Manig Loeser

Manig Loeser Ask anyone who the best player in the world is without a major Main Event title (EPT, WPT, WSOP, MILLIONS) and a lot of people would have told you Manig swordfish007 Loeser was right up there, until now. The latest tweets from @swordfish007. The hand began with accomplished German poker pro Manig Loeser raising from early position with pocket sixes. Marques defended his big blind with J-10 offsuit, only to miss the flop entirely when.

After battling through two Day Ones and922 entries, the Main Event of the European Poker Tour’s stop at the Casino deMonte Carlo has ended. In what was a stirring battle after a three-way chop forthe money, Germany’s Manig Loeser emerged as the champion in defeating China’sWei Huang and Hungary’s Viktor Katzenberger to take home the title.

AnUphill Battle

To say that Loeser had an uphill battle towinning the title would be a huge understatement. Nicola Grieco of Italy heldthe chip lead at the start of the six-handed final table, with Katzenbergerholding down the second place slot. Huang was is the third post position asLoeser held the fourth position at the start of the festivities. If it weren’tenough, former World Champion Ryan Riess was in fifth (and with a sizeablestack of chips) and the short stack at the table, Luis Medina, still had enoughchips (1.105 million) to give one pause before attacking.

Medina tried to make some inroads to moveup the leaderboard, but he instead never gained any traction on the day. Itwould take slightly more than two hours for his departure to come, however, andit would come at the hands of Loeser. Medina got in a race with the German, hisA-3 off suit against Loeser’s pocket sevens, and there was no saving Ace on the9-8-2-4-10 board to change the situation. As Loeser moved up the leaderboard,Medina headed to the rail with his sixth-place finish.

If it took a while for the firstelimination to come, it would seem like a lifetime before the next one. Riess,who was now on the short stack, would get a key double through Huang to get healthieras Grieco was headed in the opposite direction. It seemed as if every move thatGrieco made was the wrong one and, two hours after Medina’s elimination, Griecowould find himself on the brink of that same fate. But he would fight back too,doubling up twice to get back to a respectable stack.

For more than six hours the remaining fivemen battled it out, with Loeser quietly sneaking out to the lead, Griecoregaining his momentum and the rest looking to catch up. In fact, the playerswould head to the dinner break with just the elimination of Medina under their belt.Once the players came back from their sustenance, however, they would up theintensity in the game.

ActionRamps Up Following Dinner Break

Loeser didn’t lose a bit of momentum fromthe dinner break, racking up the first hand back at the table. On the button,Loeser pushed all in with a suited Ace and got Riess and Huang to get out ofthe way. Two hands later, he would punish Katzenberger for limping in on thebutton by raising Katzenberger’s limp out of the big blind (it turned out hehad the goods with pocket Queens). Those hands would push Loeser over the tenmillion mark in chips and would separate him from the pack as the eliminationscame.

Nine hours after Medina had beeneliminated, the next man to walk away from the EPT Monte Carlo final tablewould be determined. Grieco would shove his stack with Big Slick and Loeser, inthe big blind, actually stated, “I’m gonna gamble,” before making the call witha miserly 8-7 off suit. Loeser got everything he could ask for in the 8-7-3flop and, once the Jack on the turn was dealt, Grieco was drawing dead, packinghis backpack, and heading to the rail in fifth place.

Riess was the next to go at the hands ofHuang. Hovering in the “push or fold” zone, Riess decided to push in the smallblind against Huang. Huang, knowing that Riess would be pushing with mostanything, made the call. Riess’ Q-3 was surprisingly leading Huang’s J-6pre-flop, but that’s why they deal the cards after that point.

Things looked great for Riess on the A-A-Qflop as his two pair rocketed him to an almost insurmountable lead. Just how “insurmountable?”According to odds calculators, Riess would have won the double 94% of the time.This was that 6%, unfortunately for Riess, as a ten on the turn brought Huang’schances up to 25%. The King on the river completely changed the futures for theplayers as Huang, now the proud owner of a Broadway straight, scooped the pot andRiess was out in fourth place.

