EPT Deauville Attracts Near-Record Field

The European Poker Tour Deauville nearly set a turnout record this week, drawing 889 players over the two starting days of the tournament.

That number was reached by having 550 players sign up for Day 1B, the second of two starting days. Combined with the 339 players who participated on Day 1A, the total was just two players fewer than the tournament record that was set in 2011.

Given the large turnout, participants will have plenty to play for. The €5,000 buy-in created a total prize pool of €4,267,200, and 128 players will make the money. The first place prize is €875,000, just €5,000 less than the prize won by 2011 EPT Deauville winner Lucien Cohen.

Many top players turned out for Deauville, and several were quickly eliminated on the first day of play. Vanessa Selbst, Dario Minieri, Fabrice Soulier, Viktor Blom, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Eugene Katchalov all hit the rail on Day 1B. Cohen, the defending champion, was eliminated on the first day of play.

Several notables did make it through to Day 2 with healthy stakes, however, including Vanessa Rousso and Shannon Shorr. Others to go through on shorter stacks include Ari Engel and Scotty Nguyen.

But the biggest stack belongs to Amir Salhani, who bagged up 191,100 chips to take the overall chip lead into the second day of play. He was one of just three players to finish the day with more than 150,000 chips. Second and third places went to Joakim Lofgren and Toufik Ouirini.

In total, 325 players made it through from Day 1B. That leaves the total combined field for Day 2 at 546 players.

EPT Deauville’s tournament structure means there’s still plenty of play left for the survivors. There are two full days of play remaining before Saturday’s Day 4, when the field will play down to 24 players. Sunday will see the remaining players battle to the final table, which will be contested on Monday, February 6.