Poker Stars EPT Monte Carlo
It’s the finest poker Europe has to offer and the EPT Grand Final will always be so–a weeklong poker pageant that leaves the best ‘till last every time. EPT finals have been a mixed bag, often times featuring players not likely to raise their faceless heads again. But even if eight Sesame Street Muppets were unpacked, given a deck of cards, and told that life was about more than the letters A and K and more about the number € 2,020,000, you still couldn’t ruin one of poker’s biggest treats.
Testament to that is that the last eight of the 842 who started in Monte Carlo included some of the elite point men in the game today. A combination of television faces, Internet monikers and one or two players only discovered after some neat moves and meanders over the previous four days for their piece of the €8.4million prize pool.
Their final would be a long drawn out fight; lively hands scattered thinly across nearly 12 hours of play. But when you put the best together you can hardly expect a fast moving crapshoot. This isn’t made for TV six-handed poker; this was tournament play of a lethal kind, as the hardcore who watched every moment were only too aware.
So when Glen Chorny, a chubby Canadian Internet pro, stood from his chair after casting the last hand in stone, few doubted his natural ability, entitlement or gall. He didn’t care about how long it took or who he was up against, he said, just the title burning brightly at the end of the tunnel–and €2,020,000.
The effortlessly slick TV production will show little of how mentally exhausting this table had been but the eight men who made it to day five had passed various auditions.
Even on day 4, when 39 players were left, things looked destined to provide a final tailored for the occasion. As well as Pagano, Esfandiari, Chorny and Baron, the likes of Joe Hachem, Freddy Deeb, Johnny Lodden and Robin Keston were all well chipped, only falling away after some serious hand to hand fighting.
The week had been a tense affair. Former World Champion Joe Hachem, one of a handful of players chasing a possible Triple Crown, conflabbed with Woody Deck over the Lithuanian’s alleged uttering of the word ‘asshole’ in relation to a hand. Earlier Antonio Esfandiari and Freddy Deeb had shown displeasure at such intense media scrutiny, whilst a day earlier the bubble play had lasted a full two hours twenty minutes. Everything felt on edge.
Ultimately the final had a bit of everything; players referred to by nickname such as Glen “Choron” Chorny; CardPlayer’s 2007 online Player of the Year Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, and English graduate Michael Martin who finished second at the Master Classics in Amsterdam late last year. You had the TV pros such as Esfandiari and then the anonymous guy. No one could look you in the eye and tell you they’d heard of Valeriy Ilikyan.
Finally there was Luca Pagano who sits somewhere in between. He would set a new EPT record by making his ninth cash in Monte Carlo, but was also vying to banish suggestions of being a second tier pro and that he had yet to earn the keys to the executive poker washroom.
The tournament’s nature and setting made for long days and expensive nights, with play ending only when it had to. Ten returned on day five but after the elimination of Stig Top Rasmussen in tenth and Henrik Gwinner in ninth the final was all set.
Anyone wanting a celebrity laden final would have to hope for a good run by Antonio Esfandiari, after Joe Hachem went in eleventh spot the night before. Esfandiari was on the brink of history with eight places separating him from becoming only the second player ever to win poker’s Triple Crown of WSOP, WPT and EPT titles.
The American was a contradictory fellow at the table. Ever conscious of the press attention, and irritated by it, he’d logo-up and stand on his chair for all to see when all-in on day four. The American seemed surprised at media access that, on the WPT, is forbidden. But the plus side was close attention to a great performance.
That aside the magazine man couldn’t avoid busting in eighth place. After Luca Pagano doubled up through Isaac Baron early on the Italian would do so again through Esfandiari, who was shaking hands with table mates before Pagano had had chance to call Esfandiari’s all-in.
The Magician showed A-8 but Pagano had the stone cold nuts; A-K on a QTK flop that did everything for Luca but lick his face. Esfandiari needed about five aces by now, a trick not even he could pull off and he was eliminated in eighth spot for €168,000.
It would be a while before seventh spot was decided, a good old-fashioned East vs. West battle that saw Russian player Valeriy Ilikyan feeling the full force of American capitalism in Michael Martin, a young Philadelphian in a USA hoodie which contrasted wildly to Ilikyan’s shirt bearing the logo ‘1917’–the badge of one poker company trying somehow to cash in on the October revolution.
“Bring on the Russians” said Martin, calling Ilikyan’s A-4 all-in with A-Q. He flopped A-Q to stop the revolution dead in its tracks, in seventh place and €253,000.
Luca Pagano’s story is hardly a turbulent one, more a tale of slight highs and vague lows, neither getting too serious. Since making two final tables in the EPT’s inaugural season he’d gone on to cash a further six times, although none of which came close to matching those early performances. Because of that and his lack of an Internet fan base, Pagano has never really been regarded as a top tier professional, too tight perhaps to harness that reckless spirit that emboldens others to play flat out for glorious victory or defeat.
But there were many in Monte Carlo wishing him a win, not least his father Claudio on the rail, who himself had finished in 22nd place the day before.
