€25,000 EPT High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
€25,000 EPT High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo
Buy-in
€25,000
Prize Pool
€5,066,110
Entries
211
Level
33
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000
Entries
183
Players Left
95
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
It was an action-packed start to the €25,000 EPT High Roller as the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️ starts to wind down. There were a total of 183 entries over the course of the first 10 levels of play and just 95 players bagged up chips to move on to Day 2.
Argentina's Alejandro Lococo bagged one of the biggest stacks with an impressive 361,500, good for 241 big blinds. Close on his heels were Juan Pardo (302,000), and Romain Lewis (251,000) who finished in the top five.
Lococo is no stranger to these types of fields, having won the €1,100 No Limit Hold'em Eureka Main Event at EPT Barcelona for €417,820 just over a year ago, Lococo will look to continue his run good to add to his already $2.3 Million in live tournament earnings.
Lithuania's Marius Kudzmanas bagged the chip lead with a stack of 364,000. Not much is known of Kudzmanas, but his spectacular play on Day 1 showed he will be a force to be reckoned with.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marius Kudzmanas | Lithuania | 364,000 | 243 |
| 2 | Alejandro Lococo | Argentina | 361,500 | 241 |
| 3 | Juan Pardo | Spain | 302,000 | 201 |
| 4 | Romain Lewis | France | 251,000 | 167 |
| 5 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | 239,000 | 159 |
| 6 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | 228,500 | 152 |
| 7 | Sam Grafton | United Kingdom | 223,000 | 149 |
| 8 | Felipe Fontoura | Brazil | 213,500 | 142 |
| 9 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | 212,500 | 142 |
| 10 | Marton Czuczor | Hungary | 206,000 | 137 |
Day 1 Action
The action got underway at 12:30 p.m. local time with 41 players in their seats for the 50% registration fee rakeback offered by PokerStars. Despite the single reentry format, the number of entries grew consistently throughout the day.
Last year's event attracted a total of 179 entries, and that number has already been surpassed. With late registration and reentries still open until the start of Day 2, that figure will be sure to grow significantly.
Many of the biggest and best names in poker joined the field throughout Day 1. Some who were in the mix but not fortunate enough to find a bag included WSOP Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson, Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee Maria Ho, and nine-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel to name a few.
Many other big names who ran deep and bagged up a stack for Day 2 include PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton (223,000), High Stakes regular Seth Davies (176,000), and Ben Heath (228,500), who eliminated Jean-Noel Thorel on his last bullet in the final level of the day.
Late registration will remain open until the start of Day 2 for those that still wish to play or for those that still have a reentry available to them. Day 2 will begin at 12:30 p.m. local time at Sporting Monte-Carlo, where another ten levels will be on the schedule. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all live updates throughout the day.
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Murad Akhundov | Azerbaijan | 32,500 | 22 |
| 1 | 2 | Manig Loeser | Germany | 165,500 | 110 |
| 1 | 4 | Paul Newey | United Kingdom | 27,500 | 18 |
| 1 | 5 | Lars Kamphues | Austria | 38,500 | 26 |
| 1 | 6 | Lander Lijo | Spain | 100,000 | 67 |
| 1 | 8 | Florian Guimond | France | 47,000 | 31 |
| 2 | 1 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | 99,000 | 66 |
| 2 | 2 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | 155,000 | 103 |
| 2 | 4 | Saar Wilf | Israel | 128,500 | 86 |
| 2 | 5 | Stanislav Urodlivchenko | Ukraine | 26,500 | 18 |
| 2 | 6 | Alejandro Lococo | Argentina | 361,500 | 241 |
| 2 | 7 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | 228,500 | 152 |
