Saar Wilf moved all in from the cutoff for 125,000 and was called by Mikita Badziakouski in the small blind. The big blind got out of the way and the cards were shown.
Saar Wilf: J?10?
Mikita Badziakouski: K?J?
Wilf was out-kicked and in need of help to stay alive, but when the board ran out 7?6?5?K?4?, it was the king-jack for Badziakouski that held up to send Wilf out in 14th place.
Quan Zhou had been playing less than ten big blinds for almost the entire day. He put his last 125,000 in the middle from middle position and the action folded to Steve O'Dwyer in the big blind. He doubted what to do for a bit, but eventually put in the calling chips.
Quan Zhou: A?10?
Steve O'Dwyer: A?4?
Zhou was a favorite preflop, but the J?A?4? flop reversed that role in O'Dwyers' favor. His two pair held on the 8? turn and 3? river, and Zhou was ousted from the tournament, taking €87,650 back to Hong Kong.
Markkos Ladev and Adrian Mateos were involved in a blind-on-blind pot. On the 3?J?2?J? board, Ladev check-called a 30,000 bet from Mateos.
The river fell the 4? and Ladev checked again. Mateos put him to the test for his final 100,000 chips, which sent Ladev into the tank. After a while, he made the call for his tournament life.
Mateos showed down 6?5? for the rivered straight. ''Do I have to show?'' Ladev asked. After an affirmative answer was given, he showed that he had called with just a pair of ducks: Q?2?.
The hero call did not bear fruit and Ladev was eliminated as the first player from the final two tables.
A pot was playing out between Natan Chauskin in the big blind, Alejandro Lococo in the hijack, and Adrian Mateos in the cutoff.
On a flop of Q?J?7?, Lococo fired a bet of 40,000 after a check from Chauskin. Mateos made the call, while Chauskin mucked his hand. The turn came the 5? and Lococo jammed the rest of his chips in. That amounted to 200,000, covering Mateos' 155,000 stack.
Mateos had to think long and hard about his decision, tossing in a few time bank chips every now and then. Eventually, he made the call to put himself at risk.
Adrian Mateos: K?Q?
Alejandro Lococo: A?9?
Mateos needed to fade an ace or diamond and he did so when the river brought the Q? to give him trips.
Lococo was left with two big blinds and they went in the very next hand when Lococo left himself a single T-5,000 chip after he raised to 40,000 from under the gun. Mateos was in the hijack this time and made an almost minimum three-bet to 65,000. The action folded back to Lococo, who threw in his last chip as well.
Alejandro Lococo: Q?5?
Adrian Mateos: A?Q?
Mateos flopped two pair on Q?8?A? and the 7? turn sealed the deal. The two players shared a handshake before Lococo left the field. There are now 16 players remaining and they have converged into two tables, without a redraw.
In a heads-up pot with 170,000 in the middle on a flop showing 9?5?4?, Roman Samoylov checked from under the gun to Conor Beresford on the button who bet out 65,000.
Samoylov put in a check-raise to 175,000 and after close to 30 seconds, Beresford moved all in for roughly 300,000 total. Samoylov rechecked his cards before making the call and the cards were on their backs.
Conor Beresford: K?K?
Roman Samoylov: 4?5?
Samoylov out-flopped the cowboys of Beresford with two pair, and when the board ran out 7?8?, it was the end of the road for Beresford as he was eliminated in 18th place.
The action folded to Milos Petakovic in the cutoff who moved all in for 60,000 and was called by Quan Zhou in the big blind with a slightly bigger stack.
Milos Petakovic: 3?3?
Quan Zhou: 5?4?
Surprisingly enough with Zhou only holding five-high, it was essentially a flip situation. The board ran out K?6?2?3?5?, and the five-four for Zhou turned a straight to send Petakovic to the rail in 19th place.
Mario Navarro moved all in for 170,000 from early position and Tomas Jozonis made the call with a bigger stack next to act. The rest of the table got out of the way and the cards were shown.
Mario Navarro: A?10?
Tomas Jozonis: Q?Q?
Navarro was in need of help against the queens for Jozonis, but when the board ran out J?8?5?4?5?, it was the queens that held up to send Navarro out in 20th place.
Dominik Nitsche started the day with only ten big blinds and he posted one of them as the big blind ante before putting another in as the big blind itself.
