If you’ve ever read anything about the European Poker Tour (EPT), chances are you’ve read about this whole two-time winner hoodoo. We’ve written about it so many times, the keys practically type themselves. In short: no one has ever won two EPTszzzzzzzzzz.

Wake up!

Thing is, a quick glance around the High Roller field in Monaco today goes some way to explaining why no one has ever done the main event double. Quite apart from picking up a second trophy, some of poker’s dyed-in-the-wall legends have never even won a first.

It’s really quite stunning. Here are a few of the players in the Salle des Etoiles this afternoon, with the number of EPT titles in brackets beside their names:

Erik Seidel (0), Will Reynolds (0), Tom Marchese (0), Isaac Haxton (0), Vanessa Selbst (0), Bryn Kenney (0), Sami Kelopuro (0), Scott Seiver (0), Chris Moorman (0), David Williams (0), Dan Shak (0), Lex Veldhuis (0), Sorel Mizzi (0), Ivan Demidov (0), Jonathan Duhamel (0), Mike Watson (0), William Thorson (0), Martin Kabrhel (0), Daniel Negreanu (0), Toni Judet (0), Jason Sommerville (0), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (0), Daniel Cates (0), Phil Ivey (0), Alex Gomes (0), Dan Smith (0), Eugene Katchalov (0), JP Kelly (0), Philipp Gruissem (0), Steve O’Dwyer (0), Tobias Reinkemeier (0), Viktor Blom (0), Justin Bonomo (0) and Faraz Jaka (0).

Vanessa Selbst: In good company

You get the picture – and if this little lot haven’t managed a single title between them, you can see why it’s so hard for anyone to get another.

Of course, there also are some former main event champions in the field: Mike McDonald, Christophe Benzimra, Max Lykov, Martin Finger, Mark Teltscher, Liv Boeree, Jason Mercier, Martin Schleich, Patrick Antonius and ElkY. And a significant number of them have already picked up High Roller titles too.

Kevin MacPhee

We’re not saying this lot aren’t celebrated. Far from it. But they seem to have about as much chance as you or I at becoming the first two-time champ.

*****

Tournament update:

At the end of the first level of play, there were 51 players on the entry list, of which 50 remained. At the end of the second level of play, there were 100 players on the entry list, of which 99 remained.

Now, even as we get close to the end of level three, the board shows 113 registrations and 112 still in.

But unfortunately this isn’t all as clear as it sounds. During this extended registration period, players have also been able to re-enter, once and once only. Govert Metaal, our first faller, did so. Ditto Daniel Negreanu. Tony Gregg busted and bought back; Kevin MacPhee busted but didn’t.

Viktor Blom busted and said he would be buying back but hasn’t yet. And doubtless in the coming hour a load more will be busting and maybe buying back, but maybe not. That number represents buy-ins, rather than actual people, and it’s impossible to keep up with it all at the moment.

So it’s as clear as mud, but hang in there and we will soon find out what is really going on.

Click here for live updates from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

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We expected a longer day when players returned to Le Sporting for the PokerStars Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final this afternoon and we got it, with a day of tense action stripping a field of 130 down to 26, two short of the 24 we’d intended, led tonight by chip leader Geert Jan Potijk who takes 1,320,000 and the advantage into the penultimate day.

As play reached 1am tournament directors decided that enough was enough and that play would finish at the end of the level rather than when two further players had been eliminated. It is the Grand Final after all and no one was in any rush to put their title hopes on the line. A longer day tomorrow perhaps but if today is anything to go by those watching will not be disappointed.

Geert Jan Potijk

The day started at the crack of just after noon.

Max Martinez had everything going for him back then, having out flanked everyone to snatch the lead the night before. He was quickly scuttled though by Geert Jan Potijk (Martinez would finish in 87th place) who assumed the lead and then stretched out his advantage first to 670,000 and then, after a middle of the day lull, even further. With 27 players left he scooped a three way pot against Justin Bonomo and Andrew Pantling to finish with the chip lead.

The new look feature table

Other leaders today included another Italian, Sergio Catellucio, who assumed the brief lead by virtue of Noah Boeken’s demise, and later by crippling Erik Seidel. While Castellucio finished strong with 944,000, Vadzim Markushevski was also beginning to set the pace, the first in the field to break the million mark. Yet, again, even he wouldn’t keep his lead, bagging up 922,000 at the close, although he’ll be another threat when players reconvene tomorrow.

Others took prominent roles during the seven levels of play.

Mohsin Charania, who would have been leader last night were it not for Martinez’s Houdini act, continued in the same fashion that kept him out front for most of yesterday. He started by busting Rupert Elder then scored a big double up against Andrew Pantling, closing on 875,000.

Mohsin Charania

Dominykas Karmazinas was also showing the form we’ve seen flashes of before. He was among the first to take his stack beyond 500,000, then more, before Markushevski took a quarter of a million chips from him. Karmazinas paid the price and does not return tomorrow.

Vadzim Markushevski

At times it looked like the wonderfully named Tudor Grangure was about to get late middle ages on their ass, moving into the lead before Potijk. But Grangure was to endure a swingy day, recovering from earlier setbacks in a big pot against Markushevski. He returns tomorrow with 828,000.

Tudor Grangure

Perhaps one of the stand out players of the day was Pratyush Buddiga. Only a week after he finished eighth in only his third EPT in Berlin, Buddiga patiently managed his stack during the drought, then rode a surf board through the flood, busting Chanracy Khun to move up to 700,000 before finishing on 970,000.

Pratyush Buddiga

Along the way it seemed like the majority of the big names found their way to the rail.

Annette Obrestad ran tens into kings to depart before the money while Pius Heinz also went to the rail (or the €2,000 side event at least) empty handed thanks to Dimitar Danchev. Johnny Lodden followed, losing out in a three-way pot with Jason Wheeler. Faraz Jaka also busted before the bubble, which was burst by Adam Levy after three simultaneous all-in hands left Martin Finger and Andrew Badecker sharing the money for 96th place.

Adam Levy gets the bubble treatment

A few days ago Justin Bonomo was tearing up the Super High Roller, winning €1,640,000 at the televised final. He was doing similar work in the main event (albeit for a first prize of slightly less) until his chances were quashed in a three-way hand with Potijk and Pantling that cost Pantling thousands and Bonomo his tournament life, all while setting up the Dutchman.

