€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€5,325,300
Entries
1,098
Level
33
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000
Entries
363
Players Left
104
Nicola Grieco Sits Atop Day 1a of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
After 10 levels of play on Day 1a, Italy’s Nicola Grieco leads a returning field of 104 into Day 2 of the €5,300 EPT Main Event at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️.
The first of two opening flights drew 363 entries and generated a prize pool of €2,395,900 ($2,640,399). Day 1b will kick off Monday at 12 p.m. local time, and the surviving players from both flights will meet on Tuesday at noon to fight for their spot on Day 3.
Grieco bagged up 325,000 to take the chip lead after picking up steam in the later levels, while David Vinayagamoorthy finished in second with 272,000 and Markkos Ladev closed out the day in third with 257,500. Josef Schusteritsch and Vicente Delgado rounded out the top five with 250,000 and 244,500, respectively.
2023 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Top Ten Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicola Grieco | Italy | 325,000 | 217 |
| 2 | David Vinayagamoorthy | Norway | 272,000 | 181 |
| 3 | Markkos Ladev | Estonia | 257,500 | 172 |
| 4 | Josef Schusteritsch | Austria | 250,000 | 167 |
| 5 | Vicente Delgado | Spain | 244,500 | 163 |
| 6 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 232,500 | 155 |
| 7 | Arunas Sapitavicius | Lithuania | 228,500 | 152 |
| 8 | Maduka Meragal | Canada | 227,000 | 151 |
| 9 | Yanfeng Wang | Hong Kong | 222,500 | 148 |
| 10 | Jacob Amsellem | Israel | 203,000 | 135 |
Day 1a Action
Grieco returns as the chip leader with an opportunity to improve on a big run to 17th in last year’s EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. He also finished in the money at the EPT Main Events in Barcelona and Prague later that year. Grieco’s best career-finish came in the 2019 version of this event, when he made a deep run to fifth place for €206,590 ($232,120).
Several notables turned out for the opening flight of the Main Event, and among those returning for Day 2 with a big stack is Maria Ho. Ho finished up just under 150,000 on just one entry. She already has two cashes on the year at PokerStars events—the first coming with a run to 20th in the BSOP Main Event in the Bahamas and the second just days later with a 98th place finish in the PCA Main Event. Ho returns with an opportunity to cross the $4.5 million mark in lifetime earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.
Sam Greenwood bagged a top ten stack of 232,500 after holding the chip lead for the better part of the early levels. Greenwood has six cashes in PokerStars events in 2023, including a run to second in the €5,200 Mystery Bounty earlier in the Monte Carlo Series. He also picked up a seventh place finish in the €5,150 6-Handed event in Paris and he had a run to second place in the €25,000 event earlier in that series. However, his biggest score of 2023 came with a win in the $250,000 Super High Roller at the PCA for a career-high of $3,276,760.
Other players bagging for Day 2 include Vanessa Kade, Davidi Kitai, Stephen Chidwick, Harry Lodge, Julien Martini, Dominik Panka, and PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas.
Alexandra Botez was among those that failed to qualify for Day 2. She jumped ahead early but fell in Level 5 where she caught the worst of two straights against Antonio Buonanno. Other players that failed to qualify for Day 2 include Maria Konnikova, Erik Seidel, Justin Bonomo, Joao Vieira, and PokerStars Ambassadors Alejandro Lococo, Parker Talbot, and Sam Grafton.
Players will return to clash with the Day 1b finalists on Day 2 at 12 p.m. local time in Level 11 with blinds at 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante.
Be sure to tune in all week long for live updates from the floor of the €5,300 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event at Sporting Monte-Carlo in Monaco.
