Betfair Official Blog

EPT Grand Final Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the pokerstars.com sponsored EPT Grand Final here in Monte Carlo

The best of day 1a and the best of day 1b have gathered to form day 2. All the players have loosened up and shaken off the rust so we expect top class poker today. Our chip leader is Cyril Bebsoussann with 128,300 and holding up the rest and in need of a miracle is Victor Ramdin with 1,950. Sorel is nicely positioned and above average with 52,550, helped by a double-up at the death on day 1a. Fraser Dunphy has some work to do with 12,825 but this structure allows him the time to pick his spots wisely and Jeremy Wray has around average with 32,525.

Here's a full list of chip counts and table draw...

Name Country Table Seat Chips
Cyril Bensoussan France 18 4 128300
Stephen Kjaerstad Norway 6 2 111200
Uffe Holm Denmark 46 7 108875
Raul Corral Spain 20 1 108825
Chris Min Lee United States 23 1 96050
Andrea Benelli Italy 41 3 94325
Johnny Lodden Norway 34 7 88425
Mostafa Belkhayate Morocco 38 4 88275
Driman Connor 30 8 87675
Shaun Deeb USA 35 2 84375
Thomas Boekhoff Germany 26 8 83350
Shane Reihill Ireland 23 7 82150
Nils Christian Paulsen Norway 24 1 80825
Beniamino Speroni Italy 23 3 80525
Gilbert Abela Liban 36 5 78875
Calle Scholdborg Sweden 10 7 78700
Peter Wolfgang Roche Ireland 38 5 78425
Pierliuigi Tiziani Italy 28 1 77225
Claudio Stefano Rinaldi Switzerland 17 3 74475
Denes Kalo Hungary 42 6 74275
Noah Siegel USA 14 5 73725
Tommi Horkko Finland 11 5 73150
Michel Carvin France 33 1 73050
Sasha Rosewood USA 6 4 72125
Csaba Kuremszki Hungary 16 8 71150
Woody Deck Lithuania 6 3 70800
Terris Preston Canada 14 4 70125
Anders Hoyer Berg Norway 19 8 69425
Morten Lokken Norway 36 4 68700
Maxime Villemure Canada 19 6 68000
Michiel Willem Brummelhuis Holland 36 2 67950
Juris Bonders Austria 9 5 67800
Valeriy Ilikyan Russia 28 5 67450
Kenny Hallaert Belgium 20 2 67000
Clayton Maguire USA 16 3 66800
Andreas Rathje Germany 5 2 66525
Ed de Haas Holland 35 5 65550
Jonas Molander Sweden 31 4 65400
Vincent Secher France 4 8 65050
Benjamin Sprengers USA 32 7 65025
Casey Kastle USA 8 6 64600
Luis David Sevilla Spain 21 5 64025
Danny Ryan USA 39 7 63125
James Campbell USA 23 8 62425
Michael Martin USA 12 8 61175
David Shade Kruger USA 33 4 60200
Peter Heim Austria 39 8 60025
Ariel Adda UK 29 6 59800
Oyvind Riisem Norway 43 3 59750
Felipe Taveres Brazil 40 6 58150
Domenico Tinnirello Italy 8 8 58100
Sebastian Zink Germany 24 2 58050
Andrew Luetchford UK 47 1 57225
Andreas Torbergsen Norway 23 4 56600
Torsten Schulz Germany 21 1 56450
