EPT13 Barcelona Main Event winner Sebastian Malec has been trending up for the past hour. In one of the hands, Malec entered a three-way pot from the blinds, then check-raised a 2,000 bet to 5,000 on a flop. Both opponents quickly folded their hands to move Malec up to 55,000.
Last year's EPT Grand Final runner-up Adrien Allain, who cashed an astonishing €577,800 for finishing second, saw a flop in the blinds against Mikita Badziakouski, who busted the €50,000 Single Day High-Roller earlier today.
After some preflop raising and reraising, the pot was already up to 12,000 with action on Badziakouski. On a flop, the Bulgarian bet 3,000 and Allain check-called quickly. Both players checked the on the turn and on the river.
Allain showed for the rivered king-high straight and Badziakouski mucked his hand.
Earlier today, Andreas Klatt lifted the trophy in the National Championship, one of the side events here in Monaco. Klatt outlasted 1,251 other players to claim a whopping €151,445, not too shabby compared to his original investment of €1,100.
Not satisfied yet, Klatt instantly jumped in the Main Event and ran his starting stack up to 80,000 within an hour.
We didn't see how it went down, but Patrik Antonius had in front of him in a battle of the blinds on a board of . An opponent in the big blind was exiting his seat as the dealer swept up his , and Antonius collected his stack, which looked to be around 30,000. From the sound of the chatter at the table, it seemed the money likely went in on the flop.
Remember, PokerStars and the World Poker Tour are teaming up to bring you the "MonteDam Swing," a joint promotion with four tournaments, two from each company, that will allow players to accumulate points for a leaderboard. At the conclusion of the four tournaments, players who score enough to place in the top five will earn special prizes:
Extra Prizes
Here are the four qualifying events:
Date
Event
April 26-30
€1,100 buy-in PokerStars National Championship Monte Carlo
April 29-May 5
€5,300 buy-in PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Main Event
May 5-8
€1,500 buy-in WPTDeepStacks Amsterdam
May 9-13
€3,300 buy-in WPT Amsterdam Main Event
The top five finishers will earn the following prizes:
Place
Prize
Worth
1
PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event package
€7,500
2
WPT Main Event* package
€6,000
3
WPTDeepStacks* package
€3,000
4
PokerStars National Championship Barcelona Buy-in + Barcelona hotel voucher
€1,100 + €500
5
WPTDeepStacks* Buy-in
€1,500
*WPT and WPTDeepStacks prizes only apply to events in Europe
To be eligible, players must cash at least once in each city. Players get five points for each event they play in and then 10 more points for each cash. Making the final 18 places earns still more points.
Additionally, those who play at least one event in each city receive a ticket for a $30,000 freeroll on PokerStars. Participation in both Main Events earns $300 in PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker buy-ins. Plus, anyone who cashes in the National Championship, PokerStars Championship Main Event, or WPTDS Amsterdam and then also cashes in the WPT Amsterdam Main Event wins a €1,000 bonus.
With the conclusion of the first eligible event, the WPT has released a leaderboard for the MonteDam Swing. You can view the full list here, but here's a look at the current top point scorers:
After an early raise to 1,300 and a call, Omar Lakhdari shoved all in for 11,600. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier cold-called in middle position and the other two players reluctantly folded their hands.
Omar Lakhdari:
Bertrand Grospellier:
No sweat for Grospellier on and Lakhdari was forced to the rail. The French Team PokerStars Pro sits at 72,000 near the dinner break.
Dutch Darts legend Raymond van Barneveld is at the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. He chats to Laura about his poker and the upcoming poker-darts challenge he is playing in.