The second year the EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller was held, in 2013, it was won by a relatively unknown German player who was recording the first live tournament result of his poker career. That player was Max Altergott, an online high-stakes cash-game player, and he won that event for nearly €1.75 million after defeating Jason Mercier in heads-up play.
Since then, Altergott has become a regular in big buy-in poker tournaments, racking up over $4.7 million in live cashes. In fact, he almost won the €100,000 Super High Roller for a second time this year, ultimately finishing third for €940,300 behind Erik Seidel and Dzmitry Urbanovich.
Also of note, he scored a victory in the 2013 World Poker Tour Paris €15,000 High Roller for €181,440 and won the 2014 Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge for AU$241,785. Furthermore, Altergott took second in a WPT Alpha8 event for £350,000 in London and has cashed in a couple of ARIA high roller events.
You can regularly find Altergott hanging around with several other members of "Team Germany," such as Tobias Reinkemeier, Philipp Gruissem, Igor Kurganov, and Fabian Quoss.
He came into Day 3 of this event with 559,000 in chips.
Dan Smith is one of the most successful poker players in the game. He has several titles, handfuls of results, and over $9 million in live tournament earnings. But, he'll have to battle with more than just tough competitors on the felt in this one.
In the latter half on Day 2, Smith was overcome with illness. It was suggested by some of the players that he came down with food poisoning, and Smith was often seen hovering over a garbage bin that was placed closed by for his convenience. As the night wore on, things didn't seem to get better for Smith, but he battled through it. At one point, a medical staff member was called in to sit by his side and tend to him. She assisted by repeatedly wiping him down with cool cloths, monitoring his vitals, and making sure he was getting enough fluids.
When the day was done, Smith left the tournament area alongside some of his friends with plans to go to the hospital to get checked out. The tournament staff handled bagging his finishing stack of 486,000.
Smith's largest live tournament score came last year during the summer when he won the $102,000 Super High Roller held at Bellagio for over $2 million.
In Monaco, Smith has had plenty of prior success. Of note, he won not one, not two, but three €5,000 side events in 2012. He also won another €5,000 side event this year just a few days ago for nearly €110,000.
Imad Derwiche will start Day 3 with 470,000, which is the third smallest stack.
The man listed as from Senegal boasts live tournament earnings of over $330,000. He only has one result that breaks the six-figure mark, and that came from 2011 at the World Poker Tour Regional Series in Paris. It was in that event that he bested a field of 27 entries to win the €10,000 High Roller for €125,000. After that score, Derwiche's largest cash is for €20,000.
Knowing that, Derwiche is already earning the second best score of his live tournament career, as all players are guaranteed at least €86,800.
Entering Day 3 as the second shortest stack with 365,000, Dominik Nitsche will be looking to add another big score to his more than $4.1 million in live tournament earnings. Nitsche has earned two-thirds of poker's Triple Crown achievement, winning both a World Series of Poker Bracelet and a World Poker Tour Title. In fact, he has three WSOP gold bracelets and is the youngest player in the game to achieve that status.
While Nitsche may be missing a European Poker Tour main event title to close the Triple Crown deal, he does have a big Latin-American Poker Tour from 2009. That proved not only to be the first big score of Nitsche's career, but it was his first live tournament result altogether. The event was in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and Nitsche topped a field of 291 players to take home $381,030.
Nitsche's gold bracelets came in 2012 and 2014. In the first, he won a $1,000 event for $654,797. In 2014, he won the WSOP National Championship for $352,800 and another $1,000 event for $335,659.
Steve O'Dwyer entered Day 2 of the €25,500 High Roller with the chip lead after bagging 330,200 on Day 1. At the end of Day 2, O'Dwyer's stack was just about the same, finishing with a slightly larger 356,000. But instead of being on the top of the counts this time, he was stuck at the bottom of the remaining 12 heading into Day 3.
A former resident of the United States, O'Dwyer now resides overseas in Europe where he can actively play online poker without restriction.
Just a couple months ago, O'Dwyer scored first place in the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller. He earned $1.872 million for that victory and propelled his live tournament winnings over $9 million. That was the largest live event score for O'Dwyer, but he's got plenty of other big ones to go along with it.
In November 2014, O'Dwyer took first in the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Asia Championship of Poker for over $1.8 million. He's also a champion of the EPT Grand Final Main Event from here in Monaco in 2013. There he earned a top prize of €1.224 million.
It's down to 12 contenders for European Poker Tour 11 Grand Final €25,500 High Roller, and that means we'll watch the tournament play down to a winner today. That player will bank a hefty €1,114,000 pay day, and plenty of easily recognizable names remain in contention for the score.
Foremost among them is reigning Main Event champion Martin Jacobson. The Swedish professional already had a standout tournament resume before his win, but now the poker world will be watching every move he makes as he seeks to continue his success and make sure he doesn't fade like some champions before him. Jacobson comes in with 628,000, putting him in the middle of the pack.
Other names that pop out of the list include high roller extraordinaires Max Altergott (559,000), Dan Smith (486,000), and Steve O'Dwyer (356,000). All three are among the shorter stacks remaining. Jeremy Ausmus (1.126 million), another former November Niner, and two-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche (365,000) also remain in contention. Everyone's looking up at little-known Russian Andrey Andreev, who lead with 2.27 million.
The next payout will be €86,800, but everyone's got their eye on that seven-figure prize up top. Blinds will restart at 10,000/20,000/3,000, and levels will be one hour, just as they've been throughout the tournament. Cards begin flying at 12:30 p.m. local time here in Monte Carlo, so we'll see you then as another High Roller champion is determined.
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