EPT Grand Final’s Main Event Drawing to a Close as High Roller Begins

EPT Grand Final Hots Up

Johnny Lodden put on another poker master class yesterday as he maintained his chip lead in the EPT Grand Final Main Event.

While many pros, such as Igor Kurganov (74^th – €16,000) and Alec Torelli (48^th – €21,500), hit the rail, Lodden continued to play a solid game that resulted in him collection just over 1.2 million chips at the close of play.

Much of the Norwegian’s success came courtesy of a mistimed bluff by Panagiotis Gavriilidis. After a 3-bet and call pre-flop, Lodden and Gavriilidis exchanged bets on the [Jh] [5d] [4c] flop before the latter moved all-in on the [6d] turn.

After tanking for three minutes, Lodden called with pocket kings and once the [10c] had completed the board he was able to rake in the largest pot of the tournament after Gavriilidis tabled pocket deuces.

Today’s session welcomed 34 players back to the felt and, at the time of writing, just 27 remain. Johnny Lodden is still going strong, as is Daniel Negreanu but for the likes of Andreas Eiler (30^th – €25,000) and Ville Wahlbeck (29^th – €25,000) it’s been a short session.

Play will come to a conclusion when just a handful of players stand on the cusp of a penultimate session tomorrow.

For live updates from the felt, click here.

High Rollers Take to the Felt in Monte Carlo

While the Main Event rumbled on in the distance, this year’s €25,000 High Roller began in earnest.

After four levels of play a total of 98 players had graced the felt and already eight had been eliminated.

The prestigious event has attracted a stellar line up of players and, as expected, the level of poker on display has been extremely high.

Of the notable eliminations so far, Benny Spindler managed to dispatch with Griffin Benger when his [Kd] [Qd] hit the flop to come from behind.

After six-bet all-in by Spindler, Benger made the call with [Ah] [Kh] only to see his lead instantly nullified by the [Qs] [4c] [2d] flop. Things got worse on the turn as the [Qs] brought a close to the hand and as the [Jh] landed on the river Benger was already heading for the rail.

With re-entries available and many players having deeper pockets than the Atlantic Ocean, it’s likely the prizepool will continue to increase throughout the day.

For a recap of today’s action, check out tomorrow’s news update.