Negreanu is sitting in tenth place after a productive EPT Grand Final

The top twenty in the BLUFF Player of the Year race is starting to get overrun with some of the biggest names in the game. After a string of high buy-in events with stacked final tables at the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final, we have even more new names near the top of the ranks and you’ve certainly heard of at least a couple of our new contenders.

This past week was a busy one and, as a result, only two players remained in the same spot in the top twenty ranks. Jonathan Duhamel continues to lead and Oliver Speidel is holding on to second place, but they might want to watch out for Dan Smith. With three victories in EPT Grand Final side events, Smith is now up third in the ranks and only five points separate Smith and Speidel.

The other big move of the week belongs to the current BLUFF Magazine cover boy Will Failla. His sixth place finish at his second WPT final table of the season pushed him up to fifth in the race, his highest position of the year.

The bottom half of the top twenty is where you can find some of the most notable names in the ranks. Daniel Negreanu is sitting pretty in tenth place after his runner-up finish in the EPT High Roller event worth €598,600. The score is his third six-figure payday this year, all of which have come in High Roller and Super High Roller events. His streak in these events bodes well for Negreanu, as the WPT $100,000 Super High Roller is just a couple of weeks away.

Justin Bonomo also final tabled the EPT Grand Final High Roller event, finishing in fourth place. It was his third cash of the Monte Carlo series, along with a run in the Main Event and a win in the €100,000 Super High Roller event. With $2.5 million in winnings and three cashes, Bonomo is now up to 13th in the ranks.

The only other player to move up to the top twenty was Joe Kuether, who posted his 11th qualifying cash of the year by final tabling the Main Event of the MGM Grand series.

With Bellagio results from prelim events starting to pour in, plus the IPT San Remo Grand Final and the latest from the Unibet series, there could be more changes next week. What will really be interesting is to see just how much the WPT Championship at Bellagio affects the ranks as players rev up for the WSOP.

Here are the latest top twenty in the BLUFF Player of the Year race, brought to you by Aria Resort and Casino:

1. (-) Jonathan Duhamel – 713.30
2. (-) Oliver Speidel – 669.81
3. (+5) Dan Smith – 664.26
4. (-1) Andrew Chen – 503.37
5. (+8) Will Failla – 457.35
6. (-2) Dan Kelly – 453.35
7. (-2) John Dibella – 450.75
8. (-2) John Dolan – 444.50
9. (-2) Sean Jazayeri – 441.88
10. (NR) Daniel Negreanu – 438.50
11. (-2) Mohsin Charania – 430.35
12. (-2) Ruben Visser – 422.00
13. (NR) Justin Bonomo – 415.82
14. (-3) Faraz Jaka – 395.88
15. (+1) Joe Kuether – 383.62
16. (-4) Bruno Lopes – 382.10
17. (-3) Bertrand Grospellier – 369.45
18. (-3) Tommy Vedes – 350.63
19. (-2) Vadim Kursevich – 345.10
20. (-2) Kevin Vandersmissen – 342.42

Dropped from ranks: Jannick Wrang, Eric Sfez

The poker world is full of facts, figures, stats and records. With so many numbers being crunched day in and day out, sometimes it is tough to see what they all add up to. That is why BLUFF brings you some of the more interesting numbers related to the big tournaments, big stories, and big personalities in the poker world. Some are factual, some are fun, some are both. In this edition, we take a look at the European Poker Tour’s premier event of the season, the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final, by the numbers:

3 Number of side event victories for Dan Smith. Smith and Justin Bonomo were the talk of the Series as the two kept putting together deep run after deep run. While Bonomo dominated the High Roller action, Smith didn’t fare poorly at all in the €5,000 buy-in events. Smith won three of them, the Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em, the Turbo Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em, and the large field No Limit Hold’em event.

4 Number of cashes in six-figure buy-in events for Daniel Negreanu. The pro has a second, a third, a fifth, and a sixth to his credit now after finishing sixth in the Grand Final Super High Roller event for €310,000. He also took second in the €25,000 High Roller event for another €600,000, making for quite a profitable trip.

10 The best finishing position for a woman in the EPT Grand Final prior to this year. Isabelle Mercier got as close to the final table as any lady had when she set the bar at 10th in Season 1. Now Lucille Cailly is the top performing woman, finishing second to Mohsin Charania.

11 Number of cashes this season for EPT Season 8 Player of the Year Ondrej Vinklarek. He kicked off the season with a win in a €1,000 side event at EPT Barcelona. Later in the season, Vinklarek picked up a trio of final tables at EPT Prague, including a second win. Throw in four more final tables before the season wrapped and you have the makings of the latest EPT POY.

25 Average number of big blinds at the start of the EPT Grand Final Main Event final table. The final table bubble lasted for a good five hours. With the blinds steadily rising, that made for some shallow stacks at the final table. The start of the final table was slow goings as a result with players taking a cautious approach to their play in order to protect their shrinking stacks.

51 Best finish for a past EPT winner in this year’s EPT Grand Final Main Event. For eight seasons now, we still have not seen a two-time EPT winner and this event there wasn’t even a sweat as Sandra Naujoks was the best finisher of the Champions, making the money but coming nowhere close to the final table.

35,000 Value in Euroes of Christophe Benzimra’s Tournament of Champions first place prize. Benzimra won the EPT Warsaw Main Event back in 2009 and was one of 40 players to take part in the freeroll event. He now has €35,000 in EPT Season 9 buy-ins. Runner-up Zimnan Ziyard earned €25,000 for the runner-up finish. Jake Cody, Arnaud Matter, Frederik Jensin, and Mohsin Charania also made the money.

104,741 Largest live cash for Mohsin Charania prior to winning the EPT Grand Final. The online pro has a long list of online results, but he has long been seeking that breakout live score. His only six-figure score prior to this event was a sixth place finish at the WPT’s Foxwoods World Poker Finals Main Event back in 2010. Now his career store is more than 15 times that size thanks to his marquee win.

2,105,933 Lifetime earnings for Igor Kurganov in EPT High Roller events. The recent winner of the €25,000 EPT Grand Final High Roller event may not be a household name, but he has been cleaning up in the High Roller side action for the past 18 months. He took second in last year’s €10,000 Turbo High Roller at last year’s Grand Final, took second in the EPT London High Roller, and now has a victory to his credit.

2,538,878 Earnings in dollars for Justin Bonomo at this year’s EPT Grand Final. The poker pro, who is now based in Malta, managed to cash in the Main Event, final table the High Roller, and win the Super High roller to leave Monaco with a payday bigger than that of even the EPT Grand Final winner, Mohsin Charania.

