PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller Day 1: Badecker Leads
Day 1 of the PokerStars.com and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final €25,000 High Roller wrapped up on Sunday. The players worked their way through the first 10 levels of action and at the end of the day, Andrew Badecker was leading the way with 350,000 in chips.
As predicted, the event was a big one. There were 117 players who plopped down the big buy-in. Add another 16 re-entries to that and there were a total of 133 entries in this event. At the end of the day, under 50 players remained, including some of the biggest names in the game.
Trailing Badecker is Vincent van der Fluit with 341,200 and then Sami Kelopuro comes in third with 310,000. Not too far behind them you have a few guys that go by the names Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey. Ring a bell? And if those juggernauts aren't enough to get you salivating, Chris Moorman, Bryn Kenney, Faraz Jaka and Justin Bonomo all bagged up solid stacks.
Team PokerStars Pro was well represented on Day 1. Liv Boeree, Max Lykov, Daniel Negreanu and David Williams have all advanced to Day 2. Unfortunately, some of their fellow teammates, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Alex Kravchenko and Jason Mercier were not able to make it through the day.
Eugene Katchalov was also eliminated on the day. He busted out on the second-to-last hand of the night to Kelopuro. The two got all of the money in on a jack-high flop with Kelopuro holding a bottom set of threes to Katchalov's overpair of kings. No help was produced on the turn or river for Katchalov and he was out the door.
The prize pool generated for this event was a whopping €3.325 million and first place will be awarded a prize of €1.08 million. The top 14 spots are set to be paid out, which will surely make for some tense poker on Monday as the field grinds towards and into the money before eventually halting when the final table is reached.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Andrew Badecker | 350,000 |
| Vincent van der Fluit | 341,200 |
| Sami Kelopuro | 310,000 |
| Patrik Antonius | 307,500 |
| Igor Kurganov | 279,900 |
| Phil Ivey | 271,000 |
| Artem Litvinov | 270,000 |
| Chris Moorman | 261,700 |
| Bryn Kenney | 259,000 |
| Faraz Jaka | 230,000 |
The cards will be in the air for Day 2 at 1200 CET (0300 PDT) and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to bring you all the action.
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