2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT

€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
q8
Prize
€827,700
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€4,471,700
Entries
922
Level Info
Level
36
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000

Next Batch of Notables in Contention on Day 1a

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Dutchman and Monaco resident Govert Metaal has entered Day 1a along with Andrey Andreev, Francisco Benitez, Martins Adeniya, Ran Azor, Felix Bleiker, and Ekrem Sanioglu.

Also in the field is Frenchman Theodore McQuilkin, who won a WSOP Europe bracelet at the King's Casino.

Player Chips Progress
Balazs Biri hu
Balazs Biri
30,000 30,000
Govert Metaal nl
Govert Metaal
30,000 30,000
Victor Ilyukhin gb
Victor Ilyukhin
30,000 30,000
Francisco Benitez uy
Francisco Benitez
30,000 30,000
Martins Adeniya gb
Martins Adeniya
30,000 30,000
Theodore McQuilkin fr
Theodore McQuilkin
30,000 30,000
Oswin Ziegelbecker at
Oswin Ziegelbecker
30,000 30,000
Ran Azor il
Ran Azor
30,000 30,000
Georgios Kitsios gr
Georgios Kitsios
30,000 30,000
Felix Bleiker ch
Felix Bleiker
30,000 30,000
Ekrem Sanioglu fr
Ekrem Sanioglu
30,000 30,000

Tags: Andrey AndreevEkrem SaniogluFelix BleikerFrancisco BenitezGovert MetaalMartins AdeniyaRan AzorTheodore McQuilkin

Seat Open After 15 Minutes

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante
Zorlu Er
Zorlu Er

In the corner of the Salle des Etoiles, on table 10 to be exact, Zorlu Er can be found and he took a small hit to his stack early on. Er had raised from under the gun and Cyril Nguyen called in the big blind, check-called a bet on the {a-Clubs}{k-Clubs}{2-Diamonds} flop. On the {9-Spades} turn, Nguyen bet 700 and Er called before the {j-Spades} river was checked.

Nguyen tabled {a-Spades}{2-Spades} for top and bottom pair, which won the pot.

Just a few minutes later, the dealer announced a seat open and sure enough it was on table 10. It was not Er that busted, instead, he had knocked out [Removed:150] to bump his stack up to two times he started with!

According to Er, he had pocket aces and Iadisernia {a-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds}. With check-raise on a jack-high flop and a jam on a {q-} turn, Er created fireworks and he was called by Iadisernia with a gutshot and nut flush draw that bricked.

Player Chips Progress
Zorlu Er tr
Zorlu Er
58,000 28,000
Cyril Nguyen fr
Cyril Nguyen
32,000 32,000
[Removed:150] ve
[Removed:150]
Busted

Tags: Cyril NguyenZorlu Er

Tregoubov With a Full House

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Jonathan Bussieres and Igor Tregoubov were deep in the €1,100 French National Championship and now share the same table on Day 1a of the Main Event. Both were involved in an early pot that also included Raffaello Locatelli and the trio checked the {q-Clubs}{q-Spades}{9-Hearts} flop. On the {j-Hearts} turn, action checked to Tregoubov and he bet 400, which resulted in a call from Locatelli and a fold from Bussieres.

On the {9-Spades} river, Locatelli check-called a bet of 800 and mucked when he was shown the {q-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds} for a full house by Tregoubov.

Player Chips Progress
Igor Tregoubov ca
Igor Tregoubov
32,000 2,000
Jonathan Bussieres ca
Jonathan Bussieres
29,500 -500
Raffaello Locatelli it
Raffaello Locatelli
28,500 28,500

Tags: Igor TregoubovJonathan BussieresRaffaello Locatelli

Soltanov Off the Mark

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Two players were in on the turn with a board of {8-Diamonds}{8-Spades}{6-Diamonds}{5-Hearts} on display.

Mikhail Soltanov was the first to act and bet 2,600 into a 7,300 pot. Michael O’Grady thought for a few moments then made the call.

On the {5-Spades} turn, Soltanov barreled 5,100 and it was a quick fold from O'Grady and his opponent scooped the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Mikhail Soltanov ru
Mikhail Soltanov
33,000 3,000
Michael O'Grady au
Michael O'Grady
27,000 -3,000

Tags: Michael O’GradyMikhail Soltanov

First List of Notables on Day 1a

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Among those to enter right away were two-time WSOP Main Event finalist Antoine Saout, EPT Barcelona finalist Zorlu Er, Tomas Jozonis, Markus Durnegger, and Michael O'Grady, among others. The clock shows almost 100 entries and that number is expected to grow by quite some margin in the hours to come.

