There was 17,000 in the middle in a pot between Michael Rodrigues and Adrian Mateos. They had arrived on the turn on K♥Q♦5♦6♠, which they both checked.
The river came the 9♠ and Mateos put out a bet of 10,500. Rodrigues threw in a single T-500 chip for a call and Mateos slammed his K♣K♦ on the table, for top set.
Rodrigues looked dejected as he showed the table his slowplayed A♠A♦. ''Wow!'' exclaimed Yuan Li, also present at the table.
Had Rodrigues chosen to get it all in preflop, he would have been gone from the tournament. Now he was left with 14 big blinds to try and spin up towards the tail end of the day.
Jenya Gavrilovich open-raised to 2,400 from middle position. Alejandro Lococo was seated next to him in the hijack and three-bet to 7,200. Gavrilovich made the call and the A♠3♠Q♣ flop hit the felt.
Lococo made a continuation-bet of the same 7,200 chips on the flop, after a check from Gavrilovich. Gavrilovich called once more, and the 7♦ turn was dealt.
Gavrilovich now decided to take the betting lead by betting a tiny 3,400. Lococo was having none of it and made the raise to 15,000. Agonized, Gavrilovich made the call.
On the 3♥ river Gavrilovich went back to a check, after which Lococo fired 38,000. Gavrilovich went deep into the tank. After four time bank extensions had been spent, he had none left. With 3 seconds remaining, he finally folded his hand before it was declared dead.
Lococo now plays over 300,000 chips and is among the top few stacks in the room.
Ben Heath had open-raised from the cutoff and Jean-Noel Thorel three-bet all in from the button for his last 31,000 chips. Heath made the call and the players flipped their cards over.
Jean-Noel Thorel: A♠Q♠
Ben Heath: 8♦8♥
Thorel did not hit a pair on the 7♣5♣J♠ flop, and the 8♠ turn gave Heath a set. Thorel now had a flush draw, however. Sadly for him, the river was a red 6♥ and Thorel busted his second bullet in the final stretch of Day 1. With only a single reentry available, he will not be returning on Day 2 in any fashion.
It was an action-packed start to the €25,000 EPT High Roller as the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️ starts to wind down. There were a total of 183 entries over the course of the first 10 levels of play and just 95 players bagged up chips to move on to Day 2.
Argentina's Alejandro Lococo bagged one of the biggest stacks with an impressive 361,500, good for 241 big blinds. Close on his heels were Juan Pardo (302,000), and Romain Lewis (251,000) who finished in the top five.
Lococo is no stranger to these types of fields, having won the €1,100 No Limit Hold'em Eureka Main Event at EPT Barcelona for €417,820 just over a year ago, Lococo will look to continue his run good to add to his already $2.3 Million in live tournament earnings.
Lithuania's Marius Kudzmanas bagged the chip lead with a stack of 364,000. Not much is known of Kudzmanas, but his spectacular play on Day 1 showed he will be a force to be reckoned with.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Marius Kudzmanas
Lithuania
364,000
243
2
Alejandro Lococo
Argentina
361,500
241
3
Juan Pardo
Spain
302,000
201
4
Romain Lewis
France
251,000
167
5
Orpen Kisacikoglu
Turkey
239,000
159
6
Ben Heath
United Kingdom
228,500
152
7
Sam Grafton
United Kingdom
223,000
149
8
Felipe Fontoura
Brazil
213,500
142
9
Dominykas Mikolaitis
Lithuania
212,500
142
10
Marton Czuczor
Hungary
206,000
137
Day 1 Action
The action got underway at 12:30 p.m. local time with 41 players in their seats for the 50% registration fee rakeback offered by PokerStars. The number of entries grew consistently throughout the day, despite the single re-entry format.
Last year's event attracted a total of 179 entries and that number has already been surpassed. With late registration and reentries still open until the start of Day 2, that figure will be sure to grow significantly.
Many of the biggest and best names in poker joined the field throughout Day 1 and some who were in the mix but not fortunate enough to find a bag included, WSOP Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson, Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee Maria Ho, and nine-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel to name a few.
Martin Jacobson
Many other big names who ran deep and bagged up a stack for Day 2 include PokerStars AmbassadorSam Grafton (223,000), High Stakes regular Seth Davies (176,000), and Ben Heath (228,500), who eliminated Jean-Noel Thorel on his last bullet in the final level of the day.
Late registration will remain open until the start of Day 2 for those that still wish to play, or for those that still have a re-entry available to them. Day 2 will begin at 12:30 p.m. local time at Monte Carlo Sporting, where another 10 levels will be on the schedule. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates throughout the day.
