Five days of poker at the Sporting Monte-Carlo in Monaco have seen a field of over 1,000 players whittled down to the final eight. The European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Main Event final table is upon us, with a player looking to go for the long run to the title. Chip leader Bernhard Binder, who held the lead after Day Four on Friday, will continue to hold that edge and look to add his second major title as he comes to the felt Sunday for Day Six action.
€825,000 To the Champion
1,011 entries were received in the cage at Sporting Monte-Carlo for the EPT Monte Carlo, building a healthy prize pool of €4.9 million, which was divvied up among the final 151 players. For those who went out in the early action, the best they could do was a €9,200 payday. Notable names who would walk away from Monte Carlo (hopefully) with more money than they entered included PokerStars-sponsored pro Maria Konnikova and former World Champion Hossein Ensan.
As eliminations ramped up, other popular pros would earn their share of the pie. The notorious Will Kassouf (€10,600), Henry Strasser (€12,150), ‘Nacho’ Barbero (€12,150), Juha Helppi (€16,100), and Benny Glaser and Dimitar Danchev (both €24,450) were all gone before the start of Day Five on Saturday, however.
Binder was the player that everyone had their eyes on, though. He started the day with 4.54 million in chips, and there really wasn’t anyone close to him. Spain’s Raul Mestre was his closest pursuer, with 2.91 million in markers, while Moldova’s Roman Stoica held down the third-place slot. Only twenty players were on the tables as the call to “shuffle up and deal” rang out, and the race was on for the final table.
Binder Continues to Roll the Field
There was a great deal of movement in the initial action on Saturday at the EPT Monte Carlo, as players looked to double up their short stacks or enjoy the beautiful Mediterranean coastline. Miguel Franco got his money in good against Hugo Blaison, and Franco held the edge with his A-Q against Blaison’s A-J. A Jack in the window switched the fortunes, however, and once the board failed to bring a saving lady, Franco was done quickly in the 20th place slot.
The USA’s Jason Wheeler held the flag high for his home country, passing Mestre to challenge Binder for a bit. That came to a quick end, however, as Binder began to eliminate players. Up first was Diego Zeiter, who tried to get tricky with a Q♠ 10♠, only to run into Binder’s pocket Kings. After knocking out Zeiter, Binder’s stack was at 5.865 million and would only grow larger.
Binder would continue to steamroll his table, and players either did not want to challenge the chip leader or didn’t have the goods to do so. He would decimate the stack of Wheeler when, with a board reading 6-K-Q-10-5 with no flush draws, Wheeler fired a bet of 225K in a blind versus blind battle. Binder calmly called and, after Wheeler showed a Q-7 for a pair, Binder topped him with a Q-9, with the kicker playing. Although he would double once, Wheeler could not sustain the fight as he ran his final chips in with pocket nines against Jose Malpelli’s pocket Kings and departed in twelfth place.
Although it was Mestre who brought about the unofficial final table, beating Xavier Cortazar with pocket eights against Cortazar’s pocket sevens, Binder was the force on the felt. He knocked out Leonard Maue in ninth place, his pocket Aces ruling over Maue’s K♣ 10♣, and although he would make some missteps late in the evening, Binder will be the biggest stack when the final table resumes on Sunday afternoon (local time).
1. Bernhard Binder (Austria), 7.25 million
2. Raul Mestre (Spain), 4.525 million
3. Samuel Ju (Germany), 4.0 million
4. David Djian (France), 3.625 million
5. Roman Stoica (Moldova), 3.2 million
6. Oshri Lahnami (Israel), 2.95 million
7. Longmao Fan (China), 2.475 million
8. Jose Malpelli (France), 2.3 million
Binder, despite his decent lead, will have to rein in his temptations to be the “table sheriff” on Sunday. Late in the Saturday action, he lost the lead for a short bit because he was a bit overly aggressive. When you are playing for this type of money, however, you can understand the reasons.
1. €825,000
2. €515,000
3. €368,750
4. €283,550
5. €218,300
6. €167,850
7. €129,050
8. €99,450
Action will resume from Sporting Monte-Carlo in the EPT Monte Carlo on Sunday at 12:30 PM (local time, roughly 6:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time) and will play until a champion is crowned. Live coverage is on YouTube via the PokerStars Live stream.
