Alvarado Running Hot in Monte Carlo; EPT Season Ten Announced

Alvarado and Smith Dominating in Monte Carlo

Yesterday marked the start of PokerStars’ EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo and after a day of action in the Main event it was Dan Smith who topped leaderboard with 136,500 chips.

Although the number of runners on Day 1A was somewhat short of last year’s 163 runners, there were a number of famous pros amongst the 108 players who did contest the opening flight. Indeed, when the tournament clock was paused for the day the likes of Freddy Deeb (133,900), Jake Cody (119,000) and Paul Volpe (110,800) were all still in contention.

Today’s session has attracted many more players and, despite not reaching last year’s total, a respectable 420 pros have sat down for their last chance at EPT glory this season.

One player who has already enjoyed a slice of luck four levels into the day is Annette Obrestad. The Norwegian pro managed to eliminate Philippe Ktorza after he moved all-in with pocket kings against her pocket aces.

The cooler situation occurred just before the second break of the day and boosted Annette’s stack to 95,000 while the field dropped to 375.

Currently top of the pile at the time of writing is JC Alvarado. Thanks to some aggressive play against the likes of Bruno Fitoussi, JC has managed to bag 137,000 chips before the dinner break.

For a full recap of today’s action make sure you check out tomorrow’s daily news update.

EPT Focusing on Stability

Even before their ninth successful season has come to a conclusion PokerStars is already planning its next tournament jaunt across Europe,

Thanks to the continued success of the EPT, PokerStars has just announced details of their tenth season and included on the schedule are all the Tour’s familiar stops.

Indeed, this time around it seems PokerStars have stuck to a formula that works and decided to stop in same cities as season nine.

One major change to the schedule is the switching of dates for EPT London and San Remo. After assessing their timings, the organisers have decided to switch them back to their original dates with the London leg now taking place in October and San Remo kicking off in April.

Commenting on the new schedule, EPT President Edgar Stuchly said: “Players at the EPT will see that we have made a deliberate decision to focus on stability. We listened to an enormous amount of player feedback who valued less time spent travelling, and more time spent playing. Since the San Remo tournament will be held immediately before the EPT Grand Final in April, it will mean players can spend the whole month of April on the beautiful Riviera.”