Manig Loeser Wins 2019 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Main Event

Manig Loeser has won the 2019 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event, outlasting a field of 922 entries to win his first EPT main event title. The 30-year-old German poker pro took home €603,777 ($676,230 USD) as the champion of this prestigious event after a marathon 15-hour final table. Loeser now has career live tournament earnings in excess of $10.1 million.

In addition to the title and the money, Loeser was also awarded 1,824 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was Loeser’s first title and fourth final-table finish of 2019. This latest win brought his point total to 2,739, enough to see him climb into ninth place in the overall POY race standing, which are sponsored by Global Poker. He now has $1,409,887 in year-to-date earnings.

Loeser entered the final day in fourth chip position with just six players remaining, with official final-table finishers Tim Adams (8th – $87,394 USD) and Rustam Hajiyev ($122,651 USD) having been eliminated late on day 4 of the event. Loeser scored the first knockout of the day, calling the three-bet shove of Luis Medina with pocket sevens. Medina’s A3 never improved and he was sent to the rail in sixth place, earning $171,136 USD for his deep run.

Five-handed action lasted for more than nine hours. The stalemate was broken on the 197th hand of the final table. Nicola Grieco moved all-in for 1,475,000 from the button with AK. Loeser called holding the 87 from the big blind. The board came down 873JA and Loeser hit two pair to eliminate Grieco in fifth place ($231,381 USD).

2013 World Series of Poker main event champion Ryan Riess was left as the short stack with four players remaining. He ended up moving all-in from the small blind for 1,125,000 (less than five big blinds) with the Q3. Wei Huang called out of the big blind with J6. The board ran out AAQ10K to give Huang a straight and the pot. Riess took home $297,494 USD as the fourth-place finisher.

The remaining three players battled it out for a bit before lengthy discussions of a deal commenced. After roughly an hour a final agreement was reached that locked up the following payouts for the players: Wei Huang – $618,303, Viktor Katzenberger – $593,272 USD and Manig Loeser – $588,802 USD. The three players set aside $87,428 USD and the trophy to play for.

Wei Huang eliminated Viktor Katzenberger, beating out the Hungarian’s A8 with AK. Neither player improved and Huang’s superior kicker was all that was needed to earn the pot and eliminate Katzenberger in third place.

Heads-up play began with Loeser holding roughly a 5-to-4 chip advantage over Huang. By the time the final hand arose, Loeser had extended his lead to approximately 2-to-1. With blinds of 250,000-500,000 and a 500,000 big-blind ante, Huang raised to 1,200,000 holding K8. Loeser called out of the big blind with Q8. The J95 flop drew checks from both players. The 10 gave Loeser a straight, prompting him to bet 1,400,000. Huang moved all-in for 8,025,000 and Loeser quickly called. The river was the A, securing the pot and the title for Loeser. Huang took home the $618,303 USD as the second-place finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Neil Stoddart / Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited.

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