WPT PARIS: REFUSE TO LOSE - SALSBERG AVOIDS BIG NAMES, BIG STACKS TO WIN GRAND PRIX DE PARIS

For a while there, it looked as if we were going to witness poker history as Theo Jorgensen (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-251st) seemed unbeatable and held a stranglehold on Matthew Salsberg (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-72nd) and looked like a lock to win his second WPT Grand Prix de Paris title in three years.

But, Salsberg refused to give in and, despite holding only a few chips at one point, doubled-up a few times to regain the chip lead and finally win his major poker Championship.

The key hand came around 3AM Paris time. After a few double-ups, Salsberg hit the mother of all rivers as Salsberg, in awful shape as his A-10 was up against Jorgensen's A-Q, hit a fourth diamond hit the board to give Salsberg a ace-high straight and the chip lead.

Two-time EPT High Rollers Champ Philipp Gruissem (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-221st) gave it the old college try on Saturday, actually holding the chip lead at one point during three-handed play, but, bowed out in third as it seemed as if Jorgensen had his number.

Successful tournament pros Timothy Adams (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-17th) and Mohsin Charania (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 15th) didn't win the tournament, but, did gain ground in the Player of the Year race.

German Fabian Quoss (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-973rd) was the first man eliminated at the final table.

After hosting the Partouche Poker Tour final last week and the Grand Prix de Paris this week, the country of France isn't done hosting major poker events as the scene shifts back to Cannes next week for the start of the World Series of Poker Europe festivities.

As for the WPT, the next tour stop hits Malta starting tomorrow. The Borgata Poker Open starts Sunday as well - it's a double-dose of WPT action on either sides of the world.

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st Matthew Salsberg - €400,000 2nd Theo Jorgensen - €264,600 3rd Philipp Gruissem - €170,065 4th Timothy Adams - €125,775 5th Mohsin Charania - €94,615 6th Fabian Quoss - €75,765 7th Jerome Douieb - €62,575 8th Idris Ambraisse - €50,010 9th Kyle Cheong - €37,640 10th Joe Serock - €27,445 11th Gregoire Boissenot - €27,445 12th Raphael Abitbol - €27,445 13th Daniel Amara - €22,595 14th Jacques Enjoubault - €22,595 15th Bryan Colin - €22,595 16th Michael Kwiek - €19,240 17th Florian Leconte - €19,240 18th Kyle Julius - €19,240 19th Jean Philippe Rohr - €16,835 20th Juha Helppi - €16,835 21st Bruno Lopes - €16,835 22nd Dan Djorno - €15,065 23rd Andrew Lichtenberger - €15,065 24th Nicolas Cardyn - €15,065 25th Giacomo Fundaro - €13,305 26th Sean Jazayeri - €13,305 27th Jason Mericer - €13,305 RELATED POSTS > SALSBERG GOES BIG NAME HUNTING > WAXMAN WINS WPT PARIS DEFENDING CHAMPION Matthew Waxman 2012 PTPR Points: 26

PTPR PREMIER EVENT WORLD POKER TOUR POKER TOUR WPT Grand Prix de Paris September 10-15, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $9,680 | Prizepool: $2,097,390 Entries: 228 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION MATTHEW SALSBERG 127 THEO JORGENSEN 77 PHILIPP GRUISSEM 47 TIMOTHY ADAMS 37 MOHSIN CHARANIA 32 FABIAN QUOSS 27 JEROME DOUIEB 27 IDRIS AMBRAISSE 12 KYLE CHEONG 12 JOE SEROCK 12 GREGOIRE BOISSENOT 12 RAPHAEL ABITBOL 10 DANIEL AMERA 10 JACQUES ENJOUBAULT 10 BRYAN COLIN 10 MICHAEL KWIEK 7 FLORIAN LECONTE 7 KYLE JULIUS 7 NEXT WPT EVENT: WPT Malta September 16-20, 2012 2011: Matt Giannetti

WPT PARIS: GRINDER SALSBERG GOES BIG NAME HUNTING IN PARIS

The final table table is set at the WPT Grand Prix de Paris and it's tournament grinder Matt Salsberg (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-1456th) who will lead the six remaining players to the final table on Saturday at the Aviation Club de France.



Salsberg has collected close to 170K USD in tournament earnings in 2012, having cashed in 18 different events on the season - including a side-event victory at the LAPC back in February.

Recent major tournament winners Mohsin Charania (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-32nd) and Timothy Adams (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-39th) follow Salsberg in second and third positions. Charania won the EPT Grand Final in April while Adams picked up his first WSOP bracelet this summer.

A win for either player would move them into the QuadJacks Player of the Year Top 10 Leaderboard ... Charania would hit the 300-point mark for the season, placing him third overall, in front of Vanessa Selbst ... as for Adams, a win would place him fourth, in front of WSOP Players Champion Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.

