The inaugural Global Poker League Draft took place last week Thursday, when the league's 12 franchise managers selected their squads at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Max Pescatori of the Rome Emperors was first on the clock and took Mustapha Kanit as the No. 1 overall pick before, one by one, the roster slots were filled.

Over the course of nearly five and a half hours, there was plenty of excitement, surprise selections, and even a few snubs, which leads us to PokerNews' breakdown of it all, so let's get to it.

Rome Emperors	Montreal Nationals	New York Rounders
Mustapha Kanit	Mike McDonald	Jason Mercier
Dario Sammartino	Martin Jacobson	Tom Marchese
Timothy Adams	Pascal LeFrancois	Kevin MacPhee
Walter Treccarichi	Xuan Liu	Jason Wheeler
San Francisco Rush	Las Vegas Moneymakers	Sao Paulo Metropolitans
Phil Galfond	Anthony Zinno	Darren Elias
Tony Gregg	Jonathan Duhamel	Byron Kaverman
Kitty Kuo	Jake Cody	Thiago Nishijima
Anton Wigg	Jonathan Little	Joao Pires Simao
London Royals	Moscow Wolverines	LA Sunset
Igor Kurganov	Dzmitry Urbanovich	Fedor Holz
Vanessa Selbst	Vladimir Troyanovskiy	Olivier Busquet
Chris Moorman	Andrey Pateychuk	Eugene Katchalov
Justin Bonomo	Sergey Lebedev	Chance Kornuth
Berlin Bears	Paris Aviators	Hong Kong Stars
Brian Rast	Bertrand Grospellier	Weiyi Zhang
Sorel Mizzi	Davidi Kitai	Raiden Kan
Dominik Nitsche	George Danzer	Dong Guo
Jeff Gross	Mike Leah	Bryan Huang

Biggest Surprises

1. No Antonio

A couple of things stuck out as big surprises right from the start. The first was an announcement that came right before the start of the draft that Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari had made himself disappear from the draft-eligiblility list.

With the draft philosophy and strategy I would have applied, Esfandiari would've been my top selection. Going into the draft, I tossed out the idea of ranking players at all based on skill. My reasoning for that was because if you were on the list of draft-eligible players, you should have enough poker ability to be able to compete in the events of the GPL. Part of this was that, from everything I understand, the events aren't going to be prolonged affairs with perfect tournament structures. These events are built for excitement and entertainment — you're not going to "sportify" poker with your run-of-the-mill poker event. With that thinking, I would've drafted with heavy bias towards marketability and personality of the character as it pertains to grabbing an audience.

When it was announced that Esfandiari was out, I was extremely surprised. Outside of him being a perfect pick for any of the franchises, the GPL fits Esfandiari's character in the game. He's marketable, extremely outgoing, not afraid to put himself out there as a bit wild when the cameras are rolling, and a player that will resonate highly with an audience.

I thought for sure Esfandiari would fall a couple spots right into the hands of Faraz Jaka and the San Francisco Rush's No. 4 overall pick. With Esfandiari's ties to the Bay Area, he'd have been a great fit.

2. The Selection of Darren Elias

I'm not sure if I'm more surprised that Darren Elias went as high as he did, going No. 6 overall, or the fact that he was drafted by Andre Akkari for the Sao Paulo Metropolitans, but the combination of those two things shocked the heck out of me. This pick seemed like a slam dunk obvious choice for Felipe "Mojave" Ramos. I thought Akkari would keep things Brazil-oriented and aim for marketability in that region, which is exactly what Ramos would provide.

For me, Elias just doesn't fit the mold of what I would be trying to do as a franchise manager. For as excellent a player as Elias is, I haven't seen enough of an outgoing personality when he's in events to think he would capture an audience, especially a Brazilian one.

This pick was a huge surprise both with how early Elias went and the team he was drafted by.

3. Selbst Falls

I mentioned that I pinned Esfandiari as my top draft selection for the GPL format, but Vanessa Selbst was a close second. I envisioned her going in a few different places in the first round, but in no way did I ever think she'd fall as far as she did.

