Six Remain in 2019 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event; Riess, Loeser Still in Contention

Yori Epskamp

Level 27 : 30,000/60,000, 60,000 ante

The penultimate day of the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo?Casino European Poker Tour �5,300 Main Event saw a field of 30 hopefuls being reduced to the final six. Each of these six will look fondly back after all is said and done, with �152,800 already locked up for their efforts, but the grand prize of �827,700 and the title of EPT Champion awaits the eventual winner to be crowned on Saturday, May 4.

Starting from pole position is Nicola Grieco from Italy. Grieco is looking to become the first Italian EPT winner since Antonio Buonnamo in 2014 and with 7,160,000 in chips, he's the odds-on favorite to do so. The passionate Italian will certainly be hugging the spotlights tomorrow and isn't afraid of a personal vendetta at the tables. Conor Beresford was one of the players to fall to Grieco after some personal back and forths, and the Italian also pulled off a bold three-barrel bluff on German pro Manig Loeser to help him secure the overnight chip lead.

Loeser and Ryan Riess are the two biggest names that will return at noon to the Salle des Etoiles in the Monte-Carlo Sporting. Loeser jumped into the chip lead in the middle levels of the day, courtesy of a big cooler against Nicolas Chouity. Loeser turned a straight while Chouity turned a set, and the former EPT Monte Carlo champ wasn't able to get away from it. From there on out, it was smooth sailing for the German high staker, who will return fourth in chips with 4,005,000.

2013 WSOP Main Event champion Riess could become the first-ever player to win both the WSOP Main Event and an EPT Main Event, and he has a shot to accomplish the improbable coming into the final day with 3,585,000 in chips. While that places him fifth out of six, it's still sixty big blinds, plenty to work with.

Rounding out the final table are Viktor Katzenberger (6,070,000), a 27-year old Maltese transplant from Hungary whose bread and butter are normally cash games, recreational player Wei Huang (5,690,000) who spun it up from the shortest stack at the start of the day, and Luis Medina (1,105,000), the only real short stack at the final table. One of them will walk away with the coveted prize and will be nearly a million USD richer.

2019 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Final Table Seating and Chip Counts

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Ryan Riess	United States	3,585,000	60
2	Wei Huang	China	5,690,000	95
3	Nicola Grieco	Italy	7,160,000	119
4	Viktor Katzenberger	Hungary	6,070,000	101
5	Manig Loeser	Germany	4,005,000	67
6	Luis Medina	Portugal	1,105,000	18

While the aforementioned six made it to the final table, 24 others fell along the wayside and missed out on the opportunity for EPT glory on Day 4. One of the most notable to drop was Iranian beauty queen Melika Razavi, who had been tearing it up in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event for two days straight. After a strong start to the day, Razavi's bid came to a screeching halt when she flopped flush-under-flush against Huang, one of the few players in the field that had her covered. With no time banks left, there was no escape and Razavi bowed out before the final two tables.

Iranian star Melika Razavi had to settle for 17th place.

Several of poker's greatest tournament stars, such as Conor "1_conor_b_1" Beresford (11th - �50,930), Sam Greenwood (12th - �45,570), Christoph Vogelsang (18th - �32,150), James Romero (21st - �27,680), and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau (22nd - �27,680) all busted on the penultimate day, as did former EPT champs Nicolas Chouity (16th - �36,620), Paul Michaelis (25th - �23,210) and Remi Castaignon (26th - �23,210).

Another high stakes phenom, Timothy Adams, did make the final table but ended up busting in eight place (�78,030) after running his pocket queens into a turned flush of Katzenberger. Last to bust out on the day was Rustam Hajiyev (7th - �109,510), who shoved ace-ten into Loeser's pocket queens and didn't improve.

Be sure to check back regularly to PokerNews on Saturday, May 5, the final day of the 2019 EPT Monte Carlo as the Main Event plays down to a winner. Action will resume at noon local time with 36:58 left in the current level at blinds of 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante. Live coverage with hole cards will be on a security delay of 30 minutes and coverage will follow along with the live stream.