Swiss Poker Prodigy Becomes Millionaire in �25K EPT Monte Carlo High Roller
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Rising Swiss poker prodigy Luca Marki has been making quite the name for himself on the European poker circuit this year. After a second-place finish for �606,750 in the �10K EPT High Roller earlier this year in Paris, Marki one-upped himself with a payday of �1,085,970 in the final �25K High Roller at the 2024 EPT Monte Carlo.
Marki took the lion's share of a nearly �6 million prize pool, courtesy of 247 entrants who made it the largest field high roller tournament in EPT Monte Carlo history.
Marki ended heads-up with Colombia's Mauricio Sanchez and made a heads-up deal, with the latter padding his bankroll with the �950,000 that came with the second place.
�25K EPT High Roller Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luca Marki | Switzerland | �1,085,970* |
| 2 | Mauricio Sanchez | Columbia | �950,000* |
| 3 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | �559,200 |
| 4 | Masashi Oya | Norway | �430,200 |
| 5 | Sergey Lebedev | UK | �330,900 |
| 6 | Pedro Gois Neves | Portugal | �258,400 |
| 7 | Lander Lijo | Spain | �215,400 |
| 8 | Arsenii Karmatckii | Russia | �179,500 |
| 9 | Felipe Boianovsky | Brazil | �156,100 |
* Denotes heads-up deal
PokerStars Ambassadors Make Final Day
Three PokerStars ambassadors made the final day of the tournament, although none of the three made the final table.
Following early bustouts from Roberto Romanello and Rehman Kassam, Rafael Moraes was eliminated in 22nd place when he got his ace-queen in against Lander Lijo holding pocket queens. Lijo held to send the first of the ambassadors to the rail.
Ramon Colillas was also in the mix and was on the receiving end of a bad runout when he got his chips in the middle with top pair against Bogdan Capitan with second pair. Capitan hit trips on the turn to bust Colillas in 19th place.
Elias Gutierrez, who up until this point had held his own with double ups and steals, moved all in preflop with ace-six suited. He even paired his ace on the turn against Arsenii Karmatckii with king-queen, but Karmatckii rivered a straight to win the pot and send Gutierrez to the rail in 12th place.
The final table was drawing closer. The last to bust before the redraw was Christopher Puetz, who called off his stack in the big blind facing a small blind shove from Mauricio Sanchez. Sanchez hit two pair and Puetz was out in tenth place, earning a consolation prize of �135,700 for his efforts.
Final Table Action
As the final table was formed, Sergey Lebedev had the chip lead with a touch over 3,000,000 chips, followed by Masashi Oya in second with 2,300,000 and Pedro Gois Neves in third with 1,800,000.
On the very first hand of the final table, Felipe Boianovsky stacked off preflop with pocket sixes and ran into Oya's pocket kings. Oya held and Boianovsky was out in ninth.
Kayhan Mokri then began his hot run. He doubled up through Lebedev, then won a pot with queen-ten against Karmatckii's pocket queens, turning trips to send Karmatckii to the rail in eighth place.
Lander Lijo was next to go, despite a valiant survival effort that included a double-up through Oya. Lijo moved all in with ace-queen only to find himself up against Neves' pocket kings. Lijo was out in seventh place.
Neves' run wouldn't last much longer, however. He got his chips in the middle with a flush draw, overcards, and straight outs on the turn. It was too many outs. Sanchez held with his top pair, sending Neves out sixth.
Moments before, Oya went on a bit of a journey, losing a huge pot to Sanchez, then doubling up through Neves, then turning a flush against Mokri, to bring his stack back up to chip leader. Oya didn't hold the lead for long, however, as moments after the break Mokri took a big pot from Lebedev to retake the lead.
The confrontation also left Lebedev short-stacked and soon after, he got his chips in the middle preflop with ace-jack. Luca Marki made the call with ace-king and held to eliminate Lebedev in fifth place.
Deal Rejected, Huge Hand Changes Dynamics
The final four players discussed a deal, but Mokri, who had a slight chip lead over the other three, wanted more than ICM out of it and a conclusion couldn't be reached.
It wasn't long before another player busted. Oya, who came into the day as chip leader, played a pot postflop against Mokri in which Oya had a pair of queens, only for Mokri to river a flush. Oya was eliminated in fourth place.
That gave Mokri a huge chip lead, but then in the next significant hand, Luca Marki made a three-bet jam against Mokri holding ace-five. Mokri had him dominated with ace-king, but Marki hit a pair of fives to take the huge pot.
The next pot was the biggest of the tournament. Sanchez raised from the button and Mokri three-bet to 1,000,000 from the small blind. Marki moved all in from the big blind, cold four-betting to 4,545,000. Sanchez, the covering stack, snap-called. Mokri decided to lay down his hand, leaving himself with only seven big blinds.
Sanchez had ace-king and Marki had ace-eight. Once again Big Slick failed to hold and an eight on the river gave Marki the pot, a pot that left Mokri desperately short and Sanchez devastated from the bad beat.
In the following hand, Mokri raised from the button for most of his stack and Sanchez obliged from the big blind, reshoving to play for Mokri's full stack. Sanchez won the flip with pocket fours and Mokri was eliminated in third place, giving Marki a 5:1 chip lead going into heads-up play.
Heads-Up Deal Reached
The final two players then took a short break and upon returning, Marki was apologizing to Sanchez for the brutal hand that took place. The two decided to make a deal and it was a very generous deal indeed.
After a wild hour on the final table, Mauricio Sanchez took �950,000 for second place, while Luca Marki took �1,085,970 for first place and gets to take home the coveted PokerStars trophy.
That concludes PokerNews coverage of the �25,000 EPT High Roller, as well as all of our EPT Monte Carlo coverage. PokerNews will be back on the floor in August at the EPT Barcelona. Until then!
