Cards were on their backs and chips were in the middle in a three-way all-in between Davidi Kitai, Laurent Ciup and Patrick Afonso, with Kitai covering both players.
Laurent Ciup: 9♥9♠
Patrick Afonso: J♦J♣
Davidi Kitai: Q♦Q♣
Kitai was in great shape with his pocket queens and nothing altered on the K♣K♦7♣A♦10♥ runout, with Kitai scooping a huge pot.
Mohamed Assiani opened to 1,000 from middle position and was met with a three-bet to 3,600 by Eric Sfez in the cutoff.
Action folded to Fiodor Martino in the small blind, who reached for chips and produced a cold four-bet to 8,700. Assiani got out of the way and Sfez called.
On the K♠6♣3♥ flop Martino check-called versus a bet of 5,200 from Sfez.
On the Q♣ turn, Martino checked again and Sfez wasted little time in moving all in with a covering stack. Martino snap-called.
Sfez turned over A♦7♣ for air and Martino had K♥K♣ for top set, sending him a chunky pot and leaving Sfez with crumbs.
The pot stood at approximately 6,000 with two players looking at a flop of 10♣Q♠8♠. Henri Kasper, in middle position, check-called a bet of 3,200 from Sergi Reixach, in the cutoff.
The Q♥ turn saw a repeat of the action, this time Reixach sized up to 9,000. Kasper called.
The 4♦ checked to a showdown. Kasper tabled A♥Q♦ for trip queens, winning him this pot.
Imad Derwiche, who was made short in an earlier hand, moved all in for his last 100 from under the gun. Victor Ilyukhin, to his left, raised to 300, receiving calls from the button and both the blinds.
The action checked to Alfonso Simone, in the big blind, who led out for 300 on the K♦Q♦Q♥ flop. Ilyukhin raised to 1,000, the button folded and Aviv Meiri cold called in the small blind. Simone also called.
The 10♠ turn checked through to the 2♣ on the river. Meiri bet out 2,700, Simone folded and Ilyukhin made the call.
Imad Derwiche: 8♦5♥
Victor Ilyukhin: A♥K♠
Aviv Meiri: Q♠4♥
Meiri's trips won this hand and sent Derwiche to the rail.
We are onto Day 2 of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo, taking place at the beautiful Sporting Monte-Carlo, featuring Day 1d of the €1,100 France Poker Series Main Event, the final starting flight of this event.
Days 1a-1b are already completed and attracted a total of 611 entries. 92 players have progressed to Day 2 and are in the money, with notable names such as Mateusz Moolhuizen (296,000), Bryan Paris (93,000) and Antoine Labat (87,000) among them.
Bryan Paris
Home players have performed strongly, with the current top three all hailing from France - Come Thevenin (525,000), Cedric Theveniaud (518,000) and Laurent Polito (505,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1b
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Come Thevenin
France
525,000
2
Cedric Theveniaud
France
518,000
3
Laurent Polito
France
505,000
4
Atanas Malinov
Bulgaria
487,000
5
Dan Ben Ittah
France
477,000
6
Ankit Ahuja
India
446,000
7
Sylwester Fortuna
Poland
444,000
8
Hugo Machado
Portugal
437,000
9
Saam Pishvaie
France
405,000
10
Andrew Hawkins
United Kingdom
388,000
Andrew Hawkins
At the time of writing, Day 1c is already underway and has obtained a current total of 912 entries, with the prize pool already exceeding €1,400,000 and sure to swell further.
Day 1d is a turbo flight with 20-minute levels. Players start with 30,000 chips and play begins with blinds of 100/100 and a 100 big blind ante. Late registration will remain open until the start of Level 11.
As with previous flights, play will continue until 15 percent of the field remains, at which point all remaining players are through to Day 2 and in the money. Day 2 will begin Friday, April 26, at noon local time with 60-minute levels.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all your coverage as we continue to bring you all the action from this huge FPS Main Event at EPT Monte Carlo.
