Chip counts after day 1 - flight 1:

Play has just been completed. I have just talked to tournament director Thomas Kremser, and as always he will try to provide me with the names & chip counts of all remaining players. If I receive them within an hour or so, I will try to upload them for you guys - if not, they will be available tomorrow around noon. 

From Monte Carlo, I say: Bye for now - See you all back tomorrow! 

The big stacks have lost quite a bit of ammunition recently. Anton Lionel lost a bit, and Jeff Williams even lost a whole lot. The recipient of these chips: Mads Andersen. Mads now has about 40K, while former chipleader Jeff is now down to 30. In the meantime, Isabelle has doubled up to 28K. Holding queens against kings, the majority of the money went in after the flop - once she had flopped her set.

With blinds of 150-300 and a 25 ante, this is the updated chip count. If you cannot find any of the names that were mentioned before in this report, you can assume they are out. Anyway, in random order:

• Alex Kravchenko 17K
• Cecilia Nordenstam 5K
• Ram Vaswani 37K
• Michel Abecassis 13K
• Paul Testud 14K
• Abel Meijberg 25K
• Simon Young 17K
• Mads Andersen 21K
• Luca Pagano 22K
• Jeff Williams 65K
• Alexander Stevic 17K
• Kirill Gerasimov 30K
• Paul Jackson 16K
• Anton Ionel 64K (this to me unknown Rumanian now is in the top three)
• John Shipley 30K
• Marcel Luske 31K (working his way up in characteristic fahion)

• Roland De Wolfe 12K
• Jen Mason 69K (the new chipleader is the girl from Blondepoker, my fellow blogger if you will)
• Frode Fagerli 12K
• Paul Zimbler 5K (has just doubled through from the big blind, heads up against the small blind who didn't raise him with AA. The Marbella Kid managed to turn his 84 offsuit into two pair to double through. He still has a mini-stack though) 
• Xavier Laczxz 22K
• Isabelle Mercier 12K

Finally, I have just talked to another big name in action tomorrow: Mark Teltscher. The winner of the EPT London and also of a major event at the Bellagio is one of those players who could bust out early - but if he manages to stay alive, is capable of winning the whole thing.

We are down to about 80 players now, with blinds of 150-300. All in all, the fifth level of the six that we will play down to. The former chipleader Martin Wendt is now down at about his initial starting about, having run into a flopped nut straight. Marcel Luske is gaining ground slowly, and Isabelle Mercier is showing a lot of fighting spirit - as she is still in. I will try to provide you with an updated chipcount in about 30 minutes or so.

Abel Meijberg has just doubled up to 16,000. The Dutchman, third place finisher at the EPT Baden, was all-in before the flop with tens against queens... and rivered a queen.

While the action is still going right now and lots of players are struggling to stay alive or simply to accumulate more chips, I thought it was appropriate to come up with a little list of participants for tomorrow. They include:

• Patrik Antonius (the arguably best online player right now, and winner of the EPT Baden)
• Ben Grundy (the Milkybar Kid)
• Rob Hollink (the reigning European Champ) along with his buddy Mark Boudewijn (runner-up in Deauville)
• Erik Seidel (one of the biggest stars in today's poker)
• Gus Hansen (one of the best backgammon players in the world, winner at the Bad Boys of Poker and three-times WPT winner)
• Chris Moneymaker & Greg Raymer (former World Champions)
• Joe Hachem (the reigning World Champion)

Anyway, that was just to wet your appetite a bit for tomorrow, to make sure you guys tune in at 2 p.m. again. Frankly, there will be many more big names than just the ones mentioned, so one could say that the second flight is a star-studded field.

OK, there you have it, the name of the current chipleader - it's Jeff Williams. Jeff has just busted two players on one hand! With kings, he was up against one player with jacks, and a second one with aces - only to flop a king. The young man now has over 75K, and is the clear chipleader by far.

In the meantime, we have lost Dave Colclough and Robert Cooper - meaning we are down to 98.

