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Day One, Act Two draws to a close in Monte Carlo

Almost 850 players have entered the EPT Grand Final in the opulent Monte Carlo, but there won't be a successful defence of the title by Gavin Griffin

Monday 14th April 2008



If you thought the swarms of stars amongst the 392 who sat down on Day 1a of the EPT Grand Final was impressive, Day 1b came close to matching it on the star stakes. More players turned up, with 450 joining the tournament, making the total number of entrants to a staggering 842 – 136 more than last year.

So, who made it along to Monte Carlo? Well, the roll of names included WSOP Main Event winners Joe Hachem and Chris Moneymaker, along with Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Antonio Esfandiari, Dario Minieri, Bertrand Grospellier, Juha Helppi and Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald to name just a handful.

The demise of another of Europe’s best known players came all too soon for Max Pescatori, who was disappeared after he moved all in with A-J offsuit to be called by Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari’s Ace-King. Pescatori flopped a gutshot straight draw against the top pair of Esfandiari, but there was no salvation on turn or river for the Italian.

Another European who failed to make it to the second day was Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, who was unfortunate enough to have his pocket jacks bettered by the kings of his opponent. There was also no fairytale start to the poker career of one Boris Becker, who will have to continue his poker education on the rail in Monte Carlo.

Of the two WSOP Champions, only Hachem will be joining us for Day Two as Moneymaker fell to the wayside. Joining Chris on the rail is another champion, and Gavin Griffin won’t be making a successful defence of his crown. The chip leader at the end of play was a local, Cyril Bensoussan of France, who will be coming back with around 130,000 chips to play with.

 


Source: OnlineCasinoNews