In a preflop clash of the big stacks, Younes Hammouchi opened to 5,500, Raffaele Castro re-raised, Kevin Lombard four-bet all in, and Hammouchi pushed all in over the top.
Joey Weissman opened to 6,000 from early position and Luka Sorainen reshoved all in with a short stack of 28,000. Weissman asked for a chip count before calling the shove.
Joey Weissman:
Luka Sorainen:
The board ran out giving Weissman the rivered runner-runner flush. Sorainen was eliminated in 70th place.
With dealers instructed to deal the final hand, short stacked players looked to make it or break it in the last moments of the day. A three way all in ensued.
Kin-Hang Man:
Marco Petrusch:
Mahar Achour:
The board ran out to give Achour a flush and a last minute triple up. Marco Petrusch was left with just 1,000 chips, less than a big blind.
Players have now bagged up their chips for the night as Day 1b reached its conclusion. Out of 251 entries, 65 players from this flight will return for Day 2 on Saturday.
Day 1b, the second flight of the French Poker Series (FPS) €1,100 Main Event, has now concluded. The event is taking place as part of the European Poker Tour Paris at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile.
251 players entered on Day 1b and, of those, 65 made it through to Day 2.
Joey Weissman of the USA is the current chip lead with 285,000 chips. Just behind him is Vasyl Zabrodskyy of Ukraine with 263,000. Alexandre Landron, Juan Maceiras, Mathieu Mariani and Juan Saidi are the only other players with over 200,000 chips.
Here's how the chip stacks stand at the top end of the table:
FPS Paris Main Event Day 1b Chip Counts
Rank
Name
Country
Chips
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Joey Weissman
USA
285,000
71
2
Vasyl Zabrodskyy
Ukraine
263,000
66
3
Alexandre Landron
France
244,000
61
4
Juan Maceiras
Spain
242,000
61
5
Mathieu Mariani
Italy
222,000
56
6
Juan Saidi
France
207,000
52
7
Alexandre Pinto
France
198,000
50
8
Bhavin Khatri
United Kingdom
189,000
47
9
Yannice Bahri
France
183,000
46
10
Mykola Serhiienko
Ukraine
182,000
46
Weissman has over $4.5 million in live tournament winnings and he'll be looking to capitalize on his position as Day 1b leader. However, there's a long way to go. He's already had a strong start to the series, scoring a min-cash in the €1,100 No Limit Hold'em Freezeout.
Landron is leading the pack out of French players, currently sitting in third place. He cashed in the 2022 PokerStars EPT Barcelona €5,300 EPT Main Event for €17,820 and will be looking to beat that top score at EPT Paris.
Also still in the field is Julien Sitbon, who has over $2.4 million in lifetime cashes. His largest cash came in 2022 when his won the APO High Roller for €81,136 in Paris, France. Back on home soil, he'll be looking to make it big again in the FPS Main Event.
Portugese player Rui Bouquet sits in 21st place with 150,000 chips. Bouquet has had plenty of success in 2022 and 2023, with cashes in the €10,300 EPT Barcelona High Roller, the €10,300 EPT Prague High Roller, and the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He's in a good position to continue his winning streak here at the EPT Paris.
Bruno Fitoussi and Maxim Lykov are also still in the field. Both are sitting in the middle of the pack, Fitoussi with 100,000 chips and Lykov with 91,000 chips.
Day 1c will run on Friday, the final flight of the event before Day 2 begins on Saturday. Out of those who make Day 2, 15 percent of the field will get paid. The prize pool across all flights is currently €1,576,320.
Be sure to join PokerNews for live updates of Day 1c on Friday.