In a heads-up pot with close to 100,000 in the middle on a board showing Q♥J♦2♥9♠, Benjamin Spragg checked from the big blind to Omar Lakhdari under the gun, who bet out 50,000.
Spragg check-raised all in, covering the 160,000 remaining for Lakhdari, who went well in the tank. After some time, Lakhdari opened the Q♣ and tossed his hand into the muck. Spragg collected the pot and now sits with an above average chip stack.
A board of 8♣7♦10♦5♦ was spread in a pot between Bruno Fitoussi in the under-the-gun position and Kayhan Mokri in the cutoff. Fitoussi bet 25,000 chips and Mokri quickly called.
The river brought the 3♥ and Fitoussi went all in, covering his opponent's stack of roughly 150,000. Mokri questioned his life choices out loud but ended up calling it off with an indifferent look. Fitoussi showed a flopped set with 7♣7♥. ''That's good,'' Mokri stated, as he tabled his A♣8♥ before asking the floor where the payout desk was located.
The stats are in for the 2023 €1,100 FPS Main Event at PokerStars EPT presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® and they show 1,071 unique players representing a total of 65 countries.
Unsurprisingly, the most represented country here on the Monaco coast is France with 381 players, more than a third of the overall field (35.57%). The next most represented country is Italy with 162 entrants (15.13%) – meaning the two European countries make up just over half of the field — and the next closest is Switzerland with 40 players (3.73%).
France's Julien Sitbon
There are plenty of other European countries represented, including Germany (37 players - 3.45%), Spain (37 players - 3.45%), Romania (34 players - 3.17%), Ukraine (17 players - 1.59%) and Greece (16 players - 1.49%).
Outside of Europe, the United States saw representation with 18 players (1.68%), while Japan had 20 players for 1.87% of the field and the United Kingdom had 26 players representing 2.43% of the field.
There were plenty of other European, Asian, Middle Eastern and South American countries represented by a single-digit number of players, including China, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Portugal, Hong Kong and Turkey.
FPS Statistics
The full demographic stats for the 2023 FPS Main Event are available in the table below.
COUNTRY
PLAYERS
PERCENTAGE
COUNTRY
PLAYERS
PERCENTAGE
France
381
35.57%
Lebanon
5
0.47%
Italy
162
15.13%
Lithuania
5
0.47%
Switzerland
40
3.73%
Belarus
4
0.37%
Germany
37
3.45%
Belgium
4
0.37%
Spain
37
3.45%
India
4
0.37%
Romania
34
3.17%
Malaysia
4
0.37%
United Kingdom
26
2.43%
Tunisia
4
0.37%
Georgia
20
1.87%
Turkey
4
0.37%
Japan
20
1.87%
Azerbaijan
3
0.28%
USA
18
1.68%
China
3
0.28%
Ukraine
17
1.59%
Croatia
3
0.28%
Greece
16
1.49%
Finland
3
0.28%
Russia
15
1.40%
Iceland
3
0.28%
Canada
13
1.21%
Latvia
3
0.28%
Israel
13
1.21%
Moldova
3
0.28%
Austria
12
1.12%
Serbia
3
0.28%
Bulgaria
11
1.03%
Slovakia
3
0.28%
Hungary
11
1.03%
Algeria
2
0.19%
Brazil
10
0.93%
Argentina
2
0.19%
Morocco
9
0.84%
Colombia
2
0.19%
Netherlands
9
0.84%
Cyprus
2
0.19%
Portugal
9
0.84%
Luxembourg
2
0.19%
Australia
8
0.75%
Slovenia
2
0.19%
Hong Kong
7
0.65%
United Arab Emirates
2
0.19%
Iran
7
0.65%
Bosnia and Herzegovina
1
0.09%
Ireland
7
0.65%
Denmark
1
0.09%
Norway
7
0.65%
Ivory Coast
1
0.09%
Sweden
7
0.65%
Kazakhstan
1
0.09%
Armenia
6
0.56%
Kosovo
1
0.09%
Czech Republic
6
0.56%
New Zealand
1
0.09%
Estonia
6
0.56%
North Macedonia
1
0.09%
Poland
6
0.56%
Peru
1
0.09%
Venezuela
1
0.09%
*Note: Only unique players (1,071) have been reflected in the nationality stats, not total entries. Stats courtesy PokerStars
Julien Sitbon was down to a single T-1,000 chip and already made that ten times as much, sitting on a stack of 10,000. He put all of those chips in the middle from middle position. The action folded to the blinds David Hareuveni and Loic Dobrigna, who both called.
The flop came 5♠4♥10♣ and Hareuveni checked to Dobrigna. Dobrigna wanted to create a side pot and bet 12,000, which Hareuveni swiftly called. The turn was 2♥ and again Hareuveni checked, followed by a bet of 25,000 from Dobrigna. Hareuveni was again present with an instantaneous call.
As the Q♠ river fell, Hareuveni grabbed a stack of chips and put them in the middle. Dobrigna shook his head at the 65,000 bet and reluctantly let his hand go.
