2022 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo

€25,000 High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info

2022 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
83
Prize
€958,140
Event Info
Buy-in
€25,000
Prize Pool
€4,297,790
Entries
179
Level Info
Level
29
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
100,000
Players Info - Day 1
Entries
160
Players Left
69

€25,000 High Roller

Day 1 Completed

O'Dwyer and Chidwick Among the Day 1 Leaders of the €25,000 EPT High Roller

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Steve O'Dwyer
Steve O'Dwyer

It was an action-packed start to the €25,000 EPT High Roller as the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino starts to wind down. There were a total of 160 entries over the course of the first 10 levels and just 69 players bagged up chips to move on to Day 2.

Many players managed to run up a healthy stack with over half of the field eliminated. Steve O'Dwyer had a strong start to the day, taking over the chip lead in the opening levels and cruised to a stack of 251,500 chips by the end of the day. Stephen Chidwick, on the other hand, had a tough start to the day but finished strong and finished with a stack of 246,800, good enough for a top-ten stack.

O'Dwyer and Chidwick are both regulars on the high-roller circuit and have accomplished so much in their careers. O'Dwyer is recently coming off a win at the Irish Open in his home country, something he said means more than most of his other victories. Meanwhile, Chidwick just captured a title two months ago at EPT Prague in the €5,200 6-Max and has gone on to add three six-figure scores since.

Top 10 Notable Chip Counts from Day 1

RankPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
1stSirzat HissouGermany359,000224
2ndTroy QuennevilleCanada294,800184
3rdOrpen KisacikogluTurkey263,200165
4thKent StaahleNorway255,900160
5thSteve O'DwyerIreland251,500157
6thStephen ChidwickUnited Kingdom246,800154
7thRamiro PetroneArgentina245,800154
8thMatthias EibingerAustria216,500135
9thPascal LefrancoisCanada197,100123
10thRodrigo SeijiBrazil188,700118

Finishing the day on the top of the leaderboard was German poker pro Sirzat Hissou, with a chip count of 359,000. Sirzat will hold a comfortable lead heading into Day 2 with Troy Quenneville being his closest opponent at 294,800. Rounding out the top three counts was Orpen Kisacikoglu who wound up at 263,200 chips.

Sirzat Hissou bags Day 1 chip lead
Sirzat Hissou bags Day 1 chip lead

The action got underway at 12:30 p.m. local time with 50 players in their seats for the 50% registration fee rakeback offered by PokerStars. The number of entries grew consistently throughout the day, despite the single re-entry format. Some of the notables that were eliminated on Day 1 include Koray Aldemir, Kitty Kuo, Patrik Antonius, Seth Davies, Dietrich Fast, and PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton who narrowly missed out on some "EPT history".

Grafton was dwindled down to just a couple of big blinds and started to spin it back up for all of a couple of hands, stating that he was going to make a historic EPT comeback. That dream was diminished just a couple of hands later when Grafton lost a flip.

Late registration will remain open until the start of Day 2 for those that still wish to play, or for those that still have a re-entry available to them. Day 2 will begin at 12:30 p.m. local time in America's Room at Monte Carlo Sporting, where another 10 levels will be on the schedule. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates throughout the day.

Tags: Daniel RezaeiDietrich FastKent StaahleKitty KuoKoray AldemirMatas CimbolasMatthias EibingerOrpen KisacikogluPascal LefrancoisSam GraftonSeth DaviesSirzat HissouStephen ChidwickSteve O'DwyerTroy Quenneville

End-of Day 1 Chip Counts (full)

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Player Chips Progress
Sirzat Hissou de
Sirzat Hissou
Day 1 Chip Leader
359,000 65,400
Troy Quenneville ca
Troy Quenneville
294,800 -17,200
Orpen Kisacikoglu tr
Orpen Kisacikoglu
263,200 6,200
Kent Staahle no
Kent Staahle
255,900 19,900
Steve O'Dwyer ie
Steve O'Dwyer
EPT 1X Winner
251,500 -54,500
Stephen Chidwick gb
Stephen Chidwick
246,800 75,600
Ramiro Petrone ar
Ramiro Petrone
245,800 245,800
Matthias Eibinger at
Matthias Eibinger
216,500 31,500
Pascal Lefrancois ca
Pascal Lefrancois
197,100 2,100
Rodrigo Seiji br
Rodrigo Seiji
188,700 34,700
Davidi Kitai be
Davidi Kitai
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner
188,000 45,100
Loopoo fr
Loopoo
183,500 40,500
Thi Xoa Nguyen fr
Thi Xoa Nguyen
173,000 36,000
Nang Quang Nguyen vn
Nang Quang Nguyen
166,400 99,400
Joao Vieira pt
Joao Vieira
164,600 47,100
Conor Beresford gb
Conor Beresford
164,100 24,100
Hossein Ensan de
Hossein Ensan
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner
155,000 105,000
Chris Brewer
Chris Brewer
147,700 58,700
Juan Pardo es
Juan Pardo
141,000 17,000
Ole Schemion de
Ole Schemion
140,700 32,700
Johan Guilbert fr
Johan Guilbert
139,200 34,700
Vicente Delgado es
Vicente Delgado
136,500 11,500
Sam Greenwood ca
Sam Greenwood
132,700 49,200
Nick Petrangelo us
Nick Petrangelo
132,600 1,600
Christoph Vogelsang de
Christoph Vogelsang
131,000 -20,000

Read full

Reard Takes Westmorland Out and Doubles Through Toma

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

Jordan Westmorland shoved from the hijack for 10,800 and Tsugunari Toma three-bet to 26,000 from the cutoff. Alexandre Reard four-bet jammed for 48,200 on the button. The blinds folded and Toma asked for a count. The dealer confirmed the amount and Toma used a time bank card while counting out his stack before opting to make the call.