Justin Bonomo

A final word should be reserved for Lucille Cailly who as well as being the last lady standing is among the leaders at the close. Solid, stable, emotionally mature and focused, if Cailly keeps that up (and there’s no reason to think otherwise) she could be on course for her first EPT final, bagging up 999,000 tonight.

Lucille Cailly

The full run down of pay outs can be found alongside all the live coverage today and the official scores of the remaining 24 players, on the official live coverage page. Links to features and interviews from the day’s play can be found below:

130 to become 24 with bubble on the way

Day 3 seat draw

Karmazinas on the rise again, Pantaleo falling

All must have prizes, well most

Charania and Martinez off to slow starts

Poker Champ Neuville keeps swinging, Seidel dominant

Finger bursts bubble and pulls out of PoY race

Passing the bubble and the discomfort that involves

Toth almost has them right where he wants them

Buddiga looking to maintain Berlin form

Super High Roller Bonomo turns his attention to the main

The world beyond Le Sporting

Catching up with Karmakinas

Cailly mashing, tempers fraying, 27 remain

Coverage of Day 4 of the The PokerStars Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final continues tomorrow, when in the traditional way 24 players across three tables will be reduced to eight players on one. Play starts at 12 noon.

Monaco in the sunshine

Until then it’s goodnight from Monaco.

All photography &copy Neil Stoddart

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There is often an expectation that a high roller is going to be too busy to speak to you. They’ve probably got a yacht to burn, a Swiss bank manager to give a heart attack or a game of tennis to play with Boris Becker. I may be waiting to speak to Justin Bonomo at the break but there are probably others in line. He’s probably needed by the IMF to help fund the next bout of European bond buying, Christine Lagarde nervously biting her fingernails at the end of a conference call. The Euro can wait, damn it, the PokerStars Blog needs to talk to him.

At the table Bonomo is an intimidating presence. He sits tall in his chair, body angled forward, the fulcrum of action. If someone else opens a pot it’s because Bonomo has allowed them to do so. He’s the Chuck Norris of the tournament poker world, just without the beard or denim vests.

Bonomo heads-up for €1,640,000

Just a few days ago Bonomo was on the main stage tearing the biggest ever European buy-in tournament to shreds. The American took a six-to-one chip lead into the heads up on his way to winning the $1,640,000 first place prize, a haul which took Bonomo over the $5m live winnings mark and into 65th on the all-time money list. And that’s just his live tournament wins.

As it turns out, Bonomo is accommodating, thoughtful and softly spoken, not a belligerent blunderbuss blasting out self-referential platitudes. Bonomo’s been on the poker scene for some time, just not in Europe. Not for a long time anyway. You need to scroll all the way back to EPT Deauville, Season 1 to see his last EPT main event score. Brandon Schaefer took the title to claim the €144,000 first place prize and Bonomo came in fourth for €31,500, his second ever live cash. That teenager went on to tear the tournament world up scoring, if you include this week’s Super High Roller, ten six-figure paydays over the last seven years. Just not really here on the European Poker Tour.

“I’ve probably played between ten and twelve EPTs in my life. When I was 19 I travelled around Europe playing EPTs back in Season 1 and 2. I’m pretty old. Since then I’ve played very few EPTs,” said Bonomo, pausing briefly as a large man barrelled past us seemingly unaware that we were having a conversation.

Bonomo: the high roller in his natural habitat

Given his success this week in Europe, winning the Super High Roller and now going deep in the €5,000 main event, does Bonomo regret not spending more time on this side of the Atlantic?

“To be honest, the reason that I haven’t played that many is because they haven’t been enough big buy-ins to make it worthwhile. Now that they’ve changed the schedule and made it so that you can play a big buy-in event every single day, with a Super High Roller or two thrown in, it makes it so much more worth it to travel to Europe,” he said.

So you’re pretty much a shoe-in for next season then. Will we be seeing you in Barcelona in August?

“Absolutely. I’ve only seen the schedule for Barcelona so far but it’s definitely tempting enough that I’ll make it out for it and if the rest of the schedules are as good I’ll be playing all of them.”

That’s surely not great news for a lot of the other High Roller regs with Philip Gruissem, Tobias Reinkemeier and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier jumping to mind. Those last two, Reinkemeier and ElkY, finished second and third respectively in this week’s €100,000 event. Of the final six players (also Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius and Masa Kagawa) which was Bonomo hoping to avoid heads up?

After a lengthy pause, he said: “I think that out of all the players at the table Tobias was the best player. He was probably the toughest player that I could have played heads up.”

Bonomo faces down Reinkemeier

In that case, who do you think would have been the easiest opponent heads up?

“I don’t think that it’s really appropriate to answer that question,” said Bonomo.

Quite frankly, that’s the answer that I expected but I can’t be blamed for asked it. Moving swiftly on.

In the last level Bonomo asked a floor person whether his table would be next to break. He was told it would be the one after next. But did he want to know because he wanted to keep the table or to get away from it?

“It was neither really. I think it’s something that you should always be aware of especially when you have lot of short chip stacks at the table. You can be in charge of whether they bust or whether they chip up just a little bit. It’s nice to know if the calls that you make influence the table for a long time or short time.”

Most garden variety poker players wouldn’t think about that, but then again most poker players don’t bink €100,000 buy-in tournaments. That talent has taken Bonomo deep in this €10,000 main event where he’s already got €25,000 locked (barely enough to get out of bed for). He may be below average with 280,000 and at a table with Erik Seidel but let’s face it, with 46 players left you’d still expect him to make it to the final 24. He’s a prodigious poker talent.

Tournament snapshot
Level 20: blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 1,000
Players: 46 of 665
Average stack: 433,500
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

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Nestled in the foothills of the TV set is the second feature table. It’s got a small population, just seven players, and its mayor is Erik Seidel. The tall American has been dominating proceedings most of the last level, opening the most pots and winning the majority of those too. Those small victories have taken him from 355,000 back up to 380,000.

Annette Obrestad sits on Seidel’s left, a fearless short stack waiting to abuse any spot that comes her way. Action folds to her in the small blind? She jams it in Noah Boeken’s eye, he folds his big blind. Boeken min-raises to 8,000 under-the-gun? Guess what, she jams it in his eye again. Boeken looks up at the board. He passes again. Those pots take Obrestad up to 70,000, still short but with a little more ballast than before.

