Over on one of the outer tables, Dan Abouaf raised to 32,000 and was called by Federico Petruzzelli from one seat over and Krisztian Gyorgyi in the big blind. On a flop of , action checked to Abouaf and he continued for 26,000. Petruzzelli called beore Gyorgyi check-raised to 140,000. That forced a fold from Abouaf while Petruzzelli called.
On the turn, Gyorgyi bet 200,000 with 427,000 behind and Petruzzelli moved all in, the Hungarian called.
Krisztian Gyorgyi:
Federico Petruzzelli:
Gyorgyi was in need of help and required the board to pair or to hit a four. And he did so by spiking the on the river, to skyrocket out of his chair and run through half of the tournament room in wild celebration, screaming out his excitement in Hungarian. When he returned to the table and saw the cameras on him, he continued to shout in his native language while slowly someone in the room started clapping. Gyorgyi turned around and started clapping himself, and most of the room joined in.
Honglin Jiang opened for 45,000 in middle position and got two callers. [Removed:432] was one of them and he ripped in his last 90,000 from the big blind on the flop. Jiang called and Dan Abouaf mucked.
[Removed:433] was drawing with , chasing the shown by Jiang. The and harmlessly double-paired the board and [Removed:433] headed to collect 21st-place money.
Andre Akkari raised to 45,000 from middle position, Ole Schemion three-bet to 155,000 in the cutoff, Akkari four-bet shoved for 780,000 and Schemion snap-called.
Andre Akkari:
Ole Schemion:
The flop gave Akkari some more hope with . Schemion laughed out loud and clapped his hands upon seeing the flop.
The on the turn didn't help Akkari but the on the river sure did. Straight for Akkari and a huge double-up.
Sadri Saleh led out after defending his big blind for 100,000, which looked to be the size of the pot on . Dimitar Danchev called from under the gun and left himself about 195,000 back. That went in immediately when Saleh shoved the turn.
Danchev's was best but he had a few cards to fade as Saleh had a flush draw: . The river brought a , and a disappointed Danchev silently exited the tournament area.
Tomas Jozonis opened for 45,000 in the cutoff and Mark Demirdjian shoved in the big blind. Jozonis got a count of 385,000 and quickly called.
Tomas Jozonis:
Mark Demirdjian:
Demirdjian was dominated and things got worse on the flop. A couple of players celebrated the impending elimination and the confirmed it would occur. The river was a .
Federico Petruzzelli put a little under half his stack of 170,000 in from the button and then called off the rest when Krisztian Gyorgyi shoved in the big blind.
Federico Petruzzelli:
Krisztian Gyorgyi:
The board ran out , and Petruzzelli busted when neither played improved.
Gavin O'Rourke pushed all in for 230,000 in middle position and Davor Lanini isolated all in from the button. Everyone else mucked and O'Rourke saw his was dominated by . The board ran out , no help to O'Rourke, and he patted the table knowing he had bubbled the penultimate day.
Jozonis finished with 4,075,000, which represents more than 200 big blinds with five minutes remaining in Level 22 (10,000/20,000/20,000). The next-best stack belongs to German superstar Ole Schemion, but his 2,630,000 remains a far cry from where Jozonis sits.
Jozonis has more than $400,000 in live cashes but is known mostly for his online play, where he's banked over $3 million according to PocketFives.
Today, Jozonis simply ran hotter than the sun as he hit three sets for knockouts, two of them in huge pots.
In the first one, he busted recent WPT500 champ Gary Miller in a three-bet pot. Jozonis opened queens under the gun and got three-bet by Miller, and they saw a king-queen-four flop hit. Jozonis check-called down until he check-jammed the river, and Miller couldn't find a fold with ace-king for his last 40 big blinds after using multiple time extensions.
The second one ran out remarkably similar, with Alexis Fleur this time being the one to flop top pair with ace-king when Jozonis had a set, this time fours. Again, the Lithuanian took a check-calling line and then check-ripped on the end, with his opponent once again tank-calling.
Jozonis passed Schemion in the counts shortly after that, and the final big set of the day was a little less dramatic and certainly less necessary. This time, Jozonis opened cutoff and called a ship of 19 big blinds by Mark Demirdjian, who had ace-five offsuit. Jozonis only needed to hold with eights but flopped another set for good measure.
While Jozonis is certainly in great shape, he has plenty of extremely tough competition left. While EPT Monte Carlo does typically produce some loaded final tables, even by this event's standards the remaining 16 looks tougher than getting lunch for under €10 in Monaco.
David Peters (1,675,000), Patrik Antonius (1,505,000), Adrian Mateos (1,495,000), PokerStars Team Pro Andre Akkari (980,000), Stefan Huber (975,000), Davidi Kitai (825,000) and Josip Simunic 690,000) would all be worthy headliners on their own. Together, they make it certain the eventual champion will have earned his keep.
Some of the less fortunate hopefuls who had dreams dashed on Day 4 included Gavin O'Rourke, Dimitar Danchev, Antoine Saout and Philipp Gruissem. Former PCA champ Danchev endured a nasty exit when he got it in on the turn fading only a flush draw and his opponent binked.
Day 5 will see a final table determined, starting at noon local time in Monaco on Thursday. Come back PokerNews for more live updates then.