The final trio of players – Loeser, Huangand Katzenberger – would play for two more hours before settling in fordiscussions on a deal with their chip stacks all roughly equal. After an hourof discussion, they decided on the following deal:

Huang: €552,056
Katzenberger: €529,707
Loeser: €527,716

The threesome left the trophy and a €78,061bonus on the table to play for and went to decide a champion.

FromThree to One

Manig

Huang would step out to an early lead, butLoeser quickly caught up and passed him. On a big hand with Katzenberger,Loeser was all in with pocket threes against Katzenberger’s A♣ J♣ and survivedwhen the Queen high board had nothing for Katzenberger. Loeser took the leadagain with that hand while Katzenberger, down to just over a million in chips,would succumb to Huang on the next hand in third place.

Loeser had a 3.5 million chip lead over Huangat the start of heads up and, save for one hand where Huang eked into the lead,dominated the play. On the final hand, the twosome saw a J-9-5 rainbow flop,with Huang’s K-8 leading Loeser’s Q-8. That changed on the ten turn, however,as Loeser caught his straight and moved into the lead. Loeser didn’t slow playhis hand and, after Huang moved all in with only the gut shot straight draw (riverQueen would have given him a better straight), Loeser was more than happy tocall with his made hand. The audience was breathless in anticipation of the river,which fell with an Ace to end the 16-hour marathon with Manig Loeser as thewinner.

1. Manig Loeser, €603,777*
2. Wei Huang, €552,056*
3. Viktor Katzenberger, €529,707*
4. Ryan Riess, €265,620
5. Nicola Grieco, €206,590
6. Luis Medina, €152,800
7. Rustam Hajiyev, €109,510
8. Timothy Adams, €78,030

(* – indicates three-way deal)

Outcome

Manig Loeser (@manigloeser) • Instagram Photos And Videos

Preflop, with two players remaining and blinds of 350,000-700,000 and an ante of 87,500, Daniel Smyth limped in from the button. Manig Loeser checked his option in the big blind. On the flop Loeser bet 1,100,000. Smyth raised to 3,500,000. Loeser called. On the turn Loeser checked. Smyth bet 5,300,000. Loeser called. On the river Loeser checked. Smyth moved all-in for 26,600,000. Loeser called.

Analysis

Germany All Time Money List, Top 15838: Hendon Mob Poker Database

Ireland’s Daniel Smyth won his way into this World Poker Tour championship event via a $33 buy-in satellite. He parlayed that small initial investment into a $3,200 buy-in for this event, which drew a total of 1,035 entries. Smyth managed to survive to the final table to guarantee himself a five-figure payday in this tournament, but he undoubtedly had his eyes on the title and the first-place payout worth multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars. He knocked out João Maureli in third place to enter heads-up play with Manig Loeser, a German pro with more than $11.2 million in prior live tournament scores. Smyth, on the other hand, had just over $20,000 in live cashes to his name. Despite the experience gap, Smyth was ultimately able to come out on top. In this hand he limped in from the button with pocket deuces and Loeser checked with Q-9 offsuit. Loeser picked up a gutshot straight draw on the K-J-2 with two diamonds flop. Loeser attempted to seize the betting lead by firing 1.1 million. Smyth raised to 3.5 million in position with his bottom set, likely trying to extract value from hands like weak top pairs and draws. Loeser elected to call and the turn brought the Q´ to put a second flush draw on the board while giving Loeser second pair. He checked to Smyth, who fired another barrel for 5.3 million. Loeser called and the river brought the 5®. Loeser checked with his second pair, likely just hoping to see a cheap showdown. Smyth instead moved all-in for 26.6 million into a pot of 19.1 million. With two flush draws and possible straight draws missing on the river, Loeser likely figured that there were enough bluffs in Smyth’s range to go along with his strong value hands that could raise the flop and then bet turn and shove river. He made the call with his second pair looking to catch a bluff, but Smyth showed a set to take down the pot and move into the lead. Smyth went on to secure the title and the top prize of $413,391, while Loeser earned $279,359 as the runner-up finisher.