After 26 levels of play in the €1,100 PokerStars France Poker Series Main Event, the final 31 contenders have emerged at Sporting Monte-Carlo. Leading the way is Virgile Turchi, carrying 4,270,000 chips into the weekend with a shot at FPS glory.
The Frenchman is coming off four cashes at 2024 EPT Paris in February, and scored a 13th-place finish in the €5,300 EPT Main Event here in Monte Carlo last year. Turchi will carry 71 big blinds into play on Day 3, sitting as one of only two players above the 4,000,000 chip mark after vaulting into the lead with Big Slick late in the final level.
The other is Remy Murcia, who also had a massive last level of the night. Murcia was on the right side of a big flip to cross the 3,000,000 chip mark and gained even more ground not long after. Murcia spiked a set to score a knockout and vault further up the leaderboard, finishing the night in second position.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virgile Turchi | France | 4,270,000 | 71 |
| 2 | Remy Murcia | France | 4,015,000 | 67 |
| 3 | Federico Macori | Italy | 3,730,000 | 62 |
| 4 | Atanas Malinov | Bulgaria | 3,640,000 | 61 |
| 5 | Guillaume Nolet | Canada | 3,210,000 | 54 |
| 6 | Eusebiu-Nicolae Jalba | Romania | 3,155,000 | 53 |
| 7 | Kuljinder Sidhu | United Kingdom | 3,150,000 | 53 |
| 8 | Uri Gilboa | Israel | 3,065,000 | 51 |
| 9 | Gil Aboodi | United States | 2,905,000 | 48 |
| 10 | Antonino Venneri | Italy | 2,770,000 | 46 |
The event attracted 2,096 entries from 70 countries over four starting flights, creating a total prize pool of €2,012,160. The surviving 314 players that began Day 2 had locked up a minimum of €1,630, but all eyes were on running up a stack to challenge for the €303,190 first-place prize and the PokerStars trophy.
By the time play concluded, just 10% of those players found a bag for Day 3. That list includes Ankit Ahuja, who sits just outside the top 10 after collecting 2,625,000 chips. Among the other names to watch are Gabi Livshitz (1,810,000) and Harry Lodge (835,000), with all 31 remaining players locking up at least €6,590.
A trio of PokerStars Ambassadors started the day with hopes of a deep run, but it was not to be for Simon Wiciak or Lasse Jagd Lauritsen. Felix Schneiders was the last to hit the rail, bowing out after getting it in good to finish in 153rd position for €2,480.
EPT Champion Davidi Kitai almost made it through the day, falling on the last level of the night when he was pipped by Kuljinder Sidhu.
Among the other notable names to bow out were Day 1a chip leader Come Thevenin, Day 1b leader Hugo Machado, Day 1c big stack Vladimir Erceg and defending champion Mateusz Moolhuizen.
€1,100 FPS Main Event Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €303,190 | 10-11 | €21,550 |
| 2 | €189,220 | 12-13 | €17,950 |
| 3 | €135,160 | 14-15 | €14,960 |
| 4 | €103,970 | 16-17 | €12,460 |
| 5 | €79,980 | 18-20 | €10,370 |
| 6 | €61,520 | 21-23 | €8,720 |
| 7 | €47,330 | 24-27 | €7,590 |
| 8 | €36,410 | 28-31 | €6,590 |
| 9 | €28,020 |
Action will resume on Saturday, April 27 on Level 27. Blinds will climb to 30,000/60,000 and a 60,000 big blind ante, with the goal of playing down to the final six players for the award-winning PokerStars Livestream on Day 4.
The PokerNews live reporting team will continue to cover all of the action here in Monaco as the path to crowning a new FPS champion rolls on.
