[user38449]
Poker Stars Pros Joe Hachem and Chad Brown
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!
[user67765]
Early Table of Death?
Following a spectacular lights and music display to commence the day's play, the featured PokerStars.com professionals made their way from the main stage and took their seats. In an interesting twist, Chad Brown and Daniel Negreanu found themselves heading to the same table, which is certain to produce plenty of highlights today!
[user67765]
Already spotted in today's field are the likes of Joe Hachem, Lee Nelson, Chad Brown, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Vanessa Rousso, Vicky Coren, Thor Hansen, Max Pescatori, Boris Becker, Mike McDonald, Dario Minieri, Victor Ramdin and defending EPT Monte Carlo Champion Gavin Griffin!
[user25067]
Also playing today are Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Johan Storakers, Nick Schulman, Mickey Wernick, Alex Kravchenko, Ed de Haas, Danny Ryan, Dario Alioto, Juha Helppi, Ram Vaswani, William Thorson, Mark Goodwin, EPT Copenhagen champion Tim Vance, and 2008 Aussie Millions Champion Alexander Kostritsyn.
[user25067]
Boris Wears Short Shorts
Making his EPT debut today is newly minted Team Poker Stars member and six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker, who already has a flock of railbirds larger than the Daniel Negreanu/Chad Brown table. We'll see if he takes to the felt as well as he did to the court.
[user38449]
A large contingent of successful online pros have come out to play this afternoon, led by Canadian Michael "Timex" McDonald, who in just a few short months has already made a name for himself on the live tournament circuit.
Joining McDonald in the field are fellow whiz kids Josh "JJProdigy" Field, Jeff "ActionJeff" Garza, Chad "lilholdem954" Batista and Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron. Also of note, Team PokerStars pros Dario Minieri and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier both made names for themselves online, before storming into the live arena.
[user25067]
It's a murderer's row of young guns in the back corner of the Salle des Etoiles. Online whiz and EPT Copenhagen final tabler Danny "THE__D__RY" Ryan has to contend with WPT Foxwoods Champion Nick Schulman, as well as Alex Kravchenko, the fiercely aggressive young Russian who took home a WSOP bracelet last summer and finished 4th in the 2007 Main Event. Across from them, Team Poker Stars' Vanessa Rousso stares down the dome-headed Jeff "ActionJeff" Garza while Antonio Esfandiari faces off with Sweden's William Thorson, fresh off his 6th place finish at the EPT San Remo only a week ago.
[user25067]
Chad "lilholdem954" Batista looks every inch the online player, decked out in the requisite hoodie, sunglasses, and Bose headphones as he sits ensconced in the nine-seat, across from Joe Hachem. The two just tangled in their first pot together, Batista putting in a pre-flop re-raise of Hachem's open, and the Aussie making the smooth call. The flop was . Batista checked, Hachem bet 700, and Batisita called. The turn was the . Batista checked again, and after a short think, Hachem fired out another 2,000, sending Batista into the tank. After much chip riffling, Batista mucked, and Hachem took down an early pot.
![[user38449]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Batista checked, Hachem bet 700, and Batisita called. The turn was the 
. Batista checked again, and after a short think, Hachem fired out another 2,000, sending Batista into the tank. After much chip riffling, Batista mucked, and Hachem took down an early pot.