Seidel watches the proceedings with a calm, relaxed detachment while picking at a large bag of pistachios. The orphaned shells rest in a chip rack on a table by his feet. He’s been deep in so many big tournaments that this is second nature for Seidel. He looks one step away from pulling out a copy of the New York Times to scan through the business pages.

Erik Seidel, earlier in the tournament

In contrast Neuville is sat up right, a focussed game face hidden behind blue tinted glasses. Neuville sports the same red pullover that his cartoon avatar wears on the cover of his new board game, Poker Champ. The same yellow 23 is stitched high on the right of his jumper. Neuville does not have many chips left, it’s a far cry from the big stack he held on the EPT Copenhagen bubble.

Seidel opens yet again with 9,500 tipped across the line raising into Neuville’s big blind. Obrestad passes, Noah Boeken passes on the button but Neuville looks down to see something he likes. He moves his 32,500 stack in. Seidel grimaces and peeks down at his hand. He doesn’t look confident.

“I’ll give you action,” says Seidel and calls with [ah][8s]

Neuville is ahead with [ad][qh] but is far from a lock in the hand. He reaches down beneath the table to pick up a copy of Poker Champ.

Pierre Neuville, heading for his 12th cash

“You may win a game,” says Neuville turning on game show host charm.

The board runs out [2s][7h][6s][th][td] allowing Neuville to double to close to 70,000.

“You win it next time,” says Neuville.

“I’ve seen a lot of people messing around with that. I don’t really know what it is,” says Seidel peeking over the table.

That pot all but gifts Neuville his 12th EPT main event cash. We’re on the bubble and the Belgain Team PokerStars Pro is unlikely to get it in light with the money so close. Another break is upon us.

Tournament snapshot
Level 17: blinds 2,500-5,000, ante 400
Players: 97 of 655
Average stack: 205,500
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

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Don’t be fooled by the table numbers. They may stretch down to table number 26 but we only have 17 in play with 130 players left. It’s something to do with fixed table locations for the TV crews. For the players it won’t make any difference, they’ve got the same objective: to make it down to the last three tables in play.

Stay with us all day. It’s going to be a long one.

Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth

(Table, seat, name, chips)
1 1 Bruno Launais 121200
1 2 Pius Heinz 70600
1 3 Aubin Cazals 45400
1 4 Tristan Clemencon 198700
1 5 Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli 226000
1 6 Dimitar Danchev 92700
1 7 Kut Fu Chow 152400
1 8 David Sands 281800

2 1 Tibor Nagygyorgy 214400
2 2 Daniel Gomez 291800
2 3 Ignat Liviu 138700
2 4 Gaelle Baumann 120000
2 5 Leon Viellevoije 35900
2 6 Ziv Caspi 55600
2 7 Chanracy Khun 91000
2 8 Vasili Firsau 185300

3 1 Oleksandr Vaserfirer  20700
3 2 Andoni Larrabe Sánchez 147700
3 3 Patrick Renkers 92700
3 4 Hamad Almannai 185600
3 5 Christopher Brammer 267400
3 6 Roberto Menache 216800
3 7 Erich Kollmann 56100
3 8 Basil Yaiche 126400

4 1 Pavel Gonchakov 95700
4 2 Michael Telker 200000
4 3 Andrew Badecker 279200
4 4 Lucille Cailly 157800
4 5 Mikhail Petrov 69700
4 6 Maria Ho 44400
4 7 Mikhail Korotkikh 261300
4 8 Sandra Naujoks 127700

7 1 Geert-Jan Potijk 324600
7 2 Jonathan Karamalikis 158100
7 3 Dragan Kostic 72000
7 4 Javier Gil Candelas 32300
7 5 Marco Leonzio 93000
7 6 Georges Dib 124200
7 7 Max Martinez 456300
7 8 Ben Vinson 200800

8 1 Tudor Grangure 293900
8 2 Samantha Cohen 149700
8 3 Clayton Mozdzen 238800
8 4 Andrey Danilyuk 54500
8 5 Sergey Baburin 81300
8 6 Bryan Piccioli 187000
8 7 Philippe Narboni 33900
8 8 Juan Gonzalez Venzano 115200

9 1 Andrey Demidov 62200
9 2 Bernard Guigon 82900
9 3 Carlos Sanchez Vegas 107700
9 4 Amit Makhija 215900
9 5 Vadzim Kursevich 317800
9 6 Nicolas Chouity 138600
9 7 Alessio Isaia 173600
9 8 Rumen Nanev 43300

10 1 Faraz Jaka 140100
10 2 Maroun Jazzar 26400
10 3 Reza Mostafavi Tabatabaei 110000
10 4 Justin Bonomo 221900
10 5 John Andress 301200
10 6 Nacho Barbero 185000
10 7 Leo Margets 69500
10 8 Salvatore Bianco 86900

14 1 Ramon Romero 54900
14 2 Mohsin Charania 413500
14 4 Ilkin Amirov 126000
14 5 Jan Petersen 215500
14 6 Franck Blanc 83900
14 7 Andrew Pantling  193200
14 8 Vito Lonigro 154200

15 1 Guillaume Darcourt 274800
15 2 Andres Artinano 149100
15 3 Emin Aghayev 124300
15 5 Elliot Smith 188600
15 6 Mikael Azoulay 223200
15 7 Angel Guillen 63100
15 8 Ilan Boujenah 83000

16 1 Christopher Hunichen 200200
16 2 Frank Koopmann 276400
16 3 Jonathan Bensadoun 82000
16 4 Martin Finger 125200
16 5 Adam Levy 156700
16 6 Marc Zaicik 46100
16 8 Vadzim Markushevski 249800

17 1 Alain Goldberg 90700
17 2 Oleg Larichev 31100
17 3 Paul Testud 67400
17 4 Dominykas Karmazinas 238700
17 5 Giuseppe Pantaleo 294400
17 6 Ibrahim Ghassan 104400
17 7 Michael Dietrich 193500
17 8 Daniele Guidetti 142800

22 1 Erik Seidel 362200
22 2 Richard Toth 205800
22 3 Oleh Okhotskyi 67200
22 4 Noah Boeken  185200
22 6 Pierre Neuville 82500
22 7 Jesse Martin 104500
22 8 Philip Parsons 140900

23 2 Jason Wheeler 75000
23 3 Johnny Lodden 46200
23 4 Ibrahim Ghassan 138200
23 5 Adrian Schaap 227200
23 6 Rasmus Vogt 102200
23 7 Dmitry Grishin 175100
23 8 Lawrie Inman 303500

