Congratulations to Max Altergott, EPT Grand Final Super High Roller Champion! (�1,746,000)
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The final day of the final event of Season 9 on the European Poker Tour came to an end in spectacular style today. The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo? Casino EPT Grand Final crowned Max Altergott as the last major winner of the 10-day festival after he took down the �100,000 Super High Roller event for �1,746,400.
After less than six hours of play he defeated Jason Mercier heads up. He crippled Mercier after a huge encounter a short while after their battle begun. Mercier moved all in when he had tured a flush draw to go with his pair. Altergott had an over pair (queens) and made the call. The river was a blank and Altergott finished off the job the very next hand.
The Team PokerStars Pro will take home �1,115,700 for finishing second. Mercier has now cashed for more than one million dollars, five out of the last six years and has been one of the players of the festival. Before finishing second here, he took down the Open-Face Chinese event and made the final table of the Main Event, all for �1.3 million in cashes!
Just as incredible is the fact that this is the very first tournament cash ever recorded for Altergott. The German (residing in Austria) is a renowned high-stakes heads up cash game player but has just started to play live tournaments. What a way for one to start their tournament career! Season 10 on the EPT might be seeing a little bit more of Altergott.
All seven players who returned today were relaxed in the knowledge they all had �218,300 locked up. Many of the players were very short at the start of play after the long bubble period last night, and the first of those to crack was Mike Watson. He did manage to double up on the second hand of the day but the next time he was all in, he ran into Sorel Mizzi's aces and busted.
Surprisingly, it took another 100 minutes before we lost Scott Seiver in sixth place. It was a pretty standard bust out for Seiver after he moved all in with pocket nines and was called Mercier holding ace-queen. The latter rivered a flush. The best year of Seiver's career continued with a �266,900 score.
The eliminations came thick and fast from there on in. Vladimir Troyanovsky was eliminated in fifth place for �339,500 after another pre flop all in encounter. Mizzi three-bet all in with ace-jack and the Russian called off with king-queen but failed to come from behind. Next to go was Timothy Adams who had done very well to ladder up two places given his chip stack at the time. He moved all in with pocket nines and was called by Altergott holding ace-eight. The German turned an ace and that was that for the likeable Adams. He took home �485,100 for his efforts.
The three remaining players were fairly evenly stacked and they tried to come a deal. It didn't happen and not long after the tournament saw the back of Mizzi. He made a large three-bet all in with king-queen but Altergott had opened with pocket jacks, called, and went on to make a full house. Mizzi had played brilliantly all day and was rewarded with �679,100 for less than three days work.
This season of the EPT, with the reduced festival-like schedule, has been a huge success and PokerNews looks forward to being an integral part of Season 10. The search for the first ever double champion continues; will one be crowned before the 100th EPT at the beginning of Season 11? Stay tuned to find out!