Annette Oberstad and Pieter De Korver call Mikhail Tulchinsky’s pre flop raise and after the 7hQc9c flop, Oberstad bets 300k and De Korver raises 800k. Tulchinsky folds out of their way and Annette goes all in and shows us pocket Aces. De Korver shows pocket 9’s.

And it is over long before the rub-it-in-your-face 9 on the river. Oberstad finishes in 13th place.

Tied for first place with 2,800,000:
Matthew Woodward and
Mickhail Tulchinsky

2nd Marc Naalden 2,500,000
3rd Steven Silverman 2,130,000
4th Peter Traply 2,000,000

And reappearing on this list after a long absense:
5th Annette Oberstad 1,800,000

We have three players that are under 200k: Annette Oberstad, Sergio Castellucio and Patrick Wymann. Who will go first? I’m starting a pool.

Annette Oberstad sat comfortably in the top five for a good chunk of the day. But now she’s not doing so good. No one has hit her hard… She simply isn’t winning hands and is now sitting on a small pile of 174k in chips. Girl, keep hope alive…

And the standings are as thus…
Peter Traply 1,240,000
(And he’s been on top for a minute)
Ludovic Lacay 1,200,000
Annette Obrestad 840,000
(She’s representing for the ladies)
Marc Naalden 830,000
Sandra Naujoks 820,000

Peter Traply 1,015,000
Annette Obrestad 840,000
Gregory Zima 750,000
Sandra Naujoks 700,000
Ludovic Lacay 660,000

And another day here in Monte Carlo comes to an end. End-of-the-day chip leaders are as follows:
Marc Naalden 770k
Annette Obrestad 600k
Vadim Shlez 485k
Joseph Ebanks 380k
Julian Maugenest 360k

Join us again tomorrow as play resumes. Same bat time. Same bat channel.

It’s the end of Day 1a of the Second Annual European Poker Tour San Remo tournament and the event has already broken records. Around 600 players are slated for each day of Round 1, for a total of more than 1200 registrants, more than any other EPT event so far (except for PCA.) Last year’s tourney, EPT’s inaugural event in Italy, attracted more than 700 participants and overflowed the San Remo Casino, prompting organizers to extend the competition to a full six days this year.

What’s more, an impressive number of this year’s contenders qualified for the tournament online. PokerStars, the event’s sponsor, brought 200 online winners to the tables for this leg of the tour.

Day 1a of EPT San Remo went 8 grueling rounds and eliminated more than 475 contestants from the running. Notable casualties include Annette Obrestad, Casey Kastle, Chad Brown, Greg Raymer, Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald and Dario Alioto.

Dragan Galic is the current chip leader, with PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki from Poland trailing not far behind. Asa Smith, Constant Rijkenburg, Jonas Danielsson, Greger Larsson, and Gianni Giaroni are also leading the pack. Joao Barbosa, Arnaud Mattern, Joe Elpayaa and defending champion Jason Mercier, all made the cut today. All in all, around 220 players have moved on to Day 2, which begins Monday, April 20.

While the games commenced, the Sunday contingent bided their time in the quaint resort town, taking in the gorgeous scenery as well as the odd casual pick-up poker game.

Day 1b starts tomorrow at 2pm local time, and the competition promises to be just as fierce. World champion and PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate will take his seat alongside Greg Raymer, Katja Thater, Lee Nelson, Isabelle Mercier, Noah Boeken, Hevad Khan and Johnny Lodden.