The Monte Carlo Bay Casino & Resort is stocking the champagne. Corks can’t wait to pop. The high rollers invade like a gale force wind ploughing through a town made of matches. The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) is in town, and Day 1 of the €100,000 Super High Roller is like a bun in the oven.
The first day attracted 33-players, and 48-entrants, meaning a Dan Bilzerian glut of bullets, and with registration open until the start of Day 2, expect that number to grow.
So who arrived via the upmarket corner street Thai restaurant?
The Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, Alex Foxen is in the house, as is the defending champion, Sam Greenwood, and the recent Triton Poker Series Jeju Main Event winner, Timothy Adams.
Talking about Triton, the tour’s founder, Richard Yong is involved as are Triton regs Ivan Leow and Wai Leong Chan. The Aussie Millions Main Event winner, Bryn Kenney is also tangled in this expensive knot, as is the Super High Roller new boy, Jesus Cortes.
When it comes to players in form, look no further than Seth Davies and Michael Soyza.
Seldom do you see someone new enter a cauldron of this intensity. It happened in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in January when Jesus Cortes finished third in the $100,000 and second in the $25,000, and it’s happened again in the principality.
Wiktor Malinowski, 24, made his debut in Day 1 of this event and finished with more chips than 27-foes who made it through to the second day. Malinowski told PokerNews that he’s no stranger to competing at high stakes, as he frequents the highest stakes online, but his appearances in the live realm are as sparse as tweakers in Tescos calmly buying packets of tea.
The Pole’s one cash to date came in 2017 when he finished 187/1204 in the inaugural partypoker MILLIONS UK; the year that Maria Lampropulos became a millionaire.
He’s in prime position to follow her lead.
Let’s take a look at the highlight reel.
The Nutshell Action
Level 3: 1k/1.5k/1.5k
The Spaniard, Jesus Cortes, eliminated Jean-Noel Thorel AK>AJ. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Michael Addamo, eliminated Daniel Dvoress AK>AQ, and Ahadpur Khangah, also lost a life. All three players re-entered.
Level 4: 1k/2k/2k
The defending champion, Sam Greenwood, had an expensive afternoon, buying in three times. The Canadian lost his first bullet after firing it into the bulletproof vest of Malinowski after flopping two pairs with Qh9h on Qc9d2s versus the pocket aces of the Pole, only for the board to pair on the turn. The money went in on the river.
Level 5: 1k/2.5k/2.5k
Steve O’Dwyer eliminated Stanley Choi in a cooler than saw the pair both get it in with Big Slick, only for O’Dwyer to score a four flush knockout. Choi re-entered.
Level 6: 1.5k/3k/3k
Fresh from his deep run in the €10k event, where he finished fourth, Charlie Carrel started well, sending Thorel to the rail for the second time when pocket jacks beat AJ. The Frenchman bought in for the third time. Other stars to lose a casing in this level were David Peters and Sam Greenwood.
Level 7: 2k/4k/4k
Bryn Kenney’s goal in poker is to own the All-Time Money spot and to do that you need to win events like this. The Aussie Millions Champ began brightly sending Nitsche to the rail 99>AT, Khangah coolered Cortes 88>QQ, after flopping an eight, and the Winamax star, Adrian Mateos also lost a life fighting the demons in this level.
Level 8: 2k/5k/5k
Richard Yong sent the in-form Orpen Kisacikoglu packing when KK bettered AK, and then Christoph Vogelsang, Koray Aldemir and Daniel Dvoress also accrued extra thinking time on the wrong side of the rail.
Dvoress and Vogelsang rebought, but the German’s second bullet lasted as long as a blind barber when he failed to hit his flush draw against Soyza’s set. Chan lost his first life, as did Matthias Eibinger after Khangah’s pocket sixes gobbled up the Austrian’s short stack and Qd4d.
The soon to be crowned chip leader, Malinowski, eliminated Carrel when ATo beat the pretty looking QdTd, and O’Dwyer eliminated Joao Vieira when AdQd found a diamond flush on the turn against pocket sevens.
Here is the end of day chip counts.
End of Day Chip Counts
- Wiktor Malinowski – 1,042,000
- Ahadpur Khangah – 985,000
- Isaac Haxton – 953,000
- Sergio Aido – 880,000
- Michael Soyza – 813,000
- Luc Greenwood – 758,000
- David Peters – 530,000
- Jean-Noel Thorel – 480,000
- Steve O’Dwyer – 480,000
- Sam Greenwood – 480,000
- Dominik Nitsche – 458,000
- Nick Petrangelo – 454,000
- Ivan Leow – 428,000
- Bryn Kenney – 410,000
- Koray Aldemir – 331,000
- Sean Winter – 308,000
- Christoph Vogelsang – 258,000
- Kazuhiko Yotsushika – 250,000
- Adrian Mateos – 242,000
- Richard Yong – 218,000
- Daniel Dvoress – 213,000
- Orpen Kisacikoglu – 207,000
- Seth Davies – 182,000
- Ali Reza Fatehi – 175,000
- Alex Foxen – 162,000
- Stanley Choi – 133,000
- Timothy Adams 132,000
- Michael Addamo – 101,000
Previous €100k Monte Carlo Winners
2012: Justin Bonomo (45 entrants) €1,640,000
2013: Max Altergott (49-entrants) €1,539,300
2014: Dan Colman (62-entrants) €1,539,300
2015: Erik Seidel (71-entrants) €2,015,000
2016: Ole Schemion (61-entrants) €1,597,800
2017: Bryn Kenney (61-entrants) €1,784,500
2018: Sam Greenwood (46-entrants) €1,520,000
Thanks to PokerNews for the updates.