PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final - Live Updates

Pieter De Korver has completed an amazing story by becoming the EPT Grand Final Champion!

The Dutchman has held sway in the heads up game, bullying Matthew Woodward relentlessly and finally something had to snap.

It just did...

Woodward raised the button to 750k and De Korver made the call.

The pair saw a flop of T♥ 5♥ 6♥, De Korver checked and Woodward led out for 750,000.

Once again De Korver went for the big check-raise...a favorite move of his and raised all-in, easily covering the shorter Woodward.

The American has been pummeled by the Dutchman heads-up and he looked every part the battered and bruised boxer as he puffed out his cheeks and shook his head.

But he called all-in!

Woodward showed 6♣ 4♥ for a pair and small flush draw whilst De Korver had 9♠ 6♠ for the same second pair with a better kicker!

Woodward needed a four or heart to stay alive but when the turn and river fell the Q♠, then the 7♠, he was eliminated in second place for €1,300,000 whilst De Korver was the champion of the EPT Grand Final!

He picks up the trophy, the plaudits and of course the massive €2,300,000 winner's check following one of the most sensational comebacks in EPT history.

We will be back shortly with winner's photos and a summary of the final table, complete with some quotes from our newly crowned Grand Final champion.

For now though we send our congratulations to Dutchman Pieter De Korver for a superb result and amazing performance!

 

The momentum Dutchman Pieter De Korver built up in ascending to the chip lead has stayed with him and he has been the more aggressive player of the two heads up.

So far Woodward seems unable to get a foothold in the game, being pushed off pots by a blazing series of three-bets and all-in shoves from de Korver.

The latest coup for De Korver saw Woodward open preflop for 425k from the button and De Korver call.

The flop fell A♦ 2♦ 7♠. Korver checked, Woodward bet 425k and then Woodward, not for the first time, check-raised to 1.2 million.

Woodward called, the turn came the 4♥, and Korver now led out for over a million.

Woodward made what seemed a big call and it looked like this pot was going to showdown!

Not so, the river fell the 5♣ and when Korver shoved, Woodward gave it up relatively quickly as adoring fans whooped and cheered their Dutch hero, who has now taken a relatively dominant heads-up lead.

The dinner break is over and heads-up play is underway here at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final for Season 5.

American Matt Woodward and Dutch pro Pieter De Korver are now facing off for the EPT championship and a €2.3 million first prize.

We're down to our final two contestants at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final as Russia's Mikhail Tulchinskiy has been eliminated in third place here in Monaco.

Tulchinskiy called off his 4.2 million stack after Matt Woodward four-bet him all-in and turned up a suspect Q♥ T♥ to counter Woodward's 3♥ 3♦.

Tulchinskiy was somewhat lucky to even find himself racing for his tournament life, and after the flop came J♥ 8♠ 2♠ he'd picked up a gutshot draw to increase his outs.

The turn was the 4♦, however, and the river the 2♥ and the threes hold out, giving Woodward the pot and sending Tulchinskiy packing.

The Russian received €800,000 for his efforts.

We're now taking a sixty-minute dinner break before commencing heads-up play. Updated chip counts are available on the right-side of the page.

Mikkelsen's fall from grace has been jaw-dropping.

It is now complete.

He moved all-in for his last 340k over the top of a Tulchinskiy raise to 320k and both Tulchinskiy and de Korver made the call.

The board came T♠ 9♣ 4♦ Q♦ 4♣ and the Russian and Dutchman checked it down to the river.

When De Korver tabled the surprisingly strong Q♥ 9♦ for two pair, Mikkelsen couldn't show anything better, meaning he busts in 4th for €600,000, having looked locked on for the title not long ago!

Meanwhile Pieter de Korver's fairytale story continues as he consolidates his incredible ascent to the chip lead with yet another pot that sees his stack rise to 15,530,000.

This is quite simply incredible!

The Dag Martin Mikkelsen downswong and the Pieter De Korver upswing have both continued and appear to be moving towards an illogical conclusion:

De Korver is now the prohibitive chip-leader with 14.64 million and Mikkelsen is on just 360k.

This comes after a brutal hand that saw Mikkelsen raise preflop and De Korver put in a re-raise.

Mikkelsen made the call and the flop came 7♠ 7♥ 6♦.

De Korver led out for 430k and Mikkelsen opted to flat-call, and the turn brought the 9♦.

De Korver led out for 1 million and Mikkelsen put him all-in. De Korver insta-called, turning up a pocket pair of sixes for the flopped full house.

Mikkelsen was drawing dead with K♦ T♠ and after the river was an academic A♠, De Korver had doubled and Mikkelsen was crippled.

 

Pieter De Korver has just taken over the chip lead. The guy was down to his last 350k a few rounds ago and has gone on the heater of heaters to build his stack up to nearly 8 million.

His latest coup saw him ship over the top of a Dag Martin Mikkelsen UTG raise, putting his 3.74 million stack on the line with A♦ J♥ and finding himself racing yet again, this time against Mikkelsen's pocket tens.