Nacho Barbero raised to 30,000 from the hijack and Nitsche defended said big blind. On the 9?8?4? flop, Nitsche check-raised a 20,000 continuation-bet from Barbero to 85,000. Barbero made the call and Nitsche had left himself only 50,000 behind for the turn.
When the J? fell, Nitsche used a couple of time bank extensions before finally shoving his remaining stack in the middle. Barbero snap called and Nitsche received bad news.
Dominik Nitsche: 10?6?
Nacho Barbero: 8?8?
''Just a set, huh?'' somebody commented. Indeed, Barbero had flopped a set and Nitsche needed a queen or seven to complete his straight draw. However, the set held up as the 6? river completed the board.
Nitsche was the first player to leave the tournament on Day 3 and takes home €57,600
The time has arrived. It is the 11th and final day of the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino??. On this day, not only will the Main Event winner be crowned, but so will the champion of the €25,000 EPT High Roller.
Out of the total 211 entries, 21 players have made it through to the third and last day. A prize pool of €5,066,110 was generated and the first-place finisher is set to walk away a millionaire, with €1,070,260 being reserved for the eventual champion. All 21 players are guaranteed to cash for €57,600, as the money bubble burst on Day 2 and a few pay jumps have already been made.
Prize Money Left
Place
Prize (EUR)
Prize (USD)
Place
Prize (EUR)
Prize (USD)
1
€1,070,260
$1,195,855.
9
€133,350
$148,999
2
€668,850
$747,340
10-11
€115,950
$129,557
3
€477,750
$533,814
12-13
€100,800
$112,629
4
€367,500
$410,626
14-15
€87,650
$97,936
5
€282,700
$315,875
16-17
€76,200
$85,142
6
€220,800
$246,711
18-20
€66,250
$74,024
7
€184,000
$205,592
21
€57,600
$64,359
8
€153,350
$171,346
High stakes staple Mikita Badziakouski is sitting comfortably in third place on the leaderboard and will bring 1,055,000 chips into Day 3, equating to 70 big blinds. Badziakouski’s poker prominence is widely known, as the Belarusian player has been entering poker’s highest-stakes live tournaments since 2015. In the eight years since then, he has racked up almost $40 million in lifetime tournament earnings, enough to occupy 9th place on the all-time money list.
The latest addition to that was his €1,009,853 score for finishing second in the €100,000 Super High Roller during EPT Monte Carlo earlier this week. Winning the €25,000 EPT High Roller would mean Badziakouki’s second seven-figure score within a week, a feat not even he has accomplished before.
It will not be an easy fight, however, as Badziakouski has two other stacks of over a million to contend with. Sitting on top is Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis with a stack of 1,525,000, while Roman Samoylov is in second place with 1,120,000 chips.
Other notables in the top 10 include Steve O'Dwyer, who is looking to best his ninth place finish from the 2022 edition of this event, with 705,000 chips and Daniel Dvoress, who plays a 663,000 stack.
PokerStars’ very own Alejandro Lococo, meanwhile, is sitting at the bottom portion of the top 10, playing a slightly above-average stack of 575,000. Lococo had gotten very short during bubble play on Day 2, but three double-ups after the money was reached brought him back in contention.
Alejandro -Papo MC- Lococo
Start of Day 3 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dominykas Mikolaitis
Lithuania
1,525,000
102
2
Roman Samoylov
Israel
1,120,000
75
3
Mikita Badziakouski
Belarus
1,055,000
70
4
Steve O'Dwyer
Ireland
705,000
47
5
Felipe Ketzer
Brazil
690,000
46
6
Natan Chauskin
Belarus
675,000
45
7
Daniel Dvoress
Canada
663,000
44
8
Alejandro Lococo
Argentina
575,000
38
9
Enrico Camosci
Italy
480,000
32
10
Markkos Ladev
Estonia
475,000
32
Other notable regulars who made Day 3 include Nacho Barbero (395,000), Adrian mateos (275,000), Conor Beresford (250,000), Ben Heath (220,000), and Dominik Nitsche (150,000).
Blinds will kick off at 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante. Levels are scheduled to last for 60 minutes each, but the tournament director reserves the right to shorten the clock when five players or fewer are left. If a deal is made, the clock will also be halved. Play will resume at 12:30 p.m. local time and will not stop before a champion is crowned.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live updates from the final day of the €25,000 EPT High Roller.
