EPT GRAND FINAL: IVEY COOLERED - HIGH ROLLERS FINAL TABLE SET FOR TUESDAY

PICTURE: POKERSTARS (Neil Stoddart)

We have reached the final table at the EPT Grand Final 25K High Rollers Event and Phil Ivey will not be part of the festivities.

A few minutes after Ivey's elimination, Daniel Negreanu took to Twitter and stated that Phil Ivey was playing so well, it would take a big-time cooler to take him out ... well, that's exactly what happened when Ivey's KK ran into 100K Super High Roller Champ Justin Bonomo's KQ and then a unfavourable board hit sending Ivey to the rail.

Negreanu (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-601st) and Bonomo (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-41st) will certainly be ones to watch on Tuesday, the two do have history together - they used to host a radio show together on Poker Road.

After entering the 100K Super High Rollers as the chip leader, Bonomo, incredibly, will do so again on Tuesday, he is assured of a second major result in a week.

European High Roller king Philipp Gruissem (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) will start the day third in chips. Gruissem won EPT HR events at Barcelona and London in 2011, finishing the 2011 season in the Top 20 in points.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Justin Bonomo 2,202,000
Igor Kurganov 1,288,000
Philipp Gruissem 990,000
Daniel Negreanu 660,000
Noah Schwartz 522,000
Nathan Schoo 387,000
Artem Litvinov 331,000
Max Lykov 271,000

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st 1,080,000 2nd 598,600 3rd 366,000 4th 266,000 5th 216,000 6th 166,000 7th 133,000 8th 100,000 RELATED POSTS >> FINALLY! CHARANIA WINS BIG >> FINAL TABLE SET >> SMITH SURGING IN MC >> DOWN TO 26 IN MC >> ROY WINS TURBO BOUNTY >> SMITH WINS 5K TURBO >> MARTINEZ LEADS MAIN >> 665 IN MONTE CARLO >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT 25K High Rollers EPT NLH High Rollers Event April 29-May 1, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $25,500 | Prizepool: $3,325,000 Entries: 133 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 101 2nd position 61 3rd position 36 4th position 26 5th position 19 6th position 11 7th position 9 8-9th position 6

HPT MINNESOTA: ALKHATIB DEFEATS THE GOOD DOCTOR TO WIN

Nasez Alkhatib (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-202nd) has won big in Minnesota. The Heartland Poker Tour was in town at the Canterbury Park Card Casino and Alkhatib has picked up the Main Event title!

Alkhatib defeated HPT Missouri final table participant Dr. Gary Lambert (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-320th) heads up. That's a little over 100K in winnings in less than 8 weeks on the Heartland Poker Tour - well played Doctor!

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) Nasez Alkhatib $118,482 Gary Lambert $67,061 Eric Worre $42,654 Paul Ratajczyk $36,729 Edward Janezich $28,436 Daniel Conway $23,222 RELATED POSTS >> BIG NUMBERS @ HPT COLORADO NEXT TOUR STOP HPT Indiana Majestic Star Casinos May 4-20, 2012

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Heartland Poker Tour Minnesota HPT Minnesota NLH Main Event April 26-30, 2012 Canterbury Park Casino | Minnesota Buy-in: $1,650 | Prizepool: $473,928 Entries: 333 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION NASEZ ALKHATIB 35 GARY LAMBERT 18 ERIC WORRE 10 PAUL RATAJCZYK 8 EDWARD JANEZICH 5

EPT GRAND FINAL: FINALLY! AMERICAN CHARANIA WINS FIRST MAJOR EVENT

PICTURE: POKERSTARS (Neil Stoddart)

It's been a long time coming for popular American poker pro Mohsin Charania. Known to most as @chicagocards1 on Twitter, Charania has been around the live tournament circuit for four years and although he has had good results in the past, Charania sure picked a good time to collect his first major tournament victory!

After days of gruelling action, Charania is the latest EPT Grand Final Champion, winning 1.35M EURO for his efforts, a career score for sure!

Charania defeated Frenchwoman Lucille Cailly heads up. Both players had a huge crown on the rail, one mostly American, the other mostly women hoping that Cailly could seal the deal. Still, a 1.05M EURO payday is nothing to take for granted.

The Canadian duo of Michael Dietrich and Clayton Mozdzen were unable to get things going on Monday, finishing in 6th and 7th places respectively.

Daniel Gomez, who held the chip lead late in this event, was the first player out on Monday, collecting 130K EURO for his performance.

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) Mohsin Charania - € 1,350,000 Lucille Cailly - € 1,050,000 Bernard Guigon - € 545,000 Sergio Castelluccio - € 400,000 Rodrigo Caprioli - € 315,000 Michael Dietrich - € 245,000 Clayton Mozdzen - € 185,000 Daniel Gomez - € 130,000 RELATED POSTS >> FINAL TABLE SET >> SMITH SURGING IN MC >> DOWN TO 26 IN MC >> ROY WINS TURBO BOUNTY >> SMITH WINS 5K TURBO >> MARTINEZ LEADS MAIN >> 665 IN MONTE CARLO >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final NLH Main Event April 25-30, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $13,240 | Prizepool: $8,803,935 Entries: 665 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION MOHSIN CHARANIA 156 LUCILLE CAILLY 96 BERNARD GUIGON 81 SERGIO CASTELLUCCIO 71 RODRIGO CAPRIOLI 66 MICHAEL DIETRICH 61 CLAYTON MOZDZEN 56 DANIEL GOMEZ 51 ALEX MOSTAFAVI 41 VADZIM MARKUSHEVSKI 31 ANDONI LARRABE 26 ANATOLY GURTOVOY 24 BEN VINSON 24 GEERT-JAN POTIJK 24 GEORGES DIB 21 PRATYUSH BUDDIGA 21 JESSE MARTIN 21 JASON WHEELER 18 FADY KAMAR 18 DIMITAR DANCHEV 18 TUDOR GRANGURE 14 DAN ABOUAF 14 AMIT MAKHIJA 14 JOHN ANDRESS 11 VADZIM KURSEVICH 11 ANDREW PANTLING 11 FRANCK BLANC 11

GSOP GRAND FINAL: SHATILOV OUTLASTS SZABO HEADS UP

PICTURE: GSOP LIVE

After a few small cashes on the live circuit, it's finally Andrey Shatilov's time to shine! Shatilov has won the GSOP Live Grand Final in the Dominican Republic.

Shatilov defeated defending CAPT Euro Championship winner Zoltan Szabo heads up. Szabo finished the 2011 season in the Top 200 - tied with recent Irish Open winner Kevin Vandersmissen.

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) ANDREY SHATILOV 144,190 ZOLTAN SZABO 93,240 ZSOLT VIZSNYICZAI 63,270 JEFF TOPOL 49,950 NICK GIBSON 38,630 LOUIS BOUTIN 30,630 SVETOSLAV DODEV 24,640 AKU JOENTAUSTA 19,650 MARKUS KAUPER 16,320 RELATED POSTS >> BUTZHAMMER WINS GSOP SALZBURG >> SZABO WINS CAPT CHAMPS. NEXT TOUR STOP End of Season 2

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Grand Series of Poker Grand Final GSOP Grand Final NLH Main Event April 23-26, 2012 Hard Rock Hotel | Dominican Republic Buy-in: $3,300 | Prizepool: $666,000 Entries: 222 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION ANDREY SHATILOV 35 ZOLTAN SZABO 18 ZSOLT VIZSNYICZAI 10 JEFF TOPOL 8 NICK GIBSON 5

APPT CEBU: HOANG ANH DO WINS ONE FOR VIETNAM

PICTURE: POKERSTARS BLOG (Kenneth Lim)

Vietnamese poker player Hoang Anh Do has won the APPT Cebu Main Event in the Philippines!

