Flying Finn finishes: Antonius wins EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller

While the Main Event gets underway at the PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo, the €100k SHR crowd were in action, and it was old-school legend Patrik Antonius who scooped the €1,967,440 top prize.

By the end of registration on Day 2, Antonius was one of 72 entries for the three-day, monster buy-in tournament, generating a €6,985,440 prize pool with 11 places being paid and a minimum cash good for €174,600.

Crushers Justin Bonomo and Nick Petrangelo took that sum each for 11th and 10th respectively, and that left reigning champ Alex Kulev as the short stack to start the final table on day three. He fell at the first hurdle, with pocket nines unable to hold up against Juan Pardo’s K10o.

In a field of absolute elite players, England’s Stephen Chidwick fell next in a three-way pre-flop all-in. He got it in with eights against Pardo's queens and came up short. 

Stephen Chidwick can always be found at the business end of a Super High Roller

Flying Finn gets to work

It was then the turn of Antonius to take out some of his rivals, dispatching David Yan in seventh spot, Ben Heath in fifth and Byron Kaverman in fourth, with Pardo ending Jean-Noel Thorel’s hopes in between times to leave just three chasing the title.

The trio of Vogelsang, Antonius and Pardo are all beasts of the nosebleed game, with some $60 million in tournament earnings between them, and for spectators of the PokerStars livestream they provided a thrilling finale.

Pardo had already ensured he’d break the $10 million career earnings milestone, but he had to settle for third when he ran into a rather brutal flop.

Juan Pardo:  
Christoph Vogelsang:

Vogelsang called Pardo’s button raise and both players would have been happy to see the flop. 

A check-raise from the German saw his Spanish opponent call to the turn, where a check-check brought the river. 

Another check from Vogelsang saw Pardo bet 1,300,000 into the 2,000,000 pot leaving only 1,000,000 behind, and it was those chips Vogelsang wanted when he countered with a shove.

It took Pardo some time, but eventually he called and departed in third, picking up €906,700 as consolation.

Vogelsang hit a miracle river to threaten a comeback but Antonius was too strong

Hometown hero as Antonius seals the deal

Heads-up, with almost €700,000 between first and second, both players snap-declined an offer to talk deal numbers. And, despite Vogelsang winning the first hand to take the lead, it was the legendary Finn who was the aggressor mano-a-mano.

A flopped set of queens against top pair reversed the chip counts and although Vogelsang doubled back once with a river escape, he couldn’t match the Finn’s aggressive play.

The finale was standard, a pair of ace-x hands producing a button limp met by a shove and a call.

Christoph Vogelsang:
Patrik Antonius:

Board:

With that, Antonius bagged the EPT $100k SHR title and trophy, with a €1,967,440 cash that equals his second-best-ever score in a 20-year career.

Over those two decades, Antonius has now earned more than $20 million in tournament winnings. 

EPT Monte Carlo €100k SHR final table results

^{Images courtesy of PokerStars}