Congrats to @Patnitrof & @PSMundfreude, who both backed @MarcAndre_FDawg on Monday and won EPT Grand Final packages! https://t.co/e20FkInpzQ
It's the same old story. You're desperate to play the EPT Grand Final in Monaco - the most prestigious event of its kind - but finding the time to win your seat in a satellite is often impossible. What you need is a solution that factors in the promise of high stakes poker with the obligations of normal life. Does such a solution exist? We think it does. It's called Spin & Go, and should take you from 0-to-Monaco in about nine minutes.
Nine minutes?
Well that's about the average time it takes to play our a Spin & Go. They cost as little as €10 and will send some players to Monaco with a package that includes your Main Event ticket, eight night's accommodation at the five star Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort (along with a guest), and travel expenses of $1,125 (€988) paid into your PokerStars account. All in, that's €9,000.
What's more you can start playing now, with our special Spin & Go's starting today at 10:00 ET and running until 11:59pm on April 10. All you do is register, watch the wheel spin and see what comes up. They start from €10, with an even greater chance of booking your trip to Monaco with buy-ins of up to €500.
Not bad for a trip to Monaco on April 29 all the way through to May 7, with some high stakes poker in one of games' premier venues, and all in nine minutes
It was another talent-rich field in this week's Super Tuesday, with a final table featuring several familiar names including the U.K.'s Erik "Popiedejopie" van den Berg, Hungary's Andras "probirs" Nemeth, and Norway's Johnny Lodden of Team PokerStars Pro. But ivanvilchez8 of Argentina began the final table with a sizable chip lead, and after scoring a big knockout on the first hand at the final table would hold the lead for the rest of the night to claim the win and a $92,910 first prize.
A total of 489 entered the $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament, creating a $489,000 prize pool that bested the event's $425K guarantee. They were about 10 minutes shy of the tournament's six-hour mark when the bubble burst, and with 63 players left none other than Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden had pushed way out in front with nearly 175,000, with Erik "Popiedejopie" van den Berg then the nearest challenger with just over 105,000.
About an hour-and-a-half later later were down to 18 players with Lodden having just surged back in front to retake the lead from van den Berg.
Jerry "Perrymejsen" Ödeen (18th), Robin "robinho" Ylitalo (17th), and Ahhh Is It? (16th) were the next players eliminated, each earning $3,912. Then thagrinda444 (15th), Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (14th), and gorgona66ret (13th) were knocked out, cashing for $4,890 apiece. Martin "martiniano07" Wagner (12th), Stanley "stanman420" Lee (11th), and BestRivenPS (10th) next went out, taking away $5,868 each from the prize pool.
With ivanvilchez8 already enjoying a big chip lead with nearly twice the stack of those closest in chips, the final table was underway.
Seat 1: saks80 (Lebanon) -- 164,000
Seat 2: V.bl0m (Malta) -- 298,374
Seat 3: ivanvilchez8 (Argentina) -- 628,880
Seat 4: rudisf (Poland) -- 81,926
Seat 5: Team PokerStars Pro Johnny "johnnylodden" Lodden (Norway) -- 329,885
Seat 6: davidas75 (Israel) -- 168,984
Seat 7: Timorm1 (Israel) -- 84,268
Seat 8: Andras "probirs" Nemeth (Hungary) -- 323,974
Seat 9: Erik "Popiedejopie" van den Berg (United Kingdom) -- 364,709
Erik "Popiedejopie" van den Berg began the final table firmly in the mix as one of the chase pack behind ivanvilchez8. But after one hand van den Berg suddenly found himself on the rail in ninth.
The blinds were 2,800/5,600 and van den Berg opened for 13,350 from middle position. It folded to leader ivanvilchez8 who three-bet to 39,200 from the hijack seat, then when the action got back to van den Berg he reraised back to 94,775 and ivanvilchez8 called.
The flop came [2c][3c][2d], prompting a bet of 56,125 from van den Berg. ivanvilchez8 responded with an all-in shove, and van den Berg called with the 213,109 he had behind, turning over [Ah][Ad] for aces and deuces. ivanvilchez8 had [Kc][Qc] for a flush draw, and while the [Qd] on the turn didn't complete it the [Tc] river did, knocking van den Berg out in ninth.
That pot boosted ivanvilchez8 just barely over 1 million chips, at the time more than three times what any of the others had in their stacks.
Just five hands later, a short-stacked rudisf was all in from the big blind after posting, with preflop raiser Timorm1 the only competitor. rudisf had [6s][3c] and Timorm1 [Kc][Qd], and the [Js][9h][4d][Ts][3d] added up to a straight for Timorm1 and an eighth-place finish for rudisf.
A little over a half-hour later -- on the last hand before the tournament's nine-hour break -- Timorm1 had become short-stacked after losing a hand to davidas75, and was soon all in for less than a big blind with [Jd][5d] versus ivanvilchez8's [Ac][9d]. The board came [Kc][3h][2c][5c][4h], giving Timorm1 a pair of fives on the turn but ivanvilchez8 a wheel on the river, thus knocking Timorm1 out in seventh.
