Marcelo Simoes Wins EPT Monte Carlo Main Event for €939,840

Marcelo Simoes won the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event for €939,840. A total of 1073 entries for the flagship event of the festival held at the Monte Carlo Sporting in Monaco, meant a prizepool of more than €5million. Victoria Coren Mitchell, Patrik Antonius, Dominik Nitsche, Kitty Kuo, and Mustapha Kanit were among those who fell before the paid spots. Harpreet Gill and Danny Pike bubbled the money at the same time, leaving, and then it was a race to the final table.

The 2021 WSOP Main Event champion Koray Aldemir, Tim Adams, Ana Marquez fell short of the ultimate prize. The final table of six saw a cautious start, and it was well after dinner before Germany’s Erkan Soenmez fell in 6th place, a €167,050 payday for the online qualifier. Hugo Pingray’s hopes were dashed when Simoes spiked a nine on the turn to overcome his big slick, 5th spot and €228,460 for the Frenchman. Jaime Cervantes’ tournament could have ended differently if the following incredible hand had played out differently, a brutal bad beat and a strange quirk of fate saw him with the big ace facing pocket nines in his bust-out hand, falling in 4th spot for €298,710.

Moldova’s Dragos Trofimov 3rd spot finish lifts him to withing touching distance of the number two spot in his small nation’s all-time money-winners list. Heads-up, finally, and it was Denmark’s Morten Hvam trying to stop the Brazilian express, Simoes. A 4:1 chip lead, and no deal agreed despite talks, soon saw Simoes pull away even further. Eventually it all came down to a cooler of sorts on the 168th of the final table, all the chips going in on the flop... ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ Hvam: K♣ 10♦ Simoes K♥ K♦ Flop: 6♠ 9♦ 7♦ Turn: 5♣ River: J♦ Simoes’ kings had held up and he bagged the €939,840 and Brazil’s first-ever EPT Main Event victory, with Hvam taking a huge €564,640 runner-up consolation prize.