2014 PokerStars EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller Day 2: Kitai Leads Final Table
Day 2 of the 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final High Roller is in the books after another exciting day of action on Thursday, and leading the final table is Davidi Kitai. Kitai bagged 2.2 million chips, and his closest competitors are Byron Kaverman (1.813 million), Scott Seiver (1.553 million), and Philipp Gruissem (1.47 million).
Kaverman is fresh off of his runner-up finish in the WPT World Championship, where he earned $727,860 for finishing second to Keven Stammen.
Also reaching the final table were Stephen Chidwick, Chenxiang Miao, Pascal Lefrancois , John Juanda, and Martin Finger.
EPT Grand Final High Roller Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Byron Kaverman | 1,813,000 |
| 2 | Stephen Chidwick | 991,000 |
| 3 | Chenxiang Miao | 674,000 |
| 4 | Pascal Lefrancois | 596,000 |
| 5 | Davidi Kitai | 2,208,000 |
| 6 | Scott Seiver | 1,553,000 |
| 7 | John Juanda | 355,000 |
| 8 | Martin Finger | 1,047,000 |
| 9 | Philipp Gruissem | 1,470,000 |
Players had until the start of play on Day 2 to register or reenter. More than a couple used that option to increase the total amount of entries from 205 to 214. 104 players still had chips in front of them at the start of the second day. With 31 players in the money, that was the first horde to take.
The action started as expected with plenty of action. Take Griffin Benger, for example. He reentered the tournament with a fresh stack of 50,000, 25 big blinds at the time. The first hand of the day he got those chips in with pocket eights versus Finger's queens and that was it for Benger.
Benger didn't have to spent his time on the rail alone. Notable players like Justin Bonomo, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Erik Seidel joined him soon. Grospellier wouldn't be the only Team PokerStars Pro, Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier also failed to reach the money.
It only took a couple of levels for the tournament to reach the bubble period. There were several short stacks, but it was a bigger stack that eventually would go out first. Igor Yaroshevskyy was really unlucky as he lost with kings pre flop all in against Andrew Chen's queens. The queen on the flop meant he had to continue severely short stacked. The few chips he did have left he lost not much later to Kitai with eight-seven suited up against ace-nine.
As per usual, right after the bubble the short stacks had their chips in before you knew it. In some cases that meant a double up, in others it meant eliminations. Dutchman Govert Metaal was the first to depart in the money. He took home €46,150 after losing with sixes to Gruissem's queen-ten. David Peters, Adrian Mateos, JC Alvarado, and the last Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen followed not much later.
The next one to go was none other than Ole Schemion. For the third time this season he achieved the "EPT Triple Crown" (as we dubbed it), cashing in all the three big tournaments this festival. He kicked of the EPT Grand Final with a cash in the €100,000 reentry (7th for €265,000), continued his good run in the €10,000 Main Event (44th for €24,400) and cashed in 25th place in the €25,000 Single Reentry High Roller (€51,400). He did the same in Barcelona and the PCA this year, and cashed in several other EPT's as well, winning the Global Poker Index-sponsored PokerStars EPT Season 10 Player of the Year award.
With Schemion's exit in 25th, there were three tables left, all full of recognizable names. The initial plan for the day was to play 10 levels, or down to a final table of 8. In the end the organization decided to play an extra level. With 11 one-hour levels the tournament got down to 9 players. To get down from three full ring tables to one last table, a lot of big pots were to be played.
Start of day chip leader Benny Spindler found himself all in with queen-seven up against Lefrancois' ace-seven. Spindler, an EPT champion, didn't improve and headed for the exit in 18th (€63,000). Calvin Anderson could never recover from the blow by Kitai and left not much later in 15th (€77,600).
The tournament resumes Friday at noon local time, where the remaining nine players will battle it out for the €1,105,000 first place prize, the trophy and a stunning “Black and Rose Gold” watch from luxury Swiss brand SLYDE, the Official Watch Sponsor for EPT Season 10 Main Events and High Rollers.
Be sure to check the PokerNews Live Reporting Page for updates straight from this marquee final table.
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