Daniel Colman Beats Dan Cates To Win EPT Grand Final Super High Roller for €1,539,300
The 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller kicked off the final stop of Season 10 in grand fashion, and now after three days of intense play a winner has emerged in Monaco. Daniel Colman, a 23-year-old from the United States who plays online under the name “mrGR33N13,” topped a field of 62 entries (50 unique, 12 reentries) to win the €1,539,300 first-place prize. Colman was the only player in the tournament to fire three bullets, mean he invested €300,000 into the event.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Colman | United States | €1,539,300* |
| 2 | Dan Cates | United States | €1,283,700* |
| 3 | Igor Kurganov | Russia | €1,128,300* |
| 4 | Richard Yong | China | €637,600 |
| 5 | Rono Lo | China | €493,340 |
| 6 | Paul Phua | Malaysia | €385,000 |
| 7 | Ole Schemion | Germany | €307,000 |
| 8 | Olivier Busquet | United States | €241,000 |
*Denotes three-handed deal
Leading up to the eight-handed final table, play was dominated by the group of Macau businessmen. On the flipside, Igor Kurganov snuck into the final table as the extreme short stack. Amazingly, Kurganov battled back and found himself with the chip lead after 68 hands.
On Hand #68, Olivier Busquet was crippled after running tens into the pocket rockets of Paul Phua. The World Poker Tour Alpha8 commentator was left with just two big blinds, and they went in the next hand. He managed to make a straight, but it was no good as Dan Cates wound up with a full house. Busquet took home €241,000 for his eighth-place finish.
In Level 19 (30,000/60,000/10,000), on Hand #72 of the final table, Colman, who relocated to Brazil after Black Friday in order to continue playing online poker, made it 125,000 from the button with the J♠J♥, and Ole Schemion, who is fresh off his EPT10 Sanremo High Roller win, three-bet to 335,000 from the big blind with the 9♣9♦. Colman shoved all in and Schemion made the call for his tournament life.
The J♣10♥Q♠ on the flop gave Colman a set, but Schemion picked up an open-ended straight draw. The 7♦ looked like something, but changed nothing. Schemion still needed an eight or king, but wouldn't get either as the 7♣ blanked on the river. Schemion, who qualified for the tournament by winning a €10,000 satellite, was eliminated in seventh place for €307,000. He’ll earn even more points on the EPT10 Player of the Year leaderboard, which he most assuredly will win when the festival in Monaco closes.
It took a while for the next elimination to occur. In fact, it didn’t happen until Hand #114 of the tournament when a short-stacked Phua got his chips in holding the 8♦7♦ against the A♣J♠ of Colman. The board ran out 10♣J♣4♥7♣K♦ and Phua was out in sixth place. From there, the start-of-the-day chip leader Rono Lo was felled in fifth place, and he was followed out the door by Richard Yong, who picked the worst possible spot to shove.
At that point, the final three players struck the following deal:
| Daniel Colman | €1,298,300 |
| Daniel Cates | €1,168,300 |
| Igor Kurganov | €1,128,300 |
That left €241,000 for the winner and €115,400 for the runner-up. One might think things would be over relatively quick after that, but it took another 46 hands before the next player would fall. It happened on Hand #179 when Colman moved all in from the small blind and Kurganov snap-called off for 1.715 million from the big blind. The blinds were quite big at this point, so it was no surprise to see them get it in.
Colman: Q♠8♦
Kurganov: A♣2♣
Kurganov got it in good and had a 58% chance of doubling on the hand, and that jumped to a 3-1 lead when the flop came down A♥Q♥10♥. The 9♣ turn gave Colman some more outs, and much to Kurganov's dismay the 8♠ river was one of them. Kurganov walked away with €1,128,300, which was a nice score considering he was the extreme short stack at the start of the day.
Cates began heads-up play with a sizable chip lead, but Colman managed to wrestle it away through patient play. It took 23 heads-up hands, then Colman, who is a WCOOP Heads-Up champion, was able to dispatch his opponent. In what would be the final hand, Cates moved all in with the Q♦10♣ and Colman, who looked down at the K♥6♥, asked for a count. Eventually, Colman called the 11-big-blind shove and seemed pleased to be a 58% favorite.
The 3♣9♦6♦ flop paired Colman's a six, but Cates was still drawing to the same outs. The 3♥ turn wasn't one of them, and he had six cards he could catch on the river to stay alive. The dealer burned one final time and put out the A♥, the last card of the 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller. Thanks to the deal, Cates took home €1,283,400 for his runner-up finish.
Congratulations to Daniel Colman, the 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller champion. In addition to his cash prize, Colman also receives a stunning bracelet worth €10,000 from Shamballa Jewels, official bracelet sponsor of EPT Season 10 super high roller events.
Here's a look back at the EPT Super High Roller champs from Season 10:
| Event | Buy-in | Entries | Unique Players | Reentries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPT Barcelona SHR | €50,000 | 51 | 40 | 11 | €2,448,765 | Vitaly Lunkin | €771,300 |
| EPT London SHR | £50,000 | 57 | 41 | 16 | £2,736,855 | Martin Finger | £821,000 |
| 2014 PCA SHR | $100,000 | 56 | 45 | 11 | $5,433,120 | Fabian Quoss | $1,629,940 |
| EPT10 Grand Final SHR | €100,000 | 62 | 50 | 12 | €6,015,240 | Daniel Colman | €1,539,300 |
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