LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150

2.22pm: Back from the break
The remaining players are now back in their seats and level three is underway.

There’s no easy way to say this but: George Stewart, Marinos Mina, Richard Heelas, Kevin Steele, Dag Ahlse, Michael Watson, Gareth Parry, Darren Sweeney, Stephen Kenna, Roman Dohnal, Romero Borze, Daniel Perez, Jamil Ogunmakinwa, Michalis Michael, Julian Thew and Tomlin Colburn are not back in their seats as they were all eliminated during the first two levels. — NW

2.02pm: Break time
That’s two levels in the books, players are now on a 20 minute break. — NW

1.50pm: Blain picks one off
When you think of Ireland and poker, names like Padraig Parkinson, Fintan Gavin, Roy Brindley and Andy Black come to mind. There are all of the chatty, eccentric, up for the craic type personalities but there is another rarer breed of Irish poker player, the get it quietly type.

One player who fits that mould is Dermot Blain, no table histrionics, no fuss just impeccable table presence and consistency. The young Irishman has a string of impressive cashes to his name including winning the APPT Maccau Main Event in 2009 and a fifth place finish in the WSOPE Main Event in 2011.

I just saw a hand that encapsulated all this, he called a raise of 275 from Matthew Gilmartin and the two of them checked all the way to the river on a board of [2s][Qs][6c][8h][Jh]. At his juncture Gilmartin threw out a bet of 400, no insta-call here from Blain, he made a face that looked like he was chewing a wasp, thought for about 15 seconds and then called.

Gilmartin showed [8s][7s] but Blain had [Ac][Js] to take the pot. — NW

Dermot Blain

1.35pm: One for the cameras
Small round of applause for Damien Quinlivan who just three-barrel bluffed [8h][5h] into a [ad][jd][5d][6s][3s] board. Well, I assume it was a bluff. That would be some pretty thin value betting if not.

Mike Hill had opened the pot for 225 and had picked up three callers, including Quinlivan in the small blind and Mark Spelman in the big.

Flop: [ad][jd][5d]
Quinlivan led 450 and was called by Spelman. The others passed

Turn: [ad][jd][5d][6s]
Quinlivan fired another 1,000 into the pot. Spelman called again.

River: [ad][jd][5d][6s][3s]
Quinlivan confidently – perhaps too confidently – threw 2,600 into the middle. Spelman tank-folded.

Quinlivan took a look at his cards, looked up, caught my eye and showed the table the bluff. Bravo, sir. It was one for the cameras. Mike Hill was still chortling as I walked away. — RD

Mike Hill looking for his fourth UKIPT final table

1.10pm: Tables chips and exits
The table draw has thrown up the odd doozy, which we’ll be keeping an eye on. Like table 42 where Dean Lyall, Jeff Burke, Bastiaan Van Den Brink and Daiva Barauskaite are sat in a row. That table has already seen one elimination, earlier we reported how Van Den Brink had doubled up but didn’t have the name of the first player out. We can now report that the unlucky player to exit was Antonius Van Venrooij.

Meanwhile Richard Sinclair (18,000) and Iwan Jones (17,000) have got off to good starts whilst things have gone south so far for Julian Thew (7,000) and Nick Newport (13,900). — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

12.50pm: Seat open
By this time on Day 1A two players (including Nick Abou Risk) had been sent to the rail, both as the result of aces versus kings (although the kings won on one occasion). Today it took a bit longer to lose the first player, around 50 minutes in fact.

The identity of the eliminated player is unknown but Bastiaan Van Den Brink was the beneficiary and he told me what happened: “I opened the button with [10][9], he three-bet with [10][5] and I called. The flop came [9][7][5] he c-bet, I called. The turn was a ten he fired a second barrel and I called. The river was a blank, he shoved all-in and I called.”

So two pair against smaller two pair accounts for the first player today, much more interesting than boring aces versus kings. — NW

12.35pm: Walking the floor
This looks to be a great event to play. A lot of players that you might not want to see at your table – think of the likes of Jake Cody, Matt Perrins, JP Kelly, James Keys, Chris Brammer, Rupiner Bedi – aren’t here because of the upcoming World Series, some have headed out early, and because of SCOOP, which has been hitting some unbelievable numbers.

That’s a chunk of tough players who would severely reduce your tournament expectation so to the 500 or so that are playing this €770 main event, well done, you’ve made a fantastic decision.

Among the players today that do have some previous are EPT winner Julian Thew, EPT and UKIPT regular Dermot Blain, Dean ‘deanosupremo’ Lyall and SCOOP hero Sam ‘SamSquid’ Grafton. We’ll be catching up with Grafton at the break to speak to him about his $234,193 bink. He doesn’t know it yet, but we will.

Thew is at a table nearby sporting a small red and yellow dollar bill badge. It’s not a bounty button, it’s a lucky charm from one of his kids: “I thought I’d check out its luckbox potential. I’ll give it a couple of hours,” said Thew.

Fifteen minutes of the first level remain. — RD

Julian Thew

12.20pm: Who’s here?
There’s a much larger field today than yesterday and amongst the 300 or so runners is a sprinkling of stardust. So far I’ve spotted EPT winner Julian Thew, UKIPT Champion of Champions Richard Sinclair who’s resplendent in his usual Day 1 Ed Hardy hoodie.

Also spotted were UKIPT Galway runner-up Ronan Gilligan, UKIPT Nottingham S2 fourth place finisher Tim Bettingen, Paul Jackson, Nicholas Newport and UKIPT Killarney champion Femi Fakinle.

True to form Fakinle was involved in a pot as I passed his table, he bet 600 on the river of a [8c][6d][8h][4h][9s], his opponent called but mucked when Fakinle showed [8s][6h] for a full house. Keep an eye on the chip counts page, where we’ll be keeping track of the names, notables and big stacks as stories develop on Day 1B. — NW

Femi Fakinle

12pm: And we’re off…
The clock is running/the cards are in the air/add your own ‘the tournament has begun’ euphemism here. — RD

11.50pm: Day 1B revving up
Today’s looking like a busy one. Plenty of players milling around and making their way to the tables. We had 199 player yesterday, 91 of whom made it through the eight one-hour levels. We’ll be playing the same today: no dinner break and done by 9pm. Lovely. The board is currently showing 300 players so we can expect a field of 500-plus.

