�1,100 EPT National Smashes Last Year's Total; Tytgat Leads after Day 1a
Mid-stakes poker tournaments are booming all over and the �1,100 EPT National at the 2018 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo?Casino EPT proves no exception to that trend. With 515 players on Day 1a, 651 on Day 1b and currently 192 on the turbo Day 1c edition, which started at 7 p.m., the total number of players has already surpassed last year's total of 1,252. Late registration on Day 1c is still open for those looking for a last-minute shot at this massive prize pool.
Two $30,000 Platinum Passes to the 2019 PokerStars Players Championship are up for grabs in this tournament. While one Pass will be awarded to the eventual winner on Saturday night, the other one will be given away to the lucky winner of a random drawing on Day 2, creating hugely added value on top of the already substantial prize pool.
�1,100 EPT National Day 1a Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicolas Tytgat | France | 585,000 |
| 2 | Salvatore Donato | Italy | 520,000 |
| 3 | Nikolay Arzumanyan | France | 515,500 |
| 4 | Julian Fernandez | France | 441,500 |
| 5 | Jacques Guenni | France | 388,000 |
| 6 | [Removed:102] | France | 370,000 |
| 7 | Antona Pierre | France | 369,000 |
| 8 | Sonny Franco | France | 365,500 |
| 9 | Marco Regonaschi | Italy | 341,500 |
| 10 | Jonathan Proudfoot | United Kingdom | 340,500 |
Day 1a started on Wednesday and played down to the money today, with 77 out of 515 receiving a cash prize for their accomplishment. The dubious honor of bubble boy went to Mohamed Kwaham of Syria, who busted against the eventual chipleader Nicolas Tytgat in the final hand of the day. Kwaham moved in on the button holding queen-eight suited and Tytgat called with ace-five from the blinds. With neither player improving, Tytgat collected all of Kwaham's chips and play for the day was ended right on the spot.
With 585,000, the Frenchman holds a reasonable lead over his nearest challengers Salvatore Donato (520,000) and Nikolay Arzumayan (515,500). French pro Sonny Franco sits in eight with 365,000, while 2017 WSOP Final Tablist Jack Sinclair finished just shy of the top 10 with 336,000. Other notables that made it to Day 2 are Pierre Calamusa (215,000), Bruno Fitoussi (214,500), Michal Mrakes (203,500), Fabio Sperling (195,500), Denis Timofeev (162,000), Joao Vieira (119,000), Sylvain Loosli (111,500) and Maria Ho (59,000).
Andreas Ioakimedis, who was chipleader when chips were bagged last night, advanced as well with 266,500. The 53-year old recreational player from Missouri, USA, is visiting Monaco for the first time in his life and has made his first cash outside of the United States. "Hopefully I'll take this down and then play the Main Event. Let's see what happens," Ioakimedes said.
Although Day 1a has been wrapped up, Day 1b and 1c are still going and play down to the money today as well, before all surviving players will return for Day 2 on Friday, April 27.
