Shchepkin Wins PokerStars and Monte-Carlo?Casino EPT National High Roller
Dmitry Shchepkin has become the latest winner of EPT silverware, winning the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo?Casino �2,200 EPT National High Roller for a sweet payday of �173,000. With the first place prize, the Russian more than tripled his all-time best score. Italian high stakes player Dario Sammartino finished in second place after losing to a brutal two-outer heads-up and received �109,000.
The two-day event saw 358 players do a total of 462 entries, creating a total prize pool of �924,000 with 71 of them receiving a money finish. Notables that cashed included Lily Kiletto, Leo Margets, Jan Bendik and Rainer Kempe. The second day started with 55 hopefuls, with Shchepkin declared the winner after a twelve-hour day.
�2,200 EPT National High Roller Final Result
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Prize in $* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dmitry Shchepkin | Russia | �173,000 | $209,823 |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | �109,000 | $132,200 |
| 3 | Karim Abdelmoumene | France | �78,000 | $94,602 |
| 4 | Smain Mamouni | France | �62,000 | $75,196 |
| 5 | Raffaele Carnevale | Italy | �48,500 | $58,823 |
| 6 | Christopher Chaudey | France | �38,000 | $46,088 |
| 7 | Isabel Baltazar | France | �28,580 | $34,662 |
| 8 | Alexandre Reard | France | �20,000 | $24,256 |
| 9 | Honglin Jiang | New Zealand | �15,500 | $18,799 |
* Prize in $ via XE.com
Hongling Jiang (9th - �15,500) started the final table with 15 big blinds and got those in after fifteen minutes of play. Jiang was up with queen-ten against Christopher Chaudey's king-ten. Jiang flopped a queen but Chaudey rivered a straight to send the man from New Zealand packing.
Alexandre Reard (8th - �20,000) was down to around six big blinds when he got a first-in spot on the button. With ace-six, he went for it and got a chance to triple up after Raffaele Carnevale called in the small blind, who folded to a push from Isabel Baltazar in the big blind. Baltazar held pocket queens and remained ahead after the board ran out jack-high. Reard, 16th in last year's WSOP Main Event, added another nice score to his lifetime winnings of over $1.6 million.
Although she knocked out Reard, Isabel Baltazar dropped back down later and ran her final chips into a set of fives from Karim Abdelmoumene. Baltasar received �28,580 for her seventh-place finish. After losing Christopher Chaudey in 6th (�38,000), Carnevale in 5th (�48,500), and Smain Mamouni in 4th (�62,000), three-handed play started which would last quite some time.
After nearly two hours, it was Karim Abdelmoumene who busted out in 3rd (�78,000). After being down to five big blinds, Abdelmoumene lost the coin flip with queen-jack against Shchepkin's pocket fours.
Heads-up, Sammartino quickly grabbed a substantial lead after winning with pocket kings against pocket fours. Shchepkin got himself back into it by rivering a five with nine-five against Sammartino's king-ten suited. The final hand was brutal: on a six-deuce-deuce flop, Sammartino got it in with ace-deuce against Shchepkin's pocket fours. The turn brought the four to seal the victory for the Russian, making him the EPT National High Roller champion!
Photos courtesy of Ren�� Velli, PokerStars.
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