Yesterday Stephane Dossetto was explaining to us how his name meant “two-seven,” which typically makes poker players think of the worst hand in hold’em.

Today we watched him begin the final day of the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event with the chip lead, and tonight finish by winning the tournament — while holding two sevens for the final, winning hand!

The Frenchman outlasted a huge Main Event field and a tough heads-up opponent in EPT12 Malta Main Event champion Niall Farrell to win the FPS Monaco title and a €218,000 first prize. And he couldn’t have been more ecstatic about how the day went.

A moment to remember for Stephane DossettoThe prize more than triples Dossetto’s previous best tourney cash of €65,000 for winning the FPS High Roller at Cadet back in Season 3 of the tour. That Dossetto made this final table along with two of his friends — seventh-place finisher Romain Matteoli and Julian Fernandez who took third — made it all the more enjoyable for the regular in Parisian poker circles.

Way back on Wednesday came the first of two Day 1 flights, with the ultimate turnout of 1,261 representing the second-most ever number of jouers for an FPS Main Event during the FPS’s six seasons, and way more than the 993 who played FPS Monaco a year ago.

They reached the official eight-handed final table last night, and after the Romanian Tudor Purice went out in eighth and Matteoli in seventh, the final six returned today with Dossetto enjoying that narrow chip lead over his eventual heads-up opponent Farrell.

The final day beginsThey were less than an orbit into this final day of play when two of the short stacks took their last chips up against a bigger one, and the result saw the field suddenly carved from six to four.

The Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Bertrand was the shorter of the at-risk pair, reraise-shoving his chips over a Julian Fernandez open with a pair of black tens. Miguel Silva of Portugal then went all-in over the top behind ace-jack, and both were called by Fernandez who had a pair of queens.

The biggest pair held, sending Bertrand out in sixth and Silva in fifth.

After five years’ worth of online play, Bertrand adds a handsome live score to his credit.

Jean-Baptiste Bertrand – 6th placeAnd it was a nice finish for Silva as well, the biggest cash of his career thus far.

Miguel Silva – 5th placeFour-handed play then saw Farrell taking a couple of hits, including losing a chunk of chips to Dossetto in a hand that saw the latter flop a set and Farrell turn top pair of aces.

Farrell chipped back, however, boldly bluffing Fernandez off the better hand along the way, then won a huge preflop all-in with ace-king versus Stefano Terziani’s pocket eights to grab the lead and cripple the Italian.

Soon Terziani was all-in with king-four against Dossetto’s ace-seven, and with no help from the board took his leave in fourth. He adds an FPS Main final table to final tables on the IPT and at the WSOP.

Stefano Terziani – 4th placeThey moved into a new level and after Farrell enjoyed the lead a short time, Dossetto moved back ahead. But Farrell soon won a big one when knocking out Fernandez in third.

With pocket kings against the ten-nine of Fernandez, Farrell saw a flop bring three eights, then a nine on the turn did the Frenchmen in, giving him a lesser full house and encouraging him to commit his stack. The river brought no miracle, and Fernandez was out.

A seller of vegetable-and-fruit without a lot of previous poker experience, Fernandez walked away from this event with a lot of cabbage. How about them apples?

Julian Fernandez – 3rd placeThat pot gave Farrell about a 3-to-2 chip lead to start heads-up play, but Dossetto won a couple of pots early to even the score, then after a stretch during which they traded the lead back and forth, the Frenchman surged into the lead on the strength of a couple of strong hands.

The duel ultimately would carry on for three hours — longer than it took to play down from six to two — with Dossetto maintaining the lead for much of it. At last Farrell found himself on the ropes but fighting gamely, and though he doubled through once with ace-king, he couldn’t regain the momentum to mount a comeback.

Heads-up playThen came the final hand — A♦ J♥ for Farrell and the aforementioned 7♠ 7♣ for Dossetto. After flopping a set (another word uncannily contained within the winner’s name), Dossetto’s hand held to give him the victory.

While the cash was a career triumph for Dossetto, Farrell’s score carries him over the $2 million mark in lifetime tournament earnings to go along with his many successes online, including on PokerStars as “firaldo87.”

 

*spoiler* finished 2nd, didn’t have a chance heads up the way the deck was going so not too disappointed. Thanks for support!

— Niall Farrell (@Firaldo87poker) May 1, 2016

There’ll be no rest for Farrell as he has already hopped in the EPT Grand Final Main Event where he’ll be seeking a second EPT title.

Niall Farrell – 2nd placeClick here to read back through our coverage of the final day.

Congratulations to all 183 cashers in this year’s FPS Monaco Main Event, and especially to the champion Stephane Dossetto!

Stephano Dossetto – FPS Monaco Main Event ChampionFPS Monaco Main Event
Dates: April 27-May 1, 2016
Buy-in: €1,100
Entries: 1,261
Places paid: 183
Prize pool: €1,223,170
1 – Stephane Dossetto, France, €218,000
2 – Niall Farrell, UK, €127,900
3 – Julian Fernandez, France, €89,900
4 – Stefano Terziani, Italy, €67,100
5 – Miguel Silva, Portugal, €51,780
6 – Jean-Baptiste Bertrand, France, €38,500
7 – Romain Matteoli, France, €29,350
8 – Tudor Purice, Romania, €20,900

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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

 

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