A record-tying field of 1,098 entries has been dwindled down to just six players in the €5,300 EPT Main Event at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. Nearly a full five levels were completed on Day 5 before play came to an end with 35 minutes remaining in Level 29.
On the last hand of the night, Leo Worthington-Leese took over the chip lead with the elimination of Jason Wheeler in seventh place. Worthington-Leese will return for the final day with a stack of 8,270,000 chips. The British poker player is attending only his second EPT festival and only has one prior EPT result on his poker resume. This will also be his first six-figure score as he looks to lay claim to his first major title as well.
Trailing in his footsteps is seasoned veteran Mike Watson, who is all too familiar with this position in a tournament. Watson, who has over $18 million in career earnings, also has an EPT title. The Canadian high-roller can often be found in the larger buy-in events at the series and is looking to hoist another EPT trophy and add to his illustrious career. Watson will be returning to a stack of 8,135,000 chips, just two big blinds short of the leader.
The others that are still in contention include Joachim Haraldstad (5,130,000), Leonard Maue (4,305,000), and two Frenchman Samy Boujmala (3,675,000) and Arnaud Enselme (3,415,000) rounding out the field. It will still be anyone's game when the action resumes as the short stack will still have more than 34 big blinds to work with.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samy Boujmala | France | 3,675,000 | 37 |
| 2 | Mike Watson | Canada | 8,135,000 | 81 |
| 3 | Leo Worthington-Leese | United Kingdom | 8,270,000 | 83 |
| 4 | Leonard Maue | Austria | 4,305,000 | 43 |
| 5 | Arnaud Enselme | France | 3,415,000 | 34 |
| 6 | Joachim Haraldstad | Norway | 5,130,000 | 51 |
Day 5 Action
There were 13 players who returned for the penultimate day of the €5,300 EPT Main Event at the usual time slot of 12:00 p.m. Things started off with a bang on the feature table when Boujmala rivered the nut straight against the inferior straight of Arunas Sapitavicius. That was followed by an outburst on the outer table when Wheeler checked back an unthinkable holding, only to make the right decision against Maue.
There were no eliminations in the first hour of the day, but that changed when two players hit the rail simultaneously. Nicola Grieco was the victim of a runner-runner flush from Ori Hasson on the outer table while Kenan Taylor rivered a pair only to fall to the overpair of Haraldstad.
Despite picking up some chips early on, Hasson was soon cut down to the short stack by an aggressive Wheeler. Hasson lasted just a few minutes on the feature table until his ace-jack was no match for the ace-king of Maue. The same could be said for Oleg Vasylchenko who was chipping up nicely before running a failed bluff attempt. Unfortunately for the Ukrainian, he risked it all on the river and was picked off by the flush of Haraldstad.
With the final nine players gathering at a single table on the PokerStars Livestream, the eliminations came to a complete halt. The chip stacks were relatively even for the most part, with the short stack still holding north of 25 big blinds. Over 3.5 hours of poker occurred with chips constantly rotating around the table and all nine players still intact.
However, Maduka Meragal was unable to gain any forward momentum as he was left to grind out a short stack. Meragal eventually found top pair on the flop and opted to go with it but was out-kicked by Worthington-Leese. There was no help on the runout for Meragal who was eliminated in ninth place.
Just prior to the dinner break, Watson took over the chip lead at the expense of Sapitavicius' tournament life. The Lithuanian barrelled three streets with top pair top kicker, with the river being for the last of his chips. However, Watson rivered a flush and made the easy call to bring the field down to just seven.
With major ICM implications in play, the final seven players were treading very carefully over the course of the next hour. Some big folds were taking place while Wheeler tried to maneuver on the short stack. After defending a raise from the big blind, Wheeler flopped a flush draw with two over cards but found himself up against a set from Worthington-Leese when all of the chips went in the middle. Wheeler was unable to improve which left the final six players bagging up their chips.
They will return tomorrow for the sixth and final day of this event where the cards will go in the air at 12:30 p.m. local time. There will be roughly 35 minutes remaining in Level 29 with the blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. The levels will continue to be 90 minutes in length until just three players remain and then they will be reduced to 45 minutes.
The official final table participants were all guaranteed at least a six-figure payday, with Meragal still earning a healthy €82,000 plus for his ninth-place finish. The final six players have each locked up at least €180,900 thus far, but the pay jumps will be increasingly more significant en route to the €890,000 first-place prize.
Final Table Payouts and Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | €890,000 | $978,039 | ||
| 2nd | €556,600 | $611,659 | ||
| 3rd | €397,450 | $436,766 | ||
| 4th | €305,750 | $335,995 | ||
| 5th | €235,150 | $258,411 | ||
| 6th | €180,900 | $198,795 | ||
| 7th | Jason Wheeler | United States | €139,150 | $152,915 |
| 8th | Arunas Sapitavicius | Lithuania | €107,050 | $117,639 |
| 9th | Maduka Meragal | Canada | €82,350 | $90,496 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to bring you all of the updates on a 30-minute delay to remain in sync with the PokerStars live stream. Stay tuned to find out who will become the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event champion.
