From Hollink to Bendik; A Look at Past Winners of the EPT Grand Final Main Event
While European Poker Tour stops have come and gone over the years, one event has been a fixture nearly every year since the tour's incarnation back in 2004: the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. With the exception of Season 7, when the tour made a detour for Madrid, the EPT Grand Final has been held in Monte Carlo all other years.
With that in mind, we dove into the history of the storied event, including at the end a bonus peek at Raffaele Sorrentino's victory last year, which was achieved under the PokerStars Championship banner.
| Season | Year | Players | Champion | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2005 | 211 | Rob Hollink | Netherlands | €635,000 |
| 2 | 2006 | 298 | Jeff Williams | United States | €900,000 |
| 3 | 2007 | 706 | Gavin Griffin | United States | €1,825,010 |
| 4 | 2008 | 842 | Glen Chorny | Canada | €2,020,000 |
| 5 | 2009 | 935 | Pieter de Korver | Netherlands | €2,300,000 |
| 6 | 2010 | 848 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | €1,700,000 |
| 7 | 2011 | 686 | Ivan Freitez | Venezuela | €1,500,000 |
| 8 | 2012 | 665 | Mohsin Charania | USA | €1,350,000 |
| 9 | 2013 | 531 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | €1,224,000 |
| 10 | 2014 | 650 | Antonio Buonanno | Italy | €1,240,000 |
| 11 | 2015 | 564 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | €1,082,000 |
| 12 | 2016 | 1,098 | Jan Bendik | Slovakia | €961,800 |
| PSC | 2017 | 727 | Raffaele Sorrentino | Italy | €466,714 |
2005 - Winner: Rob Hollink (€635,000)
The first season of the EPT gave Dutch Poker Hall of Famer Rob Hollink his biggest win to this date. Hollink, still a very active player in 2018, defeated Brandon Schaefer heads-up to claim the first-place prize of €635,000, a prize that only grew bigger over the years. A total of 211 players put up the €10,000 buy-in and 27 of them finished in the money, with a young Eugene Katchalov and Gus Hansen among them.
Hollink, already a household name on the circuit back in 2005, has $3,540,620 in lifetime winnings and has won titles at nearly every major tour over his two-decade career.
2006 - Winner: Jeff Williams (€635,000)
The year after Hollink's inaugural win, the field grew to 298 and first-place prize money grew to a monstrous €900,000. After qualifying online under his alias "yellowsub86" at just 19 years of age, Jeff Williams burst on to the live poker scene with his first ever recorded cash. Needless to say, it was one of the biggest first-time cashes in poker history. Williams had another deep run at the EPT7 Grand Final, finishing in eighth place, and has racked up $2,201,607 over the course of his impressive career.
2007 - Winner: Gavin Griffin (€1,825,010)
With the poker boom in full swing and the EPT being a massive hit, the field in 2007 exploded to 706 entries. Eventual champion Gavin Griffin was one of the many qualifiers on PokerStars, parlaying his $240 satellite investment into a nearly €2 million first-place price.
It took 192 hands at the final table and 92 hands of heads up before Griffin could lift the trophy. In the final hand, with $800,000 in difference between first and second, the board read 4♦3♣2♠ and Griffin raise-called a shove from Marc Karam with K♦5♠. Karam held 7♠4♠ with nearly equal stacks and remained ahead after the 3♥ turn. The K♥ river, however, sealed it for Griffin. Interestingly enough, the Main Event victory remains Griffin's only cash outside of the U.S.
2008 - Winner: Glen Chorny (€2,020,000)
In 2008, records were shattered once again as 842 players forayed to Le Sporting Casino in Monte-Carlo, which pumped the winner's prize up to over €2 million. Glen Chorny from Canada was the one to receive this life-changing amount after conquering a final table that also contained Antonio Esfandiari and Luca Pagano. Although Chorny racked up a few more cashes after his astonishing win, only two of those came after 2009, with the latest in 2014.
Runner-up Denes Kalo's story is bittersweet, as the Hungarian also came second at the earlier EPT in Baden in the same season. Kalo noted just two more money finishes afterwards and hasn't recorded a cash since 2009.
2009 - Winner: Pieter de Korver (€2,320,000)
Pieter de Korver's monumental victory in 2009 still holds as one of the biggest Cinderella stories in poker of all time. After winning the Poker Champion of Holland series, a national freeroll sponsored by PokerStars, De Korver got invited to play several EPT's that season, culminating in a win in the biggest one of them all.
