€25,500 Single-Day High Roller Needs a Second Day to Finish; Boeree, Finger, and Teltscher Remain
EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree, EPT Prague winner Martin Finger and EPT London winner Mark Teltscher; those are the three survivors of the gruelling 16-hour day in the €25,000 high roller event. While this event was supposed to conclude in one day, play has been postponed until Thursday at 4:00 p.m. local time.
Finger comes into the final day of play with the chip lead, as he bagged up 7,640,000 versus the 3,860,000 of Team PokerStars Pro Boeree and the 3,700,000 of Teltscher. Here's the story of the day.
The play all throughout the tournament was fast and furious, and in the beginning stages all eyes were mostly on Barcelona F.C. stars Gerard Piqué and Team PokerStars Sports Star Neymar Jr. Pique and Neymar had a friendly rivalry going at the tables, and they were constantly checking up on each other in between hands.
Neymar got off to a rocky start, but then catapulted himself into the chip lead. Brazil's national team striker played an extremely aggressive and volatile style, which resulted in many swings. After a few hours however, his run was halted when he ran a flush into a higher flush. Neymar later Tweeted a photo saying that it was a great experience playing in his first big live event.
Piqué lasted a bit longer, but ultimately he fell short of the money as well. The tall defender went on to register the Main Event, but busted that as well, while Neymar tried his luck in the €2,000 turbo without success.
Right before the money bubble burst we lost online super stars Ben Tollerene and Fedor Holz, and on the bubble we saw Ivan Luca and Juha Helppi get knocked out in the same hand. The bottom payout was chopped up, and both gentleman received €21,600 for their efforts.
As the bubble had lasted for quite some time, the stacks were even shallower than expected, and in rapid succession we lost a bunch of players. These are the payouts of the players that busted before the final table.
| Place | Name | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Andrei Streltsou | Belarus | €72,600 |
| 11 | Anton Astapau | Belarus | €72,600 |
| 12 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | €63,300 |
| 13 | Farid Jattin | United States | €63,300 |
| 14 | Tobias Reinkemeier | Germany | €57,700 |
| 15 | Antonio Buonanno | Italy | €57,700 |
| 16 | Viacheslav Buldygin | Russia | €52,150 |
| 17 | Manuel Blaschke | Austria | €52,150 |
| 18 | Ankush Mandavia | United States | €46,900 |
| 19 | Brian Roberts | United States | €46,900 |
| 20 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | €46,900 |
| 21 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | €43,200 |
| 22 | Leo Fernandez | Argentina | €43,200 |
| 23 | Juha Helppi | Finland | €21,600 |
| 24 | Ivan Luca | Argentina | €21,600 |
Martin Finger started the final table as chip leader, and while there weren't many big blinds in play, it took more than an hour before the tournament lost the first player. Former EPT Tallinn winner Kevin Stani busted out in ninth place for €86,400 when his jacks fell short to Jeff Rossiter's ace-queen.
Italian pro Iacopo Brandi was the next one to go when his ace-eight of hearts was no match against Mike McDonald's pocket tens. Brandi collected €108,400, while Rossiter took home €147,500 being the next player to get knocked out. Rossiter busted with king-eight against Teltscher's ace-four of spades.
Finger then doubled through McDonald, leaving the latter with just two big blinds. At this point it was Isaac Haxton who re-shoved over Teltscher's raise, but he wasn't messing around. Teltscher woke up with pocket aces and busted Haxton who had queen-ten of clubs. Haxton took home €199,200 for his sixth place finish.
McDonald busted out right after this, and he collected €257,000 for finishing in fifth place. The eliminations followed each other up in rapid succession for a little while longer, as long-time Finnish pro Jani Sointula busted in fourth place. Sointula cashed for €320,300.
And then there were just three players remaining. The final three players played for an hour, but a winner would not be found. Boeree will play the Main Event tomorrow, while both Finger and Teltscher already busted on Day 1a.
PokerNews.com will be back with coverage of the Main Event at 12:00 p.m. local time, and the conclusion of the €25,000 high roller on Thursday at 4:00 p.m.