Enrico Mognaga Italy 37 4 56325
Christopher Klodnicki USA 22 6 54800
Dan Glimne Sweden 22 2 54725
Grigore Dan Adamescu Romania 31 2 54025
William Martin UK 29 5 53500
Giovanni Nervo Italy 46 1 52625
Sorel Mizzi Canada 9 4 52550
Alexander Uskov Russia 34 8 52550
Rino Matthis Switzerland 3 1 52400
Nordine Bouya France 14 1 51400
Ghassan John Bitar Lebanon 13 6 50700
Thomas Fougeron France 27 1 50300
Arid Helland Norway 4 7 50275
Gregory Byard USA 8 1 49275
Jean-Pierre Gleize France 10 1 49100
Jan Heitmann Germany 36 7 48900
Dario Alioto Italy 15 1 48525
Mel Judah UK 23 6 47450
Alexia Portal France 14 3 47250
Klas Gustav Axel Arvidsson Sweden 4 2 47050
George Lind Iii USA 35 1 46900
Eduards Kudrjavcevs Latvia 32 3 46650
Stuart Michel Fox UK 15 8 46600
Aliaksandr Dzianisau Russia 36 6 46550
Jesse Rockowitz USA 15 5 46500
Marcel Luske Holland 5 1 46375
Stig Top Rasmussen Denmark 1 4 46350
Johannes Ritburg Unknown 35 4 46250
Benjamin Sulsky USA 10 3 46150
Andre Santos Portugal 36 8 46000
Brian Green USA 43 5 46000
Travis Klein USA 26 3 45975
Mattias Bergstrom Sweden 6 5 45625
Antti Pekka Merilainen Finland 47 5 45550
Alex Repik Russia 18 1 44875
Trond Erik Eidsvig Norway 37 2 44525
Surinder Sunar UK 41 7 44350
Christoffer Stahle Sweden 30 2 44225
Thomas Bichon Italy 4 4 44050
Tom Stig Ahlberg Finland 41 2 43950
Luca Pagano Italy 38 2 43750
Eric Liu United States 8 3 43600
Derek Vandamme USA 8 2 43400
Nicolas Levi France 30 1 43250
Ronny Alex Sweden 6 8 42550
Jose Espinar Spain 44 2 42450
Timothy Vance USA 12 1 42450
Patrick Bueno French 13 1 42125
Patrick Sacrispeyre French 34 1 42125
Armando Pagliari Canada 26 7 42075
Andreas Fluri Switzerland 23 5 41875
Mats Iremark Sweden 1 8 41775
Joe Hachem Australia 4 3 41550
Adrian Gavile USA 46 6 41425
Patryk Hildebranski Canada 43 8 41375
Eric Da Silva France 7 3 41275
Anthony Chatelain Sweden 31 5 41225
Peter Traply Hungary 39 3 41000
Rahal Samir France 29 7 40575
David Miara France 3 8 39750
Christophe Benzimra France 7 1 39725
Marc Goodwin UK 14 2 39075
David Lacoste France 12 4 38975
Kirill Rabtsov Russia 11 1 38875
Andreas Sarling Finland 12 3 38625
Marin Truvnev Holland 40 8 38550
Josh Arieh USA 21 6 38500
Henrik Gwinner Denmark 37 6 38225
Andrew Teng UK 7 4 38150
Nikolaus Panopoulus Greece 11 3 37800
Simon Faure France 27 2 37775
Jonathan Dwek Canada 12 5 37600
Richard Fohrenbach USA 20 6 37500
Stefan Gerim Germany 24 3 37475
Benoit Gariepy Canada 13 2 37225
Cornelis Albla Holland 3 4 37150
Chad Brown USA 48 3 37125
Claudio Pagano Italy 40 2 37050
Stevie Levy USA 6 6 36700
Leonardo Fernandez Argentina 42 5 36600
Cecilia Borg Sweden 25 7 36575