After being down to a mere two big blinds at the final table, De Korver tripled up and doubled up, then scored a huge double up with a flopped full house against chipleader Dag Marten Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen bluffed it off with king high and a gutshot and busted shortly after. De Korver won €2,320,000, which is to this date the biggest price ever awarded at the EPT Grand Final Main Event.
Below is the winner's interview PokerNews held with De Korver.
2010 - Winner: Nicolas Chouity (€1,700,000)
In one of the most lopsided final tables, Nicolas Chouity started the EPT 6 Grand Final Main Event final table with 40% of the chips in play and never relinquished the chip lead at any point. The Lebanese scored a career-high cash of €1,700,000 and has been a strong fixture on the circuit ever since. Chouity has amassed $3,301.977 in lifetime winnings, including a victory in an EPT 9 London £1,000 Side Event.
Chouity bested Josef Klinger heads-up, who has since been shy of the spotlights. Klinger, who walked away with a cool €1,000,000, added just one more tournament cash afterwards, back in 2015, and has moved on to different endeavours after this event. Andrew Chen (5th - €400,000) and Roger Hairabedian (7th - €200,000) also reached the final table.
2011 - Winner: Ivan Freitez (€1,500,000)
The EPT 7 Grand Final was held in the wake of Black Friday, although the ripple effects mostly didn't show yet as many Americans already qualified before April 15, 2011. This edition was the only one to be played outside of Monte Carlo, as the tour move to Madrid for one time only. It was Ivan Freitez from Venezuela who claimed the top prize of €1,500,000, becoming the first and only Venezuelan EPT winner.
While standard practice at every large poker tournament today, this was the first time an EPT final table featured live streaming with hole cards (on a two-hour delay), which became an instant hit.
The 2011 edition is notorious for an infamous hand between Freitez and Eugene Yanayt with 10 players remaining, in which Freitez was accused of angle shooting. Yanayt eventually busted in sixth place against Freitez with sixes against nines. Watch the video below to see all the controversy play out.
2012 - Winner: Mohsin Charania (€1,350,000)
In perhaps the first EPT Grand Final to really feel the effects of Black Friday — taking place shortly afterward, the 2011 event likely had plenty of American qualifiers — an online crusher from the U.S. wound up winning in 2012.
Mohsin "chicagocards1" Charania conquered a field of 665 as he got heads up with Lucille Cailly. The only other recognizable name at the final table was Italian reg Sergio Castelluccio, who got fourth for €400,000.
Cailly and Charania agreed to a deal that saw Charania lock up €1,150,000 and Cailly €100,000 less. They left €200,000 on the table for which to play, and that money was on the line in a hurry as Charania picked up queens and Cailly ace-king for a massive flip. The queens held unimproved and Charania took down the first of what would be a slew of major titles — he's since added two WPTs and a WSOP bracelet. It's still the biggest cash in a career that's spanned nearly $6 million in winnings.
Justin Bonomo, Amit Makhija, Jason Wheeler, Pratyush Buddiga and future WSOP Main Event final tablist Andoni Larrabe were among those who made runs to the final few tables in this one but came up just short.
Here's the PokerNews winner's interview with Charania:
2013 - Winner: Steve O'Dwyer (€1,224,000)
In some ways, 2013 EPT Grand Final was the birth of a superstar as Steve O'Dwyer rose from the ranks of merely great players to become of the players in the absolute top tier as far as live tournament results.
Backing up a bit, the 2013 EPT Grand Final drew a field of 531 and produced a legendary final table, to this day considered one of the best in EPT history. The final six featured Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody, Noah Schwartz, Andrew Pantling and O'Dwyer, to say nothing of Jason Mercier, Grant Levy and Freddy Deeb, who finished seventh through ninth, respectively.
O'Dwyer had come up grinding the American circuit but really burst onto the scene with a series of cashes in Europe, making two official EPT final tables and finishing seventh in another, including a second-place finish to Benny Spindler at EPT London. O'Dwyer also booked a win in WPT National Vienna and finished runner-up in WPT Venice.
The American transplant to Ireland had the lead going into the final table but had the shortest stack three-handed. However, he won a flip against Lodden and then busted him picking off a bluff shove to get heads up with Pantling. The Brit would get it in good after turning a flush against O'Dwyer's flopped trips, but O'Dwyer hit quads on the river for the first of five seven-figure scores in what's become a legendary tournament career.
2014 - Winner: Antonio Buonanno (€1,240,000)
The 2014 EPT Grand Final is remembered for one thing: one of the most incredibly drawn out final tables in major poker tour history, as a heads-up match between Antonio Buonanno and Jack Salter stretched out across about 10 hours and dragged into breakfast time the next day.
