Day 1a of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo Main Event took place today at the stunning Sporting Monte-Carlo venue. The rain may have prevented the traditional opening of the roof as players took their seats, but it didn't stop what turned out to be an action-packed day of poker as 402 players took their seats, a slight increase from last year's first flight of 393 entries.
Of those who took a shot, 123 players bagged and tagged to return for Day 2 after ten levels of play. That brings the prize pool to €2,478,350 with one starting flight still to come.
David Docherty of Scotland bagged the chip lead with 279,500. Despite some ups and downs earlier on, Docherty returned after the dinner break in a solid position with a little under 150,000. Docherty then busted Nicolas Chouity and continued to go on a heater, gradually increasing his stack throughout the final two levels to come out on top.
Docherty is best known for his 2023 victory at the Irish Open, which gave him a career high score of €365,000. Docherty is yet to lock up an EPT title, but came close with a seventh place finish in the 2022 EPT London Main Event. On form and running hot, Docherty has positioned himself for a serious run here in Monte-Carlo.
In second place was Christian Alilovic of France with 260,500, followed by Qing Lu with 240,500. Lu won a huge pot with aces late on in the day to bring her up to third place. Jeremie Beneteau (236,500) and Stanislav Petriv (225,000) round out the top five.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Docherty | United Kingdom | 279,500 | 186 |
| 2 | Christian Alilovic | France | 260,500 | 174 |
| 3 | Qing Lu | United States | 240,500 | 160 |
| 4 | Jeremie Beneteau | France | 236,500 | 158 |
| 5 | Stanislav Petriv | Ukraine | 225,000 | 150 |
| 6 | Boris Kuzmanovic | Croatia | 208,500 | 139 |
| 7 | Adi Rajkovic | Austria | 204,500 | 136 |
| 8 | Mariusz Golinski | Poland | 201,000 | 134 |
| 9 | Sameer Chaturvedi | India | 196,000 | 131 |
| 10 | Masato Yokosawa | Japan | 191,500 | 128 |
Plenty of other well known players found a bag for Day 2, among them Masato Yokosawa (191,500), Antoine Labat (164,000), Steve O'Dwyer (114,000), Byron Kaverman (114,000), Juan Pardo (100,000) and PokerStars ambassador Maria Konnikova (79,000).
Last year's Main Event champion Derk van Luijk also came back for more and bagged for 108,500, a little more than the average stack.
The second and final starting flight, Day 1b, begins on Monday, May 5, at noon local time and follows the same structure as Day 1a, with 60-minute blind levels and 30,000 starting stacks. Late registration remains open until the start of Day 2 and players can fire a maximum of two bullets across both flights.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as reporters keep you updated on the action straight from the tournament floor.
