Bonomo Wins PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT €25,000 Single Day
First, Justin Bonomo finished fifth in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT €100,000 Super High Roller for €401,000. Then he finished fourth in the €50,000 Single Day High Roller for €228,700. However, today he skipped places third and second and took down the €25,000 Single Day High Roller for €378,000.
"It feels great," said Bonomo shortly after clinching the victory. "There have been three High Rollers here in Monte Carlo and I've cashed everyone one, so I don't have a single complaint in the world. It's an incredible streak I've been on."
| Seat | Name | Country | Payout (€) | Payout ($)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Bonomo | United States | € 378,000 | $453,600 |
| 2 | Steve O’Dwyer | United States | € 273,200 | $327,840 |
| 3 | Erik Seidel | United States | € 174,100 | $208,920 |
| 4 | Timothy Adams | Canada | € 132,100 | $158,520 |
| 5 | Bryn Kenney | United States | € 102,000 | $122,400 |
| 6 | Igor Kurganov | Russian Federation | € 78,100 | $93,720 |
| 7 | Nicola Grieco | Italy | € 63,000 | $75,600 |
* Payout in $ via XE.com
Bonomo's streak has seen him win four High Roller tournaments this year alone, to go with his many achievements before that. To win his fourth he had to beat a tough opponent in Steve O'Dwyer heads-up, with O'Dwyer coming off the back of a Single Day High Roller win of his own in an earlier €25,000 event.
"It's smart to have a big blind ante, it's smart to have a shot clock. Players love it."
"[During heads-up] I just played with my game plan. Steve's a good enough player that I'm going to make very slight adjustments to the mistakes I think he's making, but overall he's playing very well so I'm not going to get too fancy when it comes to that."
The tournament featured the big blind ante as well as a 30-second shot clock, two things which are rapidly becoming the norm not just when it comes to High Roller tournaments, but in other tournaments as well, as seen in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. Bonomo thinks that these innovations are catching on has proven to be such a success in High Roller tournaments.
"I think what's happening is that there's this competition in the high stakes tournament world, with tournaments being forced to adjust depending on who the best operators are. And what the best are doing is catching on. It's smart to have a big blind ante, it's smart to have a shot clock. Players love it."
With another €25,000 High Roller getting underway tomorrow, this time a three-day event, how does Bonomo rank his chances of going four-from-four in cashing High Roller events here in Monaco?
"I'm going to try really hard," he said. "The chances are good. It's a re-entry and I'll be there with my A-game!"
From 50 to 1
50 players including 14 re-entries came together to form the €25,000 Single Day High Roller, with names such as Mustapha Kanit, John Juanda, Stephen Chidwick, and early chip leader Sylvain Loosli all in action. Bryn Kenney was also in contention for chip leader, and he lead the way by the time the tournament reached two tables, with Steve O'Dwyer not far behind him.
By the dinner break, Bonomo lead the final 10 players with only seven guaranteed a min-cash of €63,000. Soon after they returned, Erik Seidel busted two players in one hand two get the field down to eight, and Kenney dispatched Jan-Eric Schwippert with eights against ace-seven to burst what was a very quick bubble.
His third cash of the week takes Bonomo over €1,000,000 in cashes in Monte Carlo.
Igor Kurganov sent Nicola Grieco to the rail in 7th for a min-cash after his tens held against the Italian's ace-king, but Kurganov would go from eliminating a player to out himself after running ace-king into the kings of Bonomo. By this stage, Bonomo had almost half the chips in play, and he'd reach that mark with the elimination of Bryn Kenney in fifth after Bonomo rivered a flush.
Another river would send Timothy Adams to the rail in fourth. Adams bet the river with two-pair, and called off Bonomo's shove, only to see his opponent had rivered a straight. Incredibly, it was another river that sent Erik Seidel to the rail in third. Seidel bet the river with a pair of jacks, and called off his opponent's all-in, only for Bonomo to have rivered yet another straight.
Bonomo held a 2:1 chip lead going into heads-up and he'd extend it with some well-timed jams to frustrate Steve O'Dwyer. O'Dwyer did manage to double when his dominated queen-three flopped a pair of threes against the queen-jack of Bonomo.
However, there was no getting away from it when Bonomo three-bet all in with nines and O'Dwyer called it off with ace-jack. There wasn't going to be two wins in a week for O'Dwyer who would have to settle for second place; the €273,200 still enough to mean he overtakes Phil Hellmuth on the all-time US money list.
For Bonomo, his third cash of the week takes him over €1,000,000 in cashes here in Monte Carlo.
Photos by Neil Stoddart, PokerStars
