Yorky Pud

With the WPT Grand Prix de Paris Main Event over and done with and EPT London not starting until September 30, there are hundreds of poker players who have been left twiddling their thumbs and wanting to grind some live poker tournaments. Step in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event at the Palm Beach Casino in beautiful Cannes, France.

Now in its fourth season, the Partouche Poker Tour is seen as one of the best value tournaments on the European circuit, mainly because of the huge numbers of French nationals who participate in it and the fact it pays out at least €1,000,000 to the eventual winner. Last year's Main Event was won by Vanessa Selbst but her victory was slightly overshadowed by the disqualification of Ali Tekintamgac before the final table got under way. Tekintamgac was disqualified and disgraced when it became apparent that he had hired a team of fake bloggers to watch out of his opponent's holecards and then signal to him their holdings. Tekintamgac has always denied the charges but there is solid video evidence and player anecdotes all over the web pointing towards him being a cheat.

Thankfully this year there has been no disgraces, poor dealer decisions or scandals and it should be remembered for the great poker tournament that it is. One player who looks certain to remember it for all the right reasons is Ukrainian Oleksii Kovalchuk who goes into Day 3 as a massive chip leader, armed with 892,500 chips. To put into perspective how many chips he has just look at the second placed Juan Maceiras who has 452,000 chips in his possession! Kovalchuk burst onto the live poker scene at the start of the year winning the Kiev leg of the Russian Poker Tour for $123,456 in February and he already has a World Series of Poker bracelet after taking down the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed event this summer. Now he is chipped up, and with only 100 players remaining, Kovalchuk is certainly in pole position for even more glory.

There are a number of well-known faces and big names still left in the final 100 including Will “The Thrill” Failla (317,300), Arnaud Mattern (306,300), Freddy Deeb (179,000) and Michael Tureniec (176,600) but personally I will be looking out for progress updates on a trio of British players still in with a shout of not only making the money places but also taking down the €1,000,000 first place prize. They are John Eames (179,000), Sam Trickett (129,500) and David Vamplew (69,400).

Play resumes at 1200 UK time (1300 local time) and the 100 players will return to the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes knowing that only 63 of them will leave having made it to the money. A min-cash is worth €12,000 but none of the players will be happy taking that home, trust me on that front. Tune in tomorrow to discover who has made it to the money, who fell short and which unfortunate soul burst the bubble.

Join Betfair Poker Now!