Main Event
Day 6 Completed
2017 PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®
Main Event
Day: 6
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€3,525,950
Entries
727
Level
32
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
25,000
Level 32
: 100,000/200,000, 25,000 ante
Raffaele Sorrentino has won the 2017 PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. The Italian regular, now living in Mexico, walked away with over €466,000 after making a deal heads-up with Andreas Klatt.
"I'm very happy," Sorrentino said. "It's a dream come true. I was thinking about this one week ago. Every day, I got more and more [close]."
In the end, happiness was accompanied by another feeling.
"I was really, really tired," Sorrentino admitted after finishing the six-day event.
Sorrentino's opponent Klatt walked away with €402,786. The German already had a pretty good week as he won the 1,252-entry PokerStars National Championship event earlier this festival for €151,445. He'll have a huge early lead on the MonteDam Swing leaderboard, a PokerStars promotion with the WPT that now heads to Amsterdam for its third and fourth legs, the upcoming WPT events.
Start-of-day chip leader Michael Kolkowicz crashed in fifth place as nothing worked for him on the last day of play.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raffaele Sorrentino | Italy | €466,714 |
| 2 | Andreas Klatt | Germany | €402,786 |
| 3 | Andrey Bondar | Russia | €271,500 |
| 4 | Maxim Panyak | Russia | €199,900 |
| 5 | Michael Kolkowicz | France | €147,120 |
| 6 | Diego Zeiter | Argentina | €108,300 |
In the 17th hand of play, Diego Zeiter was the first to go. A couple hands before, he had admirably gotten away from top pair in a three-way pot, but finding ace-jack with 11 big blinds to play made things easy. He pushed all in, only to run into the ace-queen of chip leader Kolkowicz.
Michael Kolkowicz, a French recreational player who had gotten married in this very room 10 years ago, started out as the chip leader with 4.6 million. Soon, though, he was in the possession of over 8 million in chips as everything went his way initially.
His reign as chip boss wasn't for long, as Sorrentino took over during five-handed play. Sorrentino repeatedly got the best of Kolkowicz and would eventually also play a role in the demise of Kolkowicz.
As Sorrentino's aggressive play on a table of passive players soared him over the 10 million mark, Kolkowicz trended downward rapidly. After some 40 more hands, the two clashed in back-to-back hands with Sorrentino coming out on top in both. Not much later, Michael Kolkowicz shoved for his last 12 big blinds with six-deuce over an open raise by his nemesis. Sorrentino called with ace-five and flopped two fives to just about end it. Kolkowicz picked up some outs on the turn but the river failed to improve him and the Frenchman was out just like that.
The two Russian players were next to go. Maxim Panyak, a high-stakes OFC player who qualified for this event online, got it in with ace-ten to king-jack and saw a still-hot Sorrentino hit a king. Andrey Bondar, who appeared to be playing very tight, followed a couple of hands later, getting it in with top pair against two-pair on the turn. The river was a brick and Bondar had to leave the heads up to Sorrentino and Klatt.
Klatt hadn't done much up until that point, mostly avoiding big pots. If there's ever a master class going to be taught on laddering up, he should be considered as a case study as Klatt sneaked his way to heads-up without making too many waves.
Klatt still had a respectable stack to start the mano-a-mano battle, and he and Sorrentino instantly started talking chop when Bondar exited. The two quickly agreed to a deal and left that paid each over €400,000 and left €15,000 in the middle to play for.
After a 60-minute dinner break, the Italian and German shook hands and went to battle. Sorrentino, who now lives in Mexico but shared an apartment with Mustapha Kanit in Malta before that, started off best but both were winning their fair share of pots. They were deep, and given that both hadn't shown extreme aggression throughout the day, railbirds were getting ready for a long heads-up match. In the end, though, it wasn't long at all before the money went in.
After just 29 hands of heads up, Klatt got dealt queens and Sorrentino aces. It wasn't for long before the chips were in the middle and under a minute later, Sorrentino was celebrating winning the biggest prize of his poker career.
In the aftermath of the Main Event, PokerStars Director of Live Events Edgar Stuchly took over the mic as he prepared to present Sorrentino with his trophy. He said PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo drew nearly 10,000 entries across its dozens of tournaments over the past week-plus.
"The first PokerStars Championship in Europe was a great success," he said.
The next PokerStars event you can follow on PokerNews is the PokerStars Festival Chile. PokerNews will be on the floor reporting the $3,300 High Roller (May 21-23) and $1,650 Main Event (May 23-27). PokerStars Championship Sochi will begin around that time as well. PokerNews will be in Sochi to bring you stories from the Super High Roller (May 23-25), and updates from the Main Event (May 25-31), Single-Day High Roller (May 26) and regular High Roller (May 29-31) in what could very well be the biggest ever poker tournament in Russia.
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Level 32
: 100,000/200,000, 25,000 ante
Raffaele Sorrentino has won the 2017 PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. The Italian regular walked away with over €446,000 after a deal and chats to Laura right after play has ended.
Level 32
: 100,000/200,000, 25,000 ante
Hand #138: Andreas Klatt was first to act and woke up with 
. The German raised to 450,000. Sorrentino, though, wasn't folding. He found 
and three-bet to a sizable 2,025,000.
