The players came in droves, packing the Sporting Monte-Carlo tournament room and even the cash game area on Day 1b as 727 players took their shot at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo Main Event title.
Only 259 of those hopefuls managed to survive the day, led by Cesar Garcia, who built up a massive stack of 323,000 that puts him in the overall chip lead heading into Day 2. The Spaniard began his ascent up the leaderboard when he came from behind to bust Jan Eric Schwippert. On the last level of the night, he picked up aces against Vlad Darie’s queens to score another knockout and pull away from the rest of the field. Garcia already has multiple EPT deep runs on his poker resume, including finishing in 22nd place in Prague in 2023, 20th at the 2024 EPT Paris Main Event, and a final table appearance in Berlin in 2012.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cesar Garcia | Spain | 323,000 | 215 |
| 2 | Sebastian Gaehl | Germany | 288,000 | 192 |
| 3 | Laurent Cessy | France | 250,000 | 167 |
| 4 | Shakhabiddin Muradov | Latvia | 241,000 | 161 |
| 5 | Nicolas Oger | France | 221,000 | 147 |
| 6 | Ignacio Sole | Spain | 213,500 | 142 |
| 7 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | 210,000 | 140 |
| 8 | Hrayr Grigoryan | Armenia | 201,000 | 134 |
| 9 | Landron Alexandre | France | 192,000 | 128 |
| 10 | Julien Mariani | France | 190,000 | 127 |
Sebastian Gaehl (288,000), Laurent Cessy (250,000), Shakhabiddin Muradov (241,000), and Nicolas Oger (221,000) round out the top five. Boris Angelov was tantalizingly close to the title at this event last year, coming out on the losing end of a marathon heads-up duel to finish second. He’s back for another shot, bagging up a top-10 stack with 210,000. Hrayr Grigoryan made his move on one of the last hands of the night, picking off a bluff from Gareth Fenney on the river to double up and climb up to 201,000.
Other notables advancing to Day 2 include Noah Boeken (186,500), Malcolm Franchi (175,000), EPT champion Sebastian Malec (142,500), Ari Engel (131,500), and Nikita Kuznetsov (115,000). Further down the leaderboard are Martin Kabrhel (106,500), Aram Zobian (98,500), recent Irish Open runner-up Umberto Ruggeri (92,000), Felix Schneiders (88,000), Jason Wheeler (80,000), Brian Kim (74,500), Poker Hall of Famer Patrik Antonius (63,500), and Enrico Camosci (62,500), who jumped into this event after finishing second to Christopher Nguyen in the Super High Roller earlier in the night.
Three past EPT Monte-Carlo champions also made it through, including Nicolas Chouity (168,500), Antonio Buonanno (88,000), and Manig Loeser (53,500). Coming back on short stacks are the likes of Ole Schemion (42,500), Conor Beresford (39,500), Joao Vieira (32,500), William Kassouf (29,000), EPT Cyprus champion Oliver Weis (24,000), and PokerStars Open champion Jon Kyte (16,500).
Notables to bust over the course of 10 hour-long levels included EPT Barcelona champion Stephen Song, Benny Glaser, Dario Sammartino, as well as Benjamin and Marle Spragg. Rania Nasreddine also busted her second bullet as her attempt to replicate last year’s third-place run ended today.
The 727 total entries recorded on Day 1b brought the field up to 1,129 through the two starting flights, with 382 returning at noon tomorrow for Day 2. Late registration remains open until the start of the day, with 79 entries needed to match last year’s record-setting field of 1,208. The action picks up on Level 11 with blinds of 1,000/1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante, with levels being extended to 90 minutes for the duration of the tournament. Day 2 will also see the start of the PokerStars live stream, available on their official YouTube channel.
PokerNews will be back at noon tomorrow following all the action as the players find out the prize pool and begin their journey to the money bubble.