| 2 | 8 | Marius Kudzmanas | Lithuania | 364,000 | 243 |
| 3 | 1 | Julien Sitbon | France | 44,000 | 29 |
| 3 | 2 | Samuel Ju | Germany | 17,000 | 11 |
| 3 | 3 | Seth Davies | USA | 176,000 | 117 |
| 3 | 5 | Thomas Eychenne | France | 48,000 | 32 |
| 3 | 6 | Masashi Oya | Japan | 58,000 | 39 |
| 3 | 7 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 23,500 | 16 |
| 3 | 8 | Lim Chin Wei | Malaysia | 84,500 | 56 |
| 4 | 1 | Jacob Amsellem | Israel | 88,000 | 59 |
| 4 | 2 | Rui Martins | Portugal | 18,000 | 12 |
| 4 | 4 | Mikhail Rudoy | Russia | 16,000 | 11 |
| 4 | 5 | Laszlo Molnar | Hungary | 25,000 | 17 |
| 4 | 6 | Lucas Silva Rocha | Brazil | 12,500 | 8 |
| 4 | 7 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | 84,000 | 56 |
| 4 | 8 | Ricardo Caridade | Portugal | 33,000 | 22 |
| 5 | 1 | Johan Guilbert | France | 113,000 | 75 |
| 5 | 2 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | 52,000 | 35 |
| 5 | 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | Ukraine | 199,000 | 133 |
| 5 | 4 | Philip Sternheimer | United Kingdom | 44,000 | 29 |
| 5 | 6 | Pedro Neves | Portugal | 136,000 | 91 |
| 5 | 7 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 23,000 | 15 |
| 5 | 8 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 32,000 | 21 |
| 6 | 1 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 48,000 | 32 |
| 6 | 3 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | 212,500 | 142 |
| 6 | 5 | Alexandru Danes | France | 60,500 | 40 |
| 6 | 6 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 131,500 | 88 |
| 6 | 7 | Fabrice Maltez | France | 53,500 | 36 |
| 6 | 8 | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | 68,000 | 45 |
| 7 | 1 | Weiran Pu | China | 156,000 | 104 |
| 7 | 2 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Ukraine | 73,500 | 49 |
| 7 | 3 | Kuljinder Sidhu | United Kingdom | 59,000 | 39 |
| 7 | 4 | Felipe Fontoura | Brazil | 213,500 | 142 |
| 7 | 7 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 123,000 | 82 |
| 7 | 8 | Sosia Jiang | New Zealand | 39,000 | 26 |
| 8 | 1 | Daehyung Lee | South Korea | 146,000 | 97 |
| 8 | 2 | Patrick Bruel | France | 101,500 | 68 |
| 8 | 4 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | 99,000 | 66 |
| 8 | 5 | Sam Grafton | United Kingdom | 223,000 | 149 |
| 8 | 8 | [Removed:428] | Switzerland | 20,500 | 14 |
| 9 | 1 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 108,500 | 72 |
| 9 | 2 | Isaac Haxton | USA | 94,500 | 63 |
| 9 | 3 | Tomas Jozonis | Lithuania | 187,000 | 125 |
| 9 | 6 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | 47,000 | 31 |
| 9 | 7 | Shakhabiddin Muradov | Latvia | 51,000 | 34 |
| 9 | 8 | Nikita Kuznetsov | Russia | 119,500 | 80 |
| 10 | 1 | Carl Shaw | United Kingdom | 44,000 | 29 |
| 10 | 2 | Ramon Colillas | Spain | 116,000 | 77 |
| 10 | 5 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | 53,500 | 36 |
| 10 | 6 | Michel Dattani | Portugal | 37,000 | 25 |
| 10 | 7 | Timo Kamphues | Germany | 190,500 | 127 |
| 10 | 8 | Mario Navarro | Spain | 187,000 | 125 |
| 11 | 1 | Barak Wisbrod | Israel | 102,000 | 68 |
| 11 | 2 | Yuan Li | Hong Kong | 145,000 | 97 |
| 11 | 3 | Robert Greenberg | USA | 1,000 | 1 |
| 11 | 4 | Luke Schwartz | United Kingdom | 54,000 | 36 |
| 11 | 8 | Milos Petakovic | Serbia | 105,500 | 70 |
| 12 | 1 | Mehdi Chaoui | Morocco | 30,000 | 20 |
| 12 | 2 | Aliaksandr Hirs | Belarus | 66,500 | 44 |
| 12 | 3 | Motoyoshi Okamura | Japan | 36,000 | 24 |
| 12 | 4 | Harold Ichbia | France | 25,500 | 17 |
| 12 | 5 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | 31,500 | 21 |
| 12 | 6 | Ilya Nikiforov | Russia | 97,000 | 65 |
| 13 | 1 | Marton Czuczor | Hungary | 206,000 | 137 |
| 13 | 3 | Tom-Aksel Bedell | Norway | 174,000 | 116 |
| 13 | 5 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 159,500 | 106 |
| 13 | 6 | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | 65,900 | 44 |
| 13 | 8 | Leon Sturm | Germany | 74,000 | 49 |
| 14 | 3 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 65,000 | 43 |
| 14 | 5 | Daisuke Ogita | Japan | 67,500 | 45 |