Klatt, with 5,140,000 behind at the time, shoved for 5,590,000 total. Sorrentino instantly called and seemed to apologize for having such a huge hand.
Klatt could overtake Sorrentino as the chip leader, but he had to find a queen or some other help to do so. It wasn't meant to be, the 11,230,000 pot would never get really exciting.
The 
flop did nothing for either, not even giving Klatt back door outs. The 
on the turn was a blank and so was the 
on the river. Both made full houses but Klatt's wasn't worth anything, he had to settle for second place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
21,820,000
5,620,000
|
5,620,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 32
: 100,000/200,000, 25,000 ante
Hand #130: Andreas Klatt raised to 450,000 with and got action from Raffaele Sorrentino, who had 
. A continuation-bet resulted in a quick win for Klatt.
Hand #131: Sorrentino opened for 450,000 with 
and Klatt called with 
. They checked to the turn for a board of 
. Klatt bet 575,000 and got a call from Sorrentino. The river was an . Klatt bet 850,000 and took it without a showdown.
Hand #132: Klatt raised and got action holding 
against . The flop came 
and Sorrentino mucked to a continuation-bet.
Hand #133: Sorrentino raised with pocket fives and took it preflop.
Hand #134: Klatt raised with 
and Sorrentino called with 
. Both checked the 
to see the . Sorrentino checked and Klatt checked it back. The river was a and Sorrentino bet 625,000. Klatt folded right away.
Hand #135: Sorrentino completed the blind with 
. Klatt raised to 775,000 and took it preflop.
Hand #136: Klatt raised to 450,000 on the button with 
. Sorrentino called with 
. Both players found some help on the 
but neither opted to bet. The turn was a and Sorrentino checked. Klatt checked. The 
brought forth two more checks and the sixes took it down.
Hand #137: Sorrentino raised with 
to 450,000 and Klatt called with 
. The board wound up 
and Klatt finally bet 450,000. Sorrentino called right away and won.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
16,200,000
2,750,000
|
2,750,000 |
|
|
5,620,000
-2,745,000
|
-2,745,000 |
Level 32
: 100,000/200,000, 25,000 ante
Hand #124: Andreas Klatt opened 
to 450,000. Sorrentino called with 
and flopped pretty good: 
. Sorrentino checked, followed by a 575,000-bet by Klatt. Sorrentino check-raised to 1,525,000 and Klatt called.
With 4,000,000 in the middle, the dealer burned and turned the 
. With the third spade on the board, Sorrentino didn't slow down and bet 2.5 million. Klatt folded just about right away.
Hand #125: Sorrentino opened to 450,000. Klatt called with and flopped bottom pair on 
. Klatt check-called a 400,000 bet and checked again on the 
turn. Sorrentino checked behind this time and the completed the board. Two checks later, Sorrentino took down the pot.
Hand #126: Klatt folded his button, giving Sorrentino a walk with .
Hand #127: Raffaele Sorrentino opened for 450,000 and Klatt folded .
Hand #128: Andreas Klatt opened on the button. Sorrentino folded .
Hand #129: Klatt received a walk with .
Level 32
: 100,000/200,000, 25,000 ante
Hand #119: Raffaele Sorrentino opened the button with 
making it 450,000. Andreas Klatt called with 
and checked on 
. Sorrentino checked behind. The on the turn and had the same effect, a lot of checking and Klatt won the hand.
Hand #120: Klatt opened from the button and Sorrentino folded jack-five.
Hand #121: Sorrentino with opened for 450,000. Klatt called 
from the big blind and checked on , and folded to a 450,000-bet.
Hand #122: Andreas Klatt on the button, found again. He raised to 450,000. Sorrentino defended with and checked on . Klatt fired 575,000 and Sorrentino folded.
Hand #123: Sorrentino limped in with , Klatt checked . The flop came and Klatt checked. Sorrentino bet 225,000 and Klatt called. The hit the turn and both players checked. The on the river saw Klatt check. Sorrentino bet 825,000 and Klatt called with the best hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
13,450,000
-2,015,000
|
-2,015,000 |
|
|
8,365,000
2,015,000
|
2,015,000 |
Level: 32
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Ante: 25,000
Level 31
: 80,000/160,000, 20,000 ante
Hand #109: Raffaele Sorrentino raised to 400,000 with 
and won the pot.
Hand #110: Andreas Klatt folded the 
on the button.
Hand #111: Sorrentino raised to 330,000 with and Klatt called with . Both checked the flop so the board was . Sorrentino bet 350,000 and won the pot.
Hand #112: Klatt raised to 325,000 on the button with . Sorrentino called with . The flop came . Both players checked. Sorrentino checked the turn and Klatt bet 400,000. Sorrentino called. The river was a . Sorrentino checked and Klatt bet 1,250,000. Sorrentino thought awhile and gave it up.
Hand #113: Sorrentino completed the blind with . Klatt picked up he raised it up and took it down.
Hand #114: Klatt raised to 350,000 with and won.
Hand #115: Klatt received a walk.
Hand #116: Klatt raised with to 350,000 and won.
Hand #117: Sorrentino raised to 350,000 with and Sorrentino called with . Klatt checked and folded.
Hand #118: Klatt raised to 350,000 with . Sorrentino had in the blind. He three-bet to 650,000 and won the pot.