We can break the news that the defending champion Dutchman Joeri Zandvliet will not be defending his title. He’s in Ibiza at the Estrellas Poker Tour trying win a new one instead.

Loading up the starting stacks

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Dublin (in order of score out of ten they give Ballymaloe relish): Rick Dacey (8 – it’s tangy, tasty and just a little bit naughty) and Nick Wright (7 – it’s no Devonian chutney, but it’s close).

Tags: 2011 | action | Battle of the Planets | european | julian-thew | news | TOC | wcoop | WSOPE

Polish SuperNova lurko8 today claimed his second SCOOP title, adding Event 11-H $700 PL Omaha 6-max to the Event #33-H No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo title he won in 2011. Clearly he likes four card games.

With 321 players taking to the virtual felt, this event didn’t just smash the guarantee it pulvarised, devoured and, ahem, chopped it up. The final prize pool of $215,070 was three-times the advertised guarantee and the winner would take home $47,315.48. Some of those who contributed to the prize pool but took nothing from it were: Anders ‘Donald Berg, George Lind III, Henrique.Pinho, Martin Staszko, George Danzer, Jude Ainsworth, and ElkY whilst Eugene Katchalov was eliminated in 36th – the first money paying spot.

But one Team Online pro was still going strong, Shane ‘shaniac’ Schleger was alive and well and truly kicking as hand for hand play started with seven players left. ’18 hours on the grind, and I’m on the FT bubble of event 11-H, $700 PL08 6-max. 7/7 in chips,’ he tweeted.

Shane ‘shaniac’ Schleger pictured at the PCA

The experienced pro was on the three-handed table at this point but despite being the short stack he did not acquiesce to the bigger stacks and in fact put his chips to good use. ‘Chipped up nicely on the FT bubble. Now 3/6 in chips. $47K up top.,” he tweeted shortly after Chipaccrual had been eliminated by lukro8 in seventh place.

As the final table started the stacks and line-up looked like this:

Seat 1: Aquasces1, Canada, 165,316
Seat 2: Milana Jones, Russia, 510,077
Seat 3: lukro8, Poland, 498,998
Seat 4: Lyndon360, New Zealand, 178,121
Seat 5: HornyAnimal 62,596
Seat 6: shaniac 189,892

The final table

Double trouble

It would take nearly an hour of cagey play for the first exits of the final table. Yes that’s right exits – because it was a double elimination. HornyAnimal was the shortstack and the start of the final table and had been unable to make any progress. Playing a stack of 58,322 he opened for the pot (21,000) from under-the-gun, next to act Team Online Pro shaniac (playing 151,052) committed almost half his stack by re-potting and raising to 72,000. It passed to lukro8 who smooth called from the small blind and HornyAnimal then called all-in.

The flop fell [3d][ks][7s] lukro8 set shaniac all-in and he made the call. You can see the results of the hand below.

RSS readers click through to see replay

When the hand was over four players remained, HornyAnimal winning $8,602.80 in sixth, shaniac $12,904.20 for fifth. “Sigh, maybe blew it on my bust hand, not sure what else to do though. Took 5th for ~13K,” tweeted shaniac shortly aftwerwards.

Twos Up
At this stage Milina Jones and lukro8 were forging ahead leaving Lyndon360 and Aquasces1 far behind, the latter two seemingly having a battle for third and fourth between them. The two chipleaders were winning most pots and very much playing small pot poker and any big pots that were played ended up being chopped and it was as you were.

But then along came a big pot as Aquasces1 doubled through Milana Jones.

RSS readers click through to see replay

A short time late Aquasces1 gained the chip lead and it was now he and lukro8 clear of Milana Jones and Lyndon360. Soon though two groups of two would become one group of three as the two shortstacks clashed in a pot that would send one of them to the rail in fourth.

In a four-bet pre-flop pot Lyndon360 was effectively all-in against Milina Jones and on the flop of [Qs][Jh][4c] Jones set him all-in and he called.

RSS readers click through to see replay

A rivered two-pair for the Russian saw him suddenly zoom back into contention.

Let’s sleep

The stacks of the three players left were now very close:

Seat 1: Aquasces1 570,248
Seat 2: Milana Jones 549,252
Seat 3: lukro8 485,500

So deal discussions started with Aquasces1 the prompter:

Aquasces1: 3 way chop and sleep?
Milana Jones: we can see numbers
Aquasces1: ok lukro?
lukro8: lets play

With deal discussions nipped in the bud by the player chasing a second SCOOP title they played on for:

1st: $47,315.48
2nd: $33,013,24
3rd: $24,733.05

In the first 30 minutes of three-handed play Aquasces1 had opened up a significant chip lead but then came a tournament defining million chip pot that swung the pendulum of power towards the Pole.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Aquasces1 had flopped top set, but lurko8 had a draw to the nut flush and a better draw to a low hand, he duly hit both draws on the [5c] turn, Aquasces1 needed the board to pair to take the high portion of the pot but the [8s] completed the board.

Pole position

The Pole now had almost two-thirds of the chips in play but long time chip leader Milana Jones was not going to sit back and get picked off. Indeed it was he who would eliminate Aquasces1 in third to ensure that the two big stacks coming to the final table would face-off heads-up for the title.

Jones raised to 32,000 pre-flop, Aquasces1 re-raised to 102,000 (leaving just 995 back) and Jones made the call. The flop fell [7d][10c][Ac] and the very few remaining chips went in.

Milana Jones: [10d][9d][5c][3c]
Aquasces1: [Jc][Js][8h][2h]

Turn: [Kd]
River: [8d]

With a king high flush and a 8,7,5,3,A low Jones took the whole pot and heads-up play started with the following chip stacks:

Milana Jones: 564,334
lukro8 1,040,666

lurko8 had a near two to one chip lead and over the first 23 hands of heads-up play he extended that lead still further. The 24th hand would be the last.

With blinds at 6,000 – 12,000 Milana Jones raised to 24,000 on the button, lurko8 three-bet to 72,000 and Jones called. On the flop of [Ad][Ah][6c] lurko8 led out for 144,000, Jones moved all-in for 292,364 and lurko8 snap called.

