On Red Spade watch in the EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller

Grafton tells Pardo his "MalakaStyle" strategy and Talbot is conspicuous by his absence in the EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller.

May 4, 2023

Poker

by Jack Stanton

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3 Minute Read

As the live stream is now able to capture most of the action over in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main, let’s take a stroll through the prestigious and predictably stacked EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller field and see how our PokerStars Ambassadors are getting on.

You might have noticed a lack of Sam Grafton and Maria Ho in the commentary booth today. That’s because they’re both on the grind in this €25K, seated at the same table.

Grafton was doing Graftonesque things – i.e., making things tricky for his opponents – when we arrived.

Action folded to him in the cutoff and he opened to 800 with the blinds at 150/300. The button called before Juan “MalakaStyle” Pardo – one of the most feared and creative poker players around – three-bet. (He had a 5,000 chip out, but we missed the exact amount).

Grafton then put in the four-bet to 9,000 and Pardo called once the button folded. The two saw an 8♥ K♣ 5♦ flop and when Pardo checked, Grafton continued for 6,500. The Spaniard let it go.

The pot went Grafton’s way

“You know, with Malaka…,” Grafton began explaining to his table mates. “You always take the bigger size. Whatever the bigger size is, you take that one.”

Sound advice, we’re sure. And while your average player should never tell someone as skilled as Pardo their strategy, Grafton is one of the few savvy enough to pull it off.

Juan “MalakaStyle” Pardo: a very tricky customer

NO REST FOR COLILLAS

The other red spade joining Grafton in the lion’s den is Ramon Colillas, the inaugural PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) winner who has been on fire ever since.

Colillas woke up this morning with his heart set on winning the EPT Main Event, not a farfetched idea by any stretch. He had a big stack with just 38 players remaining.

But he was left with just 5,000 when his pocket eights were outflipped by Elias Fisz’s A♦ Q♦ , then couldn’t survive his single-chip all in despite picking up a monster – A♥ K♣ , which lost to Arunas Sapitavicius’ pocket tens.

Colillas went straight from the Main to the High Roller

It didn’t take Colillas long to register for the €25K, where he’s taken a seat alongside other recent entries including Erik Seidel, Romain Lewis, and Dimitar Danchev.

WHO’S MISSING?

So who’s missing? Which other PokerStars Team Pros might we see pull up a chair in the €25K?

Paker “Tonkaaaa” Talbot is a prime candidate. Mr NeverLucky is never afraid to battle amongst the best players in the world. He is one of them, after all.

Parker Talbot: Conspicuous by his absence

Talbot hasn’t entered the event just yet, but we know he’s keeping an eye on it. After busting the Main Event yesterday in 42nd place (good for €17,250), Talbot played a satellite for the €25K with no luck, before hopping into the $10K Hyper Turbo Knockout. Alas, he was eliminated in 16th place out of 64 entries, with nine places paid.

Perhaps the €25K High Roller will make for the perfect trip saver.

You can follow live updates from the EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller here.