Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo has come to an end. 351 players took the felt today all with the hopes of making it through to Day 2 and beyond. Just less than 180 players remain in the field and will combine with the remaining players from tomorrow's field for Day 2. It looks as though the chip leader from today will be Chris Bjorin with 171,100, but we'll have to wait for the official numbers to come in to be certain.
Plenty of notables began the day, but not all of them survived. Those who have made their way into the second day are Chris Moneymaker, Neil Channing, Men Nguyen, Dave "Doc Sands" Sands, Greg Raymer, and Owen Crowe, just to name a few.
Those who failed to make Day 2 are Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, "Miami" John Cernuto, Barry Greenstein, Phil Laak, and Gavin Griffin.
Around 500 players are expected to make their way into the Salle Des Etoiles at Le Sporting Club for Day 1b and we'll be here covering all the action from the felt at 12 p.m. local time. See you then!
Randy "Nanonoko" Lew raised preflop to 2,500 from late position but the small blind reraised all-in. Lew had about 15,000 back and made a semi-reluctant call for his tournament life with flipping against his opponent's .
The board brought a death sentence for Lew at the end of the day, coming . He departed right as the tables were counting stacks and bagging the chips in preparation for Tuesday.
The clock has been paused with about 10 minutes showing on the clock, and each table will play four more hands before bagging and tagging for the overnight soak.
A player in early position (Player A) opened the pot to 2,500. Next door, Player B made the call, and Neil Channing came along from the hijack seat as well. In the cutoff seat, Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero moved all in for a total of 22,800. Players A and B both made the calls, while Channing ducked out to let the big boys go at it.
The flop came down , and there was a sidepot brewing between the two live players. Player A led out with a bet of 12,200 on the flop, and Player B came right along with the call. On the turn, the drew a check from Player A this time. Player B took the opportunity to fire 27,000 at the pot, and Player A went deep into the tank. It was about five or seven minutes before moving all in for less than 40,000 total. Player A called the remainder quickly and it was time to see the cards.
"Show me ace-king with a club! Don't show me the two queens," Player A pleaded. Player B promptly tabled , and Player A sheepishly tabled his , drawing dead. Nacho Barbero was all in with , and he too was drawing dead. The river was a meaningless , and Player A stacked the pot worth about 135,000 chips, sending Barbero and the other player to the rail in the process.
Ben Roberts who briefly was sharing a table with his son Jamie, has just been knocked out after his short stack was all-in with but got unstuck against .
PokerNews blogger: "Hello Mr. Flood."
Irish poker legend Liam Flood, having approached our desk: "Liam, please."
PokerNews blogger: "Hello Liam. What's up?"
Flood: "I'm at 75k."
PokerNews blogger: "Oh wow. How did that happen?"
Flood: "I just played."