With their eyes firmly set on an announced first prize worth EUR2,300,000 (over $3 million USD), 521 players sat down on Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Season 5 Grand Final, in the hopes of building their stacks up, while knocking other players out.

Of those 521 players, less than 150 would have their hopes confirmed, with the rest sent to the rail with no cash, only memories of a Monte Carlo missed opportunity.  Some of those players no longer competing include Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Victor Ramdin, Liz Lieu, Dario Minieri, Chad Brown, Andy Bloch and Team PokerStars member and prized PokerRoader Daniel Negreanu.

Players still in the hunt and currently heading towards Day 3 include Luca Pagano, Sorel Mizzi, Nenad Medic, Phil Laak, Joe Hachem and Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad, who presently sits on a huge chip stack worth 671,500, putting her directly below the chip leader Marc Naalden.

For more information on Day 2, or to keep tabs on tomorrow's Day 3, visit www.pokerstarsblog.com for chip counts and reports live from the floor in Monte Carlo.  Also, don't forget to check out PokerRoad's "Pokerbahn with Mike Berkholz" for our own view of all the exciting EPT Grand Final action.

Story by Mark Anderson