€1,100 French National Championship Day 1a | 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT

04-26-2019 17:25 UTC+1

Martini Busts Pellegrino; Rises to the Top

Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

With around 30,000 in the middle and the board showing , big stack Julien Martini made it 11,000 to go. Isabelle Pellegrino moved all in for 35,600 and Martini mulled over his decision for some time before making the call and revealing .

Pellegrino nodded and briefly flashed for a missed gutshot and open-ender before heading to the rail.

Martini already had a massive stack, which grew even bigger to put the WSOP bracelet winner from France near the top of the leaderboard.

Player	Chips	Progress
Julien Martini	245,000 245,000	245,000
Isabelle Pellegrino	Busted

Tags: Isabelle Pellegrino Julien Martini

04-26-2019 17:29 UTC+1

Bicknell Busts One

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Kristen Bicknell used her big stack to three-bet shove for effectively 32,000 and her opponent made the call with . Bicknell turned over and indeed got there via runner-runner flush on a board of to score yet another knockout.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kristen Bicknell	205,000 35,000	35,000

Tags: Kristen Bicknell

04-26-2019 17:32 UTC+1

Balogh Among Big Stacks

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Karim Rebei recalled a hand in which he flopped top two pair with ace-eight only for Tamas Balogh to call his barrels with ace-trey and get there via runner-runner straight. Rebei lost plenty o0f his chips and also doubled Joey Weissman for a couple of big blinds after.

Further counts and bustouts can be found below.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ming Xi	145,000 145,000	145,000
Tamas Balogh	140,000 140,000	140,000
Jeremy Palvini	58,000 31,000	31,000
Aylar Lie	46,000 1,000	1,000
Karim Rebei	40,000 60,000	60,000
Joey Weissman	20,000 23,000	23,000

Alexandra Janikova	Busted
Aladin Reskallah	Busted
Mario Melis	Busted
Sebastien Grax	Busted
Viliyan Petleshkov	Busted
George Wolff	Busted

Alexandre Fradin	Busted
[Removed:533]	Busted

Tags: Joey Weissman Karim Rebei Tamas Balogh

04-26-2019 17:37 UTC+1

Sperling Eliminated by Celestino

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

A few minutes before the dinner break, Fabio Sperling ended up all in and at risk for around 19,000. Ariel Celestino looked him up, which forced Andrea Virzi out of the pot.

Fabio Sperling:
Ariel Celestino:

The board came [Kh10hb6c8s10d] and Sperling failed to get there.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ariel Celestino	72,000 13,000	13,000
Fabio Sperling	Busted
Gregory Armand	Busted
David Lehnen	Busted
Alexandre Moreau	Busted

Tags: Ariel Celestino Fabio Sperling

04-26-2019 17:40 UTC+1

Dinner Break on Day 1a

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

There are 173 players remaining out of 353 entries on Day 1a and they have been sent into a 75-minute dinner break. Action will resume at approximately 7.55 p.m. local time.

Level: 10

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 1,200

04-26-2019 19:00 UTC+1

Day 1a Will Play to 53 Players

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

With a field of 353 entries, the goal for the day is to reach the final 15% and ensure a portion of the prize pool when all survivors combine for Day 2. For Day 1a, the magic number will be the final 53 players and 173 hopefuls have returned from dinner to retake their seats in the pursuit of that.

04-26-2019 19:05 UTC+1

Assorted Post Dinner Counts

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Julien Martini	260,000 15,000	15,000
Surendra Naidoo	195,000 195,000	195,000
Mario Mosböck	130,000 20,000	20,000
Maya Geller	120,000 90,000	90,000
Jacquelyn Scott	110,000 70,000	70,000
James Romero	105,000 60,000	60,000
Ami Barer	90,000 16,800	16,800
Andrea Virzi	60,000 60,000	60,000
Malek Grabsi	50,000 20,000	20,000
Celina Lin	50,000 23,000	23,000
Jeremy Palvini	42,000 16,000	16,000
Darie Vlad	29,000 16,000	16,000

04-26-2019 19:13 UTC+1

Jalba Doubles Castelluccio; Busts

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Sergio Castelluccio ended up all in and at risk before the flop with and Eusebiu Jalba took the flip for two third of his stack with . The board came and Jalba was left with 12,000, which he lost shortly after.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sergio Castelluccio	45,000 20,000	20,000
Eusebiu Jalba	Busted

Tags: Sergio Castelluccio Eusebiu Jalba

04-26-2019 19:24 UTC+1

Lilmand Jams Up Stack; Geller Loses Some

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Three-ways to the turn, Gaelle Baumann checked out of the big blind and Erwann Pecheux bet 22,000 for around the size of the pot. Thomas Lilmand moved all in from the button after some consideration and that forced out both opponents.

Maya Geller was also taking on a Frenchman in Giuseppe Zarbo, who defended out of the big blind and check-raised a flop from 4,000 to 11,500. Geller called and folded the turn when facing a bet of 15,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Thomas Lilamand	110,000 110,000	110,000
Erwann Pecheux	60,000 15,000	15,000
Gaelle Baumann	24,000 4,000	4,000

Tags: Erwann Pecheux Gaelle Baumann Giuseppe Zarbo Maya Geller Thomas Lilmand