Smith has $1.77 million in earnings so far this year

The eighth season of the European Poker Tour wrapped up with a bang at the PokerStars and Monte Carlo EPT Grand Final. The Main Event and the High Roller tournaments drummed up most of the headlines, but something equally compelling was happening in the side event action: namely, Dan Smith was cleaning up.

Smith is the star of this week’s Tournament Tracker report after winning three different EPT Grand Final side events, each with buy-ins of €5,000. The trifecta of victories launched Smith into the top five in the BLUFF Player of the Year race, not to mention netted him more than €500,000. Smith’s biggest win came in the €5,250 buy-in No Limit Hold’em side event. The tournament drew a crowd of talented young players and the final table included EPT regulars JP Kelly and Govert Metaal. Smith topped the 175 player field and earned over €250,000.

If that weren’t enough, Smith also took down the €5,250 Turbo Six-Handed No Limit Event for another €150,000 at a final table that also featured Kelly as well as Eric Sfez. Then he wrapped up his visit with a heads-up chop with Toby Lewis in the €5,250 Six-Handed No Limit Event. Smith won the heads-up battle and Smith took home €118,000 to Lewis’ €129,118, but it was Smith who earned the winner’s spot.

Smith’s unreal run dominated the side event headlines, but there were other winners in Monte Carlo as well. The €5,250 Heads-Up event finals were an all-female affair as Vicky Coren defeated Melanie Weisner to earn the top payday of €58,900. Jonathan Roy earned a similar amount for his win the €2,000 No Limit side event. Jussi Nevanlinna picked up €80,800 for a win in the €5,250 buy-in six-Handed PLO event and Talai Shakerchi earned one of the biggest paydays of the side events with his €223,000 victory in the €10,000 Turbo No Limit event.

Monte Carlo was the site of the big action, but it was not the only place tournaments were running this week. The APPT was in action in Cebu with the Main Event drawing 246 players and generating a prize pool of more than $500,000. Hoang anh Do took the title in Cebu along with a $140,000 payday.

In Oklahoma, AP Phahurat also earned a six-figure payday for his win in the Chad Brown Poker Challenge at the Choctaw Casino.  There were plenty of notables in attendance and some familiar names made it to the final table as well, including runner-up Seneca Easley and Jared Jaffee.

In Vegas, the local grinders turned up to support Tournament Director Matt Savage and the MGM Grand for the Main Event of the Grand Challenge poker series. That tournament wrapped up Thursday with Michael Delvecchio picking up over $50,000.

Next week, stay tuned from results from everywhere from Bellagio to ANZPT Perth to IPT san Remo. Until then, here are the latest final table results from around the circuit:

EPT Monte Carlo €5,250 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Side Event
Prize Pool: €875,000
Entrants: 175

1st: Dan Smith – €250,500
2nd: Martin Kabrhel – €142,300
3rd: Vladislav Varlashin – €82,800
4th: JP Kelly – €62,000
5th: Raoul Refos – €50,900
6th: Zachary Korik – €39,950
7th: Dmitry Grinenko – €31,400
8th: Govert Metaal – €22,900

EPT Monte Carlo €5,250 buy-in Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Turbo
Prize Pool: €489,850
Entrants: 101

1st: Dan Smith – €152,980
2nd: Roger Suter – €79,878
3rd: Vyacheslav Igin – €75,793
4th: Thomas Wolff – €42,850
5th: Eric Sfez – €33,050
6th: JP Kelly – €24,500

EPT Monte Carlo €5,250 buy-in Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Event
Prize Pool: €490,000
Entrants: 98

1st: Dan Smith – €118,000*
2nd: Toby Lewis – €129,118*
3rd: Oleg Bichkov – €52,300
4th: Thomas Gabriel – €41,600
5th: Matt Perrins – €32,100
6th: Christopher Brammer – €23,800
7th: Dmitry Grinenko – €19,000
8th: Isaac Haxton – €14,300

*denotes heads-up deal

EPT Monte Carlo €10,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Turbo
Prize Pool: €637,000
Entrants: 65

1st: Talal Shakerchi – €223,000
2nd: Kevin MacPhee – €140,100
3rd: Tony Gregg – €82,800
4th: Dominykas Karmazinas – €60,500
5th: Samuel Chartier – €44,600
6th: Max Lehmanski – €31,800
7th: Viktor Blom – €28,700
8th: Mike McDonald – €25,500

EPT Monte Carlo €5,250 buy-in Six Handed Turbo Pot Limit Omaha Side Event
Prize Pool: €218,250
Entrants: 45

1st: Jussi Nevanlinna – €80,800
2nd: William Thorson – €52,400
3rd: Johnny Lodden – €30,500
4th: Andrei-Robert Pescaru – €21,800
5th: Roger Hairabedian – €17,500
6th: Dario Alioto – €15,250

EPT Monte Carloe €5,250 buy-in Heads Up No Limit Hold’em Side Event
Prize Pool: €130,950
Entrants: 27

1st: Vicky Coren – €58,900
2nd: Melanie Weisner – €39,250
T-3rd: Mark Teltscher – €16,400
T-3rd: Dori Jacoub – €16,400

EPT Monte Carlo €2,150 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Side Event
Prize Pool: €415,160
Entrants: 214

1st: Marvin Rettenmaier - €118,300
2nd: Xavier Caruggi – €65,800
3rd: Arno Curto – €38,400
4th: Merhej Chady – €29,500
5th: Richard Abou – €34,110
6th: Rob Shields – €19,100
7th: Vojtech Ruzicka – €14,530
8th: Jean-Jacques Ichai – €10,800

EPT Monte Carlo €2,100 buy-in Turbo Bounty Side Event
Prize Pool: €210,000
Entrants: 210

1st: Jonathan Roy – €58,000
2nd: Aneris Adomkevicius – €32,500
3rd: Vasile Paul Plastoi – €18,850
4th: Jacques Torbey – €14,450
5th: Kevin Vandersmissen – €11,800
6th: Scott Baumstein – €9,370
7th: Simnan Ziyard – €7,130
8th: Jon Turner – €5,300

APPT Cebu PHP100,000 ($2,144) buy0in Main Event
Prize Pool:$519,586
Entrants: 246

1st: Hoang anh Do – $140,284
2nd: Nick Wong – $88,331
3rd: Alistair Duff – $49,372
4th: Michael Kanaan – $37,680
5th: Amit Varma – $31,171
6th: Sameeer Rattonsey – $24,686
7th: Jacky Wang – $19,479
8th: Kyung Slim – $15,585
9th: Antoine Amourette – $11,692

