European Poker Tour Monte Carlo 2022 – Gigantic, Unmatched, Fabulous!
Casino Inside magazine was the only casino entertainment magazine in Romania invited by PokerStars to the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo 2022 edition that took place the other days in Monaco. We offer you a summary of what happened there between 28 April and 7 May.
European Poker Tour Monte Carlo
Marcelo Simoes Mesqueu won the EPT Main Event Monte Carlo 2022
This year’s EPT Monte Carlo Main Event attracted no less than 1,073 entries (747 unique players and 326 re-entries) and the prize pool was €5,204,050. Players from 41 countries participated in this year’s EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. France had the largest representation with 215 players (28.8% of the field). Italy, Germany, the UK and Spain followed in the country rankings.
Marcelo Simoes
The Brazilians really came out on top at this year’s EPT Monte Carlo. Marcelo Simoes Mesqueu became the first Brazilian player in history to win the European Poker Tour’s Main Event title and claimed a €939,840 prize pool.
On his second visit to Europe, the 55-year-old Mesqueu is no stranger to live tournament success, having won a BSOP title.
Even though it was a long and difficult battle, there was no shortage of spectacle at the table. Even though the chip leader at the start of Day 4 was Danish player Morten Hvam, the Brazilian Mesqueu slowly accumulated more and more winning hands during the final table and positioned himself as the biggest favourite to win. He moved into the chip lead and kept steadily distancing himself from the rest of the players, eliminating one by one Erkan Soenmez, then Hugo Pingray and finally the Moldavian Dragoș Trofimov (who finished in 3rd place). The heads-up match was between the best players of the tournament: Marcelo Simoes Mesqueu and Morten Hvam. Mesqueu went into this duel with a chip lead of over 3-1, and although he talked with Hvam, they failed to reach a deal. The first few hands went in Mesqueu’s favor. He widened the gap between the two stacks, but Hvam later found two doubles to stay afloat. The third all-in was lucky for Mesqueu, however, as his pocket jacks held up successfully against the other hand with pocket tens. No cards put on the table by the dealer changed the initial hand situation and Brazil finally had an EPT champion. Dan Chișu, ranked 25th, was the highest ranked Romanian at the tournament.
Adrian Mateos wins EPT Super High Roller and €1,385,430
The Spanish player doesn’t back down and shows his talent once again, winning without appeal the Super High Roller which he dominated and was chipleader on the second day of the competition.
Adrian Mateos
For Mateos it is the sixth result of over $1 million or euros in his career by the age of 27. And to think his parents didn’t approve of poker being part of his life in the beginning. For Adrian Mateos Monte Carlo is a place dear to his heart, as he has achieved many exceptional results here: the EPT Main Event title in 2015 and the €50,000 High Roller title in 2017.
At the final table of this tournament, the Spaniard entered leading in chips, eliminated 3 players in a row and defeated German Marius Gierse in heads-up.
The Super High Roller attracted 42 entrants (including 12 re-entries), generating a prize pool of €4,074,840. The top 6 competitors have qualified for the prizes.
Yuri Dzivielevski won the €25,000 NL Hold’em Single-Day Event
The Brazilians have had a good few days in Monte Carlo these days. At the start of the tournament, there were 74 entries, creating a prize pool of €1,776,740. Neymar Jr. participated in the tournament and even though he didn’t cash, he did very well and day after day he contributes to the poker community by being a PokerStars Cultural Ambassador.
Yuri Dzivielevski
Dzivielevski won the tournament after defeating Daniel Dvoress of Canada in heads-up play. American player Byron Kaverman finished third. PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton was also among the prize winners.
Lucas Scafini won the FPS Main Event for €250,000
Brazilian player Lucas Scafini has won the €1,100 France Poker Series Main Event at the PokerStars EPT presented in the Monte-Carlo Casino casino room. Cheered on by PSG football star Neymar Jr, Scafini played very well and after beating Italian Fabio Peluso in heads-up play, he victoriously collected the €250,000 prize and the trophy for winning this tournament.
Lucas Scafini
The tournament had a buy-in of €1,100 and enjoyed a field of 1,918 entrants. The total prize money was €1,841,280 which was split between 287 players.
This result is the best of Scafini’s career. The moment of victory was celebrated with superstar Neymar Jr. and all the other friends the charismatic Brazilian has made here in Monte Carlo. Even though he entered with a 2:1 chip handicap, Scafini managed to even the contest and then tip the scales in his favour.
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To introduce you even more into the atmosphere of this great tournament, we leave you here an excerpt from the two interviews conducted exclusively by Casino Inside in Monte Carlo with PokerStars ambassadors André Akkari and Jennifer Shahade.
Andre Akkari
Exclusive Interview with André Akkari:
Which tournament impressed you the most? What about the prizes you won and why?
I’ve been playing poker for 17 years and I’ve played in a lot of tournaments, I’ve encountered a lot of different playing situations. However, one of the best tournaments I’ve played in was EPT Barcelona. A tournament that I won very well, I was cheered on by my friends, my staff, everyone supported me, it was an incredible atmosphere.
Jennifer Shahade
Exclusive Interview with Jennifer Shahade:
Do you have a colleague/colleague you admire and learn from?
There are many good players in poker that I have studied over the years. Vanessa Selbst, to pick one woman poker player, is also PokerStars Ambassador Lex Veldhuis who has done wonderful things to delight people while also being an elite player. I think that’s incredible, it’s a very hard thing to do, to be personal and interact and play excellent poker at a high level, there are very few who can do it. There’s someone who plays in the high stakes circuits, Daniel Dvoress, who I love the way he thinks about the game and reminds me of a chess player who would think about poker. Those would be three I could think of.
The European Poker Tour Monte Carlo 2022 was a huge success and good advertising for poker. We are glad to have been part of the event and to be able to bring you the hottest information and exclusive material from this poker show.