If Bryn Kenney didn't take her for the New York Rounders given her ties to the Big Apple, then it was certainly going to be Chris Moneymaker drafting his fellow Team PokerStars Pro, right? If she happened to make it past those two squads, then I could've seen Akkari bypassing Ramos, who he could get a little later, and grabbing Selbst right there for the same reason as Moneymaker with the PokerStars connection. If for whatever reason Selbst dropped further, I'd have bet a large basket of biscuits that Maria Ho would've snatched her up. As it turned out, though, Selbst fell all the way to the second round.

When it was time for Liv Boeree to make her second-round selection and Selbst's name was still on the board, how could she pass her up? I spoke with Boeree after that pick, and both she and Igor Kurganov, her significant other and first-round selection, said they deemed Selbst entirely off the board because there'd simply be no way she would fall to them in the second round. Well, she did, and Boeree's London Royals squad landed a gem of a steal.

Who Got Snubbed?

1. The GPL

This one goes hand in hand with my No. 1 surprise, in that when it was made known that Esfandiari was no longer eligible for the draft, I couldn't help but think how much the entire Global Poker League had just been snubbed as an organization. This league was made for players like Esfandiari, and, maybe even more importantly, the league needs players like Esfandiari.

2. Fatima Moreira de Melo

The popularity of Fatima Moreira de Melo extends beyond poker, and I believe that's something the managers in the GPL needed to focus heavily on. With Moreira de Melo's notoriety as a top Dutch field hockey who won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, her friendly personality, and willingness to always go the extra mile for marketing and publicity efforts, she seemed like a no-brainer pick, especially by one of her fellow members of Team PokerStars.

3. Felipe "Mojave" Ramos

I'm still scratching my head as to why he wasn't drafted to the Sao Paulo Metropolitans. In a perfect world, think about how over-the-top cool it would be for Akkari to have drafted Ramos, who has a big following in his own right, and then leveraged that draft pick to land none other than Neymar as a wild card. Could you imagine?

4. Jason Mo, Justin Schwartz, and David Tuthill

We can learn a lot from the world of wrestling here, and before you laugh at me, I think you need to hear me out.

Having all "good guys" is a bad thing. All of these three players, Jason Mo, Justin Schwartz, and David Tuthill, whether you agree or disagree with their opinionated personalities, are extremely polarizing and could be seen as the heels, or villains, of the GPL. I think you draft them, you let them fire off on other teams and players at will, and you celebrate it. That's the spin here. The Global Poker League needs one of its franchises to be "the bad guys" — bold, brash, noisy — to be its nWo.

5. Justin Oliver

Justin Oliver deserved to get drafted, in my opinion, simply due to his show of willingness to market himself for the GPL. Oliver tried to go the extra mile in hopes of getting drafted, but I don't think he would've stopped there. I'm not sure there will be too many players drafted that will go the lengths Oliver might've gone to promote himself, his franchise, and the league had he been drafted. For that, I deem him snubbed.

6. Mohsin Charania

Being a great friend of Jaka, I had Mohsin Charania going to the San Francisco Rush. Charania has enough of a résumé to be someone who should make the cut, and the team can certainly play off the best friend relationship between Charania and Jaka.

Who "Won" the Draft?

When I think of "winning" the draft, I'm not necessarily looking at the team I think has the most poker talent on its roster that can then go on to win the league, because I don't think that's the most important win that franchises, and the Global Poker League in its entirety, should be aiming for with Season 1. The goal should be to win a market and win an audience, not to win the league. If you don't do the former, how is the league going to be successful? If you can't win over a market or an audience, it's not going to work.

Along these lines, the team I would deem "won" the draft the most would be the London Royals, but this results heavily on the fact that Selbst fell into the team's lap in the second round. I also like the combination of Boeree and Kurganov. It's no secret these two are dating and I think, if spun right, this can work for the team in a very positive way. Hopefully what it does is serve as an attraction to other couples interested in poker, even if one half of a couple is more interested in the other. We all know we get involved in things we never seemed to care about because of our significant others, and this could lead to exactly that.

Chris Moorman's draw is that he is online poker's top money earner. For those in the virtual realm that look up to Moorman as a legend, they'll have reason to be drawn to this team. He also works well on Boeree's team because he is British, providing a strong national foothold.

