PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final Day 1b: Yunis Now Leads
Day 1b of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event is in the books after the second and last starting flight ran through the first eight levels of the tournament. There were 394 players in action on Thursday, bringing the total of this year's field to 665. Nicolas Yunis ended the day with the most chips in the room — a stack of 191,700.
On Day 1a, Martin Kabrhel bagged up the most chips with 167,800. On Day 1b, Yunis along with Ivan Kudriavtcev and Andoni Larrabe Sánchez finished with more chips to put Kabrhel in fourth place overall heading into Day 2. Yunis was a steady climber throughout the day and there wasn't a single stand-out pot that the Live Reporting Team saw from him that vaulted him into the lead. Rather, a gradual progression of hands earned him the No. 1 overall spot.
Plenty of notable players were in the mix on Day 1b including those representing Team PokerStars Pro. Ana Marquez, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Humberto Brenes, Pius Heinz, Marcel Luske and Jason Mercier all had successful days on the felt. Lex Veldhuis, Victoria Coren, Jonathan Duhamel and Eugene Katchalov however, were all eliminated on the day.
Other well-known faces were in the field and ended up bagging up decent stacks, including Tom Marchese, Stephen Chidwick, Erik Seidel, Annette Obrestad and Maria Ho.
End of Day 1b Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Yunis | 191,700 |
| 2 | Ivan Kudriavtcev | 186,200 |
| 3 | Andoni Larrabe Sánchez | 181,300 |
| 4 | Franck Blanc | 160,800 |
| 5 | Alessio Isaia | 139,600 |
| 6 | Andres Artinano | 125,200 |
| 7 | Idris Ambraisse | 125,000 |
| 8 | Anatoly Gurtovoy | 118,100 |
| 9 | Ilan Boujenah | 117,000 |
| 10 | Geert-Jan Potijk | 116,000 |
Day 2 will commence at 1200 CET tomorrow and PokerNews will be back in action firing away the updates as the players fire in their chips. Be sure to join us then.
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