Parx Spring Showdown $1,500 buy-in Main Event
Prize Pool: $285,180
Entrants: 195

1st: Joseph Wertz – $65,588
2nd: Marvin Siegel – $45,629
3rd: Lee Childs – $34,222
4th: Steve Zhang – $25,666
5th: Jeffrey Wicker – $19,250
6th: Ryan D’Angelo – $14,972
7th: Matthew Burnitz – $11,407
8th: Vitaly Kovyazin – $9,268
9th: Brian Lemke – $7,842

WPT National Series Mauritius €1,100 buy-in Main Event
Prize Pool: €303,050
Entrants: 243 entrants with 47 rebuys

1st” Gary Lentin – €70,000
2nd:Ricci Fabrice – €42,000
3rd: Ayaz Manj – €29,000
4th: Stephane Albertini – €20,000
5th: Christophe Pereira – €16,000
6th: Laurent Ciup – €14,000
7th: Bruno Lopes – €12,000
8th: Dan Carter – €10,250
9th: Brian Bower – €8,500

WPT National Series €3,700 buy-in High Roller Event
Prize Pool: €112,046
Entrants: 32

1st: Jean-Philippe Rohr – €30,000
2nd: Darren Kramer – €22,000
3rd: Ravish Tulsidas – €15,600
4th: Bodo Zbrzesny – €10,000
5th: Mihails Morozoys – €6,000

Chad Brown Poker Challenge $1,900 buy-in Main Event
Prize Pool: $475,494
Entrans: 258

1st: AP Phahurat – $116,492
2nd: Seneca Easley – $71,980
3rd: Nghia Truong – $52,005
4th: Phounsavath Philachack – $38,273
5th: Jared Jaffee – $28,672
6th: Bahman Jahanguiri – $21,849
7th: Mark Dunavin – $16,928
8th: Val Wood -$13,328
9th: Jeffrey Watterworth – $10,661

MGM Grand Challenge $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Main Event
Prize Pool: $155,685
Entrants: 107

1st: Michael Delvecchio – $51,377
2nd: John Zentner – $29,580
3rd: Dimitrii Vlouev – $19,461
4th: Daniel Collinge – $13,233
5th: Mark Schmid – $10,509
6th: Frank Calo – $8,173
7th: Joe Kuether – $6,617
8th: Eugene Castro – $5,060
9th: Jason Armburger – $3,503

Smith already has three six-figure wins in 2012

The European Poker Tour’s trip to Monte Carlo isn’t even over yet, but the BLUFF Player of the Year top twenty got an overhaul thanks to the Poker Stars and Monte Carlo Carlo Casino’s EPT Grand Final. We’ve got five players entering the top twenty this week. Some are names that have made appearances before and are back near the top. There are also two players in the top ten making their presence known for the first time this year.

The two players making a big splash this week came in at ninth and tenth in the ranks. Dan Smith sits in ninth after a pair of EPT side event victories in €5,000 buy-in events worth a combined €400,000. Those two scores propelled him into the top ten and gave him a nice bankroll to bring with him to Vegas for the WSOP.

Mohsin Charania shouldn’t have any bankroll problems any time soon either, what with his win in the EPT Grand Final Main Event on Monday. The strength of that score and one other small cash puts Charania in the top ten, but he will need to follow up the win with something else this summer if he wants a shot at the title and ousting Jonathan Duhamel from the top spot.

In the bottom half of the ranks, we saw the return of some familiar names thanks to strong showings in Monaco. Bertrand Grospellier’s win in the EPT Berlin High Roller event and third place finish in the Grand Final Super High Roller helped him to debut in 14th, not to mention pick up over €850,000. Kevin Vandersmissen managed to creep his way back into the top twenty after a final table appearance in a €1,000 side event in Monte Carlo. Eric Sfez claimed the 20th slot in the ranks after a final table appearance of his own, finishing fifth in the same Turbo Six-Handed event won by Smith.

With all these new faces, the top twenty bid farewell to some players who have been lurking there all year, including Phil Ivey. You might see Ivey back next week though, as he is one of the 14 players who made the money in the ongoing EPT Grand Final High Roller event.

Here are the latest top twenty in the BLUFF Player of the Year race, brought to you by Aria Resort and Casino:

1. (-) Jonathan Duhamel – 713.30
2. (-) Oliver Speidel – 669.81
3. (-) Andrew Chen – 468.37
4. (-) Dan Kelly – 453.35
5. (-) John Dibella – 450.75
6. (-) John Dolan – 444.50
7. (-) Sean Jazayeri – 441.88
8. (NR) Dan Smith – 440.30
9. (NR) Mohsin Charania – 430.35
10. (-2) Ruben Visser – 422.00
11. (-2) Faraz Jaka – 395.88
12. (-2) Bruno Lopes – 382.10
13. (-2) Will Failla – 378.15
14. (NR) Bertrand Grospellier – 369.45
15. (-3) Tommy Vedes – 350.63
16. (-3) Joe Kuether – 348.29
17. (+3) Vadzim Kursevich – 345.10
18. (NR) Kevin Vandersmissen – 342.42
19. (-5) Jannick Wrang – 340.15
20. (NR) Eric Sfez – 325.52

Dropped from ranks: Frederik Jensen, Davidi Kitai, Viktor Blom, Phil Ivey, Joe Serock

Grospellier is nearing $10 million in career earnings

His third place finish in the Super High Roller Event at the PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final this week may have gotten all the attention, but Bertrand Grospellier was well in the black before he plunked down the €100,000 for the buy-in. We’ve got the scoop on ow he scored enough for two SHR buy-ins and other major results from Berlin, Florida, and the Philippines in this edition of Tournament Tracker:

Grospellier was one of the biggest winners outside of the Main Event at the EPT’s visit to Berlin. He logged another cash to his already insane list of High Roller paydays, taking down the EPT Berlin €10,000 High Roller event for €213,000.  The win isn’t Grospellier’s first High Roller win. He previously took down the PCA High Roller for $433,500. The Berlin High Roller drew a pretty large field for the tour, with 57 players and nine re-entries. The final table was a stacked one too, including the likes of Viktor Blom (7th), Tobias Reinkemeier (5th), David Peters (4th), Marvin Rettenmaier (3rd), and Chris Moorman who finished runner-up.

