It may have a new — and longer — name, but PokerStars' flagship European event is back.
It's time for PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® €5,300 Main Event to get going. Dating to the days when the event here was known as EPT Grand Final, this has always been a storied, prestigious tournament that brought out all of the best players from Europe, and often, the world.
Day 1a is set to get going with cards in the air at noon local time here in Monaco. The plan for Day 1a is to play through eight levels lasting 75 minutes apiece. There will be 20-minute breaks after every two levels, plus a 75-minute dinner break after Level 6. Players will start with stacks of 30,000 and blinds at 50/100, progressing to 400/800/100 by day's end. They cannot reenter if they are eliminated.
Day 1 Level Structure
Level
Duration
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
75 min
50
100
2
75 min
75
150
3
75 min
100
200
25
4
75 min
150
300
50
5
75 min
200
400
50
6
75 min
250
500
75
7
75 min
300
600
100
8
75 min
400
800
100
PokerStars has already been hosting it's former European Poker Tour here in Monaco and below you can find a chart with all previous winners at Le Sporting. The buy-in for the Main Event was lowered to €5,300 last year, and Jan Bendik defeated Adrien Allain heads-up to claim the title. Bendik has already notched up a score during this PokerStars Championship as well after finishing 223rd in the € 1,100 PokerStars National Championship.
Season
Year
Place
Players
Champion
Country
Prize
1
2005
Monaco
211
Rob Hollink
Netherlands
€635,000
2
2006
Monaco
298
Jeff Williams
United States
€900,000
3
2007
Monaco
706
Gavin Griffin
United States
€1,825,010
4
2008
Monaco
842
Glen Chorny
Canada
€2,020,000
5
2009
Monaco
935
Pieter de Korver
Netherlands
€2,300,000
6
2010
Monaco
848
Nicolas Chouity
Lebanon
€1,700,000
7
2011
Madrid
686
Ivan Freitez
Venezuela
€1,500,000
8
2012
Monaco
665
Mohsin Charania
United States
€1,350,000
9
2013
Monaco
531
Steve O'Dwyer
Ireland
€1,224,000
10
2014
Monaco
650
Antonio Buonanno
Italy
€1,240,000
11
2015
Monaco
564
Adrian Mateos
Spain
€1,082,000
12
2016
Monaco
1,098
Jan Bendik
Slovakia
€961,800
The PokerStars Championship has already crowned Christian Harder, Kenny Smaron and Elliot Smith as champions in 2017. Stay tuned to PokerNews throughout the next few days to see who will be next.
Orpen Kisacikoglu (here pictured in the Super High Roller earlier this festival)
The player in the hijack opened the action with a raise and Orpen Kisacikoglu on the button called. Big blind Stephen Chidwick squeezed to 1,250 and both the initial raiser and Kisacikoglu called.
With a flop of , Chidwick continued for 1,300. The hijack folded, Kisacikoglu raised to 3,900 after just a couple of seconds in the tank. Chidwick called.
As the hit the turn, Chidwick checked. Kisacikoglu bet a hefty 13,500 and Chidwick called.
The on the river saw both players check just about instantly and Chidwick revealed . Kisacikoglu tabled and took down the big pot.
The player under the gun opened for 250 and the hijack called before Fabrice Soulier in the cutoff squeezed to 1,175. Peter Vanco in the big blind called, and so did both players who had committed chips already.
All four of them checked on and the hit the turn. Vanco bet out 500 and the player under the gun folded, the hijack and Soulier called.
The river saw Vanco bet out 2,000. The hijack folded, Soulier called. Vanco tabled and Soulier mucked.
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Over at table 9, "Peter" Ping San Chan is drawing attention to himself. Not in the last place due to his massive watch, that even here in the Principality of Monaco is making heads turn. Let's just say it would cover the buy-in of an earlier tournament this week with ease.
Chan's taste for the ultra-rich doesn't only show in his accessories, he's also a fixture on the Super High Roller circuit in the east. In 2013, Chan finished 3rd in the HK$ 1,000,000 tournament, cashing 4,123,000 Hong Kong dollars (appr. $531,139 USD). Last year, Chan banked another HK$ 2,339,900 ($301,712 USD) by finishing 6th in the HK$ 500,000 Triton Super High Roller.
