€5,300 EPT Main Event Day 1a | 2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo

04-30-2023 17:28 UTC+2

Lococo Climbing in Latest Round of Assorted Chip Counts

Matt Hansen

Level 5 : Blinds 200/500, 500 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Alejandro Lococo	99,000 69,000	69,000

Masato Yokosawa	82,000 52,000	52,000
Peter Jorgne	75,000 37,600	37,600
Maria Ho	73,000 35,000	35,000
Jessica Teusl	72,000
Paul Newey	62,100 13,400	13,400
Juan Pardo	47,900
Ken Okada	43,400
Alexandra Botez	34,600 -20,400	-20,400
Alec Torelli	28,000 -2,000	-2,000
Romain Lewis	21,600 -18,400	-18,400
Harry Lodge	19,800
Maria Konnikova	11,000 -16,500	-16,500

04-30-2023 17:20 UTC+2

Mikolaitis Doubles Through Rocha

Connor Richards

Level 5 : Blinds 200/500, 500 ante

Lucas Silva Rocha opened to 1,100 on the button and Dominykas Mikolaitis three-bet jammed a stack of 13,200 from the small blind. Rocha went deep into the tank and apologized to his table mates for taking so long before making the call with a bigger stack.

Dominykas Mikolaitis: A♥6♥
Lucas Silva Rocha: K♥Q♠

Rocha gave Mikolaitis a fist-bump before the board ran out A♣Q♣5♣4♥9♦ to earn Mikolaitis a double-up with a pair of aces.

Player	Chips	Progress
Lucas Silva Rocha	40,000
Dominykas Mikolaitis	27,000

Tags: Dominykas Mikolaitis Lucas Silva Rocha

04-30-2023 17:07 UTC+2

El Rais Gives and Takes; Greenwood Above 100K

Matt Hansen

Level 5 : Blinds 200/500, 500 ante

Mohamad El Rais opened for 1,200 from the cutoff and Renn Pfeiffer called from the big blind. The flop was 8♦A♥5♥ and El Rais called a 1,100 bet from Pfeiffer. Both players checked the 8♥ turn and the 7♣ river before Pfeiffer turned over A♦10♥ to take the pot with a pair of aces.

On the next hand, El Rais raised again to 1,200. Lewis Grabowski called from the button and the blinds got out of the way before a flop of 5♥2♥8♣. Both players checked the flop and the 10♥ turn to see 7♣ on the river. El Rais fired a bet of 1,100 and Grabowski gave it up.

Meanwhile, Sam Greenwood is at the same table and he has chipped up to well over 100K in the opening rounds of the day. Additionally, PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton has taken his seat across from Greenwood.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Greenwood	133,000 78,000	78,000
Mohamad El Rais	55,000
Lewis Grabowski	43,000
Renn Pfeiffer	35,000
Sam Grafton	30,000

Tags: Lewis Grabowski Mohamad El Rais Renn Pfeiffer Sam Greenwood

04-30-2023 17:05 UTC+2

Seidel Gone, 2013 Champ Takes His Place

Connor Richards

Level 5 : 200/500, 500 ante

Erik Seidel's seat at Table 18 is no empty as the Poker Hall of Famer was eliminated not long after getting aces cracked by Igor Yaroshevskyy.

Shortly after Seidel's elimination, another high stakes pro, Steve O'Dwyer, joined the table as he looks for his second EPT Monte Carlo Main Event title after winning the 2013 offering for €1,224,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve O'Dwyer	30,000

Erik Seidel	Busted

04-30-2023 16:49 UTC+2

Seidel Gets Aces Cracked By Runner-Runner Flush

Connor Richards

Level 5 : 200/500, 500 ante

Shortly before the break, Poker Hall of Famer and music enthusiast Erik Seidel raised in early position before Igor Yaroshevskyy moved all in with a short stack of around 6,000. Seidel called.

Igor Yaroshevskyy: A♥Q♠
Erik Seidel: A♥A♦

Yaroshevskyy was in bad shape but had his outs increased as the flop landed 10♥8♠9♠ to give him a gutshot and backdoor flush draw. The 7♠ turn increased his outs further and the 5♠ river gave him the flush to double through the poker legend.

Player	Chips	Progress
Erik Seidel	21,000 21,000	21,000

Igor Yaroshevskyy	12,500 12,500	12,500

Tags: Erik Seidel Igor Yaroshevskyy

Level: 5

Blinds: 200/500

Ante: 500

04-30-2023 16:23 UTC+2

The Biggest Monte-Carlo Main Event Scores

Liam Black

Level 4 : Blinds 200/400, 400 ante

Can this year's EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event winner get themselves into this list of huge scores?

04-30-2023 16:22 UTC+2

Second Break

Connor Richards

Level 4 : Blinds 200/400, 400 ante

Players have been sent on a 25-minute with the clocks showing 306 runners so far.

04-30-2023 16:06 UTC+2

Naoun Picks Up Kings

Matt Hansen

Level 4 : Blinds 200/400, 400 ante

Action was heads up with around 3,200 in the middle and 8♣A♠5♦ on the board when Paul Newey checked from middle position. Adel Naoun bet 900 from the next seat over and Newey called.

The turn was J♠ and Newey check-called a bet of 1,500. The river was 10♠.

Both players checked the river and turned over their cards. Newey had 5♠4♣ for a pair of fives, but Naoun tabled K♥K♣ to take the pot with pocket kings.

Meanwhile, Maria Konnikova has taken her seat at the same table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Paul Newey	48,700 48,700	48,700
Adel Naoun	32,000 32,000	32,000
Maria Konnikova	27,500 27,500	27,500

Tags: Adel Naoun Paul Newey

04-30-2023 16:05 UTC+2

Big Stack of Green Chips for Greenwood

Connor Richards

Level 4 : Blinds 200/400, 400 ante

€10,200 Mystery Bounty runner-up Sam Greenwood recently joined the field and wasted no time nearly doubling his stack.

In a heads-up pot on a flop of J♦3♦Q♣, Greenwood checked and Charles Hilbert bet 2,000. Greenwood check-raised to 4,000 and Hilbert responded by three-bet jamming a stack of around 17,000. Greenwood quickly called.

Charles Hilbert: K♣K♠
Sam Greenwood: A♦5♦

Hilbert was ahead with an overpair while Greenwood was looking for a diamond. He got it as the turn brought the 2♦ to give him the flush and the 9♣ river didn't change anything to mark Hilbert's elimination.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Greenwood	55,000 55,000	55,000
Charles Hilbert	Busted

Tags: Charles Hilbert Sam Greenwood