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EPT Grand Final - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the pokerstars.com sponsored EPT Grand Final. Betfair are extremely excited to have Betfair Pro Sorel Mizzi playing today. He starts the day with a monster stack. Find out here how he does...

124 players start today with their first goal to make it into the top 80 to ensure they get paid. Sorel managed to add around an extra 40,000 to his stack in the last six hands we were unable to witness. That puts him in tenth place and in a great position to do well. We'll be following him closely and filling you in on his progress. The tension really builds at this stage of the tournament and for want of a better term, the cream is floating to the top and expect it to stay there.

Official chip counts at the start of play

Name Country Chips
Oyvind Riisem Norway 441,400
Johnny Lodden Norway 380,300
Borge Dypvik Norway 296,000
Andreas Hagen Norway 276,800
Joe Hachem Australia 255,300
James Campbell USA 241,700
Luca Pagano Italy 229,000
Amit Makhija USA 219,100
Andreas Fluri Switzerland 205,900
Sorel Mizzi Canada 203,200
Martin Rask Denmark 188,200
Thomas Boekhoff Germany 186,400
Benjamin Kang Germany 179,900
Maxime Villemure Canada 177,000
Rami Boukai USA 176,200
Noah Siegel USA 174,300
Gordon Vayo USA 171,000
Eric Liu USA 169,100
Raul Paez Corral Spain 163,200
Henrik Gwinner Denmark 162,200
Alex Repik Russia 161,700
Domenico Tinnirello Italy 161,000
Freddy Deeb USA 153,300
David Shade Kruger USA 153,100
Cyril Bensoussan France 149,100
Woody Deck Lithuania 147,800
Tommi Horkko Finland 145,500
Benjamin Sprengers USA 144,300
Vincent Secher France 143,100
Kenny Hallaert Belgium 142,900
David Miara France 139,900
Isaac Andrew Baron USA 137,800
Stig Top Rasmussen Denmark 137,600
Rahal Kalil France 137,100
Michael Martin USA 136,800
Eduards Kudrjavcevs Latvia 136,000
Beniamino Speroni Italy 133,200
Robin Keston UK 131,600
Brian Green USA 131,200
Tom Stig Ahlberg Finland 130,000
Marcel Luske Holland 128,700
Michel Carvin France 126,800
Benjamin Sulsky USA 122,500
Antonio Esfandiari USA 121,400
Claudio Pagano Italy 121,300
Glen Chorny Canada 115,100
Stephen Kjaerstad Norway 112,700
Csaba Toth Hungary 112,100
Morten Lokken Norway 111,100
Raymond Rahme South Africa 104,200
Sean Bruder Canada 102,200
Giovanni Bigoni Italy 101,800
Andrew Luetchford UK 101,100
Peter Traply Hungary 100,700
Uffe Holm Denmark 99,800
Massou Cohen France 99,800
Neil Channing UK 99,500
Stuart Michel Fox UK 99,100
Christopher Convery South Africa 96,800
Matthew Kurtz USA 96,500
Nikolaus Panopoulus Greece 92,000
Mark Keightley UK 91,000
Felipe Ramos Brazil 87,900
Haward Speer Germany 87,100
Mostafa Belkhayate Morocco 86,600
Ed de Haas Holland 82,100
Juris Bonders Austria 82,000
Simon Faure France 81,300
Eliahu Ilan Elezra USA 77,500
Pierre Hall Canada 76,400
Alexia Portal France 76,300
Pablo Ubierna Spain 71,400
Enrico Mognaga Italy 68,600
Sami Ovaskainen Finland 67,600
Christopher Klodnicki USA 66,700
Jan Heitmann Germany 63,400
Tomas Brolin Sweden 62,600
Gerasimos Deres Sweden 59,900
Anthony Chatelain Sweden 59,000
Christoph Niesert Germany 59,000
Anders Hoyer Berg Norway 58,100
Thomas Fougeron France 58,000
Alexander Morozov Russia 55,500
Giovanni Nervo Italy 55,300
Nordine Bouya France 53,300
William Martin UK 52,800
Emile Petit France 52,700
Sasha Rosewood USA 52,700
Clayton Maguire USA 52,600
Denes Kalo Hungary 51,700
Valeriy Ilikyan Russia 51,600
Surinder Sunar UK 51,600
Anna Wroblewski USA 51,200
Jesse Rockowitz USA 50,400
Trond Erik Eidsvig Norway 50,000
Connor Drinan USA 49,900
Leonardo Fernandez Argentina 47,600
Pawel Chmiel Poland 44,700
Kari Somer Finland 44,100
Joseph Udine USA 43,900
Alexander Kravchenko Russia 42,200
Andreas Sarling Finland 42,200
Ian Prevost USA 39,900
Anders Vind Denmark 36,700
Ricardo Sousa Portugal 36,500
Raoul Refos Holland 36,200
Eric Da Silva France 36,000
Andrew Teng UK 32,900
Alex Jalali Germany 32,000
Sebastian Zink Germany 31,200
Adam Sword UK 30,000
Edward Lawson USA 30,000
Stefan Geim Germany 29,300
Walid Bou Habib Lebanon 28,700
James Byrne UK 27,900
Nadir Jorephani UK 25,300
Derek Van Damme USA 25,100
Jan Olav Sjavik Norway 23,900
Michaele Lau USA 20,300
Torbjorn Jonson Sweden 20,100
Mel Judah UK 19,300
Jonathan Dwek Canada 14,200
George Lind III USA 14,100
Philippe Ktorza 9,200