Do defeated a total of 245 opponents and earns the 5.29M PHP first place prize.

2011 ANZPT Sydney winner Michael Kanaan was fourth in the event, after collecting two PTPR Scores last season, this is Kanaan's first Score of the season.

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FT PAYOUTS (PHP) 1st Hoang Anh Do - PHP5,927,000 2nd Nicholas Wong - PHP3,732,000 3rd Alistair Duff - PHP2,086,000 4th Michael Kanaan - PHP1,592,000 5th Amit Varma - PHP1,317,000 6th Sameer Rattonsey - PHP1,043,000 7th Jacky Wang - PHP823,000 8th Jae Kyung Sim - PHP658,500 9th Antoine Amourette - PHP494,000 RELATED POSTS >> KIM WINS APPT SEOUL NEXT TOUR STOP End of Season 5

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Asia Pacific Poker Tour Cebu APPT Cebu NLH Main Event April 25-30, 2012 Waterfront Airport | Philippines Buy-in: $2,370 | Prizepool: $520,945 Entries: 246 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION HOANG ANH DO 35 NICHOLAS WONG 18 ALISTAIR DUFF 10 MICHAEL KANAAN 8 AMIT VARMA 5

WPT BESTBET JAX: JATTIN LEADS AS FINAL 55 RETURN MONDAY

PICTURE: WORLD POKER TOUR

Although many top players were eliminated on Sunday, we have 55 runners still alive at the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open, all looking for their shot at the WPT title!

Farid Jattin (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 689th) is the overnight chip leader in Jacksonville. Jattin was runner-up to Tyng Low at the Borgata Summer Open last June and has collected over 270K USD in winnings on the live poker circuit.

Trailing Jattin is well known pro Darren Elias. Elias (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) has several wins to his credit, but his most recent major score, like Jattin, came at Borgata, where he finished in the WPT Borgata Poker Open last September.

There are still five former WPT Champions in the field. They are lead by defending WPT Five Diamond Classic and recent iSeries Live Champ James Dempsey (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR), who brings a little more than 400K in chips into Monday's play.

2011 PTPR Poker Player of the Year - Will "The Thrill" Failla (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-132nd) - is seventh in chips. The defending WPT Legends of Poker Champ is fresh off his win on the Heartland Poker Tour last month and will be looking for more on Monday.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS
Farid Jattin 718,000 (Day 2 Chip Leader)
Darren Elias 636,000
James Dempsey 404,500
Will Failla 335,000
Byron Kaverman 292,000
Matt Giannetti 274,500
Brian Hastings 248,500
Daniel Buzgon 232,000
Darryll Fish 183,500
Tony Dunst 169,000
Matt Marafioti 163,000
Matt Brady 147,500
Allen Kessler 123,000
Taylor von Kriegenbergh 94,500
Andy Frankenberger 90,000

NOTABLE ELIMINATIONS
Mike Sexton, Mike Scarborough, Matt Juttelstad, Matt Stout, Vitor Coehlo, Shannon Shorr, Tony Ruberto, Tony Cousineau, Lisa Hamilton, Corey Burbick, David Diaz, Brian Hawkins, Abbey Daniels, John Racener, Jonathan Little, Keith Ferrera, Joe Serock and David Paredes.

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EVENT PAYOUTS (USD) 1st: $400,600 2nd: $236,560 3rd: $147,850 4th: $94,624 5th: $66,532 6th: $54,704 7th: $47,312 8th: $39,919 9th: $34,005 10th-12th: $25,134 13th-15th: $20,699 16th-18th: $16,263 19th-27th: $12,124 28th-36th: $9,610 RELATED POSTS >> VEDES VINDICATED >> RUBERTO WINS WPT JAX TOURNAMENT UPDATES >> WPT LIVE UPDATES NEXT TOUR STOP WPT World Championship Bellagio, Las Vegas May 19-26, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open WPT NLH Main Event April 27-2, 2012 BestBet Jacksonville | Florida Buy-in: $5,000 | Prizepool: $1,478,500 Entries: 320 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 128 2nd position 78 3rd position 48 4th position 38 5th position 33 6-7th position 28 8-11th position 13 12-15th position 11 16-18th position 8

EPT GRAND FINAL: FINAL TABLE SET - READY FOR MONTE CARLO SHOWDOWN

PICTURE: POKERSTARS (Neil Stoddart)

After days of battling, we have finally reached our final table at the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final Main Event in Monte Carlo, the second PTPR Grand Slam Event of the season.

Although the final table may not contain tons of well known players, the quality of player at the final table sure means that we are in for a fantastic final day in Monte Carlo.

At 64-years of age, Senegal's Bernard Guigon will have the chip lead when play begins on Monday. PokerStars reports that Guigon is no stranger to big buy-in events, this experience should serve him well on Monday.

In Seat 8 will be Lucille Cailly. Cailly will be the first woman ever to participate at final table play at the EPT Grand Final. Women have had many big event victories on the EPT Tour, is Cailly the next one to win a EPT title?

The lone American at the table, Mohsin "Chicagocards1" Charania, will have most of America railing him on Monday. Charania has been at the top of the leaderboard for a few days now.

FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENTS/CHIP COUNTS
Seat 1: Rodrigo Caprioli, 2.94M
Seat 2: Bernard Guigon, 4.9M
Seat 3: Michael Dietrich, 1.55M
Seat 4: Sergio Castelluccio, 1.41M
Seat 5: Mohsin Charania, 2.21M
Seat 6: Daniel Gomez, 2.66M
Seat 7: Clayton Mozdzen, 1.43M
Seat 8: Lucille Cailly, 2.86M

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1- € 1,500,000 2- € 900,000 3- € 545,000 4- € 400,000 5- € 315,000 6- € 245,000 7- € 185,000 8- € 130,000 RELATED POSTS >> SMITH SURGING IN MC >> DOWN TO 26 IN MC >> ROY WINS TURBO BOUNTY >> SMITH WINS 5K TURBO >> MARTINEZ LEADS MAIN >> 665 IN MONTE CARLO >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET "LIVE" FINAL TABLE COVERAGE POKERSTARS TV MON AUG 30th 2012 14:30 CET, 8:30 ET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final NLH Main Event April 25-1, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $13,240 | Prizepool: $8,803,935 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 156 2nd position 96 3rd position 81 4th position 71 5th position 66 6th position 61 7th position 56 8th position 51 ALEX MOSTAFAVI 41 VADZIM MARKUSHEVSKI 31 ANDONI LARRABE 26 ANATOLY GURTOVOY 24 BEN VINSON 24 GEERT-JAN POTIJK 24 GEORGES DIB 21 PRATYUSH BUDDIGA 21 JESSE MARTIN 21 JASON WHEELER 18 FADY KAMAR 18 DIMITAR DANCHEV 18 TUDOR GRANGURE 14 DAN ABOUAF 14 AMIT MAKHIJA 14 JOHN ANDRESS 11 VADZIM KURSEVICH 11 ANDREW PANTLING 11 FRANCK BLANC 11

EPT GRAND FINAL: SMITH SURGING - MOVES TO #2 ON QJ PLAYER OF THE YEAR CHARTS

PICTURE: POKERSTARS (Neil Stoddart)

The last few days have been very good for American Daniel Smith. After earning the win in the 5K Turbo event on Thursday, Smith has won his second 5K event, winning the 5K NLH event - collecting over 410K EURO in three days!

Moreover, Smith's two victories have allowed him to skyrocket up the charts in the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year, powered by PTPRpoker.

Smith is now ranked #2 overall, becoming the second player to hit the 200-point mark this season. Smith is 54 points back of Canadian Jonathan Duhamel in the race for first.

