A huge field of 117 players registered for the €25,000 High-Roller tournament at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final in Monte Carlo on Sunday, and 16 of those players used the re-entry format, bringing the prize-pool up to an impressive €3,325,000, and guaranteeing the winner over €1 million.

The 133 entries have to give the poker world that Black Friday hasn’t irreparably damaged the poker economy. A number of the biggest names in poker decided to play in the tournament as well as a slew of young guns trying to make a name for themselves in the post-Black Friday poker world.

Of the 117 players who started the day, only 46 will be back in action for Day 2 of the event on Monday with Andrew Badecker leading the way with 350,000 chips. Badecker has been on fire in recent months, and a win in the EPT Grand Final High-Roller would surely cement him as one of the top young talents in tournament poker –not bad for a player who was nearly ready to quit poker after Black Friday before winning a WSOP last year.

The tournament is still far from the money, with only 14 players getting paid, and Badecker has some stiff completion waiting in the wings including Phil Ivey, Lock Poker pro Chris Moorman, Patrik Antonius, the equally hot Justin Bonomo who already won the EPT Grand Super-High-Roller, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Sorel Mizzi, Liv Boeree, David “Doc” Sands, William Reynolds, Daniel Negreanu, Daniel “jungleman” Cates, and Viktor Blom to name just some of the players still in contention.

The huge field, along with the numerous top players who made the trip should bode well for the upcoming WSOP which will get underway in just about a month’s time in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here is a look at the Top 10 chip-counts heading into Day 2 on Monday:

1. Andrew Badecker — 350,000

2. Vincent van der Fluit — 341,200

3. Sami Kelopuro — 310,000

4. Patrik Antonius — 307,500

5. Igor Kurganov — 279,900

6. Phil Ivey — 271,000

7. Artem Litvinov — 270,000

8. Chris Moorman — 261,700

9. Bryn Kenney — 259,000

10. Faraz Jaka — 230,000

And here is a look at what the remaining players will be battling for:

* 1st place: €1,080,000

* 2nd place: €598,600

* 3rd place: €366,000

* 4th place; €266,000

* 5th place: €216,000

* 6th place: €166,000

* 7th place: €133,000

* 8th place: €100,000

* 9th and 10th place: €73,200

* 11th and 12th place: €66,500

* 13th and 14th place: €60,000

Day 2 will get underway at Noon local time where the remaining players will play down to the final table of eight players before calling it a day. When the field returns tomorrow they will be in level 11 with 1,000/2,000 blinds and a 200 chip ante.

Tags: Black Friday, Boeree, Chris Moorman, Daniel Negreanu, High Roller, Justin Bonomo, Leading The Way, Patrik, Phil Ivey, Poker World, Prize Pool, Sorel Mizzi, Time In Las Vegas Nevada, Tournament Poker, Van Der Fluit, Vincent Van, Waiting In The Wings, William Reynolds, WSOP, Young Guns

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