24 1 Stephen Chidwick 99600
24 3 Marcel Luske 48200
24 4 Maksim Kolosov 166700
24 5 Martin Vallo 136800
24 6 Yury Gulyy 77300
24 7 Sergio Castelluccio 211600
24 8 Santiago Nadal 267400

25 1 Annette Obrestad 130600
25 2 Joel Bez 45600
25 3 Igor Sharaskin 73500
25 4 Pratyush Buddiga 164500
25 5 Malte Moennig 98400
25 6 Bruno Fitoussi  245500
25 7 Anatoly Gurtovoy 339100
25 8 Andrea Benelli 199800

26 1 Griffin Benger 284100
26 2 Rupert Elder 196600
26 3 Matthias De Meulder 156700
26 4 Andrey Kuznetsov 35800
26 5 Fady Kamar 69700
26 6 Ghosn Fadi 128800
26 7 Dan Abouaf 234500
26 8 Clyde Tjauw Foe 98000

Tournament snapshot
Level 15: blinds 1,500-3,000, ante 400
Players: 186 of 665
Average stack: 107,500
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

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Six levels changed the shape of the PokerStars Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final today, as the remaining 394 players were ground down mercilessly in Europe’s biggest event, to a last 130, led by chip leader, Team PokerStars Pro Massimiliano Martinez.

Martinez took the lead at the very close of play, pulling off what some had noticed was a remarkable comeback. Yesterday the Italian had plummeted to just 10,000 after losing a vital flip against Vladimir Gehskenbein. Then, earlier today, he had his aces cracked by Fabrice Soulier. Undeterred he outflanked them all to grab the lead tonight, bagging up 456,300, succeeding where others had repeatedly failed.

Max Martinez

Nick Yunis has led a few times this season, each time though he has been unable to hold onto it, struggling with stage fright. Only Yunis will be able to explain it, and he pointed towards a mistake counting an opponent’s stack; but Monaco proved no less unforgiving for the talented Chilean who went from chip leader to the rail at the mid-way point.

The Italian rail in action

Vladimir Geshkenbein, who took the lead soon after Yunis gave it up, suffered a similar fate, although his self-confessed maniacal style might have had something to do with it. He also crashed out as the field began to thin.

As always the chip lead was proving a tricky token to hang on to.

Justin Bonomo, who started the week by winning the €100,000 Super High Roller, took it then lost it, although he managed to spend the day among the leaders. David Sands did the same, one of the first players past the 300,000 mark before Mohsin Charnia stretched that to 380,000 and then more, looking like the likely chip leader until Martinez turned on the heroics.

David “Doc” Sands

Mohsin Charnia

Joining him will be the remaining 130 or so players who will first face the task of breaching the bubble before securing a place in the penultimate day. They include the likes of Chris Brammer, Erik Seidel, Nacho Barbero, Richard Toth, Rupert Elder, Pius Heinz, Angel Guillen, Annette Obrestad, Nicolas Chouity, Martin Finger, Ilan Boujenah, Johnny Lodden, Faraz Jaka and Liv Boeree.

Liv Boeree

For many though, Season 8 of the European Poker Tour is already over. Gone today were Steve O’Dwyer, Barry Greenstein (C’est fini), Humberto Brenes, Isaac Baron, Ondrek Vinklarek, Chris Moneymaker, Phil Ivey, William Reynolds, Freddy Deeb, Tobias Reinkemeier, (breathe), Ana Marquez, John Eames, Chris Moorman, Dario Minieri, Toby Lewis, Daniel Negreanu, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Joe Cada, Fabrice Soulier, John O’Shea and Sam Trickett, the list goes on and on, and can be viewed here, as can the live coverage and chip counts from the day’s play.

Daniel Negreanu

The rest you can find in the articles published today, links to which can be found below…

Into Day 2 at Le Sporting

Day 2 seat draw

Your chip leader Nick Yunis

O’Shea seeks assistance from abroad

New look for TV table, same look for Obrestad

De Meulder and Mattern take on the media

So you want to be a high roller?

Northug and Hellner take their battle to the courts

Petersen on his EPT Berlin backroom analysis

Naujoks catching the eye

It takes us to Day 3, which begins tomorrow at 12 noon when the field will be reduced to just 24 players across three tables.

Monaco from Le Sporting

Until then, it’s goodnight from Monaco.

All photography &copy Neil Stoddart

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The Day 2 seat draw below shows that we have 394 players remaining from the 665 that started. Chip leader Nick Yunis, yes he of joint fourth place in the EPT Player of the Year race, sits on table 1 with the likes of Tony Gregg (double PCA final table finisher), Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin and EPT regular Manuel Bevand.

We’re slated to play six 75-minute levels today with a dinner break after the fourth level of the day. We suspect a seventh level may be played if we’re close to popping the money bubble. Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Daniel Negreanu will be grinding his 22,400 stack

(Table, seat, name, chips)
1 1 Hafiz Khan 71,500
1 2 Thomas Wahlroos 24,300
1 3 Nicola Bordignon 41,400
1 4 Tony Gregg 34,700
1 5 Nick Yunis  191,700
1 6 Michel Carvin 59,800
1 7 Manuel Bevand 16,300
1 8 Victor Ramdin 7,000
1 9 Vadzim Markushevski 49,500

2 1 Andrew Badecker 83,800
2 2 Beatrice Sitbon 17,100
2 3 Aneris Adomkevicius 46,100
2 4 Aage Ravn 57,200
2 5 Barry Greenstein 71,100
2 6 Christophe Benzimra 25,000
2 7 Claus Bek Nielsen 37,700
2 8 Lawrie Inman 100,800
2 9 Casey Kastle 10,600

3 1 Martin Wendt 53,600
3 2 Suat Uyanik 33,200
3 3 Craig McCorkell 8,500
3 4 Ole Schemion 64,400
3 5 Patrick Renkers 23,700
3 6 Thibaud Genegou 16,900
3 7 Nils Svensson 76,800
3 8 Levon Bouchikian 45,400
3 9 Andrew Pantling  91,500

