May Day brought fireworks to the felt at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo, as 246 players who took part on the European holiday were trimmed down to the final 16 in the �3,000 Mystery Bounty.
Italy��s Nicola Grieco celebrated in style, picking up numerous bounty tokens on his way to claiming the chip lead at Sporting Monte-Carlo. Grieco picked up some key pots as the day progressed to collect 2,850,000 chips, good for 71 big blinds when play resumes on Thursday, May 2.
The tournament attracted 91 new entries before late registration closed to begin Day 2, bringing the total field to 743. That created a �1,274,988 prize pool, with Grieco in the best position to claim the top prize of �232,898.
A trio of notable names are right behind, including Adrian State and Romain Lewis, who both will sit with more than seven figures in career earnings. In between those two is Mathieu Di Meglio, coming off a big score in the �2,200 FPS High Roller here in Monte Carlo for �278,123 after a three-way ICM chop.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicola Grieco | Italy | 2,850,000 | 71 |
| 2 | Adrian State | Romania | 2,330,000 | 58 |
| 3 | Mathieu Di Meglio | France | 2,000,000 | 50 |
| 4 | Romain Lewis | France | 1,835,000 | 46 |
| 5 | Gediminas Uselis | Lithuania | 1,785,000 | 45 |
| 6 | Yves Piacentino | France | 1,740,000 | 44 |
| 7 | Milos Petakovic | Serbia | 1,505,000 | 38 |
| 8 | Paul Runcan | Romania | 1,420,000 | 36 |
| 9 | Javier Fernandez | Spain | 1,350,000 | 34 |
| 10 | Jamie Flynn | Ireland | 1,150,000 | 29 |
| 11 | Sonny Franco | France | 940,000 | 24 |
| 12 | Sergi Reixach | Spain | 905,000 | 23 |
| 13 | David McConachie | United Kingdom | 805,000 | 20 |
| 14 | Mohamed Mehalleg | France | 670,000 | 17 |
| 15 | Fiodor Martino | Italy | 505,000 | 13 |
| 16 | Martin Stausholm | Denmark | 300,000 | 8 |
The race to the bubble began early, with players eyeing a spot among the top 111 finishers to earn a spot in the money and take home at least �2,980. After reaching hand-for-hand play, the clock sat on 112 remaining for almost an hour before Klemens Roiter saw his pocket aces get cracked to bow out empty-handed.
Many players used the time during the extended bubble to pull their Mystery Bounty prizes, which came into play on the third level of the day. For Yiannis Liperis, the timing could not have been better as he pulled the first top prize of �75,000. Later on, Ghassan Bitar managed to pick out the second �75,000 bounty, adding an extra payday as both players cashed the event as well.
Among the rest of the players who found a cash were PokerStars Ambassadors Ramon Colillas (65th - �3,940), Benjamin Spragg (102nd - �2,980) and Parker Talbot (106th - �2,980), who saw a big bluff get called on the bubble before busting a few hands into the money.
Remaining Mystery Bounties
| Prize | Bounties | Remaining | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| �75,000 | 2 | 0 | �0 |
| �40,000 | 2 | 0 | �0 |
| �25,000 | 7 | 1 | �25,000 |
| �10,000 | 10 | 1 | �10,000 |
| �5,000 | 21 | 4 | �20,000 |
| �1,000 | 123 | 10 | �10,000 |
| �1,000 & Draw Again | 10 | 1 | �1,000 |
Play will resume on Level 26 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 along with a 40,000 big blind ante. Action will continue until a champion is crowned here in Monte Carlo.
Be sure to stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will have every moment covered until the trophy is lifted.