The flop was a doozy, coming A♥ K♣ J♠ and giving De Korver two pair while giving Mikkelsen the inside straight draw.

The turn was the 4♠ and the river the 2♦ and De Korver doubled up to 7.76 million to take over the chip lead.

This is becoming incredible. The Dutchman Pieter de Korver was on less than three big blinds not long ago but he has won a ridiculous series of all-ins to blast back into contention.

The latest coup saw him shove his 1.8 million in pre-flop, only for Dag Martin Mikkelsen to make the call.

De Korver could only table K♥ J♥ but when Dag showed he had made a thin call with A♣ 3♠, the Dutchman wasn't in bad shape.

Nonetheless, he had to win yet another all-in to survive and probably had a wish-list of great flops he'd like to see.

This flop appeared:

Q♣ T♦ 9♦

Yes! Incredibly Pieter flopped the nuts much to his and Dag's collective hilarity. His supporters whooped with Dag drawing almost dead and when a second ten appeared on the turn, there was no way back for the Norwegian.

Unbelievable recovery from de Korver who is still the shortstack, but now has 3.8 million to his name.

Following that hand, de Korver shipped his paltry 345k in pre-flop and both Mikkelsen and Woodward called, no doubt looking to finally finish off the pesky Dutchman who refuses to die.

The two live players in the hand checked through the board of 8♣ 6♣ 4♥ 3♣ T♠ and turned up king-three and nine-deuce.

de Korver needed to show better than a pair of threes to win and...

He showed queen-four for a pair of fours!

His supporters go crazy in the crowd, whooping as their hero trebles through and meanwhile de Korver has an ear to ear grin and even manages a little dance as he rakes in the 1.1 million pot! 

Update:

A few hands later, De Korver gets his 1.075 million stack all-in with K♠ 6♦ against Dag Martin Mikkelsen's Q♦ 2♠.

The board comes K♠ Q♠ J♥ 8♣ 6♣ and De Korver takes the pot with a pair of kings. He's now on 2.32 million.

Relegated to short-stack status after Pieter De Korver executed a couple of timely double-ups, Matt Woodward gets all-in over the top of De Korver's opening raise in a blind v. blind confrontation.

It's a 4.81 million chip race, as De Korver has 9♠ 9♥ and Woodward K♠ J♠.

The flop comes A♥ 7♣ 6♥ and the nines maintain their lead. The turn is the Q♥, however, and Woodward picks up bocoo outs to stay alive.

The river is the T♦ and the American rivers the Broadway Straight to double through De Korver, who is left with just 350k behind.

Lightning has struck again as Tulchinskiy makes a move from the small blind, opening to 350k the calling de Korver's all-in jam from the big blind with king-eight.

A♥ 9♥ for de Korver to call and he is ahead once again.

The board runs out T♣ 3♠ 2♦ 6♣ 6♥, neither player make a pair, meaning its another double through for the Dutchman!

The Russian catches the eye of someone in the crowd and shakes his head sadly, his chips heading in the wrong direction at the moment.

Mikhail has been rising steadily throughout this final but his progress was just put on ice temporarily as shortstacked Dutchman Pieter de Korver took on the Russian's queen-ten with his ace-four in a blind on blind battle.

De Korver had a small edge but needed his slim advantage to hold or he would find himself on the rail.

He needn't ahve worried; a flop of A♥ K♣ 5♦ 9♠ 8♥ secured his double through, moving him up to 2.23 million.

Almost immediately after Alem Shah is eliminated in sixth place, Eric Qu gets all-in for 1.46 million over the top of a 350k opening raise from Mikhail Tulchinskiy.

Tulchinskiy makes the call, turning up A♥ Q♠ and finding himself ahead of Qu's K♥ Q♥.

The flop comes J♠ 5♠ 3♦ and Qu remains dominated, but the K♦ on the turn vaults him into the lead.

He begins to celebrate, but the A♠ on the river cuts that celebration brutally short as Tulchinskiy pulls off the miracle re-suck to send Qu packing.

He's out in fifth place and takes €470,000 for his efforts.

Alem Shah has done well to ladder a few not-inconsiderable rungs on the prize ladder but moments ago, his day was done!

Tulchinskiy raised it up to $350k, Shah moved his shortstack all-in and Tulchinskiy made an easy call with A♦ K♥.

Shah flipped up a dominated A♠ T♣ and the writing was on the wall.

The board of 8♣ 3♣ 3♦ 2♣ 6♠ momentarily threatened an upset with Shah nearly four-flushing, but ultimately ran out safe and Tulchinskiy consolidates his second position whilst Shah hits the rail, picking up €350,000 for his performance!

In what the playwright called "foreshadowing," Daniel Zink raises to 235k and Dag Martin Mikkelsen re-raises to 600k.

Zink moves all-in over the top for 1.775 million more and Mikkelsen, after some thought, lays down the hand.

The situation plays out again shortly thereafter.

This time, Zink raises to 235k and Mikkelsen makes it 700k to go. Action again folds back to Zink and he ships, only to see Mikkelsen make an instant call.