Back from the break, with blinds now at 100-200. One of the top favorites Marcel Luske was down to 4K at one point, but now has recovered with about 11K. Another charismatic person, French singer Patrick Bruel, is out. He got aces twice and lost them twice - a pretty bad record in a tournament as important as this one. Roland De Wolfe is bullying the table in his usual style with close to 40,000 now. Out of the remaining ladies, two are still struggle to survive (Isabelle with 4K and Cecilia with 6K), while the third is in there with an above average stack (Jen Mason - 22K). The chipleader is a to me unknown young guy with black curly hair, who has about 45K now. (I will try to get his name soon.) He's got much more than former chipleader Martin Wendt, who now has 33K. Blinds: 100-200, number of players still in: 104.

Some recent developments:

• Master Classics Main Event winner Thomas Middleton is out. On a flop T 8 7, he seemed to have flopped gold with his 96. He pushed, and got called by Alexander Stevic. Stevic had J T for an absolute monster draw that got there.
• Kirill Gerasimov is up to 24K, while Erik Sagstrom had worked his way up to 16K, but now is down at the initial starting amount again.
• The Dutchmen are starting to run into trouble. Marcel still has just 10K, while Abel is even down to 6K. Also shortstacked: Alex Kravchenko (6K) and Cecilia Nordenstam (4K). 

We are just 15 minutes away from the dinner break, meaning I will probably lay low for a while. Number of remaining players: 110.

We have a new chipleader who is carrying 40K in chips - quite a lot, considering the blinds have just moved up to 75-150. In immediate danger is "No Mercy" Isabelle Mercier, who is down to just 3K.

The first random chip count, with blinds 50-100, and 138 out of the initial 146 or so left:

• Thomas Fougeron 6K
• Thomas Bihl 20K, Abel Meijberg 15K (both talking a lot and playing lots of hands, Martin Wendt 17K, Marc Goodwin 15K

• Cecilia Nordenstam 13K (just won a pot with an unimproved AK, when heads up she quickly called a 200 turn bet - and this stopped her opponent from bluffing her on the river), Alex Kravchenko 9K
• Paul Testud 13K, Michel Abecassis 17K
• Ram Vaswani 16K, Erik Sagstrom 9K, Kjersti Grini 9K
• Patrick Bueno 15K, Harry Casagrande 16K, Thomas Middleton 9K

• Marcel Luske 10K (just flatcalled a 250 cut-off raise while on the button. The big blind then raised it 1,000 more, making both the cutoff and Marcel fold)
• Alexander Stevic 8K
• Xuyen Pham 8K, Simon Young 9K, Xavier Lacxzcz 20K, Rumit Somaiya 14K
• Dave Colclough 10K, Anders Berg 4K, Luca Pagano 14K
• Bruno Fitoussi 12K (on the turn 7 2 8 4 he bet 8K all-in into a 4.5K pot, with what to me looked like a clear semi-bluff attempt to buy the pot. His opponent hemmed and hawed, eventually folding his set of sevens face up. Bruno then showed his hand: Q Q for an overpair plus flush draw), Romain Feriolo 14K
• Kirill Gerasimov 13K, John Shipley 6K, Martin Vallo 10K, Torstein Iversen 10K 
• Frode Fagerli 10K, Paul Zimbler 11K, Isabelle Mercier 7K
• Roland De Wolfe 15K, Patrick Bruel 4K
• Alan Smurfit 15K
• Martin De Knijff OUT (with 5K left, he flopped top two on a flop 964 with two spades. He made a decent-sized bet and got called. The 2 came on the turn, and Martin now checked. When his opponent bet 1,000, the Swede had to make a decision, and the made the -to me- logical decision to check/raise all-in. His opponent called, showing A Q for the nut flush - and that held up.) Jen Mason 9K 

The action is very slow so far. We started with 10,000 in chips and blinds of 25-50. The levels are no less than 90 minutes long, meaning there's lot of room for play. And as you guys probably know, this Pokerstars.com EPT Grand Final is not a four-, but a five-day affair. Today, we will probably play down to six levels, same as tomorrow for the second flight. My guess is that on Thursday these players will play down to the final 27 or so, and then down to the final 8 on Friday - with the Televised Final on Saturday.

Blinds have now moved up to 50 and 100. 