Paul Jean Testud France 19 3 35800
Joshua Gould UK 22 7 35550
Jason Mercier USA 13 4 35375
Antonio Esfandiari USA 9 2 35350
Fabrizio Baldassari Italy 28 8 35275
Freddy Deeb USA 16 6 35175
Benjamin Locatelli France 19 5 35100
Neil Channing UK 5 7 35100
Juan Manuel Pastor Spain 29 2 34975
Christoph Niesert Germany 24 4 34900
Ian Prevost USA 10 2 34875
Riccardo Ricciardi Italy 11 7 34675
Fadi Kamar Liban 26 1 34550
Thomas Wahlroos Finland 24 5 34500
Will Haydon USA 34 5 34450
Franz Bracher Switzerland 13 3 33950
Giovanni Bigoni Italy 20 5 33775
Mark Keightley UK 10 6 33775
Walid Bou Habib Lebanon 13 7 33550
Anders Wijk Sweden 46 8 33525
Yury Kerzhapkin Russia 21 8 33425
Pawel Chmiel Poland 27 8 33175
Tomas Brolin Sweden 22 4 33175
Karl Gal Germany 26 4 33075
Kim Wooka Japan 21 7 32800
Pakinai Lisawad Thailand 21 3 32725
Humberto Brenes Costa Rica 48 2 32700
Sasa Biorac Germany 17 2 32675
Fabrice Touil France 24 6 32525
Jeremy Wray UK 17 5 32525
Raymond Rahme South Africa 18 3 32225
Michaele Lau USA 33 7 32000
Jared Mahoney USA 37 5 31975
Dominik Stopka Germany 48 1 31675
Joakim Osth Sweden 26 6 31675
Ryan Fisler Canada 45 3 31600
Frantisek Striz Czech Republic 31 1 31575
Gualter Santos Brazil 48 4 31550
Ryan Daut USA 18 2 31425
Steven Brown USA 8 7 31350
Anna Wroblewski USA 41 1 31325
Teodori Saverio Italy 14 7 31150
Glen Chorny Canada 25 4 31050
Thomas Richter Germany 10 4 31050
Cristobal Hidalgo Spain 43 6 31025
Carl Olson USA 15 4 30775
Sean Bruder Canada 7 5 30575
Jean Christian Marelius Sweden 32 1 30500
Fowzi Baroukh UK 22 3 30325
Richard Da Silva France 43 1 30225
Vanessa Rousso USA 12 6 30000
Dan Pedersen Denmark 14 6 29950
Stefanie Bergener Germany 48 8 29825
Pier Paulo Ruscalla Italy 28 4 29450
Joseph Udine USA 43 4 29450
Tonino Lucisano Italy 15 2 29100
Ross Boatman UK 25 8 29000
Juha Helppi Finland 16 1 28725
Mameche Slimane Unknown 33 3 28650
Csaba Toth Hungary 25 2 28400
Randy Lew USA 42 2 28325
Pierre Xavier Lenoir French 27 4 28300
Josef Klinger Austria 47 8 28150
Sandor Hollaar Holland 16 2 28050
Davidi Kitai Belgium 29 3 27900
Phillippe Rouas USA 18 7 27650
Shawn Eno USA 25 1 27525
Jan Olav Sjavik Norway 26 5 27500
Antoni Romanello UK 47 6 27325
Martin Rask Denmark 45 1 27225
Stephen Devlin UK 15 3 27100
Anthony Gil Switzerland 5 5 26750
Bobby Firestone USA 34 4 26725
Daniel Negreanu Canada 20 7 26475
Simone Coppari Italy 15 6 26375
Gino Alacqua Italy 16 7 26275
David Paindestre French 3 6 26200
Niels Rikhof USA 26 2 26150
Thierry Van Der Berg Holland 11 4 25975
Guido Meacci Italy 39 4 25850
Peter Feldman USA 43 7 25725
Amit Makhija USA 45 8 25600
