Everest Poker ONE Main Event Recap

The very first Everest Poker ONE tournament took place in Monte Carlo this weekend. While the Everest Poker tour doesn’t yet have the reputation or following of some of PokerStars’ bigger tours (like the EPT and NAPT, for example), it’s quickly gaining both thanks in large part to events like Everest Poker ONE. The Everest Poker site has been promoting this particular event heavily all year, and the end result was a reasonably large turnout of 221 players for the pricy €5000 + €300 Main Event. That field translated to a prize pool that was just a hair over the €1,000,000 guarantee.

Everest Poker ONE kicked off on April 21 and only just concluded its final table action today. A surprising number of notable players chose to forgo more traditional Easter fare in favor of hitting the felt in Monte Carlo. In addition to the Main Event, the tournament offered four other side events including a €25,000 + €500 high roller. The Main Event boasted of a fairly stacked final table; recent WPT Venice victor Alessio Isaia just barely managed to squeak into the ninth seat. Here were the standings going into the last day of play:

Alexander Debus – 1,607,000

Marc Sander – 1,414,000

Julian Kabitzke – 1,207,000

Xavier Caruggi – 661,000

Joel Dodds – 580,000

Manuel Bevand – 372,000

Adrian Aston – 340,000

Julien Pouchain – 280,000

Alessio Isaia – 195,000

The French contingent fared reasonably well, snatching three of the last nine seats, but ultimately it was the German pros that dominated at Monte Carlo this weekend. The action was hard and fast, and Italian Isaia improved his position dramatically despite his short stack. Both Manuel Bevand and Marc Sander hit the rail in a double elimination that sent the winner – Julian Kabitzke – soaring to the front of the pack.

Adrian Aston was the next man down followed by Julien Pouchain. By now Debus was back in front, and he used his chip lead to push Xavier Caruggi out in fifth. Debus followed that elimination up by finishing off Isaia in fourth. At that point it was Aussie Joel Dodds against the two remaining Germans, but he didn’t last long. Dodds’ out sent Debus and Kabitzke into the heads-up portion. Despite Debus having a nearly 2 million chip lead, Kabitzke managed to claw his way to the top over the course of the next 90 minutes, earning himself the event’s golden egg – a €300,000 payout and the first Everest Poker ONE title.

Related Entries