Glen Chorny(credit: Poker Stars Blog)
The EPT Grand Final, played in Monte Carlo, Monaco, was one of the richest tournaments ever held on European soil. A total of 842 entrants put up the $13,600 to play in the event, generating a prize pool that was nearly $13.3 million. Big-name players such as Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem and Patrik Antonius played in the event, which was took place over five days. Three Americans made the final table, hoping to keep the title in the United States.
Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari was one of those hopefuls. Esfandiari was also looking to make a bit of history by winning this event. In so doing, Esfandiari would be only the second person to earn poker’s trifecta with a WSOP bracelet, an EPT title and a WPT crown. (Gavin Griffin, the 2007 EPT Grand Final champ is the only person to hold that distinction so far.)
Unfortunately, Esfandiari came up short. He was the first elimination of the final table. Luca Pagano, whose dad Carlo also cashed in this event making them the first father-son duo to accomplish that feat, did the honors, sending Esfandiari to the rail in eighth place.
Pagano, himself, would become a spectator shortly thereafter. The 29 year old Italian, who earned “a lot” of money playing the game online, was KO’d in sixth position. Hungarian Denes Kalo, who took second place at the EPT Baden event, was the executioner, wielding pocket queens as his weapon. Pagano earned $533,601 as a result.
Kalo, a sales manager for a broker company who is married to a model, would make it all the way to heads-up play. Kalo faced a supreme disadvantage in the heads-up matchup. His opponent, Glen Chorny, a 22 year old university student and professional poker player from Timmins, Ontario, had a 10-to-1 chip lead.
Heads-up play lasted all of two hands with Kalo going all-in with his Kh,Qd. Chorny held an Ad,5d. The flop brought Chorny an ace and gave Kalo a queen. Unfortunately, the turn and the river yielded the Budapest resident no help.
In the end, Chorny, who cashed for $80k at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January and won his way to this event for just $700 at PokerStars, earned $3,193,822.
Here are the final results:
1) Glen Chorny - $3,193,822
2) Denes Kalo - $1,864,116
3) Maxime Villemure - $1,130,487
4) Isaac Baron - $931,268
5) Michael Martin - $665,643
6) Luca Pagano - $532,831
7) Valeriy Ilikyan - $400,018
8) Antonio Esfandiari - $265,625
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