Mahersh Selvakumaran left the last PokerStars European Poker Tour stop with two shiny gold trophies to add to his collection. That momentum carried over to today on Day 1b of the EPT Paris Main Event, when Selvakumaran put himself in position for another deep run by building a massive chip lead.
Selvakumaran ended the day with 448,500, 100,000 clear of the rest of the 284 players to survive Day 1b, putting him in the overall chip lead through the two opening flights. Selvakumaran came to Paris on a hot streak, winning two events at EPT Prague in December, including the €10,300 EPT High Roller for €477,000. He also finished 11th in the PS Open Main Event two months ago.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mahersh Selvakumaran | Netherlands | 448,500 | 299 |
| 2 | Endrit Geci | United Kingdom | 348,500 | 232 |
| 3 | Graeme Newman | United Kingdom | 345,000 | 230 |
| 4 | Gabriel Nahum | France | 334,500 | 223 |
| 5 | Bruno Fuentes | France | 316,500 | 211 |
| 6 | Luis Faria | Portugal | 316,000 | 211 |
| 7 | Julien Mariani | France | 290,000 | 193 |
| 8 | Manuel Carvalho | Portugal | 265,000 | 177 |
| 9 | Benjamin Gros | France | 264,500 | 176 |
| 10 | Ekrem Sanioglu | France | 255,000 | 170 |
Far behind him on the leaderboard is Endrit Geci (348,500), while Graeme Newman rode a double knockout holding two jacks all the way to 345,000 and third place. Gabriel Nahum (334,500) and Bruno Fuentes (316,500) round out the top five.
Other top stacks include past WCOOP Main Event champion Luis Faria (316,000), Alec Torelli (230,000), and Joris Ruijs (213,000). Further down the leaderboard are Mehdi Chaoui (163,500), Felix Schneiders (157,000), Elias Gutierrez (115,500), and Zdenek Zizka (111,500). Cheng Zhao earned a late double up when he made a hero call for his last 48,800, holding two jacks on a king-queen-high board and picked off Tobias Kirby-Hogarty’s bluff. The 2023 EPT Prague finalist ended up with 152,500.
Masato Yokosawa (97,500), Jessica Teusl (93,500), Ole Schemion (62,500), Davidi Kitai (59,500), Robin Ylitalo (47,500), Nate Silver (44,000), Maria Konnikova (43,500), and Juan Pardo (35,500) were also among the players who secured their spots for Day 2. Those who weren’t so fortunate included two-time EPT champ Mike Watson, EPT Monte Carlo champion Aleksandr Shevliakov, EPT Prague runner-up Bora Kurtulus, Kenny Hallaert, Eric Afriat, Dominik Panka, Adrian Mateos, Jon Kyte, Boris Angelov, Stephen Song, and Jason Wheeler.
The 838 players who packed Le Palais des Congrès on Day 1b brought the field up to 1,411 entries through the two starting flights. A total of 464 will return for Day 2 tomorrow at noon local time. Late registration remains open until the start of the day, so there is still a chance for the field to grow much larger by the time the prize pool is confirmed. Blinds will be 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 big blind ante at the start of the day, and levels will be extended to 90 minutes from this point on.
The money bubble should burst towards the end of the day tomorrow, and PokerNews will be back following all the action and providing live updates as players try to secure a payday.
