Italy's Nicola Grieco is the chipleader heading into the final table of the 2019 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. The €5,300 buy-in affair attracted 922 runners and only six players remain left in the hunt for the EPT title and €827,700 in cash. Meanwhile, pros Manig Loeser and Ryan Riess are still lurking at the final table. Also still alive are Viktor Katzenberger, Wei Huang, and Luis Medina.

And then there were six in Monte Carlo. The Monte Carlo Casino in Monte Carlo is one of the more opulent stops on the international circuit. It's one of those places where you never thought you'd end up if you're a working class schmuck, but sometimes poker is weird and wild like that, because it can bring together the craziest of people in the swankiest of rooms to compete in some of the biggest poker events in the world. The EPT has used Monte Carlo as their tour finale since its inception for a reason. There's really no other place like it in the world.
The 2019 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event included a €5,300 buy-in. The event attracted 922 runners with everyone eying the first-place booty worth €827,700. Only the top 135 places got a cut of the cheesecake in Monte Carlo. Almost all of it was at the final table too.
Only 20 players were remaining when Day 4 began. German pro Christoph Vogelsang bounced early in 18th place. Nicolas Chouity hit the bricks in 16th place. Canadian pro Sam Greenwood went as deep as 12th place, before he got picked off. Fellow Tim Adams also embarked on a rather deep run, but busted in eighth place. British pro Connor Beresford was the last Brit remaining when he was knocked out in 11th place.
Ramin Hajiyev bubbled off the final table in seventh place. Ramin Hajiyev shoved with Ace-ten but ran into Manig Loeser's pocket Queens. Hajiyev took home €109,510 for seventh place.
With six remaining, the final table was set. Nicola Grieco sat atop the big stack with 7.1 million. With 6M, Viktor Katzenberger from Hungary was not far behind in second place. China's Wei Huang ended the night with a healthy stack worth approximately 5.7 million, which was good enough for third overall.
With the knockout on the bubble, German pro Manig Loeser chipped up to fourth overall with 4M. American pro Ryan Riess was the lone North American remaining. His stack was worth 3.5 million. Luis Medina was the short stack with 1.1 million.
Day 5 action, or the final table, is set for Saturday, May 5.The final table will be streamed courtesy of Twitch.
Among the notables who cashed in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event included Tim Adams, Connor Beresford, Sam Greenwood, Aladin Reskallah, Melika Razavi, Bruno Volkmann, Govert Metaal, Melika Razavi, Christoph Vogelsang, Jorden Verbraeken, James Romero, Remi Castaignon, Ambrose Travers, Jack Maskill, Dario Sammartino, Masato Yokosawa, Patrik Antonius, Ludovic Geilich, Fatima De Melo, Iggy Romera, Jean-Rene Fontaine, Ami Barer, Julien Martini, Vlad Darie, Ivan Deyra, Seth Davies, Ermo Kosk, Mike Wang, Jonas Lauck, Georgios Kitsios, Sergei Bagirov, Romain Lewis, Dirk Wiele, Erwann Pecheux, Gen Nose, Enio Bozzano, Mikita Badziakouski, Rocco Palumbo, Jeff Hakim, Mike Watson, Gaelle Baumann, Sam Grafton, Paul-Francois Tedeschi, Benny Glaser, and Cosmos Yamanaka.
Meanwhile, in side event action... Kristen Bicknell shipped Event #28 €10,200 NL Hyper Turbo Knockout for €46,950. Krzysztof Magott won the single-day €5,200 buy-in PLO event for a €113K score. Matthias Eibinger won the €50K Single-Day High Roller for €844,080. Eibinger defeated Alex Foxen heads-up for the title.
2019 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event
Buy-in: €5,300
Entrants: 922
Prize Pool: €4,471,700
Payouts: 135
Final Table Payouts:
1. €827,700
2. €503,960
3. €353,880
4. €265,620
5. €206,590
6. €152,800
Nicola Grieco (Italy) 7,160,000
Viktor Katzenberger (Hungary) 6,070,000
Wei Huang (China) 5,690,000
Manig Loeser (Germany) 4,005,000
Ryan Riess (USA) 3,585,000
Luis Medina (Portugal) 1,105,000