Samir Hadad Leads Day 1a Field at the EPT Grand Final

The final main event of Season 10 of European Poker Tour kicked off in some style under the open roof of the poker room here in Monte Carlo. Last year had seen Steve O'Dwyer win the €1,224,000 first prize beating arguably the toughest final table in poker history so this year's event has a lot to live up to.

For Day 1a, there were 214 entries, nearly twice as many as the first start day last year. After eight 75-minute levels and a long, gruelling day, it was Samir Hadad who finished as the chip leader, taking his first step on to what he hopes will be a path to poker immortality, finishing the day with 178,100. Talal Shakerchi was second in chips with 159,500, when Pokernews asked how he’d accumulated his chips. “Loads of different hands.” he explained, “Three or four people were all in against me for between fifteen and forty thousand. Lost a load, won a load, lots of swings. It was fun. I’ll definitely be back tomorrow.” Reminded that Day 2 of the Main Event would be Monday he immediately wanted to know if the €5,000 tournament tomorrow was a one-day turbo. If so he will most likely be playing that.

Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand Grospellier, Alex Kravchenko, Marcel Luske and George Danzer managed to both make it through to day 2 with 72,700, 41,800, 37,700 and 26,400 respectively. They'll be joined by Team Online's Marc-Andre Ladoucer (38,400).

Despite the ongoing €100,000 Super High Roller, a lot of eyes were on Victoria Coren Mitchell, the Team PokerStars Pro having become the first ever two-time EPT champion just a few days ago in Sanremo. There was not going to be any repeat performance as Coren Mitchell busted out to former PCA runner-up Chris Oliver with queens against aces. The wait for a triple EPT champion goes on...

Other Team Pros to bust were Jonathan Duhamel, who was short from early on, Vanessa Selbst, Team SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo and Jake Cody. The Englishman, playing his first EPT since becoming a father, ran queens into tens on the turn of a ten-high board. This time last year, it had been Dan Smith who had been leading at the end of Day 1A but the American was one of the first casualties of the day. He was a victim of what looked to be a tough-looking table featuring Haralabos Voulgaris, Mike Watson and Bryn Kenney. Other casualties included the WSOPE Main Event winner Adrian Mateos Diaz, Erik Seidel, Martin Jacobson, Max Silver, Maria Ho, Ami Barer as well as PokerStars Team Online's Isaac Haxton. Paul Newey, Patrik Antonius and Ping San Chan, both of whom had played the Super High Roller event, also took a shot at the main event today but came up short.

Despite the mass numbers of big names that busted, there are still others in the hunt. JC Alvarado has 145,000 while EPT Barcelona champion Tom Middleton will be back on Monday with 124,000. Other players still in include Mark Teltscher, Jonathan Karamalikis, Sorel Mizzi, Antonio Esfandiari, Dominik Nitsche, Mike McDonald and Stephen Chidwick.

Day 1b will start at 12 p.m. tomorrow when an even bigger field is expected for this, the final event of Season 10. Tune into Pokernews from noon local time as this tournament continues. The Live Reporting Team will bring you all the updates from the first riffle to the last river.

Until tomorrow, enjoy this episode of WAG Diaries with Calvin Anderson and his girlfriend Kami.