Justin Bonomo is an excellent player, but an interesting character. This team should easily recognize that it doesn't need to appeal to the diehard poker enthusiasts. The well-known names on the team will already do that, so they'll be left looking to resonate with the audience that isn't as in tune with poker, the non-diehards. For that, I'd look to tell Bonomo's entire story. I wouldn't avoid discussing the issues he's had in the past with online poker. Rather, you can use those issues as a tool to show how people make mistakes, learn from them, and grow. That's what matters most. Bonomo appears in every aspect to have done that, and he's now considered one of the top players in the game. That's the spin I'd take.

Who Had the Worst Draft?

This one was between the Hong Kong Stars and the Sao Paulo Metropolitans. I really hope I'm wrong, because Brazil and Asia have such massive potential as markets.

I discussed earlier why I didn't like the pick of Elias, and I'm not a fan of selecting Byron Kaverman, either. With this pick, I want to say that Akkari took Kaverman because of his pre-draft ranking according to the Global Poker Index, where he finished No. 1 as of Dec. 31, 2015. Kaverman is extremely quiet at the table, takes an incredibly lengthy amount of time with every decision, and is American, not Brazilian. This pick works against everything I would be looking to do.

Thiago Nishijima is the lone bright spot of the team for me, and I admit that I had Nishijima going to the Sao Paulo Metropolitans in my mock draft. Joao Pires Simao, though, certainly wasn't on my radar, and you can probably count on one hand how many people his name registered with when called. For as good a player as Simao may be, I'd much rather see this spot filled with a more marketable player, like Ramos.

If I'm going to continue my analysis based on how I would've approached the draft from a philosophical point of view, then I have to include the Hong Kong Stars as a "loser" in the draft. I think it's safe to say that anyone trying to predict the draft ahead of time deemed this franchise the biggest wild card, and it played out pretty much as expected, although it does appear Celina Lin was able to draft exactly who she wanted for her team.

In a pre-draft interview with PokerNews, Lin said: "As a player, I understand the excitement of playing poker, but, as a GPL team leader, I feel that one of the most important things is to grow the game of poker. I want to take the next step and build something bigger. As I grew up, I played many different types of games. I am happy to see that there is a market for professional gamers, which is very similar to being a poker player. I believe the GPL is one of the building blocks to making poker even more of a sport."

I applaud Lin for taking an approach more geared towards the marketability of her team members, but I'm just not so sure how marketable these four players are going to be on the global scale. The players might have strong Asian and eSports ties, but I think she's limiting her team's potential by getting a little too specific with her selections.

Wild Cards To Come

Not every member of the Global Poker League franchises has been determined yet, and next up will be each team's wild card selections. Each team manager must selection two wild cards to be apart of the franchise, and it is highly expected that each of the 12 will select themselves to join their squads, leaving one wild card. The teams will have a couple weeks to make these wild card picks, and when they do, PokerNews will have the information for you, so stay tuned.

For more information on the Global Poker League, click here.

_{*Image courtesy of the American Poker Awards/revolutionpix Incorporated.}

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Reentry tournaments are more popular than ever, with both single and unlimited reentry formats often popping up in lieu of traditional freeze-outs.

The three high roller events in the recently completed European Poker Tour Dublin festival all featured the single reentry format, and it was during the €10,300 High Roller that poker pro Mohsin Charania shared some thoughts with our Sasha Salinger regarding the strategy involved in such tournaments, particularly as they near the end of the reentry period.

Charania has amassed over $4.7 million in lifetime tournament earnings including a win in the EPT8 Grand Final in Monte Carlo in 2012 (for €1,350,000), a victory in the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris in 2013 (for €328,750), and another title in the WPT Five Diamond Poker Classic in 2014 (for $1,177,890).

Among the topics covered by Charania are the benefits and drawbacks of single reentry events versus those with unlimited reentries, noting how the latter are often more likely to feature pro-heavy fields the deeper you get.

Charania also addresses how being short-stacked near the end of the reentry period might encourage looser play, as well as how it’s worth keeping an eye out for opponents who appear likely to gamble more in such circumstances.

