EPT Grand Final Side Event Review: Dan Smith Wins Fourth €5,000 Event in Monaco

3 min read
Dan Smith

Last week, we took a look at the first batch of side events from the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final. At the time, there were nearly 30 non-satellite events from the 78-event schedule completed and winners such as Scott Seiver and Bryn Kenney highlighted the results page.

Now we'd like to wrap up the remainder of the events, which were once again highlighted by some big names taking home trophies.

First off, the three events with a buy-in of €5,000 were each won by notable faces. First, the €5,300 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed event that attracted 121 entries was won by German poker star Philipp Gruissem. Gruissem took home €147,700 and beat a stacked final table that included Sylvain Loosli (2nd - €99,800), Fabian Quoss (3rd - €64,800), Shyam Srinivasan (4th - €53,700), Joao Vieira (5th - €43,300), Mayu Roca (6th - €34,200), and Jason Mo (7th - €26,100).

Other notables tho cash in the event Gruissem won were Sorel Mizzi (10th - €12,000), Benjamin Pollak (13th - €10,500), and Nick Petrangelo (15th - €9,700).

In the €5,200 Hyper-Turbo No-Limit Hold'em, 82 entries were generated and none other than Dan Smith took top honors for €109,370. This marked the fourth €5,000 buy-in event that Smith has won at the EPT Grand Final in Monaco. In 2012, he famously won three €5,000 events within a week's time for a combined take of €521,480.

Notables to cash in the event Smith won were David Dayan (3rd - €50,900), winner of the earlier €5,200 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed event, [Removed:17] (4th - €39,170), and Salman Behbehani (9th - €11,335)

Lastly in the trip of €5,000 events on the second half of the schedule, Jason Koon scored a €21,830 victory after winning the €5,200 Turbo 8-Game 6-Handed event. Although only nine players were in the field, Koon had to defeat George Danzer (€13,100) in heads-up play and battle with Scott Clements, who finished third (€8,720). Koon joked that he only knew how to play two of the games entering the event, but said that both Danzer and Clements were kind to show him the ropes while they played.

This event marked the first live tournament cash for Koon in an event other than no-limit Texas hold'em. Welcome to mixed games, Mr. Koon.

Another event that drew a large top prize was the €3,250 Escalator No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed tournament. In that event, Italy's Rocco Palumbo topped the pack to win €71,850. He had to contend with a lot of top players in the money, with Daniel Dvoress (3rd - €33,000), Andras Nemeth (7th - €12,850), Simon Deadman (9th - €7,580), Fedor Holz (10th - €5,850), and Jake Cody (11th - €5,850) all going deep.

Lastly, the €10,200 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed event, which is always a favorite for top pros to close out the series, was topped by Ukraine's Igor Yaroshevsky. He pocketed €218,300 and defeated Connor Drinan heads up. Drinan took €155,190 for his second-place result.

Poland's 19-year-old poker genius Dzmitry Urbanovich took third for €101,600, Scott Seiver finished fourth for €78,190, and Martin Finger finished in seventh for €38,100. Ilkin Garibli (€29,770), Yan (€22,620), Ivan Luca (€19,850), and Behbehani (€19,850) all made the money in places 8-11.

Side Event Results

No.EventEntriesPrize PoolWinnerCountryFirst Prize
51€5,300 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed121€586,850Philipp GruissemGermany€147,700
52€550 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em92€44,620Marco FigucciaSlovenia€11,900
53€550 H.O.R.S.E.30€14,550George RankinUK€5,385
54€1,100 No-Limit Hold'em with Single Reentry167€192,060Jonas LauckGermany€37,312
56€220 Turbo Pot-Limit Omaha61€11,834Sergey KudryavtsevRussia€3,550
57€120 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em Second Best with Rebuys29€2,958Christian BergSweden€1,240
58€5,200 Hyper-Turbo No-Limit Hold'em82€397,700Dan SmithUSA€109,370
60€1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Deep Stack126€122,220Alexey PakRussia€30,750
61€25,500 High Roller with Single Reentry215€5,267,500Charlie CarrelUK€1,114,000
62€550 Pot-Limit H.O.R.S.E.19€9,215George RankinUK€3,870
63€1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed87€84,390Jerome ZerbibFrance€23,200
64€1,100 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed110€106,700Jason PritchardAustralia€27,470
65€330 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em93€27,063Hossein EnsanGermany€3,650
66€1,100 Hyper-Turbo No-Limit Hold'em "Win the Button!"122€57,340Lasse FrostDenmark€14,430
68€550 No-Limit Hold'em Deep Stack113€54,805Jean-Jacques ZeitounFrance€11,550
69€3,250 Escalator No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed93€270,630Rocco PalumboItaly€71,850
70€550 8-Game14€6,790Philippe BouhnikFrance€3,220
71€120 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em "All In or Fold"22€3,928Vasileios CharalampakisGreece€1,650
72€2,150 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em Bounty155€145,700Iacopo BrandiItaly€33,870
73€220 No-Limit Hold'em "Monaco Megastack"108€20,952Saied LegeTunisia€5,390
74€5,200 Turbo 8-Game 6-Handed9€43,650Jason KoonUSA€21,830
75€220 No-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo31€6,014Nicolas FraioliFrance€1,879
76€10,200 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed81€793,800Igor YaroshevskyUkraine€218,300
77€330 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em Main Event91€26,481Simon ApplebyScotland€7,030
78€2,150 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed108€209,520Luigi SerricchioItaly€39,460

For more information on the results from the side events, please click here.

*Lead photo courtesy of PokerStars.

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