Borge Dypvik Norway 44 1 25575
Gunther Steinbach Germany 30 4 25425
Robin Keston UK 37 3 25425
Gus Hansen Denmark 47 7 25200
Eric Scalisi France 17 7 25200
Anders Vind Denmark 25 6 25150
Torbjorn Jonson Sweden 4 6 25150
Aniol Alcaraz Spain 38 3 25100
Ben Stark USA 44 4 25075
Kari Somer Finland 41 5 24825
Mark Bech Denmark 22 5 24775
Sami Ovaskainen Finland 44 6 24750
Michel Abecassis France 41 4 24550
Jarle Aasen Norway 19 1 24475
Gianni Mocchi Italy 27 6 24450
Paul Maddern UK 12 7 24400
Alfonso Amendola Italy 33 5 24300
Massou Cohen France 22 1 24125
Rami Boukai USA 44 3 24050
Denis Patout France 14 8 24000
Steven Van Zadelhoff Holland 27 5 23875
Moen Jairam Unknown 40 1 23875
Nicolas Jean Dervaux France 5 8 23725
Omar Jadaa Unknown 32 4 23650
Orjan Holt Norway 1 7 22700
Thomas Henk Unknown 39 6 22650
Alexander Argoe USA 18 6 22575
Loic Sabatte France 42 1 22450
Mesbah Guerfi France 33 6 22325
William Edler USA 44 5 22250
David Hickman USA 21 2 22075
Matt Stout USA 37 1 22000
Yau Wan Chan USA 46 4 21950
Nadir Jorephani UK 48 7 21850
Pablo Ubierna Spain 48 6 21825
Tsang Elton Hong Kong 3 3 21750
Paul Leckey UK 8 5 21750
Peter Jetten Canada 2 5 21700
Minal Patel UK 25 3 21500
Paul Bracken UK 40 5 21425
Richard Pettibone Costa Rica 17 1 21350
Pierre Hall Canada 30 5 21325
Alec Torelli USA 10 5 21325
Anthony Gregg USA 35 7 21275
Manuel Palanca Spain 47 2 21200
Gerard Cohen France 11 2 20450
Ali Jalali Germany 41 6 20425
Gerasimos Deres Sweden 34 6 20375
Edward Lawson USA 31 6 20000
Constantin Pavel Unknown 44 8 19975
Alexander Kravchenko Russia 21 4 19875
Victoria Coren UK 28 2 19850
Gianni Giaroni Italy 46 2 19800
Osman Mustanoglu UK 7 8 19650
Dumitru Cristinel Romania 12 2 19375
Haward Speer Germany 17 8 19125
Tato Lancillotti Italy 30 7 18850
Martin Kvaernstuen Norway 9 3 18850
Alex Kloos Germany 42 7 18750
Raoul Refos Holland 1 5 18725
Vladimir Kochelaevskly 34 2 18525
Robert Giordano Unknown 4 5 18500
Jonathan Butters UK 7 2 18450
Picazo Jose Luis Spain 11 8 18375
Noah Boeken Holland 36 3 18250
Christer Bjorin Sweden 16 4 18250
Frank Platano Unknown 38 7 18250
Christian Simunic Germany 47 3 18100
Joseph Mouawad Lebanon 35 6 18025
Isaac Andrew Baron USA 39 1 18000
Samuel Chartier Canada 22 8 17700
Matthew Kurtz USA 30 6 17550
Adam Levy USA 30 3 17500
Mario Kuhl Germany 6 1 17400
Ricardo Sousa Portugal 31 7 17175
Sandra Edlund Sweden 5 6 17075
Pierre Baronville Belgium 9 7 17025
James Byrne UK 39 5 16800
Daniele Masini Italy 8 4 16775
Adam Sword UK 29 1 16775
Michael Watson Canada 38 1 16725
Dominick Raynis USA 23 2 16725
Thomas Dunwoodie UK 28 3 16100
Tommy Pavlicek Canada 36 1 16075