Twenty tables with 8 players max., most of them having about 7 players seated - meaning my guess is about 130 to 140 players for this first flight. I have recognized at least the following name players:

• Torstein Iversen (1/1), Rumit Somaiya (1/3), Alex Kravchenko (1/4)
• Thomas Fougeron (2/7)
• Thomas Bihl (3/1). Marc Goodwin (3/2), Abel Meijberg (3/5), Martin Wendt (3/7)
• Dave Colclough (4/2)
• Cecilia Nordenstam (5/5)
• Michel Abecassis (6/4), Paul Testud (6/6)
• Xuyen Pham (7/2), Simon Young (7/3), Xavier Lacsxz (7/5)
• Dave Colclough (8/1), Frode Fagerli (8/4), Luca Pagano (8/5)
• Bruno Fitoussi (9/3), Romain Feriolo (9/5)
• Kirill Gerasimov (10/2), John Shipley (10/3), Martin Vallo (10/5)
• Anders Berg (11/1), Paul Zimbler (11/4), Isabelle Mercier (11/6)

• Roland De Wolfe (12/3), Patrick Bruel (12/4), Julian Thew (12/6)

• Martin De Knijff (15/2), Jen Mason (15/5)
• Alexander Stevic (16/7)
• Marcel Luske (17/3)
• Patrick Bueno (18/1), Harry Casagrande (18/2), Thomas Middleton (18/4)
• Ram Vaswani (19/3), Erik Sagstrom (19/5)
• Kjersti Grini (20/3)

And one of these big names is out already. The first "name player" to bite the dust is one of my favorite players, Julian Thew. He had kings and ran into an aggressive player's aces - the most money in going after the flop on a raggedy board.

We are one hour away from the start of the most prestigious event on European territory, the Pokerstars.com EPT Grand Final. All the big names are either still making their way to Monaco, or are already preparing for this big event. "Flying Fox" Marcel Luske was working out in the gym, being a firm believer in both physical as mental fitness, so he should be well-prepared as always. I talked to you yesterday about Gus, who will be in the second group, alongside with World Champs Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker. Also in this second group is the reigning champion Rob Hollink. He just called me saying that he and his buddy Mark Boudewijn (runner up in Deauville) are still in The Netherlands, but will be arriving here soon. And I have been told that American star Erik Seidel will also participate - but I have not seen him or talked to him yet.

As to the number of entrants: If my memory serves me correctly, we had 211 runners last year. Even though the recent massive field in Deauville (almost 500 entrants) and also the many satellites for this Grand Final had led me to believe that 400 runners would not be impossible, the latest guesses vary from 220 to 300 entrants. And this is of course still a clear improvement as to last year - even though it is not as much as I had hoped / expected.

We are less than 24 hours away from the start of the Pokerstars.com EPT Grand Final. Unlike last year, the venue is not in the actual city center, but it is situated in a special ball room in the backyard of the new and luxurious Monte Carlo Bay & Resort. (For those who are familiar with Monaco: Located immediately next to the Le Meridien, at the end of the walking promenade next to the beach.)

It is not enirely clear yet how many players we will get, as lots of players are not here yet. For instance, I have just been in touch with Gus Hansen, one of the big stars here, and he won't be able to get here until Wednesday. Either way, the venue here is extremely spacious and can host many players, so I see no problems in that department. The field from day 1 will probably be divided into two groups again, where the second group (the one with Gus, I presume) will play on Wednesday. If there are any changes in structures of if I have anything definitive on things like numbers of entrants, big names that won't be here, or anything else that may be of interest to you, I will let you know. Right now, a big statellite is about to start, and we will have some sit'n'go tournaments. Once the real thing will start, I will be present for you guys. I expect to start my reports tomorrow at about 2 p.m., give or take an hour. Hope to see you all then - for what may well be the biggest prize pool in the history of European live tournament poker.  

After a series of exciting events, the second season of the Pokerstars.com EPT will now reach its conclusion in Monaco. The Monte Carlo Bay & Resort is the place to be for the EPT Grand Final, with defending champion Rob Hollink and Monaco resident Gus Hansen as two of the many stars in action.

As always, I will be there to follow the action for you guys. Things will take off at March 7, at 2 p.m. local time probably. So, if you are interested make sure that you tune in then.