Sorel's Start

Sorel was originally drawn to sit along side Eli Elezra but his table broke almost immediately so he was moved to the same table as Luva Pagano. Surinder Sunar is also there to watch out for.

It's folded around to him in the small blind and he raises the 2,000 big blind up to 6,000 before seeing the small blind move all-in for 30,000. Sorel calls with ace-jack and manages to hit an ace to knock out his opponent who was holding a pair. This hand and another couple of smaller pots has managed to push Sorel up to around he 250,000 mark now.

Not too long after that Sorel makes up the big blind after it's folded around to him in the small blind. Luca Pagano, now to Sorel's left, checks his option from the big blind. The flop comes down...

T54

Sorel check calls a 3,500 bet from Luca before the turn is revealed...

Sorel leads out this time for a total of 7,700. Luca calls and we head to the river...

Sorel leads out again. A little more this time with a 13,800 bet. Luca calls very quickly and angrily mucks when Sorel tables...

A4 for two pair and another nice pot.

Great Call

It's folded around to Joe Hachem on the button who calls the big blind. The small blind player makes it up and Neil Channing checks his option on the big blind before we see a flop...

3KK

All three check so we head to the turn...

Neil bets out and is only called by Joe before the river comes...

Neil leads out again for a bet of 16,000. Joe sits there for a while before a defiant 'Call' comes from his mouth.

'I missed, I have nothing' says Neil before seeing Joe reveal ace high which is good for the pot. Joe looks like he's in the zone and a player to be watched here. If he wins, his achievements will be up there with anything that's been done before in poker.

Cry me a river

Sorel opens with a raise to 6,500 and is only called by Thomas Fougeron on the button. The flop comes down...

628

Both players check so it's straight to the turn...

Sorel bets 6,500 before seeing Thomas move all-in for 30,000. Sorel makes a good call with...

A 9 as Thomas has...

The river saves the Frenchman's though as it comes...

Sorel still strong on around the 240,000 mark.

Shortly after Sorel raised from the button only to be re-raised by the big blind player. A raise all-in from Sorel soon put an end to that one!

Lee Nelson

Lee Nelson was just in the player's lounge giving a talk and then talking to small groups about strategy. He's just released his new book, Kill Everybody, and was using information from this to lecture keen listeners. Amy managed to grab a chat with him and get a signed copy of his book as you can see from the photo below.

Hagen decision

I approach the table and we already have a dealt flop looking like...

755

Apparently Andreas Hagen had made a raise from the cut-off before calling a re-raise from the player on the button. Surprisingly both players check so we go to the turn...

No checking this time as Andreas bets 30,000 that receives a caller before the final card is dealt...

It doesn't scare Andreas as he bets out for 60,000 leaving 40,000 back. He soon gets scared though when his opponent moves all-in. Not a move Andreas was expecting and he sits there for ten minutes trying to figure out where he's at in the hand, figuring through each possibility in his head and out loud. As a large group gather around to see his decision he comments 'This could be embarrassing if I can'. Eventually he folds pocket aces face-up. The other guy mucked but it turned out he had pocket jacks so it was a very good lay down indeed.

They're a little out of date now but here are the chip counts at the end of level 13

