With around 25,000 in the pot on a flop of 10♦Q♦8♥, Simon Wiciak bet 17,000 from the small blind before Atanas Malinov moved all in for 59,700 on the button. Wiciak snap-called.
Atanas Malinov: K♥J♦
Simon Wiciak: A♠Q♠
Wiciak was ahead with top pair, while Malinov had a straight draw. The 9♦ fell on the turn and Malinov completed his straight to leave Wiciak drawing dead by the 7♣ river.
Alessandro Adinolfo opened to 2,500 from early position before Charles Whitehouse three-bet to 8,000 from the hijack. Reigning FPS Main Event champion Mateusz Moolhuizen was forced all-in from the big blind for crumbs and he would be against two players, as Adinolfo called.
Adinolfo check-called for 6,000 on the K♣Q♠9♦ flop before the 8♠ turn checked through to the K♥ river. Adinolfo chucked out 5,000 and Whitehouse folded.
Adinolfo tabled A♣Q♦ for kings and queens to take the side pot. Moolhuizen, who was blind, first flipped over the 3♦, which was then followed by the 6♥, marking his departure.
The early position player limped in before Ivan Barbuto raised to 3,700 from middle position. Mohamed El Berrak called from the hijack before Axel Bayout jammed as the bigger stack from the button. The blinds, the early position player and Barbuto folded but El Berrak decided to commit his stack of 31,500.
Mohamed El Berrak: 10♠10♣
Axel Bayout: J♠J♦
Barbuto lamented his fold after seeing the K♥Q♥6♥ flop, saying he had A♥Qx. El Berrak remained behind and couldn't catch up on the 2♣ turn and 9♥ river.
As the hand wrapped up, a big pot between Fabrice Bigot and Maya Geller was brewing on Table 25.
With around 30,000 in the pot and the 10♣6♥4♥ flop on display, Bigot bet 11,000 from the big blind. Geller, the wife of poker legend Patrik Antonius, raised to 25,000, leaving herself with around 20,000 behind. Bigot went deep into the tank, staring at Geller to pick up any reads. Eventually, Bigot released his hand, and Geller took in the pot.
Jean Autran opened to 1,500 second to act and was called by Anthony Apicella from the hijack. Efim Dorfman clicked it to 3,000 from the cutoff which Autran called. Apicella responded with a four-bet to 6,500 before Dorfmann made it 23,000. Autran folded and then Apicella jammed for 23,900. Dorfman called and there were some raised eyebrows as the cards were unveiled.
Anthony Apicella: A♥Q♥
Efim Dorfman: 4♠4♥
Dorfman was the slight favorite and remained ahead after Apicella failed to connect on the K♠9♣2♣ flop. The 10♦ turn gave Apicella outs to Broadway but the 3♥ river was a brick, awarding the pot to Dorfman.
Enis Rouissi and Claudine Nataf limped in from under the gun and middle position before Joachim Meisolle raised to 2,500 from the button. Olivier Paris called from the small blind before Rouissi three-bet to 8,500.
Nataf then moved all-in for 15,100. After some thinking time, Meisolle called, and then Paris jammed as the big stack, with Rouissi and Meisolle committing their stacks of around 20,000.
Woody Christy was the first to act and raised to 1,000. Valerie Lelouche, seated next to him, immediately called. The action folded to Oliver Huber, who also called from the big blind.
On the 8♥J♣9♣ flop, Huber checked and Christy made a continuation bet of 1,200, which both players called.
Christy fired out another 4,500 on the K♥ turn. Lelouche folded and Huber called once more.
The 8♣ river prompted Huber to check-call Christy's bet of 5,500.
Christy showed 8♦8♠, which was good for quads and Huber's cards went into the muck.
Three-handed on a board of J♠4♠10♣7♣, Vladimir Lipnitskii moved all in for 11,700 from early position, Davor Bojovic reshoved in the cutoff, and the rest of the table folded.
Lipnitskii showed J♣8♣ for a pair and flush draw, but he was trailing the 10♥10♠ of Bojovic for a set. The river was the 9♣ and Lipnitskii spiked a straight flush to double up.
"Easy game," a tablemate said.
"$10,000 bonus for a straight flush, really," another added.
Lipnitskii began dragging in the pot as the dealer collected the cards. "No picture?" a tablemate asked Lipnitskii.
"He makes a straight flush every day," another joked.
In a pre-flop battle, Jozef Cibicek ended up moving all in for 12,500 from under the gun and Guillaume Alfieri called on the button.
Jozef Cibicek: J♠J♥
Guillaume Alfieri: K♦10♦
Alfieri took the lead on the K♣A♠Q♣ flop with a pair of kings. The rest of the board came 4♣K♥ and Alfieri ended up with trips to send Cibicek to the rail.
The countdown to the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo is finally over and poker players from dozens of nations have journeyed for the card-playing festivities taking place at Sporting Monte-Carlo.
PokerNews is on-site to cover the tournament action and that coverage begins today with Event #1: €1,100 FPS Main Event, which kicks off at 12 p.m. local time.
The four-day PokerStars France Poker Series Main Event will feature four starting flights, the second of which will take place later today and the latter two playing out on April 25.
If the most recent FPS Main Event offering in Paris earlier this year was any indication, the event should draw a sizable field. Thanks to two additional starting flights in the French capital, the tournament set a new entry record, with the final tally being 4,149. Mateusz Moolhuizen defeated Blaz Zerjav in heads-up play to win the trophy and €470,830.
Mateusz Moolhuizen
Action will kick off with blinds of 100/100/100 and levels lasting 40 minutes with 20-minute breaks every three levels. A 75-minute dinner break is currently scheduled to take place after the completion of Level 10 (approximately 7:40 p.m.) with late registration closing when play resumes.
Players are allowed two entries per flight and each flight will play until 15% of the field remains, at which point all players will be in the money heading to Day 2 (April 26).
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is here on the Mediterranean coast and ready to provide updates of all of the EPT Monte Carlo action.
