Bodog Beat

Canadian Glen Chorny won the EPT Grand Final last night at the Casino Monte Carlo. (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

For the third year in a row a North American has captured the European Poker Tour Grand Final event held in Monte Carlo. Canadian Glen Chorny captured the $3.2 million first-place prize in the early hours of the morning, putting an end to the record-setting event.

The 22-year-old business student from Timmins, Ontario battled through a field of 842 players to capture the largest cash prize in European Poker Tour history. It took 14 hours of play on Day 5 of the tournament for Chorny to cement his win and some gut-wrenching up and downs. He began the day as the chip leader but fell down to as low as third place at one time before doubling up through then chip leader, American online poker pro Isaac "wetmenloAA" Baron. That hand crippled Baron and set Chorny up for a run at the title.

Finishing in second place was Hungarian Denes Kalo ($ 1,866,790) followed by French Canadian Maxime Villemure ($ 1,132,107). After the aforementioned hand in which Chorny doubled-up, Baron could only manage to muster a fourth place finish. The 2007 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year took home $932,692 for his efforts.

Here are the full final table payouts:

1. Glen Chorny - $ 3,198,500
2. Denes Kalo - $ 1,866,790
3. Maxime Villemure - $ 1,132,107
4. Isaac Baron - $ 932,692
5. Michael Martin - $ 666,606
6. Luca Pagano - $ 533,601
7. Valeriy Ilikyan - $ 400,590
8. Antonio Esfandiari - $ 266,004
9. Henrik Gwinner - $ 199,533

In a display of just how much the EPT has grown in just three short years, the $3.2 million that Chorny pocketed is more than double the amount that Jeff Williams took home in 2006 and $300,000 more than Gavin Griffin took home last year, with the field growing exponentially along with the prize pool.

The return of the European Poker Tour is tentatively scheduled for September in Barcelona and we here at the Beat will keep you posted once that firms up.

Charles Simmons is a regular poker news contributor to the Bodog Beat.