Petrangelo Leads After PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Main Day 2
High Roller regular Nick Petrangelo ended up on top with a massive stack of 562,000 after Day 2 of the 2017 PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino €5,300 Main Event®.
Another 11 players bought in with a fresh stack to create a 727-entry strong field. The total prize pool was set at €3,525,950 and the top 143 players were guaranteed a minimum cash of €7,580.
All eyes are set on the first-place payout of €500,800, coveted golden trophy and title of first PokerStars Championship Main Event winner on European soil.
| Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Petrangelo | United States | 562,000 |
| Patrik Antonius | Finland | 452,200 |
| Dan Smith | United States | 333,000 |
| Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 300,000 |
| Jack Salter | United Kingdom | 141,000 |
| Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | 128,500 |
| Maria Ho | United States | 78,000 |
| Liv Boeree | United Kingdom | 63,500 |
| Martin Jacobson | Sweden | 53,500 |
Six levels of 75 minutes each were scheduled and that's how long it took for the money bubble to burst. Salvatore Candido Graziano lost a flip with pocket queens against Davidi Kitai's ace-king suited in a battle of the blinds to become the last player to leave empty-handed. Another nine players then ran out of chips during the last four hands, reducing the field to 134 hopefuls.
Among those were James Mitchell, Peter Eichhardt, PokerStars Team Pro Jason Mercier, Byron Kaverman, Ryan Franklin and the only two-time European Poker Tour Main Event champion Victoria Coren Mitchell. Mercier cold four-bet shoved for around 40 big blinds with pocket tens and three-bettor Douglas Ferreira Souza called with ace-king suited to spike an ace on the flop.
Other big stacks and notables included Michael Kolkowicz (470,500), Patrik Antonius (452,200), Mark Teltscher (408,000), Stefan Schillhabel (402,000) Sebastian Malec (382,500), Andreas Klatt (375,000), Fabrice Soulier (364,500), Dan Smith (333,000), Manig Loeser (323,500) and Hossein Ensan (290,000).
Malec is a former EPT Main Event champion and claimed the title in Barcelona last year in one of the most epic final hands, scooping the trophy and a payday of €1,122,800. Klatt is looking to make history here in “Le Sporting” after taking down the 1,252-entry strong €1,100 National Championship Main Event just yesterday.
Four PokerStars Team Pros made it through to Day 3: Daniel Negreanu (300,000), Celina Lin (200,500), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (121,500) and Liv Boeree (63,500).
Among those who entered before the start were Luke Schwartz, Dario Sammartino, Jussi Nevanlinna, Byron Kaverman, Timothy Adams and Team PokerStars Pro Randy "nanonoko" Lew. However, Lew's appearance didn't last very long as he was eliminated during the first level of the day when running with pocket queens into pocket kings.
The red spade also had to wave goodbye to Igor Kurganov and Fatima Moreira de Melo before the money bubble burst. Kurganov fell to Christoph Vogelsang after the German check-called a river-shove in a limped pot with six-deuce for just bottom pair. Kurganov was caught with fingers in the cookie jar, tabling only queen-nine suited for a bluff. Moreira de Melo lost a flip with king-queen suited against the pocket tens of Faraz Jaka.
Other notables to bow out throughout the six levels included Steve O'Dwyer, Ole Schemion, Jean Montury, Charlie Carrel, Andrew Chen, 2016 EPT Grand-Final runner up Adrian Allain, Keven Stammen, Gaelle Baumann, Timothy Adams and €50,000 Single-Day High Roller champion Adrian Mateos.
O'Dwyer departed in the first level of the day when his flush draw and gutshot didn't get there against the flopped set of Paul-Francois Tedeschi in a four-way limped pot.
The remaining 134 players will return tomorrow at 12 p.m. noon local time to play five levels of 90 minutes each with a break every level. The action recommences with blinds of 2,000/4,000 and a running ante of 500. The PokerNews live reporting team will be there to provide the action from the floor until a winner is crowned on May 5.
