After three fabulous days of action, the 2016 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza €1,000,000-buy-in Big One For One Drop has crowned a winner.
Tonight, Canadian born but Hong Kong based, Elton Tsang can say that he’s won the third biggest prize in poker history as he defeated a field of 28 entries to win a major €11,111,111.
Such is the dimensions of the prize Tsang's won that he’s vaulted from outside the highest 3,000 to 21st at the all-time money list.
He defeated a last table that included Andrew Pantling, James Bord, Rick Salomon, Haralabos Voulgaris, Cary Katz, Brandon Steven and Anatoly Gurtovoy.
Final Table Results
| 1 | Elton Tsang | Hong Kong | €11,111,111 |
| 2 | Anatoly Gurtovoy | Russia | €5,427,781 |
| 3 | Rick Salomon | United States | €3,000,000 |
| 4 | James Bord | United Kingdom | €2,100,000 |
| 5 | Cary Katz | United States | €1,750,000 |
| 6 | Andrew Pantling | Canada | €1,500,000 |
No Ordinary Tournament, a €1,500,000 Bubble
This was no ordinary tournament and the overall table got the introduction it deserved. Guy Laliberté didn't disappoint because the players were escorted to the tables to a crescendo of electrical guitar riffs and the only Drop Foundation frontman took to the microphone to accomplish the ceremonial ‘shuffle up and deal’ announcement.
We didn’t must wait long for action. Just two hands in, Elton Tsang took the chip lead from Andrew Pantling. When the 2 clashed again at the next hand and Tsang came out on top, Pantling had lost two-thirds of his stack and Tsang now had a large chip lead. In retrospect we will say that these were two of probably the most pivotal hands of the general table; we just didn’t comprehend it yet. They're so pivotal because at this point Tsang’s stack was over 47,000,000. Through the entirety of the general table, no other player would get their hands on a stack that big.
Coming into play because the short stack was Haralabos Voulgaris. The pro sports bettor had to discover a spot and 8 hands in he found it. Unfortunately for ‘Bob’ this one didn’t go in his favor as his shove with a suited king was picked off by Anatoly Gurtovoy with ace-queen. Neither player connected with the board and it was bubble time with seven players remaining and just six getting paid.
It was a €1,500,000 bubble but you wouldn’t have known it because the action didn’t grind to a halt and there has been zero stalling. Brandon Steven was the primary player all-in and liable to bubbling. He and Pantling both had ace-king, but after the turn, Pantling was freerolling and any diamond would’ve burst the bubble. Steven survived and Cary Katz was the following player to stand a sweat. He had dwindled to simply under five big blinds by the point he took a stand with jack-ten. Again it was Pantling who was trying to play the role of executioner but Katz started, and finished, with the most efficient hand to get a far needed double up.
With Katz because the clear short stack, it became almost a four-handed tournament as Pantling and Steven (the opposite short stacks) were handcuffed. Again Katz found a hand to get his stack in with, and again he held as his ace-king dodged the jack-nine suited of Elton Tsang.
By this point, Katz, Steven and Pantling were all well and actually within the danger zone and by the point the blinds ticked as much as 300,000/600,000 that triumvirate was all below starting stack. Something needed to give and when two of the quick stacks found hands, it did. Katz shoved all in, Steven called and the previous had a dominating hand with ace-king to the latters king-queen. Five blanks later and the bubble had burst; Brandon Steven was the last one to head home empty-handed.
Brandon Steven bubbled the €1,000,000-buy-in Big One for One Drop Extravaganza
Just a couple of minutes later, six became five. Andrew Pantling, who was the beginning of day chip leader, took his last stand with a suited king but didn’t get there against Tsang’s ace-high. Usually the primary within the money finish opens the floodgates but not on this instance as another 20 hands occurred before Cary Katz was knocked out in fifth. Within the hand in question, James Bord opened, Elton Tsang three-bet with king-jack and Katz called all in for only the three-bet with ace-jack. Bord folded. A king at the flop was a dagger to Katz’s tournament hopes and neither the turn nor the river saved him.
