PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo: Seidel Leads After Day 1 of €10,300 High Roller
The 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT festival kicked off, and many notables made their appearance. An abbreviated Day 1 was drawn to a close in the €10,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller. Only eight levels of 40 minutes were on the schedule and Erik Seidel closed it out on the top of the chip counts with 186,000 in chips.
Seidel got things started on the second hand of the day when he eliminated Alex Foxen for the first time. Seidel flopped top set while Foxen had a straight and flush draw. All of the chips got in the middle on the turn, and Seidel held on to quickly double up his stack. Foxen headed to the reentry desk but his second bullet was no better than the first, and he was eliminated from the tournament.
It was cruise control from there for Seidel who continued to stack chips throughout the rest of the day without any significant swings. The American poker pro has been around the high-roller scene for quite some time and has amassed nearly $34.8 million in live earnings. Seidel's last major victory came in this same building four years ago. It was the 2015 EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller where Seidel claimed the title for over €2,000,000.
Isaac Haxton is another American who made the trek to Monaco, and he too had a strong opening day. Carrying the chip lead throughout most of the day, Haxton bagged up 121,300 chips to sit among the leaders. Some other big stacks at the top of the leaderboard:
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erik Seidel | United States | 186,000 |
| 2 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | 159,500 |
| 3 | Ole Schemion | Germany | 141,600 |
| 4 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | 124,900 |
| 5 | Hiroyuki Noda | Japan | 123,000 |
| 6 | Isaac Haxton | United States | 121,300 |
| 7 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | 115,700 |
| 8 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 111,000 |
| 9 | Lauren Roberts | United States | 97,900 |
| 10 | Georgios Kitsios | Greece | 88,000 |
The action didn't get started until 6 p.m. local time at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort and Casino and wrapped up just over six hours later. A single reentry option was available for anyone that was eliminated and there were a few that took advantage. A total of 57 entries were gathered on Day 1 with only 40 players bagging chips to move on to Day 2. Late registration will remain open until the cards go back in the air at approximately 12:30 p.m.
While most players managed to scrounge their way to Day 2, whether it be on one or two bullets, there were a couple forced to the sidelines. James Romero, Ali Reza Fatehi, and Denys Shafikov were among those to not fire a second bullet as of yet. Kristen Bicknell will have an uphill road ahead after losing a big coin flip in one of the last hands of the night. Bicknell will return to just 1,200 chips when Day 2 begins, enough for one big blind.
The prize pool and payouts will be calculated on Day 2 once the registration period is officially closed. The seat draw for Day 2 will also be posted just prior to the action getting underway. Continue to follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team for all of the latest European Poker Tour Monte Carlo live updates throughout the entire festival.
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