May 4-10
Joe Stapleton's Hendon Mob earnings (in American Dollars) dating back to his first cash in 93rd-place at a $86 Run It Up Reno event for $150.
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1ST
Roman Stoica
€825,000
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2ND
Bernhard Binder
€515,000
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3RD
David Djian
€368,750
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4TH
Samuel Ju
€283,550
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5TH
Jose Malpelli
€218,300
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6TH
Longmao Fan
€167,850
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7TH
Raul Mestre
€129,050
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8TH
Oshri Lahmani
€99,450
Joe Stapleton said goodbye to PokerStars on Sunday at the end of an EPT Monte Carlo final table that only lasted four hours.
Stapleton, who has served as commentary on PokerStars TV for 17 years, is riding off toward the sunset of a better schedule and more time at home, but not before one more round with long-time partner James Hartigan at one of the EPT's oldest stops.
Stoic Stoica steamrolls Main
The Main Event, which was won by Roman Stoica, was a fitting end for the era. Stoica is one of the tour's up and coming stars and this win is the latest hit in a run of career-making statements for the new EPT champ.
Stoica's statement run on tour has already included a Mystery Bounty victory at EPT Barcelona last year and two deep runs in the Main Events at Prague and Malta to set up what was a coronation in Monte Carlo.
The champ made it happen fast, too, climbing from the middle of the pack at the beginning of the day to steamroll the the final five with the late-game big stack. Stoica flipped his way into the lead and paired with Bernhard Binder to bounce Jose Malpelli in fifth, Samuel Ju in fourth, and David Djian in third.
Heads-up play started with Stoica on top by a lot, and he had all of it just a few hands later for his first EPT Main Event title.
Stapes says goodbye
As for Stapleton, he walked away from the end celebration to a round of applause from the crew before spending a few emotional moments with Hartigan to close out the show.
"I've been here for more than a third of my life," Stapleton said before he thanked and/or banned just about everyone.
"Thank you to the players and the audience. I'm blessed you dug my schtick."
Hartigan, who will move on to Barcelona without Stapleton, acknowledged the end of an era.
"I have to look at this pragmatically. I was here before you and I will be after you. It's not going to be the same."
No EPT commentary replacement has been announced and Stapleton has yet to hint at any plans, but we expect to know a lot more about both soon.
Images courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Eloy Cabacas/Rational Intellectual Holdings, Inc.