Day 1a Chip Counts (full)
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
325,000 | 325,000 |
|
272,000 | 8,400 |
|
257,500 | 234,300 |
|
250,000 | 95,000 |
|
244,500 | 244,500 |
|
232,500 | 72,500 |
|
228,500 | 228,500 |
|
227,000 | 181,000 |
|
222,500 | 222,500 |
|
203,000 | 203,000 |
|
197,500 | 197,500 |
|
187,500 | 187,500 |
|
169,500 | 9,500 |
|
165,000 | 95,000 |
|
163,000 | 132,400 |
|
157,500 | 157,500 |
|
157,000 | 7,000 |
|
156,000 | 156,000 |
|
153,500 | 153,500 |
|
146,000 | 64,000 |
|
145,000 | 15,000 |
|
144,000 | 144,000 |
|
143,000 | 35,000 |
|
142,500 | 142,500 |
|
134,000 | 134,000 |
Day 1a Has Ended
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Day 1a has ended after ten hours of play with the clocks showing 105 players remaining out of 363 entrants.
Stay tuned for a full recap of the day's action.
Buonanno Adds Moore Chips to His Stack
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Peter Moore opened to 2,500 in the hijack and Antonio Buonanno three-bet to 8,500 in the cutoff. Moore called when the action got back around.
Moore checked on the flop of K♦J♥J♣ and Buonanno checked back. Moore checked again on the 10♥ turn and Buonanno again checked back.
Moore checked a third time on the 7♦ river and Buonanno once again checked back. Moore announced "two pair" and showed the 7♦ before Buonanno tabled Q♠Q♥ to win the pot with queens and jacks.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
160,000 | 65,000 |
|
80,000 | -84,000 |
Final Five Hands
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The tournament directors have paused the clock and announced that five more hands will be played before the remaining players back up for Day 2.
Vinayagamoorthy Gives One Up, Still Surging
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Action was heads up with what looked like 15,000 in the middle and 3♠A♥4♠ on the flop when Kent Roed bet 5,000 and David Vinayagamoorthy called. The turn was 5♦.
Roed fired 20,000 on the turn and Vinayagamoorthy called again to see 9♥ on the river.
Roed quickly shoved after the river card hit and Vinayagamoorthy went into a tank for a few moments, but the bet was too rich and he got away from it.
Vinayagamoorthy gave up the pot but he has emerged in the late levels of the evening as one of the top chip stacks.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
263,600 | 263,600 |
|
121,000 | 69,500 |
Colillas Floats Abecassis
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Ramon Colillas opened to 2,500 on the button and Kevin Abecassis three-bet to 12,600 in the small blind. Colillas called.
Abecassis continued for 8,500 on the flop of 5♦3♣9♣ and Colillas called. Abecassis then checked on the J♣ turn and Colillas bet 15,000. Abecassis laid it down.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
95,000 | 8,000 |
|
65,000 | 65,000 |
Scandinavian Battle Leads to Antonius Double
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Patrik Antonius was all in with a short stack from the big blind against Peter Kvisthammar in the small blind, who had him covered.
Patrik Antonius: 9♥8♠
Peter Kvisthammar: 6♠6♥
Antonius took a lead in the flip as the flop landed A♠8♥Q♠ to pair his eight and nothing changed on the 10♥4♥ runout to earn the Finnish poker legend a double through his Swedish opponent.
"Don't want to enter Day 2 with a starting stack!" a table mate commented.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
45,000 | 20,000 |
|
30,000 | -7,000 |
Moore Shows the Winner; Kade Takes One
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Peter Moore raised to 2,500 from under the gun and Danut Chisu came along from the small blind before Kent Roed called from the big blind. The flop was J♥4♥A♥ and action checked to Moore for a bet of 4,500. The other two players ducked quickly out of the way and Moore showed A♣J♦ and picked up another pot on his recent run.
On the next hand, Vanessa Kade raised to 2,500 and Danut Chisu called from the button. The flop was K♦8♥7♠ and Kade continued for 3,500. Chisu called and the turn was 5♣. Kade fired 12,000 on the turn, but that was too much for Chisu and he tossed his hand in the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
164,000 | 164,000 |
|
108,600 | 28,600 |
|
68,600 | 28,600 |
|
|
51,500 | 51,500 |