Jason Koon Reigns Among Stars
On Wednesday, nine of the biggest poker stars in the world took seats at the televised table to compete in a unique Sit & Go tournament with a €100,000 buy-in and an unforgiving format—winner takes all.
Originally planned as a cash game, the players took on this challenge, with the organizers adding an extra €100,000 to the prize pool, bringing the total reward for the sole champion to a round €1,000,000.
The showdown was a spectacle of success and talent, with the cumulative lifetime winnings of the participants exceeding a staggering $429 million. The full recording of this unique game is available on YouTube:
With such a tournament format, there was no room for calculations, leading to an extremely aggressive and exciting game.
The final heads-up battle saw Jason Koon with a 2:1 lead against Kayhan Mokri. In the decisive hand, Mokri went all-in with K d 4 d, which Koon gladly called with K s 2 s. The flop 8 h A s K h seemed to promise a split, but the turn Q s and river 8 s delivered Koon a flush, sealing his triumph.
Results of the €100,000 SNG Invitational:
|
Place |
Player |
Country |
Winnings |
|
1. |
Jason Koon |
USA |
€1,000,000 |
|
2. |
Kayhan Mokri |
Norway |
€0 |
|
3. |
Stephen Chidwick |
United Kingdom |
€0 |
|
4. |
Artur Martirosian |
Russia |
€0 |
|
5. |
Patrik Antonius |
Finland |
€0 |
|
6. |
Aleksejs Ponakovs |
Latvia |
€0 |
|
7. |
Ben Tollerene |
USA |
€0 |
|
8. |
Daniel Dvoress |
Canada |
€0 |
|
9. |
Mikita Badziakouski |
Belarus |
€0 |
Rodrigo Selouan Leads as the Bubble Bursts
The €5,300 buy-in Main Event at EPT Monte Carlo recorded a total of 1,011 entries, creating a prize pool of €4,903,350. The second day concluded with the most thrilling moment of any tournament—the bursting of the money bubble.
The "bubble boy" was Morgan Aceto, who went all-in involuntarily as his last 1,000 chip couldn't cover even the small blind. His J-6 couldn’t hold up against Fabian Berraboukha’s K-K.
The remaining 151 players have secured a minimum payout of €9,200 and a chance to compete for the €825,000 top prize. Brazilian Rodrigo Selouan will enter the third day as the leader, amassing an impressive stack of 933,000.
Closely trailing him is Team PS Pro’s Raul Mestre with 868,000. The tournament still features five former EPT Main Event champions, including Thomas Eychenne (336,000), Ognyan Dimov (286,000), and Hossein Ensan (63,000).
Top 10 Stacks after Day 2 of the Main Event:
|
Rank |
Player |
Country |
Stack |
|
|
1. |
Rodrigo Selouan |
Brazil |
933,000 |
|
|
2. |
Raul Mestre |
Spain |
868,000 |
|
|
3. |
Stanislav Anufriiev |
Ukraine |
574,000 |
|
|
4. |
Oshri Lahmani |
Israel |
562,000 |
|
|
5. |
Mehdi Chaoui |
Morocco |
532,000 |
|
|
6. |
Eduard Litskan |
Ukraine |
529,000 |
|
|
7. |
Lorenzo Franco |
Spain |
523,000 |
|
|
8. |
Muhyedine Fares |
Senegal |
494,000 |
|
|
9. |
Leonardo Silveira Pires |
Brazil |
486,000 |
|
|
10. |
Xavier Cortazar Vidal |
Spain |
463,000 |
Sources: PS Live, Flickr, YouTube