J.P. Kelly (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-177th) was also having a fine tournament - that is, until he ran into the red-hot Smith. Kelly bowed out in fourth position in the event.

Dmitry Grinenko (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-350th) and Govert Metaal (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-444th) both earned their second QJ/PTPR Scores of 2012 in the event.

Zachary Korik, Jeff Gross, Mike Watson, Masa Kagawa and Maxim Lykov all cashed in the event.

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1, Daniel Smith, € 250,500 2, Martin Kabrhel, € 142,300 3, Vladislav Varlashin, € 82,800 4, JP Kelly, € 62,000 5, Raoul Refos, € 50,900 6, Zachary Korik, € 39,950 7, Dmitry Grinenko, € 31,400 8, Govert Metaal, € 22,900 9, Leon Cohen, € 17,800 10, Jeffrey Gross, € 17,800 11, Michael Watson, € 16,100 12, Masa Kagawa, € 16,100 13, Adolfo Vaeza, € 14,400 14, Zoltan Szabo, € 14,400 15, Marton Czuczor, € 12,700 16, Max Lykov, € 12,700 17, Nicolas Gottner, € 11,000 18, Berthold Winz, € 11,000 19, Rafael Porzecanski, € 11,000 20, Viacheslav Igin, € 11,000 RELATED POSTS >> DOWN TO 26 IN MC >> ROY WINS TURBO BOUNTY >> SMITH WINS 5K TURBO >> MARTINEZ LEADS MAIN >> 665 IN MONTE CARLO >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final 5K NLH Main Event April 27-28, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $6,890 | Prizepool: $1,125,355 Entries: 175 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION DANIEL SMITH 101 MARTIN KABRHEL 61 VLADISLAV VARLASHIN 36 J.P. KELLY 26 RAOUL REFOS 19 ZACHARY KORIK 11 DMITRY GRINENKO 9 GOVERT METAAL 6 LEON COHEN 6 NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PALACIOS WINS VENETO POKER CLASSIC

PICTURE: CODIGO POKER

Poker in Panama! The Veneto Poker Classic has crowned Bolivar Palacios as it's Champion.

This is Palacios' first PTPR score of 2012. Palacios had a Top 10 finish at the 2011 PCA in the Bahamas, event that was won by Galen Hall.


Farid Jattin was fourth in the event. Jattin collected two scores in 2011, at the Borgata Summer Championship and the Everglades Open.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (USD) Bolivar Palacios $ 140.700 Wilmar Dias $ 87.900 Jonathan Arthur $ 52.750 Farid Jattin $ 37,680 Javier Saldaña $ 30.150 Noris Barcimanto $ 22.600 Cesar Reyes $ 15.080 Iuri Dutraz $ 12.560 Brian Lara $ 8,800 Maxence Debar $ 6.280

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Veneto Poker Classic NLH Main Event April 16-21, 2012 Veneto Casino | Panama Buy-in: $2,000 | Prizepool: $502,400 Entries: 314 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION BOLIVAR PALACIOS 35 WILMAR DIAS 18 JONATHAN ARTHUR 10 FARID JATTIN 8 JAVIER SALDANA 5

EPT GRAND FINAL: DOWN TO 26 IN MONTE CARLO - POTIJK LEADS THE WAY

PICTURE: POKERSTARS (Neil Stoddart)

Only 26 players remain at the EPT Grand Final Main Event in Monte Carlo. One of the final 26 players will collect 1.5M EURO when all is said and done.

Dutch player Geert-Jan Potijk is the overnight chip leader. Potijk enjoyed a 96th place finish at EPT London in 2011. Potijk's lead is a small one, we'll have to see if he can keep things trending upwards on Sunday.

American Mohsin Charania - who started the day second in chips - is still alive. Charania sits somewhere near the middle of the pack with fellow American Jason Wheeler.

EPT Deauville Champ Vadzim Kursevich (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 13th) sits near the bottom of the remaining 26 but, he still has plenty of chips to go around.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS
Geert-Jan Potijk 1,320,000
Ben Vinson 1,039,000
Lucille Cailly 999,000
Pratyush Buddiga 970,000
Jason Wheeler 903,000
Mohsin Charania 875,000
Tudor Grangure 828,000
Michael Dietrich 719,000
Vadzim Kursevich 546,000
Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli 525,000
Jesse Martin 438,000
Andrew Pantling  322,000
Amit Makhija 317,000

NOTABLE ELIMINATIONS
Super High Rollers winner Justin Bonomo, Matthias De Meulder, Richard Toth, Guillaume Darcourt, Erich Kollmann, Max Martinez, Bruno Fitoussi, Erik Seidel, Leo Margots, Doc Sands, Angel Guillen, Mario Ho, Pierre Neuville, Nacho Barbero, Andrew Badecker, Martin Finger, Adam Levy, Annette Obrestad, Alessio Isaia, Maksim Kolosov, Jonathan Karamalikis, Rupert Elder, Johnny Lodden, Pius Heinz and Marcel Luske.

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TOP 26 PAYOUTS (EURO) 1- € 1,500,000 2- € 900,000 3- € 545,000 4- € 400,000 5- € 315,000 6- € 245,000 7- € 185,000 8- € 130,000 9-10- € 95,000 11-12- € 70,000 13-14- € 60,000 15-16- € 50,000 17-24- € 40,000 25-26- € 35,000 RELATED POSTS >> ROY WINS TURBO BOUNTY >> SMITH WINS 5K TURBO >> MARTINEZ LEADS MAIN >> 665 IN MONTE CARLO >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final NLH Main Event April 25-1, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $13,240 | Prizepool: $8,803,935 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 156 2nd position 96 3rd position 81 4th position 71 5th position 66 6th position 61 7th position 56 8th position 51 9th position 41 10th position 31 11th position 26 12-14th position 24 15-17th position 21 18-20th position 18 21-23rd position 14 24-26th position 11 FRANCK BLANC 11

EPT GRAND FINAL: CANADIAN ROY WINS 2K TURBO BOUNTY, VANDERMISSEN TOP 5

PICTURE: PADDY POWER POKER

Jonathan Roy has picked up the W in the 2K NLH Turbo Bounty event at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, earning his first points of the 2012 season.

Irish Open Champion Kevin Vandersmissen (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-27th) was fifth in the event, earning his first points since his Open win earlier this month.

EPT Loutraki winner Zimnan Ziyard (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 142nd) earned his third PTPR Score of 2012, finishing seventh in the event.

It is a second PTPR Score of 2012 for Scott Baumstein (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 346th), Jon Turner (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-453rd) and Michael Wywrot (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 444th).

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (EURO) Jonathan Roy € 58,000 Aneris Adomkevicius € 32,300 Vasile Paul Plastoi € 18,850 Jacques Torbey € 14,450 Kevin Vandersmissen € 11,800 Scott Baumstein € 9,370 Zimnan Ziyard € 7,130 Jonathan Turner € 5,300 Michal Wywrot € 4,090 Franck Fellous € 4,090 RELATED POSTS >> SMITH WINS 5K TURBO >> MARTINEZ LEADS MAIN >> 665 IN MONTE CARLO >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR SIDE EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final 2K NLH Turbo Bounty April 26, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $2,780 | Prizepool: $270,085 Entries: 210 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JONATHAN ROY 75 ANERIS ADOMKEVICIUS 40 VASILE PAUL PLASTOI 25 JACQUES TORBEY 15 KEVIN VANDERSMISSEN 10 SCOTT BAUMSTEIN 8 ZIMNAN ZIYARD 5 JONATHAN TURNER 5 MICHAEL WYWROT 5

EPT GRAND FINAL: SMITH WINS 5K TURBO, JAZAYERI BACK IN THE QJ TOP 10

PICTURE: WPT.com (B.J. Nemeth)

Daniel Smith has won the 5K NLH Turbo event at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Smith (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-37th) outlasted 100 competitors in order to pickup the title.

