Thursday, 28th March 2024 21:47
Home / Uncategorized / EPT11 Grand Final: “King” Dan Smith reigns over €5K Midnight Turbo

More of those shiny, silver spade trophies were claimed late last night in side events at the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final here at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort and Hotel.

We signed off last night letting you know about victories by Philipp Gruissem, Hossein Ensan, and George Rankin, as well as Joao Brito racing to the chip lead with 43 left for today’s final day of Event #54, a two-day €1,000 NL event with a single re-entry. Before we get too deep into yet another packed day at the EPT Grand Final, let’s recap how the other events finished up, a couple not long before the sun reappeared a few hours ago.

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As Gruissem was winning the €5K title in the America Room, defeating Sylvain Loosli to earn the €147,000 first prize, nearby another tournament was down to heads-up as well, the €200 PLO Turbo (Event #56) that drew 61 entries.

The Russian Sergey Kudryavtsev ultimately prevailed in that one, outlasting Quirin Berger of Switzerland to win the title and €3,550. That makes two straight years for Kudryavtsev picking up wins here at the EPT Grand Final after he won a “Deuces Wild” event here a year ago.

Event 56 EPT 11 Grand Final Sergey Kudryastev DSC_8164.jpg

Sergey Kudryavtsev
Event #56, €200 PLO Turbo
Entries: 61
Prize pool: €12,200
Places paid: 8

1. Sergey Kudryavtsev (Russia) — €3,550
2. Quirin Berger (Switzerland) — €2,570
3. Aurelien Caron (France) — €1,660
4. Yi Li (France) — €1,259
5. Bruno Basso (Italy) — €970
6. Mykola Vysotskyi (UK) — €755
7. Oleg Poluzhinikov (Russia) — €600
8. Julien Bauduin (France) — €470

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Meanwhile Event #57 — that intriguing “Second Best Hold’em” event we were telling you about last night in which the second best hand won the pot — finshed up as well with Christian Berg of Sweden ultimately doing the best at making second best to earn the trophy after beating Aleksandr Denisov heads-up, with Jennifer Shahade finishing third and Marlon Boncompain also cashing in fourth.

We didn’t see the final hand, but 5-4-offsuit seems an appropriate one to hold up for the winner’s photo in this one.

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Christian Berg
Event #57, €100 NL Turbo (Unltd rebuys) – 2nd Best Holdem (€50R)
Players: 19, with 21 rebuys
Prize pool: €2,958.50
Places paid: 4

1. Christian Berg (Sweden) — €1,240
2. Aleksandr Denisov (Russia) — €830
3. Jennifer Shahade (USA) — €533
4. Marlon Boncompain (France) — €355

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Finally while nearly everyone else was sleeping many of poker’s elite were up all night playing Event #58, a €5,000 NL “Midnight Turbo” featuring rapid-fire 10-minute levels.

A total of 82 showed up and after just a few hours Dan Smith of the USA collected for himself another trophy and a six-figure score after topping an especially tough field.

_1Event 58 EPT 11 Grand Final Dan Smith DSC_8185-thumb-450x300-260008-1.jpg

Dan Smith
Event #58, €5,000 NL Midnight Hyperturbo
Entries: 82
Prize pool: €410,000
Places paid: 11

1. Dan Smith (USA) — €109,370
2. Habib Esses (Brazil) — €77,750
3. David Dayan (Brazil) — €50,900
4. David Yan (New Zealand) — €39,170
5. Georgios Zisimopoulos (Greece) — €31,020
6. Evangelos Vrakas (Greece) — €24,260
7. Pavel Krasoselskii (Russia) — €19,090
8. Ariel Malnik (Lithuania) — €14,915
9. Salman Behbehani (Kuwait) — €11,335
10. Gad Shitrit (Israel) — €9,945
11. Berthold Winz (Germany) — €9,945

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There’s another full slate of action including that aforementioned second day of Event #54 (the €1K NL) and a host of other events. The one on the side that will draw the most attention, though, will be Event #61, the €25,000 High Roller with a single re-entry which will surely attract another whizbang field as the last big buy-in of the festival.

Stick close to the PokerStars Blog and together we’ll see who claims the next set of silver spades on this busy Wednesday.

Click here for a continually updated list of all side event results from the EPT11 Grand Final.

Follow all the action from the €10,000 Main Event is on the Main Event page. Also watch on EPT Live. It’s also about time you downloaded the EPT app. There you will get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts. You can download it on Android or IOS.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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