Day 2 Awaits, Who'll Make it to the Final Table?
In little over an hour's time, Day 2 of the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller will commence. A minimum of 44 players will return at 12:30 p.m. local time to battle it out for a seat at the final table. With registration open till 12:15 p.m. today, that number can only increase. Because of registration still being open, no table draw or prize pool has been announced yet, but it will be available shortly after the field is set.
A total of 64 entries were made on Day 1, with 52 unique players and 12 reentries. Three players are already in for €300,000, as Leon Tsoukernik, Mike McDonald, and defending champion Dan Colman all busted their first two bullets and bought right back in.
Igor Kurganov is leading with exactly 1 million in chips (166 big blinds). The Russian pro finished third in this event here last year, receiving €1,128,300 after a three-way deal with Daniel Cates and Daniel Colman. Reigning EPT Player of the Year Ole Schemion is close on his heels with an amassed stack of 930,000 (155 big blinds), and Erik Seidel is currently sitting in third with 857,000 (142 big blinds).
All three days of the Super High Roller are being broadcast on EPTLive, with the final on May 2 to be shown with cards up (subject to a one-hour security delay). You can watch the live stream right here on PokerNews.
The plan for the day is to play either 10 one-hour levels or down to a final table of eight, whichever comes first. The levels are structured as followed, with a 75-minute dinner break after Level 14:
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 |
| 10 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 |
| 20-minute break | |||
| 11 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 1,000 |
| 12 | 6,000 | 12,000 | 2,000 |
| 20-minute break | |||
| 13 | 8,000 | 16,000 | 2,000 |
| 14 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 3,000 |
| 75-minute break | (around 18:55) | ||
| 15 | 12,000 | 24,000 | 3,000 |
| 16 | 15,000 | 30,000 | 4,000 |
| 20-minute break | |||
| 17 | 20,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 |
| 18 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 5,000 |
This year's event has already broken the record set last year when a total of 62 entries were made. Who's going to succeed Bonomo, Altergott, and Colman? Or can one of the three go for a second title? All three of them entered yesterday, and just Altergott got eliminated, but he still has the chance to give it another try. Bonomo made it through with 683,000 (113 big blinds), and Colman bagged 248,000 (41 big blinds).
| Season | Year | Entries | (Uniques + Re Entries) | Prize Pool | Champion | 1st Place Prize | Runner Up | 2nd Place Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 2012 | 45 | (38 + 7) | €4,432,500 | Justin Bonomo | €1,640,000 | Tobias Reinkemeier | €1,064,000 |
| 9 | 2013 | 50 | (42 + 8) | €4,851,000 | Max Altergott | €1,746,400 | Jason Mercier | €1,115,700 |
| 10 | 2014 | 62 | (50 + 12) | €6,015,240 | Daniel Colman | €1,539,300 | Daniel Cates | €1,283,700 |
Who will succeed Bonomo, Altergott and Colman? Time to find out!
Check out the interview Remko Rinkema did with Tsoukernik about how he got his second bullet in the tournament for free. Spoiler alert: it involves a €100,000 heads-up match against Daniel Cates.