Zona de Azar Monaco – Guillaume Diaz Wins EPT National in Monaco for €250,000 and Platinum Pass

Monaco.- April 30, 2018 www.zonadeazar.com French professional poker player Guillaume Diaz came out on top in the 1,501-entry €1,100 EPT National at PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT.

Click for: Results | All files from MC | Schedule | EPT Main Event history

The 26-year-old took home the €250,000 first-place prize along with a Platinum Pass to the PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) 2019, valued at $30,000. Diaz will be headed to The Bahamas in January 2019 after defeating Federico Petruzzelli heads-up.

“I feel pretty excited, pretty happy. It’s always great to win a tournament. It’s my biggest cash in poker so far,” said Diaz, who comes from Grenoble but resides in London.

Diaz revealed that he was already prepared to attend the PSPC before securing himself the Pass: “I was planning to go play there anyway but I’m pretty happy to have this kind of freeroll, have it in the pocket and be relaxed for the rest of the year,” he said.

key hand that tremendously helped Diaz to close out the tournament occurred four-handed when Diaz and Danilo Cangianiello ended up all-in preflop. Cangianello was in a better shape with pocket kings against ace-king.

However, four fives appeared on the board to counterfeit Cangianello’s big pair and sealing the pot for Diaz with his nut-quad hand. Cangianello was sent to the rail in fourth place while Diaz solidified his chip lead he would never relinquish.

“Once I went all-in on a flop with a set of fives and I made quads on the river. And then I made the other one. It was an insane runout.”

The heads-up between Diaz and Petruzzelli started with Diaz possessing almost four times as many chips as his rival. They made an effort to cut a deal but eventually couldn’t find an agreement.

The match continued alongside the original payout structure and Diaz soon finished his final opponent off, claiming the coveted trophy together with the top-cash of his career.

While today’s win is only Diaz’ second reported live tournament victory, the Frenchman has reached a truly extraordinary feat online. Last year, Diaz was returning back to Europe from PokerStars Championship Macau and used Wi-Fi on a plane to play an online tournament. He ended up winning it for €73,188 while flying about 26,000 feet above Kazakhstan.

Second place finisher Petruzzelli had already come close to reaching the Pass yesterday. He bubbled the $30,000 package giveaway on Day 2 when he made it through the initial two rounds of a flipout drawing only to lose to Miguel Romero in the final stage. Petruzzelli, however, locked up a very solid consolation prize for his runner-up finish in the tournament, earning €143,000 for his efforts.

The EPT National final table also featured Team PokerStars Pro Randy “nanonoko” Lew who walked away in seventh place for a €33,740 payday.

The tournament drew an impressive 1,501 entries, generating a €1,455,970 prize pool. The top 226 finishers were paid.

EPT National Monte Carlo final table results:
1st – Guillaume Diaz, France, €250,000
2nd – Federico Petruzzelli, Italy, €143,000
3rd – Abdullatif Attia, France, €100,000
4th – Danilo Cangianiello, Italy, €74,120
5th – Michal Mrakes, Czech Republic, €57,840
6th – Abraham Passet, Germany, €44,000
7th – Randy Lew, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, €33,740
8th – Giuseppe La Guardia, Italy, €24,620
9th – Sorin Sufragiu, Romania, €18,910

ABOUT POKERSTARS AND MONTE-CARLO©CASINO EPT
The ever-popular European Poker Tour (EPT) returns to Côte d’Azur once again with a spectacular 39-event PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT running April 24-May 4, 2018.

Formerly known as the EPT Grand Final, the event has played a pivotal role on Europe’s prime poker circuit for well over a decade. Debuting in the tour’s inaugural season all the way back in 2005, this year marks the 12th edition of the EPT festival held in the Le Sporting complex in Monaco.

The ministate has been annually hosting the top-shelf PokerStars sponsored live tournaments with massive prize pools and the upcoming edition of the EPT Monte Carlo follows suit with a stellar tournament schedule packed with 39 events of various buy-ins and games. The high-octane poker competition will include some illustrious events such as the €100,000 EPT Super High Roller – Shot Clock – Single Re-Entry (April 27-29), the €5,300 EPT Main Event – Single Re-Entry (April 28-May 4) and the €25,000 EPT High Roller – Single Re-Entry (May 2-4).

Editó: @_fonta   www.zonadeazar.com