Miroslav Alilovic opened to 12,000 from under the gun and was called by Tommy Alm Bo from the hijack. PokerStars Team Pro Lasse Jagd Lauritsen, who operates under the screen name "Wistern", jammed for 50,000 from the big blind. Alilovic called before Bo folded.
Lasse Jagd Lauritsen: K♣K♥
Miroslav Alilovic: J♠10♠
Wistern held to double up following the Q♠4♣6♦5♣9♦ runout.
Nina Krasilnikova was all in for her last 217,000 from the small blind, and was at risk to Julien Vecchioli, who had called from the cutoff.
Nina Krasilnikova: K♣K♥
Julien Vecchioli: Q♦Q♠
Krasilnikova was ahead with her kings, and they stayed in front following the A♦8♥3♦ flop. The 4♦ turn had her worried as her opponent picked up a flush draw. She then breathed a sigh of relief, along with doing a small cheer, as the 5♣ river ensured her survival.
Pierre Calamusa raised to 12,000 in middle position before Oleksii Lazarchuk moved all in for 110,000 in the big blind. "I have aces. I'm going to film it for my YouTube channel," Calamusa said as he took out his phone and began taking a video as he called.
Oleksii Lazarchuk: 10♥10♣
Pierre Calamusa: A♣A♦
"This is worse than a slowroll," Lazarchuk said after finding out he was crushed holding two tens. The flop came 4♠K♥2♠, but the 10♦ fell on the turn to give Lazarchuk a set.
"Oh no," Calamusa yelled out, while the Q♠ fell on the river to give Lazarchuk a miracle double up.
"Get it on camera," Lazarchuk joked with Calamusa as the two players shared a laugh.
Three-handed on a flop of A♦K♥9♠, Manuel Roca bet 18,000 from the small blind before Gabi Livshitz raised to 53,000 in the big blind. Martial Blangenwitsch then moved all in for 154,000 in the hijack.
Roca also moved all in for around 380,000. "This escalated quickly," Livshitz said as he tanked for a minute before folding.
Martial Blangenwitsch: A♠K♠
Manuel Roca: 9♦9♣
"Last nine in the deck, is all I can say," Livshitz said as Roca turned over a set of nines. Blangenwitsch was behind with two pair, but the A♣ fell on the turn to give him a full house. The river was the 7♣ and Blangenwitsch doubled up.
The 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo series has opened with a massive prize pool in the €1,100 France Poker Series Main Event, seeing a total of 2,096 entries over four starting flights at Sporting Monte-Carlo.
That sits as the second-largest total in the history of the event, just behind the 2023 FPS Monte Carlo Main Event that attracted 2,138 entries.
A total of 70 countries were represented among the 1,077 unique entries, with France accounting for more than a third of players this week. A total of 326 French entries made up 30.27% of the field in Monte Carlo, followed by Italy (185 players - 17.18%).
Other countries with notable representation in the player pool include the United Kingdom (43 players - 3.99%), Spain (38 players - 3.53%) and Romania (37 - 3.44%).
FPS Monte Carlo Main Event Nationalities (Courtesy of PokerStars)
Further down the list is Germany with 34 players for 3.16% of the field, Switzerland with 32 players (2.97%) and Greece with 30 entrants (2.79%). Ukraine (24 players - 2.23%) and the United States (22 players - 2.04%) round out the top ten.
Some of the other countries represented this year include The Netherlands (15 players - 1.39%), Canada (13 players - 1.21%), Brazil (4 players - 0.37%), Morocco (4 players - 0.37%) and Australia (3 players - 0.28%).
A full breakdown of the nationalities represented in the FPS Monte Carlo Main Event is available in the table below.
