Seat 3: Adrien Allain, France (11,815,000)
Chip leader Adrien Allain says he’s feeling as if he’s “living in a dream" by making it this far in the EPT Grand Final Main event.
Originally from Breton, Allain came to Monaco last Friday with his girlfriend Laura. She’s now had to head home, but is following his progress via the EPTLive stream. His best poker friend is Paul-Francois Tedeschi who finished 25th for 26,850.
Allain grew up in Rennes, Brittany, but now lives in London. He discovered poker in 2009 by winning €190 in an online cash game during an evening with friends. From then on, he developed a passion for the game and starting playing both online and live. He honed his game while he was convalescing after hand surgery.
Allain, who turns 30 next month, already has more than $1.6 million in live tournament winnings. He won WPT Amneville in 2011 for €336,133 and APT Macau in 2009 for the equivalent of $391,580. His best EPT result to date is fourth in the €2k NL at EPT7 Sanremo.
This season, he also cashed during three EPT festivals: Dublin, Prague and Barcelona. Allain took a photo of his chip bag at the end of Day 4 and then high-fived Italian player Iacobo Brandi who had been sitting next to him: Brandi entered Day 5 with the shortest stack, 226,000 and finished 28th for €22,740.