It may not have been the High roller, but Mike Watson earned a nice payday for his victory in the €5,200 buy-in Turbo No Limit Hold’em event. He earned €70,000 for the victory at a final table that included Andrey Zaichenko and Scott Seiver. Anton Wigg also picked up a win, earning €37,250 plus a couple of bounties in the €2,000 No Limit Hold’em bounty event.

Over in Asia, the Asia Poker Tour Manila event drew some notables for both the APT Main Event and the HKD1,000,000 buy-in Super High Roller. The big buy-in event amounted to a $128,200 and resulted in a career-high payday for the youngest Le brother, Allan Le. Le topped the 31 player field to pick up $1,685,395 payday. Runner-up Devan Tang also picked up a seven-figure payday for his runner-up finish.

In the Main Event, Oliver Speidel narrowed Jonathan Duhamel’s lead in the BLUFF Player of the Year race by picking up a fourth place finish worth $37,000 and 77 POY points. The winner in that event was Divan Le Roux. He earned $197,000 for his efforts.

Over in Florida, the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown series wrapped up with a couple of higher buy-in events. The $5,000 No Limit Hold’em drew a small field of just 17 players. The top three made the money with Andrew Liporace earning $42,122 for first place and Byron Kaverman banking $21,089 for second. The $1,000 Heads-Up event managed a healthier crowd of 41 players. The final round came down to Ashton Griffin and Chino Rheem. Griffin prevailed in the final round to win $18,040.

And in Las Vegs, the Venetian played host to its latest tournament series, the Spring Big Bounty Event. The $2,500 Main Event of that series ended up with 86 players. Mark Schmid defeated a final table that included Frank Rusnak, Frank Calo, Paul Lieu, and Cary Katz to pick up the win and $41,639.

Next week we’ll have the full rundown of all the EPT Grand Final events, which are already well underway in Monaco. Until then, here are the latest final table results from the biggest events of the week:

APT Philippines HKD1,000,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event
Prize Pool: $4,213,417
Entrants: 31

1st: Allan Le – $1,685,395
2nd: Devan Tang – $1,053,371
3rd: Sun Sheng – $632,008
4th: Richard Young – $463,454
5th: Keith Gipson – $379,189

APT Philippines $2,500 buy-in Main Event
Prize Pool: $615,350
Entrants: 254

1st: Divan Le Roux – $197,000
2nd: Conrad Coetzer – $104,000
3rd: Ryan Hong – $49,000
4th: Oliver Speidel – $37,000
5th: Han Wook Kim – $30,800
6th: Nicandro Filart – $24,600
7th: Franklin Acfalle – $18,500
8th: Anthonio Martins – $12,300
9th: David Paul Steicke – $11,700

EPT Berlin €10,000 buy-in High Roller Event
Prize pool: €660,000
Entrants: 57 entrants w/ nine rebuys

1st: Bertrand Grospellier – €231,000
2nd: Chris Moorman – €145,200
3rd: Marvin Rettenmaier – €85,800
4th: David Peters – €62,700
5th: Tobias Reinkemeier – €46,200
6th: Oleg Ohotskiy – €33,000
7th: Viktor Blom – €29,700

EPT Berlin €5,200 No Limit Hold’em Turbo
Prize Pool: €190,000
Entrants: 38

1st: Mike Watson – €70,300
2nd: Max Lehmanski – €45,600
3rd: Ondrej Vinklarek – €26,600
4th: Torsten Brinkmann – €19,000
5th: Andrey Zaichenko – €15,200
6th: Scott Seiver – €13,300

EPT Berlin €2,100 buy-in Turbo Pot Limit Omaha Event
Prize Pool: €94,000
Entrants: 47

1st: Wilfriend Haerrig – €34,780
2nd: Juha Helppi – €22,560
3rd: Tarek Elsai – €13,160
4th: Ernst Schmejkal – €9,400
5th: Roberto Romanello – €7,520
6th: Michael Misztela – €6,580

EPT Berlin €1,000 + €1,000 + €100 buy-in No Limit Turbo Bounty Event
Prize Pool: €113,000
Entrants: 113

1st: Anton Wigg – €37,250
2nd: Amir Sonsino – €21,500
3rd: Khalil Sehnaoui – €12,450
4th: Walter Blaettler – €9,900
5th: Stanislaw Kretz – €7,650
6th: Torsten Brinkmann – €5,650
7th: Thomas Pettersson – €4,500
8th: Tomasz Pawet – €3,400

Seminole Hard Rock Showdown $1,000 buy-in Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Event
Prize Pool: $41,000
Entrants: 41

1st: Ashton Griffin – $18,040
2nd: Chino Rheem – $12,300
T-3rd: Luis Calvo – $5,330
T-3rd: Gabriel Lamas – $5,330

Seminole Hard Rock Showdown $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Side Event
Prize Pool: $79,900
Entrants: 17

1st: Andrew Liporace – $42,122
2nd: Byron Kaverman – $21,089
3rd: Barry Hunter – $16,689

Venetian Spring Big Bounty Festival $2,200 buy-in Main Event
Prize Pool: $130,118
Entrants: 86

1st: Mark Schmid – $41,639
2nd: Frank Rusnak – $26,024
3rd: Frank Calo – $17,405
4th: Paul Lieu – $12,361
5th: Joel Micka – $9,108
6th: Douglas Messner – $7,156
7th: Rajdeep Pooni – $6,246
8th: Cary Katz – $5,595
9th: Debbra Pepperney – $4,944

Dolan is just $40,000 away from $3 million in career live earnings

April is a hectic month on the tournament circuit. With the WPT, EPT, and WSOPC all winding down their seasons, this week was jam-packed with tournament action. With so much action, there has been huge changes in the 2012 BLUFF Player of the Year race with an astounding seven contenders breaking into the top twenty this week.

Jonathan Duhamel may still be in the top spot, but that is about the only thing that stayed the same in this list over the past seven days. The biggest change is a new name in the top three. Thanks to his runner-up finish at EPT Berlin, Andrew Chen is now third in the ranks. Chen had a fast start two the year with two final tables and another cash at this year’s PCA, but he fell out of the top twenty a month or so ago. Now he is back and a real contender with 468.37 points.

The same can be said of John Dolan. He had a fast start in January too, winning the Beau Rivage Million Dollar Heater Main Event. He broke the top twenty, then dropped out, but he is back after his second place finish at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Main Event. Dolan is currently sitting at sixth in the ranks and is just over five points from passing John Dibella and cracking the top five. He might keep an eye on his back though. Sean Jazayeri is sitting at seventh in the ranks and picking up points, taking eighth in a side event at EPT Berlin.

