Pantling, a former grinder turned gambling exec, took a big pot off of PokerStars pro Johnny Lodden late in the day to bag up 2,248,000 and grab the overnight chip lead.
Action details weren't available but according to Lodden a lot of it was at his own hand:
Bad last level.. Did a really, really bad call that was soooooooo bad! 1.352 for tomorrow. #EPTGrandFinal#eptnor
— Johnny Lodden (@johnnylodden) May 10, 2013Thanks to Lodden's generosity Pantling now has an almost million-chip lead on his nearest rival, John Juanda, but that's just a hint of the talent waiting in the weeds for tomorrow.
Juanda, Lodden, Negreanu, Mercier All Hunting
While the good news for Pantling is his big chip lead, the bad news is who has the rest of the chips.
Of the 16 players remaining virtually all of them are big names, led by former running mates John Juanda and Daniel Negreanu.
Juanda bagged up 1,395,000 to sit second overall while Negreanu, in search of his second major tilte in the last month, is fourth with 1,257,000.
Despite the bad level Lodden managed to hold on to third overall with 1,352,000. Poker vet Freddy Deeb sits fifth with 1,207,000.
The rest of the top 10? No less than Victor Ramdin (1,090,000), Noah Schwartz (1,087,000), Jason Mercier (1,008,000), Goran Mandic (995,000) and Steve O'Dwyer (942,000).
Even the smaller stacks hold some potential danger with Aussie Grant Levy (712,000), Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger (699,000) and Jake Cody (266,000) all still alive. The full final 16 and chip counts:
Action resumes at 12 noon local time tomorrow in Monte Carlo and will play down to the final table of eight. Follow along with live updates on the PokerStars blog or watch the live stream right here on PokerListings.com.
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