The Pokerstars Championship in Monte Carlo Euro 5,300 buy-in NLHE main event has concluded with a victory for Italian ace Raffaele Sorrentino after a heads up tussle with German pro Andreas Klatt.
Due to a heads-up stage chop between the two finalists, Sorrentino took home Euro 451,714 instead of the scheduled first prize of Euro 500,800, but was still a happy man.
There were 727 players in the event, generating a prize pool well over guarantee at Euro 3,525,950.
When Russia’s Andrey Bondar was eliminated at third for Euro 271,500, Sorrentino and Klatt agreed a chop that gave Sorrentino as chip leader Euro 451,714 and Klatt Euro 402,768, leaving Euro 15,000 for the winner.
At first it appeared that the heads up would be a lengthy affair between two equally strong players, but in fact it was done and dusted in just under two hours after 29 hands as the Italian extended his lead and finally eliminated his last opponent.
Pokerstars events exec, Ed Stuchly wound up the ceremonies by proclaiming the inaugural Championships in Monte Carlo a success, revealing that over 10,000 entries had been recorded across the diversity of events that had been organised, attracting top players from all over the world.
The High Roller competitions proved especially entertaining and attractive to professional players during the Championships.
Major pay-outs went to Bryn Kenney (Euro 1,874,500) and Vlacheslav Buldygin (Euro 1,290,800) who came first and second in the Euro 100,000 buy-in Super High Roller. Then Julian Stuer defeated John Juanda to win the 3-day Euro 25,000 High Roller event for Euro 1,015,000, and Adrian Mateos (Euro 908,000) took down the Euro 50,000 buy-in event (see previous InfoPowa reports).