Schemion & Lodden Make EPT Finale
Friday, 8 May 2015
The penultimate session of this year's EPT Grand Final Main Event came to a conclusion last night and when the chips had fallen and the lights went out just six players remained. After starting the day with 15 hopefuls all looking towards this year's €1,082,000 top prize, the field gradually whittled its way down to a single table of competitors.
First to hit the rail after starting the day with nothing more than a smattering of chips was Tom Hall. The tournament regular knew he had to make a move early if he was to get back into to contention and when the betting got underway he found his moment to strike with 6s 7c. Unfortunately, his small blind attack was thwarted by Dmitry Ivanov in the big blind with Jh Qs.
With the elimination floodgates now open, the chips began to flow and within a few hours the final six sorted themselves into ascending order. Propping up the finale after scrapping passed the seventh place finisher, Markus Ross, was Jose Carlos Garcia. Holding 29 big blinds (1,435,000 chips), Garcia won't be in panic mode when the action resumes today; however, with a stellar cast of pros watching his every move he won't have an easy time at the felt.
Putting in a strong performance on Day 4 was German wunderkind, Ole Schemion. His surge towards the end of the day netted him more than 3.5 million chips and enough of a stack to finish ahead of his toughest rivals (on paper), Johnny Lodden and Adrian Mateos.
However, despite his surge, Schemion wasn't able to clinch the chip lead. In a close run battle, Muhyedine Fares and Hady El Asmar finished just a few chips apart, but it was the former who will start today's session with the lead and the unenviable tasks of fending off some of the toughest pros in the game.
Indeed, today's session will no doubt provide some highly entertaining poker, especially if Lodden and Schemion can continue their runs, and you can watch it all as it unfolds courtesy of PokerStars TV.
EPT Grand Final Main Event Chip Counts
Muhyedine Fares - 3,955,000
Hady El Asmar - 3,970,000
Ole Schemion - 3,530,000
Johnny Lodden - 2,250,000
Adrian Mateos - 1,770,000
Jose Carlos Garcia - 1,435,000