February 01 2012, Marty Derbyshire

On Day 1b of the 2012 PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event, 550 players turned out, meaning the total number of entrants was just two fewer than the record 891 who came to play last year.

Once registration closed and the final numbers were released, the news came down that 889 players had signed up for this incarnation of EPT Deauville, creating a “4,267,200 prize pool that will pay 128 spots with “875,000 reserved for first – just “5,000 less than Lucien Cohen’s take from 2011.

The Day 1b field was heavily French but still featured some of the biggest stars in the game. 1998 WSOP Main Event champ Scotty Nguyen turned up, as did Cohen and a host of Team PokerStars Pros, including Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Liv Boeree, Vanessa Rousso, Eugene Katchalov and more.

But as the masses fell by the wayside, leaving 325 survivors, the day truly belonged to Frenchman Amir Salhani, who grabbed the top spot late and held on heading into Thursday’s Day 2 with 191,100 in chips and the overall chip lead.

Cohen was eliminated in the final 15 minutes of the day, ensuring there will be a new champion this year as the likes Blom, Katchalov, Vanessa Selbst, Dario Minieri, Fabrice Soulier, and Jude Ainsworth joined him on the rail.

Several notables will go on to Day 2 from the Day 1b group, however, including Rousso, Shannon Shorr, Ari Engel, Nacho Barbero, Ludovic Lacay and Team PokerStars SportsStar and Olympic gold medalist Fatima Moreira de Melo.

Adding the Day 1b survivors to the 221 through from Day 1a means 546 players will begin play at 1200 CET (0300 PST) in Deauville on Thursday.

To follow all the action live tune into PokerNews’ EPT Live Updates page, and follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

October 25 2011, Eric Ramsey

Day 4 was a short one at the PokerStars.it European Poker Tour San Remo. It only took about seven hours to shrink the field from 64 players to 24. Canada’s Chris McClung came into the day atop the pack, and his lead only continued to balloon over the course of the four levels. At the end of the night, he had 3.148 million chips in his bag, and that was good enough to give him more than 150 big blinds and a lead of about a million chips over his nearest challenger. With 837 players in the starting field, McClung holds about one eighth of the 25 million chips in play.

Joseph Cheong was within striking distance of McClung to start play, and he enjoyed a good increase over the first few levels. Very late in the day, though, Cheong was demolished and his chips were absorbed by McClung in a huge pot. In the 3k/10k/20k level, McClung three-bet a raise from Mustapha Kanit, and Cheong made a cold four-bet to 220,000. Kanit folded, but McClung went ahead and shoved all-in for about a million.

The call came instantly, and McClung’s measly had been picked off. Cheong rolled over , and he was a huge favorite to drag the big double up and the chip-leading pot. But the dealer provided the kiss of death. The board fell , and the flush on the turn sealed Cheong’s demise during the last level of the night.

Also falling short of very deep runs were two of the four Team PokerStars Pros who had made Day 4. Vanessa Selbst was the first of the crew to be sent off. She was unable to get anything going with her middling stack, and she ended up more-or-less committing herself with on queen-high board. Alessio Isaia’s had turned two pair, and that was the end of the line for one of the last remaining ladies in the field. Shortly thereafter, John Duthie, founder and creator of the EPT, was eliminated with . He was short when he shoved preflop, and Christopher Williamsson found to tally the knockout on a board.

That leaves Lex Veldhuis and Johnny Lodden to carry the torch for the Team, and both men had productive sessions on the felt.

Their advance came despite the fact that they were seated next to each other for the bulk of the day, and poker fans are hoping they’ll keep on sharing space all the way into the final table. Lodden managed to double with kings against Cheong’s ace-king around dinner time on Day 4, and he bagged up 1.227 million chips to end the day. On his left, Veldhuis seemed to be pacing himself against the active table, and after not much chip movement, he finished with 877,000.

Other notables still in the mix include Barny Boatman, Kevin MacPhee, Mike McDonald, Alessio Isaia, and the new WSOPE Main Event champion, Elio Fox. It’s quite a lineup with just 24 players left, and there are still a couple of former champions (MacPhee, McDonald) with a shot at becoming the EPT’s first double Main Event champion. They and the rest of the 24 will return to the Casino di San Remo at 1400 CET (0500 PDT) on Wedesday to play down to the final table.

Don’t forget to tune into the Live Reporting page on Wednesday to follow along with the action. And speaking of following things, our Twitter stream is the best place for up-to-the-minute poker news right in your timeline.

Follow Eric Ramsey on Twitter – @Eric_Ramsey