The final stop on the 2014 calendar for the European Poker Tour is in full swing this weekend, with Leonid Markin taking down the €50,000 Super High Roller and the €5,000 Main Event in full swing.
€50,000 Super High Roller
51 players took up the challenge of the €50,000 Super High Roller tournament, which started on Tuesday and concluded on Thursday evening. Reigning World Series of Poker Championship Event winner Martin Jacobson joined a cadre of other pros such as Isaac Haxton, Stephen Chidwick, Joseph Cheong and Brian Roberts on the felt for Day One but, by the start of the final table on Thursday, only Chidwick and Roberts were among the seven men left standing (and also the ones taking home any money).
Markin held the lead with his 3.35 million chip stack over Vladimir Troyanovskiy’s three million chips at the start of the day while the rest of the field looked to play catch-up. Juha Helppi (2.03 million) and Ivan Soshnikov (1.925 million) were in shouting distance of the leaders, but Paul Newey (1.51 million), Chidwick (660K) and Roberts (275K) had their work cut out for them if they were to contend for the title.
Roberts would prove to be difficult to eliminate. He fought off the short stack for more than two hours before Newey finally got the best of him to send Roberts out in seventh place. Markin improved his position as the chip leader in knocking out Troyanovskiy in sixth, but Newey signified he wasn’t going anywhere in dropping Soshnikov in fifth place. After Markin eliminated Helppi in fourth place, he was in command with 6.27 million chips over Chidwick (4.29 million) and Newey (2.19 million).
Newey would prove to be the mover of the tournament as he slowly bled chips out of his pair of opponents. He would double up through Markin to take over the lead and extend said lead when he topped Markin for a second time. Only moments into three-handed play, Newey had completely flipped the leaderboard, holding more chips than Markin and Chidwick combined. Just as it seemed he had the tournament in hand, the wheels would come off for Newey, however.
Chidwick would double up through Newey to bring the stacks closer together, but Chidwick wouldn’t be able to mount a further charge. He lost a huge pot on a J-5-6-Q-4 board when he couldn’t call a Markin all-in (Markin then added insult to injury in showing a complete bluff), then would be eliminated in third when he ran a K-9 into Markin’s pocket Aces. Going to heads up, Markin had reestablished himself on top of the rankings over Newey in holding slightly less than 4 million chips over Newey’s stack.
Newey came out of the gate quick, doubling through Markin when his pocket nines held over Markin’s A-7. Markin, however, didn’t fade away, instead slowly grinding his way back to where the stacks were virtually equal. On the final hand, Markin would raise the pot only to see Newey push all-in over the top of his bet. Markin immediately made the call, tabling a dominating A-10 off suit over Newey’s A♦ 7♦. The flop would prove interesting, coming down 8♦ 4♦ J♥, but once the board completed with a K♥ on the turn and a 2♠ on the river, Newey was out in second and Markin picked up the Super High Roller championship.
1. Leonid Markin, €771,360
2. Paul Newey, €557,090
3. Stephen Chidwick, €355,070
4. Juha Helppi, €269,360
5. Ivan Soshnikov, €208,150
6. Vladimir Troyanovskiy, €159,170
7. Brian Roberts, €128,565
€5,000 EPT Main Event
The two Day Ones for the EPT Prague Main Event proved that the Czech Republic was the place to be for the final tournament of 2014. The eventual field totaled 1107 players, building a prize pool of €5.535 million. When the champion is determined next week, that fortunate soul will have €969,000 to spend on Christmas presents for their loved ones.
Dmitry Ponomarev (159,800) and Oleksii Khoroshenin (150,500) led the way on Day 1A, but it was Andrey Zaichenko (237,600) and Sergii Baranov (230,000) who dominated the Day 1B action. Others such as Prague Eureka Poker Tour champion Balazs Botond (143,000), Vanessa Selbst (141,800), Johnny Lodden (111,700) and Shannon Shorr (101,700) are still in contention, but players such as Jonathan Little, Dominik Nitsche, Fabrice Soulier, Marvin Rettenmaier, Jennifer Shahade and Luca Pagano did not make it through to Day Two.
That Day 2 is already in action with 324 players remaining on the felt. The pace of play will be a bit on the slower side as the champion isn’t going to be determined until Wednesday. For those that aren’t around for the late stages of the Main Event, a €10,000 High Roller tournament will wrap the 2014 schedule for the EPT in Prague.
