Welcome to Day 1a of the 2016 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final Main Event

Half an hour from now, at 12 p.m. local time, the next highlight of the 2016 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final awaits with Day 1a of the €5,300 EPT12 Main Event. The flagship series of the international poker circuit is returning to Monte-Carlo for the 11th time, only in Season 7 it was not on the schedule.

The number of participants thus far at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort have been promising with astonishing 1,261 entries in the €1,100 FPS Monaco Main Event, giving hope for another decent turnout. More than 315 players won their entry for the tournament through PokerStars and a big field is expected.

Defending champion is Adrian Mateos, one year ago the young Spaniard defeated a 564-entry strong field for a payday of €1,082,000. Day 1a and tomorrow's Day 1b feature a total of eight 75-minute levels with a 20-minute break every two levels and a dinner break after the end of level six. Bagging and tagging should take place just before midnight and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to cover all the action until a winner is crowned on May 6th.

Previous EPT Grand Final stops at a glance

Season	Year	Place	Players	Champion	Country	Prize
1	2005	Monaco	211	Rob Hollink	Netherlands	€635,000
2	2006	Monaco	298	Jeff Williams	United States	€900,000
3	2007	Monaco	706	Gavin Griffin	United States	€1,825,010
4	2008	Monaco	842	Glen Chorny	Canada	€2,020,000
5	2009	Monaco	935	Pieter de Korver	Netherlands	€2,300,000
6	2010	Monaco	848	Nicolas Chouity	Lebanon	€1,700,000
7	2011	Madrid	686	Ivan Freitez	Venezuela	€1,500,000
8	2012	Monaco	665	Mohsin Charania	United States	€1,350,000
9	2013	Monaco	531	Steve O'Dwyer	Ireland	€1,224,000
10	2014	Monaco	650	Antonio Buonanno	Italy	€1,240,000
11	2015	Monaco	564	Adrian Mateos	Spain	€1,082,000

Tags: Adrian Mateos