Leroy Soesman Holland 18 5 16025
Halldor Mar Sverrisson Iceland 24 7 15975
Carl Johan Ericson Sweden 7 7 15850
Daniel Didech USA 3 5 15825
Franck Fellous France 15 7 15725
Joakim Angle Sweden 9 1 15625
Tom Underwood Unknown 48 5 15500
Dorrance-Bowman USA 34 3 15500
Mark Vargas USA 20 3 15450
Luis Merino Spain 9 6 15425
Andy Greekfish UK 35 8 15425
Ramez Haddad Lebanon 27 3 15275
Tommy Dender Denmark 5 4 15225
Vito Branciforte Italy 44 7 15075
Alexander Morozov Russia 38 8 15050
Severin Walser Switzerland 38 6 14950
Guillaume De La Gorce France 19 2 14875
Jani Vilmunen Finland 35 3 14800
Max Tobias Persson Sweden 42 4 14700
Celii Gianni Switzerland 32 8 14450
Scott Sitron USA 45 5 14450
Eliahu Ilan Elezra United States 10 8 14400
Christian Togsverd Denmark 2 4 14250
Patrik Antonius Finland 5 3 14000
Mario Puccini Germany 39 2 13950
Xuantien Nguyen USA 29 4 13650
Luigi Rizzi Italy 32 5 13600
Emile Petit France 1 1 13525
Freddy Darakjian France 27 7 13400
Luca Antinori Italy 28 6 13175
Frank Stumpf Germany 45 4 12900
Fraser Dunphy UK 33 8 12825
Benjamin Kang Germany 2 1 12600
Mike Mcdonald Canada 1 3 12225
Farzad Bonyadi USA 46 3 12125
Emil Malevsci Bulgaria 46 5 12000
Rumit Somaiya UK 2 2 12000
Richard Nadler USA 29 8 11775
Bab De Haas Holland 19 7 11500
Joshua Field USA 11 6 11425
Jonathan Friedberg USA 3 2 11350
Iliodoros Kamatakis Greece 2 3 10900
Andrew Feldman UK 45 2 10725
Antti Pystynen Finland 6 7 10500
Owen Crowe Canada 45 7 10475
Andreas Hagen Norway 28 7 10275
Rahal Kalil France 17 4 10200
Romain Feriolo France 4 1 10150
Mike Bartholomew Canada 2 8 10075
Nathan Doudney USA 40 4 10000
Alexandr Kostritsyn Russia 41 8 9850
Miguel Magan Tier Spain 37 7 9800
Asbjorn Lunde Norway 43 2 9775
Stephane Michel Sage French 33 2 9650
Florian Langmann Germany 7 6 9600
Philippe Saadani Ktorza French 42 3 9175
Ken Justin USA 37 8 8800
Konstantin Bucherl Germany 32 2 8750
Roger Suter Switzerland 20 4 8525
Mikhail Ustinov Russia 17 6 8475
Laurent Torossian France 40 3 8425
Christopher Convery South Africa 45 6 8025
Mark Bollinger Switzerland 25 5 7775
David Redlin USA 1 2 7675
Josef Kollarits Austria 20 8 7450
Gordon Vayo USA 42 8 7325
Jared Hubbard USA 18 8 7225
Johan Van Til Holland 24 8 7125
Francois Tardieu France 13 8 7075
Helene Wiklund Sweden 13 5 6950
Felice Piccaluga Italy 40 7 6850
Anders Henriksson Sweden 31 8 6700
Metaal Govert Monaco 19 4 6175
Barry Greenstein USA 9 8 5825
Martin Wendt Denmark 1 6 5575
Christophe Perraud France 2 7 5325
Ditspong Pinpramot Germany 2 6 4750
Antoine Nahas Unknown 16 5 4225
Roberto Massullo Italy 32 6 3625
Victor Ramdin USA 3 7 1950

