This past weekend the €25,000 no limit hold’em high roller event of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo. The event had 113 players competing and the final eight took their place at the final table for the largest EPT high roller event in the history of the series.
When final table play began Michael Friderich would be the first to go as he was the short stack at the table. Michael was all in with A-4 when he was busted by Allen Bari who held A-Q. Allen Bari would be the next to go as he moved all in with A-K and was called by Tobias Reinkemeier who held pocket kings. Bari’s cards would not hold up and he was knocked out in seventh place.
Next would be Sorel Mizzi as he went all in with A-8 after going up against Reinkemeier who held A-Q. Next after a short break Paul Brende would raise all in with 4-3 and was called by Olivier Busquet who held K-Q. Brende would not get enough on the board to stay in the game and he was knocked out in fifth place.
The next two players to go would be Thomas Marchese and Dori Yacoub. Marchese would fall to hands of Yacoub when they went all in with pocket nines and was called by Yacoub who held A-K. Yacoub would then go out next as he went all in with 8-2 and was called by Reinkemeier who held K-10. Reinkemeier would win the hand with the highest pair and Yacoub would be out in third place, just barely missing heads up play. This would leave Olivier Busquet and Tobias Reinkemeier in heads up play. Reinkemeier had the chip lead with 3,135,000 while Olivier Busquet was not too far behind with 2,610,000.
As heads up play began, both players were very cautious. Busquet eventually was able to even up the chip counts but then Reinkemeier would regain the chip lead. Reinkemeier was able to get Busquet to fold on a hand to gain a 4 to 1 chip lead which would help him win the tournament.
The final hand saw Busquet go all in with A-2 and Reinkemeier called with pocket queens. The board didn’t help Busquet and he was out in second place. Reinkemeier earned the large win and claimed his first major tournament title. This year Reinkemeier made the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure high roller event as well as cashing out in two European Poker Tour main events, one in the Bahamas and one in Berlin.
Final results:
1: Tobias Reinkemeier — €965,000
2: Olivier Busquet — €597,000
3: Dori Yacoub — €358,500
4: Thomas Marchese — €263,000
5: Paul Berende — €191,200
6: Sorel Mizzi — €143,400
7: Allen Bari — €109,900
8: Michael Friedrich — €81,300