Spragg and Konnikova Both Advance on Day 1a of the FPS Main Event
Day 1a of the €1,100 France Poker Series Main Event, running as part of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour at the Le Palais des Congrès, got underway today with the first of six starting flights this week. A total of 347 entries were made; after 17 levels of play, 52 advanced to Day 2 and secured a minimum of cash. With this year's event hosting twice as many starting flights as last year's event, this number is expected to swell rapidly.
As this chaotic flight died down, Fabian Niederreiter bagged the overall chip lead taking through a total of 776,000 for the Day 2 restart. Niederreiter was the beneficiary of a cold deck on the stone bubble as his pocket aces held against the pocket kings of opponent Zhongxian Li to burst the bubble and award him this monster stack.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabian Niederreiter | 776,000 | Germany | 129 |
| 2 | Leandro Dirlewanger | Italy | 548,000 | 91 |
| 3 | Yoshihito Shijima | Japan | 543,000 | 91 |
| 4 | Benjamin Duval | France | 540,000 | 90 |
| 5 | Pim Gieles | Netherlands | 398,000 | 66 |
| 6 | Dumitru Pora | Romania | 385,000 | 64 |
| 7 | Israel Amoyal | France | 372,000 | 62 |
| 8 | Bernard Darmon | France | 341,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Abdel Bourahel | France | 269,000 | 45 |
| 10 | Youcef Benzerfa | France | 254,000 | 42 |
Day 1a welcomed some of the best players in Europe and beyond, including PokerStars Team Pro member Parker Talbot. However, proceedings didn’t fall in the favour of the popular streamer as he lost the majority of his stack in Level 11. Jacques Guenni was the beneficiary of most of Talbot’s chip as a big three-way all-in confrontation saw Guenni find the perfect flop to triple up.
Another notable name to hit the rail was UKIPT Player of the Year David Docherty. Docherty fired two bullets here on Day 1a, with his second coming to its conclusion as he ran into the ace-king of Rabythas Sinnathamby on Level 11. Despite this, Docherty was quick to exit the tournament floor and registered the turbo flight of Day 1b.
Those more fortunate on the felt included PokerStars ambassadors Marle Spragg and Maria Konnikova who managed to amass stacks of 180,000 and 210,000 respectively.
Day 1c will kick off tomorrow, February 9th, at 12 p.m. local time, while its turbo counterpart, Day 1d, will start at 6 p.m.
The PokerNews live reporting team will return to bring you more coverage of the France Poker Series Main Event here at EPT Paris, so stay tuned.