2010 WPT Grand Prix de Paris Champion Theo Jorgensen (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) is back at this same final table two years after his victory.

Jorgensen will join Salsberg, Charania, Adams, two-time EPT High Rollers winner Philipp Gruissem (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-642nd) (who held the chip lead the past two days) and a three-time winner on the poker circuit, Fabian Quoss (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR), at the latest final table on the World Poker Tour.

FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENTS/CHIP COUNTS:
Seat 1 Matthew Salsberg 1,575,000
Seat 2 Philipp Gruissem 776,000
Seat 3 Theo Jorgensen 1,169,000
Seat 4 Fabian Quoss 570,000
Seat 5 Timothy Adams 1,198,000
Seat 6 Mohsin Charania 1,435,000

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EVENT PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st - €400,000 2nd - €264,600 3rd - €170,065 4th - €125,775 5th - €94,615 6th - €75,765 7th Jerome Douieb - €62,575 8th Idris Ambraisse - €50,010 9th Kyle Cheong - €37,640 10th Joe Serock - €27,445 11th Gregoire Boissenot - €27,445 12th Raphael Abitbol - €27,445 13th Daniel Amara - €22,595 14th Jacques Enjoubault - €22,595 15th Bryan Colin - €22,595 16th Michael Kwiek - €19,240 17th Florian Leconte - €19,240 18th Kyle Julius - €19,240 19th Jean Philippe Rohr - €16,835 20th Juha Helppi - €16,835 21st Bruno Lopes - €16,835 22nd Dan Djorno - €15,065 23rd Andrew Lichtenberger - €15,065 24th Nicolas Cardyn - €15,065 25th Giacomo Fundaro - €13,305 26th Sean Jazayeri - €13,305 27th Jason Mericer - €13,305 RELATED POSTS > GRUISSEM DOES IT TWICE > WAXMAN WINS WPT PARIS DEFENDING CHAMPION Matthew Waxman 2012 PTPR Points: 26

PTPR PREMIER EVENT WORLD POKER TOUR POKER TOUR WPT Grand Prix de Paris September 10-15, 2012 Aviation Club de France | Paris Buy-in: $9,680 | Prizepool: $2,097,390 Entries: 228 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 127 2nd position 77 3rd position 47 4th position 37 5th position 32 6th position 27 JEROME DOUIEB 27 IDRIS AMBRAISSE 12 KYLE CHEONG 12 JOE SEROCK 12 GREGOIRE BOISSENOT 12 RAPHAEL ABITBOL 10 DANIEL AMERA 10 JACQUES ENJOUBAULT 10 BRYAN COLIN 10 MICHAEL KWIEK 7 FLORIAN LECONTE 7 KYLE JULIUS 7 NEXT WPT EVENT: WPT Malta September 16-20, 2012 2011: Matt Giannetti

2012 WSOP: DAY 21 RECAP - WITH ADAMS' WIN, MAKE IT THREE FOR CANADA

PHOTO CREDIT: WORLD SERIES OF POKER

EVENT #28 |
2,500 NLH FOUR-HANDED |
750 ENTRIES | 1.7M PRIZEPOOL

Make it bracelet #3 for Canada at the World Series of Poker this summer as Timothy Adams earned the victory in Event #28 - $2,500 NLH Four-Handed.

Adams (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-44th) survived a 750-player field on his way to his first ever bracelet - defeating Australian Brendon Rubie (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 19th) - who won a prelim event at this year's Aussie Millions - heads-up.

Former bracelet winner James Schaaf (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 234th) was third in the event while Anthony Gregg (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 83rd) - who final tabled the EPT PCA for the second time this January - was the other man at the final table.


MAKING MOVES IN THE STANDINGS
Four players significant moves on the 2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Leaderboard - powered by PTPRpoker.

Other than previously mentioned Rubie, EPT Grand Final winner Mohsin Charania (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 12th), EPT Copenhagen winner Mickey Petersen (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 28th) and Jason Koon (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-64th) all made significant moves up the standings.

Gregory Merson, Toan Trinh, Andrey Gulyy, Ronit Chamani, Griffin Benger, Eric Froehlich, Sam Stein, Tom Braband and Tony Dunst all finished in the Top 18.