Oyvind Riisem 430,000
Johnny Lodden 357,000
Andreas Hagen 324,000
Henrik Gwinner 286,000
Noah Siegel 260,000
Thomas Boekhoff 250,000
Sorel Mizzi 250,000
Luca Pagano 240,000
Amit Makhija 210,000
Stephen Kjaerstad 200,000
Benjamin Sprengers 195,100
Borge Dypvik 195,000
Glen Chorny 195,000
Csaba Toth 187,000
Stig Top Rasmussen 185,000
Jesse Rockowitz 185,000
Eric Liu 185,000
Martin Rask 182,000
Peter Traply 180,000
Vincent Secher 175,000
Beniamino Speroni 167,000
Tommi Horkko 165,000
Maxime Villemure 163,000
Domenico Tinnirello 161,000
Antonio Esfandiari 160,000
Freddy Deeb 160,000
David Shade Kruger 155,000
Isaac Andrew Baron 150,000
Woody Deck 150,000
Nikolaus Panopoulus 150,000
George Lind III 148,000
Robin Keston 145,000
Kenny Hallaert 144,600
Claudio Pagano 135,000
Neil Channing 135,000
Tom Stig Ahlberg 134,000
Rami Boukai 133,000
Jonathan Dwek 132,000
Michael Martin 130,000
Giovanni Bigoni 128,200
Raymond Rahme 125,000
Raul Paez Corral 124,000
Michel Carvin 123,000
David Miara 122,000
Benjamin Kang 121,000
Andreas Fluri 120,000
Pablo Ubierna 119,000
Morten Lokken 116,000
Haward Speer 112,000
Rahal Kalil 112,000
Andrew Luetchford 110,000
Mostafa Belkhayate 110,000
Christopher Convery 105,000
Gerasimos Deres 105,000
Pierre Hall 102,500
Simon Faure 102,000
Sean Bruder 100,000
Clayton Maguire 98,000
Ed de Haas 95,000
Denes Kalo 94,000
Brian Green 91,000
Benjamin Sulsky 90,000
Kari Somer 88,000
Mark Keightley 83,000
Jan Heitmann 81,100
Joseph Udine 81,000
Valeriy Ilikyan 80,000
Thomas Fougeron 80,000
Alexander Morozov 75,000
Tomas Brolin 70,000
Alexia Portal 65,000
Matthew Kurtz 63,000
Sami Ovaskainen 60,000
Massou Cohen 57,000
Eduards Kudrjavcevs 56,200
Stefan Geim 53,700
Anders Hoyer Berg 52,000
Juris Bonders 51,000
William Martin 50,000
Walid Bou Habib 45,000
Ian Prevost 42,000
Ricardo Sousa 40,000
Nordine Bouya 39,900
Anthony Chatelain 39,000
Emile Petit 38,000
Jan Olav Sjavik 36,000
Andrew Teng 35,000
Trond Erik Eidsvig 32,000
Giovanni Nervo 32,000
Adam Sword 28,000
Enrico Mognaga 26,800
Christopher Klodnicki 25,500
Torbjorn Jonson 21,800
Surinder Sunar 19,000
Mel Judah 15,500
Felipe Ramos 10,000

Mizzi v Deeb

Players have been dropping likes flies today and we approach the bubble at rapid speed. It's a good time to accumulate chips and Sorel is doing a lot of raising to try and take advantage of the situation. He makes a raise from under-the gun and only finds a caller from Freddy Deeb in the big blind. The flop comes down...

678

I'm not sure how but all the chips ended up in the middle and Sorel was in a little trouble holding....

T7 as Freddy's got...

A queen on the turn and river means Sorel has to count out a total of 115,000 and hand them to the little man to his right. That knocked him back a bit but he managed to build back up to 180,000 as we get to the bubble.

Bubble trouble

We're at the most nervous stage of the tournament as it's bubble time. 81 players remain and we've gone hand for hand until we lose one more. With the rate at which we've lost players today it wouldn't too out there to think the bubble would burst quickly. Well, you'd be wrong. It ended up lasting for over three hours! Players started to take an age over every decision and there weren't that many all-ins there were called. When there was an all-in the short stack always doubled up. That was the case until the following hand happened.

Ricardo Sousa, who was runner up at EPT Warsaw, made a raise from mid-position before a short stacked Surinder Sunar re-raised all-in from the big blind. A crowd gathered round to see if Ricardo would call and he obliged them by doing so with...

Off to the races we go as Surinder is holding...

The first card out is a queen to send the WPT winner to the rail in the worst spot possible. It's like coming fourth at the Olympics. Unlucky Surinder.

Top ten chip counts at the end of Level 15

Peter Traply Hungary 590000
Johnny Lodden Norway 530000
Rami Boukai USA 422000
Oyvind Riisem Norway 350000
Mostafa Belkhayate Morocco 320000
Henrik Gwinner Denmark 274000
Noah Siegel USA 260000
Glen Chorny Canada 257000
Thomas Boekhoff Germany 255000
Luca Pagano Italy 250000

A little further down the field is Sorel on 184,000.

Annette

Annette's been in good spirits since busting out of the main event. She played several sit and goes and also played in the 1000 euro side event yesterday. She was doing really well at one point but ended up being knocked out by the calling station that it Boris Becker. He actually ended up making the final table but that's easy to do when you're always calling with the nuts. She's currently playing the 2000 euro event today and we'll let you know how she gets on.

Monster Pot

Gordon Vayo not long after doubling-up made a raise to 12,000 from mid-position before Antonio Esfandiari re-raised to 40,000 from the very next seat. Gordon sat there for a while before muttering 'All-in'. Antonio isn't quite sure he heard this statement right and questioned it. When it's confirmed to him he insta-called with...

