A completed board of 9♣7♦6♣8♦5♦ was spread across the felt with a straight on board. Julien Sitbon and Simone Andrian were heads-up in a pot with around 28,000 in the middle. Sitbon led out with a bet of 16,500 in the small blind and Andrian jammed all in for just under 70,000.
Sitbon went into the tank for well over a minute as he started talking out loud. He eventually dropped in the chips to call and Andrian tabled Q♠Q♦ to play the board. Sitbon flipped over 4♦3♦ for a baby flush and Andrian was sent to the rail.
The action was picked up in a pot of roughly 35,000 on a board showing 9♣7♣4♠Q♥. Todd Peterson checked from the big blind, as did Dario Sammartino in early position and Clement Thumy on the button.
The 2♠ completed the board and Peterson took the lead with a bet of 17,000. Sammartino took a moment before tossing in chips for the call and Thumy quickly folded.
Peterson instantly tossed his cards to the dealer and Sammartino took down the pot without having to reveal his hand.
Alec Torelli raised to 3,500 in middle position and picked up three callers along the way. The flop came 8♥5♦2♥ and the action checked to Ian Hamilton on the button who bet 6,500. The big blind called and Torelli check-raised to 21,500. Hamilton called and the big blind got out of the way.
The turn brought the 9♦ and Torelli shipped all in for 76,000. Hamilton gave it some thought with his stack of 54,000 and opted to make the call. Torelli flipped over K♣K♦ for the best hand but Hamilton had plenty of outs with 8♦7♦.
The river was the K♥ and Torelli improved to a set of kings to end Hamilton's tournament run.
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen is proving to be a force to be reckoned with on the poker felt and more recently added chips after making a tough river call.
In a heads-up pot between [Removed:428] in the hijack and Carlsen in the cutoff, both players checked on the board of K♦A♠J♥3♠. The 6♣ river completed the board and Maloku fired a bet of 6,500.
Carlsen went deep into the tank for several minutes and sat perfectly still behind a pair of dark sunglasses. Eventually, Carlsen called. Maloku showed Kx9x for a pair of kings, but he was out-kicked by Carlsen's K♠Q♥ for the chess pro to take the pot.
The sun is out here in Monaco and that means another day of action at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® as Day 2 of the €5,300 EPT Main Event gets underway at noon local time. Leading the 332 surviving players from both starting flights is Samy Boujmala with 339,000, while the Frenchman is tailed closely by Italy's Nicola Grieco (325,000) and Britain's Mitchell Hynam (316,000).
There are plenty of other big stacks heading into the second day of action, including bracelet winners Jason Wheeler (250,000), Aleksejs Ponakovs (245,500) and Sam Greenwood (232,500), as well as other familiar faces including Vicente Delgado (244,500), Artur Martirosian (215,500) and Julien Sitbon (209,000).
Other well-knowns to look out for today include Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel, PokerStars Team Pro Parker Talbot and Women in Poker Hall of Famer Maria Ho. Both PokerStars Pro Benjamin Spragg and Ladies Event champion Marle Spragg are still alive, as are Harry Lodge, Vanessa Kade, Tom Orpaz, and David Kitai.
Marle Spragg
There will likely be others who join the field as late registration remains open until the start of Day 2.
Day 2 marks the start of 90-minute blind levels as players look to capitalize on deep-stack play. Action will kick off on Level 11 with blinds levels of 1,000/1,500/1,500 and there will be 20-minute breaks at the end of each level.
There are no shot clocks in play yet as those won't be introduced until Day 3. Players have yet to reach the money as only 15% of the field will be paid. Payout information should become available shortly after the close of registration.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is on site here in Monaco and ready to provide all the updates in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event.
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