Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst is not exactly running over her table like she once was earlier today.
Coming down from a high-water mark of almost 300,000 in chips, Selbst started a hand a moment ago with just 140,000 and simply called on the button when one early-position opponent made it 5,500.
She uncharacteristically checked down the entire board as well, showing on the end, and chopping the blinds and antes with her opponent's .
Mark Teltscher just found himself all in for 25,000 and Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin committed her last 27,200 to this pot as well before a third player got involved. The player in question thought for a long time, but eventually he called risking almost half of his own stack.
Lin turned over right away, and man who had both her and Teltscher dominated showed . Teltscher then - about two seconds later - tabled .
The board ran out and both Lin and Teltscher were sent to the rail.
Erwann Pecheux faced the aggression of initial raiser Steven van Zadelhoff in under the gun and called a continuation bet worth 17,000 on the flop. After the turn, van Zadelhoff checked and called a bet worth 43,000 before checking again. Pecheux made a hefty bet on the river for 98,000 and van Zadelhoff tank-folded.
"Come on, show the bluff," Nicolas Cardyn in the one seat joked but Pecheux just grinned and raked in the pot.
A total of 1,098 players registered for this event, resulting in a prize pool of €5.325.300. The top 159 will get paid, with the min cash netting the first 15 players €8.890.
Making the final table will net the best 9 players a minimum of €71,620, reaching the top 7 will guarantee you a 6-figure score. The big money is naturally up top, with the eventual champion walking away with €961,800!
It's easy to hide in a field of this size. You get moved from table to table, playing in relative obscurity as you weave your way through the minefield of players and up the chip count ladder.
There's even a dark spot in the room here in Monaco. Underneath one of the massive video screens sits a table where it's a little more difficult to see the chips, cards, and other players.
Even if you're a 6'4"-plus legend of the game, you can fly under the radar there, and that's exactly what Erik Seidel has done today. Starting the day as a relative short stack, he's been moved around and now sits over in the dark spot, suddenly emerging over the last level as one of the leaders with over 350,000 in chips.
This Poker Hall of Famer will be on the radar from here on out, he's made sure of that.
A raising war ended with Imrich Petras's stack of 53,700 in the middle of the table and Ariel Celestino looked him up with . Petras held the superior and doubled thanks to a board of .
Celestino has just under average left and the table also features Andrea Rocci with a big stack, Stephen Chidwick as well as Chris Dowling.
Jack Salter faces the opposition of Antonin Teisseire, Alexandre Luneau and [Removed:37] with the latter just being spotted on a raise to 19,500. Luneau then reraised all in out of the big blind for more than 80,000 and called the clock on Macalou when the fellow Frenchman tanked for a long time.
The one minute ran down and with one second left, Macalou released his cards into the muck.