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The opening flights of the €5,300 Main Event at the PokerStars European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo were played out under gray skies and heavy rain, but as the stars returned for Day 2 inside Sporting Monte-Carlo, so too did the sun.
A total of 188 players returned for Day 2, joined by 51 late entrants to bring the starting field to 339.
Overall, the 1,011entries created a prize pool of €4,903,350, to be shared among the top 151 finishers. A minimum payout of €9,200 was guaranteed for each player who survived the bubble, while €825,000 awaits the winner, along with the coveted Golden Shard trophy.
Leading the way into Day 3, Rodrigo Selouan picked up where he left off in the opening flight. Entering the day as one of the biggest stacks in the room, the Brazilian applied pressure at every opportunity.
In the penultimate level, Selouan scooped two huge pots in quick succession, both with river overbets. The first went uncalled, but the following hand, Mihai Niste looked him up only to be shown bad news. That hand sent Niste to the rail, and Selouan to the top of the chip counts.
Second in chips, Team PokerStars Pro Raul Mestre bagged 868,000. A mainstay at the top of the leaderboard, he returns for Day 3 with 217 big blinds. More than 70 big blinds behind, Stanislav Anufriiev rounds out the overnight podium with 574,000.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodrigo Selouan | Brazil | 933,000 | 233 |
| 2 | Raul Mestre | Spain | 868,000 | 217 |
| 3 | Stanislav Anufriiev | Ukraine | 574,000 | 144 |
| 4 | Oshri Lahmani | Israel | 562,000 | 141 |
| 5 | Mehdi Chaoui | Morocco | 532,000 | 133 |
| 6 | Eduard Litskan | Ukraine | 529,000 | 132 |
| 7 | Miguel Franco | Spain | 523,000 | 131 |
| 8 | Muhyedine Fares | Senegal | 494,000 | 124 |
| 9 | Leonardo Pires | Brazil | 486,000 | 122 |
| 10 | Xavier Cortazar Vidal | Andorra | 463,000 | 116 |
Further down the chip counts, five previous EPT Main Event winners are still in the field. Thomas Eychenne (336,000), former EPT Monte-Carlo champion Derk van Luijk (334,000), Ognyan Dimov (286,000), Dimitar Danchev (74,000) and Hossein Ensan (63,000) will all be emptying chips onto the felt when Day 3 begins.
Representing the PokerStars Team Pro contingent, David Lappin (99,000) and Maria Konnikova (77,000) will join the aforementioned Mestre when play gets underway.
Where plenty flourished, many faltered. By the time the first break rolled around, players such as Christopher Nguyen, Bryn Kenney, Boris Angelov, Espen Jorstad and Tom Vogelsang had already hit the rail.
As the bubble crept ever closer, former EPT Monte-Carlo champion Adrian Mateos and reigning champion Aleksandr Shevliakov also fell.
By the time the tournament reached the stone bubble, Morgan Aceto found himself with just a handful of chips. After posting his big blind and folding to a raise, he was then left with just a single 1,000 tournament chip.
Forced all in from the small blind, with the masses gathered around the table to watch, it was Aceto who had the misfortune of bursting the bubble. His jack-six was unable to crack pocket kings, and, as the rest of the field received confirmation of their minimum €9,200 payout, Aceto could only watch on as the survivors all bagged their chips to advance to Day 3.
Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €825,000 | 16-17 | €37,200 |
| 2 | €515,000 | 18-20 | €32,350 |
| 3 | €368,750 | 21-23 | €28,150 |
| 4 | €283,550 | 24-27 | €24,450 |
| 5 | €218,300 | 28-31 | €21,300 |
| 6 | €167,850 | 32-39 | €18,500 |
| 7 | €129,050 | 40-55 | €16,100 |
| 8 | €99,450 | 56-71 | €13,950 |
| 9 | €76,500 | 72-95 | €12,150 |
| 10-11 | €61,700 | 96-119 | €10,600 |
| 12-13 | €51,400 | 120-151 | €9,200 |
| 14-15 | €42,800 |
The remaining players have now progressed to Day 3, which will take place on Thursday, May 7, at 12 p.m. local time.
The plan for the day is to see out the remainder of Level 15, with blinds of 2,000/4,000 and a 4,000 big blind ante, where the clock was paused with 62 minutes left on it.
Play will then continue for a further four 90-minute levels, at which point all survivors will bag for Day 4.
Be sure to tune into PokerNews, where we will bring live coverage of all the major moments directly from the tournament floor.