Meanwhile Sitbon thanked his opponent for ''the bluff'' as he tabled his 10♦9♦. Heuveni showed him A♦4♦ for a lower pair and thus Sitbon tripled his stack to a slightly more favorable size. Hareuveni was the biggest winner, however, scooping the sizable side pot.
Tom Orpaz has had a stellar start to the day that has seen him more than double up after eliminating multiple opponents.
The hot day started off with Orpaz opening and Andreas Vlachos defending in the big blind, as Orpaz relayed to PokerNews. Both players checked on the flop of K♥J♥10♦ and Vlachos checked again on the J♠ turn. Orpaz bet 15,000 and Vlachos check-raised to 35,000. Orpaz called.
The 7♣ river completed the board and Vlachos bet 75,000. Orpaz moved all in for 135,000 and his opponent folded. Orpaz held Q♥J♦ for trips and Vlachos claimed to have folded a straight with Qx9x.
The very next hand, Peter Jorgne open-shoved a stack of around 60,000 and Orpaz re-shoved to get things heads-up.
Peter Jorgne: 7x7x
Tom Orpaz: 10x10x
Orpaz had the better pair and an inconsequential runout sent Jorgne to the rail.
Orpaz then opened from the cutoff and Davit Chochishvili three-bet jammed for 50,000 from the button. Orpaz called.
Davit Chochishvili: A♦2♦
Tom Orpaz: 6♦5♦
The flop of 6♠5♠3♠ gave Orpaz the lead with two pair and the runout of 7♦Q♦ didn't change things to mark Chochishvili's elimination.
Just before the table broke, Orpaz picked up another decent pot with AxAx. The real estate investor started the day with 182,000 and is already up to 470,000.
Payout information has been released with a total prize pool of €2,052,480 and 321 places getting paid. A minimum cash will be worth €1,650 and the eventual champion will receive €307,160.
EPT Paris Champion Razvan Belea is off to a huge start, doubling his already above-average stack during the first hands of the day.
When the action was caught, all of his 357,000 chips were already in preflop against Steve Roedsens, who played exactly the same stack.
Razvan Belea: A♦A♣
Steve Roedsens: K♠K♦
Belea faded a king on the board of 4♣Q♠2♠8♠9♣ and doubled up to take a presumed second place on the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Roedsens was one of the many eliminations in the early minutes of Day 2.
Welcome to a new day of the 2023 PokerStars EPT presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️. Today, Day 2 of the largest ever €1,100 FPS Main Event, will be getting underway at noon local time.
Four starting flights were held over two days at Sporting Monte-Carlo and they attracted a massive field of 2,138 entries combined, narrowly passing the previous FPS record set at EPT Paris 2023, where 2,071 entries were recorded.
The prize pool has passed the two million mark and is standing at an enormous €2,052,480. All 321 players who qualified for Day 2 will receive a portion of it as every Day 1 played until the money was reached (15 percent of the field). The precise payouts are yet unknown but are expected to be announced before the start of the day.
Amassing the overall chip lead was Milos Petakovic from Serbia. He crushed the final Day 1d and bagged an impressive 926,000 chips with which to start Day 2, equating to more than 180 big blinds.
Completing the podium of chip rankings are Day 1c chip leader Inigo Naveiro, who brings 684,000 to Day 2, and Day 1b chip leader Recep Aydemir, with 560,000. Day 1a chip leader Adrian Chabbi also finds himself in the top ten chip counts with a respectable 513,000 chips.
Top 10 Chip Stacks Heading into Day 2
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Milos Petakovic
Serbia
926,000
185
2
Inigo Naveiro
Spain
684,000
137
3
Recep Aydemir
Turkey
560,000
112
4
Dalibor Dula
Czech Republic
557,000
111
5
Lucas Silva Rocha
Brazil
544,000
109
6
Simone Demasi
Italy
524,000
105
7
Moritz Bleiker
Switzerland
522,000
104
8
Adrian Chabbi
Spain
513,000
103
9
Ken Demlakian
Australia
506,000
101
10
Rubens Sellam
France
503,000
101
The biggest name outside of the top ten to have bagged and tagged is PokerStars AmbassadorBenjamin Spragg. He will be bringing a healthy 253,000 chips to Day 2. A lot of other notables made it through as well, including Kayhan Mokri (431,000), Conor Beresford (314,000), EPT Paris ChampionRazvan Belea (357,000), Jason Wheeler (161,000), most recent FPS Paris winner Alan Goasdoue (151,000), Julien Brecard (84,000), and 2023 PSPC ChampionAliaksandr Shylko (54,000).
Benjamin Spragg
Day 2 will begin at noon local time and play will resume in Level 16, with the blinds at 2,000/5,000 with a big blind ante of 5,000. All levels will last for 60 minutes and the field is set to play eight of them today, with 20-minute breaks every two levels. No dinner break is scheduled as the players are scheduled to have an early finish tonight.
Be sure to keep an eye on PokerNews to follow all the action from this record-breaking event, as well as the other events on our EPT Monte Carlo Tournament Page.
