Gabriel Shohet Bags the Chip Lead on Day 1 of the €3,000 EPT Mystery Bounty
On a shortened opening day in the €3,000 EPT Mystery Bounty at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris, there was no shortage of action nor any shortage of players throughout 10 levels of poker. There were over 700 entries recorded on Day 1 with just 329 players advancing to Day 2.
There will be more to come before the action resumes tomorrow with late registration staying open until 12:30 p.m. local time. Take note, that the cards will not go in the air until 1 p.m. and the bounty portion of the tournament will then commence.
A surprise chip leader emerged after 10 levels today with Gabriel Shohet accumulating 266,000 chips. Shohet, the owner of Black Sheep Coffee in multiple cities across Europe, has landed himself in the poker spotlight at EPT Paris. The business owner and recreational poker player landed himself 12 knockouts on the opening day but those will not become important until Day 2 begins. Shohet has also been refining his poker skill thanks to his mentor and 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson's training course 'Prepare Perform'.
Shohet was not afraid to put his chips to work throughout the day, sending them into the middle on multiple occasions and most of the time forcing his opponents to fold. However, when the cards were face up, Shohet got the best of his opponents including the very last hand of the night. As all of the other tables were bagging their chips, Shohet raise-called off a shove of around 15 big blinds with ace-jack but found himself up against ace-king. However, an ace and a jack on the flop gave Shohet the best hand and solidified his position at the top of the leaderboard.
Top 10 Chip Counts on Day 1 of the EPT Mystery Bounty
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Shohet | United Kingdom | 265,500 |
| 2 | [Removed:449] | Switzerland | 222,500 |
| 3 | Jonas Hagstrom | Sweden | 210,500 |
| 4 | Daniel Heredi | Hungary | 195,000 |
| 5 | Julian Salvesen | Norway | 192,500 |
| 6 | Lex Veldhuis | Netherlands | 192,500 |
| 7 | Ian Bradley | United Kingdom | 182,000 |
| 8 | Oleksii Koiev | Ukraine | 177,500 |
| 9 | Roelof Pepping | Netherlands | 176,000 |
| 10 | Walter Ripper | Brazil | 176,000 |
Some of the other notable big stacks advancing to Day 2 include none other than PokerStars ambassador Lex Veldhuis who finished the day with 192,500 chips. Veldhuis was forced to use his second bullet but made no mistake running up one of the larger stacks in the field. He will be joined by Nick Marchington (136,000), Sonny Franco (127,500), Jack Corrigan (115,500), and Byron Kaverman (106,000) who have all put themselves in a great position to collect some bounties tomorrow.
There were also multiple players who failed to advance to the bounty portion of the tournament including Jacobson who fired both of his shots today. Mauricio Salazar Sanchez, Jamil Wakil, Will Kassouf, Jonathan Jaffe, and Thomas Muehloecker all exited the tournament throughout the day.
As mentioned earlier, the cards will go back in the air at 1 p.m. local time with the blinds resuming on level 11 at 1,000/1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante. For those players looking to still register, a starting stack will be worth 30,000 chips, good enough for 20 big blinds. The levels will continue to be 40 minutes in length with a 15-minute break after every three levels.
The bounties will start being accumulated from the start but the prizes will not be able to be drawn until the first break of the day. Just like other EPT Mystery Bounty events, the top prize for this event will likely be €100,000 but that is still to be determined based on the prize pool.
Make sure to stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will have all that information and more along with more live updates when Day 2 gets underway.