PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller Day 2: Bonomo Leads
The final table of the PokerStars.com and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final €25,000 High Roller was set after the elimination of Phil Ivey in ninth place in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Monaco. The man who busted Ivey will be the chip leader heading into the final table and that is this week's superstar — Justin Bonomo.
When the day began, 45 big name pros with big pockets remained. The top 14 spots were set to be paid out, which meant a lot of players would go home empty handed. Some of them included Chris Moorman, Patrik Antonius, David "Doc" Sands and William Reynolds. Team PokerStars Pros David Williams, Viktor Blom and Liv Boeree were also eliminated on the day, but maybe the worst elimination belonged to Andrey Pateychuk, who was the stone bubble of the event.
Pateychuk was short stacked and all in of the J♠10♥6♠ flop with A♥A♣. He was up against none other than this week's golden boy, Bonomo, who held A♠2♠. The turn brought the 3♠ to leave Pateychuk drawing dead before the 7♥ could even land on the river.
After Pateychuk fell, Martin Finger, Haralabos Voulgaris, Andrew Badecker, Alexander Venovski and Alex Bilokur were all eliminated in the money before the final nine players all gathered at one table. Then, it was Ivey's turn to go, but not without getting his money in good and getting drawn out on.
On the last hand of the night, Bonomo took out Ivey by spiking a flush on the river against Ivey's top set. Action folded to Bonomo in the cutoff seat and he raised to 40,000 with the blinds at 10,000/20,000/3,000. Ivey was in the small blind and three-bet to 110,000 when play got over to him. Bonomo opted to flat-call and take a flop in position.
The flop came down K♦7♠5♠ and Ivey fired another 110,000 at the pot. Bonomo made the call and the dealer placed the 3♦ out on the turn. Ivey bet another 200,000 and this time Bonomo wanted to play for more. He raised all in and Ivey quickly called.
Ivey turned over K♦K♣ for top set of kings. Bonomo tabled K♠Q♠ for top pair and a flush draw. The river completed the board with the J♠ and gave Bonomo the winning flush, sending Ivey out the door in ninth place. For his efforts, Ivey took home €73,200, and Bonomo's run good at this year's EPT Grand Final continues.
Bonomo already had the chip lead, but will now lead the final table by nearly one million in chips thanks to that river spade. As if Bonomo hasn't done enough winning all week long, he'll be looking to pad his wallet a bit more.
Earlier this week, Bonomo won the €100,000 Super High Roller for €1.64 million. He then took 28th in the Main Event for €35,000 and has already locked up a minimum of €100,000 here in this event with a chance to make it a lot more. When Bonomo won the Super High Roller, things were in a similar scenario as Bonomo entered the final table with a massive chip lead on the rest of the field.
Joining Bonomo at the final table are two members of Team PokerStars Pro, Daniel Negreanu and Max Lykov. They'll return Tuesday with 660,000 and 271,000 in chips, respectively, and Lykov is the short stack returning to play.
€25,000 High Roller Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philipp Gruissem | Germany | 990,000 |
| 2 | Igor Kurganov | Germany | 1,288,000 |
| 3 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 660,000 |
| 4 | Justin Bonomo | USA | 2,202,000 |
| 5 | Max Lykov | Russia | 271,000 |
| 6 | Artem Litvinov | Russia | 331,000 |
| 7 | Noah Schwartz | USA | 522,000 |
| 8 | Nathan Schoo | Canada | 387,000 |
The cards will be in the air on Tuesday at 1200 CET (0300 PDT) and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to bring you all the action.
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