Today, Chan is already up to 80,000 after winning a decent-sized hand followed up with a sweet bluff. In the first hand. Chan held and bet 2,600 on a flop. Pavlos Karagiannidis check-raised to 5,500 and Chan called. Both players checked the on the turn. On the river, Karagiannidis check-called 6,000 but couldn't beat Chan's two pair.
An orbit later, the board read and Luigi Grisa bet 4,500. Chan raised to 12,000 and Grisa folded. The Hong Kong resident tabled with a smile for just six-high.
"You don't need a watch to know what time it is," laughed another player at the table as Chan raked in the pot.
Stephen Chidwick never recovered from losing a big pot early on and was just sent to the rail by Paul-Francois Tedeschi. It was the latter that opened to 550 at the end of the level and Chidwick called on the button, as did Romain Nardin in the big blind. On the flop, Nardin checked and Tedeschi made it 925 to go. Chidwick shoved for his last 6,400 and Nardin folded, Tedeschi quickly called.
Stephen Chidwick:
Paul-Francois Tedeschi:
Both the turn and river failed to improve either player and Tedescho won the pot with ace-high to eliminate Chidwick.
As we arrived, the action was already on the turn with Justin Bonomo betting 10,000 to put Neel Murthy all in. The board was and Bonomo acted out of early position. Murthy, who made the final table of the event in Dusk Till Dawn just 2 weeks ago, tanked for a bit and eventually called for his last 6,200 or so.
Player
Hand
Equity on
Justin Bonomo
50%
Neel Murthy
50%
With an open ended straight flush draw, the two eights and some counterfeit outs, Murthy had a lot of cards to root for.
The on the river, however, wasn't one of them. Murthy departed silently while Bonomo collected the chips.
Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody had to part with 90% of his stack after a massive clash with Vicente Delgado. With the board reading , Cody had checked to his adversary. Delgado went all in for 40,875 total, an overbet to the 35,000 pot.
Cody tanked for several minutes and eventually made the call with for just second pair. It was a brave hero-call from the Brit, but Delgado held for the turned set of fours to launch himself up the leaderboard. After the dust had settled, Cody was left with just 12 big blinds.
Celina Lin opened the action with a raise to 1,300. Denes Kalo called, before Francois Evard popped it to 5,000 on the button. Lin four-bet to 12,800, Kalo got out, Evard shoved around 45,000 and Lin called.
Celina Lin:
Francois Evard:
Lin was in great shape to take the almost 100k pot down and remained ahead after the board ran out . The Team PokerStars Pro launched herself to 115,000, Evard was eliminated.
Stefan Schillhabel, pictured at a different event.
We didn't catch the action, but a preflop raising war between Stefan Schillhabel (button) and Joshua Moore (small blind) wound up with the latter all in for 95,000 and called.
Schillhabel:
Moore:
It was a cooler in Schillhabel's favor, and the board ran out , leaving the aces best. Moore seemed none too worried about the nasty scenario he'd run into.
"Happens," he said with a smile. "Good luck, guys."
, Chidwick continued for 1,300. The hijack folded, Kisacikoglu raised to 3,900 after just a couple of seconds in the tank. Chidwick called.
hit the turn, Chidwick checked. Kisacikoglu bet a hefty 13,500 and Chidwick called.
on the river saw both players check just about instantly and Chidwick revealed 
. Kisacikoglu tabled 
and took down the big pot.
hit the turn. Vanco bet out 500 and the player under the gun folded, the hijack and Soulier called.
saw Vanco bet out 2,000. The hijack folded, Soulier called. Vanco tabled 
and Soulier mucked.
and bet 2,600 on a 
flop. Pavlos Karagiannidis check-raised to 5,500 and Chan called. Both players checked the 
and Luigi Grisa bet 4,500. Chan raised to 12,000 and Grisa folded. The Hong Kong resident tabled 
with a smile for just six-high.
river failed to improve either player and Tedescho won the pot with ace-high to eliminate Chidwick.
on the river, however, wasn't one of them. Murthy departed silently while Bonomo collected the chips.
for the turned set of fours to launch himself up the leaderboard. After the dust had settled, Cody was left with just 12 big blinds.
, leaving the aces best. Moore seemed none too worried about the nasty scenario he'd run into.
