Antonius Chases Second EPT Title, Peters and Schemion Still in Final 8
The final table of the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino €5,300 EPT Main Event is set and Nicolas Dumont leads the last eight hopefuls out of 777 entries into tomorrow's final table. While Dumont sits quite comfortable at the top of the leader board, it won't be an easy ride for the Frenchman as he faces tough competition for the Platinum Pass worth $30,000 and top prize of €712,000. All eight remaining finalists have locked up €68,300 for their efforts, but all eyes are set on the elusive trophy and the additional bragging rights that come with it.
Dumont bagged up 5,255,000, good enough for 52 big blinds upon restart of the final table. Second in chips is Tomas Jozonis with 3,800,000 and you can read up on the story of the Lithuanian here. Several other players are very close together in the overall chip counts with Honglin Jiang (2,985,000), EPT2 Baden champion Patrik Antonius (2,975,000), Javier Fernandez (2,750,000) and David Peters (2,400,000) all separated by a mere five big blinds.
PokerStars online qualifier Krisztian Gyorgyi, who started his journey in a €5 satellite, made it through with 1,940,000 and successfully pulled off a instant classic bluff with seven-deuce against Jozonis. You can read more about the Hungarian here, who will return with 1,940,000 in chips. Last but not least, German superstar Ole Schemion, who already finished 6th in the EPT Grand Final here in Monte-Carlo, rounds up the final table line-up with 1,160,000.
Main Event Final Table Seat Assignments
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Javier Fernandez | Spain | 2,750,000 | 27 |
| 2 | Tomas Jozonis | Lithuania | 3,800,000 | 38 |
| 3 | David Peters | United States | 2,400,000 | 24 |
| 4 | Krisztian Gyorgyi | Hungary | 1,940,000 | 19 |
| 5 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | 2,975,000 | 29 |
| 6 | Ole Schemion | Germany | 1,160,000 | 11 |
| 7 | Nicolas Dumont | France | 5,255,000 | 52 |
| 8 | Honglin Jiang | New Zealand | 2,985,000 | 29 |
Day 5 Action
Only 16 hopefuls returned to the tables and the first level of Day 5 brought plenty of action and four players were sent to the rail. Dan Abouaf was the first one to run out of chips, followed by PokerStars Team Pro Andre Akkari. The Brazilian four-bet for almost half of his stack with pocket queens and called off the shove of Patrik Antonius, who has never in any threat with pocket aces.
Next to exit was Davor Lanini and Adrian Mateos then fell in 13th place. The three-time WSOP bracelet winner had already won the EPT Main Event title right here at Le Sporting, but things didn't go as smoothly on the last two tables for the young Spaniard. Ultimately, Mateos got his last 20 big blinds in with pocket fives and Ole Schemion held the dominating pocket nines, an ace-high board provided no help whatsoever. The Spaniard jumped into the in promptu €25,500 High Roller after his Main Event exit and finished third.
Another former EPT champion failed to navigate his way to the unofficial final table, as Davidi Kitai busted on the TV table soon after Stefan Huber had been eliminated on the outer table. Kitai three-bet all in with king-queen and was called by Javier Fernandez with the inferior king-ten, but a ten on the flop was all it took to dispatch the Belgian. Josip Simunic missed out on the TV spotlight after his ace-jack found no help against PokerStars online qualifier Krisztian Gyorgyi.
Until the dinner break there were still nine players remaining and Ole Schemion was the dominating chip leader, but things all but changed after that. Patrik Antonius doubled through Schemion when flopping a set of fives versus pocket queens and things got even worse for the German, who now resides in Vienna, soon after.
Sadri Saleh had lost most of his chips in a move against Schemion and three-bet all in with pocket deuces out of the small blind right after. Nicolas Dumont in the big blind reshoved with pocket queens and Schemion called with pocket jacks. Dumont hit a set on the flop and suddenly Schemion was the second-shortest stack, while Saleh exited in 9th place. The Frenchman more than doubled into the chip lead and stayed in the top spot for the remainder of the night.
No further elimination took place within the final level of the night, as Tomas Jozonis survived his all in with ace-seven against the jack-nine of Javier Fernandez in a battle of the blinds, ensuring eight remaining hopefuls for the final day at Le Sporting. They will be back tomorrow on Friday, May 4, 2018, at noon local time for level 29 with blinds of 50,000/100,000 and a big blind ante of 100,000.
The live stream with hole cards displayed will run on a security delay of 30 minutes and the PokerNews live updates will be published accordingly. Tune back in then to find out who becomes the latest addition to the EPT Main Event champion's club.
Photos courtesy of Neil Stoddart, PokerStars
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