Mazza Leads Last 16 After Day 2; Romero, Higgs and Sinclair in Contention
The first major event of the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour (EPT) is one step closer to crowning a champion, as just 16 players out of a 1,425-entry strong field remain after ten hour-long levels on Day 2 of the €1,100 French National Championship at The Monte-Carlo Sporting.
All those that had survived their respective starting day had locked up a portion of the massive €1,382,250 prize pool and the final two tournament tables already guarantee a payday of €10,450. However, all eyes are set on the trophy, bragging rights and top prize of €244,500 for the eventual champion.
In the final two levels of the night, the chip lead changed several times and the clocks were stopped with 1:20 left in level 26 at blinds of 25,000-50,000 with a big blind ante of 50,000 when the redraw of the last 16 players was reached. A trio sits at the top of the leaderboard separated by not even two big blinds and the honor of leading the field into the final day with the most chips belongs to France's Sylvain Mazza (5,200,000), very closely followed by James Romero (5,140,000) and Dennis Schienagel (5,120,000).
A very international mix remains in contention as 11 different countries are represented. Among the notables still in for a shot at victory are 4,760,000, Jacquelyn Scott (3,775,000), Sam Higgs (3,535,000), Mario Mosböck (2,410,000), 2018 WSOPE Main Event champion Jack Sinclair (2,035,000), Shachar Haran (1,735,000), Day 12a chip leader Baptiste Certeau (965,000) and Arnaud Enselme (710,000).
Several other big names were eliminated towards the end of the night including Ole Schemion, Tsugunari Toma, former EPT Main Event champion Remi Castaignon, Josep Maria Galindo Lopez, Giuliano Bendinelli and Benny Glaser.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
| Seat | Table 1 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds | Table 2 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dennis Schienagel | Germany | 5,120,000 | 102 | Shachar Haran | Israel | 1,735,000 | 35 |
| 2 | Daniel Ghionoiu | Canada | 2,175,000 | 44 | Jacquelyn Scott | USA | 3,775,000 | 76 |
| 3 | Baptiste Carteau | France | 965,000 | 19 | Jack Sinclair | UK | 2,035,000 | 41 |
| 4 | Arnaud Enselme | France | 710,000 | 14 | Morgan Aceto | France | 1,080,000 | 22 |
| 5 | Yota Mitsui | Japan | 4,760,000 | 95 | Stefano Schiano | Italy | 2,355,000 | 47 |
| 6 | Sam Higgs | Australia | 3,535,000 | 71 | Sylvain Mazza | France | 5,200,000 | 104 |
| 7 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 1,185,000 | 24 | Mario Mosböck | Austria | 2,410,000 | 48 |
| 8 | Emrah Cakmak | France | 1,070,000 | 21 | James Romero | USA | 5,140,000 | 103 |
Action of the Day
Only 214 players had survived their starting days and returned to the seats in the Salle des Etoiles at noon local time. Especially in the early stages, the seat open announcements came every minute and the field was quickly whittled down to around 100 players in the first break. Erwann Pecheux, Gaelle Baumann, Dinesh Alt, five-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Sonny Franco, Francois Evard, Joey Weissman, former professional football player Jimmy Kebe and Jack Salter were among the big names that ran out of chips in the first two hours.
Julien Martini, who had entered Day 2 as one of the biggest stacks, also headed to the payout desk much earlier than he had hoped for and the PSPC runner-up was ousted after a big clash with Ole Schemion. In a three-bet pot, Schemion flopped a set of sevens and Martini called all in with pocket jacks on the turn when he had an open-ended straight draw and single pair. The set for Schemion held and Martini headed straight to the €2,200 French National Championship High Roller.
PSPC champion and PokerStars ambassador Ramon Colillas (pictured above) was the only one to represent the red spade in the penultimate tournament day and his tournament came to an end in 70th place for €3,200. EPT Sochi champion Arsenii Karmatckii, Gianluca Speranza, Benny Glaser and Paul-Francois Tedeschi were just some of the notables that bowed out before the dinner break.
Two massive pots between Sam Higgs and Remi Castaignon headlined the later stages of the day, along with a big double for eventual chip leader Sylvain Mazza and the late surge of James Romero.
Higgs was left short after losing a big pot to Castaignon and tripled up his short stack, then knocked out Gilbert Diaz and left Castaignon short with a full house over full house scenario to go from almost zero to hero and the top of the leaderboard within half an hour of play.
Down to the final three tables, Tsugunari Toma four-bet jammed with ace-jack into the pocket queens of Mazza and just one jack on the board was not enough for the Japanese, who has become a fixture on the European Poker Tour stops in the last few years.
The rush hour of Romero started with a big flip against Danut Chisu, and his ace-king flopped a king to best the pocket queens of Chisu. Not even ten minutes later, Romero made a move against Ole Schemion, who, fresh off a double up, three-bet with pocket aces. Romero got it in with queen-nine suited and hit a queen on the flop and river to take over the top spot. Schemion had already won the EPT National at the 2019 PCA in January and came close to a repeat victory on the French Riviera.
Late double ups for Artur Martirosian and Arnaud Enselme were a minor speedbump for Romero and the American poker pro narrowly missed out on the overnight chip lead as a result.
The tournament is scheduled to play down to a champion as of 12 p.m. local time on Monday, April 29th, 2019, and the PokerNews live reporting team will provide continued updates until a champion is crowned. The next highlight of the festival on the French Riviera is also set to kick off with Day 1a of the €5,300 EPT Main Event.