The main event may have been decided at the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, but the confab continues to make news. From a starting field of 117 (plus 16 re-entries), Igor Kurganov has taken the EPT €25k High Roller event title along with the stellar €1.08m prize. When the eight-handed final table began, it looked like Grand Final Super High Roller winner Justin Bonomo was set for a repeat performance, holding nearly twice as many chips as his closest opponent. But Bonomo could manage no higher than fourth place, and the heads-up war came down to Kurganov and Daniel Negreanu. Despite Kid Poker holding the bigger stack to start, Negreanu was ultimately forced to settle for second and €598k. The rest of the field finished as follows: Philipp Gruissem (€366k); Bonomo (€266k); Artem Litvinov (€216k); Noah Schartz (€166k); Nathan Schoo (€133k) and Max Lykov (€100k).
Elsewhere in Monaco, Leo Margets defeated the recently engaged Victoria Coren to take the EPT Grand Final Ladies event and the €16,850 prize. Stateside, the World Poker Tour Jacksonville main event is down from a starting field of 320 to a six-handed final table. When the final act gets underway Wednesday, Shawn Cunix’s 2.77m stack will stand tallest, followed by James Calderaro’s 2.11m and Will Failla’s 1.535m.
Card Player Media has announced the formation of the Card Player Poker Tour (CPPT), a new live poker tournament series set to debut July 26 at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma. Additional stops will be announced in the near future. Each main event final table will be broadcast live via CardPlayer.com.
An Australian train station manager has been sacked after ditching work to play in live poker tournaments. John Maklouf, an Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) regular with at least $125k in live tournament earnings, was fired from his job at Sydney’s Granville station after he took 17 days off work between August and November 2010 claiming to be ‘sick.’ Narromine News Online reports Maklouf filed doctors’ notes citing “hip pain” and “stress” as justifying his not showing up for work, but that didn’t stop him from participating in various poker tournaments across Australia and even one in the Philippines.
As his absences mounted, his RailCorp employers decided to Google his name, whereupon they discovered his poker player profile, which listed his various high finishes in tournaments during his supposed invalidity. After being given the sack, Maklouf threw himself on the mercy of the Transport Appeals Board, claiming that poker “provided a release” that helped him relieve stress and made him “feel good” about himself. In rejecting Maklouf’s appeal, the Board described his job attendance record as “abysmal,” much like his efforts at keeping his extra curricular activities on the QT. All aboard for the unemployment office…
