Barny Boatman was all in for 22,500 from middle position and up against Sachin Joshi in early position.
Barny Boatman: A♣5♣
Sachin Joshi: A♠Q♥
Boatman was dominated but jumped into the lead on the 4♥5♦7♠ flop with a pair of fives. The 2♣ turn left him one card from a double up, but the river came the Q♦ to give Joshi a pair of queens and the knockout.
Boatman was already on his second bullet, so his quest for back-to-back EPT titles officially came to an end.
Three-handed on a flop of 4♣3♠J♠, Rania Nasreddine bet 3,500 from the big blind and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau called under the gun, as did small blind Tomasz Mroz.
The turn was the 6♠ and action checked to Vaskaboinikau who bet 13,000. Only Nasreddine called.
The 7♣ fell on the river and Vaskaboinikau bet another 15,000. Nasreddine quickly called and turned over 8♠5♠ for a flush.
Vaskaboinikau mucked 3♣3♦ as Nasreddine took the pot to eclipse the 300,000 chip milestone.
Elias Gutierrez raised to 2,500 in the hijack, Leo Worthington-Leese three-bet to 10,000 in the big blind, and Gutierrez called.
The flop came 6♠J♥3♣ and Worthington-Leese continued for 7,200. Gutierrez called to see the A♠ turn.
Worthington-Leese then bet 12,600 and Gutierrez again called. The river was the 4♥ and Worthington-Leese moved all in for 35,000.
Gutierrez snap-called with A♦3♦ for two pair and Worthington-Leese mucked A♣K♣. The PokerStars Team Pro took the pot while Worthington-Leese, who finished third in this event last year, was sent to the rail.
Sam Grafton raised to 2,800 in early position and Aaron Olechnowicz called in the big blind.
The flop came 5♥6♠2♣ and Grafton bet 2,400. Olechnowicz called.
The turn was the Q♣ and Grafton bet another 18,000, which Olechnowicz called as they went to the 6♣ river.
Grafton then bet 25,000 and could barely finish putting the chips in the middle before Olechnowicz announced he was all in.
Grafton jokingly asked the big-stacked Olechnowicz how much he had left as he began pondering the decision for his last 35,000. "What do you have, bro?" he asked Olechnowicz.
"Something," Olechnowicz said.
"Something good?" Grafton asked.
"Something good, or something bad," Olechnowicz replied.
"I shouldn't have bet the river. It was a mistake. If I could take it back I would. I'm thinking about making a bad call," Grafton added before he finally tossed in his last chips.
Olechnowicz turned over 9♣7♣ for a rivered flush and Grafton threw A♥A♣ into the muck before he made his exit.
Dominik Nitsche and Felipe Boianovsky are also at this table with big stacks, though none can match Olechnowicz's now massive wall of chips.
After 10 levels of intense play on Day 1a, 119 will return into Day 2 of the prestigious €5,300 EPT Main Event at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo, hosted at Sporting Monte-Carlo.
The initial flight attracted 393 entries, which beats the number of last year's EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Day 1a by exactly 30 entries. Today's field contributed €2,580,200 to the prize pool but that figure is already over €3 million as, of the time of writing, over 130 more players have already booked their seat at the table for Day 1b.
Leading the way is Spanish poker player and streamer Elias Gutierrez, who bagged in an impressive 336,000 chips, the equivalent of 11 starting stacks. Rania Nasreddine claimed second place with 302,000. She took out three players at once which is a feat few poker players achieve. Nasreddine’s pair of sixes held strong against three opponents, including Barny Boatman, propelling her into the top two chip leaders of Day 1a. They are the only two with over 300,000 in chips.
Amaury Mamou-Mani rounds up the top three with 266,500.
EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Elias Gutierrez
Spain
336,000
224
2
Rania Nasreddine
United States
302,000
201
3
Amaury Mamou-Mani
France
266,500
177
4
Vladyslav Martynenko
Ukraine
265,500
177
5
Alan Ferraro
Italy
243,500
162
6
Tudor Zapsa
Moldova
240,000
160
7
Alexandre Reard
France
234,500
156
8
Peter Jorgne
Sweden
226,000
150
9
Aaron Olechnowicz
Mexico
208,000
138
10
Vahe Martirosyan
Armenia
192,000
128
Peter Jorgne
Several notables turned out for the opening flight of the Main Event, and among those returning for Day 2 with a good stack are PokerStars AmbassadorRafael Moraes who bagged 188,500, Adrian Mateos (129,500), Davidi Kitai (82,000) and Peter Jorgne with 226,000. After requiring a second buy-in, things took a turn for the better for Jorgne and he ended up bagging a top ten stack. Jorgne finished second in the EPT Paris Main Event in 2023 and fifth this year. He is now trying his luck in Monte Carlo.
Five of the PokerStars Gold Power Pass winners also competed today, with two of them making it through to Day 2: Edgaras Kertenis with 185,000 and Andrei Mjagkov with 133,000.
Leo Worthington-Leese
Last year's EPT Main Event Monte Carlo third-place finisher, Leo Worthington-Leese, had a rollercoaster of a day on the felt. In the end, he not only lost a pot worth around 120,000 but was also eliminated in the last hour before the end of Day 1a by Gutierrez. Maria Konnikova was also among those that failed to qualify for Day 2. She jumped ahead early but fell in Level 8. Other players who couldn't find a bag include Hossein Ensan, Jon Kyte, Ankit Ahuja, Ian Hamilton, Jason Wheeler, and PokerStars AmbassadorsBoatman, Simon Wiciak, Sam Grafton, Ramon Colillas, Andre Akkari and Guillermo Sanz.
The countdown to Day 1b is on, slated to commence on Monday, April 29, at 12:00 p.m. local time, it will be the same structure as Day 1a. Everyone starts with a fresh 30,000 stack and blinds begin at 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante. Registration is open until start of Day 2.
Stay tuned for more live coverage of the 2024 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event as the PokerNews live reporting team brings you all the action straight from the source.