We have a cooler hand again as Gordon tables...

Antonio jumps up on his chair and announces to the room the situation he's in. We're all the way to the river on this one...

832 8 4

The aces hold and Antonio is understandably very happy as he rakes in a 680,000 pot, the biggest of the tournament so far. We have a new chip leader ladies and gentleman.

By the way - Sorel is up to 250,00 chips without breaking sweat. He's been doing his usual way, ducking and diving and rarely showing a hand down.

Payouts up to 65th

65 James Campbell € 21,000
66 Giovanni Nervo € 21,000
67 Jan Heitmann € 21,000
68 George Lind € 21,000
69 Tom Ahlberg € 21,000
70 Ian Prevost € 21,000
71 Torbjörn Jonsson € 21,000
72 Giovanni Bigom € 21,000
73 Morten Lokken € 17,000
74 Tommi Hörkkö € 17,000
75 Benjamin Kang € 17,000
76 William Martin € 17,000
77 Sean Bruder € 17,000
78 Felipe Ramos € 17,000
79 Ed De Haas € 17,000
80 Trond-Erik Eidsvig € 17,000

The last horse has fallen

Sad news to bring you, Sorel has fallen. He made a raise to 12,000 before Thomas Boekhoff re-raised to 35,000. Sorel then pushed for another 134,000 and after a short pause Thomas called with...

He had Sorel dominated as he held...

The flop came down...

KQ4
sending Sorel further behind but a ten would win him the pot. Unfortunately two more low cards came and the final Team Betfair member departs the tournament after a fantastic showing. Not too be this time Sorel but at least you got a payday for the long days. We'll update you on his official finishing position soon.

Continue to hang around as we'll continue to bring you all the major action from Monte Carlo and who finishes where in the money.

Scandie battle

There's a flop already dealt that looks like...

93Q

There's a big pile of brown chips worth 5,000 each already committed to the middle. Young Norwegian, Borge Dypvik, is first to act and checks to Gerasimos Deres who moves his last 130,000 into the middle. After a long think Borge makes the call with...

Ad Qh for top pair but he's behind to Gerasimos'...

The turn brings another heart to open up a flush draw for Borge but he misses and the chunky pot gets shoveled the other way leaving him short now.

Woody Decked

Woody Deck has been eliminated after getting it all in on a flop with two sixes and and eight whilst holding pocket queens. Unfortunatley for him his opponent was holding eight-six for a flopped full-house!

The last couple of hands for today

The one remaining Brit, Robin Keston, took down a huge pot near to the end, eliminating his opponent. He raised with pocket sevens only to be re-raised by his opponent. Robin then set the guy in and he called with ace-king suited. The flop was interesting as Robin flopped a set and his opponent flopped a flush draw. The turn and river bricked-out though and Robin raked in the 400,000 putting him up to the dizzying heights of 900,000.

Denes Kalo finished our day in style by knocking out two players. He raised from the button only to see the blinds re-raise all-in in turn. He made the call with pocket kings and the ten high board was no good for the small blind's ace-nine and the big blind's ace-queen.

Final Words

We're left with 39 players after starting today with 124. Those 39 will sleep better tonight knowing they have a payday secured. Tomorrow is all about the push for the final table. Play will start at 1200 GMT and we will play down to a TV final table of 8. The information regarding where players finished and chip counts hasn't been forwarded to us yet but will be posted as soon as it does.
This is Marc Convey saying goodnight from Monte Carlo.

Payouts down to 40th as promised

Place. Name. Country. Payout in Euros

40 Stephen Kjaerstad Norway 38,000
41 Michel Carvin France 33,700
42 Pierre Hall Canada 33,700
43 Haward Speer Germany 33,700
44 Simon Faure France 33,700
45 Csaba Toth Hungary 33,700
46 Martin Rask Denmark 33,700
47 Borge Dypvik Norway 33,700
48 Andreas Hagen Norway 33,700
49 Mark Keightley UK 29,400
50 Benjamino Speroni Italy 29,400
51 Gordon Vayo USA 29,400
52 Woody Deck Lithuania 29,400
53 Ricardo Sousa Portugal 29,400
54 Domenico Tinnirello Italy 29,400
55 Sorel Mizzi Canada 29,400
56 Kari Somer Finland 29,400
57 Sami Ovaskainen Finland 25,200
58 Massou Cohen France 25,200
59 Matthew Kurtz USA 25,200
60 Cyril Bensoussan France 25,200
61 Brian Green USA 25,200
62 Rahal Kalil France 25,200
63 Clayton Maguire USA 25,200
64 Nikolaus Panopoulus Greece 21,000