4 1 Jose Manuel Nadal 69,800
4 2 Andrey Gulyy 59,100
4 3 Philippe Narboni 16,200
4 4 Ricky Tang 23,200
4 5 Andrey Bondar 29,900
4 6 Mats Gavatin 48,100
4 7 Santiago Nadal Sordo 85,600
4 8 Alessio Isaia 139,600
4 9 Stephane Albertini 38,000

5 1 Ermo Kosk 10,600
5 2 Ivan Kudriavtcev 186,200
5 3 Daniel Studer 50,100
5 4 Vito Lonigro 31,900
5 5 Phillippe Rouas 17,800
5 6 Jeffrey Gross 26,800
5 7 Nathan Schoo 65,100
5 8 Emin Aghayev 82,500
5 9 Mick Graydon 40,500

6 1 Daniel Di Pasquale 65,400
6 2 Stephen Reynolds 78,200
6 3 Fioroni Aroldo 11,500
6 4 Vojtech Ruzicka 43,400
6 5 Marc Colomé 34,800
6 6 Andrea Benelli 53,200
6 7 Xavier Detournel 25,800
6 8 Lothar Meier 19,100
6 9 Vladimir Geshkenbein 103,900

7 1 Bryn Kenney 30,600
7 2 Bruno Launais 77,500
7 3 Edward Teems 59,700
7 4 Tom Marchese 112,000
7 5 Sergiy Baranov 23,700
7 6 Clayton Mozdzen 40,700
7 7 Marat Begenov 10,500
7 8 Olivier Douce 48,600
7 9 Kevin MacPhee 16,800

8 1 Mikhail Korotkikh 61,300
8 2 Marc-Andre Ladouceur 101,300
8 3 Adrian Veghinas 84,600
8 4 Dieter Albrecht 42,100
8 5 Cristea Ionut 52,100
8 6 Alain Daien 24,200
8 7 Andrei Stoenescu 17,700
8 8 Evgeny Taranyuk 11,200
8 9 George Danzer 31,200

9 1 Ignat Liviu 36,700
9 2 Rade Jovanovski 16,000
9 3 Sandor Demjan 43,000
9 4 Sorel Mizzi 61,600
9 5 Oleh Okhotskyi 74,000
9 6 Steve O’Dwyer 101,600
9 7 Alexey Sudarikov 22,800
9 8 Ziv Caspi 27,600
9 9 Mikalai Pobal 51,800

10 1 Zoltan Szabo 35,400
10 2 Fowzi Baroukh 28,600
10 3 Lucien Cohen 21,900
10 4 Mickael Tribert 45,600
10 5 Alain Goldberg 74,700
10 6 Vanessa Selbst 54,900
10 7 Yulius Sepman 16,000
10 8 Aubin Cazals 93,500
10 9 Ville Wahlbeck 61,700

11 1 Kenny Hicks 40,000
11 2 Giuseppe Pantaleo 19,600
11 3 Marco Leonzio 58,800
11 4 Mesbah Guerfi 24,300
11 5 David Peters 67,400
11 6 Toby Lewis 12,500
11 7 Scott Seiver 99,800
11 8 Clyde Tjauw Foe 82,600
11 9 Javier Garcia 48,000

12 1 Idris Ambraisse 125,000
12 2 Ariel Mantel 48,200
12 3 John Eames 157,200
12 4 Geert-Jan Potijk 116,000
12 5 Martin Schleich 59,300
12 6 John O’Shea 39,900
12 7 Yury Kerzhapkin 23,600
12 8 Johnny Lodden 12,600
12 9 Tudor Grangure 30,400

13 1 Benoit Albiges 43,400
13 2 Rumen Nanev 51,300
13 3 Jeffrey Hakim 25,900
13 4 George Lind 35,900
13 5 Vanessa Rousso 17,000
13 6 Sam Trickett 65,800
13 7 Nacho Barbero 105,400
13 8 Juan Gonzalez Venzano 85,500
13 9 Griffin Benger 10,600

14 1 Daniele Guidetti 42,300
14 2 Gaelle Baumann 35,400
14 3 Francis-Nicolas Bouchard 26,200
14 4 Mike Carter 12,400
14 5 Basil Yaiche 54,300
14 6 Ramon Romero Lanz 63,300
14 7 Jesse Martin 93,500
14 8 Seamus Cahill 78,900
14 9 Samuel Chartier  18,400

15 1 Bruno Fitoussi  14,000
15 2 Jonathan Villeneuve 58,500
15 3 Jean-Noel Thorel 100,400
15 4 Yannick Del Curto 30,400
15 5 Ognjen Sekularac 47,900
15 6 Igor Malyshkov 20,200
15 7 JP Kelly 83,700
15 8 Sinel Anton 69,100
15 9 Nicolas Chouity 38,700

16 1 Jason Somerville 13,200
16 2 Dimitar Danchev 67,000
16 3 Roman Romanovsky 58,300
16 4 Andrey Zaichenko  42,000
16 5 Mikhail Petrov 19,550
16 6 Dragan Kostic 34,400
16 7 Michael Kolkowicz 93,600
16 8 Justin Bonomo 79,000
16 9 Vincenzo Andrea 26,400

17 1 Matthias De Meulder 23,900
17 2 Leon Viellevoije 30,900
17 3 Kyle Julius 16,600
17 4 Phil Ivey 72,000
17 5 Anton Ionel 7,200
17 6 Sebastian Veghinas 48,600
17 7 Martial Blangenwitsch 60,000
17 8 Andrey Demidov 104,400
17 9 Maksim Kolosov 40,700

18 1 Marc Zaicik 35,800
18 2 Timofey Kuznetsov 99,700
18 3 Humberto Brenes 77,700
18 4 Carlos Sanchez Vegas 53,600
18 5 Kut Fu Chow 27,600
18 6 Daniel Negreanu 22,400
18 7 Marcel Luske 63,200
18 8 Maxim Panyak 6,700
18 9 Elliot Smith 45,700

19 1 Vladislav Varlashin 20,700
19 2 Maria Ho 55,500
19 3 Adham Beainy 47,000
19 5 Maroun Jazzar 25,300
19 6 Walid Bou-Habib 85,700
19 7 Ben Warrington 104,800
19 8 Dermot Blain 66,000
19 9 Marco Falanga 34,300

20 1 Keven Stammen 46,800
20 2 Dmitry Grishin 81,300
20 3 Jose Carlos Garcia 12,100
20 4 Paul Testud 28,900
20 5 Spencer Hudson 57,900
20 6 Bolivar Palacios 65,600
20 7 Giacomo Maisto 23,200
20 8 Kunimaro Kojo 36,900
20 9 Dario Minieri 94,700