WPT LAPC winner Sean Jazayeri's 8th place finish was good enough to bring him back into the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year powered by PTPRpoker Top 10. Jazayeri's six points place him 10th on the 2012 list, taking over from ElkY - Bertrand Grospellier.

EPT Deauville High Rollers winner Eric Sfez (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 25th) was fifth in the event.

Viacheslav Igin (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 143rd), JP Kelly (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-546th), Martin Jacobson (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 121st), Doc Sands (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 47th) and Roman Romanovsky (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-49th) all cashed in the event.

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) Daniel Smith € 152,980 Roger Suter € 79,878 Viacheslav Igin € 75,793 Thomas Wolff € 42,850 Eric Sfez € 33,050 JP Kelly € 24,500 Martin Jacobson € 19,600 Sean Jazayeri € 14,700 David Sands € 12,250 Zachary Korik € 12,250 Max Lehmanski € 11,000 Roman Romanovsky € 11,000 RELATED POSTS >> MARTINEZ LEADS MAIN >> 665 IN MONTE CARLO >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final 5K NLH Turbo April 26, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $6,890 | Prizepool: $649,490 Entries: 101 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION DANIEL SMITH 101 ROGER SUTER 61 VIASCHESLAV IGIN 36 THOMAS WOLFF 26 ERIC SFEZ 19 JP KELLY 11 MARTIN JACOBSON 9 SEAN JAZAYERI 6 DAVID SANDS "DOC" 6

EPT GRAND FINAL: REMEMBER ME? POPULAR "THE BIG GAME" CONTESTANT LEADS MONTE CARLO

PICTURE: POKERSTARS (Neil Stoddart)

Massimiliano "Max" Martinez certainly stirred things up when he participated in the PokerStars show "The Big Game" as the "loose cannon" a while back. Martinez seemed to be able to read Phil Hellmuth's soul and was playing so well, he was getting major props from his fellow poker peers at the table.

Martinez certainly hasn't rested on his laurels since appearing on the "The Big Game", he is the chip leader heading into Day 3 at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Martinez is coming into Saturday's play with 456K in chips.


Trailing Martinez is American pro Mohsin Charania, who has 413K chips.

Some guy named Erik Seidel is currently third in chips, it will be interesting to see what Seidel does on Day 3 Saturday. After a very successful 2011 season, Seidel has been a little slow out of the gates in 2012.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS (125K+)
Max Martinez 456300 (Day 2 Chip Leader)
Mohsin Charania 413500
Erik Seidel 362200
Vadzim Kursevich 317800
Giuseppe Pantaleo 294400
David Sands 281800
Andrew Badecker 279200
Guillaume Darcourt 274800
Bruno Fitoussi  245500
Justin Bonomo 221900
Amit Makhija 215900
Richard Toth 205800
Ben Vinson 200800
Tristan Clemencon 198700
Rupert Elder 196600
Michael Dietrich 193500
Andrew Pantling  193200
Bryan Piccioli 187000
Noah Boeken  185200
Nacho Barbero 185000
Alessio Isaia 173600
Maksim Kolosov 166700
Jonathan Karamalikis 158100
Adam Levy 156700
Matthias De Meulder 156700
Faraz Jaka 140100
Nicolas Chouity 138600
Annette Obrestad 130600
Sandra Naujoks 127700
Martin Finger 125200

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1- € 1,500,000 2- € 900,000 3- € 545,000 4- € 400,000 5- € 315,000 6- € 245,000 7- € 185,000 8- € 130,000 9-10- € 95,000 11-12- € 70,000 13-14- € 60,000 15-16- € 50,000 17-24- € 40,000 25-32- € 35,000 33-40- € 30,000 41-48- € 25,000 49-72- € 20,000 73-96- € 15,000 RELATED POSTS >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final NLH Main Event April 25-1, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $13,240 | Prizepool: $8,803,935 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 156 2nd position 96 3rd position 81 4th position 71 5th position 66 6th position 61 7th position 56 8th position 51 9th position 41 10th position 31 11th position 26 12-14th position 24 15-17th position 21 18-20th position 18 21-23rd position 14 24-27th position 11

EPT GRAND FINAL: MAIN EVENT DRAWS 665, GRAND SLAM POINTS AT STAKE

PICTURE: POKERSTARS (Neil Stoddart)

It's still early ... it's still very early, but, Nick Yunis is your Day 1 Chip Leader as the Main Event at the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final kicked off with two Day 1's on Wednesday and Thursday.

A grand total of 665 all put up 10K EURO in order to take their shot at the EPT's most prestigious title.

As mentioned, Nick Yunis has the very early lead after Day 1 while Doc Sands, John Eames, Tristan Clemencon, Freddy Deeb, Jason Wheeler and Tom Marchese all have top 20 chip stacks.

We're still a long ways away from the final table, that will happen next Tuesday, it will be fun to see which players make a move in the coming days.

The EPT Grand Final Main Event is the second PTPR Grand Slam Event of the season. The PCA in the Bahamas was the first Grand Slam of 2012:

2012 PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENTS
PCA Main Event | Jan 7-13 | Winner: John Dibella
EPT Grand Final Main Event | On now, Monte Carlo
WPT Tour Championship | Starts May 19, Bellagio
WSOP Main Event | Starts July 7, Rio Las Vegas

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS (80K+)
Nick Yunis  191,700 (Day 1 Chip Leader)
David Sands 160,300
John Eames 157,200
Alessio Isaia 139,600
Tristan Clemencon 121,100
Freddy Deeb 114,600
Jason Wheeler 112,900
Tom Marchese 112,000
Nacho Barbero 105,400
Vladimir Geshkenbein 103,900
Steve O'Dwyer 101,600
Marc-Andre Ladouceur 101,300
Jean-Noel Thorel 100,400
Scott Seiver 99,800
Mickey Petersen 98,800
Matt Perrins 95,100
Dario Minieri 94,700
Andrew Pantling  91,500
Jonathan Karamalikis 89,600
Michael Dietrich 88,600
Pius Heinz 87,100
Martin Finger 85,900
Ana Marquez 85,200
Noah Boeken  83,900
Andrew Badecker 83,800
JP Kelly 83,700
Annette Obrestad 82,400
Justin Bonomo 79,000

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1- € 1,500,000 2- € 900,000 3- € 545,000 4- € 400,000 5- € 315,000 6- € 245,000 7- € 185,000 8- € 130,000 9-10- € 95,000 11-12- € 70,000 13-14- € 60,000 15-16- € 50,000 17-24- € 40,000 25-32- € 35,000 33-40- € 30,000 41-48- € 25,000 49-72- € 20,000 73-96- € 15,000 RELATED POSTS >> BONOMO WINS SHR >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final NLH Main Event April 25-1, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $13,240 | Prizepool: $8,803,935 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 156 2nd position 96 3rd position 81 4th position 71 5th position 66 6th position 61 7th position 56 8th position 51 9th position 41 10th position 31 11th position 26 12-14th position 24 15-17th position 21 18-20th position 18 21-23rd position 14 24-27th position 11

APT PHILIPPINES: SPEIDEL SCORES BUT MISSES ANOTHER GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

PICTURE: POKERNEWS

It's hard to complain if you're Oliver Speidel. The man won the Aussie Millions in January, picking up 1.6M AUD is surely nothing to take for granted.

But, a case can be made the Speidel has left a lot of money, and QJ/PTPR Points, on the table ... for the second time this season, Speidel has missed a golden opportunity, heading into a final table with a ton of chips yet, not being able to deliver the goods.

