€1,100 EPT National: Thomas Muehloecker Leads, 1,501 Entries Create Massive Field
After all three of the €1,100 EPT National at the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT starting days are in the bag, it's none other than Austrian high roller Thomas Muehloecker who sits on top of the mountain. Muehlocker's rampage on Day 1b ended with 863,000 in chips, giving him a towering lead over his nearest challengers, Day 1c chipleader Ionut Trifu (676,000), Guillaume Diaz (622,000) and David Urban (600,500).
Muehloecker already boasts over $5,2 million in lifetime winnings and has put himself in strong contention to add possibly six more figures to that total. The total prizepool and payouts will be announced at the start of Day 2.
A 515-strong field showed up for Day 1a and today, 633 registered during the turbo Day 1b. Another 333 took their seats at 7 p.m. for the even speedier Day 1c, which resulted in 1,499 entries total. Two players no-showed the event and were blinded off, creating a total field of 1,501 players (837 unique, 664 reentries). It's a massive increase compared to last year's total of 1,252, when Andreas Klatt walked away with the eventual title and victory. We'll get a new winner this year, as Klatt failed to advance to the second day. With all three starting days now in the books, 224 are still in contention to become the 2018 €1,100 EPT National champion in Monte Carlo.
€1,100 EPT National Day 1 Total Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 863,000 |
| 2 | Ionut Trifu | Romania | 676,000 |
| 3 | Guillaume Diaz | France | 622,000 |
| 4 | David Urban | Slovakia | 600,500 |
| 5 | Jeremy Routier | France | 599,000 |
| 6 | Nicolas Tytgat | France | 585,000 |
| 7 | Adnan Chamaa | United Kingdom | 584,000 |
| 8 | Alexandre Le Vaillant | France | 551,000 |
| 9 | [Removed:44] | Iran | 542,000 |
| 10 | Randy "nanonoko" Lew | United States | 533,000 |
Team PokerStars Pro online Randy "nanonoko" Lew had a terrific showing on Day 1b and finds himself in tenth place after all survivors were combined. "I'm surprised. Usually, people go 'when are you going to bust?'" Lew laughed after the day. "I've been working on my tournament game a lot. I really want to be a very good tournament player," the online cash game phenom added.
Lew wasn't the only notable to make it through from Day 1b, as Gaelle Baumann (473,500), Mattias De Meulder (310,500), two-time National champion Georgios Vrakas (298,500), Markus Durnegger (264,000), Igor Yaroshevskyy (229,000), Christophe De Meulder (177,000), Stefan Jedlicka (158,000) and Nicolas Chouity (111,000) all had a strong showing as well.
On Day 1c, it was Ionut Trifu from Romania who topped the counts during the 20-minute level turbo starting day. American pro Jason Wheeler spun it up to 518,000, the second best stack of the day and 13th place overall, followed by Ivan Deyra (502,500). Paul Tedeschi (279,500), Martin Finger (115,000) and Antoine Saout (74,500) also made it through. Day 1a chipleader Nicolas Tytgat holds the 6th place overall with 585,000 in chips.
At the start of Day 2, the first of two $30,000 Platinum Passes to the 2019 PokerStars Players Championship up for grabs in this event will be awarded in a random flipout drawing, creating tension right off the bat. One of the 224 remaining players can already punch his free ticket to the Bahama's for next year. PokerNews will keep an close eye out for the lucky winner and provide stories from this massive tournament as Day 2 rolls on. Cards will be back in the air on Friday, April 27 at noon local time, when a scheduled ten levels of 60 minutes will be played out.