Mikkelsen has A♦ K♥ and Zink is far behind with A♥ J♥.

The flop comes K♠ 8♦ 2♦ and Mikkelsen flops top pair. Zink is left drawing to running cards to stay alive.

The turn is the J♦ and he's halfway there, but the river is the A♣ and Mikkelsen's two pair takes it.

Zink is out in seventh place and earns €250,000 while Mikkelsen continues to absolutely crush this final table.

Qu makes a minimum raise to 100k and when Zink makes the call, Tulchinskiy also calls from the big blind.

The flop falls A♠ T♦ 4♦ and the three players check it round.

The turn is the8♠.

Tulchinskiy now fires out 275k and Eric Qu makes the call...

The river is the 2♥ and a check from Tulchinskiy sees Eric Qu fire out 700k.

A long period of tankage now develops, with Tulchinskiy carefully considering his options. Eric Qu begins to scratch the back of his neck repeatedly, possibly feeling a little uncomfortable...

Finally Tulchinskiy makes the call with second pair T♣ 3♣, it turns out to be a great call as Qu just mucks his hand!

One-up to the Russian. who jumps into second place with 4.7 million whilst Eric Qu is knocked down to 1.5 milllion...

Well we've finally seen an all-in call but it wasn't from Alem Shah or Eric Qu.

Peter Traply, who plays online as Belabacsi and was tabbed by chipleader Dag Martin Mikkelsen as one of his biggest rivals at this final table, has flamed out in eighth place in a shocking turn of events.

Traply's climactic hand began with Matt Woodward raising to 250k and Mikkelsen re-raise to 625k.

From his left, Traply moved all-in for fully 4.5 million and after Woodward folded, Mikkelsen was in an extremely difficult spot.

He tanked but eventually made the call, putting up Q♠ Q♦ and finding himself in the classic race situation against Traply's A♦ K♥.

It was a 9.48 million coinflip that would likely have huge implications as far as the outcome of the tournament.

The flop came 8♥ 5♣ 2♥ and the queens retained the lead.

The turn was the T♦ and the river the 6♣ and the queens held, giving Mikkelsen the pot and busting Traply in eighth place, an accomplishment for which he'll receive €170,000.

The blinds have jumped to 50k/100k and consequently a number of stacks have gotten a bit shorter here at the final table of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final.

This has translated into a succession of preflop all-ins but absolutely zero calls as of yet.

Alem Shah, in particular, seems eager to get his stack all-in, having accumulated about 600k over the last few hands simply by shoving over the top of an opening raise.

Then Eric Qu got into the act, shipping over the top of a raise from Dag Martin Mikkelsen and a call from Mikhail Tulchinskiy.

It was a 2.1 million shove and Mikkelsen laid it down fairly quickly, but Tulchinskiy thought things over as Qu exhorted him "allez" (call).

But Tulchinskiy would ultimately fold and the epidemic of uncalled all-ins continues.

It's been a fast, promising start here so far, with almost every hand raised pre-flop.

There's only been one contested pot of note so far however, one hand seeing Eric Qu raise it up to 200,000, only for Alem Shah to make the first all-in manoeuvre of the day.

Qu didn't take too long to lay it down, but refused to be knocked back into his shell, popping up the next hand to 200,000 and picking up the 160k in blinds and antes.

The open start suggests we will see an aggressive, open final which is what we all want to see!

One interesting story regards the long-haired German Daniel Zink and his identical twin.

Sebastian Zink is here in Monaco to watch his brother in action on the final, but the pair being identical twins, he has had to fend off a steady stream of people walking up to him to wish him good luck!

HIGH ROLLER UPDATE

Just as a reminder, the High Roller tournament final table is running parallel to the Grand Final.

Vanessa Rousso came into the final as the chip lead, but recently the controversial Tony G aka the Australian Airbag leapt into the chip lead.

They are six handed at present battling it out for a very healthy €720,000.

We'll keep you abreast of any interesting developments.

The few technical hitches have been dealt with, the players have been seated, chips distributed and the cards are in the air!

It will be interesting to see how the first few levels pan out.

Will the big stacks try and dominate?

Will the players have half an eye on the big ladder jumps or will they be gunning all-out FTW?

All the answers will be answered shortly at the felt.

Let's get it on!

It's been a rocky road that has brought us to the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final here in Monaco, but here we are, with eight men sitting on the cusp of greatness.

The EPT Final is both a highly prestigious and highly lucrative tournament to win. Here are the sumptuous payouts our finalists are playing for .

Norwegian Dag Martin Mikkelsen leads the way with a healthy chip lead and the rest will have to find a way past both his mountain of chips and formidable talent if they are to forge a path to the title.

The two Germans in contention, Sebastian Zink and Alem Shah, both find themselves the shortstacks and will have to move relatively quickly if they are to have a shot at the title, which should help ensure a fast start.

The remaining players and their starting chip counts can be found here,

Final tinkering is being done to the televised final table as we speak but we are just moments away from the start.

Hold tight and enjoy for what should prove an historic day!