France Dominates EPT Grand Final as Adrien Allain Leads the Final Six
The 2016 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €5,300 Main Event got down to its final six players on Thursday, and Adrien Allain led the way with 11.815 million in chips, He was closely followed by his fellow countryman Jimmy Guerrero with 11.48 million in chips.
The story of the day was that of Kazakhstani Asan Umarov, who qualified on PokerStars in a €10 Spin & Go, but he'll be facing an uphill battle coming into the final six as the short stack.
With a massive gap between second and third place, it looks to be a tough battle to reach the podium, as the bottom four stacks combined have less than 10 million chips. Allain and Guerrero were dominating at the final table leading up to the final six, and the other four will need a lot of help to get back into it.
All remaining players are guaranteed to take home at least €170,950, and Friday's final table looks as follows:
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmy Guerrero | France | 11,480,000 | 115 |
| 2 | Pierre Calamusa | France | 2,235,000 | 22 |
| 3 | Adrien Allain | France | 11,815,000 | 118 |
| 4 | Oren Rosen | Israel | 2,315,000 | 23 |
| 5 | Jan Bendik | Slovakia | 2,625,000 | 26 |
| 6 | Asan Umarov | Kazakhstan | 2,235,000 | 22 |
The penultimate day started with 28 players, including PokerStars team pro Vanessa Selbst, but she got knocked out in 26th place for €26,850 after coming into the day as one the short stacks. French pros Paul Tedeschi and Benjamin Pollak were next to go in 25th and 24th, respectively, while Joao Vieira grabbed the chip lead.
Notables Erwann Pecheux (18th - €37,330) and Ariel Celestino (16th - €42,650) were knocked out short of the final table, but in a twist of events the tournament also lost Vieira shortly afterwards. Vieira ran ace-king into the aces of Jan Bendik before busting, and the final blow was delivered when his kings got cracked by Guerrero's ace-king. Vieira exited in 13th place for €53,310, and a little while later it was Guerrero who took a commanding lead after doubling through Bendik with a flush versus a straight.
Coming into the final table, Guerrero led with close to 9 million and was followed by Allain with 5.6 million.
On the ninth hand of nine-handed play it was Ben Philipps who busted out when his king-jack couldn't beat Calamusa's pocket sixes, and he took home €71,620.
Last year Dario Sammartino finished 17th in this event, and in 2013 he recorded a 19th-place finish, showing that this is truly a tournament he shines in. Sammartino did well to surpass those finishes by reaching the final table, but on the 36th hand of it the top Italian pro busted in eighth place, collecting €91,860.
One of France's more recognizable poker players, and the first-ever Frenchman to make the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, Antoine Saout, ultimately busted in seventh place to end the day's play. Saout ran fives into the jacks of Allain, and he collected €128,340 for his deep run.
The action will resume on Friday at 2 p.m. local time with a live stream with hole cards up, and hand-for-hand coverage on PokerNews.com that follows along with the stream.
While you wait for the final six to resume action on Friday, check out this Day 5 interview with the chip leader Allain: