Hand #2: This hand featured the first flop, the first multi-way pot and the first big pot of the final table all rolled into one. Andrew Pantling raised to 850,000 from under-the-gun+1 and picked up calls from Elton Tsang (button), Cary Katz (small blind) and Brandon Steven (big blind).
A flop hit the felt, Pantling continued for 1,700,000 and Steven was the only player who folded. Pantling bet a further 3,500,000 on the turn but both he and Katz folded when Tsang raised to 9,000,000 total. With that pot Tsang has taken the chip lead.
While a couple guitarists play entry music beside the main stage, tournament director Jack Effel is introducing each player one by one – starting with chip leader Andrew Pantling and ending with short stack Haralabos Voulgaris – and the tuxedo-clad players are taking their seats.
One Drop founder Guy Laliberte and jeweler Richard Mille and making additional introductory remarks, and play will begin in a few minutes.
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Final Table of the 2016 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza
In a little under 2 hours time, the final day of the 2016 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza €1,000,000 buy-in Big One For One Drop kicks off.
The prize pool of a whopping €24,888,892 is still to be divided, but just 6 players will take part in that. That means 2 unfortunate souls will go home empty-handed and a big bubble awaits when the players return at noon.
Leading the pack of recreational poker players is former poker pro and Matchbook CEO Andrew Pantling with almost 32 million in chips. The shortest stack still in it is Haralabos Voulgaris who'll bring 13 big blinds when play resumes.
Here's how the players rack up with a single minute left in level 150,000/300,000 before play moves to limits 200,000/400,000 with a 50,000-ante.
Seat
Player
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Brandon Steven
8,000,000
20
2
Rick Salomon
26,900,000
67
3
Andrew Pantling
31,775,000
79
4
James Bord
18,125,000
45
5
Haralabos Voulgaris
5,375,000
13
6
Anatoly Gurtovoy
16,775,000
42
7
Elton Tsang
23,550,000
59
8
Cary Katz
9,550,000
24
The first place prize is €11,111,111 ($12,189,918), the third biggest first-place prize in the history of poker after the 2012 Big One for One Drop (Antonio Esfandiari won $18,346,673) and 2014 Big One for One Drop (Dan Colman won $15,306,668). Min cashing this event is worth €1.5 million. Noteworthy is that chip leader Andrew Pantling needs to place 4th or better to make a profit, he's the sole player left in that reentered the event and thus is in for €2,000,000.
Brandon Steven is a successful businessman, recognized for both his award-winning car dealerships and philanthropy.
Steven played both of the previous Big One for One Drop events in Las Vegas in 2012 and 2014. Steven has racked up total live tournament earnings of $3,109,053. The biggest cash of his poker career came this month winning the $50,000 High Roller in Aria for $648,000.
Steven is said to play poker to feed his competitive spirit, having competed in sports his whole life.
Salomon is a producer and actor in the film industry, and "mostly known for his relationships with various female celebrities, including E.G. Daily, Shannen Doherty, Paris Hilton, and Pamela Anderson" according to his Wikipedia-profile.
Salomon returns to the Big One for One Drop Tournament after finishing in 4th place in 2014 for $2,800,000. That is also his last tournament cash to date, but by no means was 2014 the last time Salomon played poker as he's an avid cash game player in the biggest games around the world.
Andrew Pantling is the former CEO of Matchbook, one of the most popular sports betting websites. Today, he's best described as a gaming entrepreneur.
Prior to Matchbook, Pantling spent time playing in both online and live tournaments worldwide. Online he was known as ClockWyze on both PokerStars and Full TIlt Poker where he played thousands of hands and battled all the big names, including Phil ivey at the highest limits.
Pantling has total live earnings of $2,013,826 with the biggest share ($1,104,074) coming from his runner-up finish to Steve O'Dwyer in the 2013 EPT Grand Final.
flop hit the felt, Pantling continued for 1,700,000 and Steven was the only player who folded. Pantling bet a further 3,500,000 on the 
turn but both he and Katz folded when Tsang raised to 9,000,000 total. With that pot Tsang has taken the chip lead.