Speidel was the overnight chip leader as the APT Philippines Main Event was setting up for final table play.

Sadly, Speidel could not get it done and could only muster fourth place points.

Still, Speidel (2012 QJ/PTPR RANK: T-6th) does collect 8 valuable points and manages to move up a few spots on the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard, powered by PTPRpoker.

Divan Le Roux was the eventual winner, defeating Conrad Coetzer heads up. Le Roux picks up 197K USD for the victory.

David Steicke was ninth in the event, Toto Leonidas 12th and McLean Karr 15th.

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) 1st: Divan Le Roux $197,000 2nd: Conrad Coetzer $104,000 3rd: Ryan Hong $49,000 4th: Oliver Speidel $37,000 5th: Han Wook Kim $30,800 6th: Nicandro Filart $24,600 7th: Franklin Acfalle $18,500 8th: Antonio Martins $12,300 9th: David Steicke $11,700 10th: Adam Monaghan $10,450 NEXT TOUR STOP APT Asian Series Goa Panjim, Goa, India May 21-27, 2012

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT Asian Poker Tour Philippines APT Philippines NLH Main Event April 21-25, 2012 Resorts World Manila | Philippines Buy-in: $2,700 | Prizepool: $635,000 Entries: 254 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION DIVAN LE ROUX 35 CONRAD COETZER 18 RYAN HONG 10 OLIVIER SPEIDEL 8 HAN WOOK KIM 5

EPT GRAND FINAL: SUPER HIGH ROLLERS - BONOMO BONANZA PLUS LADIES RULE HEADS UP

PICTURE: POKERSTARS

Justin Bonomo - Giant Killer! It was final table time in the 100K buy-in Super High Rollers Event at the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final in Monaco and Justin Bonomo certainly made this final is b++ch.

Simply put, Bonomo destroyed his competition at the final table, single-handedly eliminating five of his seven final table opponents - Bonomo never lost the chip lead on Wednesday en route to the biggest paypday of his career, 1.64M EURO to be more precise.



With his third place finish, ElkY - Bertrand Grospellier - makes his return to the QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Top 10, powered by PTPRpoker. ElkY finished 5th overall in the race for Player of Year last season (2011), ElkY's High Rollers win last week at EPT Berlin combined with this Super High Rollers finish earn his the 10th spot on the QJ charts for 2012, we're certainly expecting more from him this year.

COREN v WEISNER HEADS UP!
The final of the 5K Heads Up Championship concluded earlier today; an all-ladies final was on the agenda as former EPT winner Victoria Cohen defeated rising poker star Melanie Weisner in the best-of-five final.

This was the first time that two women met heads up for a EPT title, it's about damn time! Cohen collect just under 60K EURO for the win, this event did not qualify for PTPR Points.

NEVANLINNA WINS 5K PLO TURBO
Finland's Jussi Nevanlinna collected the win in the 5K PLO event in Monaco defeating former PCA PLO Champ William Thorsen heads up. Nevanlinna wins 80K EURO with the win.

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1. Justin Bonomo, €1,640,000 2. Tobias Reinkemeier, €1,064,000 3. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, €621,000 4. Patrik Antonius, €443,000 5. Masa Kagawa, €354,500 6. Daniel Negreanu, €310,000 RELATED POSTS >> SHR FINAL TABLE SET >> ElkY WINS BERLIN HR NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Barcelona Festival August 15-25, 2012

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final Super High Rollers April 23-25, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $100,000 | Prizepool: $5,846,910 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JUSTIN BONOMO 100 TOBIAS REINKEMEIER 60 BERTRAND GROSPELLIER "ElkY" 35 PATRIK ANTONIUS 25 MASA KAGAWA 18 DANIEL NEGREANU 10

EPT GRAND FINAL: SUPER HIGH ROLLERS FINAL TABLE READY TO GO

PICTURE: POKERSTARS

We're off and running in Monaco! The EPT Grand Final is one of the biggest celebrations of poker of the year as the European Poker Tour closes out it's 2011-12 poker season.

We're expecting many events to qualify for QJ/PTPR Points status and right out of the gate, the first ever Super High Rollers event at the Grand Final has reeled them in for sure!

The final table at the Super High Rollers event has been set. Over 5.8M USD at stake, with the winner collecting a 1.64M EURO paycheque.

Justin Bonomo (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) will enter Wednesday's final table as the chip leader, Bonomo holds a over 2:1 chip lead on second place player Tobias Reinkemeier (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-350th).

Kid Poker, Daniel Negreanu, is third in chips. Negreanu and fellow PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand Grospellier (who's currently fourth) are certainly two of the favourites to - at the very least - cash in the event. Only the top 6 (out of the remaining 8 players) will collect money on Wednesday.

ElkY (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-37th) could move into the QuadJacks Player of the Year race with a Top 3 finish. ElkY could be ranked as high as second on the QJ Top 10 - should he win on Wednesday.

Jonathan Duhamel (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 1st) has a chance to pad his lead at the top of the Player of the Year race. Duhamel, however, does have one of the smallest stack at the final table, he will need a great effort in order to score some points ... a win and Duhamel would be up to 356 PTPR Points on the season. Last season's Player of the Year, Will Failla, had a grand total of 363 Points.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Justin Bonomo 4,393,000
Tobias Reinkemeier 1,682,000
Daniel Negreanu 1,581,000
Bertrand Grospellier 1,265,000
Masa Kagawa 1,076,000
Jonathan Duhamel 654,000
Patrik Antonius 338,000
Eugene Katchalov 262,000

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st 1,640,000 2nd 1,064,000 3rd 621,000 4th 443,000 5th 354,500 6th 310,000 NEXT TOUR STOP Season 9 Schedule To Be Announced

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final EPT Grand Final Super High Rollers April 23-25, 2012 Casino Monte Carlo | Monaco Buy-in: $100,000 | Prizepool: $5,846,910 Entries: 45 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 100 2nd place 60 3rd place 35 4th place 25 5th place 18 6th place 10

WSOPC ST. LOUIS: WHAT A TRIPP! KIRK WINS IN ST. LOUIS

PICTURE: WSOP.com

Tripp Kirk is the latest winner on the World Series of Poker Circuit. Kirk defeated a 625-player field in order to win his first live poker tournament, collecting 190K in the victory.

Chris Conrad was third in the event while WSOP Circuit veteran Charles "Woody" Moore - who was runner earlier to Scott Stanko earlier this month at WSOPC Council Bluffs - was fourth here at WSOPC St. Louis. It was a second PTPR Score of the season for Ganesh Letchumanan, who finished fifth in the event.

It was a second big score in as many years in St. Louis for Kyle Cartwright. Cartwright earned 55K USD for the win.

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) Tripp Kirk $190,961 Timothy Killday $118,119 Christopher Conrad $86,372 Charles Moore $64,093 Ganesh Letchumanan $48,224 Bradley Lipsey $36,784 Jeffrey Fitzgerald $28,445 James Russell $22,298 Jerry Milanos $17,715 DEFENDING CHAMPION Kyle Cartwright 2012 Rank: NR NEXT TOUR STOP WSOPC Harrah's Chester Chester, PA April 26-May 7, 2012

PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT World Series of Poker Circuit St. Louis WSOP St. Louis NLH Main Event April 21-23, 2012 Harrah's St. Louis | Missouri Buy-in: $1,620 | Prizepool: $909,375 Entries: 625 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION TRIPP KIRK 35 TIMOTHY KILLDAY 18 CHRISTOPHER CONRAD 10 CHARLES MOORE "WOODY" 8 GANESH LETCHUMANAN 5

WPT HARD ROCK: VEDES VINDICATED, WINS SECOND WPT TITLE - DOLAN MOVES TO 2ND ON QJ LIST

PICTURE: WORLD POKER TOUR

It was certainly vindication for Tommy Vedes. The man who was first one out one year ago on this same stage, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Main Event Final Table, would not be denied a second time.

