€5,300 Main Event Day 1b | 2026 PokerStars EPT Monte-Carlo

3 days 19 hours ago

Garcia Bluffs It Off

Frank Visser

Level 1 : Blinds 100/100, 100 ante

Vasileios Panagiotidis opened the action with a raise to 300 in early position. Alejandro Vazquez made it 1,000 to go in the next seat over, which Cesar Garcia cold-called in the big blind. Panagiotidis also came along.

The trio checked through the 8♦Q♣6♦ flop, and Garcia continued checking on the 9♥ turn. Panagiotidis then took a stab at the pot with a bet of 1,200, seeing Vazquez call. Garcia had other plans, however, and bumped it up to 7,200.

Panagiotidis instantly mucked his cards, but Vazquez called after some thought. The 9♠ river prompted a quick all-in from Garcia, sending Vazquez into the tank.

After some time, Vazquez tossed in a calling chip. Garcia stood up as he turned over 7♥7♦. Garcia became the first elimination of Day 1b when Vazquez tabled K♦9♦ for rivered trips, and he quickly exited the tournament area.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alejandro Vazquez	59,800 59,800	59,800
Vasileios Panagiotidis	30,500 30,500	30,500
Cesar Garcia	Busted

Tags: Alejandro Vazquez Cesar Garcia Vasileios Panagiotidis

3 days 20 hours ago

Iaculli Doubles Early

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Frank Visser

Level 1 : Blinds 100/100, 100 ante

The action was picked up on a Q♣5♣4♥ flop. With 11,000 already in the middle, Elvis Petcu, in the big blind, check-raised Gianfranco Iaculli's earlier bet to 11,500. Ianculli called in middle position, and the dealer flipped over the 5♠ turn.

Petcu then put Iaculli all-in for his 6,500 remaining chips, and Iaculli snap-called for his tournament life.

Gianfranco Iaculli: Q♠Q♥ All in
Elvis Petcu: A♦Q♦

Iaculli's full house left Petcu with no outs remaining, and he was awarded the pot as the meaningless A♥ river completed the board.

Player	Chips	Progress
Gianfranco Iaculli	47,000 47,000	47,000
Elvis Petcu	4,200 4,200	4,200

Tags: Elvis Petcu Gianfranco Iaculli

3 days 20 hours ago

Kuznetsov Surging Early

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Frank Visser

Level 1 : Blinds 100/100, 100 ante

Three-way to the Q♠10♣10♥ flop, Nikita Kuznetsov bet 300 under the gun, which Matthew Micallef raised to 1,100 in the cutoff. The third player quickly moved out of the way, but Kuznetsov stuck around with a call.

After the 2♠ turn was checked through, Kuznetsov fired 1,300 on the 3♦ river. Micallef surrendered the pot by mucking his cards.

A short time later, Kuznetsov was in the big blind and, with about 18,000 in the pot, made it 5,000 to go on the A♣Q♦J♦4♦5♠ river.

His opponent was Jack Edjourian in the cutoff, who weighed his options for a while before letting go of his hand.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nikita Kuznetsov	40,600
Matthew Micallef	28,400
Jack Edjourian	21,000

Tags: Jack Edjourian Matthew Micallef Nikita Kuznetsov

3 days 21 hours ago

Final Starting Flight of EPT Monte-Carlo €5,300 Main Event Begins at Noon

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Stewart Morrison

As the sun battles through the grey clouds over the Mediterranean coast, attention in Monte-Carlo shifts from the beaches to the felt for the 2026 PokerStars European Poker Tour as the Sporting Monte-Carlo hosts Day 1b, the second and final starting flight, of the €5,300 Main Event.

Yesterday’s opening flight drew a field of 374 entries, generating a prize pool of €2,192,200, with 111 players advancing to Day 2 after navigating ten levels of play.

When those entering today look back at yesterday’s Day 1a flight for inspiration, they will see Mehdi Chaoui atop the leaderboard. The Moroccan high roller bagged 357,000, finishing well clear of the chasing pack after leaving the rest of the field in his wake.

Joining Chaoui inside the top ten stacks from the opening flight, accomplished French pro Florian Ribouchon bagged 210,500, with Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi ending the day with 188,500.

Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Mehdi Chaoui	Morocco	357,000	238
2	Jose Malpelli	France	263,000	175
3	Leonardo Pires	Brazil	243,000	162
4	Florian Ribouchon	France	210,500	140
5	Andrei Shmakov	Russian Federation	206,500	138
6	Laurent Polito	France	204,000	136
7	Stanislau Shylkou	Belarus	199,000	133
8	Ravi Sheth	United Kingdom	191,000	127
9	Juha Helppi	Finland	188,500	126
10	Hamza Nasir	United Kingdom	187,000	125

Players in Day 1b will each start with a 30,000 stack with blind levels starting at 100/100 and a 100 big blind ante. Each level will last 60 minutes, with late registration remaining open until the beginning of Day 2. Players are permitted one re-entry during that period. 

Upon the completion of Level 10, the remaining players will bag their chips and advance to Day 2, scheduled for 12:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, May 6th.

Day 1b Schedule

Level	Duration	Small Blind	Big Blind	Big Blind Ante
1	60 min	100	100	100
2	60 min	100	200	200
	15 min break
3	60 min	100	300	300
4	60 min	200	400	400
	15 min break
5	60 min	200	500	500
6	60 min	300	600	600
	75 min dinner break
7	60 min	400	800	800
8	60 min	500	1,000	1,000
	15 min break
9	60 min	600	1,200	1,200
10	60 min	600	1,200	1,200