Milana Jones: [5s][4s][2s][2d]
lurko8: [As][6h][5h][3c]

lurko8 had flopped a full-house to all but lock up the high half of the pot, Jones though had a better draw to the low. But, the turn was the [Qh] and the [9d] completed the board to give lurko8 a second SCOOP title and $47,315.48.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Final table payouts:

1st: lukro8, Poland, $47,315.48
2nd: Milana Jones, Russia, $33,013.24
3rd: Aquasces1, Canada, $24,733.05
4th: Lyndon360, New Zealand, $17,205.60
5th: shaniac, Mexico, $12,904.20
6th: HornyAnimal, United Kingdom, $8,602.80

Click here to read more SCOOP reports.
Click here to see the SCOOP schedule.
Click here to go to the SCOOP website.

Tags: 2011 | Baltic Poker Festival | eureka poker tour | gambling | lapt | portugal | russian poker series | wbcoop | World Series of Poker

The EPT Season 8 awards are due to be given out at the closing party on Tuesday rewarding a select elite for their grind over the last nine months. They’ll all have earned their plaudits but plenty of other unsung heroes will have to remain in the shadows. Don’t ask why but we at the PokerStars Blog didn’t actually get consulted on the Achievement of the Year or Player of the Year awards.* It’s not like we’ve been at every event.

*It’s a sponsorship impartiality thing. Bah humbug, say we.

So thumbing our nose at that decision we’ve decided to put forward a few of the players that haven’t been short listed that we think deserve their own fleeting moment in the spotlight. In no particular order:

Ilan Boujenah

Ilan Boujenah has been one of this season’s revelations. Three main event cashes, one final table and lungful’s of histrionics, Boujenah has proved himself to be a precocious talent and one that will act as a catalyst for action at the table. Not the player that you want on your left. Another terror at the table is Melanie Weisner who ripped through the EPT Copenhagen main event but ran ace-queen into ace-king then the same hand into aces shortly after to go from chip lead to bust in around half an hour. She finished 28th there and in the same position at EPT Madrid just a couple of weeks later marking her third main event cash of the season. Weisner bust just before the money here but considering she finished runner-up to Victoria Coren in a tight 3-2 final in the €5,000 Heads-Up here in Monaco for €39,250. Weisner a wise-cracking, in-your-face kind of player who is not only happy taking on the worst kind of testosterone-fuelled macho players but seems to relish not only kicking them to the kerb but stamping her stiletto heels into the them for good measure. More deep runs to be expected.

Melanie Weisner

For underestimated talent we can look at one of the quietest winners from the tour, Zimnan Ziyard. The Brit won EPT Loutraki for €347,000, an event that was not streamed, so perhaps did not receive the kudos that he should have. Ziyard followed every play through if he thought it was the correct one, manipulating the final table stacks to an extent that’s not frequently seen in live poker. At one point he re-shoved with [6h][2c] forcing runner-up Hauke Heseding out of the pot allowing him to knock out or treble up third-place finisher John Taramas. The move kind of made sense but few would be able to pull it with that amount of money at stake.

EPT Loutraki winner Zimnan Ziyard

Irishman Mick ‘BIGMICKG’ Graydon may not deserve an award this year but the onlint tournament specialist is certainly one to watch for next. A good friend of Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth, Graydon made a good run at the Player of the Year leader board scoring three main event cashes, one final table, as well as eight side events cashes. Graydon bust out in 24th with kings getting cracked by Ronny Kaiser’s ace-king for the chip lead of EPT Tallinn. Kaiser hit, swiped a dominating stack and went on to win the event. Other players that fall into the ‘They-nearly-got-it-but-no-doubt-will-be-back’ award include auto big stack builder Martins Adeniya and fan’s favourite Xuan Liu. Both made final tables neither quite got the rub of the green.

Mick Graydon (red jumper) with Jude Ainsworth

Xuan Liu

Martins Adeniya (left) with JP Kelly

However, perhaps more than anyone else the player that must be given a nod/thumbs-up/pat on the back is Phillip ‘philbort’ Gruissem. The German destroyed the High Roller scene earlier in the season scoring the following results:

Barcelona, €10,000 buy-in: 1st, €234,000
London, £20,000: 1st, £450,000
San Remo, €10,000: 4th, €68,600

Gruissem, who has won more than $2,000,000 in online tournaments online, is also the chip leader of in the €25,000 High Roller which is down to it’s final 16 players; 14 places pay. It’s looking like it could be yet another giant score for the German. You can follow his final push by clicking through this link.
Can Gruissem win yet another High Roller? This one’s worth €1,080,000…

Philipp Gruissem has had an incredible season to look back on

Tournament snapshot
Level 33: blinds 100,000-200,000, ante 30,000
Players: 3 of 665
Average stack: 6,650,000
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Tags: 2011 | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | australia | german | london | madrid | micromillions | monte-carlo | SCOOP | Super Tuesday | tcoop | twitter

If you’ve ever read anything about the European Poker Tour (EPT), chances are you’ve read about this whole two-time winner hoodoo. We’ve written about it so many times, the keys practically type themselves. In short: no one has ever won two EPTszzzzzzzzzz.

Wake up!

Thing is, a quick glance around the High Roller field in Monaco today goes some way to explaining why no one has ever done the main event double. Quite apart from picking up a second trophy, some of poker’s dyed-in-the-wall legends have never even won a first.

It’s really quite stunning. Here are a few of the players in the Salle des Etoiles this afternoon, with the number of EPT titles in brackets beside their names:

Erik Seidel (0), Will Reynolds (0), Tom Marchese (0), Isaac Haxton (0), Vanessa Selbst (0), Bryn Kenney (0), Sami Kelopuro (0), Scott Seiver (0), Chris Moorman (0), David Williams (0), Dan Shak (0), Lex Veldhuis (0), Sorel Mizzi (0), Ivan Demidov (0), Jonathan Duhamel (0), Mike Watson (0), William Thorson (0), Martin Kabrhel (0), Daniel Negreanu (0), Toni Judet (0), Jason Sommerville (0), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (0), Daniel Cates (0), Phil Ivey (0), Alex Gomes (0), Dan Smith (0), Eugene Katchalov (0), JP Kelly (0), Philipp Gruissem (0), Steve O’Dwyer (0), Tobias Reinkemeier (0), Viktor Blom (0), Justin Bonomo (0) and Faraz Jaka (0).

