited ten-nine of Liperis, who flopped a pair of tens to the delight of his rail.
Several group pictures were taken with the gang before they all joined him for a small celebration and debrief before continuing their grinds in the other tournaments.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of this event but stick around to read all the exciting updates from the Main Event and Super High Roller.