He additionally notes how it can be valuable to figure out who among your opponents might be looking to avoid rebuying if they can help it, since such knowledge can be helpful when deciding whether or not to play aggressively against them. Take a look:

Charania came away from Dublin with a couple of cashes to improve his current Global Poker Index ranking to No. 70. While he wasn’t selected in last week’s inaugural Global Poker League draft, he may well be picked up as a wild card, and indeed finds a place among Donnie Peters’ list of overlooked players worthy of such consideration as teams fill out their rosters.

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Recently I walked away from a cash poker game after the shortest session I’ve played in several years. Let me tell you about it.

I was at the only legal card room in my state, Harrah’s Cherokee. I more than doubled up in the first five minutes at the table, when I flopped trip threes with my to crack another player’s aces. Over the next couple of orbits I raised with and flopped trip sevens, then raised with -offsuit and flopped trip queens. In the last hand I played, I raised with , flopped for a gutshot straight draw, hit it with a on the turn, and felted a player who had flopped top two pair with .

I had started with $200 in play, and now had $595 after 35 minutes. The technical poker term for this kind of luck is “running like a god.”

The question then became the one famously asked by The Clash in 1982: “Should I stay or should I go?”

There were compelling arguments for my continuing to play:

• It’s an hour’s drive each way, so it didn’t make much sense for me to play half an hour and then quit.
• This was obviously a table with players willing to pay off my big hands, an essential ingredient for making a big payday.
• I now had a fearsome table image, and should have been able to bully, intimidate, and bluff to my heart’s content.

Normally, those considerations would indeed be enough to keep my keister planted in that seat for as long as conditions remained so favorable. This time, however, there were countervailing factors in play.

They all stemmed from the fact that I was having one of those losing streaks that are inevitable if you play poker. Specifically, I had lost the last six times in a row that I had played at Cherokee. I was feeling snakebit. In fact, not long before on the drive to the casino, I had been actively suppressing thoughts that I shouldn’t bother with this trip, because I was just going to lose again.

Losing streaks can wreak havoc on one’s mindset. Jesse May described this in his poker novel, Shut Up and Deal:

Then I go on a losing streak. Or have one bad night, or whatever. Just something that makes me question everything I know about poker — no, everything I believe — and consider giving up and be scared to go in the card room and not know when to fold or when to raise or when to play or when to stop.

But the best description of the psychological effects of a losing streak I’ve ever read comes from Larry Phillips’s little book, The Tao of Poker:

Maybe you’re in over your head; maybe you never understood this game from Day One and you've been fooling yourself all along. Your opponents had your number all along and you didn't know it. Oh sure, a period occurred when you were running well, and that threw them off briefly — and allowed you to keep the fiction going to yourself — but by and large they had your number all along.

All real gamblers know the Inner Scream. It's like the face in that one painting, “The Scream,” the oval-headed guy with his mouth open and his hands on his cheeks. It’s exactly like that, only it’s on the inside. It’s a scream for just average luck, not even for good luck anymore. For that wondrous state of affairs where, every time you get annihilated, there is some kind of offsetting win of some kind, somewhere. It is pleading just to break even.

I wasn’t quite to that point yet, but things were heading that way. I wanted to put an end to it.

A direct consequence of this state of affairs was that after that last big addition to my stack, I could feel myself starting to get defensive. I wanted to protect my win. I could foresee that as a result I was going to start playing more cautiously.

Cautious poker is weak poker. It’s bad poker. It’s losing poker. In order to win, you have to be willing to lose — and I wasn’t. I had reached a point where I was sensing my own unwillingness to risk loss. That kind of tentativeness and fear is incompatible with strong play.

Tommy Angelo gave this piece of excellent advice in his book Elements of Poker:

When you are winning, and you reach a point in the session when the happiness you will gain by winning more money will be much less than the pain you will endure if you lose, quit. Away from the table you can examine how and why this imbalance occurs. Meanwhile, learn to trust the quitting voice, and to react without question.

That perfectly describes where my mind was.

Finally, I remembered this advice from Ed Miller:

Go ahead and book a win. I know a lot of people think booking wins and setting stop losses is hogwash. But playing top poker (particularly no-limit) requires confidence in yourself and your decision-making. And if you lose seven days straight, your confidence is likely going to be in the can no matter who you are. So if you start a session and you’re up a few buy-ins after a bit, wrap it up. Book the win. And pat yourself on the back. You’ll be more confident during your next session.