The man who beat Dolan at the Seminole Hard Rock, Tommy Vedes, is also in the top twenty after the Florida event. He is debuting at 12th place. The WPT win comprises the bulk of his point total, but cashes in the Bay 101 and PCA Main Events help to boost his point total as well.

EPT Berlin winner and Triple Crowner Davidi Kitai debuts at 16th behind Frederik Jensen, who re-emerged in the top twenty himself. Viktor Blom is also back in the top twenty this week. He comes in at 17th thanks to an appearance at an EPT Berlin side event final table.

Joe Serock is the final new addition to the ranks. He is in at 19th place thanks to third place finishes in both the Bay 101 and Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Main Event.

These guys can’t get too comfortable. The all-star field in the EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller event is filled with threats to the race, not to mention current frontrunner Duhame;. You’ve also got the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event, WPT Jacksonville, and WSOPC Chester to worry about. We’ll have the latest new additions for you next Tuesday. Until then, here are the latest top twenty in the BLUFF Player of the Year race:

1. (-) Jonathan Duhamel – 713.30
2. (-) Oliver Speidel – 592.81
3. (NR) Andrew Chen – 468.37
4. (-1) Dan Kelly 453.35
5. (-1) John Dibella – 450.75
6. (NR) John Dolan – 444.50
7. (-1) Sean Jazayeri – 431.68
8. (-2) Ruben Visser – 422.00
9. (-2) Faraz Jaka – 395.88
10. (-2) Bruno Lopes – 382.10
11. (-2) Will Failla 378.15
12. (NR) Tommy Vedes – 350.63
13. (-2) Joe Kuether – 348.29
14. (-3) Jannick Wrang – 340.15
15. (NR) Frederik Jensen – 321.00
16. (NR) Davidi Kitai – 315.00
17. (NR) Viktor Blom – 313.00
18. (-6) Phil Ivey – 308.65
19. (NR) Joe Serock – 306.25
20. (-7) Vadzim Kursevich – 306.00

Dropped from ranks: Kyle Julius, Freddy Deeb, Leonid Bilokur, Stefan Huber, Moon Kim, Kevin Vandersmissen, and Josh Brikis

Monte Carlo is the city for extravagance. The streets are filled with Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys and $50 gets you a cheeseburger (no fries). That makes it the perfect host for EPT Grand Final Super High Roller which comes with a buy-in of €100,000 or roughly $130,000 US.

The event, which is a re-entry event, brought out 38 players on Day 1 including four who busted out only to find the courage – and bankroll – to fire another bullet.

The name on the top of the leaderboard after Day 1 is Talal Shakerchi. He bagged up 1,165,000 and is the only player over the million chip mark. Anybody who has closely followed poker in 2012 won’t be shocked at all to hear that Jonathan Duhamel sits second with 779,000.

At the end of Day 1 ten players were left with no chips to play with. Sam Trickett, Mike McDonald, Daniel Cates, Jason Mercier, Artem Litvinov, Govert Metaal, Viktor Blom, Gus Hansen and Leon Tsoukernik all busted on Day 1.

Players can re-enter until the end of Level 8 on Tuesday and two players, Hansen and Tsoukernik, plan to do just that. Blom, who busted on one of the final hands of the night, may also drop another €100,000 for a shot at the winner’s share of the roughly €4.5 million ($5.9 million US) prizepool.

EPT Grand Final Super High Roller Chip Counts

1. Talal Shakerchi – 1,165,000
2. Jonathan Duhamel – 779,000
3. Dan Shak – 670,000
4. Tobias Reinkemeier – 639,000
5. Sorel Mizzi – 593,000
6. Phil Ivey – 532,000
7. Philipp Gruissem – 487,000
8. Vanessa Selbst – 485,000
9. Bryn Kenney – 455,000
10. Tony G – 442,000

Deeb already has two WSOPC Main Event final tables this year

The tournament circuit in the US may be in the middle of a lull, but with a ton of action across the pond in Europe, the 2012 BLUFF Player of the Year race has several new faces in the top twenty this week. Some of them you’ve heard of before, while others are up and comers. Here’s the latest scoop on who to keep an eye on in this POY contest:

In the top ten of the ranks, Jonathan Duhamel is still the frontrunner, but Bruno Lopes was the one making progress this week. Lopes crept up one spot in the ranks to pass Will Failla and claim eighth in the ranks after the inclusion of his final table appearance at the WPT National event in Mauritius.

It is in the bottom half of the ranks that the new faces are cropping up. The highest debut of the week belongs to Freddy Deeb, who is up to fifteenth after an in the money finish in the Irish Open Main Event earlier this week.  Between that cash, a WSOPC Main event ring and another WSOPC Main Event final table, Deeb has racked up 290 points and is within twenty points of catching the three players ahead of him in the ranks.

Stefan Huber is also a new addition to the ranks this week, coming in at 17th place after winning the €2,000 side event at EPT Campione.  The Swiss pro only has two cashes this year, but with both earning him six figures and each coming in as a top three finish, he had enough points to crack the ranks.

Another European poker pro is debuting this week as well. The newly-minted Irish Open Champ Kevin Vandersmissen continues his strong string of results with the victory worth a career-high €420,000. Last year, Vandersmissen narrowly missed out on his first EPT title at EPT Snowfest. There is no EPT Snowfest this year, but with EPT Berlin and EPT Monte Carlo still to come, Vandersmissen will have more opportunities to pick up points in the coming weeks.

Some players to keep an eye on for next week include Ryan Eriquezzo, who is currently making a run at his second WSOPC final table of the year in Council Bluffs. The Florida players could also make a run, as the buy-ins start increasing for the prelim events at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown.

