€1,100 French National Championship
Day 1b Completed
2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT
€1,100 French National Championship
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT
Buy-in
€1,100
Prize Pool
€1,382,250
Entries
1,425
Level
36
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Ole Schemion Bursts the Bubble and Tops 102 Survivors on Day 1b
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
The 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour (EPT) is off to a great start for German superstar Ole Schemion, who hasn't been traveling as much on the international poker circuit in the last few years, but still showcases his talents whenever he shows up and takes a seat at the poker tables.
Schemion already finished 7th in the €10,000 Single Re-Entry Event for €33,270 and topped the 679-entry strong field in the second starting day of the €1,100 French National Championship at The Sporting Monte-Carlo.
After a lengthy bubble period in the early morning hours, it was the German who now resides in Vienna that made sure the top 15% and final 102 players were reached. Schemion raised first to act with aces and Balazs Biri jammed in the big blind for more than 25 big blinds with queen-nine to become the Day 1b bubble boy. Schemion bagged up 782,000 to claim the overall lead for Day 2 and narrowly edged past Catalan Josep Maria Galindo Lopez, who advanced with 770,000.
Several other players burst through half a million in chips such as WSOP APAC bracelet winner Sam Higgs (631,000), Dennis Schienagel (620,000), Mikhail Soltanov (600,000), Artur Martirosian (584,000), Bruno Volkmann (548,000), Luca Famea (520,000) and Davor Lanini (513,000).
Higgs decided on short notice to make the trip from Dubai to Monte-Carlo with his fellow countryman Michael O'Grady, and bagged the third-biggest stack on Day 1b. Martirosian was one of the players that survived an all in on the bubble when his flip with ace-king suited against the pocket queens of David Splettstoesser provided an ace on the board.
Other notables and big stacks that advanced include Denis Timofeev (438,000), Paul-Francois Tedeschi (328,000), Benny Glaser (237,000), Norbert Szecsi (221,000), Jack Sinclair (214,000), former French football professional Jimmy Kebe (166,000), Erwann Pecheux (148,000), Sonny Franco (46,000) and Gaelle Baumann (24,000).
For the red spade, the second of three flights was an unfortunate affair, as Maria Konnikova, Kalidou Sow, Ramon Colillas, Celina Lin and Fatima Moreira De Melo all ran out of chips much earlier than they had hoped for. Defending champion Guillaume Diaz also failed to make it through, he never recovered from paying off the top set of aces of Bruno Caron and bowed out without being able to lift the trophy once more in Monte-Carlo.
The story of the day would have very likely been Frenchman Philippe Le Touche, who had already amassed six starting stacks by the end of level three. Le Touche would soar up to more than 620,000 with the elimination of Lucas Sfez in level 12, however, just three levels later he had distributed his monster stack evenly on the table and headed out of the tournament area.
Many other notables were sent to the rail without anything to show for such as Yan Li, Anson Tsang, Darie Vlad, Pierre Calamusa, Michael Wang, Remi Castaignon, Jan Bendik, Marton Czuczor, Davidi Kitai, Antoine Saout, Maria Ho, Kristen Bicknell, and Nick Pupillo. Bicknell lost a flip with jacks against the ace-king suited of Jack Sinclair and Wang jammed at the wrong time with ten-nine against the ace-king of Artur Martirosian.
All 102 Day 1b survivors will join the 53 players that bagged up the previous night and the 59 survivors in the final flight as of 12 p.m. local time. Day 1a finished with 12:12 minutes left in level 16 at blinds of 2,000-5,000 with a big blind ante of 5,000 and that's where the action resumes for all players on Day 2, and the payout structure will be announced before the cards go back in the air.
Make sure to tune back in then, as the PokerNews live reporting team will provide continued updates from the floor until a champion is crowned.
