European Poker Tour Grand Final Day 4 Recap

Much was at stake on day 4 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo. While the money bubble had already been burst the previous day, the remaining 39 players still had plenty to worry about. They wouldn’t be going home as losers, but a $205,543 difference between their currently guaranteed payday and the minimum payday at the final table was enough to push hard to survive the day to sit at that last table. There was also, of course, the matter of putting themselves in position to take down the $3.2 million first-place prize.

That dream was crushed early on for many of the hopefuls, including Thomas Brolin (38th, $60.082), Freddy Deeb (30th, $66,564), Raymond Rahme (27th, $66,564), Rami “arbianight” Boukai (25th, $66,564), and Amit “AMAK316” Makhika (20th, $73,205). Also found in the payout line was half of the Pagano father-son duo, Luca Pagano's father, Claudio Pagano, who finished in 22nd, for $73,205.

Among those trying to survive was a man who was surviving the hard way away from the felt. PokerStars.com qualifier Vincent Secher had been camping in a tent in nearby Nice, France, during the tournament to save money. PokerStars heard about Secher’s plight and put him up at the Monte Carlo Bay hotel, where the tournament is taking place. To show his appreciation, Secher wore the bathrobe provided in his new hotel room to the tables with PokerStars patch in place.

Johnny Lodden displayed his own survival skills throughout days two and three, as he acted as one of, if not the, chip leader throughout those days. Lodden, however, failed to make it through today. A man who doubled up through Lodden eventually used Lodden’s own chips to eliminate him. Henrik Gwinner had taken a huge chunk of Lodden’s stack when his pocket jacks held up versus Lodden’s K-Q. Lodden never quite recovered, and Gwinner then finished the job by taking the Norwegian Internet pro out of the tournament in 17th place ($73,205). Then, almost two hours later, Secher went back to his suite when he busted in 13th ($120,164).

One player who experienced a fight for survival was Antonio Esfandiari. Esfandiari pulled into a big chip lead early on in the going, but then got involved in a very weird hand. Esfandiari limped preflop under the gun, and action folded to the player in the small blind, who also limped. Stig Top Rasmussen then pushed all in for about 700,000, when the blinds were only 5,000-10,000, and Esfandiari snap-called, folding the other player. Esfandiari held a slow-played pair of queens and Rasmussen held A-10 offsuit. An ace on the turn meant that Esfandiari and Rasmussen would essentially switch stacks.

Many players would be sent reeling after such a hand, but Esfandiari kept his cool and continued to play good poker. He rebuilt his stack up to 1.8 million, but then took another big hit to put him back below 1 million. Ultimately, he rode the chip-stack roller coaster but came out alive to end the night with more than 700,000.

The final hand of the night ended in quite a dramatic way. The tournament organizers decided to end early, with 11 players remaining, because the tournament had been carrying on for too long. Play would continue until the end of the current level, just three minutes away. In that final hand, a big pot developed in a blind-on-blind battle between Joe Hachem and reigning Card Player Online Player of the Year - Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron. Hachem was looking to take down this event to become the second ever triple-crown winner, after Gavin Griffin, by collecting a World Series of Poker bracelet, a World Poker Tour title, and an EPT title. Alas, it was not to be. After getting reraised all in by Baron on a 10-high flop, Hachem called, showing 10-6. Baron held J-10 and avoided a turned open-ended straight draw from Hachem to make for one more elimination to close the night. Hachem finished in 11th to pocket $159,691.

Glenn Chorny, after a quick climb up the leader board, including taking the latter of the two big chunks out of Esfandiari, ended the night as the chip leader.

Here are the chip stacks for the final 10 players:

1. Glenn Chorny -- 3,370,000
2. Isaac Baron -- 2,365,000
3. Michael Martin -- 1,570,000
4. Maxime Villemure -- 1,220,000
5. Denes Kalo -- 957,000
6. Antonio Esfandiari -- 735,000
7. Luca Pagano -- 705,000
8. Valeriy Ilikyan -- 650,000
9. Stig Top Rasmussen -- 590,000
10. Henrik Gwinner -- 466,000

Be sure to come back to CardPlayer.com tomorrow at 1 p.m. CET (7 a.m. ET) to catch all of the final action with live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos. Also, catch the EPT Live video feed for the final table at 3 p.m. CET (9 a.m. ET) here at CardPlayer.com by clicking on the “EPT Live Video” on the homepage, or by clicking here.