Welcome to Day 1b of the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® €5,300 Main Event. The first ever PokerStars Championship on European soil is on familiar ground, as the former EPT Grand Final has morphed into its new incarnation. The prestigious tournament in the gorgeous Principality of Monaco never fails to attract the best and brightest from around the world and this year is no different.
Yesterday, Day 1a drew 235 players and 107 of them survived. Jeff Hakim had a monster day and bagged over ten times his starting stack - 305,300 - after just eight levels of play. Germany's Stefan Schillhabel (203,000) and Manig Loeser (195,700) rounded out the top three. Notables like Ole Schemion (144,900), Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin (125,500) and Fabrice Soulier (105,100) also bagged big on Day 1a.
Day 1b will attract even more hopefuls vying to follow in Jan Bendik's footsteps. The Slovakian topped a 1,098 strong field last year and banked a staggering €961,800. He's expected to take his seat today and start his title defense. Besides the Main Event, the €50,000 Single-Day High Roller will kick off as well, which will feature €100,000 Super High Roller winner Bryn Kenney, David Peters, Steve O'Dwyer and the aforementioned Schemion, among a slew of other notables.
Day 1b will commence at noon local time and eight levels of 75 minutes will be played. There will be 20-minute breaks after every two levels, plus a 75-minute dinner break after Level 6. Players will start with stacks of 30,000 and blinds at 50/100. The tournament is in a freezeout format; players are on one bullet only. Follow PokerNews throughout the week as we crown the first ever PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Main Event champion!
A player on the button bet 2,375 on a board of , and PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier sprang to life with a check-raise to 6,625. His opponent thought about a minute and called, and ElkY turned over for aces full to take the pot.
Monaco resident Patrik Antonius may not have been active much at the poker tables in recent times, it doesn't mean the Finnish superstar rode off into the sunset to leave it all behind. PokerNews interviewed Antonius earlier this week to catch up with the Fin and talk about his plans to bring poker to Monaco.
Not long after Antonius sat down, he was put to the test by Viliyan Petleshkov. The Bulgarian had opened from the button and Antonius had defended his big blind. On a flop, Antonius checked, Petleshkov bet 1,200, Antonius check-raised to 5,200 and Petleshkov called.
The turn brought the and Antonius bet 7,200, which Petleshkov smooth-called in position. On the river, Antonius checked and Petleshkov went all in. It was effectively 12,000 to call for Antonius, who slid his stack in after a minute of thought.
Petleshkov tabled for a busted flush draw and Antonius showed for a busted flush draw as well, accompanied by a pair of fives. Sharp call by the Fin, who netted a quick double-up.
Patrik Antonius is pushing for the chip lead after winning a huge pot.
We picked up action after what appeared to be an early open and two calls, followed by a big blind three-bet to 3,600. Everyone called, and it went four ways to . Action checked to the opener, who bet 8,000. Antonius called, the small blind called, and the big blind pushed all in for about 33,000. The opener mucked, and Antonius reshoved, forcing a fold from the third player.
Antonius:
Big blind:
Antonius had flopped two pair but had a bunch of cards to dodge when the turn gave his opponent a straight draw. The river brought a safe for Antonius.
Remember, PokerStars and the World Poker Tour are teaming up to bring you the "MonteDam Swing," a joint promotion with four tournaments, two from each company, that will allow players to accumulate points for a leaderboard. At the conclusion of the four tournaments, players who score enough to place in the top five will earn special prizes:
Extra Prizes
Here are the four qualifying events:
Date
Event
April 26-30
€1,100 buy-in PokerStars National Championship Monte Carlo
April 29-May 5
€5,300 buy-in PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Main Event
May 5-8
€1,500 buy-in WPTDeepStacks Amsterdam
May 9-13
€3,300 buy-in WPT Amsterdam Main Event
The top five finishers will earn the following prizes:
Place
Prize
Worth
1
PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event package
€7,500
2
WPT Main Event* package
€6,000
3
WPTDeepStacks* package
€3,000
4
PokerStars National Championship Barcelona Buy-in + Barcelona hotel voucher
€1,100 + €500
5
WPTDeepStacks* Buy-in
€1,500
*WPT and WPTDeepStacks prizes only apply to events in Europe
To be eligible, players must cash at least once in each city. Players get five points for each event they play in and then 10 more points for each cash. Making the final 18 places earns still more points.
Additionally, those who play at least one event in each city receive a ticket for a $30,000 freeroll on PokerStars. Participation in both Main Events earns $300 in PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker buy-ins. Plus, anyone who cashes in the National Championship, PokerStars Championship Main Event, or WPTDS Amsterdam and then also cashes in the WPT Amsterdam Main Event wins a €1,000 bonus.
With the conclusion of the first eligible event, the WPT has released a leaderboard for the MonteDam Swing. You can view the full list here, but here's a look at the current top point scorers:
We found Mikita Badziakouski contemplating whether to call off his last 10,200. There was only a bit more than that in the pot, and all of the cards were out: .
