2015 PokerStars.fr EPT Season 11 Deauville

On Sunday, Season 11 of the European Poker Tour continued from the tournament floor of Casino Barrière de Deauville, France. A grand total of 199 players came out for Day 1a of the €5,000+300 Main Event. After eight full levels of play, the board showed just 108 players remaining in contention. In the end it was Nathan Gozlan of France who bagged up the biggest stack with 148,500.

While Gozlan finished the day with the most chips in the room, other players were hot on his heels. Sweden's Alexander Ivarsson bagged up the second largest stack with 145,800, while Poland's Patryk Slusarek rounded out the top three with 123,300 in chips.

The aforementioned players topped the counts, but other familiar faces were present and made it through the first day of play as well. Notable players who'll return for Day 2 include EPT Copenhagen winner Anton Wigg (84,500), Martins Adeniya (74,400), Artur Koren (62,100), 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion Dimitar Danchev (32,900), and EPT London winner David Vamplew (18,400).

Team PokerStars Pro also had a strong showing throughout the day with Marcin Horecki (92,900) and Eugene Katchalov (16,000) each making it through the day. Ronan Monfort was the only surviving member of Team PokerStars Pro Online, bagging up 47,500. PokerStars Sponsored player and 2014 PCA champion Dominik Panka also survived the day with 48,800 to his name.

While the day was a success to some, others were left with nothing but empty felt in front of them by the time the final hand of the day was dealt. Players like Ian Simpson, Leonid Markin, Adrian Mateos, and Joseph Mouawad were all unable to survive the perils of Day 1a.

Three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche was also present in Sunday's field. Unfortunately for the German pro, he was unable to add the title of EPT champion to his résumé as he was eliminated from play during the fifth level of the day. On his most important hand, Nitsche and France's Gilles Huet looked down at a board of . With 6,425 already in the middle, Huet checked over to Nitsche. The German bet 4,200, his opponent raised to 9,500, and Nitsche called to see fifth street. The dealer produced the to complete the board and Huet led out with a bet. Nitsche moved all in over the top and Huet instantly called, showing the for a full house of jacks full of queens. Nitsche tabled the for a smaller full house leaving him with just 10,000 in chips. That last 10,000 he lost to Jorma Nuutinen with king-jack to ace-ten.

Also seeing an early exit from the Main Event was EPT Season 4 Prague Main Event champion Arnaud Mattern. Mattern was unable to gain any momentum throughout the day and was ultimately eliminated from play early in the fourth level. After losing a sizable pot to Frederik Jensen with pocket queens, Mattern's tournament finally came to an end after he shipped in before the flop and ran into an opponent's pocket aces. Despite turning a gutshot, Mattern was unable to improve and his hopes of becoming a two-time EPT champion were dashed.

Play resumes on Monday at 12 p.m. local time where a much larger turnout is expected for Day 1b. Players will repeat the Day 1a schedule, hitting the felt for eight full 75-minute levels. As always, PokerNews will be on hand to provide all of the latest updates from the tournament floor. While you wait, check out this poker in Poland update with Panka:

And then the tournament is done for the day. We'll report back to you when we have chip counts, and of course you may expect an extensive recap of today's action later tonight.

The flop was and the under-gun raiser Jeffrey Brouwer bet 2,800. Pablo Gordillo then made it 6,900 and Joao Vieira in the big blind moved all in.

Brouwer didn’t look best pleased but mucked his hand while Gordiullo made the call.

Gordiullo turned over for the flopped trips and Vieira was up and down with his .

The turn and river saw the full house of Gordiullo bust Vieira.

After a raise to 1,350 and call, Dmitry Yurasov squeezed to 4,400. Both the initial raiser and Nandor Solyom the caller, added the necessary chips to see a flop.

Action checked to Yurasov who bet 6,100. The first player folded but Solyom check raised to 20,000. Yurasov made the call.

Both players checked the on the turn and the popped up on the river. Solyom now bet 18,000 and Yurasov made the call after some hefty thinking.

Solyom showed and Yurasov mucked.

Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov is a fitness fanatic and his stack got a workout when he played two big pots in a row in the Main Event. Read all about it on the PokerStars Blog

Mindaugas Jonuskis opened for 1,200 and then saw Emil Ekvardt pop it up to 2,725. Andre Andrade, sat next to him, went for the cold four-bet to 5,800. With Jonuskis out of the way they got the rest of the chips in the middle and the cards were face up.

Andrade:

Ekvardt:

The board ran out with the turn card delivering the knockout blow to Andrade and a very healthy pot the way of Ekvardt.

The board read when we found Joseph Carlino and Owain Carey heads up with a sizable pot already built in the middle. Carey checked over to Carlino on the button. Carlino moved 3,500 into the middle only to have Carey check-raise the action to 8,200.

Carlino thought for a moment before reaching for a large handful of chips. He three-bet the action to 19,500, putting the pressure back onto Carey. Carey went deep into the tank, thinking for well over four minutes. Ultimately, he opted to drop his hand into the muck.

"I think it's a good bet whether you've got it or you haven't," said Carey after folded.

A smile washed over Carlino's face as he flashed the to the table before mucking his cards and taking down the pot. With this win, his stack is now up to about 71,000.

Jonathan Little opened for 1,400 from early position and Martins Adeniya three-bet from the cut-off to 3,300. The blinds folded and Little threw in the call.

The flop was and Little check-called a bet of 3,000 from Adeniya. On the turn card Little checked but then Adeniya bet 7,000 he check-raised all in just covering Adeniya’s stack who quickly called.

Adeniya’s had raced ahead of the of Little on the turn. The river card crippled Little and gave the patient Martins a double up.

Little was all in on the next hand and Martins raised to isolate. Cards on their backs and Little was slightly ahead with versus the . A run out of gave Little a lifeline.