Antonio Buonanno Wins 2014 PokerStars EPT Grand Final Main Event After 18-Hour Final
It took over 300 hands, nearly 18 hours of play, and seven eliminations, but the 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €10,600 Main Event finally table finally came to a close. Capturing the title and the massive €1.24 million top prize was Italy's Antonio Buonanno — the only player at the final table not to qualify for the event online.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antonio Buonanno | €1,240,000 |
| 2 | Jack Salter | €765,000 |
| 3 | Malte Moennig | €547,000 |
| 4 | Mayu Roca | €419,000 |
| 5 | Magnus Karlsson | €332,000 |
| 6 | Sebastian von Toperczer | €258,300 |
| 7 | Kenny Hicks | €188,500 |
| 8 | Sebastian Bredthauer | €128,800 |
| 9 | Martins Seilis | €102,000 |
The final table started off similar to how Day 5 finished with Jack Salter dictating the majority of the action. However, the Englishman relinquished his chip lead early on when he went for an aggressive check-raise all in on the turn of a 4♥7♣10♥8♣ board with the A♣4♣ against Buonanno. The Italian made the call with the 8♠8♦ for a turned set and doubled up on the J♥ river. Mayu Roca became the chip leader as a result, while Buonanno was a comfortable second.
Salter began to make strides in repairing his stack when he eliminated Sebastian Bredthauer on the 10th hand of the final table. Salter picked up ace-king from the cutofff and Bredthauer, who qualified for the Grand Final for 100 FPP's and had never played a live tournament before, moved all in with ace-eight suited. Neither player spiked on a blank board and Bredthauer took home €128,800 as a result.
American Kenny Hicks was knocked out in seventh place in Hand #24 after losing a big flip, taking home €188,500, and then Sebastian von Toperczer finished in sixth place for €258,300.
At this point, Buonanno became much more active and turned the screw on Magnus Karlsson. The Swede had not got out of line during the final table, but he got into a raising war holding the 10♦6♥ against Buonanno's A♦4♣. The Italian ended up five-betting all in and won a big pot, then the very next hand saw Buonanno limp-reraise in the small blind with the A♦2♣ against Salter and then five-bet once more; Salter was holding the K♦K♥ this time and Buonanno was forced to fold instantly when Salter six-bet all in.
Magnus Karlsson moved in for just under 1.4 million during the 40,000/80,000/10,000 level holding the 3♠3♣ and Malte Moennig, who'd barely played a hand up until this point, reraised all in for around 1.6 million with the 8♠8♦. The action was passed to Roca in the big blind, he thought for a minute before calling with what was comfortably the best hand — the 9♥9♠. Moennig spiked an eight on the flop to eliminate Karlsson and double through Roca at the same time.
After an extended dinner break, Roca was knocked out in the first hand back, taking home €419,000 for his four-place finish. Then, the final three players took time to discuss a possible deal.
The discussions were protracted and lengthy, but they were unable to come to an agreement and play continued. As it turned out, three-handed play lasted just three hands.
Moennig opened to 205,000 preflop with the A♦5♦ before Buoanno made it 550,000 with the A♠K♦. Moennig moved all in for 3.3 million and was snap-called by Buonanno. The Italian won on a 2♥J♣9♥2♦8♦ board, leaving himself to face Salter in heads-up play.
This is where things went on, and on, and on, and on.
Several hours of heads-up play were played between the two, with back-and-forth swings of the chips into the early hours of the morning in Monaco. Eventually, though, it was Buonanno who came out on top.
After a failed float attempt followed by a long tank that resulted in a fold caused by the time clock running out on Salter, he was left at a 3-1 chip deficit to his Italian counterpart. Then, things were quickly over. On the final hand, Buonanno raised with the A♠4♥ and Salter shoved with the K♦7♦. Buonanno called and held as the board ran out a rather uneventful J♥9♠2♥Q♦3♠.
For his finish, Salter took home a very solid payday of €765,000.
For the victory, Buonanno scooped up the biggest title on Season 10 of the EPT, pocketing €1.24 million and putting another amazing season in the record books.
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