One of poker's enduring myths is the curse of the chip leader and here on the stunning Casino de Monte-Carlo that came true as Al De Carolis, who began the day in top spot, was the last man out today. Consistent with the day, it was a cooler as De Carolis ran queens into Rick Salomon’s kings for his final 25 big blinds.
When the general eight return tomorrow at noon to play for the primary prize of €11,111,111, that is how they stack up:
| 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 |
It took slightly below five hours of play to move from 24 to eight and for many of that time, Andrew Pantling, who started the day seventh in chips, held the chip lead. Pantling, one among two players that re-entered on Day 1, survived a few early dents within the opening hour before his stack began trending upwards.
While Pantling was leading on the first break, actually that the hole two levels were all about Paul Phua. In that 90-minute period, Phua took care of Patrick Madden (aces versus kings), Tony Bloom (jacks versus ace-nine), Mark Teltscher (jacks versus ace-ten) and, most notably, Guy Laliberté. The only Drop founder got his final 15 big blinds in with ace-queen and was in great shape against Phua’s king-queen. However, the previous Macau junkiteer flopped top two pair and the turn and river bricked to send Laliberté to the rail.
Laliberté (left) and Phua (right) shake hands after the latter eliminates the former
Quickly the overall three tables became two and up at the feature stage we saw, potentially, a tournament-defining pot play out between Bob Safai and Pantling. The chips flew in at the turn of a 
board. Safai had the nuts with queen-ten and Pantling had two-pair with nine-eight. An eight at the river filled Pantling up and sent a shell-shocked Safai tumbling out. “So sick,” said Antonio Esfandiari, who was watching on as Safai’s coach. That pot gave Pantling almost 1 / 4 of the chips in play and he upped the aggression accordingly.
Whilst that was undoubtedly the hand of the day it was removed from the top of the action as big pots were the order of the day. Paul Newey and Talal Shakerchi have been eliminated by the point Al De Carolis briefly reclaimed the chip lead. An accidental flop re-raise from De Carolis worked out pretty much as Pantling set him in holding top pair and De Carolis called with a backdoor straight and flush draw. He hit the straight draw at the river, which knocked Pantling right down to the second one spot.
The final dozen players soon became nine as Sean Dempsey, Paul Phua and Jason Strasser were eliminated by Elton Tsang, Rick Salomon and Brandon Steven respectively. Similar to that, the unofficial final table was set. Jack Effel offered the players the risk to minimize to 6 which might mean everyone who would get back at the final day would’ve been within the money, but a few players objected and desired to stop with eight left as planned.
On just the twelfth hand of the unofficial final table, a kings versus queens encounter between Salomon and De Carolis meant the latter bubbled the overall table and play was done for the day. Two players will leave empty handed tomorrow, that much we know.
The elite eight will return at 11:45am local time and plenty of of them could also be wearing a tuxedo as there’s an organization providing them if they’ve not traveled with considered one of their own.
We’re also promised a theatrical entrance and starting to what’s shaping as much as be an improbable final table, in which levels increases to one-hour in length. That is what the general eight could be playing for tomorrow:
| 1st | €11,111,111 |
| 2nd | €5,427,781 |
| 3rd | €3,000,000 |
| 4th | €2,100,000 |
| 5th | €1,750,000 |
| 6th | €1,500,000 |
Join us from noon local time for what promises to be an exhilarating conclusion to this very special tournament.
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