| 14 | 6 | Jenya Gavrilovich | Belarus | 105,000 | 70 |
| 14 | 7 | Roman Samoylov | Israel | 134,500 | 90 |
| 14 | 8 | Davidi Kitai | Belgium | 93,500 | 62 |
| 15 | 2 | Romain Lewis | France | 251,000 | 167 |
| 15 | 4 | Nick Petrangelo | USA | 33,000 | 22 |
| 15 | 5 | Christopher Puetz | Austria | 46,500 | 31 |
| 15 | 6 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | 239,000 | 159 |
| 15 | 8 | Quan Zhou | Hong Kong | 109,000 | 73 |
| 16 | 1 | Patrik Jaros | Czech Republic | 39,500 | 26 |
| 16 | 2 | Justin Bonomo | USA | 32,000 | 21 |
| 16 | 4 | Juan Pardo | Spain | 302,000 | 201 |
| 16 | 5 | Alexandru Papazian | Romania | 83,000 | 55 |
| 16 | 7 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | 49,500 | 33 |
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
364,000
92,000
|
92,000 |
|
||
|
361,500
49,500
|
49,500 |
|
||
|
302,000
161,000
|
161,000 |
|
251,000
201,000
|
201,000 |
|
239,000
91,000
|
91,000 |
|
228,500
-31,500
|
-31,500 |
|
223,000
163,500
|
163,500 |
|
|
||
|
213,500
213,500
|
213,500 |
|
212,500
134,500
|
134,500 |
|
||
|
206,000
37,500
|
37,500 |
|
199,000
33,500
|
33,500 |
|
190,500
140,500
|
140,500 |
|
187,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
187,000
77,000
|
77,000 |
|
176,000
126,000
|
126,000 |
|
174,000
124,000
|
124,000 |
|
165,500
115,500
|
115,500 |
|
||
|
159,500
29,500
|
29,500 |
|
||
|
156,000
106,000
|
106,000 |
|
155,000
105,000
|
105,000 |
|
146,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
145,000
31,000
|
31,000 |
|
136,000
86,000
|
86,000 |
|
134,500
18,500
|
18,500 |
|
131,500
1,500
|
1,500 |
|
|
||
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
With that, Day 1 of the €25,000 EPT High Roller has concluded play. Stay tuned for all chip counts and a full recap of all the action today.
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The tournament director announced that five more hands will be played in Day 1 of the €25,000 EPT High Roller before the remaining field bags up their chips for Day 2 tomorrow.
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Ben Heath had open-raised from the cutoff and Jean-Noel Thorel three-bet all in from the button for his last 31,000 chips. Heath made the call and the players flipped their cards over.
Jean-Noel Thorel: A♠Q♠
Ben Heath: 8♦8♥
Thorel did not hit a pair on the 7♣5♣J♠ flop, and the 8♠ turn gave Heath a set. Thorel now had a flush draw, however. Sadly for him, the river was a red 6♥ and Thorel busted his second bullet in the final stretch of Day 1. With only a single reentry available, he will not be returning on Day 2 in any fashion.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
260,000
162,000
|
162,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Jacob Amsellem raised to 2,600 from the button before Mikita Badziakouski put in a three-bet from the big blind. Amsellem was not going anywhere and made the call.
On the 6♥10♠3♠ flop, Badziakouski fired a huge bet of 17,000, which Amsellem readily called. The 7♦ turn the checked through before the 4♦ river fell.
Badziakouski now went for another big bet, of 28,000 this time. This forced Amsellem to hand in his last time bank extension as he pondered his decision. During his final countdown, he opted to fold, leaving himself just over a starting stack to play with.
Badziakouski, meanwhile, has tripled his stack since the start of play.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
165,500
22,500
|
22,500 |
|
54,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
Level 10
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Aliaksandr Hirs opened the action to 2,400 from under the gun and it folded around to Biao Ding in the cutoff who moved all in for 6,700 total. The rest of the table got out of the way and Hirs made the call to put Ding at risk.
Biao Ding: 4♣4♦
Aliaksandr Hirs: A♥6♥
It was a coin-flip preflop, but when the board ran out 9♥8♣2♣J♣Q♥, it was the fours for Ding that held up to secure the much needed double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
44,000
-6,000
|
-6,000 |
|
16,500
-33,500
|
-33,500 |