While Tsang was out of sight because the clear chip leader, James Bord, Rick Salomon and Gurtovoy were all bunched together within the 15-25 big blind range. This created a dynamic where Tsang could pick up a large number of pots, but all three had enough chips to three-bet shove to maintain their stack buoyant. It was, though, inevitable that two of those stacks would clash at one point and so it proved. On an ace-high flop, Anatoly Gurtovoy and James Bord created a pot of around 30 million. Both had top pair but Gurtovoy’s kicker was better and Bord was kicked out in fourth earning €2,100,000.
With three left it was Tsang who was well accountable; he had almost 100,000,000 of the 140,000,000 chips in play. Salomon and Gurtovoy needed to scrap and fight to outlive. A period of play that was characterized by Tsang getting walks followed, Tsang raising to take the blinds and antes and others raising and getting shoved on.
This continued for nearly 70 hands but then followed big action two hands in a row. First Salomon and Gurtovoy got all of it in pre-flop, but both held king-jack and the pot was chopped. The very next hand Gurtovoy three-bet shoved for 16.5 big blinds with king-nine and Tsang put him in peril with pocket sixes. A nine at the flop gave Gurtovoy the lead but Tsang picked up a straight draw. The turn and river were blanks though and Gurtovoy doubled.
That dent altered the landscape as now Salomon was the clear short stack and was right down to around a dozen big blinds. For 30 or so hands his shoves went uncalled but then we got action. Rick Salomon three-bet shoved with queen-jack and Anatoly Gurtovoy called with ace-queen. A jack at the flop gave Salomon the lead but an ace turned and Gurtovoy hung on the river. Rick Salomon made his exit in third place, good for €3,000,000.
Heads-Up: Tsang Versus Gurtovoy
So to heads-up play we went with chip stacks looking like this at blinds of 600,000/1,200,000 ante 200,000:
Elton Tsang: 93,700,000Anatoly Gurtovoy: 46,300,000
It was nearly in all places on just the third hand of heads-up play. On a nine-six-five rainbow flop all of the chips went in. Gurtovoy had a top pair top kicker but Tsang had flopped top two pair. Running cards put a straight at the board and the pot was chopped. The momentum and the chip lead was with Tsang though and he continued to grind Gurtovoy down.
Tsang bummed after the river made for a chop pot
Down to only six big blinds, Gurtovoy managed to get one double up but he wouldn’t get a second. Not much later, Tsang and Gurtovoy got all of it in again. At the turn of a 
-board the last of his chips went in with 
for Gurtovoy making him a wheel. Unfortunately for him, Tsang had him beat with 
and the river didn’t save Gurtovoy this time. Tsang's fans, includingMustapaha Kanit who were coaching him for 2 weeks, celebrated and a round of applause rang out.
Thank you to everyone for following our coverage of this extraordinary event. A reminder that we’ll be back at noon tomorrow to hide the €1,000,000 cash game and €100,000 freeze-out live from Monaco.
(photos by Neil Stoddart)
Be certain to complete your PokerNews experience by testing an summary of our mobile and tablet apps here. Stay on top of the poker world out of your phone with our mobile iOS and Android app, or stir up our iPad app in your tablet. You can too update your personal chip counts from poker tournaments around the globe with MyStack on both Android and iOS.
PokerNews.com is the world's leading poker website. Among other things, visitors will discover a daily dose of articles with the most recent poker news, live reporting from tournaments, exclusive videos, podcasts and such a lot more.
PokerStars is the most important online poker room offering the largest amount of poker games and different game variations including Texas Hold'em, Omaha and other popular poker games. By joining PokerStars you'll be able to easily learn the entire poker rules and poker strategy by playing free poker games. Join PokerStars and revel in prime quality online poker.
Read More... [Source: PokerNews]
No comments:
Post a Comment