PokerStars.com EPT Madrid High Roller - ElkY Edges Out psychobenny
The PokerStars.com EPT Madrid's €25,000 entry High Roller tournament has come to an end, and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier is the winner. Four PokerStrategy members finished in the top half of the field, highlighted by Benny 'psychobenny' Spindler who came in 2nd place overall.
The €25,000 entry PokerStars.com EPT Madrid High Roller began on May 5 and came to a close on May 7. The event drew 58 players to the Casino Gran Madrid to play in an immensely difficult field and try to win a share of the €1,435,500 prize pool.
Four PokerStrategy members decided to enter the event- Tobias pokernoob Reinkemeier, Phil philgruissem Gruissem, Alexander cyde Luber, and psychobenny.
Pokernoob won last year's EPT Grand Final High Roller in Monte Carlo for €956,000, but he was unfortunately unable to repeat his success this year. Pokernoob spent much of Day 2 clashing with Tom 'Durrrr' Dwan, but he couldn't manage to survive the day and finished in the middle of the field.
All three other PokerStrategy.com players reached the final 10.
At 4,000/8,000 blinds, Peter Jetten opened a pot to 24,000 from under the gun. philgruissem 3-bet him, pushing his 190,000 chips all in. Jetten called and showed 7-7. philgruissem had 
but couldn't catch up and hit the rail in 10th place.
cYde's tournament life was put in jeopardy in a big pot against Vanessa Rousso. The blinds were 4,000/8,000, and cYde opened a pot for 16,000. Rousso moved all in, and cYde called.
Rousso's 
was in a dominating position against cYde's 
.
The board ran 
, allowing Vanessa to double up and setting cYde all the way back to 3,000 chips - at a level with 1,000 chip antes.
Alexander wouldn't go away without a fight. He turned his 3,000 into 12,000 with 
. Then he turned his 12,000 into 36,000 with 
. Then he turned his 36,000 into 80,000 with 
. Later, he doubled again when his 
beat the pocket eights of psychobenny.
 |
| ElkY and Spindler Playing Heads-Up Photo Source: PokerStars Blog |
Just when it seemed like this would be a comeback for the ages, cYde ran pocket queens into psychobenny's aces. This time he was unable to catch any interesting cards, and he was the tournament's bubble boy, busting in 9th place.
The Final Table
Going into the final table, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner Galen Hall was the chip leader with 798,000 chips. psychobenny and Juha Helppi were close behind with 710,000 and 707,000 respectively. The rest of the table had far fewer chips than those three.
Peter Jetten was the first to bust, when he open shoved 
and was called by Galen Hall, who held 
.
The next player to be eliminated was Galen Hall himself. psychobenny had pocket queens when he got into a pot with Hall, who held aces. psychobenny hit a queen on the flop and managed to extract the entirety of Hall's stack on the river, to extend his chip lead and bust a difficult opponent.
psychobenny dominated the table, and when play reached four handed, he had more chips than his three remaining opponents combined.
David Sands busted to psychobenny to go out in 4th, and ElkY took out Juha Helppi in 3rd. Heads-up play began with psychobenny leading by a margin of about 2-1 in chips.
In the first big heads-up hand, ElkY doubled up with pocket jacks when psychobenny held top pair, tens.
 |
| ElkY with a smile of a champion Photo Source: PokerStars Blog |
ElkY took the lead for the first time with a river raise on a 
board, and psychobenny was forced to fold his hand. Both players continued to trade chips with extremely aggressive play.
Finally, a limped pot saw a 
flop. ElkY bet 33,000, psychobenny raised to 90,000, and ElkY re-raised to 223,000 chips. The turn was the 
. ElkY bet 277,000, and psychobenny called. The river was the 
. ElkY shoved and psychobenny called with all of his remaining chips.
ElkY showed 
for a full house, and psychobenny's 
for three-of-a-kind was no good. psychobenny was eliminated in 2nd place, but hopefully the €316,000 he earned will help cheer him up. ElkY is the tournament's champion, and he'll head home with €525,000 and the title of EPT Madrid High Roller champion.
Here are the payouts for the eight players who made the final table:
| PokerStars.com EPT Madrid High Roller Results | |||
| Place | Name | Winnings | |
| 1st | Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier | €525,000 | |
| 2nd | psychobenny | €316,000 | |
| 3rd | Juha Helppi | €185,000 | |
| 4th | David Sands | €135,000 | |
| 5th | Vanessa Rousso | €100,000 | |
| 6th | Alex Repik | €72,000 | |
| 7th | Galen Hall | €57,500 | |
| 8th | Peter Jetten | €45,000 | |