Vanessa Selbst: In good company

You get the picture – and if this little lot haven’t managed a single title between them, you can see why it’s so hard for anyone to get another.

Of course, there also are some former main event champions in the field: Mike McDonald, Christophe Benzimra, Max Lykov, Martin Finger, Mark Teltscher, Liv Boeree, Jason Mercier, Martin Schleich, Patrick Antonius and ElkY. And a significant number of them have already picked up High Roller titles too.

Kevin MacPhee

We’re not saying this lot aren’t celebrated. Far from it. But they seem to have about as much chance as you or I at becoming the first two-time champ.

*****

Tournament update:

At the end of the first level of play, there were 51 players on the entry list, of which 50 remained. At the end of the second level of play, there were 100 players on the entry list, of which 99 remained.

Now, even as we get close to the end of level three, the board shows 113 registrations and 112 still in.

But unfortunately this isn’t all as clear as it sounds. During this extended registration period, players have also been able to re-enter, once and once only. Govert Metaal, our first faller, did so. Ditto Daniel Negreanu. Tony Gregg busted and bought back; Kevin MacPhee busted but didn’t.

Viktor Blom busted and said he would be buying back but hasn’t yet. And doubtless in the coming hour a load more will be busting and maybe buying back, but maybe not. That number represents buy-ins, rather than actual people, and it’s impossible to keep up with it all at the moment.

So it’s as clear as mud, but hang in there and we will soon find out what is really going on.

Click here for live updates from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final

Tags: australia | belgian poker series | portugal poker series | russian | Super Tuesday | tournaments | wbcoop | world cup of poker

The Day 2 seat draw below shows that we have 394 players remaining from the 665 that started. Chip leader Nick Yunis, yes he of joint fourth place in the EPT Player of the Year race, sits on table 1 with the likes of Tony Gregg (double PCA final table finisher), Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin and EPT regular Manuel Bevand.

We’re slated to play six 75-minute levels today with a dinner break after the fourth level of the day. We suspect a seventh level may be played if we’re close to popping the money bubble. Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Daniel Negreanu will be grinding his 22,400 stack

(Table, seat, name, chips)
1 1 Hafiz Khan 71,500
1 2 Thomas Wahlroos 24,300
1 3 Nicola Bordignon 41,400
1 4 Tony Gregg 34,700
1 5 Nick Yunis  191,700
1 6 Michel Carvin 59,800
1 7 Manuel Bevand 16,300
1 8 Victor Ramdin 7,000
1 9 Vadzim Markushevski 49,500

2 1 Andrew Badecker 83,800
2 2 Beatrice Sitbon 17,100
2 3 Aneris Adomkevicius 46,100
2 4 Aage Ravn 57,200
2 5 Barry Greenstein 71,100
2 6 Christophe Benzimra 25,000
2 7 Claus Bek Nielsen 37,700
2 8 Lawrie Inman 100,800
2 9 Casey Kastle 10,600

3 1 Martin Wendt 53,600
3 2 Suat Uyanik 33,200
3 3 Craig McCorkell 8,500
3 4 Ole Schemion 64,400
3 5 Patrick Renkers 23,700
3 6 Thibaud Genegou 16,900
3 7 Nils Svensson 76,800
3 8 Levon Bouchikian 45,400
3 9 Andrew Pantling  91,500

4 1 Jose Manuel Nadal 69,800
4 2 Andrey Gulyy 59,100
4 3 Philippe Narboni 16,200
4 4 Ricky Tang 23,200
4 5 Andrey Bondar 29,900
4 6 Mats Gavatin 48,100
4 7 Santiago Nadal Sordo 85,600
4 8 Alessio Isaia 139,600
4 9 Stephane Albertini 38,000

5 1 Ermo Kosk 10,600
5 2 Ivan Kudriavtcev 186,200
5 3 Daniel Studer 50,100
5 4 Vito Lonigro 31,900
5 5 Phillippe Rouas 17,800
5 6 Jeffrey Gross 26,800
5 7 Nathan Schoo 65,100
5 8 Emin Aghayev 82,500
5 9 Mick Graydon 40,500

6 1 Daniel Di Pasquale 65,400
6 2 Stephen Reynolds 78,200
6 3 Fioroni Aroldo 11,500
6 4 Vojtech Ruzicka 43,400
6 5 Marc Colomé 34,800
6 6 Andrea Benelli 53,200
6 7 Xavier Detournel 25,800
6 8 Lothar Meier 19,100
6 9 Vladimir Geshkenbein 103,900

7 1 Bryn Kenney 30,600
7 2 Bruno Launais 77,500
7 3 Edward Teems 59,700
7 4 Tom Marchese 112,000
7 5 Sergiy Baranov 23,700
7 6 Clayton Mozdzen 40,700
7 7 Marat Begenov 10,500
7 8 Olivier Douce 48,600
7 9 Kevin MacPhee 16,800

8 1 Mikhail Korotkikh 61,300
8 2 Marc-Andre Ladouceur 101,300
8 3 Adrian Veghinas 84,600
8 4 Dieter Albrecht 42,100
8 5 Cristea Ionut 52,100
8 6 Alain Daien 24,200
8 7 Andrei Stoenescu 17,700
8 8 Evgeny Taranyuk 11,200
8 9 George Danzer 31,200

9 1 Ignat Liviu 36,700
9 2 Rade Jovanovski 16,000
9 3 Sandor Demjan 43,000
9 4 Sorel Mizzi 61,600
9 5 Oleh Okhotskyi 74,000
9 6 Steve O’Dwyer 101,600
9 7 Alexey Sudarikov 22,800
9 8 Ziv Caspi 27,600
9 9 Mikalai Pobal 51,800

10 1 Zoltan Szabo 35,400
10 2 Fowzi Baroukh 28,600
10 3 Lucien Cohen 21,900
10 4 Mickael Tribert 45,600
10 5 Alain Goldberg 74,700
10 6 Vanessa Selbst 54,900
10 7 Yulius Sepman 16,000
10 8 Aubin Cazals 93,500
10 9 Ville Wahlbeck 61,700

