€5,300 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2022 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
€5,300 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2022 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€5,204,050
Entries
1,073
Level
33
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000
Entries
418
Players Left
121
Merijn van Rooij Tops a Star-Studded Field After Day 1a of the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Day 1a of the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event has come to an end and 419 runners turned out to Monte Carlo Sporting Complex for the first of two flights in the flagship event of the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®.
The opening flight generated a prize pool of €2,526,850, and the field tops the last time an EPT Main Event was held in Monte Carlo, when 342 players turned out for Day 1a. Despite the smaller field, 128 players bagged in 2019, compared to the 121 that will return on Wednesday for Day 2. It remains to be seen if the tournament will make a run at the record turnout of 1,098 players in 2016.
Merijn van Rooij of the Netherlands is the chip leader after 10 levels of play and he will return with 159 big blinds on Day 2. He's followed closely by Bruno Volkmann, Andrew Hulme, and Kazuhiko Yotsushika. Ramon Colillas and Oliver Bosch are also among the top stacks of the day, along with bracelet winners Justin Saliba and Yuri Dzivielevski.
EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips | Day 2 Big Blinds |
| 1 | Merijn van Rooij | Netherlands | 253,000 | 159 |
| 2 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | 240,000 | 156 |
| 3 | Andrew Hulme | United Kingdom | 238,500 | 154 |
| 4 | Kazuhiko Yotsushika | Japan | 233,500 | 152 |
| 5 | Ramon Colillas | Spain | 231,000 | 150 |
| 6 | Oliver Bosch | Austria | 228,500 | 143 |
| 7 | Justin Saliba | USA | 224,500 | 137 |
| 8 | Hugo Pingray | France | 215,000 | 128 |
| 9 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 205,500 | 127 |
| 10 | Josip Simunic | Austria | 191,500 | 127 |
Day 1a Highlights
It was a banner day for eliminations with more than two-thirds of the field falling before the end of the night. Among them was Tamon Nakamura, who was eliminated on a three-way pot when his tens were out drawn by the queen-eight of bracelet winner Emil Bise. Tsugunari Toma was the third player and had both covered, but his pocket threes were no good.
Toma went on to score a double elimination of Julien Sitbon and Mihail Lala when his eight-six made a straight on the river to crack Sitbon's pocket queens. It was the second big pot that Toma took from Sitbon, and both were a straight made with an eight-six. Toma fell back later in the day and will return for Day 2 with one of the short stacks.
2015 EPT Malta Main Event champion Niall Farrell took his shot in the first flight and will return for Day 2, thanks in part to a clash with Jonas Lauck where Farrell shoved the river and Lauck got away from it to move Farrell above 100K chips. He fell back slightly and finished with 87,000, but he will return on Wednesday in search of his second EPT Main Event title.
Elsewhere, bracelet winner Leo Margets steadily built her stack throughout the day, starting with a double through Ermo Kosk with pocket sevens. She found another pot later in the day when she got a shove through against Ferenc Deak. Margets ended the day with 98,500 and she will return on Wednesday for a shot at Day 3.
Victoria Coren Mitchell will also return for Day 2 after bagging a stack with 47,500, in part thanks to a runner-runner full house against Dan Tolppanen.
Other notable returning players include PokerStars ambassador Benjamin Spragg, John Mooney, Timothy Adams, Sam Greenwood, Daniel Dvoress, 2021 WSOP Main Event Champion Koray Aldemir, and Gaelle Baumann, who bagged 181,500 to finish just outside the top ten.
Day 1b on Tuesday
Action will continue Tuesday, May 3 at noon local time with the second of two flights in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. Players who were eliminated on Monday will have another opportunity to jump into Tuesday’s flight, and registration will continue through the end of Day 2. Players will once again start with 30,000 in chips and play ten 60-minute levels before they combine with the Day 1a survivors on Wednesday.
Be sure to keep it here with the PokerNews team all week long for live updates from the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event.
