Main Event Day 1b | The 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

05-07-2013 15:18 UTC+2

Keeping Pace with nanonoko and mement_mori, Online Friends and Live Rivals

MarcC

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

It's impossible to guess how many hands Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen and Randy "nanonoko" Lew have played against one another in their prodigious online careers. But they had better get used to playing a few more today in the live environment as the friends and rivals are sitting right next to one another. PokerStars Blog watches the online tyros for a while.

Tags: Mickey Petersen Randy Lew

05-07-2013 15:35 UTC+2

Tough Table For Kurganov

Happy_Freaked

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

After spotting a series of German players we also just noticed Igor Kurganov join the fun. Kurganov sat down at a tough table with Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri to his immediate left. Andrew Chen, David Peters and Andrew Teng are also among last year's €25,000 High Roller winner here in Monte Carlo.

Player	Chips	Progress
Igor Kurganov	30,000	30,000
Andrew Teng	30,000	30,000

Tags: Andrew Chen Andrew Teng Dario Minieri David Peters Igor Kurganov

05-07-2013 15:47 UTC+2

Ivey Play and Blom's Arrival

MarcC

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

Viktor Blom is in the house and he's been sat at a very juicy table with Annette Obrestad and David Williams to his direct right and Xuan Liu to his left. Let the fireworks begin!

As Blom sat down at the table someone pointed out that he started with 300 chips less because of his late entry.

"Don't worry, Annette is going to give it to me on the first hand," Blom jokingly said as he took his seat to Obrestad's immediate right. Dutch player Clyde Tjauw Foe is seated to Blom's left followed by Philippe Ktorza and Liu.

"I'm not going to just give it to you," Obrestad laughed as the two started discussing some hands they played in past events. The atmosphere at the table is light hearted but we're pretty sure Blom is going to turn this table upside down in a matter of hands.

Tamer Kamel has made himself comfortable on the EPT after his final table appearance in London. He went on to cash in Berlin and is in today's field. He was probably happy with his table draw until Phil Ivey sat down to his left. Kamel just felt a little bit of Ivey's force too.

The action folded to Kamel in the small blind and he completed and called when Ivey raised to 600. The flop fell and Kamel check-called an 800 bet to see the turn. Ivey made him believe, and check-fold, when he fired 1,800 into the middle.

Player	Chips	Progress
Viktor Blom	30,000	30,000
Phil Ivey	29,000	-1,000
Tamer Kamel	25,000	25,000

Tags: Annette Obrestad David Williams Phil Ivey Tamer Kamel Viktor Blom Xuan Liu

05-07-2013 15:50 UTC+2

Sweet Start For Alvarado

Happy_Freaked

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

JC Alvarado, runner up finisher in last year's EPT Barcelona €50,000 High Roller, has had an amazing start of the day so far. The Mexican pro just gave us a brief rundown of how he managed to triple his stack.

Alvarado three-bet with queen-seven suited and was four-bet by the big blind. With 1,200 invested Alvarado called 2,000 more to see a flop in position. The flop brought and after a raising war Alvarado got his opponent all in with .

Later on Alvarado busted another player when he held versus . The majority of the chips went in on the flop and Alvarado's hand held up.

Player	Chips	Progress
JC Alvarado	100,000	70,000

Tags: JC Alvarado

05-07-2013 16:02 UTC+2

Top Two For De Meulder

Happy_Freaked

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

Team PokerStars Pro Christophe De Meulder just managed to take down a nice pot which put him at a very comfortable 40,000-chip stack. We picked up the action from the flop when the board read . De Meulder's opponent, Adrian Aston, check-called 725.

On the turn the hit and this time Aston check-called 1,600. The river brought the and Aston checked again. De Meulder grabbed some chips and fired out 4,200. Aston played around with his cards for a solide minute but eventually he tossed in the required chips to make the call.

De Meulder tabled for top two pair and that was stronger than Aston's cards who disappeared into the muck.

Player	Chips	Progress
Christophe De Meulder	40,000	10,000

Tags: Christophe de Meulder

05-07-2013 16:06 UTC+2

Great Stack For Greenwood

Happy_Freaked

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

We just caught the end of a hand that must've been quite interesting as Max Greenwood check-called with a set. The board read when Greenwood's opponent threw 7,000 into a 14,000-chip pot. The Canadian WSOP bracelet winner called and tabled immediately and that was a whole lot stronger than his opponent's .

Player	Chips	Progress
Max Greenwood	86,000	56,000

Tags: Max Greenwood

05-07-2013 16:21 UTC+2

PokerNews Bad Luck For Juanda?

MarcC

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

That's what John Juanda was jokily implying when he lost a pot to Alex Roumeliotis. His tune changed the very next hand when he won a nice pot back off the very same Swede.

In the first hand, Juanda three-bet from the button after Roumeliotis opened from the cut-off. Roumeliotis called to see the flop where he check-called a 2,050 c-bet from Juanda. Both players checked the turn before Roumeliotis took the pot down with a bet on the river.

On to the next hand where both our heros, and one other, called an early position raise to 525 before Talal Shakerchi squeezed it up to 2,650 from the button. Only our two heros called to see the flop. Shakerchi continued for 4,600 and was check-called by Roumeliotis before Junada check-raised all in for 24,200. Both opponents begrudgingly folded.

Player	Chips	Progress
John Juanda	33,000	3,000
Talal Shakerchi	25,000	-1,800
Alex Roumeliotis	23,000	-17,000

Tags: Alexander Roumeliotis John Juanda Talal Shakerchi

05-07-2013 16:27 UTC+2

Charania Down, Breaking Order Retained

[user101598]

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

Season 8 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European PokerStars Grand Final Main Event winner Mohsin Charania is in the field today, despite staying up late to watch his hometown Chicago Bulls defeat the Miami Heat last night.

Charania has stumbled out of he gate unfortunately, and just lost another pot when he bricked both straight and flush draws. Charania fired out 4,800 on a board of , only to be called by Elie El Feghali. Charania showed for a swing and a miss, which Feghali had beat with for a pair of fours.

There was then a conversation after the hand between David "Doc" Sands and tournament directory Toby Stone.

Earlier, the players at said table requested that the table should break out of order because several late registrants who stood in line with one another were seated together. Stone and the PokerStars staff investigated the issue, and found that the players at the table all registered at various times, with several other players registering in between.

Stone informed the players that the breaking order would not change.

"We were told something different," Sands objected.

"We didn't make that announcement," Teresa Nousiainen, another tournament director, added. "It was the players who said this table would break earlier."

Minutes later, Nousiainen reiterated the point, announcing over the PA system that the breaking order would remain unchanged.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mohsin Charania	16,000	-14,000

Tags: Dave Sands Mohsin Charania

05-07-2013 16:27 UTC+2

Team Pros at the TV Table

MarcC

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante

Luca Pagano and Daniel Negreanu are up on the fabulous looking TV set and table being filmed for EPT shows that'll be screened globally, and on PokerStars.tv, later this year.

Our access is limited but the kind TV crew have informed us of the differening fortunes on the two Team PokerStars Pros.

Negreanu is enjoying his time in front of the cameras and has ammased a stack of 53,925. Pagano is by no means struggling yet but has the lower stack of 17,275.

Player	Chips	Progress
Daniel Negreanu	53,925	23,725
Luca Pagano	17,275	-6,725

Tags: Daniel Negreanu Luca Pagano

Level: 4

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 25