Salter Leads the Final Table of the 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final
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Day 5 of the 2014 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final was the shortest day of the tournament so far as the remaining 17 players were whittled down to the final eight in approximately five hours.
Britain's Jack Salter, who was recently the subject of a feature here on PokerNews, will be going into the final table as the chip leader with 5,170,000 after a remarkable turnaround over the past 48 hours after he came into Day 4 as one of the shortest stacks. Salter overtook Mayu Roca in the last hour or so of play thanks to his unrelenting aggression and frequent cold four-bets which no one else seemed to have an answer to.
Salter leads a table of six different nationalities. As well as Salter representing the UK and Roca being the hope of Colombia, there is also Magnus Karlsson of Sweden, Italy's Antonio Buonanno and Kenny Hicks from the USA. The trio of Sebastian von Toperczer, Malte Moennig and Sebastian Bredthauer will represent Germany, which has been arguably the most dominant country on the European Poker Tour this season.
Steven Silverman was the first player to be eliminated. He reraised all in with 
over the top of a Karlsson open only to find Roca sitting with 
behind him. A blank board and Silverman was walking to the rail. To make matters worse, registration for the €25,000 High Roller event, which Silverman won last year, had already closed meaning the American won't have a chance to defend his title.
After the redraw for two tables, Matias Ruzzi was quickly dispatched by Buonanno. Ruzzi's ace-queen having no answer for the Italian's kings. This was followed by the biggest pot of the tournament so far as on the feature table Roca five-bet all in with against Nikita Nikolaev and the Russian called with 
for a pot worth over 3 million chips. Nikolaev was eliminated after Roca managed to spike a third queen on the turn. Roca continued his tear, knocking out Nicholas Petrangelo next when the Colombian flopped a straight against Petrangelo's two pair and the latter was unable to improve.
Ivan Soshnikov, who won the EPT Prague High Roller event for €382,050 in December, was eliminated in 13th place. He suffered a cooler when he picked up 
and went to war against Vasili Firsau but the Belarussian held 
and promptly knocked him out. Mark Teltscher, the last remaining former EPT champion, was next out of the door. Shoving with a suited ace-deuce, he ran in von Toperczer's pair of sixes and was drawing dead when the German flopped a set.
Miroslav Alilovic, who a €25,000 contract for winning the French Poker Series Season 3 leader board had to be content with an 11th place finish. Alilovic was crippled when he doubled up Karlsson before having his queens cracked by von Toperczer's lowly eight-five offsuit.
Last year Firsau finished 10th at the EPT Grand Final winning €76,000. This year he finished 10th again for €83,200 – so if nothing else, at least the prize money increased. Firsau three-bet shoved over the top of a Salter raise with but Salter quickly called with 
and faded on a 
board.
This left the final nine players and it didn't take long for the first showdown. Martins Seilis was the man at risk with a dominating against Salter's . The 
gave Salter a flush draw while the 
on the turn gave him some split possibilities but it was the on the river that spelled doom for the Latvian and guaranteed Salter's position as the chip leader at the final table.
Tomorrow's final table is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time but sequestered to be shown on live stream with hole cards face-up from 2 p.m. The Pokernews Live Reporting will be following all the action from then as EPT Season 10 reaches it's thrilling conclusion. Until then, follow our updates from the €25,000 High Roller by clicking here.
| Seat | Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Hicks | 1,875,000 |
| 2 | Jack Salter | 5,170,000 |
| 3 | Sebastian Bredthauer | 755,000 |
| 4 | Mayu Roca | 4,625,000 |
| 5 | Magnus Karlsson | 2,595,000 |
| 6 | Malte Moennig | 1,150,000 |
| 7 | Antonio Buonanno | 2,065,000 |
| 8 | Sebastian von Toperczer | 1,240,000 |
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | €1,240,000 |
| 2nd | €765,000 |
| 3rd | €547,000 |
| 4th | €419,000 |
| 5th | €332,000 |
| 6th | €258,300 |
| 7th | €188,500 |
| 8th | €128,800 |
UK's Jack Salter started Day 4 of the Main Event 40 of 41 with only ten big blinds. With a bit of luck and some strategic planning he is now the chip leader with only 8 left. Jennifer Robles catches up with him after he bags up over 5 million chips.