Here are the latest top twenty in the BLUFF Player of the Year race, brought to you by Aria Resort and Casino:

1. (-) Jonathan Duhamel – 713.30
2. (-) Oliver Speidel – 592.81
3. (-) Dan Kelly – 453.35
4. (-) John Dibella – 450.75
5. (-) Ruben Visser – 422.00
6. (-) Sean Jazayeri – 400.00
7. (-) Faraz Jaka – 395.88
8. (+1) Bruno Lopes – 382.10
9. (-1) Will Failla – 378.15
10. (-) Jannick Wrang – 340.15
11. (-) Joe Kuether – 329.59
12. (-) Phil Ivey – 308.65
13. (-) Vadzim Kursevich – 306.00
14. (-) Kyle Julius – 299.25
15. (NR) Freddy Deeb – 290.00
16. (-1) Leonid Bilokur – 288.00
17. (NR) Stefan Huber – 286.25
18. (-1) Moon Kim – 285.00
19. (NR) Kevin Vandersmissen – 283.90
20. (-3) Joshua Brikis – 275.30

Dropped from ranks: Ken Wong, Frederik Jensen, Shawn Buchanan

Huber's side event victory put in in the top 20 of the POY ranks

With the eighth season of the European Poker Tour wrapping up, players are really battling it out in each and every side event trying to pick up EPT Player of the Year points.  The latest EPT stop in Campione was no exception and a number of the usual suspects posted big cashes in the side event action. We’ve got those results and the latest from the Mid States Poker Tour and the Estrella Poker Tour in this edition of Tournament Tracker:

Govert Metaal has been a longtime presence on the EPT circuit and is a veteran of High Roller events, having final tabled both the 2011 and 2012 $25,000 event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. While he has cashed in numerous High Roller events, he hadn’t booked a victory until Campione. Metaal defeated a tough opponent in the form of Steve O’Dwyer to claim victory in the €10,300 High Roller Campione event. Metaal earned €110,000 for topping the 28-entry field while O’Dwyer took €74,000 for the runner-up finish.

Stefan Huber earned a nice victory as well, taking down the €2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em side event. The field drew 169 runners and the final table also included two-time WPT final tablist Andrea Dato. Dato finished sixth for €15,500 and Huber earned €96,500 for the victory.

Will Molson and McLean Karr also picked up victories in some of the smaller side events. Molson topped a small field of eight in the €3,000 No Limit Hold’em event while Karr earned €19,700 for winning one of the €2,100 Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold’em events.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Estrella Poker Tour paid a visit to Valencia. There were a total of 387 runners in the Valencia Main Event. Miguel Bermudez prevailed to claim the €76,000 first place prize.

Back in the States, the BLUFF Mid States Poker Tour continues to draw crowds.  The $1,100 buy-in Tama, Iowa Main Event brought out 349 players including notables like Kevin Saul, Blair Hinkle, and Ari Engel. The big names were in attendance, but absent from the final table. Instead, the latest MSPT champ is Muneer Ahmed of Minnesota. Ahmed qualified his way into the event via satellite and walked away with an $89,184 payday.

Next week, we’ll have results from the Irish Open, the latest big winner from Borgata, and the some of the prelim action from the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in Florida.

Here are the latest tournament results from around the circuit:

EPT Campione €10,300 buy-in High Roller Event
Prize Pool: €280,000
Entrants: 27 entries, 1 rebuy

1st: Govert Metaal – €110,000
2nd: Steve O’Dwyer – €74,000
3rd: Gareth Teatum – €41,000
4th: Bryn Kenney – €27,400
5th: Zimnan Ziyard- €22,000

EPT Campione €2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Side Event
Prize Pool: €338,000
Entrants: 169

1st: Stefan Huber – €96,500
2nd: Giuseppe Esposito – €55,000
3rd: Alessandro Forleo – €32,000
4th: Tatiana Ryzhlova – €24,000
5th: Davlet Eldos – €19,500
6th: Andrea Dato – €15,500
7th: Alessio Bondessa – €12,000
8th: Gert Zumlehr – €8,900

EPT Campione €5,000 buy-in Turbo No Limit Hold’em Side Event
Prize Pool: €121,250
Entrants: 25

1st: Carlo Savinelli – €48,500
2nd: Bryn Kenney – €32,700
3rd: Ondrej Vinklarek – €18,200
4th: Martin Finger – €12,150
5th: Eugene Katchalov – €9,700

EPT Campione €3,200 buy-in Heads Up No Limit Hold’em Side Event
Prize Pool: €23,280
Entrants: 8

1st: Will Molson – €15,100
2nd: Bjorn Li – €8,180

EPT Campione €2,100 buy-in Turbo No Limit Hold’em Bounty Side Event
Prize Pool: €79,540
Entrants: 82

1st: Kim Eui Woong – €27,800
2nd: Rasmus Nielsen – €15,900
3rd: Guillaume Darcourt – €9,500
4th: Mihails Morozovs – €7,200
5th: Alexander Novitsky – €5,560
6th: Yordan Dimitror – €4,000
7th: Salvatore Bianco – €3,180
8th: Erma Zajmovic – €2,400

EPT Campione €2,100 buy-in Turbo No Limit Hold’em Bounty Side Event
Prize Pool: €56,260
Entrants: 58

1st McLean Karr – €19,700
2nd: Joel Dodds – €12,400
3rd: Alexey Ermolov – €7,300
4th: Jose Manuel Nadal – €5,300
5th: Kevin Vandersmissen – €4,000
6th: Yannich Massa – €2,800
7th: Viktor Lyuzkanov – €2,500
8th: Filippo Candio – €2,260

BLUFF Mid-States Poker Tour Tama, Iowa $1,100 buy-in Main Event
Prize Pool: $336,545
Entrants: 349

1st: Muneer Ahmed – $89,184
2nd: Jeff Petronack – $48,799
3rd: Molly Mossey – $32,310
4th: Heidi Roggenkamp – $21,875
5th: Mark Butler – $16,827
6th: Steven Reichelt – $13,462
7th: John Oetker – $11,779
8th: Benjamin Jacobs – $10,096
9th: Mitchell Ackerman – $8,414

PokerStars Estrella Poker Tour Valencia €1,100 buy-in Main Event
Prize Pool: €371,520 ($492,804)
Entrants: 387

1st: Miguel Bermudez – €76,000
2nd: Ruben Porcel – €58,000
3rd: Jaume Alomar – €50,100
4th: Wim Neys – €25,650
5th: Mauricio Pazos – €20,450
6th: Frderic Van Der Mersch – €16,700
7th: Isaac Tolosa – €13,000
8th: Jarkko Mammela – €10,200
9th: Joeri Kon Zandvliet – €7,470

Keuther has nine cashes on the year (Photo courtesy of WSOP.com)

There are a long list of players putting together a steady string of results so far this year. However, in order to break into the ranks of the 2012 BLUFF Player of the Year race, it takes a marquee victory or a gigantic score. This week, we’ve got two new entries into the ranks who managed to pull off the big win it takes to be a contender in this contest.

Joe Kuether remarkably already has nine qualifying scores so far in 2012 with a quartet of cashes at the LA Poker Classic, a trio of final tables, including two victories, at the Wynn Classic, and a final table appearance at the WSOPC Main Event in Las Vegas back in January. Those scores were all impressive, but didn’t add up to enough to put him in the top twenty. However, now Kuether has a WSOPC ring to his credit, which is the real difference maker. Kuether bested the field of the Harrahs Rincon WSOPC Main Event to pick up over $110,000 not to mention 180 POY points. The big jump in his score is enough to put him in 11th place in the ranks this week.

