Day 5 of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event not only cut 16 hopefuls down to seven contenders but also guaranteed a new champion after Adrian Mateos busted just short of the final table.
Spain’s all-time number one tournament money winner was hoping to recreate his 2015 triumph at the flagship EPT event in Monaco, which he scooped for €1,082,000.
However, a tough day at the tables saw Mateos fall in 11th, a triple-barrel bluff picked off by the star of yesterday’s show, Phillipp Wenzelburger.
Triple-barrel bluff spells end for Mateos
Five players had already departed by the time Mateos opened from early position, with Wenzelburger defending his big blind.
Mateos: 
Wenzelburger: 
The German check-called the 
flop and also the 
turn before facing a river barrel from the Spanish ace after the 
dropped.
Wenzelburger found the call with his pair of nines, and Mateos was left on fumes before departing next hand.
Angelov and Nasreddine on top after Day 5
With €1,000,000 up top and a top-eight finish guaranteeing a six-figure payout, the battle was fierce, with nobody getting an easy ride.
Wenzelburger doubled up Niclas Thumm, with A-Q against aces, and the only female player left in, Rania Nasreddine, went from chip leader to short stack and back again as the players fought their way down to the final six.
Almost inevitably, it was Wenzelburger and Nasreddine who clashed in the next bustout. The German shoved preflop with 
and Nasreddine called with 
.
Board: 
That was the end of a deep run by the laundry owner, who picked up €91,500 for his efforts.
Slovakia’s Jozef Cibicek would soon join him on the rail, picking a bad spot to raise Boris Angelov’s UTG open and running into 
– the king and queen on the flop changed nothing. Cibicek’s payday was a cool €119,000, almost doubling the young player’s lifetime earnings.
Just one more elimination was required to set the final table of six to return tomorrow. However, the tournament clock called a stop before that could happen, and seven players will be back for the concluding session, with the blinds at 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 ante.
The final table starts at 12.30pm local time on Saturday, with all the action being livestreamed with cards-up from 1pm on the PokerStars Twitch and YouTube channels.
EPT Monte Carlo final table chip counts
| Place | Player | Nationality | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | 11,500,000 |
| 2nd | Rania Nasreddine | USA | 7,900,000 |
| 3rd | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | 4,750,000 |
| 4th | Niclas Thumm | Germany | 3,650,000 |
| 5th | Jonathan Pastore | France | 3,350,000 |
| 6th | Derk van Luijk | Netherlands | 3,200,000 |
| 7th | Jonathan Guedes | Brazil | 1,900,000 |