So that’s what I did.

Could I have won more money — maybe a lot more — if I had stayed? Sure, maybe. Or maybe disaster would have struck, and I would have left feeling even more loser-y than when I began, which would make it even harder for me to overcome the psychological baggage of the bad streak the next time I played.

I was winning, I was mentally fresh, and I was in a situation that looked favorable to continue winning more. Ordinarily, it’s a huge mistake to leave a poker game under those conditions. But once in a while, it’s reasonable to let other considerations prevail.

After all, as The Clash’s song says, “If I go there will be trouble / And if I stay it will be double.”

Robert Woolley lives in Asheville, NC. He spent several years in Las Vegas and chronicled his life in poker on the “Poker Grump” blog.

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11:08pm: Gordillo grabs night's last pot

In the last hand of the level -- and of Day 3 -- a hand arose in which it folded to the often-active Pablo Gordillo who opened with a raise to 150,000 and only Joseph Mouawad called from the big blind.

The flop came [4d][Jh][Kd]. Mouawad led with a bet of 225,000 and Gordillo called right away. The turn brought the [5h], and this time both players checked. The river was the [10c], bringing two quick checks again.

Mouawad tossed his [As][2c] forward face up, and Gordillo tabled [Js][9d] to claim the last hand of the night.

Back in a short while with a recap of Day 3, during which 57 players played down to just seven.

11:01pm: Gordillo moves back in front

Since the final table began, Pablo Gordillo has been the most active player and after suffering that setback versus Gilles Silbernagel a short while ago has now reclaimed the chip lead, having built his stack back up over 6 million.

10:54pm: Solosna takes from Gordillo

Pablo Gordillo raised to 150,000 from under the gun and got one caller in Manuel Martinez from a couple of seats over.

The flop came [9s][4s][Ts], and Gordillo continued for 155,000, and Solosna called. The turn brought the [2h] and a check from Gordillo, and Solosna pushed a bet of 375,000 out into that opening. Gordillo looked Solosna over for a minute, then let his hand go.

10:38pm: Gordillo gets away after Silbernagel shove

Gilles Silbernagel opened with a raise from middle position, then Pablo Gordillo three-bet from a couple of seats over. It folded back to Silbernagel who called, and the pair saw the flop come [As][Ts][Ah].

Silbernagel checked, and Gordillo continued with a bet of 480,000. Silbernagel called. The turn then brought the [2h] and another check from Silbernagel. This time Gordillo fired 815,000, and without much hesitation Silbernagel said he was pushing all in.

Gordillo thought just a beat before letting his hand go. He still has about 4.2 million, but Silbernagel has edged ahead of him for the lead and is now up around 5 million after taking that big pot.

Gilles Silbernagel

10:24pm: Ferrari run down in eighth

After Joseph Mouawad opened for 150,000 from the hijack seat, it folded to Michael Ferrari in the big blind who shoved all in for about 700,000 and Mouawad called.

Ferrari: [Qd][Qh]
Mouawad: [Ad][Qc]

The flop came [Tc][Kc][Ac], pairing Moawoud's ace and giving him a flush draw as well, then when the [9c] fell on the turn Ferrari was drawing dead to finish in eighth. Mouawad now has about 3.8 million.

Michael Ferrari

10:15pm: Level 28 begins (30,000/60,000/10,000)

They've finished with the picture-taking and after finishing the last minute of Level 27 have moved on with an increase in blinds and antes.

They'll play one more hour before stopping for the night.

10:01pm: Updated chip counts to start the official final table

Seat 1: Joseph Mouawad (USA) -- 3,080,000
Seat 2: Gilles Silbernagel (France) -- 3,985,000
Seat 3: Sergio Braga (Brazil) -- 1,380,000
Seat 4: Pablo Gordillo (Spain) -- 5,915,000
Seat 5: Michael Ferrari (USA) -- 1,005,000
Seat 6: Luca Moschitta (Italy) -- 1,300,000
Seat 7: Manuel Martinez (UK) -- 3,515,000
Seat 8: Sebastian Supper (Germany) -- 4,445,000

The final table

9:49pm: Taibi taken out in ninth; official final table set

Dean-Henri Taibi opened the action with a raise to 110,000 from UTG, and it folded around to Pablo Gordillo in the cutoff who reraised to 380,000.

