15 October 2016 (Monaco) – Day 2 of the biggest buy-in poker tournament in history ended up being cut short. The €1,000,000 Big One for One Drop event returned today with 24 players, and action was so fast that they were down to eight in just a little more than four hours.
Canadian player Andrew Pantling will have the chip lead tomorrow as the official final table of eight players gets underway. Pantling bagged up 31,775,000. He’s followed by Rick Salomon, who’s currently in second place with 26,900,000. Salomon is going for his second cash in a Big One event. He finished in fourth place in the USD $1,000,000 tournament two years ago.
Here are the full seat assignments and chip counts when the final table begins:
1 – Brandon Steven – 8,000,000
2 – Rick Salomon – 26,900,000
3 – Andrew Pantling – 31,775,000
4 – James Bord – 18,125,000
5 – Haralabos Voulgaris – 5,375,000
6 – Anatoly Gurtovoy – 16,775,000
7 – Elton Tsang – 23,550,000
8 – Cary Katz – 9,550,000
While eight players will return tomorrow, two will leave empty-handed. Only six players make the money. The late registration and re-entry period was open until the start of play today, and the payouts were announced shortly after Day 2 began. The top six players make the money, with sixth place earning €1,500,000. The winner will earn €11,111,111 (approximately USD $12,444,444), the third-largest first-place prize in poker history.
Alfred De Carolis started Day 2 with the chip lead, but just barely missed out on the official final table. He was eliminated in ninth place today when his pocket queens ran into Rick Salomon’s pocket kings.
This has been an action-heavy event from the start, and today’s play exemplified that. By the first break (after only two levels) the field had been reduced from 24 players to 17. By the second break they were down to 12, and the official final table of eight was set just 44 minutes later.
Day 3 begins Sunday at noon, and will continue until a winner has been determined.
For more information about Day 2:
€10,000 Mixed NLHE/PLO
One side event was held today at Casino de Monte Carlo, the €10,000 Mixed NLHE/PLO tournament. Four players participated – Talal Shakerchi, Dan Fleyshman, Daniel Smith, and Steven Uccio, who won the first side event here yesterday.
Smith was the first to bust, exiting in Level 2. Fleyshman was the next to go, leaving Shakerchi and Uccio heads up. Heads-up play lasted about an hour and a half, but in the end it was Shekerchi who ended up on top, preventing Uccio from winning his second side event here in Monaco.
With four players, the event was winner-take-all, and Shakerchi earned a payout of €37,200.
Talal Shakerchi
Looking ahead
Here’s the schedule for Sunday, October 16, at Casino de Monte Carlo:
- Noon - €1,000,000 Big One for One Drop – Day3
- 1:00 p.m. - €10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six Max
- 5:00 p.m. - €50,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em
- 8:00 p.m. - €10,400 Satellite to Monday’s €100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event