11 1 Kenny Hicks 40,000
11 2 Giuseppe Pantaleo 19,600
11 3 Marco Leonzio 58,800
11 4 Mesbah Guerfi 24,300
11 5 David Peters 67,400
11 6 Toby Lewis 12,500
11 7 Scott Seiver 99,800
11 8 Clyde Tjauw Foe 82,600
11 9 Javier Garcia 48,000

12 1 Idris Ambraisse 125,000
12 2 Ariel Mantel 48,200
12 3 John Eames 157,200
12 4 Geert-Jan Potijk 116,000
12 5 Martin Schleich 59,300
12 6 John O’Shea 39,900
12 7 Yury Kerzhapkin 23,600
12 8 Johnny Lodden 12,600
12 9 Tudor Grangure 30,400

13 1 Benoit Albiges 43,400
13 2 Rumen Nanev 51,300
13 3 Jeffrey Hakim 25,900
13 4 George Lind 35,900
13 5 Vanessa Rousso 17,000
13 6 Sam Trickett 65,800
13 7 Nacho Barbero 105,400
13 8 Juan Gonzalez Venzano 85,500
13 9 Griffin Benger 10,600

14 1 Daniele Guidetti 42,300
14 2 Gaelle Baumann 35,400
14 3 Francis-Nicolas Bouchard 26,200
14 4 Mike Carter 12,400
14 5 Basil Yaiche 54,300
14 6 Ramon Romero Lanz 63,300
14 7 Jesse Martin 93,500
14 8 Seamus Cahill 78,900
14 9 Samuel Chartier  18,400

15 1 Bruno Fitoussi  14,000
15 2 Jonathan Villeneuve 58,500
15 3 Jean-Noel Thorel 100,400
15 4 Yannick Del Curto 30,400
15 5 Ognjen Sekularac 47,900
15 6 Igor Malyshkov 20,200
15 7 JP Kelly 83,700
15 8 Sinel Anton 69,100
15 9 Nicolas Chouity 38,700

16 1 Jason Somerville 13,200
16 2 Dimitar Danchev 67,000
16 3 Roman Romanovsky 58,300
16 4 Andrey Zaichenko  42,000
16 5 Mikhail Petrov 19,550
16 6 Dragan Kostic 34,400
16 7 Michael Kolkowicz 93,600
16 8 Justin Bonomo 79,000
16 9 Vincenzo Andrea 26,400

17 1 Matthias De Meulder 23,900
17 2 Leon Viellevoije 30,900
17 3 Kyle Julius 16,600
17 4 Phil Ivey 72,000
17 5 Anton Ionel 7,200
17 6 Sebastian Veghinas 48,600
17 7 Martial Blangenwitsch 60,000
17 8 Andrey Demidov 104,400
17 9 Maksim Kolosov 40,700

18 1 Marc Zaicik 35,800
18 2 Timofey Kuznetsov 99,700
18 3 Humberto Brenes 77,700
18 4 Carlos Sanchez Vegas 53,600
18 5 Kut Fu Chow 27,600
18 6 Daniel Negreanu 22,400
18 7 Marcel Luske 63,200
18 8 Maxim Panyak 6,700
18 9 Elliot Smith 45,700

19 1 Vladislav Varlashin 20,700
19 2 Maria Ho 55,500
19 3 Adham Beainy 47,000
19 5 Maroun Jazzar 25,300
19 6 Walid Bou-Habib 85,700
19 7 Ben Warrington 104,800
19 8 Dermot Blain 66,000
19 9 Marco Falanga 34,300

20 1 Keven Stammen 46,800
20 2 Dmitry Grishin 81,300
20 3 Jose Carlos Garcia 12,100
20 4 Paul Testud 28,900
20 5 Spencer Hudson 57,900
20 6 Bolivar Palacios 65,600
20 7 Giacomo Maisto 23,200
20 8 Kunimaro Kojo 36,900
20 9 Dario Minieri 94,700

21 1 Yann Brosolo 18,200
21 2 Chanracy Khun 43,700
21 3 Andrey Kuznetsov 33,900
21 4 Zachary Clark 24,100
21 5 Michael Telker 60,900
21 6 Ole Nergard 80,500
21 7 Patrick Sacrispeyre 8,500
21 8 Jason Mercier 52,200
21 9 Mickey Petersen 98,800

22 1 Joackim Fissenko 24,000
22 2 Flavius Puica 54,400
22 3 Pavel Gonchakov 67,200
22 4 Christopher Hunichen 32,200
22 5 Annette Obrestad 82,400
22 6 Anatoly Gurtovoy 118,100
22 7 Joe Cada 17,000
22 8 Vincent Verdickt 4,700
22 9 Liv Boeree 44,900

23 1 Amit Makhija 32,000
23 2 Yury Gulyy 26,500
23 3 Joao Nunes 14,000
23 4 Sergey Baburin 21,400
23 5 Fabrice Soulier 73,300
23 6 Jonathan Karamalikis 89,600
23 7 Andrey Danilyuk 60,000
23 8 Terje Augdal 49,500
23 9 Jude Ainsworth 41,000

24 1 Malte Moennig 136,900
24 2 Rasmus Vogt 25,000
24 3 Marcus Hellner 17,800
24 4 William Thorson 31,000
24 5 Marius Pospiech 12,500
24 6 Cengiz Ulusu 114,300
24 7 Alexander Venovski 48,500
24 8 Isaac Baron 40,100
24 9 Pratyush Buddiga 69,900

25 1 Javier Gil Candelas 10,800
25 2 Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli 36,800
25 3 Martin Kabrhel 167,800
25 4 Richard Toth 52,900
25 5 Samir Moukawem 24,000
25 6 Bryan Piccioli 60,900
25 7 Oleksandr Vaserfirer  43,200
25 8 Robert Sova 17,400
25 9 Martin Finger 85,900

26 1 Ilan Boujenah 117,000
26 2 Noah Boeken  83,900
26 3 Erik Cajelais 45,300
26 4 Raphael Kroll 27,100
26 5 Chris Oliver 58,900
26 6 Darko Stojanovic 13,300
26 7 Tibor Nagygyorgy 19,900
26 8 Konstantin Tolokno 39,600
26 9 Andrey Pateychuk 67,800