Player Chips Progress
Mikhail Soltanov ru
Mikhail Soltanov
30,000 30,000
Michael O'Grady au
Michael O'Grady
30,000 30,000
Igor Tregoubov ca
Igor Tregoubov
30,000 30,000
Antoine Saout fr
Antoine Saout
30,000 30,000
Yake Wu cn
Yake Wu
30,000 30,000
David Lehnen de
David Lehnen
30,000 30,000
Tomas Jozonis lt
Tomas Jozonis
30,000 30,000
Grzegorz Derkowski pl
Grzegorz Derkowski
30,000 30,000
Zorlu Er tr
Zorlu Er
30,000 30,000
Jonathan Bussieres ca
Jonathan Bussieres
30,000 30,000
Antti Tiainen fi
Antti Tiainen
30,000 30,000
Markus Durnegger at
Markus Durnegger
30,000 30,000

Tags: Antoine SaoutMarkus DurneggerMichael O'GradyTomas JozonisZorlu Er

Level: 1

Blinds: 100/100

Ante: 0

Welcome to Day 1a of the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino €5,300 EPT Main Event

Tournament Room at Monte-Carlo Sporting
Tournament Room at Monte-Carlo Sporting

At 12 p.m. local time, the flagship event of the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour (EPT) festival kicks off at the Monte-Carlo Sporting and the Salle des Etoiles will feature poker enthusiasts from near and far in their pursuit to become the latest EPT Main Event champion.

Since 2005, the European Poker Tour has been visiting the home of the rich and famous on the French Riviera and the winner's list features some of the biggest names of the international poker circuit in Jeff Williams, Gavin Griffin, Mohsin Charania, Adrian Mateos, Steve O'Dwyer and Jan Bendik.

One year ago, it was French driving school instructor Nicolas Dumont that won his entry for the €5,300 Main Event by chance and defeated a field of 777 entries to lift the trophy. Dumont defeated New Zealand's Honglin Jiang in heads-up and claimed a top prize of €712,000 for his efforts, becoming the first Frenchman to win the elusive title in the Municipality of Monaco.

History of the EPT in Monte-Carlo at a Glance

YearEntriesPrize PoolWinnerCountryTop Prize (in EUR)
2005211€ 1,983,400Rob HollinkNetherlands€ 635,000
2006298€ 2,801,200Jeff WilliamsUnited States€ 900,000
2007706€ 6,636,400Gavin GriffinUnited States€ 1,825,010
2008842€ 8,420,000Glen ChornyCanada€ 2,020,000
2009935€ 9,350,000Pieter de KorverNetherlands€ 2,300,000
2010848€ 8,480,000Nicolas ChouityLebanon€ 1,700,000
2012665€ 6,650,000Mohsin CharaniaUnited States€ 1,350,000
2013531€ 5,310,000Steve O'DwyerIreland€ 1,224,000
2014650€ 6,500,000Antonio BuonannoItaly€ 1,240,000
2015564€ 5,640,000Adrian MateosSpain€ 1,082,000
20161098€ 5,325,300Jan BendikSlovakia€ 961,800
2017727€ 3,525,950Raffaele SorrentinoItaly€ 466,714
2018777€ 3,768,450Nicolas DumontFrance€ 712,000

The €5,300 Main Event will feature two starting days and players can enter as many times to take a shot at the title. The single re-entry option can be taken advantage of on Day 1a, Day 1b or before the start of Day 2 and the registration officially closes when the cards get back in the air for Day 2 on Wednesday, May 1st, 2019.

Each Day 1 will play a total of 10 levels of 60 minutes each and there will be a break every two levels including a dinner break after the sixth level. The tournament will feature the new popular big blind ante format and a 30-second shot clock will be implemented at the start of Day 3 and until the tournament comes to a conclusion.

Day 1 Level Structure

LevelSmall BlindBig BlindBig Blind Ante
1100100 
2100100100
3100200200
4100300300
5200400400
6200500500
7300600600
8400800800
95001,0001,000
106001,2001,200

The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide continued updates until a champion is crowned with highlight articles provided by the PokerStars Blog team, and the action will also be streamed live with hole cards displayed as of Day 2.

Tags: Adrian MateosGavin GriffinHonglin JiangJan BendikJeff WilliamsMohsin CharaniaNicolas DumontSteve O'Dwyer

€5,300 EPT Main Event

Day 1a Started