It's Bubble Time on Day 3 of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event
At noon local time, cards will be back in the air for Day 3 of the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino €5,300 EPT Main Event. The atmosphere will be tense right off the bat, as 120 players remain and 111 of them go home with money. It's bubble time in Monte Carlo, and bottom chip count dwellers such as Makram Saber (30,000), Ryan Riess (44,000), Pete Chen (47,000) and Romain Lewis (55,500) are at risk on missing out on a payday of at least €9,400.
On the flipside, David Peters is the man in charge with 603,500 in chips, far more than his nearest challengers Maxim Panyak (494,500), Nicolas Dumont (483,000) and Said Butba (475,000). The red spade is still represented by Team PokerStars Pro's Randy "nanonoko" Lew (231,500) and Andre Akkari (227,000).
Last year's Day 2 chipleader Nick Petrangelo sits in fifth this time with 463,000. Petrangelo is having a successful week already in the principality in the French Riviera; he finished second in the 50K Single-Day HIgh Roller for €467,410. To top that, Petrangelo needs to win this tournament and grab the €712,000 first-place prize that awaits the winner on Friday, May 4.
Almost five levels of 90 minutes each will be played out today in the Salle des Etoiles of Le Sporting at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort. There are 75 minutes remaining in level 14, where players will return with blinds at 1,500/3,000 and a big blind ante of 3,000. Today's levels are as follows:
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 15 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 16 | 2,500 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 17 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| 18 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
The shot clock will be in play, giving players just 30 seconds to come to a decision. Players receive two additional 30 second time bank cards on top of those they received earlier when play gets underway. PokerNews will be on the floor from start to finish to bring you live coverage as well as feature stories, and capture all the excitement from EPT Monte Carlo.
and it checked to Abouaf who continued for 14,000. The big blind folded and Simunic check-raised to 53,000. Abouaf asked Simunic how much he was playing before shoving all in. Simunic called.
giving Simunic a double for his 213,500 chips.
board to end Ruivo's run. Demirdjian soared to 790,000 after the hand.
and Brian Altman had looked him up with the 
. The board came 
flop and Chaieb called.
turn gave Chaieb a straight draw, but the 
and the river the 
flop immediately crushed all hopes. "Give me that sweet four," Salter added but was left drawing dead on the 
, the second double elimination took place and Mateos suddenly jumped up to an average stack.
and one of the six former EPT champions still in the field was eliminated.
for a straight and lost a massive chunk of his stack.
flop and was called, the 
turn was checked. On the 
river were of no help for Petrangelo.