Following a three-way deal, Dan ‘mrGR33N13’ Colman won €1,539,300, defeating another ace of the game, Daniel ‘jungleman12’ Cates heads-up.
The eight-handed finale of the EPT Grand Final 2014 €100,000 Super High Roller event started with a dominant player of the Macau high stakes cash games, Lo Shing Fung aka Rono Lo in the chiplead. Paul Phua and Richard Yong also represented Macau at the Final Table and they were joined in the hunt for the €1.8 million first prize by the very elite of poker these days, Ole Schemion, Cates, Colman, Olivier Busquet and Igor Kurganov.
The seat draw was as follows:
Seat 1: Dan Cates (USA) – 2,341,000
Seat 2: Richard Yong (China) – 1,301,000
Seat 3: Olivier Busquet (USA) – 1,038,000
Seat 4: Lo Shing Fung (China) – 4,558,000
Seat 5: Daniel Colman (USA) – 1,398,000
Seat 6: Igor Kurganov (Russia) – 261,000
Seat 7: Ole Schemion (Germany) – 2,818,000
Seat 9: Paul Phua (Malaysia) – 1,785,000
Play started on Level 16 (4,000/15,000/30,000) and Kurganov dominated the game: after taking several pots, including a major one where Rono Lo mucked, he grabbed the lead.
Only on Level 19 (10,000/30,000/60,000) did the first elimination occur: Kurganov opened to 125,000 with A-K, Cates called with T-T and Busquet, who had just shrank to extreme short losing to Phua, called all-in with 9-8. The board came J-9-J-7-T, Cates won with a full house, Kurganov folded on the river after a flop bet and turn check and Busquet was out.
A couple of hands later, Schemion followed: Colman raised to 125,000 with pocket jacks, Schemion 3-bet to 335,000 with nines, Colman shoved, Schemion called and the former’s hand improved to a full house on the J-T-Q-7-7 board. Phua then finished in 6th place, his 8-7s hand getting cracked by Colman’s A-Jo, and then Rono Lo was out, pushing his last 13 big blinds in the middle with K-9s and losing to Kurganov and his A-Jo.
On Level 21 (10,000/50,000/100,000), Colman opened in a hand to 200,000 from UTG, Yong called from the BB and the flop came 7:s 3:c 5:c. Yong checked, Colman bet 200,000, Yong shoved for 1,200,000 and Coleman snap-called, tabling 5:s 5:d for a set against Yong’s K:h J:d, the last streets coming neutral.
The three remaining players made a deal as follows:
Daniel Colman – 7,270,000 (deal: €1,298,300; original payout: €1,804,000)
Dan Cates – 4,430,000 (deal: €1,168,300; original payout: €1,305,000)
Igor Kurganov – 3,800,000 (deal: €1,128,300; original payout: €842,300)
€241,000 was left in for the winner and €115,400 for the runner-up.
The lengthy 3-handed game was brought to an end on Level 23 (20,000/80,000/160,000). Colman moved all-in from the SB with Q:s 8:d and Kurganov called instantly with A:c 2:c for 1,715,000. The board came A:h Q:h T:h 9:c 8:s and Colman won with two pairs.
Still, Cates was ahead at the beginning of the heads-up, which was truly a clash of titans:
Dan Cates – 9,625,000
Daniel Colman – 5,875,000
Despite the ‘mrGR33N13’ vs ‘jungleman12’ setup, the former managed to dominate and he finished off the tournament quickly on the same level. In the last hand, Cates moved all-in with only 11 big blinds and the Q:d T:c, Colman called with K:h 6:h and the board came 3:c 9:d 6:d 3:h A:h to give Colman two pairs.
Dan ‘mrGR33N13’ Colman booked his biggest live score in his career so far, winning €1,539,300 in total.
The end results are as follows:
1st: Daniel Colman – €1,539,300
2nd: Dan Cates – €1,283,700
3rd: Igor Kurganov – €1,128,300
4th: Richard Yong – €637,600
5th: Rono Lo – €493,340
6th: Paul Phua – €385,000
7th: Ole Schemion – €307,000
8th: Olivier Busquet – €241,000
