Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Tournament officials announced that players will see three more hands before bagging up their chips for the night.
2024 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 2
Players Left 16 / 1,208
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Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Shortly after the bubble, Benny Kneepkens was all in with a short stack preflop against Stefan Dimitrov, who had him well covered as players turned their cards.
Benny Kneepkens: A♣K♠ 
Stefan Dimitrov: Q♥Q♠
The board ran out Q♣5♣Q♦3♥8♠, which gave Dimitrov quad queens on the flop. Kneepkens was eliminated from the tournament.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
170,000
95,000
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95,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
"I am all in. I am brave now," Gabi Livshitz said as he moved all in for around 50,000 soon after the bubble burst. He got no callers that time, but a few hands later he found himself all in again for 70,000 in the cutoff, and this time he was called by Ashkan Fattahi in early position.
Gabi Livshitz: A♠J♣
Ashkan Fattahi: A♥K♥
Livshitz was dominated and found no help on the Q♣9♠6♥4♣6♣ board as Fattahi took the pot with his king-kicker to send Livshitz to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
650,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
After losing a big pot worth over 200,000 chips, Danut Chisu was left with only 7,000.
The floor manager had already announced the last three hands of the day. However, Chisu managed to triple up with Q♥Jx and one hand later, he doubled up against Perati, the same player from whom he had lost almost his entire stack.
Danut Chisu: 9♥8♥
Muhamet Perati: 5♠5♣
Chisu hit an eight with the last card on the river Q♥K♣10♣6♥8♦, securing a bag of 60,000 for Day 3.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
235,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
60,000
145,000
|
145,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Jamie Flynn was all in for 63,000 in the big blind, Dan Smith had his last 235,000 in the middle from the button, and Victor Castanedo had both players covered and at risk in the cutoff.
Jamie Flynn: 2♣2♥
Dan Smith: 9♥9♠
Victor Castanedo: A♥K♣
The flop came 8♣10♦9♣ and Smith hit a set to take a big lead in the pot. The turn was the 2♦ and Flynn also made a set as he was looking for a one-outer on the river, but he missed on the 3♥ river and Smith scooped the entire pot to send him to the rail while earning a double up off Castanedo.
"So close," Flynn said on his way to the payout desk.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
570,000
330,000
|
330,000 |
|
||
|
165,000
14,000
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14,000 |
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Busted | |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The remaining 154 players in Day 2 of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event have bagged and tagged for the end of play. They will return at midday tomorrow already in the money as the tournament reaches the business end. Standby for the recap on PokerNews.
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
667,000
133,000
|
133,000 |
|
||
|
642,000
118,000
|
118,000 |
|
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640,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
632,000
144,000
|
144,000 |
|
616,000
56,000
|
56,000 |
|
610,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
564,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
|
||
|
560,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
546,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
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|
508,000
64,000
|
64,000 |
|
507,000
93,000
|
93,000 |
|
507,000
174,000
|
174,000 |
|
507,000
84,000
|
84,000 |
|
495,000
197,000
|
197,000 |
|
488,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
480,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
477,000
67,000
|
67,000 |
|
474,000
221,000
|
221,000 |
|
470,000
235,000
|
235,000 |
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447,000
137,000
|
137,000 |
|
444,000
164,000
|
164,000 |
|
444,000
24,500
|
24,500 |
|
426,000
282,000
|
282,000 |
|
424,000
38,000
|
38,000 |
|
424,000
43,000
|
43,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
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EPT event seat draws can also be found online here.
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Hundreds left with nothing, while three left with some change and a good story to tell. That left just 154 players still with a dream following Day 2 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event.
Eros Calderone ended up as the chip leader with 667,000. Calderone jumped up the leaderboard early when he rivered a full house in a big pot against fellow big-stack Alan Ferraro, then stayed there the rest of the night. The Italian has two EPT Main Event cashes on his resume, both coming from EPT Barcelona in the last two years.
EPT veteran Vladimir Troyanovskiy is in second place with 642,000. The Russian has multiple EPT titles and will be looking to claim another one. Ashkan Fattahi (640,000), Francisco Benitez (632,000), and Konstantyn Holskyi (616,000) round out the top five.
Dan Smith waited until the end of the night to make his big move up the leaderboard. Smith won a three-way all in on the last hand with a set of nines as he bagged up 564,000, placing him firmly in the top 10 heading into Day 3. A victory for Smith this week would make him only the 10th player to complete poker's Triple Crown as he seeks the only thing missing from his already stellar resume. Selahaddin Bedir (546,000), Kayhan Mokri (508,000), Rania Nasreddine (507,000), Irish Open champion David Docherty (495,000), and Alexandre Reard (474,000) also finished as big stacks.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eros Calderone | Italy | 667,000 | 133 |
| 2 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russia | 642,000 | 128 |
| 3 | Ashkan Fattahi | Iran | 640,000 | 128 |
| 4 | Francisco Benitez | Uruguay | 632,000 | 126 |
| 5 | Konstantyn Holskyi | Ukraine | 616,000 | 123 |
| 6 | Christophe Morbee | Belgium | 610,000 | 122 |
| 7 | Dan Smith | United States | 564,000 | 113 |
| 8 | Oleksii Ievchenko | Ukraine | 560,000 | 112 |
| 9 | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | 546,000 | 109 |
| 10 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | 508,000 | 102 |
Other players to advance to Day 3 include 2015 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event champion Adrian Mateos (355,000), Ankit Ahuja (300,000), Peter Jorgne (287,000), Ana Marquez (231,000), Day 1a chip leader and streamer Elias Gutierrez (200,000), and Marle Spragg (101,000). Rafael Moraes (226,000) and Felix Schneiders (146,000) also made it through and will be representing Team PokerStars, while past EPT Barcelona Main Event champion Sebastian Malec (144,000) will be chasing a second title.
One player who made his mark on Day 2 was Alexander Seibt. To his millions of online followers he’s known as “Wolfgang Poker,” and today Seibt secured his first EPT cash in only his second attempt. Seibt shared a table with Roman Hrabec and Mustapha Kanit the entire day and battled the seasoned pros, picking up aces to double up off Hrabec’s kings while spiking an ace on the river to double off Kanit. He ended up with 122,000, while Hrabec finished with 273,000 and Kanit 271,000. Defending champion Mike Watson squeaked into the money with 49,000, as did Spanish high roller superstar Juan Pardo (61,000).
Day 2 began with 75 players joining the returning players from the two opening flights to create a total field of 1,208, the largest in EPT Monte Carlo history. They were playing for a prize pool of €5,858,800, with the top 175 finishers earning a payday. Sam Grafton, Parker Talbot, Gus Hansen, Andre Akkari, Steve O’Dwyer, and Simon Wiciak were among those who fell early as the bubble rapidly approached.
With 176 players remaining in the last level of the night, four players found themselves all in and at risk. Oleksii Natoptanyi lost with jacks when Oleksii Ievchenko spiked a king on the flop. Demosthenes Kiriopoulos hit an ace on the river to crack Sylvain Loosli’s kings, and finally Jeremie Zouari flopped a full house holding pocket aces and sprung a trap on Lincoln De Souza until the river when De Souza moved all in for his short stack with a smaller full house. The three players split a €5,800 min-cash, with the remaining 173 players making the money.
The 154 players who return tomorrow at noon local time for Day 3 are guaranteed €8,700. The eventual winner will take home €1,000,000 and the prestige of conquering the largest field in this event’s history.
But first, another grueling day of survival is in store tomorrow, and PokerNews will be back providing live updates throughout the day.
