Zvi Stern Leads Last 12 in €25,750 High Roller
Day 2 of the 2016 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €25,750 High Roller finished with 12 players left in the field and Ofer Zvi Stern in the lead.
Before play on Day 2, another 11 entries were tallied, including four hopefuls that won entry to the tournament in last night's hyper-turbo satellite. With 231 entries in total, a new record attendance for this event was set and a prize pool of over €5.65 million was created. The top 31 spots are guaranteed at least €49,800, with €1.197 million awaiting the champion.
Among those that will be returning to the tables of the Salles des Etoiles were €100,000 Super High Roller champion Ole Schemion, Bryn Kenney, Igor Kurganov, John Juanda, Tobias Reinkemeier, and PokerStars team pros Jason Mercier and Liv Boeree. But unfortunately for those players, all of them joined the rail within the first hour.
Joining the rail as an eliminated player was Mike McDonald, who failed to earn any points for towards EPT Player of the Year and close the gap he's behind Steve O'Dwyer.
After six 60-minute levels, only 36 hopefuls headed to the dinner break with 2015 World Series of Poker November Nine member Ofer Zvi Stern in the lead.
After dinner, [Removed:17] shoved into Imad Derwiche with a busted straight and flush draw and the runner-up of this event last year called with a set of jacks to leave Yan with dust. Ben Heath lost a flip with ace-king to queens, and 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson could not get there with ace-nine versus Derwiche's pocket sevens.
Ami Barer was eventually crowned the "bubble boy" after taking a flip for his last 10 big blinds with the 
. Julian Stuer looked him up with the 
and hit the 
on the river to secure a payday for all remaining participants.
Going back to the aforementioned O'Dywer, he reached the money which meant that he added some distance between himself and McDonald as the current leader in the EPT Player of the Year race. O'Dwyer was the first one out once the money was reached, but he can't be feeling too bad with points and a cash to take away from it.
Also of note was the run of Niall Farrell, as he entered the day with the chip lead. Ultimately, Farrell busted in 20th place.
A man who is no stranger to poker success, Daniel Negreanu reached the last two tables and was eliminated in 15th place after three-way action with Alexandru Papazian and Stern. Papazian check-raised a 
flop with the 
and Negreanu then shoved with the 
. Stern out of the way, and Papazian called before he went on to hit the 
on the turn to bust "Kid Poker."
Julian Stuer and Byron Kaverman were eliminated in the last level of the night and 12 players bagged up chips. Stern was in the lead after claiming 1.638 million, and we was followed by Max Silver on 1.342 million. Alexandros "mexican222" Kolonias (1.338 million), Papazian (1.231 million), Ivan Deyra (1.16 million), and Rafael Da Silva Moraes (1.026 million) are the others with seven-figure chip counts.
Last year's runner-up Derwiche was still in contention as well, and he'll look to finish one spot better this time around. He bagged up 840,000.
Day 3 Seat Assignments
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Anthony Zinno | USA | 816,000 |
| 1 | 2 | --empty-- | -- | -- |
| 1 | 3 | Imad Derwiche | France | 840,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Zvi Stern | Israel | 1,638,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | 366,000 |
| 1 | 6 | --empty-- | -- | -- |
| 1 | 7 | [Removed:2] | Lebanon | 907,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Alexandru Papazian | Romania | 1,231,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Saar Wilf | Israel | 509,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Thomas Miller | USA | 383,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Max Silver | UK | 1,342,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | 1,338,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Rafael Da Silva Moraes | Brazil | 1,026,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Ivan Deyra | France | 1,160,000 |
| 2 | 7 | --empty-- | -- | -- |
| 2 | 8 | --empty-- | -- | -- |
The 12 left have locked up €92,250, but all eyes are set on the first-place payout of €1.197. Action will resume at 12.30 p.m. local time on Friday, with Level 22 and blinds of 12,000/24,000/3,000. The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand to provide all the action until a winner is crowned, so stay tuned for more coverage from Monaco.