End-of-Day 1b Chip Counts (full)
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
The full chip counts of all 102 Day 1b survivors will be published when PokerNews receives them and a recap of today's action is to follow. The seat draw for Day 2 is expected to be published in the morning hours.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
782,000 | |
|
770,000 | 20,000 |
|
631,000 | 171,000 |
|
620,000 | 22,000 |
|
600,000 | -15,000 |
|
584,000 | 144,000 |
|
548,000 | 68,000 |
|
520,000 | 520,000 |
|
513,000 | 103,000 |
|
454,000 | 454,000 |
|
444,000 | 4,000 |
|
438,000 | 408,000 |
|
|
431,000 | 431,000 |
|
406,000 | -24,000 |
|
387,000 | 7,000 |
|
364,000 | -11,000 |
|
360,000 | -30,000 |
|
|
352,000 | 352,000 |
|
328,000 | 58,000 |
|
318,000 | 18,000 |
|
297,000 | 249,000 |
|
291,000 | 291,000 |
|
287,000 | 157,000 |
|
|
286,000 | 161,000 |
|
|
255,000 | 255,000 |
Biri Bubbles; Alt Loses Lots in Last Hand
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Ole Schemion opened first to act and Balazs Biri three-bet shoved out of the big blind for more than 200,000 only for Schemion to snap call. There was also an all in and call one table over, as Dinesh Alt looked up Stefano Schiano for more than 200,000.
Balazs Biri: 
Ole Schemion: 
Biri was already out of his seat and watched the action unfold from the rail as he found no sufficient help on the 
board.
Schiano avoided the same fate as he held up with 
against Alt's 
on a board of 
. Right after, all remaining 102 players bagged and tagged for a short night, as Day 2 already commences at 12 p.m. local time.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
782,000 | 307,000 |
|
|
430,000 | 430,000 |
|
140,000 | 40,000 |
|
Busted |
And Another Two Double Ups
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Mario Melis got his short stack in for 31,000 out of the small blind and initial raiser Florian Russo called from under the gun.
Melis tabled 
and Russo had the suited king in 
. The board ran out 
and another double up was secured.
Aleksandr Sheshukov also ended up at risk for 39,000 with against the 
of Florian Ribouchon, who didn't connect with the 
board at all.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
380,000 | 190,000 |
|
|
375,000 | 375,000 |
|
90,000 | 90,000 |
|
70,000 | 70,000 |
Another Two Doubles
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Sam Higgs raised the cutoff and called the shove of [Removed:224] for just 18.,000.
[Removed:224]: 
Sam Higgs: 
The board came 
and Dethiere doubled.
Next at risk was Abdellah Bouzergan, who jammed the button for 42,000 with and Sergei Popov called with in the blinds. The board came and the bubble carried on.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
460,000 | 10,000 |
|
425,000 | 35,000 |
|
|
95,000 | 95,000 |
|
|
45,000 | 45,000 |
Meyer Doubles Through Schienagel
Level 18
: 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Dennis Schienagel opened to 23,000 and reluctantly called the shove of Romain Meyer in the big blind.
Meyer tabled and Schienagel only had , the board of 
brought no surprise.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
598,000 | -72,000 |
|
170,000 | 170,000 |
Level: 18
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 8,000
Martirosian Wins a Flip
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
David Splettstoesser was in the think tank for nearly five minutes when he faced the shove of Artur Martirosian for 214,000 and eventually another player at the table called the clock. Splettstoesser called and they were off to the races.
Artur Martirosian:
David Splettstoesser:
The 
flop favored Martirosian, and he remained in the lead with the turn and river to double and cut Splettstoesser's stack into half.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
440,000 | 190,000 |
|
|
220,000 | 220,000 |
A Chop on the Bubble; Hand-for-Hand Mode Commences
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
All tables were to finish their current hand before the money bubble could be played in hand-for-hand mode and that brought one final all in showdown over on table one. Andrea Schettino had raised to 15,000 first to act and called the three-bet to 50,000 by Meddi Ferrah in the cutoff.
Schettino jammed the 
flop for 54,000 and Ferrah called. Once all other tables were finished, the cards were tabled.
Andrea Schettino:
Meddi Ferrah:
The 
turn and river let Schettino smile and all other players sigh.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
170,000 | 70,000 |
|
|
120,000 | 40,000 |