Early exit

Tommy Dender, friend of Betfair has a tricky table draw today with Neil Channing, Patrik Antonius and Marcel Luske for company. But it wasn't long before the latter took his scalp. Marcel raised it up from late position and Tommy called from the big blind. The flop came down...

a64

Marcel led weakly at the pot to try and look weak hoping short-stacked Tommy has an ace. He's holding ace-jack and raises all-in and Marcel calls holding ace-six. The turn and river both bring a five and the unlucky Tommy departs. Marcel tells me Tommy did nothing wrong and the hand just played itself.

Cooler

There's a raise from under-the-gun to 1,300. Jeremy calls from mid-position and the big blind comes along for the ride. The flop brings us...

TT4

The under-the-gun raiser continues his aggression with a 4,500 bet. Both Jeremy and the big blind player call before the turn comes...

9

It's checked to Jeremy who bets 4,500 before the big blind player moves all-in for 17,000. The under-the-gun player folds before Jeremy calls holding...

44 for a flopped full-house.

His opponent has...

QJ for a flush and open ended straight-flush draw. He has two outs as we see the river...

K!!! What a cooler. Running cards for a straight flush. Very unlucky Jeremy but he still has over 20,000 to work with.

Jumping Jeremy

Fraser is sitting in the big blind and witnesses a raise from early position. It's folded around to him and after taking a peek at his cards he re-raises to 4,900. His opponent then pushes all-in for a total of 14,000. Fraser makes the call with...

TT

and we're off to the races as he's up against...

AK

The board runs nine high eliminating the other player and pushing Fraser up to around 30,000.

News has just reached me that Jeremy's table has broken and he's been moved next to Daniel Negraneu!

Sorel time

Sorel is starting to bully his table and that's not an easy feat with Barry Greenstein and Antonio Esfandiari for company. The latter makes a raise from the cut-off before Sorel puts another 3,225 on top of that. Antonio responds by raising this extra up to 10,100 before Sorel raises it up to 30,000! Antonio considers his options carefully before conceding defeat and mucking his hand. Well played sir.

Then Barry limps from early position before Sorel raises to 2,350 from the button. Barry is the only caller. The flop comes down...

AJ7

Barry checks and then folds to Sorel's continuation bet. He's now on over 60,000 without showing a hand down.

Here's what they're playing for...

Position Euros
1 € 2,020,000
2 € 1,179,000
3 € 715,000
4 € 589,000
5 € 421,000
6 € 337,000
7 € 253,000
8 € 168,000
9+10 € 126,000
11+12 € 101,000
13+14 € 76,000
15+16 € 55,200
17-24 € 46,300
25-32 € 42,100
33-40 € 38,000
41-48 € 33,700
49-56 € 29,400
57-64 € 25,200
65-72 € 21,000
73-80 € 17,000

Total € 8,420,000

Check out that first prize!

Player Out

Superstar Daniel Negraneu has left the side of Fraser and left the tournament. The big stack at the table raised the 800 big-blind up to 2,200 before Daniel re-raised up to 7,400 from the big-blind committing nearly half his stack. The big blind then re-raised enough to put Daniel all-in. Daniel shrugged his shoulder and asked 'Have you got it'? while sliding the rest of his chips over the line. The big stack had pockets tens rather than aces and was in bad shape against Daniel's pocket queens, that was until a ten fell on the flop to eliminate him.

Badly timed bluff

Fraser is back down to about 20,000. He tried to bluff the big-stacked player who knocked out Daniel Negraneu. His hand was soon in the muck when called on the river after a bet. fraser addmitted it was badly timed. He's still there though.

Big guns

An interesting hand just developed with two of the 'big-guns' at Sorel's table. Barry Greenstien made a standard raise from the button and found Antonio Asfandiari calling from the big blind before we saw a flop...

374

Antonio led out for 5,200 before Barry raised to a very substantial 30,000, leaving himself only 22,000 back. Antonio sat and dwelled and counted his chips a few times. He asked Barry 'Want me to gamble Barry'? No reply comes and Antonio adds 'Pretty sure I have the best hand'. Then he moved all-in for 55,000 and expected a quick call from Barry but it didn't come. 'That's a good sign' continues Antonio. To everyone's surprise he passes and Antonio lifted his cards up to the camera filming and showed six-seven of spades.

Up and down

Jeremy managed to get up to 70,000 before 'giving away' 40,000 of it to one player. This player raised from under-the-gun with pocket jacks and Jeremy called with pocket sevens. Two nines and a four came on the board and Jeremy found his bet being called before the turn brought a three. Jeremy bet again only to see a raise all-in that wasn't much more for him to call. The jacks stood up and Jeremy saw the hard earned chips go the other way.

