The Main Event field went from 17 to 15 in the space of a few minutes. First Italian pro Dario Sammartino was all-in with against Adrian Mateos who held
The board ran out and we lost Sammartino in 17th place (€51,350).
We were meant to play 5 levels today, or down to 16 players, depending on which came faster, so this was where action was meant to stop and players were to bag up for the night. However, at the adjacent table, Connor Drinan was all-in against Anton Astapau.
It was a classic race, with Drinan holding whilst Astapau held .
There was an ace in the window, and Drinan had a lot of catching up to do as the board eventually ran out and Connor Drinan was our 16th place finisher (€51,350)
Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu has been mixing it up on Twitch lately, and we caught up with him during the EPT Grand Final. Negreanu was streaming on his laptop from his hotel room, and he was clearly having a good time playing $400/$800 8-Game.
Donnie Peters and Remko Rinkema talk all things EPT Grand Final. Topics include Erik Seidel's big win in the €100,000 Super High Roller, Dzmitry Urbanovich's insane run, and Scott Seiver's excellence.
Day 4 of the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final €10,600 Main Event started out with just 34 players and the goal of reaching the final 16. In the end, though, only 15 players survived the day as two exits happened right at the same moment, on two different tables, to finish off play.
With a lot of familiar faces still in contention, along with a group of likable newcomers, Day 4 was as exciting as they come.
The first remarkable feature was Chinese high roller Quan Zhou litteraly flipping a coin to make up his mind. He called, and lost the coin flip with sixes to Pierre Neuville's ace-king. Zhou had some chips left, but hit the rail not much later when he ran fours into Tom Hall's aces.
Another thing that got the blood pumping was a double knockout on the same table. Juan Martin Pastor got it in with kings against the tens of Neuville and ace-queen of World Series of Poker runner-up Felix Stephensen on a flop. Running jacks made for an original way to send two players packing.
Team PokerStars Pro was well represented at the start of the day, but all but Johnny Lodden would fall in the 3.5 levels played. Isaac Haxton started out short and didn't make a miraculous comeback, soon joining the €25,500 High Roller that began today.
Another Team Pro was Jason Mercier. He suffered several beats, with nines against fives preflop as the grand finale. A five on the turn for Ludovic Geilich made for an exit for Mercier in 28th place worth €29,900.
Andre Akkari had the entire country of Brazil on his rail, but it didn't help him secure a spot on Day 5. He lost a coin flip to bust in 23rd place (€40,050) against his neighbor, Pastor.
The only Team Pro to survive the day was Lodden. He final tabled the EPT Grand Final Main Event here two years ago (3rd - €467,000) and didn't just survive the day. In fact, he'll start Day 5 as the chip leader. Lodden won the biggest pot against Ole Schemion.
The young German superstar opened under the gun and fired three bullets on the board. Lodden called from the big blind preflop, then check-called all three streets with a mere . The pair of fours was good, though, as Schemion showed the with a smile.
Schemion lost a lot of chips in that hand, but he will be one of the contestants on the penultimate day. He regained control of the table, took down several small pots, raised some turns, and didn't show down too many hands. In the end, he bagged a contending stack.
In the fourth of a planned five levels, three well-known pros hit the rail.
Scott Clements lost a big chunk with kings and a flush draw against a flopped flush, then lost the rest to Lodden, again getting flushed with a strong hand. Italian high roller Dario Sammartino was short and moved all in with . He got looked up by and couldn't hit. At the same time, Connor Drinan lost all of his chips. Drinan first made a very nice hero call with on a scary board to double, but lost his chips not much later as he wasn't able to fade an ace with queens all in preflop against Anton Astapau's ace-king.
With the simultaneous knockouts, the tournament was down to just 15 players and the bagging and tagging started. Those 15 will return tomorrow for Day 6 of the EPT Grand Final at 12 p.m. local time sharp. The plan will be to play five levels or down to six players, whichever comes first. The players are guaranteed €58,100 at this point, but all are shooting for that €1,082,000 first-place prize.
Can Johnny Lodden final table again and work his way to getting the monkey off his back? Can Ole Schemion best his highest EPT Main Event finishing position (5th for €218,300 at EPT Prague in2013)? Or will someone else emerge as the latest champion?
Be sure to check back at PokerNews to find out!
Table
Seat
Name
Country
Chips
1
1
Koichi Nozaki
Japan
1,582,000
1
2
Lyndon Basha
United Kingdom
1,070,000
1
3
Jose Carlos Garcia
Poland
523,000
1
4
Muhyedine Fares
Senegal
1,280,000
1
6
Johnny Lodden
Norway
2,293,000
1
7
Ole Schemion
Germany
1,178,000
1
8
Romain Paon
France
782,000
2
1
Adrian Mateos
Spain
1,635,000
2
2
Hady El Asmar
Lebanon
1,530,000
2
3
Anton Astapau
Belarus
896,000
2
4
Christopher Frank
Germany
645,000
2
5
Tom Hall
United Kingdom
249,000
2
6
Dmitry Ivanov
Russia
994,000
2
7
Juan Martin Pastor
Argentina
450,000
2
8
Markus Ross
Germany
1,815,000
Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden is chip leader heading into Day 5 of the EPT 11 Grand Final, on what is his fifth cash in this event in seven years. Two years ago Lodden finished third, and right now he's in pole position to capture his first ever EPT title. Remko Rinkema spoke to him after the day had ended.
against Adrian Mateos who held 
and we lost Sammartino in 17th place (€51,350).
whilst Astapau held 
.
and Connor Drinan was our 16th place finisher (€51,350)
![[user20283]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. Running jacks made for an original way to send two players packing.
. The pair of fours was good, though, as Schemion showed the 
. He got looked up by 
and couldn't hit. At the same time, Connor Drinan lost all of his chips. Drinan first made a very nice hero call with 
on a scary board to double, but lost his chips not much later as he wasn't able to fade an ace with queens all in preflop against Anton Astapau's ace-king.