Of the Team PokerStars Pros making it through to today’s Day 2 of the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event, Andre Akkari was returning to the biggest stack of the bunch.
Except he hasn’t returned. Not yet.
The explanation for Akkari’s absence is simple enough, coming down to the physical impossibility of anyone to be in two places at once — an unalterable truth of our existence those of us running back and forth from the media room to the tournament area identify with quite well.
“I registered and sat down yesterday,” Akkari was explaining earlier, alluding to his having drawn Table 1, Seat 1 on Thursday for FPS Monaco. “And then I remembered… Shark Cage!“
They’re shooting new episodes of the popular show this week, and indeed Akkari had been scheduled to play on the show today — something that had slipped his mind when registering for this event. Such wouldn’t have been an issue for him had the day gone less well than it did, as he managed to finish the night with 113,900, comfortably above the average.
Akkari’s sitting on the main stage at present, playing the Shark Cage game. Meanwhile his stack has dwindled to less than 90,000, putting him below the average now that another group of players have been eliminated and the total field has been carved down to just over 200 players.
Meanwhile, Giuliano Bendinelli began the day in even better shape than Akkari with a top five stack, but by the day’s second level was much worse off than the Brazilian after falling victim to Joao Brito’s pocket aces.
That hand catapulted Brito up to around 330,000, making him the chip leader as they are now just over 60 eliminations shy of the cash.
Key FPS Monaco Main Event Facts:
– At the start of Level 15, 207 players remain from the starting field of 993
– The top 143 finishers make the money; a min-cash is €1,790
– Arnaud Mattern (170,000), Richardo Graells (150,000), and Luca Dal Cerro (146,000) are above the average
– Recent eliminations include Paul-Francois Tedeschi, Dermot Blain, Karl Alfredsson, and Kevin Monroe
– Click here for a complete list of chip counts to start Day 2
– The tournament is scheduled to play 8 one-hour levels today, with 15-minute breaks every two levels (there is no dinner break)
To get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts, don’t forget to download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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