Buonanno made the final table against a group of young online qualifiers, but the 47-year-old Italian found an early double against Salter and made it to heads-up play against the top British pro, who had entered the final day as chip leader.
Discussions of a deal had begun three-handed between Salter, Buonanno and Malte Moennig, but Salter had a strong position with more than half of the chips in play and wouldn't give up any equity. Buonanno again tried to discuss a deal after busting Moennig, but nothing came to fruition.
Going into heads-up play with about 200 big blinds total in play, nobody could have imagined what followed. Salter and Buonanno battled back and forth across nearly 250 hands and about 10 hours. Salter had Buonanno on the brink, all in and at risk, a number of times, including needing to duck a three-outer once. He failed to get the cards to line up, though, and the match took so long the PokerNews reporting team had to wave the white flag and get to their planes, leaving the coverage in the hands of a remote editor watching the stream.
Finally, Buonanno turned the tables on Salter and finished the job, denying his younger foe a signature title in the exhausting match and leaving a pained Salter to wonder how his luck could have run so poorly in the series of all-in pots.
2015 - Winner: Adrian Mateos (€1,082,000)
Much like 2013, the year Steve O'Dwyer launched himself into the absolute upper echelon of tournament poker, the 2015 EPT Grand Final Main Event saw one of poker's biggest current stars Adrian Mateos firmly establishing his name by winning it all at just 19 years of age, ending Spain's 11-year EPT title drought in the process.
A massive setup on Day 5 proved pivotal on Mateos' road towards the championship. Holding pocket queens, Mateos was facing all ins from both Juan Martin Pastor and Christopher Frank, who held aces and kings, respectively. Indeed, you won't believe what happened next!
Despite winning big in the massive setup, Mateos still entered the final table as one of the shorter stacks. The Spaniard also faced tough opposition in the likes of Ole Schemion and Johnny Lodden. Mateos dispatched a short-stacked Schemion first, before successfully pulling off a gigantic bluff against Lodden to take on the other big name.
Soul crushed, Lodden busted not long after in fourth. After Hady El Asmer bowed out in third, Mateos was left with a 2-1 chip disadvantage against Muyedine Fares from Senegal. After a flopped two pair held up against top pair for piles, it was easy cruising after and Mateos secured the victory shortly after. It was the Spaniard's second seven-figure cash at just 19 years of age, after winning the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event earlier in 2013.
Still only 23, Mateos already holds three WSOP bracelets and the EPT Main Event title and boasts over $13 million in lifetime winnings, undoubtedly making him one of poker's biggest tournament stars of today.
2016 - Winner: Jan Bendik (€961,800)
For the first time in EPT Grand Final history, the buy-in got slashed; the €10K was shed and reduced to €5,300, in line with all other EPT events. As a result, the field saw a massive increase in contestants to 1,098, almost double compared to the previous year's 564.
Jan Bendik of Slovakia conquered the biggest ever field in Monaco and took home €961,800 in the process. Bendik's victory was a fitting conclusion to the season of the "reg," with all the titles going to already well-established and experienced players. A former EPT Player of the Year, the Slovakian got another crowning moment as he made his way to the biggest cash of his career.
The final table was dominated by the French, who held no less than four trump cards with Adrien Allain, Jimmy Guerrero, Pierre Calamusa and Antoine Saout. Bendik navigated the French minefield, eventually dispatching Allain heads-up after a closely fought contest. The final hand was one of the biggest coolers in EPT history: after Allain flopped a set of eights, Bendik turned a higher set of tens to dust off the Frenchman in cruel fashion.
PokerNews' Sarah Herring interviewed Bendik after his victory:
2017* - Winner: Raffaele Sorrentino (€466,714)
*under the PokerStars Championship brand
After PokerStars had opted to shelve the EPT for a year, it was Raffaele Sorrentino that showed his prowess on the new PokerStars Championship tour. While essentially the same event under a different banner, audiences disagreed and turnout dropped to 727 players. Sorrentino defeated an ultra-hot Andreas Klatt heads-up, who just got off a PokerStars National victory worth €151,445 days before.
It was one of the fastest heads-up matches in Monaco history due to a big cooler: Klatt got dealt pocket queens and ran those into Sorrentino's pocket aces to bust in second. Sorrentino nearly pulled off an incredible second win in Barcelona later that year, eventually finishing third to add another €850,110 to his lifetime winnings.
In the video below, Sorrentino speaks with PokerNews about his victory:
Who will join this exclusive club in 2018? Follow all the excitement on PokerNews as we bring complete coverage from the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event starting April 28, all the way down to the final table on Friday, May 4.