27 1 Thomas Muhlocker 40,200
27 2 Mathew Frankland 81,500
27 3 Frank Koopmann 113,900
27 4 Andrea Dato 30,700
27 6 Ben Vinson 65,500
27 7 Pierre Neuville 51,100
27 8 Janos Molnar 16,700
27 9 Chris Moneymaker 24,000

28 1 Klimashin Nikolaevich 80,400
28 2 Habib Esses 12,600
28 3 Matt Perrins 95,100
28 4 Chao Fei Wang 44,700
28 5 Adria Balaguer 18,700
28 6 Fady Kamar 62,300
28 7 Martins Adeniya 24,900
28 8 Vadzim Kursevich 53,300
28 9 Anders Berg 31,800

29 1 Jason Wheeler 112,900
29 2 Erich Kollmann 12,300
29 3 Martin Staszko 26,600
29 4 Juha Lauttamus 35,700
29 5 Vladimir Troyanovski 86,700
29 6 Michael Watson 45,800
29 7 Mikhail Semin 59,000
29 8 Roberto Menache 68,200
29 9 Emile Petit 21,000

30 1 Andres Artinano 125,200
30 2 Jamie Rosen 9,100
30 3 Damien Rony 49,900
30 4 Paul Vas Nunes 21,700
30 5 Imad Derwiche 27,400
30 6 Vasili Firsau 87,300
30 7 Jonathan Azoulay 33,700
30 8 Adam Levy 66,800
30 9 Oleg Larichev 41,300

31 1 Thomas Dolezal 54,700
31 2 Kristian Lunardi 20,200
31 3 Lucille Cailly 63,500
31 4 Jonathan Ben Soussan 99,000
31 5 Paul Berende 82,100
31 6 Rupert Elder 36,100
31 7 Andrew Dean 14,300
31 8 Simeon Naydenov 28,200
31 9 Tony Viklund 46,000

32 1 Christopher Brammer 67,500
32 2 Igor Sharaskin 47,300
32 3 Ghosn Fadi 30,400
32 4 Mikhail Ustinov 58,000
32 5 David Vamplew 15,500
32 6 Franck Blanc 160,800
32 7 Dorde Jovanovic 40,000
32 8 Pedro Pellicer 21,400
32 9 Ana Marquez 85,200

33 1 Nikolay Losev 59,500
33 2 Michele D’Aniello 71,500
33 3 Michael Dietrich 88,600
33 4 Vadim Vadimovich Belov 22,100
33 5 Dan Shak 33,200
33 6 Jean-Philippe Piquette 15,110
33 7 Mikael Azoulay 41,200
33 8 Omar Jadaa 27,200
33 9 Stephen Chidwick 49,000

34 1 Tobias Reinkemeier 35,625
34 2 Eric Qu 51,600
34 3 Riu Cao 90,600
34 4 Jan Petersen 61,200
34 5 Daniel Gomez 41,800
34 6 Chady Merhej 75,300
34 7 Yngve Andersen 20,200
34 8 Giulio Mascolo 10,210
34 9 Tauras Narmontas 27,600

35 1 Salman Behbehani 41,400
35 2 Shane Sigsbee 52,300
35 3 Carlos Mironiuk 75,700
35 4 Philip Gurian 19,300
35 5 Samantha Cohen 93,500
35 6 Jorge Galino Lopez 5,100
35 7 Torsten Brinkmann 24,200
35 8 Emanoil Savin 60,700
35 9 Robert Shields 32,900

36 1 Oleksii Kovalchuk 65,600
36 2 Adrian Schaap 76,400
36 3 Erik Seidel 56,500
36 4 Hamad Almannai 91,400
36 5 Joao Ribeiro 29,600
36 6 Alexander Uskov 36,000
36 7 Talal Shakerchi 45,100
36 8 Viktor Ivanov 13,800
36 9 Amichai Tzvi Barer 22,900

37 1 Anton Thorarinsson 22,100
37 2 Bruno Lopes 57,600
37 3 William Reynolds 29,900
37 4 Jeffrey Rossiter 39,600
37 5 Pius Heinz 87,100
37 6 Thomas Gabriel 68,500
37 7 Tristan Clemencon 121,100
37 8 Marvin Rettenmaier 45,400
37 9 David Sonelin 12,200

38 1 Faraz Jaka 42,900
38 2 Salvatore Bianco 71,600
38 3 Martin Vallo 88,600
38 4 Kevin Vandersmissen 29,700
38 5 Michael Winkels 16,100
38 6 Angel Guillen 60,200
38 7 Viacheslav Goryachev 51,100
38 8 Ilkin Amirov 36,000
38 9 Toni Judet 22,500

39 1 John Andress 41,900
39 2 Marco Della Tommasina 60,200
39 3 Chris Moorman 19,100
39 4 Jorge Carlos Delgado 73,800
39 5 Joris Springael 11,600
39 6 Guillaume Darcourt 49,500
39 7 David Sands 160,300
39 8 Thomas Mjeldheim 34,600
39 9 Liutauras Armanavicius 25,500

40 1 Freddy Deeb 114,600
40 2 Ibrahim Ghassan 20,900
40 3 Daniel Reijmer 32,100
40 4 Antonino Venneri 15,000
40 5 Joel Bez 45,000
40 6 Georges Ghossan 53,500
40 7 Ondrej Vinklarek 83,200
40 8 Fatima Moreira de Melo 61,500
40 9 Philipp Gruissem 24,600

41 1 Isabelle Mercier 23,900
41 2 Jonathan Turner 40,200
41 3 Noshrevan Gadelia 1,000
41 4 Cristiano Guerra 31,400
41 5 Kenny Hallaert 61,300
41 6 Dan Abouaf 89,100
41 7 Alessandro De Michele 49,800
41 8 Jesus Esteve 75,200
41 9 Alain Roy 16,400

42 1 Anatoly Chen 26,200
42 2 Eduardo Borio Carlini 21,300
42 3 Philip Parsons 67,300
42 4 Georges Dib 96,300
42 5 Dori Yacoub 14,100
42 6 Oleg Bychkov 82,600
42 7 Sandra Naujoks 37,100
42 8 Leo Margets 55,100
42 9 Borge Dypvik 46,200