Vedes, the former WPT Festa al Lago Champion, has collected his second WPT title, winning at the Hard Rock - quite impressive, Mr. Vedes!

Vedes' win earns him close to 780K USD and places him tied for 18th on the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year charts.

The man whom Vedes defeated heads up, John Dolan, can still be happy with the 459K score, plus, Dolan moves way up to #2 on the 2012 QuadJacks Player of the Year Leaderboard.

The former November Niner won the Million Dollar Heater earlier in the season, a win in Florida and Dolan would still have been points behind current QJ POY leader Jonathan Duhamel.

Joe Serock was the third man out on Monday. Serock, who had the chip lead early and ofter during this tournament, secures his second PTPR Score of 2012.

It surely seemed as if this was one rare tournament where this was a three-horse race, with Vedes, Dolan and Serock stealing the show for most of the week!

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) Tommy Vedes 779,520 John Dolan 459,360 Joe Serock 306,240 Craig Bergeron 212,976 Sharon Levin 158,688 Kyle Bowker 122,496 DEFENDING CHAMPION Taylor von Kriegenbergh 2012 Rank: NR NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Jacksonville, Florida April 27-May 2, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown WPT Seminole NLH Main Event April 18-23, 2012 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel | Florida Buy-in: $10,000 | Prizepool: $2,784,000 Entries: 290 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION TOMMY VEDES 127 JOHN DOLAN 77 JOE SEROCK 47 CRAIG BERGERON 37 SHARON LEVIN 32 KYLE BOWKER 27 JESS YAWITZ 27 FRED GOLDBERG 12 DAVID PAREDES 12 JIMMY TRAN 12 RAVI RAGHAVAN 12 ROBERT GEORATO 10 MARK ROSE 10 ELI BERG 10 JUSTIN ZAKI 10 ZACH CLARK 7 SCOTT ZAKHEIM 7 CLYDE HINTON 7

HPT COLORADO: RONLOV WINS BIGGEST TOURNEY IN HEARTLAND HISTORY

Steen Ronlov made history earlier today - winning the biggest ever Heartland Poker Tour Main Event, securing the victory at HPT Colorado at the Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk.

It was a amazing by the Heartland Poker Tour and the good people at the Golden Gates - only 20 tables are available in the poker room - and yet, they figured out a way to let 820 players enter the event!

Congratulations to Ronlov, the Heartland Poker Tour and the staff at the Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado on another successful event ... did we mention another 1M+ prizepool in Colorado!

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) Steen Ronlov $270,905 Michael McCloud $151,721 Wesley Myers $98,274 Julian Melancon $80,048 Michael Bonetto $63,792 Franklin Pfeifer $49,260 NEXT TOUR STOP Heartland Minnesota Canterbury Park Card Casino April 19-29, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Heartland Poker Tour Colorado HPT Colorado NLH Main Event April 18-23, 2012 Golden Gates Casino | Colorado Buy-in: $1,650 | Prizepool: $1,231,500 Entries: 820 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION STEEN RONLOV 108 MICHAEL MCLOUD 68 WESLEY MYERS 43 JULIAN MELANCON 33 MICHAEL BONETTO 26 FRANKLIN PFEIFER 18 GILBERT GEORGE 16 DIMITRIOS ANDRIANAKOS 13 ALEX DEFEKCE 13

HPT COLORADO: 67-YEAR OLD RONLOV LEADS THE FINAL TABLE SIX IN COLORADO

After a monster field of 820 players - that needed four Day 1 flights in order to fit everyone in the 20-table card room! - our final table of six is set and we will find out who will replace Phil Collins as the latest winner on the Heartland Poker Tour!

Colorado native Steen Ronlov is the overnight chip leader, Ronlov is a 67-year old retiree looking to win himself over 270K with a victory.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Steen Ronlov 5,855,000
Julian Melancon 4,200,000
Wes Meyers 3,780,000
Michael McLeod 3,310,000
Mike Benetto 2,175,000
Fran Pfeifer 1,530,000

HPTPOKER.com will have live-stream coverage of the final table starting at 1:30PM Mountain time.

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) 1 - $270,905 2 - $151,721 3- $98,274 4 - $80,048 5- $63,792 6- $49,260 LIVE COVERAGE HPT LIVE STREAM NEXT TOUR STOP Heartland Minnesota Canterbury Park Card Casino April 19-29, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT Heartland Poker Tour Colorado HPT Colorado NLH Main Event April 18-23, 2012 Golden Gates Casino | Colorado Buy-in: $1,650 | Prizepool: $1,231,500 Entries: 820 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION Steen Ronlov 5,855,000 Julian Melancon 4,200,000 Wes Meyers 3,780,000 Michael McLeod 3,310,000 Mike Benetto 2,175,000 Fran Pfeifer 1,530,000

WPT HARD ROCK: SEROCK CRUSHING ON WAY TO THE FINAL TABLE

PICTURE: WORLD POKER TOUR

It seems like for days this has been the Joe Serock, John Dolan and Tommy Vedes show at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida.

Well, as our final six participants are now known for Monday's World Poker Tour Final Table, wouldn't you know that all three have continued their mastery on the felt at the Hard Rock.

For a time on Sunday, it looked as if Serock (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 112th) would not be part of the final table as he dusted off half of his stack early on. But then, a much needed double up and Serock would not be denied. Serock will enter final table play as the overwhelming cihp leader.

Dolan (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 32nd) held the chip lead for a while on Sunday. The Florida native will certainly have the support of his home-state crowd on Monday.

For Vedes, it's a second straight final table participation in this event. Vedes (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) finished sixth at WPT Seminole Hard Rock last season, he enters final table play in sixth position - Vedes sure hopes to do better than that on Monday.

Craig Bergeron, WPT Lucky Hearts final table participant Sharon Levin (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-163rd) and Kyle Bowker round-up the final table.

FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENTS/CHIP COUNTS
Seat 1: Craig Bergeron 1,235,000
Seat 2: Tommy Vedes 590,000
Seat 3: Sharon Levin 1,216,000
Seat 4: Kyle Bowker 1,070,000
Seat 5: John Dolan 1,454,000
Seat 6: Joe Serock 3,137,000

DAY 5 ELIMINATIONS
Jess Yawitz, Fred Goldberg, David Paredes, Jimmy Tran, Ravi Raghavan, Robert Georato, Mark Rose, Eli Berg and Justin Zaki.

WPT.com will present 30-minute delay coverage with hole cards starting at 4:30PM Eastern.

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FT PAYOUTS (USD) 1st 779,520 2nd 459,360 3rd 306,240 4th 212,976 5th 158,688 6th 122,496 DEFENDING CHAMPION Taylor von Kriegenbergh 2012 Rank: NR "LIVE" COVERAGE WPT LIVE STREAM NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Jacksonville, Florida April 27-May 2, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown WPT Seminole NLH Main Event April 18-23, 2012 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel | Florida Buy-in: $10,000 | Prizepool: $2,784,000 Entries: 290 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 127 2nd place 77 3rd place 47 4th place 37 5th place 32 6th place 27 JESS YAWITZ 27 FRED GOLDBERG 12 DAVID PAREDES 12 JIMMY TRAN 12 RAVI RAGHAVAN 12 ROBERT GEORATO 10 MARK ROSE 10 ELI BERG 10 JUSTIN ZAKI 10 ZACH CLARK 7 SCOTT ZAKHEIM 7 CLYDE HINTON 7

EPT BERLIN: SCHEMION WINS 1K SIDE - LYKOV, GREENSTEIN CASH IN EVENT

PHOTO: POKERSTARS

Ole Schemion has won a 1K NLH Side Event at EPT Berlin for the second year in a row, a very impressive feat for sure.

