PokerStars.com EPT: New Record Number of Participants in Deauville
A total of 787 players met at the EPT stop in France. With Luca Pagano, an absolute top professional has placed himself at the top of the field on day 1B. AceOnTheRiver is also fairing well.
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The organisers responsible for last year's PokerStars.com European Poker Tour noted that there were 645 participants and celebrated a new record number with that. However, one year on this record has already become history: 339 players made their way to the tables on Wednesday, the first day of this year's tournament and another 429 players started on day 1B, creating a field of an unbelievable 768 players.
After day 1A was played by mainly French players, one could see many pros at the tables on day 1B. Amongst others Dario Minieri, Greg Raymer, Alex Kravchenko, Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, Peter Eastgate and also Luca Pagano showed their poker faces. The last mentioned got off to an excellent start in the tournament and was able to nearly double up during the first blind level. At the end of the day he had a massive stack of 193,100 chips and began day 1B as chip leader.
Overall leader in the rankings is however Robert Cezarescu. He ended day 1A with 216.900 chips and pushed Vladimir beyne Geshkenbein down to second place. With Bertrand Grospellier and Freddy Deeb, another two famous players are amongst the top 10 by the chip counts.
104 players land in the money
A total of 388 players made it to Day 2. 104 will make it into the money. Here is the payout structure for the tournament:
| EPT Deauville main event payout structure |
|||
| Rank | Prize money | ||
| 1. | €847,000 | ||
| 2. | €516,000 | ||
| 3. | €295,000 | ||
| 4. | €221,000 | ||
| 5. | €165,000 | ||
| 6. | €129,000 | ||
| 7. | €92,000 | ||
| 8. | €70,000 | ||
| 9. - 10. | €51,500 | ||
| 11. - 12. | €35,000 | ||
| 13. - 14. | €28,000 | ||
| 15. - 16. | €22,000 | ||
| 17. - 24. | €18,400 | ||
| 25. - 32. | €16,500 | ||
| 33. - 40. | €14,700 | ||
| 41. - 48. | €13,600 | ||
| 49. - 56. | €12,500 | ||
| 57. - 64. | €11,600 | ||
| 65. - 72. | €10,900 | ||
| 73. - 80. | €10,200 | ||
| 81. - 88. | €9,500 | ||
| 89. - 96. | €8,800 | ||
| 97. - 104. | €8,100 | ||
AceOnTheRiver makes it to Day 2
Whilst Team PokerStrategy.com pro 
PokerNoob (pictured right) had to cancel his participation in the tournament for personal reasons, PokerStrategist Dominik aceontheriver Nitsche is present in Deauville and survived Day 1. With 52,600 chips, he landed in the middle field of the chip counts and has a chance of successfully continuing the tournament.
PokerNoob (pictured right) had to cancel his participation in the tournament for personal reasons, PokerStrategist Dominik aceontheriver Nitsche is present in Deauville and survived Day 1. With 52,600 chips, he landed in the middle field of the chip counts and has a chance of successfully continuing the tournament.The best placed German is currently Conrad Schormann, who was able to accumulate 65,100 chips. Katja Thater has a good chance with 56,400 chips as well and is sitting at the table with Dario Minieri on Day 2.
The blinds start at 600/1,200 with an ante of 100 today. In following the top 10 by chip count after the first two starting days:
| EPT Deauville main event intermediate result of Day 1 |
||
| Rang | Name | Chips |
| 1. | Robert Cezarescu | 216,900 |
| 2. | Vladimir beyne Geshkenbein | 198,500 |
| 3. | Luca Pagano | 193,100 |
| 4. | Joannn Lenne | 187,800 |
| 5. | Corneliu Cretu | 186,000 |
| 6. | Pascal Perrault | 185,000 |
| 7. | Freddy Deeb | 181,500 |
| 8. | Bertrand Grospellier | 180,000 |
| 9. | David Cohen | 179,900 |
| 10. | Anas Tadini | 175,000 |