43 1 Dominykas Karmazinas 81,600
43 2 Bernard Guigon 57,300
43 3 Joep van den Bijgaart 13,400
43 4 Mohsin Charania 68,300
43 5 Reza Mostafavi Tabatabaei 110,900
43 6 Mathieu Clavet 30,100
43 7 Jose Angel Latorre 46,800
43 8 Jesus Cortes 23,500
43 9 Freddy Darakjian 39,900

44 1 Robert-Andrei Pescaru 27,600
44 2 Andoni Larrabe Sánchez 181,300
44 3 Max Martinez 63,400
44 4 Jason Gray 34,600
44 5 Melanie Weisner 15,900
44 6 Sergio Castelluccio 83,100
44 7 Sergey Kishnev 50,600
44 8 JC Alvarado 43,000
44 9 Antoine Saout 22,300

Tournament snapshot
Level 9: blinds 400-800, ante 100
Players: 394 of 665
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

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The opening day of any European Poker Tour event tends to be without real plot. It’s mainly a matter of surviving through the day’s eight levels to return on Day 2 when it becomes interesting. Invariably there are some weighty movers on Day 1A, players who can at least be plucked from the rest as having done some good that could serve them well as the week progresses.

Today those players were John Eames and Martin Kabrhel.

The pair shared the same table from the start, between them just a dealer and Freddy Deeb, each amassing the two big stacks that were out front when all were bagged up. For Kabrhel 167,800, for Eames 157,200. David “Doc” Sands finished in between that on 160,300.

The Salle des Etoiles tournament room

The two players cut differing figures at the table. English Eames is a solid player, unlikely to fluster easily. He was massaged to the finish, the soothing effects of a big stack doing as much good as the back rub; a triple up with a flopped straight giving him the opportunity to proceed with caution.

John Eames

martin Kabrhel

Kabrhel is an altogether different figure who needs only a pair of sunglasses and a lift to the tournament room to excel, as those who saw him dominate side events last season will know. “I just play funny,” he said, trying to account for his success. He’s right, funny strange and funny ha-ha in equal measure.

The Twitter Wall

The rest of the field of 271 followed in their shadow in the Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Deeb, Scott Seiver, JP Kelly and Nicolas Chouity will all return, as will current Player of the Year leader Ondrej Vinklarek. Joining them will be Mickey Petersen, Phil Ivey, Joe Cada, Luca Pagano, Ville Wahlbeck, Richard Toth, Mike McDonald, Vanessa Selbst and Jude Ainsworth.

Not returning, at least not for the main event will be Arnaud Mattern, Jake Cody, Xuan Liu, Andrew Chen, Isaac Haxton, Elio Fox, Antony Lellouche, James Akenhead and Roberto Romanello, who will probably be found in every side event until next week, trying to top Vinklarek to the PoY title.

The Grand Hotel hairpin, part of the Grand Prix circuit

Find all the scores from Day 1 on the Official Chip Count page, with colour features, including news from the head-up event, the Super High Roller and of the new EPT Season 9, can be found below.

Main event about to begin as new season announced

The glitz and glamour

Healthy, wealthy and wise

The Twitter wall above Moorman’s head

The men in white suits

Justin Bonomo looking ahead to main event after Super High Roller win

Coren and Weisner heads up for the title

Play continues tomorrow when the bulk fo the day one field will take their seats in the Salle des Etoiles. They start at 12 noon tomorrow.

What looks to be the God of hats, in Monaco today

Until then it’s goodnight from Monaco.

All photography &copy Neil Stoddart

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Just 24 players remain from a starting field of 745 in the EPT Berlin, a figure that will be reduced to eight today.

Chip leader at the close last night was Englishman Marc Wright, who bagged up 2,400,000 at the close, narrowly ahead of second placed Thomas Cibak with 2,311,000. American pro Andrew Chen was in third place with 1,827,000.

The task of surviving the day will not be made easy by what remains a talent filled field. No fewer than three former EPT champions return. Vladimir Geshkenbein, who held the chip lead early in the day yesterday, returns with 1,053,000 while Anton Wigg, another former chip leader, has 973,000.

Marc Wright

Most ready to declare himself a Berliner is Kevin MacPhee, who won the first incarnation of EPT Berlin two years ago. He is looking to make it an historic double, armed with 430,000.

There are others equally capable of winning the title, all of whom are listed below:

1 1 Florian Dohnert, Germany, 1,270,000
1 2 Dmitry Grinenko, Russia, 391,000
1 3 Anton Wigg, Sweden, 973,000
1 4 Bahadir Kilickeser, Germany, 1,114,000
1 5 Marc Wright, UK, 2,400,000
1 6 Andrey Zaichenko, Russia, 278,000
1 7 Heinz Kamutzki, Germany, 663,000
1 8 André Morath, Germany, 325,000

2 1 Jeffrey Hakim, USA, 272,000
2 2 Cesar Garcia Domínguez, Spain, 1,099,000
2 3 Kevin MacPhee, USA, 430,000
2 4 Eric Vuissoz, Switzerland, 365,000
2 5 Andrew Chen, Canada, 1,827,000
2 6 Daniel Pidun, Germany, 906,000
2 7 Jordi Riba Corrons, Spain, 1,265,000
2 8 Mario Puccini, Germany, 953,000

3 1 Jasper Wetemans, Netherlands, 490,000
3 2 Pratyush Buddiga, USA, 1,110,000
3 3 David Kahan, Belgium , 330,000
3 4 Davidi Kitai, Belgium, 946,000
3 5 Andreas Vlachos, Greece, 1,140,000
3 6 Ismael Bojang, Germany, 227,000
3 7 Vladimir Geshkenbein, Russia, 1,053,000
3 8 Thomas Cibak, Czech Republic, 2,311,000

Play starts at 12 noon.

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To talk to Marc Wright earlier today was to talk to a young man looking for a way to explain not only the good fortune he’d had today, and this week, but also to watch him tell himself that with a little effort he could achieve a lot more.

