Only 16 players remain after Day 4 of the $5,300 EPT Main Event at PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus and a new champion will be crowned following the elimination of Anton Wigg, the last remaining EPT Main Event winner, in 18th place. Leading the final two tables is Italy's Andrea Dato with 6,155,000 chips as he looks to add to his $1.8 million in tournament earnings, while fellow big stacks Gilles Simon (4,430,000) and Victor Yugay (3,870,000) both seek their first major poker victories.
Other players still in the hunt for the $1,042,000 up top for the first-ever EPT Cyprus Main Event champion include Belgium's Kenny Hallaert, Britain's Marc Foggin and Day 3 chip leader Nathan Tetart.
EPT Cyprus Main Event Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrea Dato | Italy | 6,155,000 | 154 |
| 2 | Gilles Simon | Netherlands | 4,430,000 | 111 |
| 3 | Victor Yugay | Uzbekistan | 3,870,000 | 97 |
| 4 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 2,965,000 | 74 |
| 5 | Nathan Tetart | France | 2,725,000 | 68 |
| 6 | Halil Tasyurek | Turkey | 2,580,000 | 65 |
| 7 | Marc Foggin | United Kingdom | 2,570,000 | 64 |
| 8 | Priit Parmasto | Estonia | 2,385,000 | 60 |
| 9 | Bjorn Kozenkai | Hungary | 2,290,000 | 57 |
| 10 | Aleksandr Faterin | Russia | 2,090,000 | 52 |
| 11 | Timur Vardanian | Russia | 1,745,000 | 44 |
| 12 | Nikita Kuznetsov | Russia | 1,455,000 | 36 |
| 13 | Yannick Schumacher | Germany | 1,390,000 | 35 |
| 14 | Jose Gonzalez Sanchez | Spain | 1,155,000 | 29 |
| 15 | Gerard Carbo | Spain | 1,130,000 | 28 |
| 16 | Alessandro Minasi | Italy | 635,000 | 16 |
Day 4 Action
Players quickly dropped from the field in the first few hours of play, and among those to fall early were Carl Shaw (52nd - $18,700), Day 2 chip leader Gary Miller (44th - $18,700) and Shuang Luo, who jammed into the kings of Bjorn Kozenkai with jack-ten to fall in 41st place for $18,700.
Italy's Dario Sammartino made a deep run before running ace-jack into the Big Slick of Gerard Carbo and failing to improve to fall in 29th place for $24,700. Next out was Andrei Vavilonskii, who earlier this week finished fourth in the Eureka Main Event for $124,475 but now had to settle for $24,700 from his 28th-place finish.
2010 EPT Monte Carlo Champion Nicolas Chouity bowed out in 26th place for $28,425 as his ace-five couldn't hit against Yannick Schumacher's pocket tens to end his hopes of becoming the next two-time Main Event champion.
Harald Sammer was eliminated ahead of the three-table redraw when his ace-queen was pipped by the ace-king of Hallaert. After that, Siarhei Chudapal went out in 24th place for $28,425 as he called off with a no-good pair of aces against Kozenkai.
Day 4 wrapped up after the rapid-fire eliminations of Wigg in 18th when his fives couldn't hold against the ace-jack of Yugay, who the very next hand picked up ace-king in the big blind to dominate Atanas Malinov ahead of his elimination in 17th place.
Main Event Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,042,000 | 8 | $125,350 |
| 2 | $652,200 | 9 | $96,425 |
| 3 | $465,425 | 10-11 | $74,200 |
| 4 | $358,075 | 12-13 | $61,850 |
| 5 | $275,425 | 14-15 | $51,525 |
| 6 | $211,850 | 16 | $43,275 |
| 7 | $162,925 |
Action will pick back up at noon local time on October 21 with 37 minutes and 12 seconds left on Level 25 with blinds of 20,000/40,000/40,000. The plan is to play down to the final six players who will make up Sunday's streamed final table.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is here on-site in northern Cyprus and will continue providing updates ahead of the next EPT Main Event champion being crowned.
