€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT
€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€4,471,700
Entries
922
Level
36
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The second of two starting flights of the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Main Event saw 561 players gather at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort. Together with the 342 that showed up for Day 1a, the field is already up to over 900 entrants with late registration open up until the start of Day 2. The total prize pool and payouts will be announced shortly after late registration has closed.
The sizable field is the third-biggest ever crowd for an EPT Monte Carlo Main Event and a sharp uptick in players compared to last year's total of 777. 239 out of 561 Day 1b hopefuls made it through to the second day, with Sylvain Mazza (288,700) finishing the day in pole position. It wasn't Mazza's first chip lead of the week: just yesterday, he finished 7th in the €1,100 French National Championship after coming into the final day as chip leader.
British poker icon Sam Grafton follows in second place with 259,800, followed by James Romero (235,000), who also made a deep run in the National, Rustam Hajiyev (217,400), Yazan Mdanat (200,400), and Emrah Cakmak (200,300).
Team PokerStars had several stars lined up for Day 1b and will keep being represented by Fatima Moreira de Melo (108,500), Celina Lin (46,800), and Kalidou Sow (45,000). Andre Akkari wasn't able to make it through the day. The Pokerstars ambassadors find themselves in good company with plenty of notables still in contention, such as Mike Watson (135,300), Kristen Bicknell (76,700), and Patrik Antonius (64,300), who made the final table in this event last year.
The Finnish poker legend caught up with PokerNews' Sasha Salinger during the day to talk about the recent festival that carried his name.
While all of the aforementioned players made it through, casualties were noted as well, including poker philanthropist Scott Wellenbach, Ole Schemion, David Peters, and Bryn Kenney, while defending champion Nicolas Dumont has not been spotted thus far.
All players who busted out are allowed a single re-entry, and those that haven't opted to use their second and final bullet yet can choose to do so up until the start of Day 2, which will be on Wednesday, May 1st at noon. The field will join together and blinds will resume in level 11 at 800/1,600 and a big blind ante of 1,600.
The Day 2 seat draw can be found here.
Keep following along with PokerNews live coverage of the 2019 EPT Monte Carlo as the Main Event moves one day closer towards crowning a new champion.
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The full chip counts will be published when PokerNews receives them.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
288,700
68,700
|
68,700 |
|
||
|
259,800
92,800
|
92,800 |
|
||
|
235,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
217,400
217,400
|
217,400 |
|
200,400
10,400
|
10,400 |
|
200,300
4,300
|
4,300 |
|
193,300
118,300
|
118,300 |
|
190,200
200
|
200 |
|
186,200
48,200
|
48,200 |
|
180,600
-14,400
|
-14,400 |
|
170,100
35,100
|
35,100 |
|
162,200
17,200
|
17,200 |
|
160,100
34,100
|
34,100 |
|
||
|
159,100
159,100
|
159,100 |
|
158,400
63,400
|
63,400 |
|
157,800
157,800
|
157,800 |
|
156,600
106,600
|
106,600 |
|
156,000
156,000
|
156,000 |
|
150,300
150,300
|
150,300 |
|
148,600
17,600
|
17,600 |
|
144,900
-77,100
|
-77,100 |
|
142,600
142,600
|
142,600 |
|
141,500
141,500
|
141,500 |
|
141,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
139,300
24,300
|
24,300 |
|
||
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Day 1b has wrapped up with 239 out of 561 entries showing on the poker clock. All chip counts and an end-of-day recap follow.
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The clock has been paused with 12 minutes remaining in the day. Three more hands will be played until chips are bagged and tagged for the night.
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Bryn Kenney raised to 2,600 and was called by Eric Sfez and Denys Shafikov. James Romero in the cutoff three-bet to 12,000 and Kenney gave it some thought before moving all in for more than 70,000. That forced out Sfez and Shafikov, while Romero made the call.
Bryn Kenney: 
James Romero: 
The board came 
and Kenney hit the rail in the last hands of the night.
One hand later, Aleksandar Tomovic got his last few big blinds in with 
and Moreno Plozza had that dominated with 
. The kicker played on the 
board and Tomovic also hit the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
227,000
62,000
|
62,000 |
|
55,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Dmitrii Sukhorukov open-shoved a little over 14,000 from middle position and Ivan Georgiev looked him up from the blinds.
Dmitrii Sukhorukov: 
Ivan Georgiev: 
There wasn't more than a gutshot for Sukhorukov on 
and he departed late in the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
78,000
78,000
|
78,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Charlie Carrel got the betting started by opening to 2,500 on the cutoff. Patrik Antonius was sat on the button and flat called after asking how much Carrel was playing behind (47,000). Luis Medina joined the two heavy-weights, defending his big blind.
On the flop, Medina and Carrel checked to Antonius who bet 4,000. Medina called and Carrel passed and the two headed to the turn. It was the 
and the action went check-check.
A river completed the board and Medina checked once more. Antonius set 13,000 over the line and Medina called.
Luis Medina: 
Patrik Antonius: 
The Finn's two-pair wasn't enough to beat Medina's straight but he is still over the average, which is around 70,000 now.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
90,000
-25,000
|
-25,000 |
|
||
|
79,000 | |
|
47,000
26,000
|
26,000 |
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Not one but two players with the last name are in contention on Day 1b and that includes Johann Zeitoun and his father Jean-Jacques. The former has a bigger stack while the latter just ended up all in for 13,500 with .
Philipp Gruissem made the call with and the 
board gave Zeitoun an unlikely straight to double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
40,000
-40,000
|
-40,000 |
|
29,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
196,000
148,000
|
148,000 |
|
|
190,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
167,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
138,000
-32,000
|
-32,000 |
|
67,500
37,500
|
37,500 |
|
|
||
|
42,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
38,500
-26,600
|
-26,600 |
|
37,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
|
||
|
31,000
5,500
|
5,500 |