Japanese Daisuke Ogita won the EPT FPS ME
The schedule of EPT Monte-Carlo 2023 included the France Poker Series (FPS) main event, which lasted four days and ended on the evening of April 30. Japanese Daisuke Ogita won the EPT FPS ME and earned 307,160 EUR, defeating the French player Rubens Sellam in the heads-up, who got 191,940 EUR. The buy-in of the event was 1,100 EUR.
This year, a record number of entries were registered in the FPS main event – 2,138, thanks to which a prize fund of 2,052,480 EUR was created, which also became a record. Players from 65 different countries came to the tournament, with France representing almost 36% of the field.
Several PokerStars ambassadors took part in the event. The best performer was Benjamin Spragg, who reached the 21st place and earned 8,850 EUR. Daisuke Ogita started the final day with the second largest stack, but quickly pulled ahead and did not miss the advantage. Ogita was the most experienced among the finalists. Last year, Ogita won one of the EPT Paris events and earned 111,000 EUR.
Ogita and Rubens Sellam played in the heads-up
Only 8 players made it to the final day of the event, and the average stack was 30 bb. The Swiss Maksym Mamon, who opened with UTG with pocket queens, was the first to be eliminated. His opponent was Ogita, who held the K-9. On the board, Ogita caught the king and won the hand. A few hands later, Adel Rahou found himself in an advantageous position when he caught a jack on the flop, playing against a pair of sixes by Quentin Laugt. However, another six appeared on the turn, and Rahou was eliminated.
The 6th place was taken by Stefan Dimitrov, who lost with A-J to Ogita’s pocket aces. Shortly after, a short stack Laugt placed a bet with A-Q. Ogita held 10-7s and made a call. On the river, Ogita collected a flush and sent his opponent to rest. Anatoly Chen managed to hold on with a small stack for a long time, but in the end he went all-in with A-J against a pair of queens of Tomas Patka. None of the players improved, and Chen left the tournament.
The remaining three players fought for about two hours, after which Tomas Patka had only 4 bb left. Patka went all-in with A-3 against Ogita’s pocket eights. Again, no one improved, and Patka took 3rd place.
- Daisuke Ogita — 307,160 EUR
- Rubens Sellam — 191,940 EUR
- Tomas Patka — 137,100 EUR
- Anatoly Chen — 105,460 EUR
- Quentin Laugt — 81,130 EUR
- Stefan Dimitrov — 62,410 EUR
- Adel Rahou — 48,010 EUR
- Maksym Mamon — 36,940 EUR
Ogita and Rubens Sellam played in the heads-up. The game started slowly, and the denouement came only by the 50th hand. Sellam caught a ten on the flop with a 10-4 hand and went all-in, Ogita with his deep stack made a call, holding A-Q. The turn was blank, but a queen fell on the river, and Ogita became the champion of the France Poker Series.