The final six played on another half-hour with ivanvilchez8 maintaining a big lead. Then with the blinds up to 5,000/10,000, Andras "probirs" Nemeth opened for 22,500 from middle position, then saks80 three-bet all in for 201,078 from the next seat over. It folded back to Nemeth who called and turned over [As][Jc] while saks80 showed [7c][7h]. A [Jh][8c][Jd] flop then gave Nemeth trips and the [Ac] improved him further to a full house, making the river no matter and sending saks80 railward in sixth.
The final five all made it to the 10-hour break, with ivanvilchez8 still setting the pace with about 1.04 million, Andras "probirs" Nemeth the nearest challenger with about 523,000, Johnny Lodden and davidas75 both sitting just under 320,000, and V.bl0m fifth with almost 238,000.
About a half-hour more passed, then came a hand in which ivanvilchez8 -- still the leader -- open-pushed all in from the button and Johnny Lodden called with the 329,758 (just over 20 BBs) he had left after posting the small blind. ivanvilchez8 had [Td][8d] and Lodden [8s][8h], and after the [Kh][5d][Jd] flop Lodden was still in front. But the turn was the [2d] to complete a flush for ivanvilchez8, making the river [Tc] no matter and ending Lodden's run in fifth.
The remaining players made it through another couple of orbits, then it was davidas75 open-shoving all in from the button for 211,321 (just over 13 BBs), Andras "probirs" Nemeth reshoving for more from the small blind, and V.bl0m folded from the big blind.
Nemeth had [Ac][Kd] and the edge over davidas75's [Ad][Td]. The [Qs][Kh][8c][4c][Tc] board then gave both players pairs but Nemeth's was best, and davidas75 was out in fourth.
From there just 14 more hands would be played, with ivanvilchez8 winning 12 of them on the way to scoring the last two knockouts and earning the victory.
It was only a few minutes later that ivanvilchez8 open-raised all in from the button with [Kc][Jc] and V.bl0m called all in from the big blind for 348,445 (about 19 BBs) with [As][Jh]. The [6s][Ad][Kd] flop gave both players pairs, and the [7h] turn kept V.bl0m in the lead. But the river was the [Ks] to make trips for ivanvilchez8, and V.bl0m had been eliminated in
With that pot ivanvilchez8 had 2,065,729 versus the 379,271 of Andras "probirs" Nemeth to begin heads-up play, a better than 5-to-1 chip advantage. Over the next four hands ivanvilchez8 had chipped Nemeth down to just over 307,000 (about 17 BBs). Then Nemeth min-raised ot 36,000 from the button, ivanvilchez8 shoved all in, and Nemeth called to put those last chips at risk.
ivanvilchez8: [7s][7h]
probirs: [Qc][Tc]
Nemeth had a couple of live cards, but the [3d][9d][6c][3c][Kc] board didn't help him and he fell one spot shy of the win.
Congratulations to ivanvilchez8 for topping a big field and tough final table to win this week's Super Tuesday and a nice $91,910 first prize.
3/8/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 489
Prize pool: $489,000.00
Places paid: 63
1. ivanvilchez8 (Argentina) $92,910.00
2. Andras "probirs" Nemeth (Hungary) $68,460.00
3. V.bl0m (Malta) $50,122.50
4. davidas75 (Israel) $38,142.00
5. Team PokerStars Pro Johnny "johnnylodden" Lodden (Norway) $26,895.00
6. saks80 (Lebanon) $20,782.50
7. Timorm1 (Israel) $15,892.50
8. rudisf (Poland) $11,002.50
9. Erik "Popiedejopie" van den Berg (United Kingdom) $8,117.40
Mysterious poker player takes the EPT by storm and over the course of 15 months final tables High Rollers and Super High Rollers for fun before bagging first major European title early in 2016. No we're not talking about Dzmitry Urbanovich, but Ivan Luca.
Tonight in Rozvadov he added a Eureka title to the WSOP bracelet he won in 2015 and took his earnings for 2016 to almost $1,000,000.
The Argentinian entered the final table as chip leader and it was always going to take something, or someone special to stop him. By the time heads-up play began it was only his special someone who could deny him the title as he faced off against his girlfriend Maria Lampropoulos. She may not be as experienced as Luca in big buy-in tournaments but she can play, she can play very well as evidenced by her runner-up finish in a WPT National event in Brussels at the end of February.
When heads-up play began Luca had the chip lead but soon lost it. Then he made a straight to her top pair, top kicker to take a big lead. When Lampropoulos made a straight of her own it would prove to be her downfall as Luca had rivered a flush. He shoved, she called and after 90 minutes of back and forth it was all over.
It's impossible to go any further at this point without mentioning the part David Urban played in this final table. When three-handed play began at 4:20pm CET he had the chip lead. He didn't lose that lead until 8:15pm and barely put a foot wrong despite being up against the two Argentinian's. Forty minutes later he was out in third place for €54,800 and wondering what might have been.