Jordan Westmorland: {4-Spades}{4-Diamonds}
Tsugunari Toma: {7-Hearts}{7-Clubs}
Alexandre Reard: {a-Clubs}{k-Spades}

The board ran out {j-Diamonds}{a-Spades}{q-Diamonds}{6-Clubs}{j-Hearts} for Reard to hit top pair and improve to the best two pair to double up through Toma and take Westmorland's stack.

Player Chips Progress
Alexandre Reard fr
Alexandre Reard
110,200 50,500
Tsugunari Toma jp
Tsugunari Toma
61,000 -2,300
Jordan Westmorland us
Jordan Westmorland
Busted

Tags: Alexandre ReardJordan WestmorlandTsugunari Toma

Kempe Doubles to Stay Alive

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

Rainer Kempe was down to just 17,500 chips and shoved all in from the cutoff. Yaman Nakdali called from the big blind to put Kempe at risk.

Rainer Kempe: {6-Clubs}{6-Diamonds}
Yaman Nakdali: {a-Diamonds}{j-Spades}

It was a coin flip and Kempe held the lead through the {q-Spades}{9-Clubs}{3-Spades} flop. The turn was the {8-Diamonds} and the river was the {8-Clubs} as Kempe doubled up to stay alive late in Day 1.

Player Chips Progress
Yaman Nakdali es
Yaman Nakdali
65,000
Rainer Kempe de
Rainer Kempe
36,500 1,500

Tags: Yaman NakdaliRainer Kempe

Eibinger Folds to Selouan

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

Rodrigo Selouan raised to 2,500 from the cutoff and Matthias Eibinger three-bet to 8,400 from the button. The blinds folded and Selouan made the call.

The flop came {q-Hearts}{q-Spades}{6-Spades}, Selouan checked, Eibinger continued with a bet of 6,500. Selouan responded with a raise to 16,000 which Eibinger called after contemplating it for a bit.

The turn was the {10-Diamonds} and Selouan checked but folded when Eibinger announced a bet.

Player Chips Progress
Matthias Eibinger at
Matthias Eibinger
185,000 91,800
Thi Xoa Nguyen fr
Thi Xoa Nguyen
137,000 -77,300
Rodrigo Selouan br
Rodrigo Selouan
129,000 81,000
Juan Pardo es
Juan Pardo
124,000 -21,200
Bruno Lopes fr
Bruno Lopes
115,000 6,000
Laszlo Bujtas hu
Laszlo Bujtas
93,000 50,500
Erik Seidel us
Erik Seidel
Poker Hall of Famer
45,000 -9,000

Tags: Matthias EibingerRodrigo Selouan

Beresford Doubles Through Nitsche

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

Conor Beresford (big blind) just doubled up through Dominik Nitsche in the cutoff when the board read {4-Clubs}{q-Hearts}{5-Clubs}{k-Diamonds}{8-Diamonds} with around 80,000 in the middle already. When Beresford went all-in with the {a-Spades}{a-Hearts}, he still had 29,600 behind at that point. Nitsche held the {k-Clubs}{j-Spades} for top pair to pay Beresford.

Player Chips Progress
Conor Beresford gb
Conor Beresford
140,000
Dominik Nitsche de
Dominik Nitsche
73,000 -47,000

Tags: Dominik NitscheConor Beresford

Chidwick Picks Up a Freeroll and Hits It

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

The action folded to Stephen Chidwick in the small blind who ripped all in with Daniel Dvoress being the short stack in the big blind. Dvoress called off his last sub 20,000 chips and the cards were on their backs.

Daniel Dvoress: {k-Diamonds}{8-Hearts}
Stephen Chidwick: {10-Spades}{8-Spades}

An interesting flop of {7-Spades}{6-Hearts}{5-Spades} hit the felt and Chidwick picked up plenty of outs. The {4-Hearts} on the turn gave both players a straight but Chidwick had the freeroll as he rubbed his hands together. The river was the {q-Spades} and Chidwick improved to a flush to eliminate Dvoress.

"You f***er," Dvoress said as he stood up. "Where's the floor? I wanna buy-in right now."

Dvoress threw a €25,000 chip on the table and Chidwick jokingly exchanged it with 25,000 tournament chips.

Player Chips Progress
Stephen Chidwick gb
Stephen Chidwick
171,200 14,200
Daniel Dvoress ca
Daniel Dvoress
Busted

Tags: Daniel DvoressStephen Chidwick