2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo? Casino EPT Grand Final

�10,600 Main Event
Day: 4
Event Info

2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo? Casino EPT Grand Final

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a8
Prize
€1,082,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€5,640,000
Entries
564
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000

Johnny Lodden Leads Final 15 Players; Ole Schemion Still In Contention

Level 23 : 10,000/20,000, 3,000 ante
Johnny Lodden leads the final 15
Johnny Lodden leads the final 15

Day 4 of the 2015 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo? Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final �10,600 Main Event started out with just 34 players and the goal of reaching the final 16. In the end, though, only 15 players survived the day as two exits happened right at the same moment, on two different tables, to finish off play.

With a lot of familiar faces still in contention, along with a group of likable newcomers, Day 4 was as exciting as they come.

The first remarkable feature was Chinese high roller Quan Zhou litteraly flipping a coin to make up his mind. He called, and lost the coin flip with sixes to Pierre Neuville's ace-king. Zhou had some chips left, but hit the rail not much later when he ran fours into Tom Hall's aces.

Another thing that got the blood pumping was a double knockout on the same table. Juan Martin Pastor got it in with kings against the tens of Neuville and ace-queen of World Series of Poker runner-up Felix Stephensen on a {J-Diamonds}{10-Clubs}{9-Spades} flop. Running jacks made for an original way to send two players packing.

Team PokerStars Pro was well represented at the start of the day, but all but Johnny Lodden would fall in the 3.5 levels played. Isaac Haxton started out short and didn't make a miraculous comeback, soon joining the �25,500 High Roller that began today.

Another Team Pro was Jason Mercier. He suffered several beats, with nines against fives preflop as the grand finale. A five on the turn for Ludovic Geilich made for an exit for Mercier in 28th place worth �29,900.

Andre Akkari had the entire country of Brazil on his rail, but it didn't help him secure a spot on Day 5. He lost a coin flip to bust in 23rd place (�40,050) against his neighbor, Pastor.

The only Team Pro to survive the day was Lodden. He final tabled the EPT Grand Final Main Event here two years ago (3rd - �467,000) and didn't just survive the day. In fact, he'll start Day 5 as the chip leader. Lodden won the biggest pot against Ole Schemion.

The young German superstar opened under the gun and fired three bullets on the {6-Spades}{5-Clubs}{2-Diamonds}{2-Clubs}{9-Diamonds} board. Lodden called from the big blind preflop, then check-called all three streets with a mere {4-Clubs}{5-Spades}. The pair of fours was good, though, as Schemion showed the {K-Clubs}{10-Clubs} with a smile.

Schemion lost a lot of chips in that hand, but he will be one of the contestants on the penultimate day. He regained control of the table, took down several small pots, raised some turns, and didn't show down too many hands. In the end, he bagged a contending stack.

In the fourth of a planned five levels, three well-known pros hit the rail.

Scott Clements lost a big chunk with kings and a flush draw against a flopped flush, then lost the rest to Lodden, again getting flushed with a strong hand. Italian high roller Dario Sammartino was short and moved all in with {4-}{5-}. He got looked up by {K-}{6-} and couldn't hit. At the same time, Connor Drinan lost all of his chips. Drinan first made a very nice hero call with {10-}{3-} on a scary board to double, but lost his chips not much later as he wasn't able to fade an ace with queens all in preflop against Anton Astapau's ace-king.

With the simultaneous knockouts, the tournament was down to just 15 players and the bagging and tagging started. Those 15 will return tomorrow for Day 6 of the EPT Grand Final at 12 p.m. local time sharp. The plan will be to play five levels or down to six players, whichever comes first. The players are guaranteed �58,100 at this point, but all are shooting for that �1,082,000 first-place prize.

Can Johnny Lodden final table again and work his way to getting the monkey off his back? Can Ole Schemion best his highest EPT Main Event finishing position (5th for �218,300 at EPT Prague in2013)? Or will someone else emerge as the latest champion?

Be sure to check back at PokerNews to find out!

TableSeatNameCountryChips
11Koichi NozakiJapan1,582,000
12Lyndon BashaUnited Kingdom1,070,000
13Jose Carlos GarciaPoland523,000
14Muhyedine FaresSenegal1,280,000
16Johnny LoddenNorway2,293,000
17Ole SchemionGermany1,178,000
18Romain PaonFrance782,000
     
21Adrian MateosSpain1,635,000
22Hady El AsmarLebanon1,530,000
23Anton AstapauBelarus896,000
24Christopher FrankGermany645,000
25Tom HallUnited Kingdom249,000
26Dmitry IvanovRussia994,000
27Juan Martin PastorArgentina450,000
28Markus RossGermany1,815,000

Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden is chip leader heading into Day 5 of the EPT 11 Grand Final, on what is his fifth cash in this event in seven years. Two years ago Lodden finished third, and right now he's in pole position to capture his first ever EPT title. Remko Rinkema spoke to him after the day had ended.

Tags: Andre AkkariAnton AstapauConnor DrinanDario SammartinoFelix StephensenIsaac HaxtonJason MercierJohnny LoddenJuan Manuel PastorJuan Martin PastorLudovic GeilichOle SchemionPierre NeuvilleQuan ZhouScott ClementsTom Hall