The hand against Esfandiari had been just the first to spark superlatives for Luca’s. With six left he went on an uncharacteristic betting streak, taking down a pot worth close to a million, catching a queen on the river to beat Chorny’s pocket sixes for 3.3million and the chip lead.
But then another hand 15 minutes later–a raise of 130K re-raised by Canadian Maxime Villemure to 400K. Luca re-raised all-in for a million more chips which the Canadian was happy to call, seeing Luca’s pocket jacks up against his A-K. When the ace hit the flop Luca needed a jolt of solid luck–a jack that didn’t come. Gone was the chip lead and with it the momentum.
With five hours of play and a dinner break done, no one was under any illusions that this would be over any time soon. Players had already vetoed a plan to cut levels down from 90 to 60 minutes, but a compromise was reached after the break, pegging levels to 75 minutes.
By now Pagano’s bid for an EPT title was in terminal decline. Luca moved in over a 125K raise, Denes Kalo quick called which is rarely a good sign. A-J for Luca against Kalo’s pocket queens. Despite the crowds’ best efforts the inevitable happened with no sign of a cavalry ace for the Italian. A record ninth EPT cash but ultimately disappointment for Luca, out in sixth place for €337,000.
The tournament had suddenly found new life and enough adrenaline to wake spectators from post-dinner fatigue. Fifteen minutes later another elimination, this time Michael Martin who had surged ahead the day before, like a man holding onto an experimental rocket. His day would end in fifth place despite taking a turn as chip leader. Ultimately something had to give.
A Chorny raise, tinged with the no love lost between the two players after spats away from the table, saw Martin call from the big blind. He checked the 6-7-T flop before Chorny bet again, 225K. Martin then made it more, 675K total in a sudden change of pace. Chorny pushed, Martin did what he had to do and called, showing Q-T to the killer jacks of the Canadian. Chorny demanded nothing short of the all-clear from the dealer who complied, busting Martin in fifth spot for € 421,000.
The Grand Final structure had proven that if you let players have their way you get detailed poker, not the broad brushstrokes of modern art styled poker where big sweeping gestures get the attention, but the fine brush detail, more a fine art delivery where once in a while you stand back, make positive noises about perspective and purr approvingly.
Stacks measured in the millions, and even the short one had little need to hit the panic button just yet. Kalo doubled up, A-Q against Chorny’s A-3 and burst into the chip lead. Then Chorny recovered, a 1.7m pot from Villemure as the chips moved in slow a circular dance that lasted three hours.
Before that though a huge pot went to Max Villemure which significantly reduced Isaac Baron’s stack. He survived one all-in against Denes Kalo, hitting a miracle queen on the river to save him. But then a hand snuck up on everyone, sending Baron crashing out.
A 6s-2c-7s flop saw Baron shove. Chorny called turning over aces, whilst Baron showed A-K, one of which was a spade. Thoughts turned to a revival when a fourth came on the turn and Baron didn’t budge from his chair. But no flush came on the river though and Baron, who many believe to be one of the best in the game, was forced to leave in fourth place with €589,000.
Chorny was now edging ahead once more, up to 7 million, a stack more than Villemure and Kalo combined. But still, this final was hardly cut and dried. Another big pot, this time for Villemure through Chorny and we were back to dancing again.
Then Villemure and Chorny tangled. Maxime had been out of his chair all day, not through any Ritalin need to move about, but a different movement emanating from his bowels, which had forced him to dash off stage at least once. His last tango with Chorny was probably the humane outcome.
It was past 2am when he limped to see a T-A-4 flop. He bet on the jack turn and again on the nine river, with Glen Chorny at first calling then moving in on fifth street. Maxime showed Q-8 for the straight, but Chorny had K-Q for the nuts. All done. Villemure headed off in third place, presumably to an all-night chemist, with €715,000.
Now the story was complete. A couple of hands later and the Canadian had it wrapped up and having a ten-to-one chip lead over the Hungarian no doubt helped.
Kalo had been no push over, and despite being one of the lesser known names at the start of the day it was worth remembering that he already had a second place finish to his name from Baden, where he missed out on an EPT title to Englishman Julian Thew.
Now he had to move fast and fast he did, finding K-Q and pushing for his life. Glen called in a second with A-5. The crowd got to their feet one last time and from positions peeking over the cameras, and watching the live feed screens, saw the ace hit the flop.
The rest of the hand was just window dressing, a harmless turn and river that made the 22-year-old student the new EPT Grand Final champion. Season four was over.
“There’s no better way to feel right now than like this,” Chorny said. “It feels like you’re a rock star.”
Whilst Denes Kalo settled for €1,179,000 the victory presentation came with champagne, fireworks and intense but brief questioning as most were mindful of how late this final had run, and how early the celebratory bar might close.
“It was tough out there, like a hard day at the office. Only the rewards are a lot better.”
A monster payout of €2,020,000 to Chorny’s already swollen online bankroll. This time those watching had a face, not an avatar, to put to his name.
Another strike for the Internet people over the live specialists? Who knows? But one thing is clear, for all the talk of the Internet being where the best players play they still want to win ‘live’, still want their name known and their face recognised in magazines–a wish now granted to Glen Chorny. Expect more to follow.
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