Jannick Wrang is the other newcomer to the ranks this week. He debuts in 10th place following his EPT title win in Campione. Defeating a tough final table that included the likes of runner-up Olivier Busquet and Fabrice Soulier, Wrang picked up a hefty payday and 289 POY points. Combined with the 40 or so points he earned for a run in the PCA Main Event earlier this year, Wrang has enough to crack the top ten, but it will take some more scores in order to stay there.

Jonathan Duhamel remains out front in the ranks. Oliver Speidel continues to hold strong to second and even managed to narrow Duhamel’s lead slightly after final tabling the ANZPT Sydney Main Event.  Keep an eye on Freddy Deeb too. He is lurking just outside the top twenty after his second WSOPC final table of the year.

Here are the latest top twenty in the BLUFF Player of the Year race:

1. (-) Jonathan Duhamel – 713.30
2. (-) Oliver Speidel – 592.81
3. (-) Dan Kelly -453.35
4. (-) John Dibella – 450.75
5. (-) Ruben Visser – 406.60
6. (-) Sean Jazayeri – 400.00
7. (-) Faraz Jaka – 394.38
8. (-) Will Failla – 378.15
9. (-) Bruno Lopes – 338.98
10. (NR) Jannick Wrang- 331.8
11. (NR) Joe Kuether – 329.59
12. (-2) Phil Ivey – 308.65
13. (-2) Vadzim Kursevich – 306.00
14. (-2) Kyle Julius – 299.25
15. (-2) Leonid Bilokur – 288.00
16. (-2) Moon Kim – 285.00
17. (-2) Josh Brikis – 275.30
18. (-2) Ken Wong – 273.70
19. (-2) Frederik Jensen – 272.00
20. (-2) Shawn Buchanan – 268.88

Dropped from ranks: David Sands and Andrew Chen

The poker world is full of facts, figures, stats and records. With so many numbers being crunched day in and day out, sometimes it is tough to see what they all add up to. That is why BLUFF brings you some of the more interesting numbers related to the big tournaments, big stories, and big personalities in the poker world. Some are factual, some are fun, some are both. In this edition, we take a look at the European Poker Tour’s latest stop in Campione, Italy by the numbers:

3 Number of consecutive Danish winners on the European Poker Tour. Denmark has a lot to be proud of these days as, for the third tournament in a row, a Danish player has walked away with the EPT title. Jannick Wrang won the Campione crown, joining fellow Season 8 Danish winners Frederik Jensen and Mickey Petersen. To give you an inclination just how unusual this Danish reign is, consider this: prior to Season 8, there were only four Danish winners period; Mads Anderson in Season 2, Peter Jepsen in season 3, Sander Lyllof in Season 4, and Allan Baekke in Season 6.

4 Career six-figure scores for Olivier Busquet. The online heads-up specialist has officially made a smooth transition to the live tournament world. He kicked off a couple years of impressive results with a win at the Borgata Poker Open WPT Main Event. He followed that up with a runner-up finish in the EPT Grand Final High Roller event. Last October he took fourth at the EPT London High Roller event and now he has a runner-up finish in Campione as well.

5 Finishing position for Eugene Katchalov in the €5,000 Turbo No Limit Hold’em side event. Katchalov took fifth in the same side event at Madrid earlier this month. Unfortunately for Katchalov, with small fields in these events, those fifth place finishes are min cashes. After his amazing year in 2011, it is still slow going for Katchalov in 2012 with around $50,000 total in yearly earnings.

10 Highest finish of a past EPT Champ in the Campione Main Event. David Vamplew had the strongest performance of the champs, but still came up short of the final table, finishing in 10th place for €41,000.

14 Approximate number of hours it took to play down from eight players to a champion. After a speedy playdown day that lasted less than five hours, it was a deep-stacked final table that lasted for quite a while before Jannick Wrang was crowned champion.

21 Cashes for Steve O’Dwyer in a one-year period. The American who now resides in Ireland just keeps crushing the European poker circuit and Campione was no exception. O’Dwyer finished second to Govert Metaal in the €10,000 High Roller event at Campione, picking up €74,000 and bringing his 2012 earnings to nearly $370,000.

42 Highest finishing position for a woman in the EPT Campione Main Event. Carla Solinas of Italy was the last woman standing in the field. The 2011 Italian Poker Tour Female Player of the Year also had a strong showing at the other Italian EPT event on the schedule, taking 30th at EPT San Remo.

2,267 Population of Campione, Italy per ByItaly.org. The tiny Italian enclave is actually an Italian municipality within Switzerland. The tiny town saw its population influx by over 25% during the EPT Campione event with 570 players taking part in the Main Event.

25,000 Biggest payday in pounds for Jannick Wrang prior to his win at Campione. He finished 16th at EPT London in 2010. Wrang’s only other EPT Main Event cash came in January, where he took 59th in the PCA Main Event for $39,000.

3,987,985 Career earnings in dollars for French pro Fabrice Soulier. A presence on the circuit since 2000, the bulk of Soulier’s earnings have actually come in the past two years. His third place finish at Campione marks his first EPT final table appearance after four prior cashes. His €240,000 cash helps to solidify his position as the fourth-highest money earner in French poker history.

Busquet came close to an EPT title on Saturday

The anniversary of Black Friday is right around the corner and this past week we’ve seen a lot of news coming from the courtroom in relation to the April 15th indictments. The plea deals of Chad Elie and John Campos dominated the poker headlines this week, but there were plenty of other big stories, including the EPT’s first trip to Campione, Italy and some big events on PokerStars’ horizon. We’ve got the highlights from all of those and more in this edition of The Week That Was:

Black Friday Trial Off After Last Minute Plea Deals

Online poker’s day in court was just a couple weeks away, but the past seven days have turned the Black Friday-related proceedings upside down. First, payment processor Chad Elie reached a deal with the prosecution that had him pleading to one count of conspiracy. Two days later, banker John Campos reached a similar deal for a single misdemeanor conspiracy plea.

Things are not all wrapped up in that Manhattan courtroom though. US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan questioned the plea deals and demands a written explanation from the prosecution about why they aren’t pursuing this case further and settling for what amounts to a slap on the wrist. That written explanation will be due in June, when Campos returns to court for sentencing.