The others in between stepped aside, and after confirming the amount of the raise Taibi sat quietly for two minutes before sliding out a tall stack of chips as a reraise. Gordillo instantly announced he was all in, and without much hesitation Taibi called to put the rest of his chips at risk.

Gordillo: [Ac][Kh]
Taibi: [Tc][Td]

The [2d][5d][9h] flop was fine for Taibi, but the [Ks] spiked on the turn to put him way behind. The river brought the [Ad] and a second pair for Gordillo, and start-of-day-2 leader Taibi goes out in ninth.

Dean-Henri Taibi

They are almost at the end of Level 27. Play will be continuing tonight, but a short break is being taken to shoot official final table photos.

9:28pm: Updated chip counts (9 remain)

The final nine players have redrawn and been reseated, with Pablo Gordillo the current chip leader.

Pablo Gordillo

Here's where they are sitting, in terms of both chairs and chips:

Seat 1: Joseph Mouawad (USA) -- 3,070,000
Seat 2: Gilles Silbernagel (France) -- 4,135,000
Seat 3: Sergio Braga (Brazil) -- 1,495,000
Seat 4: Pablo Gordillo (Spain) -- 4,680,000
Seat 5: Michael Ferrari (USA) -- 1,195,000
Seat 6: Luca Moschitta (Italy) -- 1,465,000
Seat 7: Manuel Martinez (UK) -- 2,960,000
Seat 8: Dean-Henri Taibi (France) -- 1,730,000
Seat 9: Sebastian Supper (Germany) -- 3,935,000

9:11pm: Decamps done in 10th

After an open-shove by Dean-Henri Taibi from the small blind, Florian Decamps squeezed his cards in the big blind and made the call for his last 650,000 or so.

Decamps had [6c][6d] and was hoping the small pair would hold against Taibi's [Ah][8c]. But the flop came [Ac][Qd][2h] to put Taibi in front, and after the [Jc] turn and [8d] river Decamps was done.

Florian Decamps

There will be a short pause as the final nine players redraw to seat around a single table. Word is they may not actually stop at eight tonight, but rather play this level and the next before concluding play.

9:02pm: Supper pushes Braga off hand

Following an opening raise by Luca Moschitta from UTG, Sergio Braga three-bet to 275,000, then it folded to Sebastian Supper in the big blind who four-bet to 600,000. Moschitta folded, but Braga called the reraise.

The flop came [4d][4h][Qs], prompting a leading bet of 500,000 from Supper. Braga thought just a moment, then while continuing to hold his jacket up over his mouth called the bet.

The turn was the [5h], and without hesitating Supper pushed all in. That sent Braga deep into the tank, as the bet well covered the 1.2 million he had left behind.

Finally after several minutes Braga rapped the table and released his hand. Supper collected the pot, pushing his stack up over 4 million.

8:48pm: Valentin falls in 11th

Julien Valentin has exited in 11th after having picked up [Ks][Kc] and run into the [As][Ad] of Gilles Silbernagel.

The board came [Qh][8h][2d][4h][5c], sending Valentin to the rail and Silbernagel to the top of the leaderboard with a hefty stack of 4.5 million.

Julien Valentin

8:39pm: Level 27 begins (25,000/50,000/5,000)

Players are back from dinner and cards are back in the air.

7:20pm: Dinner break; updated counts (11 remain)

The remaining 11 players are on a 75-minute break.

