The European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 9 Grand Final is underway in Monaco and the two Day 1 flights have been completed. Victor Sbrissa leads the crown jewel event of the tour at the crown jewel venue with 224,800 chips, one of just two players to go into Day 2 with over 200,000. Noah Schwartz is the other, having bagged 204,600 at the end of play Tuesday.
A total of 531 players paid the €10,000 + €600 to play, 108 from Day 1A and 423 from Day 1B, producing a prize pool of €5.3 million. First place will take home €1.224 million while a total of 80 players will make at least €16,000.
As one can see by the registration numbers, the starting flights were quite lopsided, with four times as many runners sitting down during Day 1B as there were during Day 1A. That would naturally lead one to guess that the chip leaders from Day 1B would be sitting prettier than those from Day 1A, as more chips were in play during that second flight. That guess, in this case, would be true. Dan Smith led the way on Day 1A with 136,500 chips, but that was only good for seventh in the overall standings once Day 1B was completed. He and Freddy Deeb (133,900 chips) are the only ones from Day 1A in the top ten overall.
The chip leader, Victor Sbrissa, has a nice live tournament win to his name, but nothing that would even come close to an EPT Grand Final victory. In November 2011, he won the R$520 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Brazilian Series of Poker Sao Paulo stop. His $22,220 in lifetime earnings on the live tournament circuit, though, are enough for just two buy-ins for the EPT Grand Final. This would obviously be the score of his life (or almost anyone’s, really), were he to win.
Day 2 at the EPT Grand Final is underway as the 268 survivors from Day 1 try to creep closer to the money.
European Poker Tour Grand Final – Day 1A Chip Leaders
- Dan Smith – 136,500
- Freddy Deeb – 133,900
- Arlo Dotson – 127,100
- Jake Cody – 119,000
- El Khazen Youssef
- Paul Volpe – 110,800
- Jan Bendik – 108,900
- Dmitrii Grinenko – 108,100
- Ignat Liviu – 98,800
- Hendrik Latz – 95,400
European Poker Tour Grand Final – Day 1B Chip Leaders
- Victor Sbrissa – 224,800
- Noah Schwartz – 204,600
- Calvin Anderson – 198,100
- Oleksii Kovalchuk – 145,000
- Andrew Lichtenberger – 137,800
- Danilo Donnini – 137,800
- Victor Ramdin – 134,400
- Marcin Horecki – 134,100
- Igor Kurganov – 127,900
- Ekrem Sanioglu – 126,200
- Dominykas Karmazinas – 111,200
European Poker Tour Grand Final – Day 1 Combined Chip Leaders
- Victor Sbrissa – 224,800
- Noah Schwartz – 204,600
- Calvin Anderson – 198,100
- Oleksii Kovalchuk – 145,000
- Andrew Lichtenberger – 137,800
- Danilo Donnini – 137,800
- Dan Smith – 136,500
- Freddy Deeb – 133,900
- Victor Ramdin – 134,400
- Marcin Horecki – 134,100