21 1 Yann Brosolo 18,200
21 2 Chanracy Khun 43,700
21 3 Andrey Kuznetsov 33,900
21 4 Zachary Clark 24,100
21 5 Michael Telker 60,900
21 6 Ole Nergard 80,500
21 7 Patrick Sacrispeyre 8,500
21 8 Jason Mercier 52,200
21 9 Mickey Petersen 98,800

22 1 Joackim Fissenko 24,000
22 2 Flavius Puica 54,400
22 3 Pavel Gonchakov 67,200
22 4 Christopher Hunichen 32,200
22 5 Annette Obrestad 82,400
22 6 Anatoly Gurtovoy 118,100
22 7 Joe Cada 17,000
22 8 Vincent Verdickt 4,700
22 9 Liv Boeree 44,900

23 1 Amit Makhija 32,000
23 2 Yury Gulyy 26,500
23 3 Joao Nunes 14,000
23 4 Sergey Baburin 21,400
23 5 Fabrice Soulier 73,300
23 6 Jonathan Karamalikis 89,600
23 7 Andrey Danilyuk 60,000
23 8 Terje Augdal 49,500
23 9 Jude Ainsworth 41,000

24 1 Malte Moennig 136,900
24 2 Rasmus Vogt 25,000
24 3 Marcus Hellner 17,800
24 4 William Thorson 31,000
24 5 Marius Pospiech 12,500
24 6 Cengiz Ulusu 114,300
24 7 Alexander Venovski 48,500
24 8 Isaac Baron 40,100
24 9 Pratyush Buddiga 69,900

25 1 Javier Gil Candelas 10,800
25 2 Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli 36,800
25 3 Martin Kabrhel 167,800
25 4 Richard Toth 52,900
25 5 Samir Moukawem 24,000
25 6 Bryan Piccioli 60,900
25 7 Oleksandr Vaserfirer  43,200
25 8 Robert Sova 17,400
25 9 Martin Finger 85,900

26 1 Ilan Boujenah 117,000
26 2 Noah Boeken  83,900
26 3 Erik Cajelais 45,300
26 4 Raphael Kroll 27,100
26 5 Chris Oliver 58,900
26 6 Darko Stojanovic 13,300
26 7 Tibor Nagygyorgy 19,900
26 8 Konstantin Tolokno 39,600
26 9 Andrey Pateychuk 67,800

27 1 Thomas Muhlocker 40,200
27 2 Mathew Frankland 81,500
27 3 Frank Koopmann 113,900
27 4 Andrea Dato 30,700
27 6 Ben Vinson 65,500
27 7 Pierre Neuville 51,100
27 8 Janos Molnar 16,700
27 9 Chris Moneymaker 24,000

28 1 Klimashin Nikolaevich 80,400
28 2 Habib Esses 12,600
28 3 Matt Perrins 95,100
28 4 Chao Fei Wang 44,700
28 5 Adria Balaguer 18,700
28 6 Fady Kamar 62,300
28 7 Martins Adeniya 24,900
28 8 Vadzim Kursevich 53,300
28 9 Anders Berg 31,800

29 1 Jason Wheeler 112,900
29 2 Erich Kollmann 12,300
29 3 Martin Staszko 26,600
29 4 Juha Lauttamus 35,700
29 5 Vladimir Troyanovski 86,700
29 6 Michael Watson 45,800
29 7 Mikhail Semin 59,000
29 8 Roberto Menache 68,200
29 9 Emile Petit 21,000

30 1 Andres Artinano 125,200
30 2 Jamie Rosen 9,100
30 3 Damien Rony 49,900
30 4 Paul Vas Nunes 21,700
30 5 Imad Derwiche 27,400
30 6 Vasili Firsau 87,300
30 7 Jonathan Azoulay 33,700
30 8 Adam Levy 66,800
30 9 Oleg Larichev 41,300

31 1 Thomas Dolezal 54,700
31 2 Kristian Lunardi 20,200
31 3 Lucille Cailly 63,500
31 4 Jonathan Ben Soussan 99,000
31 5 Paul Berende 82,100
31 6 Rupert Elder 36,100
31 7 Andrew Dean 14,300
31 8 Simeon Naydenov 28,200
31 9 Tony Viklund 46,000

32 1 Christopher Brammer 67,500
32 2 Igor Sharaskin 47,300
32 3 Ghosn Fadi 30,400
32 4 Mikhail Ustinov 58,000
32 5 David Vamplew 15,500
32 6 Franck Blanc 160,800
32 7 Dorde Jovanovic 40,000
32 8 Pedro Pellicer 21,400
32 9 Ana Marquez 85,200

33 1 Nikolay Losev 59,500
33 2 Michele D’Aniello 71,500
33 3 Michael Dietrich 88,600
33 4 Vadim Vadimovich Belov 22,100
33 5 Dan Shak 33,200
33 6 Jean-Philippe Piquette 15,110
33 7 Mikael Azoulay 41,200
33 8 Omar Jadaa 27,200
33 9 Stephen Chidwick 49,000

34 1 Tobias Reinkemeier 35,625
34 2 Eric Qu 51,600
34 3 Riu Cao 90,600
34 4 Jan Petersen 61,200
34 5 Daniel Gomez 41,800
34 6 Chady Merhej 75,300
34 7 Yngve Andersen 20,200
34 8 Giulio Mascolo 10,210
34 9 Tauras Narmontas 27,600

35 1 Salman Behbehani 41,400
35 2 Shane Sigsbee 52,300
35 3 Carlos Mironiuk 75,700
35 4 Philip Gurian 19,300
35 5 Samantha Cohen 93,500
35 6 Jorge Galino Lopez 5,100
35 7 Torsten Brinkmann 24,200
35 8 Emanoil Savin 60,700
35 9 Robert Shields 32,900

36 1 Oleksii Kovalchuk 65,600
36 2 Adrian Schaap 76,400
36 3 Erik Seidel 56,500
36 4 Hamad Almannai 91,400
36 5 Joao Ribeiro 29,600
36 6 Alexander Uskov 36,000
36 7 Talal Shakerchi 45,100
36 8 Viktor Ivanov 13,800
36 9 Amichai Tzvi Barer 22,900

