This week’s poker news puts the spotlight on a few big victories, including a pair in Europe. We’ll start with Manig Loeser, who was one of the biggest winners of the week.
Loeser Wins 2019 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Winner
There are always some funny jokes passed around whenever Manig Loeser wins. Pun-filled headlines aside, he was a big winner this past week at the EPT Monte Carlo event.
Loeser won the main event and took home a whopping $676,230. He outlasted a field of 922 entries to win his first EPT main event title. The 30-year-old from Germany took nearly every minute of the 15 hours he needed at the final table in order to come out on top. Following the big victory, Loeser’s career live tournament earnings rises to more than $10 million. In addition to the championship money, he also received 1,824 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, putting him at 2,739 points for the year. That ranks him in ninth place in the overall Player of the Year standings.
It hasn’t been too shabby of a season for Loeser as he’s already earned $1,409,887 in earnings in 2019. Wei Huang took home a whopping $618,303 for his runner-up finish, while Viktor Katzenberger won $593,272 for placing third in this tournament. Overall, seven different entries received payouts of $122,651 or more.
Hawkins Wins Record 13th World Series Poker Circuit Gold Ring
Maurice Hawkins made history this past week, securing his 13th World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring in Tunica. He conquered the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica $400 no-limit Hold’Em Monster Stack $100,000 guaranteed event to add to his collection.
The victory comes less than a month after Hawkins won his 12th WSOP Circuit gold ring to tie Valentin Vornicu for the most all-time. The 39-year-old from West Palm Beach, Florida took down a field of 432 entries in order to secure his latest WSOP victory.
The win pushed his career lifetime live tournament earnings to more than $3.6 million, including $1.6 million from WSOPC events alone. Needless to say, he’s become pretty comfortable with the WSOPC.
Hawkins also earned 288 Card Player Player of the Year points for the victory, which was his second title and ninth final-table finish of the year. That puts him in 42nd in the overall POY standings. Hamid Izadi took home $19,381 for finishing second while Rex Clinkscales earned a $14,162 payout for placing third at this event.
Eibinger Wins 2019 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Single Day High Roller Event
Austrian Matthias Eibinger was the big winner of the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Single Day High Roller event this past week. Eibinger earned exactly $945,370 for the win, making it the second-largest score of his professional career.
There was a small field of 58 entries in the mix but the buy-in was 50,000 Euros, so that’s what led to the prize pool being so generous. As a result of the win, Eibinger has become the second-highest earning tournament player from Austria behind only Thomas Mueloecker.
Eight different players at this event took home upwards of $126,000, including a $683,816 prize payout to runner-up Alex Foxen and a $441,168 pay out to the third-place finisher Wai Leong Chan.