“I’ve been pretty lazy but I’m trying to get back into it again now,” said Wright, at the midway stage, having obtained a big lead. “When you play poker for a living its super easy to get lazy; it’s my own fault but I’m going to start playing all EPTs and playing online tournaments properly.”

Chip leader Marc Wright

Sounding almost apologetic, it could be that EPT Berlin gives Wright the necessary kick up the backside, playing as he is, some clinical poker, bagging up the chip lead of the EPT Berlin main event going into the penultimate day.

The man from Cornwall, England, an area not known for its regular poker scene, took the lead from Anton Wigg and Vladimir Geshkenbein in the second level of play, then set to work extending it, bagging up 2,400,000 at the close, some 89,000 ahead of second placed Thomas Cibak, who pounded away at the rock face. Then came Andrew Chen on 1,827,000.

Thomas Cibak

Chen, who has reached two EPT finals before, is a no-nonsense reliable type; usually dressed in a white t-shirt and blue baseball cap, he looks like the working man’s poker player, if working men still drove pick-up trucks and kept tools out back. Once more he quietly set about amassing a stack that will be difficult to topple tomorrow.

Andrew Chen

Behind them and exciting line-up was getting instep.

Coming into the day as chip leader, Wigg sustained early hits that forced him back to the pack, but he remained focused enough to steer his way into Day 4.

Anton Wigg

Geshkenbein, second in chips at the start, was up, down, nearly out, then back up again, making a fortuitous flush with ace-ten against another ace-ten to revitalise his campaign.

Vladimir Geshkenbein

Elsewhere Kevin MacPhee, centre stage on the feature table for much of the day, will also play on tomorrow, looking to record an historic Berlin double. Pratyush Buddiga, coached by Mike McDonald between the breaks, also featured well.

Kevin MacPhee

The day reduced the floor from 102 players to 24, and 13 TV crew. Players who departed included Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst, Jan Heitmann and Ana Marquez, as well as Will Molson, William Thorson, Philipp Gruissem, Charlotte Van Brabander, Joe Ebanks, Koen de Visscher, Martin Jacobson and JP Kelly.

Vanessa Selbst, with Liv Boeree

It lines up an intriguing Day 4, complete with three former winners vying to become the first double winner. For all the fine detail, check out the live coverage page, while feature articles can be found below.

Wigg leads 102, set to become 24
No one leaves empty handed, but please arrive empty handed
When will it end? Well we can tell you.
Geshkenbein on maniac play and tightening up…
Breaking bad with JP Kelly
Wigg stays focused as he looks to add to his advantage
Thorson in his element
Chip leader Wright starting to prove himself
Molson resigned to defeat, Geshkenbein not far behind?
Geshkenbein six bet shoves

The 24 will return tomorrow at 12 noon to become eight, before the final table on Saturday. Join us for full coverage.

Potsdamer Platz

Until then it’s goodnight from Berlin.

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If we could track everyone’s stats I doubt any of the surviving players have as large a VPP as Vladimir Geshkenbein. It is therefore little surprise that the guy can occasionally cause an opponent to blow up. And here’s a prime example.

Geshkenbein opened to 25,000 from middle position and Andre Zaichenko three-bet from the button to 62,000. The action folded back to Geshkenbein as the other players left to go on break. He pulled in his chips and came back over the top for 140,000. The action was back on Zaichenko who slid out a stack of around 187,000 after saying ‘raise’. Geshkenbein quickly announced that he was all-in and Zaichenko folded his five-bet bluff leaving himself with around 350,000.

Vladimir Geshkenbein

His five-bet raise had not been enough Geshkenbein pointed out, somewhat apologetically to both Zaichenko and the dealer. Indeed it had not been.

The dealer counted the stacks and started to tell Zaichenko that he needed to put a little more.

“Why you saying that now?” Zaichenko asked the dealer angrily.

Geshkenbein, to his credit, quickly jumped in: “You said raise.”

Zaichenko, who was obviously annoyed that his move had wrong, seemed to realise that he was in the wrong – not the dealer – as the speed of the raise and re-raise hadn’t given time for anything else to take place. He grumbled some kind of acknowledgement of that fact and Geshkenbein tabled [as][ac] saying, “If that makes your life easier.”

Tournament snapshot
Level 22: blinds 8,000-16,000, ante 2,000
Players: 26 of 745
Click here for live coverage and more features.

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A black cloud was hanging over one corner of the tournament room quietly rumbling above the heads of Will Molson (slumped, arms crossed) and Vladimir Geshkenbein (slumped, arms uncrossed). Molson had started the day short and had made his way up to 140,000, still a long way from safety, while Geshkenbein had begun the day second in chips only to spin his stack down to 300,000.

Both players looked miserable, thunder flashing on Geshkenbein’s face, just a disconsolate gloom on Molson’s. The Russian, who had been tweeting about his success in isolating the ‘table fish’ and his failure to then win any pots from him, slid out his big blind and down his chair a little further. Molson peeked at his cards and moved his remaining 136,000 across the line from the under-the-gun position. It didn’t take long to find a customer. Kenny Hicks in the next seat along re-jammed for close to 500,000.

Molson looking positively ecstatic in comaprison

The Canadian turned [qd][qs] on its back and looked at Hicks’ [as][kc] with an expression that seemed to accept that he would lose the flip. The flop, however, seemed to say otherwise: [5h][qh][jc] for top set. Molson still looked as if he was the one with the losing hand, his jaw trapped tightly shut. Hicks looked less optimistic about his four-outer.

The [7d] blanked out. Molson stared at the board as if disbelieving that the turn hadn’t brought the ten. He didn’t have to wait much longer. The [th] was dealt on the river. There was no groan from Molson, no eyeball roll, not even an exhalation of surprise from what I could hear. It was as Molson knew it was coming. He shook Hicks’ hand and went to the cash desk to collect €13,000 for his 42nd place payout.

Geshkenbein continues to grind and must get some chips again soon. I fear he may slip under the table if not.

Geshkenbein has since doubled with ace-ten through ace-ten all-in pre-flop hitting runner-runner flush to chip up to 700,000.

Tournament snapshot
Level 20: blinds 5,000-10,000
Players: 38 of 745
Average stack: 588,000
Click here for live coverage and more features.

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