37 1 Anton Thorarinsson 22,100
37 2 Bruno Lopes 57,600
37 3 William Reynolds 29,900
37 4 Jeffrey Rossiter 39,600
37 5 Pius Heinz 87,100
37 6 Thomas Gabriel 68,500
37 7 Tristan Clemencon 121,100
37 8 Marvin Rettenmaier 45,400
37 9 David Sonelin 12,200

38 1 Faraz Jaka 42,900
38 2 Salvatore Bianco 71,600
38 3 Martin Vallo 88,600
38 4 Kevin Vandersmissen 29,700
38 5 Michael Winkels 16,100
38 6 Angel Guillen 60,200
38 7 Viacheslav Goryachev 51,100
38 8 Ilkin Amirov 36,000
38 9 Toni Judet 22,500

39 1 John Andress 41,900
39 2 Marco Della Tommasina 60,200
39 3 Chris Moorman 19,100
39 4 Jorge Carlos Delgado 73,800
39 5 Joris Springael 11,600
39 6 Guillaume Darcourt 49,500
39 7 David Sands 160,300
39 8 Thomas Mjeldheim 34,600
39 9 Liutauras Armanavicius 25,500

40 1 Freddy Deeb 114,600
40 2 Ibrahim Ghassan 20,900
40 3 Daniel Reijmer 32,100
40 4 Antonino Venneri 15,000
40 5 Joel Bez 45,000
40 6 Georges Ghossan 53,500
40 7 Ondrej Vinklarek 83,200
40 8 Fatima Moreira de Melo 61,500
40 9 Philipp Gruissem 24,600

41 1 Isabelle Mercier 23,900
41 2 Jonathan Turner 40,200
41 3 Noshrevan Gadelia 1,000
41 4 Cristiano Guerra 31,400
41 5 Kenny Hallaert 61,300
41 6 Dan Abouaf 89,100
41 7 Alessandro De Michele 49,800
41 8 Jesus Esteve 75,200
41 9 Alain Roy 16,400

42 1 Anatoly Chen 26,200
42 2 Eduardo Borio Carlini 21,300
42 3 Philip Parsons 67,300
42 4 Georges Dib 96,300
42 5 Dori Yacoub 14,100
42 6 Oleg Bychkov 82,600
42 7 Sandra Naujoks 37,100
42 8 Leo Margets 55,100
42 9 Borge Dypvik 46,200

43 1 Dominykas Karmazinas 81,600
43 2 Bernard Guigon 57,300
43 3 Joep van den Bijgaart 13,400
43 4 Mohsin Charania 68,300
43 5 Reza Mostafavi Tabatabaei 110,900
43 6 Mathieu Clavet 30,100
43 7 Jose Angel Latorre 46,800
43 8 Jesus Cortes 23,500
43 9 Freddy Darakjian 39,900

44 1 Robert-Andrei Pescaru 27,600
44 2 Andoni Larrabe Sánchez 181,300
44 3 Max Martinez 63,400
44 4 Jason Gray 34,600
44 5 Melanie Weisner 15,900
44 6 Sergio Castelluccio 83,100
44 7 Sergey Kishnev 50,600
44 8 JC Alvarado 43,000
44 9 Antoine Saout 22,300

Tournament snapshot
Level 9: blinds 400-800, ante 100
Players: 394 of 665
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Tags: australia | Baltic Poker Festival | barry-greenstein | european | france | news | pius heinz | pokerstars macau | portugal | Tony G | victor-ramdin | videos

When you enter the final level of a Day 1B there’s always that creeping feeling the tournament is finally getting started. Thoughts of an overall Day 1 chip leader start to manifest, which is looking like Ilan Boujenah with around 190,000 in case you were wondering, and the disparity between those looking to take every edge and those that are simply hoping to make Day 2 really come to the fore.

McLean Karr sports a baseball-hunting cap fusion and sits a couple of seats to Boujenah’s right with around 100,000. Dutchman Paul Berende looks, quite frankly, somewhat bored with his arms crossed behind a stack not far from his 30,000 starting stack waiting for Theo Jorgensen to finish playing a hand.

McLean Karr doing his best Kein MacPhee impression

Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen

Dominik Nitsche, whose doppelganger was earlier spotted by Erik Seidel in Paris (you’ll have to check out either of their Twitter accounts), is bobbling along on around 75,000. PCA third-place finisher Faraz Jaka is up past the 100,000 mark and, as per usual, is wearing a delightful shirt (a kind of aquamarine paisley). Anton Wigg sits opposite Jaka with somewhat less chips, perhaps less than 25,000, but seems to be in the zone nonetheless, headphones on and head bobbing up and down.

The real Kevin MacPhee

These are all players that are here to win, most with major titles to back up that philosophy. But it doesn’t work for all. That peroxide wizard ElkY fell when his dominating ace failed to hold, Kevin MacPhee is short stacked with 10,000 and John O’Shea was also sent to the rail when his ace-king couldn’t connect against Nick Yunis’ pocket queens. Bagging and tagging will start shortly but there’s a palpable sense that this tournament could be a special one. Stay with us for a wrap of the day’s action and overnight chip counts. And while you’re at, log onto PokerStars to watch Viktor ‘Isildur1′ Blom take on Isaac ‘philivey2694′ Haxton in the SuperStar Showdown. Blom is ahead some $36,000 at the moment, but Haxton’s trying his best to pin him back.

Tags: 2011 | elky | european | events | news | philosophy | poker | sports | wbcoop

In a $100,000 buy-in tournament, there are few people who have anything to prove. When the PCA Super High Roller tournament kicked off yesterday, the field had a combined live earnings of more than $100 million. These are not men who need another tournament victory to mark their worth in the poker community.

Yet, among the final table players who earned their seats today, there isn’t one among them who hopes for anything less than the first place trophy. What’s more, a couple of them have recent runner-up finishes that they’d sooner have lower down on their resumes. That is to say, they have no monkeys on their back. They have no chips on their shoulder. They simply have an aching familiarity with winning that makes losing seem so foreign and distasteful.

And so, with 2011 PCA main event champion Galen Hall at the top of the heap of superstar high rollers tonight, the final eight are ready to come back tomorrow for a final table battle to the winner.

