Main Event Day 1a | The 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

Main Event

Day 1a Completed

05-07-2013 01:09 UTC+2

All Hail the King: Dan Smith Leads after Day 1a of the EPT Grand Final Main Event

[user101598]

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

On Monday, the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final kicked off with Day 1a of the Main Event. Leading the remaining 53 players is Dan Smith. After "some bluffing and two full houses" after the dinner break, he bagged 136,500 chips, and biting at his heels are Pablo Fernandez, Freddy Deeb, Arlo Dotson, and Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody.

Only 108 players turned up for the first of two flights here in the beautiful city of Monaco, which is 163 players short of last year. In order to reach the same number of players that played in the Season 8 EPT Grand Final, Day 1b will need to attract 557 players.

Among the few participants today was Season 9 EPT Player of the Year leader Jan Bendik. Bendik, who currently holds a near 1,000-point lead over Kent Lundmark (although the EPT Berlin points have yet to been calculated), got off to a nice start and busted both Alex Bilokur and Richard Milne. Bilokur moved all in on the turn with two pair, only to be snapped off by Bendik who held Broadway. The river was a brick, and the Season 8 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller winner was eliminated.

Bendik finished the night with 108,900 chips, and is looking to finish the season out strong and ship the POY award.

Cody finished Day 1a among the leaders. In the penultimate level of the evening, he won a very strange pot off of Swede Daniel Carlsson. After check-calling bets from Cody on the flop and the turn, Carlsson appeared to have check-raised Cody on the river. The bet was less than double Cody's, but enough to make it a raise, yet Carlsson opted to open up his hand, revealing a pair of jacks. Confused, Cody did the same, tabling a pair of aces, and the Brit picked up the pot.

Cody was one of the few players who crossed the six-figure threshold, and will return on Day 2 119,000 chips.

Another player who was in good form on Day 1a was Dotson. Dotson won a crucial hand against Micah Raskin and Marvin Rettenmaier, wherein he and Raskin called a three-bet from Rettenmaier. Both Dotson and Raskin called a bet from Rettenmaier on a four-high flop, and the turn brought an eight. Dotson and Rettenmaier checked to Raskin, who fired out a bet, and both Dotson and Rettenmaier called. A king completed the board, bringing a third spade, and Dotson led out for the first time. Rettenmaier quickly folded, but Raskin called. Dotson tabled queen-jack of spades for the second-nut flush, and Raskin mucked his hand.

Dotson ended the day on 127,100, later finishing off Rettenmaier and Raskin was eliminated as well.

Joining Rettenmaier and Raskin on the rail today were Alex Gomes, Mike McDonald, Kane Kalas, Griffin Benger, Sorel Mizzi, Erik Seidel, Gilbert Diaz, Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker and Team Poker Stars Pros Jonathan Duhamel and Vanessa Rousso.

Rousso was crippled in a very interesting hand. According to Pratyush Buddiga, Ignat Liviu opened to 1,200, Rousso three-bet to 3,200 out of the small blind, and Liviu four-bet to 8,000. Rousso called. Rousso then check-called on every street, including the river where Liviu moved all in for 22,375. Liviu showed two queens for a rivered set of queens, and, to her disappointment, Rousso was forced to show jack-six off suit for fourth pair.

Minutes later, at a new table, Rousso found her self all in with king-deuce of spades on a two-spade flop. She could not best her opponent’s top pair however, and she was eliminated.

Becker was eliminated with unknown action on the last hand of the evening.

Day 1b of the EPT Grand Final Main Event will begin on Tuesday at 12:00 CET. Be sure to follow PokerNews.com for all of the up-to-the-minute updates from the tournament floor, and if you’re playing in the event, don’t be afraid to contribute to the blog using the My Stack app, available for both iPhone and Android users.

Tags: Dan Smith

05-07-2013 01:03 UTC+2

Late Night Photos

Happy_Freaked

05-07-2013 00:58 UTC+2

End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)

MarcC

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Dan Smith	136,500	86,500
Pablo Fernandez	135,900	900
Freddy Deeb	133,900	28,900
Arlo Dotson	127,100	2,100
Jake Cody	119,000	-11,000
El Khazen Youssef	111,700	111,700
Paul Volpe	110,800	35,800
Jan Bendik	108,900	33,900
Dmitrii Grinenko	108,100	13,100
Ignat Liviu	98,800	-11,200
Hendrik Latz	95,400	11,400
Joao Brito	90,700	15,700
Ole Schemion	83,200	30,200
James Mitchell	81,000	29,000
Craig McCorkell	75,400	50,400
Ramin Hajiyev	75,200	10,200
Emil Patel	70,700	10,700
Barry Greenstein	70,000	14,000
Christopher Frank	64,100	9,100
Mike Watson	62,900	20,900
Ramey Shaio	59,700	59,700
Tatiana Barausova	57,700	9,200
Lauri Pesonen	56,500	56,500
Andreas Eiler	55,900	55,900
Senh Ung	55,200	55,200

Read full

05-07-2013 00:38 UTC+2

Artem Litvinov Misses Knockout Blow In PLO Six-Max

MarcC

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

The enthusiastic Artem Litvinov was tonight beaten to his first live trophy as German player Gleb Privalov claims first place in the €5k PLO six-max turbo. Read more at the PokerStars Blog.

05-07-2013 00:36 UTC+2

Greenstein Doubles as Last Three Hands Are Announced

MarcC

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Just as the tournament clock was paused with ten minutes remaining, (so each table could play three last hands) Barry Greenstein was bust raking in a pot to more than double up.

He was up against two players in a three-bet pot and the flop read . The agressor bet 5,600 and was called before the Team PokerStars Pro moved all in for 27,525. The aggressor was the only caller with .

Greenstein opened and got there as the board ran out .

Player	Chips	Progress
Barry Greenstein	56,000	36,000

Tags: Barry Greenstein

05-07-2013 00:28 UTC+2

Three More Hands

Happy_Freaked

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Just three more hands and then Day 1A is in the books. We will provide chip counts of the remaining players shortly.

05-07-2013 00:28 UTC+2

Deeb Up, Pham Struggling

Happy_Freaked

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Thanh Hai Pham probably had a lot higher hopes for his last level of play here on Day 1a. First we witnessed Pham facing a 7,000-chip river bet on a . After taking for a while the Vietnamese player called and mucked when his opponent turned over .

After turning away for second Pham was involved in another hand and this time he was up against Freddy Deeb. The flop read when Pham bet 5,000 and Deeb made the call in position.

On the turn the hit and Pham bet 9,000, Deeb called once again. The river brought the and this time Pham checked. Deeb went into the tank for quite a while but eventually he bet 33,500 with just 12,000 left behind. Pham seemed sure about his decision but it took him a while before he released his chips into the pot. Deeb tabled and Pham mucked after the dealer confirmed that his opponent had made a full house.