That last knockout helped put Pablo Gordillo in first position currently. Here's a look at the updated counts:

Pablo Gordillo (Spain) -- 3,820,000
Gilles Silbernagel (France) -- 3,430,000
Joseph Mouawad (USA) -- 3,350,000
Sebastian Supper (Germany) -- 3,005,000
Manuel Martinez (UK) -- 2,415,000
Luca Moschitta (Italy) -- 2,045,000
Michael Ferrari (USA) -- 2,045,000
Sergio Braga (Brazil) -- 1,815,000
Julien Valentin (France) -- 1,180,000
Dean-Henri Taibi (France) -- 1,035,000
Florian Decamps (France) -- 485,000

7:11pm: Vidal vanquished in 12th

All in for his last 522,000 with [Tc][Th], Charles Vidal was unfortunately up against the [Kd][Kc] of Pablo Gordillo. The board came [2h][3s][Ah][3c][Ks], and Vidal is out in 12th.

Charles Vidal

6:55pm: Barbaro busts in 13th

Alessandro Bardaro is the latest to fall as the dinner break approaches.

Catching up with the action on the river with the board showing [6h][Ah][Ts][Kd][4c], Bardero called all in following a Gilles Silbernagel bet to show [As][Qc], but his top pair was no good versus Silbernagel's [Kc][Tc].

Alessandro Bardaro

6:45pm: Branellec loses to Supper before dinner

Sebastian Supper has just sent out Guillaume Branellec in 14th as the move into the latter part of Level 26. Branellec was all in with [As][Qd] versus Supper's [6c][6h].

A queen came on the turn, but not until after a six had flopped to give Supper a set. Thirteen remain.

Guillaume Branellec

6:42pm: Decamps doubles through Taibi

Following an opening raise by Dean-Henri Taibi from the button, Florian Decamps reraise-shoved for about 380,000 from the small blind, and Taibi made the call.

Taibi had [5d][5c] while Decamps had [As][Qs]. Things looked bleak for Decamps after the [9s][Jc][4c] flop and [Kh] turn, but the [Ac] came on the end to save him, and he's back up around 775,000. Taibi still has about 1.6 million.

6:35pm: Kings fail Kokkalis; 14 remain

Evangelos Kokkalis just met his end in 15th following a hard-luck situation versus Luca Moschitta.

As though drawing the cards from the middle of his name, Kokkalis was all in with [Kh][Ks], but he'd run smack into Moschitta's [Ac][Ad]. The community cards came [Jd][6d][4d][7h][3c], and just like that they're down to 14 players.

Evangelos Kokkalis

6:32pm: Mouawad knocks out Rivero in 16th

Players will be taking a 75-minute dinner break once they reach the end of Level 26 today. That is unless Joseph Mouawad keeps knocking out players and they reach an eight-handed final table first.

Just now Mouawad opened from middle position, and it folded to Alexandre Rivero on the button who pushed all in for about half a million. When it got back to Mouawad he called.

Mouawad: [Jd][Jc]
Rivero: [As][Ks]

The board ran out [5c][5d][3d][4d][Qs], and Rivero was out while Mouawad now appears up around 3 million and in the lead.

Alexandre Rivero

6:26pm: Level 26 begins (20,000/40,000/5,000)

6:25pm: Two more fall; 16 remain

Sergio Castelluccio has been eliminated in 18th, with Jose Besalduch -- one of the day's big stacks early on -- following him to the rail in 17th.

Jose Besalduch

6:16pm: Mouawad mows over Santoro

Following the elimination of Pierre Malfay (21st), Roman Bier's run finally reached the finish line as he went out in 20th. Then came a big three-way all in involving EPT4 London champion Joseph Mouawad, Sergio Braga, and Amerigo Santoro.

Braga had the other two covered and tabled [Jc][Js]. Mouawad was standing as he turned over his [Ah][Qh]. And Santoro -- all in just a while ago with aces -- had picked up rockets again with [As][Ac].

The flop came a benign [Kd][6c][2h], but the [4h] caused Mouawad to start calling for a third heart to appear. The dealer burned a card and turned over the river -- the [Th]!

"Yes!" said Mouawad, with enthusiasm. "No," said Santoro, with none.

Santoro has no chips now, too, and thus walked to the cashier to collect 19th-place prize money. Meanwhile Mouawad is up to about 2.4 million, while Braga is at a still very healthy 1.9 million.

Amerigo Santoro

5:55pm: Timely rockets for Santoro

Following an opening raise by Florian Decamps, Amerigo Santoro reraised all in for 187,000 from the button, and after it folded back to Decamps he called.