"Why not check?" he said with a smile. "Why bluff me?"
Eventually his opponent, Makram Saber, called a clock.
"My last minute in the tournament," Badziakouski said. "Good luck guys."
As the final 10 second countdown began, Badziakouski held his chips over the pot then brought them back. Under five seconds left, and he decided to call.
Saber showed for the nuts. Badziakouski vacated his cards, and the dealer turned over .
One of the most accomplished players in the field today is Maria Konnikova. Maybe not at the poker tables, but with a Harvard degree, a PhD in Psychology from Columbia University and a New York Times bestseller book, the Russian-American writer has been doing pretty well for herself. Her latest work will feature Erik Seidel and will be about her year long immersion in the world of high stakes poker.
One of those high stakes chapters played out today, as Konnikova put her skills to the test in the €5,300 PokerStars Championship Event. Her run came to a close in the last level of the day. Holding ace-nine, Konnikova got it all in preflop against pocket queens and got eliminated after the board ran out .
Alors que les inscriptions sont encore ouvertes jusqu'à l'entame du Jour 2 qui débutera lundi 1er mai à midi, l'affluence provisoire du premier Main Event PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® grimpe à 716 entrants, en baisse par rapport aux 1098 joueurs de l'ultime EPT Grand Final disputé en mai 2016 ici même.
481 joueurs ont participé à la seconde journée de départ qui s'est étirée sur 8 niveaux de 75 minutes, dimanche. Le tableau de bord du tournoi indiquait 242 survivants au moment d'emballer les jetons. Installé à Vienne en Autriche, l'Italien Gianluca Speranza (photo ci dessous) est l'unique joueur à avoir franchi la barre des 200.000 jetons lors du Jour 1B, Jeff Hakim sera donc le chipleader à l'entame du Jour 2.
Ils s'ajoutent aux 107 rescapés du Jour 1A pour former un contingent provisoire de 349 joueurs. Quelques ballas ayant participé au Single Day High Roller à 50.000€ l'entrée s'inscriront probablement à l'ultime seconde pour participer à la fête.
Position
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Gianluca Speranza
Italy
201,500
2
Michael Kolkowicz
France
197,300
3
Makram Saber
Lebanon
192,000
4
Xavier Rouayroux
France
192,000
5
David Urban
Slovakia
188,700
6
Raffaele Sorrentino
Italy
175,200
7
Remi Castaignon
France
160,000
8
Christopher Frank
Germany
152,000
9
Vasyl Zabrodskyy
Ukraine
146,400
10
Aleksei Istomin
Russia
144,600
Le Jour 1B a été fatal à Maria Konnikova, Ivan Luca, Kenny Hallaert, Felipe Ramos, Denis Timofeev, Ludovic Geilich, Antoine Saout, Nacho Barbero, Sarah Herzali, Omar Lakhdari, Ami Barer, Lucien Cohen, Guillaume Darcourt, Ka Kwan Lau, Ryan Riess, Paul Newey, Eric Sfez, Arnaud Peyroles, Georgios Zisimopoulos, Anthony Zinno, Michel Abecassis, Ricardo Manquant ou encore Ismael Bojang.
Derrière le chipleader transalpin qui a presque multiplié son tapis de départ par sept, ça passe largement aussi pour les Français Michael Kolkowicz (197 300 jetons) et Xavier Rouayroux (192 000). Si le premier n'a pas de référence Hendon Mob, le deuxième possède deux min-cashs pour moins de 3000$ de gains et surtout il vient de Grenoble, le camp de base de Flavien Guenan et Pierre Calamusa, tout en étant un bon pote de Guillaume Diaz.
Vainqueur de l'EPT Deauville, le tricolore Rémi Castaignon (160 000) est lui aussi dans le bon wagon, tout comme Sebastian Malec (140 000), légendaire vainqueur de l'EPT Barcelona. Le Libanais Makram Saber ( 192 000), Christophe Frank (152 000), Liv Boeree (127 000) et le tombeur de Romain Lewis, Andreas Klatt (118 000) ont connu aussi une belle journée, tout comme le local de l'étape, et revenant finlandais, Patrik Antonius (102 000) et l'Anglais expatrié à Hong Kong, Tom Hall (102 000).
Le Team Pro WinamaxDavidi Kitai n'est pas en reste avec 110 000 alors que la partie reprendra sur 500-1000 (100). Le Belge est accompagné par ses coéquipiers Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes (73 2000) et Alexandre Luneau (69 400).
Avant l'entame du Jour 2, ce sont 110 tricolores qui ont participé au tournoi. 12 des 25 Français avaient franchi le Jour 1A, emmenés par Fabrice Soulier , ils sont 46 à avoir validé un ticket lors du Jour 1B. Au moins 58 joueurs de l'hexagone seront donc au départ du Jour 2. [Removed:43] (115 000), Paul Testud (103 000), Jullian Feriolo (99 000), Jean Koja (90 000) se sont particulièrement bien débrouillés tandis que Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (51 000) n'a pas démérité non plus.