€10,300 High Roller
Dia 3 Iniciado
2014 PokerStars.it EPT Sanremo
€10,300 High Roller
Dias: 3
Event Info
Resultado Final
Event Info
Informações sobre o nível
2014 PokerStars.it EPT Sanremo
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€1,029,000
Entradas
105
Nível
23
Blinds
15,000 / 30,000
Ante
4,000
Who'll Be the Last €10K Champ of EPT10? We'll Find Out on Day 3
What started two days ago with 105 entries (88 unique/17 reentries) is now down to the final table of eight. The 2014 PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Sanremo High Roller is the last €10K buy-in High Roller of the season, and now just eight players remain in contention for the €265,000 first-place prize.
The man in the best positioned to capture it is Germany's Philip Sternheimer, who is the chip leader with 938,000. That said, he faces some stiff competition that includes Griffin Benger (892,000) and Ole Schemion (831,000).
Nearly a year ago, Benger won the EPT9 Berlin High Roller for €429,000, a trophy and of course, the Shamballa bracelet. Berlin didn't grace the schedule in Season 10, so Benger is doing his best to make up for it with another high roller win here in Italy. Likewise, Schemion is looking for a win, which would be the ninth of his career, though it'd be his first EPT High Roller win.
What's more, Schemion is in a heated race for EPT10 Player of the Year with Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst and Thomas Muhlocker. The former was eliminated from this event early on Day 2, while Muhlocker managed a 14th-place finish for €17,500. That means no matter where Schemion finishes, he'll be adding more points to his total. With a hefty lead over his aforementioned foes, it looks like Schemion is going to walk away with POY honors... the there is still the Grand Final to go.
Here's a look at the final table:
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philip Sternheimer | 938,000 |
| 2 | Tamer Kamel | 638,000 |
| 3 | Max Greenwood | 714,000 |
| 4 | Alex Bilokur | 502,000 |
| 5 | Imed Ben Mahmoud | 151,000 |
| 6 | Griffin Benger | 892,000 |
| 7 | Mustapha Kanit | 607,000 |
| 8 | Ole Schemion | 831,000 |
The remaining eight players will return to action in Level 20 (8,000/16,000/2,000), and they will play down to a winner. Likewise, the EPT10 Sanremo Main Event will also be playing down to a winner, which you can follow by clicking here. Action will resume in about an hour, so be sure to join us then for all the latest and greatest from the Casino Sanremo.
Seat 1 -- Philip Sternheimer (938,000)
Born in Saarlouis and currently living in London / UK, Philip Sternheimer is the chip leader going into the final table. The 35 year old businessman has several cashes to his name and is no stranger to high roller events either after competing in the EPT Super High Roller at the start of Season 10 in Barcelona.
At the €25,500 EPT9 Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Sternheimer finished 14th for €69,900. His biggest cash dates from September 2012 when he won the €25,000 High Roller of the Partouche Poker Tour Grand Final in Cannes for €115,000.
Seat 2 -- Tamer Kamel (638,000)
England’s Tamer Kamel is no stranger to the EPT. One month ago he took down the €300 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Eureka Mini event at the EPT10 Vienna for €34,030. That score was nice, but it was actually his fourth biggest on the EPT.
His other three big cashes came in 2013 in London and Prague. In December, he finished 19th in the EPT10 Prague Main Event for €34,500, and earlier in the year he managed an even better Main Event finish when he took seventh in EPT9London for €79,950.
For Kamel, those scores rank third and second respectively, and that’s because his biggest came back in October when he made the final table of the EPT10 London £10,000 High Roller for £106,170 ($172,144 USD).
Kamel will need to finish in either first or second if he wants to set a new career record, but that may prove easier said than done as he begins the final table fifth in chips.
Seat 3 -- Max Greenwood (714,000)
Sometimes it’s hard to tell the Greenwood Brothers apart, but remember that Max is the one who won a World Series of Poker bracelet back in 2008 when he topped a field of 879 players – that accounted for 2,508 rebuys – to win $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys for $693,392. All told Greenwood has amassed $1,313,042 in lifetime earnings.
Amazingly, Greenwood’s bracelet win is his only six-figure score; in fact, his second-biggest was €46,058 for winning the EPT10 Prague €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Turbo II back in December.
His other EPT highlights include 46th in the 2009 Grand Final for €35,000; 23rd in the EPT10 London High Roller for £17,850; and 17th in the EPT10 London Main Event for £17,500.