EPT Debuts New Stop in Campione, Italy

If the rave reviews on Twitter were any indication, even though EPT Campione didn’t draw the biggest crowd of the season, it was still a crowd pleaser thanks to its luxurious locale. There was more to talk about at this event than the location though. With 570 runners and a top payday of €640,000 (roughly $852,000), there was a lot on the line.

The final table of this event was one of the more star-studded of the season and included both French pro Fabrice Soulier and American poker player and WSOP commentator Olivier Busquet. Busquet came close to adding an EPT title to his WPT title, but he came up just short, finishing second to Jannick Wrang of Denmark.

PokerStars Has a Busy Spring Ahead of Them

These next announcements may be salt in the wound for American poker players, so don’t say we didn’t warn you. Even without the US crowd, PokerStars is faring just fine and has some big plans on the horizon for spring. The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is just over a month away. This week, Stars released the preliminary schedule of events, which are set to run from May 6th-20th.

If you are more into railing the action than taking part in it, PokerStars is also hosting a high stakes SuperStar Showdown between Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom and Isaac Haxton. The two will battle in a $1 million winner take all match where the two will play four hours of $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em each day until only one has money left on the table.

The action began on Saturday. According to the PokerStars Blog, Blom is off to a fast start and is up nearly $200,000 after the opening session of play.

Rankings Report

The big winners this past week may not immediately jump to the top of the BLUFF Player of the Year race, but some smaller events did have an impact on the race. Dan Kelly’s strong showing at the Wynn Classic has him up to third in the POY race, but catching Oliver Speidel, who sits in second behind Jonathan Duhamel, got a little tougher this week. Speidel final tabled the ANZPT Sydney Main Event and picked up enough points to push him past the 500-mark. Over in the BLUFF Power Rankings, David Sands moved up the ranks, while Matt Waxman and Steve O’Dwyer’s scores went down after some of their big 2011 and 2010 scores devalued in points.

Season 8 EPT Campione Champion Jannick Wrang (photo courtesy PokerStars / Neil Stoddart)

It seems like the Danes are taking over the European Poker Tour. Jannick Wrang became the third consecutive EPT champion on Saturday afternoon when he beat a final table that included Fabrice Soulier and Olivier Busquet.

Wrang takes home $854,000 US and a Shamballa Jewels bracelet for the win. He joins fellow Danes Mickey Peterson, who won EPT Copenhagen in February, and Frederick Jensen, who won EPT Madrid in March as EPT champions.

Busquet, who has a WPT title to his credit, finished runner-up for $574,000. The American poker pro now has over $3 million in lifetime live earnings. WSOP bracelet winner Soulier finished third for $320,000.

The final table took nearly 14 hours to finish with Wrang and Busquet playing heads-up for just 90 minutes.

The next EPT stop is April 16 – 21 in Berlin, Germany.

EPT Campione Final Table Payouts

1. Jannick Wrang – £640,000 ($854,000 US)
2. Olivier Busquet – £430,000 ($574,000 US)
3. Fabrice Soulier – £240,000 ($320,000 US)
4. Balazs Botond – £157,000 ($210,000 US)
5. Koen De Visscher – £124,000 ($165,000 US)
6. Mario Nagel – £92,000 ($123,000 US)
7. Stefano Puccilli – £71,500 ($95,400 US)
8. Robin Ylitalo – £54,000 ($72,000 US)

Leading the EPT Campione is none other than Fabrice Soulier.

The final table of the first ever European Poker Tour stop in Campione, Italy can really only be described in one way: star-studded. The two men at the top, Fabrice Soulier and Olivier Busquet, have combined for over $6,000,000 in lifetime earnings, a WSOP bracelet and a World Poker Tour title.

Soulier leads the way with 3,480,000 with Busquet not far behind with 3,011,000. Busquet rocketed to second overall when he eliminated Simeon Naydenov on the last hand of the day. Jannick Wrang, who was chipleader when play began, is not far off with 2,882,000. The remaining five players all fall behind the 2,137,500 chip average.

That group of five players includes former Italian Poker Tour Player of the Year Stefano Puccili, an SCOOP Champion in Mario Nagel and Balazs Botond who can brag over $1.3 million in online MTT earnings.

The final 24 players took only 4.5 hours to play down to the final eight. Along the way two former EPT champions, David Vamplew and Ronnie Kaiser, were eliminated. Vamplew, who finished 10th, and Kaiser, who finished 22nd, were looking to become the first ever two-time EPT champion.

The final table will be broadcast live on PokerStars.tv beginning at 8 am EST Saturday.

EPT Campione Final Table Chip Counts

1. Fabrice Soulier – 3,480,000
2. Olivier Busquet – 3,011,000
3. Jannick Wrang – 2,882,000
4. Balazs Botond – 2,080,000
5. Koen De Visscher – 1,856,000
6. Stefano Puccilli – 1,450,000
7. Mario Nagel – 1,210,000
8. Robin Ylitalo – 1,153,000

EPT Campione Day 3 chipleader Jannick Wrang (photo courtesy PokerStars / Neil Stoddart)

Jannick Wrang finds himself on top of the leaderboard at EPT Campione with only 24 players remaining following Day 3 action. Wrang bagged up 1,742,000 chips when play was halted Wednesday and is well out in front of Fabrice Soulier who finished with 1,230,000 and the second biggest remaining stack.

Olivier Busquet could be in line for his second major title after finishing with 973,000 – the seventh biggest stack. Busquet won the  WPT’s Borgata Poker Open in 2009. Two former EPT winners are still in contention for the title. David Vamplew, who won EPT London in 2010, and Ronny Kaiser, who won EPT Tallinn in 2011 both survived the day and could become the first player to win two EPT events. Vamplew has 747,000 chips and is just above the 712,500 average stack while Kaiser is the shortest remaining stack with 169,000.

The 75 players eliminated on Wednesday included 11 players that busted prior to the bubble but Liv Boeree, Betrand Grospellier and Day 1b chipleader Nicolas Chouity all busted Campione with another cash on their record.

The final 24 players return to action Thursday to will play down to an eight-handed TV final table which will be broadcast live on PokerStars.tv on Friday beginning at 8 am EST.

EPT Campione Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Jannick Wrang – 1,742,000
2. Fabrice Soulier – 1,230,000
3. Robin Ylitalo – 1,221,000
4. Mario Nagel – 1,125,000
5. Simeon Naydenov – 1,076,000
6. Ramin Hajiyev – 1,000,000
7. Olivier Busquet – 973,000
8. Alexandre Andermatt – 968,000
9. Koen De Visscher – 858,000
10. Giuseppe Biancoviso – 820,000