There was a three-way preflop all-in between Mehdi Chaoui, Alex Kulev, and Fabrice Bigot. Kulev and Bigot had both bought in at the start of the day and were at risk for their starting stack of 30,000.
Alex Kulev: A♠8♠
Fabrice Bigot: A♥J♠
Mehdi Chaoui: A♣4♣
The flop was 5♥J♣3♦ and Bigot solidified his lead with his top pair. ''I'll take a deuce,'' Chaoui said. The turn did indeed come the 2♣, giving Chaoui the straight. With both other players drawing dead, he raked in the pot and two bounty tokens as the 10♦ was dealt as a formality.
''I'm really happy to bust two of the best players in the tournament,'' Chaoui concluded as the other two players took their leave.
In one of the first hands dealt on Day 2, Rui Martins open shoved all in from early positon for 25,500. He was called by Antoine Labat and players flipped their cards, with Martins the player at risk.
Rui Martins: A♥J♣
Antoine Labat: 10♦10♥
"A fair fight," said Martins.
The flop ran out 7♠5♣9♦10♣K♣. Labat made a set of tens on the turn and Martins couldn't find his straight on the river. Labat scooped the pot and Martins busted out early.
"You deserved that one," said Martins as he left the table.
Elias Gutierrez Hernandez was all in on the first hand of the day for the 26,000 he bagged on Day 1 and got called by Fan Zhang.
Elias Gutierrez Hernandez: A♠4♠
Fan Zhang: K♥8♥
The flop came J♥10♥Q♥ and Hernandez commented, ''I don't think I'm going to win this one.'' Indeed, he was drawing dead on the flop and the 3♥ and 2♥ were put out to add some salt to his wound.
Some administrative issues have occurred, caused by nearly 100 players opting to register at the start of Day 2. The €3,000 Mystery Bounty will now start at 1 p.m. local time.
Dozens of players are set to return to the felt for Day 2 of the €3,000 EPT Mystery Bounty at the 2023 PokerStars EPT presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. 581 entries were made during Day 1 and there ended up being 167 players bagging up chips. Liu Chun Keat captured the chip lead and covers the entire field with his 368,500 stack. He is thus in a prime position to hunt Mystery Bounty tokens throughout the day.
Each player will be given a bounty chip at the start of the day, and those who knock someone out of the tournament will receive the said chip. At any moment throughout the remainder of the series, players can then redeem it at the bounty desk, where a large chest full of envelopes can be found. Those envelopes all contain a bounty with a random prize, ranging from low four-figure to high five-figure or even six-figure numbers.
Prominent chess player and live streamer Alexandra Botez is among those hoping to pull one of those top bounties today. However, with a stack of 63,500 she has some work ahead of her to increase the chances of that happening. The same can not be said for PokerStars AmbassadorSam Grafton, who is sitting on a comfortable 247,500 chips at the start of play and is looking to win his second Mystery Bounty Event of the series, having taken home the title in the €10,200 Mystery Bounty opening event already.
Top Ten Chip Counts at Start Day 2
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Liu Chun Keat
Malaysia
368,500
184
2
Igor Yaroshevskyy
Ukraine
347,500
174
3
Gerard Carbo
Spain
340,000
170
4
Franck Makaci
France
338,500
169
5
Fabio Peluso
Italy
318,500
159
6
Stephen Kehoe
Ireland
284,500
142
7
Ramzi Karam
Lebanon
256,500
128
8
Recep Aydemir
Turkey
254,000
127
9
Sam Grafton
United Kingdom
247,500
124
10
Florian Duta
Romania
243,000
122
Late registration is still open until the start of play at 12:30 p.m. local time today, and all final numbers will be calculated thereafter. €1,000 of each buy-in is reserved for the bounty prize pool, while €1,716 will go to the regular cash prize pool.
Some of the players who have already made use of the option to maximize late registration include Carl Shaw, who will fire his eighth bullet in this event, Conor Beresford, Julien Sitbon and Christopher Puetz. Jennifer Shahade will also join the fray, increasing the average chess Elo of the field even more. All of them will receive the starting stack of 30,000 chips, good for 15 big blinds at the start of play.
Play will resume at 12:30 p.m. local time, with the blinds on Level 13 at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante. The levels will continue to be 40 minutes long throughout the tournament, with a break scheduled every three levels.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here from start to finish, as always. Stay tuned for regular updates regarding hands, chip counts, and of course, big bounty action.