Rockets

A player on Sorel's table raises the 1,000 big blind to 3,500 before Nicolas Levi re-raises to 9,500. Sorel is sitting in the small blind and moves all-in for around 38,000. Both players fold and Sorel rakes in a nice pot just before the dinner break. Shame he didn't find a caller as he told us over Sushi that he had pocket aces! He lost the very last pot before the break but is sitting on a healthy 52,000 at the moment.

Ryan and Feldman

Danny Ryan and Andrew Feldman had a tough time of it before the dinner break. Danny lost a pot worth 150,000 with pocket aces versus an opponent's king-queen. The flop contained a jack and a ten and all the chips went in. As you may have guessed his opponent hit his six-outer to cripple Danny down to 10,000. He managed to get this back upto 40,000 with the help of aces again before heading off for food.
Andrew was unlucky as well. He raised with pocket kings and was called by by the big blind player holding ten-six. The flop came down with two sixes on the board and Andrew was knocked out after committing the rest of his chips.

Fraser time

Been hanging by Fraser's table for the last hour watching him nurse his ever decreasing stack. It's very hard to keep your head above water though when most pots are being raised and re-raised in front of you. It's folded around to him in the cut-off for a change and he finds a hand he can open with a raise to 3,500. It just shows the run he's having though when the button player re-raises to 12,500 and the big blind player raises again to 56,200 all-in. Fraser folds his ace-five of hearts and the button player folds pocket jacks after a long dwell.
He manages to get some of these back by going all-in twice to put him back above the 20,000 mark. Then he finds another spot to raise, this time to 3,600 before a player on the button re-raises to 10,300. Fraser shoves for 22,000 total and it's a mandatory call for the button player with...

AK

Fraser tables...

KK

The kings hold and our man doubles up to around 45,000 and has chips to play now.

The Great Dane is no more

Gus Hansen has just been eliminated to the disappointment of the many fans that ignore the floor staff to gather round and watch his play. He got crippled after running top pair on the flop into a set of twos. He was disappointed in himself for calling a pot size bet on the river. The very next hand he pushed for his last 8,000 with ace-nine and was called by a player holding pocket eights who hit another eight on the flop.

Also out a while ago is Jeremy. He lost a big pot that put him down to around 10,000 and then he was knocked out in a race situation that he ended up on the wrong side of.

Five down, one horse remaining

After a brief comeback we've lost Fraser. He lost most of his stack when he ran into an opponent holding quad twos! Then he re-raised all-in for 16,600 after a player had raised to 4,500 from under-the-gun. Fraser was holding ace-jack and needed to hit as his opponent was holding pocket sevens. He didn't hit as you may have guessed and leaves us after playing a great short-stack game all day, full of patience and awareness. He'll be back next year trying to make a second final table.

Playing coming to a close

Players have fallen quicker than expected today so a decision has been taken to finish play for today at the end of level 12, one earlier than planned. The last level has been a good one for out one remaining stallion. Sorel has climbed his way up to around 160,000. Most of this has been accumulated without having to show down a hand thus withholding vital information from his very tough table. The one hand where he did have to showdown involved Sorel raking in a nice 30,000 pot with pocket nines on a seven high board. As long as nothing drastic happens in the last few hand he'll be coming back in good shape tomorrow hopefully with an easier table. Saying that though, he was the one they were all fearing today.

Final Words

Play has come to an end here in Monte Carlo and it's before midnight for a change! 382 players started out with their dreams intact. 129 still have that dream intact and they'll come back tomorrow where we'll make a push for and cross the money line. Oyvind Rissen is a clear chip leader at over 400,000. A race for second is underway amongst top players such as Johnny Lodden with over 300,000, Joe Hachem with over 250,000 and the likable Andreas Hagen with a similar amount. The official chip counts will follow in the morning. Join myself, Sorel and all the remaining players tomorrow where the action will be fiercer and more exciting than ever.
Marc Convey signing out from Monte Carlo.