Luke Schwartz, Dario Sammartino, Byron Kaverman, Timothy Adams and PokerStars Team Pro Online Randy "nanonoko" Lew are among the 11 players confirmed to have entered before registration closed.
Not even three minutes in, and Jeff Hakim busted someone already.
On the first hand of the day, Hakim opened for 2,300 and Tommaso Briotti shoved in from the button for 17,300. Hakim called with and dominated Briotti's . The board ran out , and Hakim took it with his superior boat.
Yori EpskampJeff Hakim Starts With a Big Chip Lead
At 12:00 p.m. local time, Day 2 of the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® €5,300 will kick off. 716 hopefuls bought themselves into the Main Event, and after two starting days, 329 of them still have shot to become the first PokerStars Championship Main Event winner on European soil. Late registration is still open up until the start of Day 2 and ultra-late registrants will get a stack of 30 big blinds to spin up.
Jeff Hakim was the runaway chipleader on Day 1a and will start with 305,300 in chips, far more than his nearest rival Stefan Shillhabel (203,000). Notables with a strong showing on Day 1 include Manig Loeser (195,700), EPT9 Deauville winner Remi Castaigon (160,000), Igor Yaroshevskyy (156,700) and Ole Schemion (144,900).
Poker legend and Monacan resident Patrik Antonius, Last year's EPT12 Grand Final winner Jan Bendik and Team PokerStars Pro's Liv Boeree, Celina Lin, Jason Mercier, Igor Kurganov, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Daniel Negreanu are still in contention as well.
Today will feature six levels of 75-minutes each, with a 20-minute break scheduled after each two levels. Follow all the action on PokerNews throughout the week as we crown a brand new PokerStars Championship Main Event winner in the Monte-Carlo Casino!
and dominated Briotti's 
. The board ran out 
, and Hakim took it with his superior boat.
