PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final Day 1b | 2008 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final - Monte Carlo

Welcome back to the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in beautiful Monte Carlo, Monaco for Day 1b of the 2008 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final. Yesterday, 392 hopefuls took to the felt in what was a star-studded affair featuring such names as WSOP Main Event Champ Greg Raymer, Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad, Tony G, Roland de Wolfe, Noah Boeken and Raymond Rahme. Of those original 392, only 171 made it through to Monday's Day 2, with Norway's Stephen Kjaerstad closing the day atop the leaderboard as the only player with over 100,000 in chips.

We expect a similar sized field this afternoon, with the action set to get underway at 1:00 p.m. local time (GMT +1). Still yet to play are 2005 WSOP Main Event Champ Joe Hachem, Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso and defending champ Gavin Griffin.

We hope you'll join us for our continued coverage of the 2008 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final, live from the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort here in Monaco!

Tags: Joe Hachem