End-of-Day 1a Chip Counts (full)
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
253,000 | 43,000 |
 |
||
|
249,000 | 19,000 |
|
|
||
|
238,500 | 13,500 |
|
|
||
|
233,500 | 18,500 |
|
|
||
|
231,000 | 101,000 |
|
228,500 | 138,500 |
|
|
||
|
224,500 | 64,500 |
|
|
||
|
215,000 | 45,000 |
|
|
||
|
205,500 | 150,500 |
|
|
||
|
191,500 | 71,500 |
|
|
||
|
191,000 | 21,000 |
|
|
||
|
190,500 | -9,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
189,500 | 34,500 |
|
|
||
|
184,000 | -34,000 |
|
|
||
|
181,500 | 7,500 |
|
|
||
|
178,000 | -2,000 |
|
|
||
|
177,500 | 177,500 |
|
|
||
|
175,500 | 5,500 |
|
173,000 | -22,000 |
|
|
||
|
167,000 | -53,000 |
|
|
||
|
164,500 | 164,500 |
|
|
||
|
164,000 | -16,000 |
|
|
||
|
161,500 | 65,500 |
|
|
||
|
161,500 | 65,400 |
|
|
||
|
|
160,000 | 160,000 |
|
|
||
Ambassador
Day 1a Completed
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
An unofficial 121 players out of 419 entries have made it through Day 1a as all contenders bagged and tagged their chips. Assorted counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.
Danchev Among the Late Casualties
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Tusugunari Toma was no longer spotted in the tournament with Andrew Hulme leading the pace on his former table.
Another late casualty on Day 1a was Dimitar Danchev, who had bluffed a previous hand and left a single chip behind but was called. The 100 chips then vanished with 
from the cutoff as Tobias Anttila in the big blind got there with 
thanks to the 
board.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
225,000 | 105,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
180,000 | -7,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
 |
||
Calamusa Picks Up Queens to Bust Kruger
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Klas Kruger got his last 50,000 into the middle and Pierre Calamusa called to put him at risk.
Klas Kruger: 
Pierre Calamusa: 
The board ran out 
and the queens held to eliminate Kruger in the final hands of Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
141,500 | 26,500 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Final Five Hands
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The remaining runners are now playing the final five hands before bagging up for the evening.
Petrone and Kamphues No More
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
"We had a lot of fun hands here," Justin Saliba said and recalled a hand in which Kazuhiko Yotsushika turned a set against Ramiro Petrone's pocket queens and then provided the details leading up to the elimination of Lars Kamphues.
According to Saliba, Kamphues had flat-called a raise by Ewen Trevidy, who check-raised the 
flop. Trevidy then check-called a bet by Kamphues on the 
turn and checked the 
river.
Kamphues jammed for 33,500 into a pot of around 25,000 and Trevidy tank-called. The 
of Kamphues had missed a straight draw and Trevidy scored the knockout with 
for two pair.
Last but not least, Samir Moukawem raised to 4,000 and called the all-in by Tom Kunze for 25,100.
Tom Kunze: 
Samir Moukawem:
The 
board improved Kunze much to the displeasure of Moukawem.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
215,000 | 80,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
160,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
||
|
140,000 | 57,000 |
|
|
||
|
68,000 | -7,000 |
|
|
||
|
53,000 | 53,000 |
|
|
||
|
40,000 | -40,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
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||
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
A Round of Assorted Chip Counts in the Last Level of the Night
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
218,000 | 18,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
174,000 | 41,000 |
|
|
||
|
145,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
||
|
115,000 | -20,000 |
|
|
||
|
89,100 | 4,100 |
|
|
||
|
58,100 | -16,900 |
|
|
||
|
58,000 | -57,000 |
 |
||
|
|
55,000 | -2,000 |
|
|
||
|
55,000 | -22,000 |
|
|
||
|
52,000 | 2,000 |
|
|
||
|
38,000 | 3,000 |
|
|
||
|
32,700 | -47,300 |
|
|
||
Kollatos Doubles Through Lovgren
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Stylianos Kollatos open-jammed the last 15,600 from under the gun with the and was looked up by Sofia Lovgren on the button with the 
.
The superior hand remained ahead throughout the 
board for Kollatos to score a late double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
68,000 | -17,000 |
|
|
||
|
34,000 | 6,000 |
|
|
||