On a completed board of K♠8♦3♣4♥9♠, Noa Chan checked out of the big blind. He then faced the button shove for 37,300 by Fabian Bernhauser and went into the tank.
Chan eventually called and Bernhauser revealed his K♦4♣ for turned two pair, kings and fours.
A very relieved Chan flipped over his K♣9♥ for kings and nines to win the late pot, which he celebrated accordingly.
During the final few hands of the night, Ihar Soika made a bet from the big blind into the 42,500-chip pot. The board had been dealt up until the turn and read 2♣3♠J♦K♥.
His opponent was Eric Sfez in the cutoff, who put in a raise. Sfez then piled in his stack of 61,700 chips and Sfez made the call with the covering stack.
Ihar Soika: K♠10♠
Eric Sfez: A♦Q♥
Soika's top pair was in the lead, but still had to fade some outs. He did so when the 5♥ turn bricked Sfez's draws and he won a pot well over 100 big blinds in the dying minutes of Day 1a.
Soenke Jahn had seen his stack cut short early in the day and he grinded it for several hours before securing a double-up. During the final hands of the night, Jahn then earned another double at the expense of Frank Funaro.
On a completed board of 8♦8♥2♠9♠J♦, Jahn jammed for 19,900 and Funaro quickly called. Jahn showed his A♣8♣ for flopped trips eights and Funaro's K♠K♣ were no good.
Upon completion of the final four hands on Day 1a, the tournament clock shows 201 players out of 607 entries remaining. Once they have raced off their T-100 chips, they are bagging and tagging the chips for the night.
Full chip counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.
After a successful kick-off last year, PokerStars has picked up some valuable lessons, ensuring an even better player experience this time around. The exciting news: the off-the-felt activities are making a comeback, promising a ton of fun beyond the poker tables. Here's what's in store for those making the trip to the French capital city.
The 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris stop has shifted into fifth gear, with the series' showstopper kicking off inside Les Palais des Congres. Day 1a of the €5,300 EPT Paris Main Event got off with a bang as it was announced that France's Simon Wiciak was the latest face to join the PokerStars Team Pro roster.
An EPT Main Event winner in the first two years of his live poker career, Wiciak has quickly become one to watch on the circuit. After ten levels of play, he bagged an above-average stack of 115,000, starting his new ambassadorship in fine fashion.
Two more representatives of the spadie brand will be joining Wiciak on Day 2 as Fintan Hand and Ramon Colillas also bagged chips at the end of the night. Both will return for the next stage with 50+ big blinds and are among the 200 players who made it over the first hurdle on the marathon to the title and riches.
An impressive 607 entries were registered throughout the day, but the slips collected fell short of last year's tally of 661. Today's field contributed €2,913,600 to the prize pool but that figure is already over $4 million as, of the time of writing, 254 more players have already booked their seat at the table for Day 1b.
On top of the chip counts sits Eero Rantala (299,000). The Finnish poker player wrapped up the opening session with 10 starting stacks.
One big blind behind in second is Grigorii Rodin and he's put himself in a prime position to pull off another deep run in a major EPT tournament. Rodin battled his way to the final table, finishing in sixth place for €209,000 in Prague just a few months ago. His stack began on an upward trajectory after compiling a trio of eliminations in quick succession.
EPT Paris Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Eero Rantala
Finland
299,000
199
2
Grigorii Rodin
Russia
297,000
198
3
Guillaume Nolet
Canada
295,000
197
4
Peter Jorgne
Sweden
286,000
191
5
Romeric Redjdal
France
278,000
185
6
Sergio Coutinho
Portugal
268,000
179
7
Noa Chan
France
261,000
174
8
Miguel Faria
Portugal
228,000
152
9
Nicholas Funaro
United States
221,000
147
10
Jan Kesanen
Finland
213,000
142
Last year's runner-up is in the upper echelons of the chip leaderboard. Looking to go one better this time around, Peter Jorgne could do just that after his performance on the felt resulted in a top-five chip stack. The player to pip Jorgne to the post 12 months was Razvan Belea, who was in attendance today. Unfortunately for the defending champion, he'll have to exercise his single re-entry after being eliminated around the middle of the day.
Many Main Event winners were hoping to recapture glory once more, and several took one step closer to doing so. Robin Ylitalo, Dimitar Danchev, Artur Martirosian, Anton Wigg, Piotr Nurzynski, Davidi Kitai, Steve O'Dwyer, and Aliaksei Boika navigated their way into Day 2, although some will have more work cut out for them than the others.
EPT Main Event Winners Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
26th
Robin Ylitalo
Sweden
161,000
107
38th
Dimitar Danchev
Bulgaria
136,000
91
53rd
Simon Wiciak
France
115,000
77
54th
Artur Martirosian
Russia
112,500
75
91st
Piotr Nurzynski
Poland
82,500
55
121st
Davidi Kitai
Belgium
64,500
43
153rd
Aliaksei Boika
Belarus
45,000
30
165th
Steve O'Dwyer
Ireland
36,000
24
The clock is now ticking down to the start of Day 1b, which gets underway on Tuesday, February 20, at 12:00 p.m. CET. Players who were eliminated today can only re-enter once more, either by taking part in 1b or by taking advantage of the Day 2 late registration. Those firing their first bullet in 1b can re-enter once more in the flight or decide to wait until the last moment.
When play begins, each player will have a 30,000 starting stack. The day closes after ten one-hour levels have been completed. There is a 20-minute break after every two levels, with the 75-minute dinner break scheduled for around 6:50 p.m.
As always, be sure to return to PokerNews to follow all of the coverage from EPT Paris.