Main Event
Day 1a Started
Main Event
Day 1a Started
It may have a new — and longer — name, but PokerStars' flagship European event is back.
It's time for PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® €5,300 Main Event to get going. Dating to the days when the event here was known as EPT Grand Final, this has always been a storied, prestigious tournament that brought out all of the best players from Europe, and often, the world.
Day 1a is set to get going with cards in the air at noon local time here in Monaco. The plan for Day 1a is to play through eight levels lasting 75 minutes apiece. There will be 20-minute breaks after every two levels, plus a 75-minute dinner break after Level 6. Players will start with stacks of 30,000 and blinds at 50/100, progressing to 400/800/100 by day's end. They cannot reenter if they are eliminated.
Day 1 Level Structure
Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 75 min | 50 | 100 | |
2 | 75 min | 75 | 150 | |
3 | 75 min | 100 | 200 | 25 |
4 | 75 min | 150 | 300 | 50 |
5 | 75 min | 200 | 400 | 50 |
6 | 75 min | 250 | 500 | 75 |
7 | 75 min | 300 | 600 | 100 |
8 | 75 min | 400 | 800 | 100 |
PokerStars has already been hosting it's former European Poker Tour here in Monaco and below you can find a chart with all previous winners at Le Sporting. The buy-in for the Main Event was lowered to €5,300 last year, and Jan Bendik defeated Adrien Allain heads-up to claim the title. Bendik has already notched up a score during this PokerStars Championship as well after finishing 223rd in the € 1,100 PokerStars National Championship.
Season | Year | Place | Players | Champion | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2005 | Monaco | 211 | Rob Hollink | Netherlands | €635,000 |
2 | 2006 | Monaco | 298 | Jeff Williams | United States | €900,000 |
3 | 2007 | Monaco | 706 | Gavin Griffin | United States | €1,825,010 |
4 | 2008 | Monaco | 842 | Glen Chorny | Canada | €2,020,000 |
5 | 2009 | Monaco | 935 | Pieter de Korver | Netherlands | €2,300,000 |
6 | 2010 | Monaco | 848 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | €1,700,000 |
7 | 2011 | Madrid | 686 | Ivan Freitez | Venezuela | €1,500,000 |
8 | 2012 | Monaco | 665 | Mohsin Charania | United States | €1,350,000 |
9 | 2013 | Monaco | 531 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | €1,224,000 |
10 | 2014 | Monaco | 650 | Antonio Buonanno | Italy | €1,240,000 |
11 | 2015 | Monaco | 564 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | €1,082,000 |
12 | 2016 | Monaco | 1,098 | Jan Bendik | Slovakia | €961,800 |
The PokerStars Championship has already crowned Christian Harder, Kenny Smaron and Elliot Smith as champions in 2017. Stay tuned to PokerNews throughout the next few days to see who will be next.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ali Reza Fatehi | 30,000 | |
Orpen Kisacikoglu
|
30,000 | |
Marc MacDonnell | 30,000 | |
Vanessa Selbst | 30,000 | |
Craig Varnell
|
30,000 | |
Ivan Banic | 30,000 | |
Fatima Moreira de Melo | 30,000 | |
Farid Yachou
|
30,000 |
Alin Grasu was the initial raiser and picked up two callers in Marc MacDonnell in the small blind and Jose Vendrell Schwaiger in the big blind. On the three-way flop of , the action checked through. After the turn, MacDonnell checked and Schwaiger bet 350, which Grasu folded and MacDonnell called.
The river completed the board and MacDonnell check-called another bet worth 1,000 before mucking to the of Schwaiger.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jose Vendrell Schwaiger
|
32,000 | 32,000 |
Marc MacDonnell | 28,200 | -1,800 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Adrian Mateos
|
30,000 | |
Freddy Deeb
|
30,000 | |
Justin Bonomo
|
30,000 | |
Anthony Spinella
|
30,000 | |
Max Silver
|
30,000 | |
Scott Margereson
|
30,000 | |
Andrey Andreev | 30,000 | |
Ryan Franklin | 30,000 | |
Javier Gomez Zapatero | 30,000 |
On a table that also features Anthony Spinella, Preben Stokkan opened to 250 from early position and Bradley Marsh in the small blind, as well as Vanessa Selbst in the big blind, came along. The flop fell and Marsh checked, Selbst bet 500 and Stokkan folded while Marsh called.
Both remaining players checked the turn before Marsh's bet of 1,800 on the river did the trick to force a reluctant fold from Selbst.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Bradley Marsh | 31,000 | |
Preben Stokkan | 29,750 | |
Vanessa Selbst | 29,000 | -1,000 |
The player in the hijack opened the action with a raise and Orpen Kisacikoglu on the button called. Big blind Stephen Chidwick squeezed to 1,250 and both the initial raiser and Kisacikoglu called.
With a flop of , Chidwick continued for 1,300. The hijack folded, Kisacikoglu raised to 3,900 after just a couple of seconds in the tank. Chidwick called.
As the hit the turn, Chidwick checked. Kisacikoglu bet a hefty 13,500 and Chidwick called.
The on the river saw both players check just about instantly and Chidwick revealed . Kisacikoglu tabled and took down the big pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Orpen Kisacikoglu
|
56,000 | 26,000 |
Stephen Chidwick
|
11,300 | -18,700 |
In a three-bet, three-way pot, action was on Max Silver with the board reading . Silver bet 1,600, Nicolas Pouzenc folded and Serhat Erdal called.
Silver kept up his aggression, firing 3,000 on the turn and 5,500 on the river. Erdal, a qualifier from Belgium with just over $1,000 in recorded live cashes, called it off. Silver, with $3M+ in lifetime winnings, flipped for two pair and Erdal mucked.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Max Silver
|
43,000 | 13,000 |
Serhal Erdat
|
19,000 | 19,000 |
A press conference was gathered together for some big news Comedian and Actor Kevin Hart had to announce at the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. Daniel Negreanu joined to assist, as the pair joked and made the media laugh. This is the raw, unedited footage.