Jerome Zerbib, in the cutoff, found himself holding the best hand while having both his opponents Stephan Fajg and Jose Severino at risk.
Stephan Fajg: A♥Q♠
Jose Severino: A♠10♥
Jerome Zerbib: J♦J♣
The board ran out 9♣K♥8♣4♣9♠; Zerbib's cheer of excitement could be heard throughout the room as he scooped this massive pot and eliminated two players.
As Jason Wheeler made his way off the tournament floor, he took the time to recount his bust-out hand to PokerNews.
The under-the-gun player, who had been the most active during the current bubble dynamic, raised to 10,000. A player in early position moved all in for their remaining 85,000 and Wheeler called off the bet for his last 80,000. The original raiser also called.
Jason Wheeler: A♥K♦
Early Position: XxXx
Under-the-Gun: A♣A♠
The board ran out 7♥4♠4♦J♣10♥; Wheeler was sent to the rail as the bubble quickly approached.
Leandro Dirlewanger opened 12,000 under the gun, and Fabian Niederreiter three-bet 35,000 next to act. Zhongxian Li was to his immediate left and took about 15 seconds before putting in a four-bet to 110,000. Dirlewanger quickly got out of the way, and the action was back on Niederreiter.
"How much are you playing?" Asked Niederreiter.
"About 320,000," Li responded.
After a few more moments, Niederreiter announced all-in.
Li went deep into the tank, beginning to talk to himself, "I have never folded this hand. I don't think I can."
He continued to tank for a few minutes before time was called. As the 30 second count down began, Li made the call.
Zhongxian Li: K♠K♣
Fabian Niederreiter: A♦A♠
It was the ultimate cooler on the bubble for Li, and the board ran out A♥Q♦3♠7♣8♣, for Niederreiter to improve to a set of aces and eliminate Li.
Day 1a of the €1,100 France Poker Series Main Event, running as part of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour at the Le Palais des Congrès, got underway today with the first of six starting flights this week. A total of 347 entries were made; after 17 levels of play, 52 advanced to Day 2 and secured a minimum of cash. With this year's event hosting twice as many starting flights as last year's event, this number is expected to swell rapidly.
As this chaotic flight died down, Fabian Niederreiter bagged the overall chip lead taking through a total of 776,000 for the Day 2 restart. Niederreiter was the beneficiary of a cold deck on the stone bubble as his pocket aces held against the pocket kings of opponent Zhongxian Li to burst the bubble and award him this monster stack.
Fabian Niederreiter
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Fabian Niederreiter
776,000
Germany
129
2
Leandro Dirlewanger
Italy
548,000
91
3
Yoshihito Shijima
Japan
543,000
91
4
Benjamin Duval
France
540,000
90
5
Pim Gieles
Netherlands
398,000
66
6
Dumitru Pora
Romania
385,000
64
7
Israel Amoyal
France
372,000
62
8
Bernard Darmon
France
341,000
57
9
Abdel Bourahel
France
269,000
45
10
Youcef Benzerfa
France
254,000
42
Day 1a welcomed some of the best players in Europe and beyond, including PokerStars Team Pro member Parker Talbot. However, proceedings didn’t fall in the favour of the popular streamer as he lost the majority of his stack in Level 11. Jacques Guenni was the beneficiary of most of Talbot’s chip as a big three-way all-in confrontation saw Guenni find the perfect flop to triple up.
Another notable name to hit the rail was UKIPT Player of the YearDavid Docherty. Docherty fired two bullets here on Day 1a, with his second coming to its conclusion as he ran into the ace-king of Rabythas Sinnathamby on Level 11. Despite this, Docherty was quick to exit the tournament floor and registered the turbo flight of Day 1b.
Those more fortunate on the felt included PokerStars ambassadorsMarle Spragg and Maria Konnikova who managed to amass stacks of 180,000 and 210,000 respectively.
Maria Konnikova
Day 1c will kick off tomorrow, February 9th, at 12 p.m. local time, while its turbo counterpart, Day 1d, will start at 6 p.m.
The PokerNews live reporting team will return to bring you more coverage of the France Poker Series Main Event here at EPT Paris, so stay tuned.