After collecting 54K EURO for the victory last season, Schemion (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-60th) adds another 69K to his totals, his two biggest scores of his career on the circuit.

Schemion defeated 2011 PTPR Player of Year contender Max Lykov heads up. After a strong 2011 campaign, Lykov (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-138th) hasn't got off to a very good start this season, let's hope that this score turns things around for the Russian.

Barry Greenstein (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 291st) was fifth in the event, collecting his second PTPR Score of 2012.

Roman Romanovskyi (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-43rd) also earned his second score of the season. Romanovskyi won a EPT Deauville side event earlier this year.

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TOP 8 PAYOUTS (EURO) Ole Schemion € 68,900 Max Lykov € 47,200 Martin Gaudig € 24,300 Ildar BADERTDINOVA € 18,900 Barry Greenstein € 14,850 Roman ROMANOVSKYI € 12,150 Dan MURARIU € 9,450 Daniel SMITH € 6,750 NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Grand Final Casino Monte Carlo, Monaco April 25-May 1, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT European Poker Tour Berlin EPT Berlin NLH Event #11 April 18, 2012 Grand Hyatt Berlin | Berlin, Germany Buy-in: $2,840 | Prizepool: $660,750 Entries: 250 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION OLE SCHEMION 75 MAX LYKOV 40 MARTIN GAUDIG 25 ILDAR BADERTDINOV 15 BARRY GREENSTEIN 10 ROMAN ROMANOVSKYI 8 DAN MURARIU 5 DANIEL SMITH 5 ANDRES IGLESIAN 5

EPT BERLIN: PALEVIC DEFEATS KENNEY IN NLH SIDE EVENT, JENSEN SCORES AGAIN

PHOTO: POKERSTARS

Live circuit veteran Rifat Palevic (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-60th) won EPT Berlin Side Event #7 - 2K NLH. This was the Swede's first taste at victory since 2009 where he had won a side event at the Malmo Open.

Palevic defeated Bryn Kenney (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-138th) heads up. This is the fifth time this season that Kenney cashes out (once at the PCA and three times at EPT Campione prior to this one), collecting over 150K already this season.



It was an important seventh place finish for EPT Madrid Champ Frederik Jensen. Jensen (pictured) earns 5 PTPR Points, moving him back into the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Top 10. Jensen now sits in 9th position.

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TOP 8 PAYOUTS (EURO) Rifat Palevic € 140,000 Bryn Kenney € 75,000 Massimiliano Bellucci € 45,000 Milan Joksic € 35,000 Fredrik Andersson € 27,500 Fritz Meyer € 22,500 Frederik Jensen € 17,500 Christophe De Meulder € 12,500 NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Grand Final Casino Monte Carlo, Monaco April 25-May 1, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT European Poker Tour Berlin EPT Berlin NLH Event #7 April 18, 2012 Grand Hyatt Berlin | Berlin, Germany Buy-in: $2,840 | Prizepool: $660,750 Entries: 250 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION RIFAT PALEVIC 75 BRYN KENNEY 40 MASSIMILIANO BELLUCCI 25 MILAN JOKSIC 15 FREDRIK ANDERSSON 10 FRITZ MEYER 8 FREDERIK JENSEN 5 CHRISTOPHER DE MEULDER 5 GEORGIOS KARAKOUKIS 5

WPT HARD ROCK: SEROCK AND ROLL - JOE SEROCK FIRST AT THE HARD ROCK

PICTURE: WORLD POKER TOUR

Joseph Serock (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 110th) continues to roll at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Main Event. Serock entered today's play second in chips. Well, he did one better on Saturday, earning the overnight chip lead as only 15 players remain at the Hard Rock.



Like Serock, former November Niner John Dolan (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 32nd) was busy working his way up the chip charts on Friday. Although he falls one spot to fourth, Dolan still holds a 900K chip stack and will look to gain even more ground on Sunday.

Tommy Vedes (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) is the only former WPT Champion still in the field. Vedes' chip stack is below average, but no one should count out the former WPT Festa al Lago Champ.

FINAL 15 CHIP COUNTS
Joe Serock 1,061,000
Robert Georato 1,054,000
Kyle Bowker 980,000
John Dolan 900,000
Ravi Raghavan 672,000
Craig Bergeron 650,000
Fred Goldberg 617,000
Jimmy Tran 593,000
Jess Yawitz 542,000
Tommy Vedes 378,000
Eli Berg 357,000
David Paredes 307,000
Mark Rose 224,000
Sharon Levin 208,000
Justin Zaki 204,000

NOTABLE DAY 4 ELIMINATIONS
Zach Clark, Clyde Hinton, Jason Koon, Allie Prescott and Ashton Griffin.

All remaining players are guaranteed a minimum 10 PTPR Points and a minimum 33K USD payout.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (USD) 1st 779,520 2nd 459,360 3rd 306,240 4th 212,976 5th 158,688 6th 122,496 7th 94,956 8th 69,600 9th 50,112 10th 38,976 DEFENDING CHAMPION Taylor von Kriegenbergh 2012 Rank: NR EVENT COVERAGE WPT UPDATES NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Jacksonville, Florida April 27-May 2, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown WPT Seminole NLH Main Event April 18-23, 2012 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel | Florida Buy-in: $10,000 | Prizepool: $2,784,000 Entries: 290 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 127 2nd place 77 3rd place 47 4th place 37 5th place 32 6-7th place 27 8-11th place 12 12-15th place 10 ZACH CLARK 7 SCOTT ZAKHEIM 7 CLYDE HINTON 7

EPT BERLIN HIGH ROLLERS: ElkY DEFEATS MOORMAN, WINS BATTLE OF FRANCE v. ENGLAND

PHOTO: POKERNEWS

It was an epic duel heads up in the EPT Berlin High Rollers Championship. Two of the top poker players in the world, one representing France, the other representing Mother England.

In the end, the Frenchman won it. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-35th) captures yet another poker tournament title, defeating Chris Moorman (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-93rd) in what was a duel that neither play seemed to want to end, almost four hours of heads up madness between two of the kings of poker.

ElkY had finished in fourth place in this same event last season.

German pro Marvin Rettenmaier - who finished third - collected his second PTPR Score of 2012. Rettenmaier (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-131st) had collected a small score at a Aussie Millions side event back in January.

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) €231,000 - Bertrand Grospellier €145,200 - Chris Moorman €85,800 - Marvin Rettenmaier €62,700 – David Peters €46,200 – Tobias Reinkemeier €33,000 - Oleh Okhotskyi €29,700 – Viktor Blom €26,400 – Martin Jacobson DEFENDING CHAMPION Daniel Drescher 2012 Rank: NR NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Grand Final Casino Monte Carlo, Monaco April 25-May 1, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT European Poker Tour Berlin EPT Berlin NLH High Rollers April 20-21, 2012 Grand Hyatt Berlin | Berlin, Germany Buy-in: $13,610 | Prizepool: $872,190 Entries: 66 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION BERTRAND GROSPELLIER "ElkY" 100 CHRIS MOORMAN 60 MARVIN RETTENMAIER 35 DAVID PETERS 25 TOBIAS REINKEMEIER 18 OLEH OKHOTSKYI 10 VIKTOR BLOM "ISULDUR1" 8 MARTIN JACOBSON 5

EPT BERLIN: BRAVE BLUFFS AND COURAGEOUS CALLS - DAVIDI KATIA ENTERS TRIPLE CROWN CLUB

PHOTO: POKERNEWS

Welcome to the Triple Crown Club, Mr. Davidi Kitai. After a Pot Limit Hold'em Bracelet victory at the 2008 WSOP and a 2011 WPT Invitational victory, Kitai has just wrapped won EPT Berlin, becoming the first Belgian poker player to win a EPT event.