We expected a fast day today, and we got it. Under the television lights, it took just six hours to eliminate the requisite ten players. Now eight remain. Of those men, only five will walk out with cash for their efforts. Here’s a bit more about them (in the order of their starting stacks for the final table):

Galen Hall (1,748,000)–Hall, who has proven himself to be a great sprinter here at the 2012 PCA, is still basking in the glow of his 2011 PCA main event championship. What’s more, he turned one-time chip leader Isaac Haxton to dust in just a few hours. A friendly, young, smart multi-millionaire, Hall seems unfazed by his recent entry into poker’s elite. Now he’s got the chip lead and a head of steam.

Galen Hall

Jonathan Duhamel (1,336,000)–After a 2010 in which he won the WSOP Main Event, Duhamel probably knew 2011 wouldn’t be as good. He just didn’t know how bad it would end. As most people know, Duhamel was recently the victim of a home invasion during which he had tens of thousands of dollars, a Rolex, and his Main Event bracelet stolen. What’s more, he was the first person in this year’s High Roller to be eliminated. Thanks to PokerStars allowing re-entry, Duhamel bought in again. A min-cash tomorrow would earn him $50,000 for three days work. A championship? That might just make up for a bad few weeks.

Jonathan Duhamel

Daniel Negreanu (1,230,000)–The Team PokerStars Pro has some history with this event. It was only one year ago he made his way all the way to a heads-up battle with Eugene Katchalov, only to finish runner-up. As we wrote earlier today, that moment briefly launched Negreanu to the top of the all-time money winners list. Saturday, Negreanu will work to finish one spot higher than he did in 2011.

Daniel Negreanu

Viktor Blom (1,228,000)–Isildur1 may not have any big tournament cashes to his name, but his online cash play puts him among the elite. After his coming out party here at the 2011 PCA, Blom spent the year playing SuperStar Showdowns, crushing big time cash games, and working to improve his tournament game. A major finish here could be proof that he spent the past 12 months well.

Viktor Blom

Dan Shak (1,199,000)–Though Dan Shak’s last major cash was a runner-up finish at NAPT Mohegan Sun last year, he has experience in winning super-high buy-in events. In 2010 Shak won the Aussie Millions $100,000 buy-in event for $1.1 million. He’s been on the low end of the chip counts for most of the day, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t mount an effort tomorrow to put up his second $100,000 event championship.

Dan Shak

Scott Seiver (556,000)–With a final table at the $50,000 Players Championship at last year’s WSOP and a $1.6 million WPT title in 2011, Seiver is coming off a career year. In the prior 12 months, he put up nearly $2 million in winnings. A win tomorrow would make 2012 his second-best career year with 51 weeks remaining to work on making it his best ever.

Scott Seiver

Mike McDonald (360,000)–Since he was a teenager, Mike McDonald has been winning big events and wowing his peers. It happened as recently as last month when McDonald finished second at an EPT Prague side event for $150,896. If he managed to win tomorrow, it would be his second-biggest career finish after his $1.3 million EPT Dortmund win.

Mike McDonald

Humberto Brenes (343,000)–Though known widely as The Shark, Humberto Brenes doesn’t play the part of a whale very often. Nevertheless, this is his second straight year in the Super High Roller. Last year, Brenes took fifth in this event. It was good for $200,000. He’ll be looking to improve on that on Saturday in his second straight Super High Roller final table.

Humberto Brenes

Of course, to get to this point tonight, we were forced to say goodbye to several other heavyweights, including Chance Kornuth, Tom Marchese, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, ElkY, Jason Mercier, Will Molson, Erik Seidel, Doc Sands, Sam Stein, and Day 1 chip leader Isaac Haxton.

Tomorrow’s final table will, again, be worth nothing to the next three people eliminated. The five top finishers get this:

1. $1,254,400 + Shamballa Jewels bracelet
2. $846,700
3. $470,400
4. $313,600
5. $250,900

Though this low-key, high-dollar action has been fun to watch, tomorrow is when this all kicks off. The PCA main even begins on Saturday, a time when hundreds of people will sit down for their chance at millions. It’s once again time for PokerStars to prove the message behind their We Are Poker campaign. Alongside all that, in the coming days, people here at the PCA will have an opportunity to compete for freeroll seats, meet the Team Pros, and keep an eye on Team PokerStars Online’s Randy Lew setting a Guinness World Record.

Join us at noon ET for live updates, feature stories, interviews, and all the news that’s fit to print (and a little that’s not).

Until then, goodnight from Paradise Island.

All photos © Joe Giron / Joe Giron Photography

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | australia | events | isildur1 | italian | lapt | napt | SCOOP | Super Tuesday | world cup of poker

Plugging away at the Super High Roller rock face is Will Molson. The Canadian is among that group of players who seems to do the most damage when the stakes are ramped up high. The most obvious example came last year when Molson took down a dramatic (regular) High Roller, winning a first prize of $1,072,850, the biggest win of his career.

In contrast to now, that high roller 12 months ago, which had a mere $25,000 buy-in, took place in the shadow of the main stage where the Bounty Shootout, was playing under live broadcast quarantine, bringing the 2011 PCA to a close. It was literally a shadow, a great wall blocking off the Shootout from the outside world.

Will Molson in action today

With few spectators it was an event for purists, a slow trickle of railbirds gathered on the crash barrier surrounding the table, normally friends of the players, curious as to how their man was doing. Typically the line-up they’d dropped by to see was extraordinary.

Jason Mercier would leave the final in eighth, Matt Marafioti in seventh. After David Baker went in sixth place, Govert Metaal in fifth and Erik Seidel in fourth, the scene was set for a memorable finale, things growing suitably tense when Leo Fernandez declined the offer of a three-way deal with Molson and Max Lykov, whose reaction suggested he was not happy at losing out on extra cash. He did too, departing in a hurry and leaving Fernandez and Molson to it.

I said it was sparsely watched but there was one ever present figure on the rail, cheering on Molson, his father.

Molson senior never left the tournament room instead watching his son banish demons he knew were always bugging Molson junior. It had been Molson’s third attempt at PCA glory, having reached the final table of the same event for the two seasons prior, finishing as runner-up in both. Now that was just history.

The Molson’s celebrate

“Finally,” said a tired but relieved Molson. “No more second place.”

Fast forward to today and Molson remains in the running in this latest high roller, although his chip stack has remained towards the bottom end of the scale. Regardless, he plays on. And yes, that is Molson senior watching from the rail.

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | belgian poker series | events | latin-america | news | rio | stars-caribbean | tcoop | wcoop