Rodrigo Selouan raised to 6,000 from under the gun, and Mihai Niste called on the button.
The dealer spread a K♠4♦Q♣ flop, and when Selouan continued for 7,000, Niste called.
There was no slowing down from Selouan on the 10♥ turn, as he bet a more substantial 45,000. After taking a moment to consider, Niste called.
The innocuous 6♠ completed the board, and Selouan loaded the cannon before firing a third barrel, moving all in, having Niste's stack of 132,500 covered.
Niste spread his time extensions out in front of him and ended up using all five of them before calling.
It was bad news for Niste, as Selouan rolled over A♣J♥ for Broadway. Niste flipped over his K♦10♠ as was customary before heading away from the table.
Mihai Niste
On separate neighboring tables, Giovanni Rosadoni and Dimitrios Anastasakis were also eliminated, leaving the tournament just four spots from the money.
It folded to Enrico Camosci in the small blind, who open-raised. Kully Sidhu called in the big blind and jammed for roughly 30,000 when Camosci placed a contiunation-bet on the 10♣K♥Q♥ flop.
Camosci quickly called to put his neighbor at risk.
Kully Sidhu: A♦A♣
Enrico Camosci: Q♦J♦
Camosci turned a straight on the 9♥, leaving Sidhu drawing thin. The 4♣ river did not bring a higher straight for Sidhu, who quietly departed the tournament area in 153rd place.
Left with just one 1,000 chip, Morgan Aceto was forced all in from the small blind. When the action folded to Fabian Berraboukh in the hijack, he moved all in for 49,000, which nobody called.
Morgan Aceto: J♠6♣
Fabian Berraboukh: K♥K♣
An already difficult task became harder when the 10♠3♦10♦ flop left Aceto requiring running cards to survive.
The 3♥ turn sealed the deal, confirming Aceto's elimination before the 9♣ river had even been dealt.
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 Nistelooked 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.
Aleksandr Shevliakov
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.
Morgan Aceto
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.
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