EPT SAN REMO: ALL EYES ON SAN REMO AS FINAL TABLE IS SET

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

8 participants are looking for the last EPT Main Title prior to the Grand Final coming later this month. That's right, it's EPT Final Table time at Casino San Remo!

The UK's Rupert Elder is the chip leader heading into final table play. However, Elder's chip lead is very small - Max Heinzelmann sits right behind him, two big blinds away from capturing the chip lead himself.

Heinzelmann stands to be the most dangerous player at the table, having just finished runner-up to Ben Wilinofsky at EPT Berlin. Heinzelmann hopes for a first-place finish this time around. A win would send him to the top of the PTPR Leaderboard, a second or third place finish will place him in the Top 10.

Day 3 chip leader Roberto Spada had a resurgence today and comes into final table play with a solid chip stack.

Canadian Xuan Liu (pictured) has been lurking around the leaderboard throughout the tournament. The online grinder will be looking to continue with her solid play and hopefully a EPT title is only a few hours away.

Finally, we take a look at Max Lykov. Lykov has been at or near the chip lead for a few days now.

We featured Lykov earlier in the tournament - Lykov has three PTPR Scores already this season and is about to collect his fourth. He has three Top 10 finishes this year, he is looking for his first title. A win and Lykov would jump up to a tie for 2nd on the PTPR Leaderboard.

It all goes down in a couple of hours, live from san Remo!

Here is how they stand:
Seat 1. Francesco De Vivo, Italy - 1,090,000
Seat 2. Max Lykov, Russia - 1,495,000
Seat 3. Rupert Elder, United Kingdom - 8,005,000
Seat 4. Max Heinzelmann, Germany - 7,885,000
Seat 5. Xuan Liu, Canada - 1,740,000
Seat 6. Roberto Spada, Italy, 4,775,000
Seat 7. Massimiliano Manigrasso, Italy - 2,000,000
Seat 8. Costantino Russo, Italy - 2,565,000

Notable eliminations on Monday:
Andrew Teng and Joe Cada were the big names out on Monday. It's too bad that Cada wasn't able to do better - still - a great performance by the 2009 WSOP Champ.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
European Poker Tour San Remo
EPT San Remo NLH Main Event
April 27-May 3, 2011

Casino San Remo
San Remo, ITA

Buy-in: $7,650
Prizepool: $7,094,259
Entries: 987

Defending Champion: Liv Boeree

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 134
2nd position 84
3rd position 54
4th position 44
5th position 39
6th position 34
7th position 34
8th position 19
LUIGI PIGNATARO 19
ANTONIO VENNERI 19
MARCO BOGNANNI 19
ANDREW TENG 17
JOE CADA 17
DIEGO BOLZONI 17
MARCO FABBRINI 17
NICOLAS YUNIS 14
KAMAL CHORARIA 14
LUCIANO LONGHITANO 14