Practically a decade in the past, Sebastian Malec was a 21-year-old poker fanatic who managed to show a €27 satellite tv for pc ticket into the €1,122,800 first prize at EPT Barcelona. The Polish professional has change into a daily on the EPT circuit within the years since and is making a run at becoming a member of the unique listing of multiple-time EPT champions this week inside Sporting Monte-Carlo.
As soon as jokingly dubbed “Harry Potter,” Malec embraced the nickname, even donning the wizard’s robes at EPT Prague later that very same 12 months. Quick ahead 9 years, he’s a revered drive on the circuit and one of many main contenders for the €1,000,000 prime prize set to be awarded this Saturday within the glamorous principality on the Côte d’Azur.
Malec scored two massive eliminations over the course of the day, getting Andras Nemeth to name off his final chips with ace-high as Malec confirmed queens for a rivered full home. He then received a race with ace-king in opposition to Jozef Cibicek’s queens to ship final 12 months’s finalist to the rail. Malec ended up in third place with 1,684,000.
2025 EPT Monte Carlo Day 3 High Ten Chip Counts
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Two gamers ended up above Malec after a subject of 149 initially of the day was whittled right down to its remaining 52. UK professional Matthew Davenport waited till the final stage to place himself atop the leaderboard, successful a five-bet pot off Rafael Navas, then choosing up aces on the ultimate hand of the day to bust Dimitri Joubert and take the chip lead with 1,939,000.
The reigning UK Participant of the 12 months already has greater than $2.2 million in stay earnings and has almost matched his earlier finest EPT end result, which got here right here in Monte Carlo in 2016 when he completed forty eighth.
In second place is Khossein Kokhestani, who was on the lucky finish of the most important pot of the match up to now. Kokhestani was confronted with an all-in shove for his final 592,000 on the river in opposition to Charles La Boissonniere.
After a number of minutes within the tank, he finally known as with two pair, whereas La Boissonniere may solely present king-high. Kokhestani dragged the huge pot to push his stack as much as 1,800,000 to finish the day. The Ukrainian isn’t any stranger to lifting the Golden Shard trophy, as he received the PokerStars Eureka Hamburg Most important Occasion final July for €110,070.
Valeriano Toledano (1,582,000) and Julien Mariani (1,400,000) spherical out the highest 5. Bulgarian excessive curler Fahredin Mustafov put a cooler on former chip chief Mariusz Golinski, turning a straight in opposition to Golinski’s two pair to double up on his solution to bagging 1,386,000. Different prime stacks embody Malcolm Franchi (1,012,000), Jamil Wakil (912,000), final 12 months’s runner-up Boris Angelov (686,000), and Ari Engel (655,000).
Additional down the leaderboard are Mateusz Moolhuizen (586,000), Juan Pardo (580,000), Nacho Barbero (559,000), start-of-day chip chief Andreas Goeller (344,000), and Alexandros Kolonias (303,000). La Boissonniere, who held the chip lead for a good portion of the day, was left with simply 412,000 to bag after shedding that pot to Kokhestani.
Day 3 started with 149 gamers remaining out of a beginning subject of 1,195. Patrik Antonius ran his pocket queens into Wakil’s full home to change into an early casualty in 127th place, whereas Kenny Hallaert (145th), 2014 champion Antonio Buonanno (143th), Martin Zamani (121st), Conor Beresford (118th), 2019 champion Manig Loeser (102nd), and Niclas Thumm (ninetieth) have been additionally despatched to the payout desk.
What began as nothing however a dream is nearer to changing into actuality for the 52 gamers who survived Day 3 of the Most important Occasion. The remaining 52 gamers return at midday native time to play the ultimate 45 minutes of Stage 20 with blinds of 6,000/12,000 and a 12,000 massive blind ante.
They’re assured €17,150, with a spot on the remaining desk value €118,150, and the eventual champion taking dwelling €1,000,000. Will it have Malec’s identify on it once more?
Yori Epskamp
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