Thomas Santerne, losing online player five years ago, now $5 million in profit from the live arena alone, has just picked up another six-figure score (€131,250) in the PokerStars EPT Prague €25,000 Super High Roller Second Chance.
Though this was more of a nosebleed STT (featuring, once more, Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt, his self-confessed original poker ‘idol’), it was a two-dayer and no cakewalk.
Santerne and Astedt finished 1-2 in the €50K Super High Roller two days ago, making a deal that banked Santerne €385,725. This was after what could be termed his ‘warm-up win’ of €175,000 last Friday, when he saw off Morten Klein and Nikita Kuznetsov in the €20,000 SHR.
Santerne is from France, currently resides in Portugal, but spends most of his time travelling to (and winning at) live poker events around the world. He sports a ‘SmarDex Poker Pro’ patch, part of a stable of ‘Aces’ backed by a crypto team that sends their players globetrotting to High Roller events.
He has ascended to these heights with eye-watering alacrity. Five years ago, he was working a factory job and playing poker – unsuccessfully – online. While his dad, back then, looked askance at his bank account, he says that his mum, “always said I’d be a pro.”
Within a year, her prediction had come true. He embarked on a swift rise online, attacking the big $10K events on GG, and dedicated his life to the game. “I played 350 days a year for three years. This is why I wear glasses now,” he joked.
Following on from his virtual successes, Santerne has, in just two years, risen to 12th on France’s all-time money list and picked up four EPT SHR trophies and one from a Winamax High Roller.
Santerne's favorite places to play include Cyprus and the Bahamas. When asked about his next live tournament forays, he produced a spreadsheet on his phone and said that he’d be heading to Marrakech for the WSOP and then EPT Paris in February (this latter won’t now be possible – the event's surprise cancellation was announced today).
Deck gives birthday boy Tonkaaaa aces
Parker 'Tonkaaa' Talbot then further received €22,180 for winning the 228-runner €500 Hyper Turbo Knockout on Wednesday with those aces. Final opponent Roei Tov asked, more modestly, for “something to sweat” when he saw that his eights were facing down aces in the final hand, but it wasn’t his birthday.
It ran fairly late, meaning that Talbot might have had to postpone more normal birthday pursuits like going out in town, drinking in the bar with mates, or consuming cake, but there’s plenty of time for celebrating at EPT Prague yet. In fact, rather touchingly, the official schedule on the PokerStars LIVE app lists Happy Hour daily as an event.
Mixed games in the spotlight at EPT Prague
The record-breaking Main Event is a marathon, not a sprint. Day 3 only marks the halfway point. Everyone is in the money now, pretty solidly (the next payouts are of €19,800), but there's still the majority of the €7,071,300 prize pool left to be won. In the lead overnight is Anton Bergstrom, with Jaehyung Park and Adrian Mack nearly neck-and-neck behind him with less than 100,000 chips (six big blinds) separating them.
For those no longer in the running for that €1,146,500 EPT Prague Main Event first prize (and that’s everyone but the last 53 who are coming back for Day 4), Thursday provided no fewer than nine side events, including a brand new Mixed Game Main Event that features ten different poker games.
How do they keep track of it all? Experienced floor staff and top-notch color-coding:
Mixed game lovers were spoiled for choice with the one-day €5,300 8-Game starting in the afternoon and the inaugural €2,200 MGME at 8pm. It’s likely that bunching them on the same day lessened the field sizes in both, but there is the option to buy in to the €2,200 version all the way up to Level 10 on Friday’s Day 2.
Exiting before the end of Day 1 (but welcome to re-enter once) were PokerStars ambassador Barny Boatman, Frank Visser, Patrick Bueno and Frankie Von Zweigbergk. The latter asked if there were a 'manual' available for the event; when we queried whether he knew how to play all ten games, he answered simply, "No."
What's in the BOX? Two €75,000 bounties, still
The handcrafted wooden treasure chest that houses the bounties for the €3,000 Mystery Bounty event has yet to be plundered of its top prizes. Only David Savovka pulled a €75,000 bounty from the box on Day 2 as the field dropped to 16 (from 835 total entries). Leading for the final day is Sebastian Malec (3,395,000), with over double the average stack.
Along with the remaining bounties are some hefty payouts to come, including €265,560 for first place.
PokerOrg's Jojo Kim caught Mengshi Tian doing a double dip (ten €1,000 bounties come with a "Draw Again" bonus) that turned out to be a good one:
Everything mid-fight restarts Friday at noon (apart from the Mixed Game Main Event at half past), while the €10,000 EPT High Roller starts at 12:30. If Thomas Santerne isn't on the player list, we'll be very surprised.
Images courtesy of Manuel Kovsca, Eloy Cabacas and Danny Maxwell @Rational Holdings Ltd