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (USD) 1 Timothy Adams $392,476 2 Brendon Rubie $242,458 3 James Schaaf $164,823 4 Anthony Gregg $114,711 RELATED POSTS > SCHWARTZ WINS IN OT > SCOTT GETS HIS DUE > MEINDERS WINS ON DAY 19 > CASSIDY-NGUYEN GO TO EXTRAS > CHARETTE DOES ONE BETTER > OHEL/LAZER HEADS-UP! > GATHY'S THE COMEBACK KID > SCHOLL LIMIT CHAMPION > GOLDKING WINS 1ST BRACELET > THE LEGEND GROWS - HELLMUTH'S 12TH > LET HIM BE FRANK > MATROS MAKES IT 3 IN 3 > FRIEDMAN DENIES BRUNSON > HASTINGS WINS ON DAY 12 > VAN DER FLUIT WINS FIRST > MAKE IT TWO FOR MONNETTE > CAZALS, MAD MARVIN MOVE UP > BLOCH WINS BRACELET

PTPR PREMIER EVENT 2012 World Series of Poker Event #28 : 2,500 NLH FOUR-HANDED June 14-16, 2012 Rio All-Suite Hotel | Las Vegas Buy-in: $2,500 | Prizepool: $1,706,250 Entries: 750 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION TIMOTHY ADAMS 132 BRENDON RUBIE 82 JAMES SCHAAF 52 ANTHONY GREGG 42 GREGORY MERSON 38 TORREY REILY 32 TOAN TRINH 32 ANDREY GULYY 17 JASON KOON 17 MICKEY PETERSEN 17 MOHSIN CHARANIA 17 JOSHUA GOTTESMAN 15 RONIT CHAMANI 15 GRIFFIN BENGER 15 ERIC FROEHLICH 15 SAM STEIN 12 TOM BRABAND 12 TONY DUNST 12

APRIL QUADJACKS/PTPRPOKER PLAYER OF THE MONTH: DANIEL SMITH

PICTURE: POKERNEWS

2012 QuadJacks Poker Player of the Month for April | Powered by PTPRpoker

What does 3 major tournament victories in a week get you other than fame and fortune? Well QuadJacks Poker Player of the Month honours of course! I’m Eric Danis and this is the QuadJacks Poker Player of the Month report for April, powered by PTPR Poker.

APRIL PLAYER OF THE MONTH
American Daniel Smith destroyed the competition this month, earning the QuadJacks.com PTPR Poker Player of the Month nod for April

Smith won three 5K buy-in events at the EPT Grand Final, collecting over 530K EURO for his efforts.

Smith almost doubled the points accumulated by EPT Grand Final Main Event Winner Mohsin Charania, who was second for the month while ElkY – Bertrand Grospellier – was third in April, with his two High Roller scores in Berlin and in Monte Carlo.


APRIL TOURNAMENTS THAT QUALIFIED FOR PTPR POINTS: 32
Grand Slams - 1 | Premier - 4 | Tier 3 - 10 | Side - 4 | Challenger - 13

APRIL PLAYER OF THE MONTH STATS
Daniel Smith, 302 PTPR Points, 3 PTPR Scores

>> EPT Grand Final 5K NLH Turbo - 101 PTPR Points
>> EPT Grand Final 5K NLH - 101 PTPR Points
>> EPT Grand Final 5K NLH Six-Max - 100 PTPR Points

APRIL TOP 10
302 DANIEL SMITH
156 MOHSIN CHARANIA
135 BERTRAND GROSPELLIER "ElkY"
132 DAVIDI KITAI
128 MORTEN CHRISTENSEN
128 SHAWN CUNIX
127 TOMMY VEDES
126 JUSTIN BONOMO
116 ROBERT BAGULEY
115 KEVIN VANDERSMISSEN


MOST PTPR SCORES FOR APRIL 2012
A total of 267 different players scored PTPR Points in April – Player of the Month Daniel Smith and Dmitry Grinenko both earned (3) three PTPR Scores for the month. Fifteen players had double scores in the month.

APRIL MOST PTPR SCORES
3 DANIEL SMITH
3 DMITRY GRINENKO
2 BERTRAND GROSPELLIER "ElkY"
2 JUSTIN BONOMO
2 KEVIN VANDERSMISSEN
2 MARVIN RETTENMAIER
2 ANDREW CHEN
2 TOBIAS REINKEMEIER
2 DANIEL NEGREANU
2 MAXIM LYKOV "MAX"
2 PRATYUSH BUDDIGA
2 J.P. KELLY
2 MATTHEW MARAFIOTI "MATT"
2 ANTON WIGG
2 CHARLES MOORE "WOODY"
2 FARID JATTIN
2 MARTIN JACOBSON


AT THIS POINT LAST SEASON (January to April 2011)
At this point in April 2011, Ali Eslami had taken over from Marvin Rettenmaier in the Player of the Year Race. Eslami had picked up a Top 10 finish at WPT Hollywood (Indiana) in order to take the lead. Alessio Isia was second and Rettenmaier had been relegated to the third spot.

2011 Player of the Year, Will Failla, was yet again stuck at 75 PTPR Points, falling to 75th position on the Player of the Year charts... Here is a look at our 2011 Top 5, up to April 2011:

210 - ALI ESLAMI
205 - ALESSIO ISAIA
195 - MARVIN RETTENMAIER
184 – TAYLOR VON KRIEGENBERGH
178 - RANDY DORFMAN

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

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: 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: 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