It wasn't the money he was funking over though. "I really wanted to play Luca heads-up to play against a really top opponent," he told us. With an attitude like that we suspect we'll see more of Urban in the future.
The blow-by-blow account
There were eight players left when play got under way today and this is how they lined up.
FINAL TABLE SEAT DRAW | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Seat | Name | Country | Status | Chips |
1 | Mick Heder | Denmark | 1,370,000 | |
2 | David Urban | Slovakia | 2,005,000 | |
3 | Hannes Speiser | Austria | PokerStars player | 445,000 |
4 | Stoyan Stefanov | Bulgaria | 1,505,000 | |
5 | Maria Lampropoulos | Argentina | 2,455,000 | |
6 | Ivan Luca | Argentina | 5,355,000 | |
7 | Peter Siemund | Germany | 2,845,000 | |
8 | Robert Kokoska | Czech Republic | 895,000 |
Despite a couple of short-stacks I don't think anyone could have predicted the whirlwind start to proceedings as four players were eliminated in the opening 15 minutes. Hannes Speiser busted on the very first hand when he shoved [Kh][Qs] into Luca's [Ac][Jd].
Ace-jack didn't work out so well for Robert Kokoska as he ran into the pocket kings of Lampropoulos, to finish seventh. A few minutes later Mick Heder picked the wrong time to shove for 20 big blinds with [Kh][Jh] as Luca woke up with aces. When Stoyan Stefanov lost a race with pocket fives to the [As][Kc] of Urban we wondered if we might be done in record time.
In those opening 15 minutes Peter Siemund had earned €29,000 without playing a hand but his run would end in fourth place when he got very unlucky in a hand against Urban. The German flopped top pair and Urban - who'd three-bet out of position pre-flop - continued his aggression post-flop by setting Siemund all-in on the turn with just ace high and a gutshot straight draw. Siemund had seven outs to dodge then but an ace on the river sent him out in fourth.
So that left us with just three. For the vast majority of three-handed play Urban was in control. He had over 50% of the chips in play for large swathes of the four and a half hours it took to go from three to two. Play slowed dramatically at this point with only one all-in and call - which ended in a chop - before Urban's exit in third. He can be proud of his performance today and impressed everybody, not only in the way he played but in how he handled being up against Luca and Lampropoulos when play was three handed.
So that left us with the rare heads-up of boyfriend vs girlfriend. It took 90 minutes of play but eventually Luca's experience deep in big tournaments told and he prevailed to win a major title and add to his glowing reputation. As for Lampropoulos, she's having a breakout year of her own and has recorded her highest ever cash for the second time in a fortnight.
Eureka6 Rozvadov Main Event
Dates: March 4-8, 2016
Buy in: €1,100
Players: 682
Prize pool: €661,540
Place | Name | Country | Status | Payout | Deal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ivan Luca | Argentina | € 124,890 | € 106,186.00 | |
2 | Mraia Lampropoulos | Argentina | € 76,700 | € 95,404.00 | |
3 | David Urban | Slovakia | € 54,800 | ||
4 | Peter Siemund | Germany | € 41,500 | ||
5 | Stoyan Stefanov | Bulgaria | € 33,100 | ||
6 | Mick Heder | Denmark | € 25,340 | ||
7 | Robert Kokoska | Czech Republic | € 18,330 | ||
8 | Hannes Speiser | Austria | PokerStars player | € 12,500 |
All photos are copyright of Tomas Stacha
* CLICK HERE TO REFRESH THE LIVE UPDATES
* CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS
* 8 of 565 remain
* Click here for prize pool and payouts
* Want more tournament action? Check out live updates from Eureka6 Rozvadov
11:30pm: The final table awaits
565 started. Only eight remain. It's final table time here at LAPT9 Chile. Here's how our players stack up:
Final Table Seat | Name | Chip Count |
---|---|---|
1 | Fabian Chauriye | 1,004,000 |
2 | Richard Dubini | 2,174,000 |
3 | Aqviles Espinoza | 946,000 |
4 | Rodrigo Strong | 2,482,000 |
5 | Alex Vega | 1,427,000 |
6 | Roberly Felicio | 2,301,000 |
7 | Ricardo Matamala | 452,000 |
8 | Carlos Pohmasevic | 408,000 |
They're all chasing the first place prize of $141,785 - here's a look at how the total final payouts are structured:
Place | Name | Country | Status | Payout | Deal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | $141,785 | ||||
2 | $88,780 | ||||
3 | $63,560 | ||||
4 | $49,540 | ||||
5 | $38,860 | ||||
6 | $30,520 | ||||
7 | $22,780 | ||||
8 | $15,780 |
Play kicks off at 12pm Chile-time - don't go anywhere. --JS
PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at LAPT9 Chile: Will O'Connor and Jack Stanton. Photos by Carlos Monti. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog