It was another action-packed day at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino as Day 1b of the €5,300 EPT Main Event was the focal point of the day. A total of 700 entries were recorded on the day with only 228 players advancing to Day 2. That brings the total number of entries for this event to 1,063 with at least 332 players returning tomorrow.
Leading the charge after another 10 levels of poker was PokerStars qualifier Samy Boujmala who finished the day with an impressive 339,000 chips. Boujmala qualified for the event through an online promotion and is looking to turn it into a big payday, one of the largest of his career. Outside of the WSOP Main Event, this is one of the Frenchman's largest buy-in events of his career and he will be heading into Day 2 as the overall chip leader.
Right on his heels was Mitchell Hynam who was leading the pack for most of the evening. Hynam peaked earlier at nearly 350,000 but fell back to finish with 316,000 chips. Hynam is in a similar situation as he will be looking to run deep and record the largest score of his short career. The Brit will also be looking to make it two EPT Main Event cashes in a row after finishing 98th in Paris for €14,100.
Top 10 Leaderboard from Day 1b of the Main Event
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Samy Boujmala | France | 339,000 | 226 |
| 2nd | Mitchell Hynam | United Kingdom | 316,000 | 211 |
| 3rd | Jean-Marc Cristiani | France | 287,000 | 191 |
| 4th | Antonio Calabro | Italy | 255,000 | 170 |
| 5th | Jason Wheeler | USA | 250,000 | 167 |
| 6th | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | 245,500 | 164 |
| 7th | Kenan Taylor | United Kingdom | 232,000 | 155 |
| 8th | Jose Astima | France | 231,000 | 154 |
| 9th | Corel Theuma | Malta | 219,500 | 146 |
| 10th | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 215,500 | 144 |
One of the spotlights of the day focused on world champion chess player Magnus Carlsen who was amongst some of the greatest poker players in the world. While not competing in his optimal game, Carlsen was still able to hold his own en route to bagging up a stack of 38,500 chips, albeit having to use a second bullet to do so. The popular Norwegian was forced to reenter after making the wrong call earlier in the day.
There were a few PokerStars ambassadors in the field today as well and two of them were able to make it through to Day 2. Parker Talbot led the way with a stack of 136,000 as he quietly went about his business in hopes of finally "winning a tournament". Benjamin Spragg will return to a stack of 96,000 chips and Jen Shahade will be forced to fire another bullet if she wishes to keep her chance of winning still alive.
Some other notables to keep an eye on as the action continues to unfold is Yiannis Liperis who is freshly coming off a victory in the €2,200 FPS High Roller earlier in the day, pocketing over €400,000 for his efforts. Liperis managed to spin up a stack of 183,000 after jumping into the Main Event. And Romain Lewis, the popular Frenchman, was able to cruise after holding an early big stack en route to finishing the day with 156,000 chips.
The cards are scheduled to go back in the air at 12:00 p.m. local time tomorrow for Day 2 with the blinds resuming on level 11 at 1,000/1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante. The levels will be increased to 90 minutes going forward with a 15-minute break after every level. The current plan is to play five levels on Day 2 without a dinner break with the money bubble expected to burst on Day 3.
As a reminder, late registration is still open until the start of Day 2 for any of those players who have not fired at least two bullets as of yet. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to capture all of the big hands throughout the day and bring you all of the exciting action.
