Mike McDonald opened for 3,500 from the cutoff and Phil Ivey in the big blind made the call. Ivey continued to check-call a 6,000 bet on , and 13,000 on the -turn. The river came the and both players checked. As it's not the last agressor, but the player nearest to the button who has to show first when the river is checked through here in Monaco, it was upon Ivey to show his cards. He reluctantly said he had a five, but mucked both his cards without showing after McDonald tabled .
The next hand we saw Martin Finger open the cutoff for 3,000. Ivey made the call from the small blind and Philipp Gruissem in the big blind called as well. Ivey lead out for 6,000 on and Gruissem instantly folded. Finger made the call in position and saw Ivey check to him on the -turn. Finger bet out 17,000 and Ivey quickly released.
With around 80,000 in the pot and a board reading , Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel bet 33,000 from the big blind and received a call from Fabian Quoss on the button. Action then went check-check on the river and Duhamel tabled the for top pair.
Unfortunately for him, it was no good as his kicker was inferior to the of Quoss.
On the previous hand Antonio Esfandiari had bet 5,100 on a flop of and both Isaac Haxton and Ole Schemion had laid it down to him. Esfandiari’s confidence was high and it looked like Haxton was out for revenge, but it didn’t quite work out like that on the next hand.
Esfandiari raised under-the-gun for 2,500 and Haxton made it 8,000 from the button. Steve O’Dwyer had other ideas though and four-bet from the big blind to 25,000. A five-bet to 50,000 from Esfandiari saw Haxton get out of the way but O’Dwyer put in the extra red T25000 chip after some thought.
They went heads-up to a flop of . O’Dwyer checked and then called a bet of 31,500 from Esfandiari. The turn was the and it was checked around. The river card came the .
Both players took their time before checking it down and when O’Dwyer turned over Esfandiari nodded and mucked his cards.
Phil Ivey had called a raise from one of the Macau players and they saw a heads up flop of .
Checked to Ivey, he took a T5000 chip and nonchalantly flicked it on the felt in front of him. His opponent didn’t look like he was a believer but folded his cards.
“Come on. You know I have it.” Ivey said and turned over one of his cards, the . “Quads?” his opponent asked. Ivey just smiled.
PokerStars was kind enough to share an update on the French Poker Series (FPS) Main Event Day 1a field, which took place on Wednesday. We thought we'd share that with you:
PCA finalist Yann Dion is leading FPS Monaco, the debut event of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final, at the end of Day 1a. There were 247 entries for the start of the €500,000 guaranteed, €1,100-buy-in event, with just under half the field - 111 players - safely through to Day 2.
Dion, an EPT regular who finished seventh at the 2013 PCA for $230,000, has 206,300. EPT9 Player of the Year Jan Bendik also finished in the top ten yesterday with 112,700. Other EPT regulars who will be back for Day 2 include UKIPT London winner Sergio Aido, Niall Farrell – who just won the FTOPS Main Event for $236,232, Zachary Korik, who won last season’s EPT Grand Final €5k event, Benjamin Yu (who has three final tables in WSOP events), PCA finalist Shyam Srinivasan, Eureka Prague finalist Bryan Paris, EPTLive commentator Steven Moreau, Josh Prager (who was fifth at the 2007 EPT Grand Final) and Estrellas Barcelona champion Lorenzo Sabato. PokerStars Team Online’s Mickey Petersen and Gabriel Nassif are also through, along with PokerStars.fr-sponsored Jean Antoine Marlin and Julien Sichez plus Maison du Bluff winner Matthieu Renoud.
Day 1b kicks off at noon today with more than 100 players already registered including Arnaud Mattern, PokerStars TV Stars’ Celine Bastian, UKIPT Marbella champion (& EPT London finalist) Ludovic Geilich – who just won the PokerStars Super Tuesday and PokerStars Team Online’s Ronan Monfort.
A total of 179 players won their seats for FPS Monaco online. The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final Main Event is taking place in the stunning Salles des Etoiles room at Le Sporting. As well as FPS Monaco, the festival includes the €100k Super High Roller which starts today, the €10,600 Main Event which starts on Sunday, a €2k Open Face Chinese event, a €1k Womens Event and €25k High Roller as well as the Cash Game Festival featuring games of all kinds and running every day from noon until 6 a.m. in the adjacent Salles des Palmiers.
According to PokerStars, the One Million Euro Cash Game, the biggest buy-in cash game ever to take place during an official poker tour, will be broadcast tonight on EPTLive from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Last season, the live stream made for gripping viewing, with Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier joining EPTLive presenters for an amazing final hour. Among those who have already expressed an interest in taking part in this season's game are PokerStars Team Online’s Isaac Haxton (a big winner last year), Paul Newey, Daniel Alaei, Alec Torelli, Andrew Robl and Christoph Vogelsang.
We'd missed the start of the preflop action but had seen Talal Shakerchi (button) make what looked to be a three-bet to 14,000 over the top of Igor Kurganov (cutoff). The latter replied with a four-bet to 25,500 and Shakerchi made the call to see an flop.
Kurganov fired 18,000 and Shakerchi made the call. The turn was the - this time Kurganov bet 31,000 and Shakerchi folded almost instantly.
Having told Isaac Haxton that he hadn’t slept too well, Mike Watson immediately got involved in a hand three-betting to 12,200 an open from Talal Shakerchi and a call from Daniel Colman.
The flop was and it checked to Shakerchi who bet 18,500. That did the job and Shakerchi took the pot.
A bunch of players from Macau just sat down. Antonio Esfandiari was on his way with a tournament receipt in his hand, and so was Phil Ivey who we almost ran into on our way back to the media room.
The WPT World Championship is underway at Borgata, and Rich is on hand to talk with Jared Jaffee, a Season XII WPT Champion. Rich and Donnie also discuss Vicky Coren Mitchell's historic win at EPT Sanremo, making her the first ever two-time European Poker Tour champion. Don't forget to tune in for the DraftKings Fantasy Minute, where the crew offers information on an exclusive bonus code.
, and 13,000 on the 
-turn. The river came the 
and both players checked. As it's not the last agressor, but the player nearest to the button who has to show first when the river is checked through here in Monaco, it was upon Ivey to show his cards. He reluctantly said he had a five, but mucked both his cards without showing after McDonald tabled 
.
and Gruissem instantly folded. Finger made the call in position and saw Ivey check to him on the 
-turn. Finger bet out 17,000 and Ivey quickly released.
, Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel bet 33,000 from the big blind and received a call from Fabian Quoss on the button. Action then went check-check on the 
river and Duhamel tabled the 
for top pair.
of Quoss.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and both Isaac Haxton and Ole Schemion had laid it down to him. Esfandiari’s confidence was high and it looked like Haxton was out for revenge, but it didn’t quite work out like that on the next hand.
. O’Dwyer checked and then called a bet of 31,500 from Esfandiari. The turn was the 
.
flop.
and it checked to Shakerchi who bet 18,500. That did the job and Shakerchi took the pot.
