The prestigious PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo has come to a conclusion. The 41-event festival ran from 25th April to 4th May 2019 and ended with the victory of the German high roller Manig Loeser in the €5,300 Main Event. Several Asian players scored big in the side events.
Manig Loeser denies China a first ever EPT Main Event title
The Main Event saw 922 entries and the last day was played out by the remaining six players. It was a grueling final table that took a lot longer than expected with 5-handed play alone lasting nine hours.
The hand that went viral straight away was between Ryan Riess and Manig Loeser where a short-stacked Ryan called all-in on the river with ten high, beating Loeser’s six high on a 
board. This was some world class poker performed by the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event champion.
However, Riess could not survive to write history and securing himself the EPT title when busting in 4th place. A deal was struck 3-handed then between Manig Loeser, Wei Huang and Viktor Katzenberger and they left €78,061 and the trophy to play for.
It all came down to a heads-up match between German Manig Loeser and Wei Huang from China, Huang with the chance to take home the first ever EPT title to China. He was railed by his friends Yan Li, Pete Chen and Haoxiang Wang. Wang, who was also Huang’s roommate in Monte Carlo, had come close to an EPT title in Barcelona last year only to miss out with a second place finish.
This time the historic moment of a Chinese EPT victory was denied by Loeser, who didn’t have an easy road to victory with chipleads changing back and forth a few times. The final hand had Huang put in all his chips with an open-ender plus gutshot straight draw, but he ran into Loeser’s finished straight.
Loeser is taking home €603,777 and the title, while Huang as runner-up receives a consolidation prize of €552,056.
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) |
| 1 | Manig Loeser | $676,230 |
| 2 | Wei Huang | $618,303 |
| 3 | Viktor Katzenberger | $593,272 |
| 4 | Ryan Riess | $297,494 |
| 5 | Nicola Grieco | $231,381 |
| 6 | Luis Medina | $171,136 |
| 7 | Rustam Hajiyev | $122,651 |
| 8 | Tim Adams | $87,394 |
Other notable Asian players who cashed in the Main Event were Cosmos Yamanaka (133rd, Japan), Xiqiang Chen (130th, China), Yilong Wang (118th, China), Gen Nose (93th, Japan) and Masato Yokosawa (33rd, Japan).
High Roller galore in rich Monaco
Poker festivals in Monte Carlo scream for high rollers, and the EPT did deliver. A third of all events were €10k buy-ins or higher. Here are some of the highlight results.
€100,000 No Limit Hold’em – EPT Super High Roller (Event #9)
Entries: 34
Re-entries: 18
Total Prize Pool: €5,045,040
Winner: Sergio Aido from Spain for €1,589,190
Aido beat countryman Jesús Cortes heads-up.
€25,000 No Limit Hold’em (Event #16)
Entries: 83
Re-entries: 26
Total Prize Pool: €2,033,500
Winner: Timothy Adams from Canada for €548,030
Two players from Japan made it into the money with Tsugunari Toma coming 11th for €49,820 and Kazuhiko Yotsushika in 3rd for €255,080. Malaysia’s Wai Chan finishing in 8th for €74,730
€50,000 No Limit Hold’em (Event #20)
Entries: 36
Re-entries: 22
Total Prize Pool: €2,813,580
Winner: Matthias Eibinger from Austria for €844,080
Wai Chan also final tabled this high roller and finished in 3rd for €393,900. And none other than Michael Soyza also made an appearance at this final table, coming 7th for €143,490
€10,300 Pot Limit Omaha – High Roller (Event #24)
Entries: 60
Re-entries: 25
Total Prize Pool: €412,250
Winner: Krzysztof Magott from Poland for €113,370
There were three Asian players in the top 5 – Yan Tsang (5th), Wai Chan (4th) and Seng Leow (3rd)
€25,000 No Limit Hold’em – EPT High Roller (Event #30)
Entries: 98
Re-entries: 44
Total Prize Pool: €3,374,630
Winner: Benjamin Pollak from France for €705,840
€25,000 No Limit Hold’em (Event #36)
Entries: 36
Re-entries: 17
Total Prize Pool: €1,272,530
Winner: Rainer Kempe from Germany for €400,850
Malaysia’s Richard Yong finished 7th for €66,800.
Other final table shoutouts for Asian players
€1,100 No Limit Hold’em – French National Championship (Event #4)
Yota Mitsui from Japan – 8th for €23,000
€550 No Limit Hold’em – Hyper Turbo Freezeout (Event #8)
Jiayu Ruan from China – 1st for €16,110
Michael Soyza from Malaysia – 7th for €3,050
€2,200 No Limit Hold’em – French National Championship High Roller (Event #11)
Alan King Lun Lau from Hong Kong – 5th for €55,000
€2,150 No Limit Hold’em – Freezeout (Event #23)
Yake Wu from China – 2nd for €15,950
€550 No Limit Hold’em – Hyper Turbo Win The Button (Event #27)
Yoshikuni Takaoka from Japan – 1st for €16,060
Jiayu Ruan from China – 9th for €1,610
€1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Event #32)
Pete Chen from Taiwan – 3rd for €35,270
€1,100 No Limit Hold’em – Hyper Turbo Win The Button (Event #34)
Li Yan from China – 2nd for €17,900
Chen Lin from Taiwan – 3rd for €11,830
€2,200 No Limit Hold’em – Deep Stack (Event #35)
Yake Wu from China – 9th for €7,200
€ 2,150 No Limit Hold’em – Hyper Turbo Knockout (Event #37)
Chen Lin from Taiwan – 2nd for €14,330
Huijie Zhou from China – 3rd for €9,380
Michael Soyza from Malaysia – 5th for €5,720
€ 3,200 No Limit Hold’em (Event #40)
Yan Tsang from Hong Kong – 6th for €19,480
Pete Chan from Taiwan – 8th fro €11,210
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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