EPT Online Day 8: Shakerchi Adds EPT Online Title To His Trophy Cabinet

The 2021 European Poker Tour (EPT) Online series continued on December 15 and saw three more PokerStars players become champions of the festival. Talal Shakerchi, a former WCOOP Main Event winner, took down the $10,300 buy-in PKO event, "Tr!pleeeee" won the $2,100 NLHE 8-Max, while "I'MalliN.3lli" secured the $1,050 NLHE 8-Max title.

It was another spectacular day of poker tournament action, here is what went down.

Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi Wins PokerStars EPT Online Event #18: $10,300 NLHE for $212,995

Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi defeated Mike "SirWatts" Watson in a lengthy heads-up battle to win Event #18: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Super High Roller], $500k Gtd - Trophy Event #10 of the 2021 PokerStars EPT Online for the top prize of $81,432 + $132,563 in bounties, in addition to the EPT Online Trophy.

The event attracted 69 entries and the total prize pool of $690,000 smashed through the guarantee.

Players played down to the final table of nine yesterday and returned today. Shakerchi came into the day as the clear short stack with less than three percent of the chips in play, while Watson came in as the clear chip leader, before they faced off as the final two remaining. Today, the final table took just over four hours to crown a champion. Heads-up play by itself took around half of that time, but eventually it was Shakerchi who emerged victorious.

Final Table Action

Although Shakerchi started at the short stack, he chipped up early and won a key race against Lucio "WizardOffAz" Lima, which led to the Brazilian Lima making his exit in ninth soon after.

Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood was the next one gone after Watson turned trips against him, and Conor "1_conor_b_1" Beresford found his way out of the tournament seventh after losing a couple of hands, including one where Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden turned a set on him to take his bounty.

Vousden was hoping to win another EPT Online Trophy after winning one just a couple of days ago, but that dream ended after he ran his pocket tens into Watson’s pocket rockets. Soon after, "v0I<u" got the rest of his chips in against Shakerchai and wasn’t able to improve his dominated hand, ending his run in fifth place.

Eelis "EEE27" Pärssinen hit the rail next when got his pocket eights in against Shakerchi’s ladies, ended the Finn's run in fourth place. Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja then found himself in a classic flip, holding ace-king against Shakerchi’s queens, but Shakerchi held and the heads-up matchup was set.

Heads-Up Play

When heads-up play began, Shakerchi held 10.5 million chips against Watson’s 6.7 million. Soon, the stacks were even, but Shakerchi then won a series of hands to take a big lead. After that, Watson doubled to stay alive and took the lead for himself after a bit.

The two players continued to trade chips before all of Shakerchi’s chips went into the pot on the river. He was at risk, but showed trip deuces against Watson’s pocket aces to take another huge lead of over 7:1. That lead didn’t last long though and Watson climbed his way back to even stacks before taking the lead again.

The turning point occurred when Shakerchei called Watson’s river bluff on a missed draw. Shakerchei showed top two pair to hold the majority of the chips, and this time he wouldn’t let the lead go. He whittled down Watson’s stack and eventually had Watson at risk for his last ten big blinds. Shakerchei held ace-jack against queen-deuce and locked up the title after turning trip aces, completing his final table comeback and putting him on the receiving end of a shiny EPT Online Trophy and $212,995 in total winnings.

Event #18: $10,300 NLHE PKO Final Table Results

Tr!pleeeee Denies Ferreira $2.1K 8-Max Title

A cool $62,550 made its way to Poland's "Tr!pleeeee" on December 15 after they finished in first place in the $2,100 NLHE 8-max event. The tournament drew in a 149-strong crowd who created a guarantee-busting $298,000 prize pool.

Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira was the chip leader going into the final day, and it looked for a while like the Brazilian may go all the way and lead from start to finish. Ferreira navigated his way to heads-up, but fell at the final hurdle and had to make do with a $48,422 consolation prize.

Earlier at the final table. Ferreira's fellow Brazilian, Lucio "WizardOffAz" Lima was the first finalist out of the door; he collected $10,422 for his $2,100 investment. Germany's "Sintoras" joined Lima on the sidelines, before "xMAESTROX," Mike "SirWatts" Watson, and Swedish legend Christian "eisenhower1" Jeppsson fell by the wayside.

Another Swede, "flerrehuve," busted in third place for $37,485 to send the tournament into the heads-up stage.

EPT Online 17: $2,100 NLHE [8-Max] Final Table Results

I'MalliN.3lli Triumphs in the $1K NLHE 8-Max

The Malta-based grinder known as "I'MalliN.3lli" enjoyed a fruitful day, first winning the $1,050 NLHE 8-Max event before reaching the final ten of the $2,100 NLHE 6-Max High Roller.

Any of the eight finalists would have made a worthy champion. Jamil "Jamil11" Wakil and Ireland's "thekidkey" were the first players to see their deep runs end. The latter was the last player not to collect a five-figure sum for their efforts.

Belarusian superstar Ilya "Leqenden" Anatsky saw his tournament in a sixth-place finish worth $11,902 with Simon "C. Darwin2" Mattsson following Anatsky to the cashier's desk, although his prize was a chunkier $15,607.

"grigorg77" of Poland and "fkiw" of Sweden were the next casualties, which left Andreas "mrAndreeew" Berggren and I'MalliN.3lli heads-up for the title. The one-on-one clash went the way of the latter and they scooped the $46,149 top prize, leaving Berggren to collect the $35,192 runner-up payment.

EPT Online 20: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max] Final Table Results

Only 10 Remain in the $2,100 6-Max High Roller

Day 1 of the $2,100 NLHE 6-Max High Roller saw the 166 starters whittled down to a more manageable ten, and what a final ten they are. Each is guaranteed to take home no less than $9,168, but of them will head into the weekend having won a cool $67,290.

"3betwizkid" is the player in pole position for that princely sum, but the British player will not have matters their own way when play resumes at 6:05 p.m. GMT on December 16. This is because there are some highly talented players in the chasing pack.

For example, former WSOP Main Event finalist Nick "Bot35" Marchington is in the hunt for the title, although he sits down with the shortest stack. His 516,272 chips are the equivalent of 20 big blinds.

Others who have a legitimate shot of glory in this event include Jeiko "JEIK0" Palma, Jonathan "Proudflop" Proudfoot, and second-placed Vicente "vicenfish" Delgado

EPT Online 21: $2,100 NLHE [6-Max, High Roller] Day 2 Chip Counts