Merijn van Rooij Tops a Star-Studded Field After Day 1a of the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event
Day 1a of the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event has come to an end and 419 runners turned out to Monte Carlo Sporting Complex for the first of two flights in the flagship event of the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®.
The opening flight generated a prize pool of €2,526,850, and the field tops the last time an EPT Main Event was held in Monte Carlo, when 342 players turned out for Day 1a. Despite the smaller field, 128 players bagged in 2019, compared to the 121 that will return on Wednesday for Day 2. It remains to be seen if the tournament will make a run at the record turnout of 1,098 players in 2016.
Merijn van Rooij of the Netherlands is the chip leader after 10 levels of play and he will return with 159 big blinds on Day 2. He's followed closely by Bruno Volkmann, Andrew Hulme, and Kazuhiko Yotsushika. Ramon Colillas and Oliver Bosch are also among the top stacks of the day, along with bracelet winners Justin Saliba and Yuri Dzivielevski.
EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips | Day 2 Big Blinds |
| 1 | Merijn van Rooij | Netherlands | 253,000 | 159 |
| 2 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | 240,000 | 156 |
| 3 | Andrew Hulme | United Kingdom | 238,500 | 154 |
| 4 | Kazuhiko Yotsushika | Japan | 233,500 | 152 |
| 5 | Ramon Colillas | Spain | 231,000 | 150 |
| 6 | Oliver Bosch | Austria | 228,500 | 143 |
| 7 | Justin Saliba | USA | 224,500 | 137 |
| 8 | Hugo Pingray | France | 215,000 | 128 |
| 9 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 205,500 | 127 |
| 10 | Josip Simunic | Austria | 191,500 | 127 |
Day 1a Highlights
It was a banner day for eliminations with more than two-thirds of the field falling before the end of the night. Among them was Tamon Nakamura, who was eliminated on a three-way pot when his tens were out drawn by the queen-eight of bracelet winner Emil Bise. Tsugunari Toma was the third player and had both covered, but his pocket threes were no good.
Toma went on to score a double elimination of Julien Sitbon and Mihail Lala when his eight-six made a straight on the river to crack Sitbon's pocket queens. It was the second big pot that Toma took from Sitbon, and both were a straight made with an eight-six. Toma fell back later in the day and will return for Day 2 with one of the short stacks.
2015 EPT Malta Main Event champion Niall Farrell took his shot in the first flight and will return for Day 2, thanks in part to a clash with Jonas Lauck where Farrell shoved the river and Lauck got away from it to move Farrell above 100K chips. He fell back slightly and finished with 87,000, but he will return on Wednesday in search of his second EPT Main Event title.
Elsewhere, bracelet winner Leo Margets steadily built her stack throughout the day, starting with a double through Ermo Kosk with pocket sevens. She found another pot later in the day when she got a shove through against Ferenc Deak. Margets ended the day with 98,500 and she will return on Wednesday for a shot at Day 3.
Victoria Coren Mitchell will also return for Day 2 after bagging a stack with 47,500, in part thanks to a runner-runner full house against Dan Tolppanen.
Other notable returning players include PokerStars ambassador Benjamin Spragg, John Mooney, Timothy Adams, Sam Greenwood, Daniel Dvoress, 2021 WSOP Main Event Champion Koray Aldemir, and Gaelle Baumann, who bagged 181,500 to finish just outside the top ten.
Day 1b on Tuesday
Action will continue Tuesday, May 3 at noon local time with the second of two flights in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. Players who were eliminated on Monday will have another opportunity to jump into Tuesday’s flight, and registration will continue through the end of Day 2. Players will once again start with 30,000 in chips and play ten 60-minute levels before they combine with the Day 1a survivors on Wednesday.
Be sure to keep it here with the PokerNews team all week long for live updates from the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event.