PokerStars qualifier Nicolas “niccc” Chouity has won €1.7 million at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo after winning his seat in a $22 rebuy tournament on PokerStars.
Chouity, 23, from Beirut, Lebanon, dominated the final and eliminated all but one of his opponents. He beat Austrian Josef Klinger heads-up to win the €10,600 event. He is the only the second Lebanese EPT champion since Joseph Mouawad won EPT London in Season 4.
Chouity has been playing EPTs for two seasons and came 50th at last season’s Grand Final for €31,000. He also cashed at EPT Berlin this year and has won numerous online tournaments, in addition to making a deep run in last year’s WCOOP Main Event. Chouity came to Monte Carlo with a 30-strong group of poker friends. With only one casino in the whole country, the Lebanese poker community is very close and all are regulars at Casino du Liban’s twice-weekly poker tournaments.
After winning the title, Chouity said: “It’s a dream come true. I feel great. I had confidence coming into the final and I had the chip lead but you never know with poker and I was going for first, only first.” As Chouity was winning the Grand Final Main Event, his friend Dori Yacoub, also from Lebanon, was busy dominating the €25,000 High Roller event taking place a few metres away.
The EPT Grand Final Main Event attracted 848 players from 51 countries including 161 who won their seats on PokerStars. The total prize pool was €8,480,000. Some of the best players in the world turned up to the glamorous principality of Monaco for a week-long poker festival which featured 24 different events.
Among the many big names contesting the Main Event were four Team PokerStars SportStars – French tennis champion Gael Monfils, making his debut in the PokerStars logo, tennis legend Boris Becker, NHL star Mats Sundin and Olympic hockey champion Fatima Moreira de Melo as well as Friend of PokerStars and football legends Teddy Sheringham and Poli Rincon. French rap star Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes also took part alongside the PokerStars-sponsored German novelist Charlotte Roche and Petter Northug, the Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier.
Dozens of Team PokerStars Pros took part in the event which was held in the beautiful Salle des Etoiles of Le Sporting at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort from April 25-30. Players included poker legend Daniel Negreanu, current world champion Joe Cada, former world champions Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker as well as defending Grand Final champion Pieter de Korver, Barry Greenstein, Jason Mercier, Dennis Phillips and Vanessa Rousso. Celebrated poker pros such as Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Viktor Blom, Andy Black, Tony G, Liz Lieu, Patrik Antonius, John Juanda, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Men “The Master” Nguyen also took part.
The highest-placed Team PokerStars Pro was new Czech member Martin Hruby who snagged €50,000 for 22nd place. Fellow pros Vicky Coren, Lex Veldhuis, Alex Gomes, Chris Moneymaker, Juan Manuel Pastor and Rino Mathis also cashed.
Russian pro Max Lykov, winner of the first event of EPT Season 6 in Kyiv, won EPT Player of the Year at the EPT Awards held during the EPT Grand Final wrap party at the Karement Club on April 30.