Decamps tabled [Ac][6h], and the table then shared a collective chuckle at the sight of Santoro's [Ad][As]. The board ran clean for Santoro, and with that double both he and Decamps have roughly similar stacks of about 375,000.

5:51pm: Lacolas loses chips, out in 22nd

In what has been a slow-moving level, Lionel Lacolas is the only elimination thus far in 22nd.

Lionel Lacolas

5:41pm: Bier hanging on

A short-stacked Romain Bier -- 22nd of 22 to start the level -- has survived all-ins a couple of times thus far, thereby keeping his seat. The 20-year-old Bier actually won his way into this event via a club tournament and so is on a freeroll of sorts, and clearly is enjoying making the trip last even longer into Day 3.

Romain Bier

5:28pm: Updated chip counts (22 remain)

France's Gilles Silbernagel rose to the top of the leaderboard near the end of the last level. Here are updated counts for all 22 of the remaining players:

Gilles Silbernagel (France) -- 2,750,000
Pablo Gordillo (Spain) -- 2,400,000
Sebastian Supper (Germany) -- 2,200,000
Manuel Martinez (UK) -- 2,065,000
Joseph Mouawad (USA) -- 2,000,000
Michael Ferrari (USA) -- 1,700,000
Sergio Braga (Brazil) -- 1,570,000
Guillaume Branellec -- 1,015,000
Dean-Henri Taibi (France) -- 980,000
Jose Besalduch (Spain) -- 900,000

Alessandro Bardaro (Italy) -- 850,000
Charles Vidal (France) -- 800,000
Evangelos Kokkalis (Greece) -- 760,000
Luca Moschitta (Italy) -- 700,000
Florian Decamps (France) -- 520,000
Sergio Castellucio (Italy) -- 415,000
Alexandre Rivero (Brazil) -- 415,000
Amerigo Santoro (Italy) -- 395,000
Julien Valentin (France) -- 380,000
Piere Malfay (France) -- 350,000

Lionel Lacolas (Italy) -- 340,000
Romain Bier (France) -- 220,000

Gilles Silbernagel

5:25pm: Level 25 begins (15,000/30,000/4,000)

The 22 remaining players are back in their seats and play has resumed once more. For updates from the day's first four levels during which they raced down from 57 to 22, click here.

Day 3 continues

Key FPS Monaco Main Event Facts:
- The tournament is scheduled to play down to the eight-handed final table
- The top 143 finishers are cashing; click here for an updated list of payouts

To get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts, don't forget to download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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Italian Alessandro Adinolfo beat a field of 390 players to win the IPT Saint Vincent Main event this week, earning a first prize of €80,000. The field amassed a prize pool of €378,300, paying the top 55 players. Adinolfo's defeated Giuseppe Caridi heads-up, with Caridi collecting €45,000 for second place.

The final action saw Adinolfo go all-in with [Ah][Jc], which was called by Caridi holding [7d] [6c]. The board of [8c][5h][5d] [Jh][8h] sent the spoils to Adinolfo.

Adinolfo has earned more than $250,000 in tournaments during ten years in the game. The title marks a career high for the man from Turin, whose other results have come from across Italy, notably in Venice and Sanremo.

The IPT now heads to Nova Gorica from September 10-15, 2015.

The full result from the IPT Saint Vincent Main Event is below:

IPT Saint Vincent €1,000 + €100 Main Event
Entrants: 390
Prize pool: €378,300
Places paid: 55

1. Alessandro Adinolfo (Italy) € 80,000
2. Giuseppe Caridi (Italy) € 45,000
3. Enrico Consales (Italy) € 32,000
4. Giorgio Soceanu (Italy) € 26,000
5. Christian Cipriano (Italy) € 21,000
6. Giuseppe Mancini (Italy) € 16,000
7. Paolo Antonio Pellegrini (Italy) € 12,000
8. Micha Renaldo Hoedemaker (Netherlands) € 8,500
9. Matej Adamic (Slovenia) € 7,000

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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International Game Technology announced that it now offers content from the legacy GTECH game portfolio on its social gaming app, DoubleDown Casino, with the launch of Treasures of the Pyramids for mobile and desktop.

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