From a whopping field of 993, they reached the final eight-handed table with about an hour left to play last night in the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event that has helped kick off the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final festival.
Before play concluded we lost one -- Michael Ferrari -- in eighth, meaning seven will return to decide who will become the next FPS Monaco Main Event champion. Here's a little more about each of the final tablists:
Seat 1: Joseph Mouawad (USA) -- 3,220,000
Married with three children, Joseph Mouawad is a real estate developer originally from Beirut who first began playing poker nearly 15 years ago.
He currently plays about three EPT festivals per year, and brings to the final table the most impressive résumé of tour success highlighted by his win in the EPT London Main Event back in Season 4, earning him a handsome £611,520 first prize. His most recent cash on the tour saw him final table a €2,200 NLHE event at EPT10 Barcelona where he finished eighth.
Seat 2: Gilles Silbernagel (France) -- 3,890,000
The lone Frenchman making the final table, 43-year-old Gilles Silbernagel is also a father a three and a businessman who has enjoyed success playing tournament poker.
Considering himself an amateur, he nonetheless has collected several cashes in various events in Europe over the last several years, the biggest coming from winning a €330 NLHE Estrellas event at EPT10 Barcelona where he topped a field of 469 to earn a €30,780 first prize. After two levels he was down to just 2,000 from the starting stack of 25,000, and now Silbernagel sits in third position among the final seven.
Seat 3: Sergio Braga (Brazil) -- 840,000
A live cash game specialist, the 49-year-old Sergio Braga's prefered games are pot-limit Omaha and seven-card stud. In fact, he's already tasted success this week in Monaco by winning Event #15, the €500 limit seven-card stud event.
The Brazilian has earned numerous cashes and made many final tables on both the LAPT and BSOP, with a runner-up finish in a BSOP event in 2013 earning him his biggest career score equivalent to just over $60,000. He has hopes of spinning what is currently the short stack up today, perhaps to win as a birthday present to himself as he turns 50 in two days.
Seat 4: Pablo Gordillo (Spain) -- 7,005,000
At age 20 and sitting with just over 7 million chips, Pablo Gordillo is both the youngest of the remaining players and the one with the most chips to start the final day of play. A finance student from León, Spain, Gordillo has put his studies on hold for now as he pursues what is fast becoming a successful career in poker.
Gordillo won his way into this event via a $215 satellite on PokerStars, where he can often be found playing NLHE tournaments and PLO cash games. Despite his young age, he's already notched some significant tournament cashes, including a fourth-place finish in the EPT10 Vienna Main Event earning him €262,150. He made another EPT Main Event final table in London earlier this season as well, ultimately finishing eighth.
Seat 5: Michael Ferrari (USA) -- finished 8th
Michael Ferrari entered the official final table as the short stack with eight left, and ultimately was knocked out for a €16,750 cash. A commercial real estate developer from San Francisco, California, Ferrari was here playing his first overseas tournament.
Ferrari had notched just a couple of tournament cashes previously, the best coming for winning a $400 Deep Stack Extravaganza event at the Venetian in 2012 where he topped 661 to earn $50,268. It was a tournament he hadn't even necessarily planned to play, but had been in Las Vegas for a wedding and not being able to play a WSOP event decided to take a shot. Besides poker, Ferrari's hobbies include motorcycles.
Seat 6: Luca Moschitta (Italy) -- 1,655,000
The 25-year-old Luca Moschitta has the distinction of having back in 2009 become the youngest SuperNova Elite at age 19. He continues to play a high volume of high-stakes sit-n-gos on PokerStars.it as a member of Team PokerStars Online, and following the path of his fellow countryman Dario Minieri has bought a couple of Porsches with his FPPs.
Moschitta has become a regular on the live circuit as well where he plays along with his girlfriend, Sofia Lovgren. His largest previous live result was for winning the IPT Main Event in Saint Vincent in 2013, a €180,000 score.
Seat 7: Manuel Martinez (Spain) -- 3,950,000
Manuel Martinez is a 27-year-old Spanish poker pro currently residing in London. A cash game specialist for the last five years, he enjoys tournaments as well occasionally.
Martinez final tabled the Estrellas Main Event in Madrid in 2012, finishing fifth for his largest live score of €24,300. He'll exceed that amount should he manage to outlast one other player and make it into the top six today.
Seat 8: Sebastian Supper (Germany) -- 3,520,000
A 29-year-old student from Munich, Sebastian Supper is an amateur who has been playing poker for six years. He qualified online for just €30 to play this event.
Supper has collected a few cashes in Europe previously, the largest coming after finishing third in a 188-player event in Pardubice in the Czech Republic, good for the equivalent of almost $8,500. Supper studies chemistry and geography, with plans eventually to become a professor.
When the final seven return today, here is what they'll be playing for:
1st: €177,000
2nd: €107,500
3rd: €75,400
4th: €56,600
5th: €43,800
6th: €32,700
7th: €23,500
Play begins at 12:30 p.m. Central European Time -- that's six hours ahead of Eastern time, and three hours ahead of GMT. They'll be on the feature table in the main tournament room here at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort and Hotel, with cards-up coverage starting on a one hour delay at 1:30 p.m. locally. That's when we'll pick up our start-to-finish coverage here as well. Join us then to see who beomes the next FPS Monaco Main Event champion.
To get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts, don't forget to download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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