The Monte-Carlo EPT Super High Roller - a Clash of Cultures, Generations, and Poker Styles

The livestreamed #EPTGrandFinal €100,000 buy-in #SuperHighRoller in Monaco this year offered poker fans all over the world three days of fantastic entertainment, bringing together the top pros on the planet and a sizeable group of the mythical #Macao Big Game players. The mainstream stars busted early and in the end it was a match between the Asian group and the online kids (who are by no means new kids on the poker block).

The Super High Roller EPT albums with Neil Stoddard photos could be published without further editing as a “Who’s Who in Top of the Tops Poker”:

It was extremely interesting to observe the different styles of playing, of table manners and even dress and body language. And so refreshing not to see any hoodies or headphones, hardly any sunglasses and phones, and to actually hear the players laugh and talk, just like in the good old Full Tilt Poker TV days…

In fact there were three distinct groups at the Super High Roller event - the Macau players (@Paul Phua @Richard Yong @Lo Shing Fung, the older-generation stars (@Phil Ivey @Daniel Negreanu), and the twenty-something online wizards (@Daniel Colman @Daniel Cates). 

It was a little sad to see the best-known and possibly best-liked players of an older generation drop out first but the more exotic Asian group that made it to the final table offered a fascinating opportunity to compare two very different demographic sets of characteristics and behavior models at the poker table. It was a clash between the young guys and the old folks, between patiently betting on the probable and constantly daring the odds, between millionaires in hard-earned real cash and another type of millionaires with a more abstract idea of money as a points system. 

The 'kids' won by a landslide as Paul Phua, Richard Yong, and Lo Shing Fung left the final table one by one. The chop deal made immediately after the departure of the last Asian player reinforced the impression of a community of sorts, of shared identity, background, and attitudes. We will soon bring you another article taking a closer look at the profiles and similarities between the winner and runner-up in the 2014 EPT Super High Roller - Daniel Cates and Daniel Coleman. Meanwhile, here’s the strikingly similar chart of their live winnings:

Related reading on RankingHero:

The Macau Big Game

Macau Cash Game Stories and Pics by First-Hand Participants

Out of the Online Jungle - Daniel Cates Bursts Onto the Live Poker Scene