Greenwood has show consistency dating all the way back to 2006, and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before he records another big score. He’ll start the final table fourth in chips, and if he can manage to finish third or better he’ll notch the second six-figure score of his career.
For a little more on Greenwood, check out his winner’s interview from way back in 2008:
Seat 4 -- Alex Bilokur (502,000)
With $2,709,350 in lifetime earnings since 2009, Alex Bilokur is currently ranked 7th on the Russia all-time money list. His best live cash was for $1,134,930, which came back in January 2012 when he topped a 148-entry field to win the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller. That include outlasting the likes of Team Online’s Randy Lew (8th - $108,780) and Isaac Haxton (3rd - $380,730), as well as Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel (2nd - $634,550).
Seven months later, BIlokur was back at a high roller final table, this time at the EPT9 Barcelona €10,000 High Roller, where he finished second for €295,451. Bilokur’s other career highlights include a win in the 2010 EPT Berlin €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em for €174,000; first in the 2014 PCA $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Six Max for $202,720; and 11th in last year’s EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller for €77,400.
Bilokur is perhaps the most experienced player at the table, and he’ll need it too as he begins the day as the second-shortest stack.
Seat 5 -- Imed Ben Mahmoud (151,000)
The wild card on the final table is Imed Ben Mahmoud from Tunisia, who will start with nine big blinds. Several cashes are on his Hendon Mob profile but one in particular stands out. Ben Mahmoud was the first-ever player from Tunisia to win a bracelet at the World Series of Poker.
In September 2012, he defeated a 227-player strong field in the Event #1 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed €2,500 + €200 at the World Series of Poker Europe in Cannes for a career score of €147,099. Other cashes include fourth place at the France Poker Series 2010 in Beaulieu-Sur-Mer and 15th place in the EPT8 Sanremo Main Event for a €27,000 payday.
Seat 6 -- Griffin Benger (892,000)
Griffin Benger, know as “Flush_Entity” online, used to be a professional video gamer (he was once the best player in the world at Counter-Strike), but then he discovered how much money could be made playing online poker. Since then he has amassed more than $5 million playing online, and between October 2011 and July 2012, Benger was ranked the No. 1 player in the world eight different times.
Nearly one year ago (in five days it will be exactly a year), Benger notched his largest-ever live score when he won the EPT9 Berlin €10,000 High Roller for €429,000. Benger credits part of that win to the support provided by his then new girlfriend, PokerNews presenter Jennifer Robles. The couple are now celebrating one year together, and fittingly Benger is back at a high roller final table.
Will he be able to claim his second EPT High Roller title? He has a good chance as he starts the day second in chips, but only time will tell if history repeats itself.
Seat 7 -- Mustapha Kanit (607,000)
Mustapha Kanit is sixth on the Italian all time money list and will start sixth in chips. The online and cash game grinder has relocated to Malta a few years ago and has had a stellar start to this year.
At the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January 2014 he finished 4th in the $25,500 + $500 High Roller for a career best payday of $ 492,600. Only two weeks later he won two rings at the 2014 Aussie Millions Poker Championship for a combined score of more than $260,000.
In 2011, Kanit had two further big scores with a win in the €2,000 + €200 IPT Nova Gorica 2 Main Event for €200,000 and a sixth place finish in the Partouche Poker Tour Cannes Main Event for €190,000.
Seat 8 -- Ole Schemion (831,000)
Ole Schemion has it all. A lot of talent, run good and many incredible cashes despite his very young age. The only thing missing would probably be a bracelet at the World Series of Poker, but that is easily explained as he only now can participate after turning 21 years old back in September. The German starts the final table third in chips.
He also leads the current Player of the Year (POY) ranking for Season 10 of the European Poker Tour ahead of Vanessa Selbst and Thomas Muhlocker. Muhlocker cashed in this event, eventually bowing out in 14th place, but Schemion will increase his lead no matter where he finishes heading into the Grand Final next week further.
The young German is third in the GPI rankings and seventh on the all-time money list of Germany. A few months ago he finished fifth in the EPT10 Prague Main Event for a payday of €218,300. He also cashed in the EPT10 Barcelona Main Event, High Roller and Super High Roller Events to showcase his talent.
In September 2012, Schemion won the Partouche Poker Tour Grand Final for a massive payday of €1,172,850. Only two months later, he also took down the Master Classics of Poker 2012 for € 286,200. The online wizard can be found at the tables under the alias "wizowizo".