Kitai and Canadian Andrew Chen had quite the duel. Both players bluffed and semi-bluffed as as they exchanged the chip lead. But it's a monster call by Kitai that had the twitter world - especially fellow poker pros.


It's a big win for Kitai and a big win for Belgium. Kitai joins Kevin Vandersmissen with recent major tournament victories.

Both Kitai (2012 PTPR Rank: 10th) and Chen (2012 PTPR Rank: 4th) enter the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Top 10 with their Berlin performances. For Chen, it's a return to the Top 10.

Mario Puccini was fourth in the event, Cesar Garcia sixth, Vladimir Geshkenbein was 10th while Anton Wigg finished 14th in Berlin.

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FT PAYOUTS (EURO) Davidi Kitai €712,000 Andrew Chen €613,000 Andre Morath €290,000 Mario Puccini €220,000 Bahadir Kilickeser €172,000 Cesar Garcia €133,000 Marc Wright €97,000 Pratyush Buddiga €72,000 DEFENDING CHAMPION Ben Wilinofsky (Eliminated) NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Grand Final Casino Monte Carlo, Monaco April 25-May 1, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT European Poker Tour Berlin EPT Berlin NLH Main Event April 16-21, 2012 Grand Hyatt Berlin | Berlin, Germany Buy-in: $6,955 | Prizepool: $4,889,435 Entries: 745 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION DAVIDI KITAI 132 ANDREW CHEN 82 ANDRE MORATH 52 MARIO PUCCINI 42 BAHADIR KILICKESER 37 CESAR GARCIA 32 MARC WRIGHT 32 PRATYUSH BUDDIGA 17 JORDI RIBA CORRONS 17 VLADIMIR GESHKENBEIN 17 ERIC VUISSOZ 17 TOMAS CIBAK 15 HEINZ KAMUTZKI 15 ANTON WIGG 15 FLORIAN DOHNERT 15 DMITRY GRINENKO 12 DANIEL PIDUN 12 JASPER WETERMANS 12

@PTPRPOKER IN THE MEDIA! POKER EH! WITH LAURENCE GRONDIN AND MATTHEW MARAFIOTI

PICTURE: QUADJACKS






Poker EH! Canadian Poker Radio feat Laurence Grondin and Matthew Marafioti | QuadJacks Poker Radio Network April 19 2012

Laurence Grondin and many poker players have a beef with a recent newspaper article and Matthew Marafioti tells us about how he and Daniel Negreanu went from bitter rivals to partnering up in an attempt to take the poker world by storm – Canada style!


Laurence Grondin refuses to stay quiet when she feels wrong has been done to her or the game she loves so much. Grondin, the EspaceJeux poker pro was visibly upset last week when an article came out in French newspaper Le Journal de Montreal – the article indicated how bad EspaceJeux was doing and talked about the problems associated with the site and why it shouldn’t be in existence.

One problem – what should have been an editorial was an actual article, one-sided, without rebuttal – plus, the article contained tons of half-truths and false information.

Take this for example; the article states that the EspaceJeux platform was not up to par with rival “International” sites … stating that you cannot play multiple tables on the site. Well, as Laurence was getting ready to join us to talk, she was just wrapping up a session on EsapceJeux – where SHE WAS 11-TABLING!!!

We all understand that poker (and all forms of gambling) carries a certain stigma, that some cannot control themselves and Laurence agrees that help needs to be offered to those people. But, people have been gambling from Day 1 … remember that Aristotle was rolling dice back in 320 BC!

I also asked Laurence about the upcoming One Drop 25K qualifier at the Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau and we talked about Daniel Negreanu’s latest blog and the state of females in the world of poker – she gives fantastic answers, as only Laurence can!

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A less than 100% Matt Marafioti rocked our collective ear drums with some incredible answers and stories.

“My girlfriend wanted to try to crab bisque”

Word to the wise; don’t go for cream-based soups at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida … then again, the problem might be Marafioti’s stomach not being able to handle said soups, as his father has told him time and time again that his stomach doesn’t do bisques!

At the tender young age of 24, Matt Marafioti already refers to some select poker players as “kids”, that’s because Marafioti has been kicking asses and taking names for a while now, both online and live. Marafioti has been on a fantastic run on the live tournament circuit since late last year – he recently finished second to Phil Collins at the Palms’ Heartland Poker Tour Main Event.

Marafioti talks about an article written in a Toronto-bases magazine from a few months ago and explains why Poker Eh! host Eric describes him as the Ric Flair of poker!

Finally, Matt talks about what was up with his rift with fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu and how the two ended up burying the hatchet and becoming friends.

It’s another great episode of Poker Eh! for your listening enjoyment!

WPT HARD ROCK: IF YOU SMELL WHAT SEROCK IS COOKING - SEROCK, DOLAN HEADLINE DAY 3

PICTURE:WORLD POKER TOUR

Joe Serock (2012 PTPR Rank: 104th) and John Dolan (2012 PTPR Rank: 29th) stole the show at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Main Event on Friday.

Both players have had an impressive score this season. For Serock (pictured), it was at Bay 101, where he finished third in the WPT Shooting Star. For Dolan, it was a win in the Million Dollar Heater at Beau Rivage.

Tommy Vedes (2012 PTPR Rank: NR), who owns a WPT title, came into Friday play with the second biggest stack. Didn't go Vedes' way - the good news is that Vedes still has chips, but it's a smaller stack than he started with, which is never a good thing.

We said goodbye to many star players today, including Quad Matts. WPT Lucky Hearts winner Matt Juttelstad, November Niner and WPT Malta champ Matt Gianetti, WPT Rendez-Vous a Paris winner Matt Waxman and Matt Marafioti - fresh off his HPT Palms second place finish ... and his interview with myself on Poker EH! on QuadJacks Radio ... were all ousted during Day 3 play.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS
Bill Brown 772,500 (Day 3 chip leader)
Joe Serock 702,000
John Dolan 685,500
Allie Prescott 337,500
Clyde Hinton 313,000 (Day 2 chip leader)
Jason Koon 254,500
David Paredes 157,000
Tommy Vedes 140,500
Jimmy Tran 125,000
Sharon Levin 96,000
Ashton Griffin 34,500

NOTABLE DAY 3 ELIMINATIONS
Matt Juttelstad, Matt Gianetti, Matt Waxman, Micah Raskin, Matt Marafioti, Keith Ferrera, Lee Markholt, Lauren Kling, Mike Beasley, Tristan Wade, Tuan Le, William Reynolds, Thayer Rasmussen, Steve Brecher, Byron Kaverman, Chad Brown, Corey Burbick, Abbey Daniels, Alex Outhred, Andrew Lichtenberger, Dan O'Brien, John DiBella, Joseph Elpayaa, Jonathan Little, Doc Sands, Ebony Kenney and Hoyt Corkins.

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TOP 10 PAYOUTS (USD) 1st 779,520 2nd 459,360 3rd 306,240 4th 212,976 5th 158,688 6th 122,496 7th 94,956 8th 69,600 9th 50,112 10th 38,976 DEFENDING CHAMPION Taylor von Kriegenbergh 2012 Rank: NR EVENT COVERAGE WPT UPDATES NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Jacksonville, Florida April 27-May 2, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown WPT Seminole NLH Main Event April 18-23, 2012 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel | Florida Buy-in: $10,000 | Prizepool: $2,784,000 Entries: 290 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 127 2nd place 77 3rd place 47 4th place 37 5th place 32 6-7th place 27 8-11th place 12 12-15th place 10 16-18th place 7