Glen Chorny - 2008 EPT Champ
April 17, 2008
A 22 year old business student from Ontario, Canada has won the 2008 European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo.
His first prize payout of €2 million ($US 3M) is the biggest payout in European poker history.
Chorny qualified for the tournament online at PokerStars, as did 4th place finisher Isaac Baron. Team PokerStars pro Luca Pagano finished in 6th place after doing well to double up and hang tough at the final table.
"It hasn't set in yet" said Glen in an interview shortly after his win. And when asked how he intended to celebrate his €2million haul "Maybe go to a bar, but I'm not going to Jimmy'z [ Host Monte Carlo Bay's night club]. It's too expensive!"
“There’s no better way to feel right now than like this," Chorny said. "It feels like you’re a rock star.”
The big chip leader after day 3, Antonio Esfandiari, couldn't turn his early big stack into a championship. He entered the final table as one of the short stacks and was forced to go all in early with A8, against Luca Pagano's AJ and was eliminated in 8th place.
The final table participants final placings and prizemoney are below.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glen Chorny* | €2,020,000 ($3M) |
| 2 | Denes Kalo | €1,179,000 ($1.8M) |
| 3 | Maxime Villemure | €715,000 ($1.09M) |
| 4 | Isaac Baron* | €589,000 ($901k) |
| 5 | Michael Martin | €421,000 ($644k) |
| 6 | Luca Pagano | €337,000 ($516k) |
| 7 | Valeriy Ilikyan | €253,000 ($387k) |
| 8 | Antonio Esfandiari | €168,000 ($257k) |
| 9 | Henrik Gwinner | €126,000 ($193k) |
Our favorite player, Aussie Joe Hachem finished just short of the final table in 11th place, taking home €101,000.
You can join Aussie Joe and all of the other Team PokerStars pros at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this July by qualifying to play at PokerStars - where poker players become world champions.
