Karr, who won the WPT Shooting Stars in 2010 and has wins in high roller events on both the WPT and EPT, finished the day with 103,100 to Herold’s 138,425.
Known for its natural springs and therapeutic spas, the seaside city of Loutraki hosted 145 poker players on Day 1A of the most recent EPT main event. Each of them paid €4,400 for the privilege and by the time play was halted for the night 102 were still standing.
The survivors will return on Thursday to join those players who make it through the second Day 1 heat tomorrow.
The first Greek EPT boasted a healthy contingent of name pros, a few of whom managed to snag a spot on the leaderboard by day’s end.
EPT San Remo champion Rupert Elder finished the day in seventh place with 82,700 and recent EPT London runner-up Steve O’Dwyer finished in 16th with 66,250.
In addition to Elder, another former EPT main event winner is still alive and looking to become the first two-time winner on the European Poker Tour. Mats Gavatin, who took down EPT Dublin in Season 2, finished the day with over 45,000.
Also advancing are Ana Marquez (41,475), Kevin Stammen (40,150), Chris Moorman (39,350), David Vamplew (34,050), Pierre Neauville (26,850), Bryn Kenney (26,000), Jamie Rosen (25,800), Joe Elpayaa (19,850).
Finishing the day with the fewest chips with just 6,900 is Germany’s Heinz Kamutzki.
Among the 43 players who failed to make it through the day were Brandon Cantu, Richard Toth, Fernando Brito, Ken Lennaard and Marcin Horecki.
Tomorrow will see the second batch of contenders fight for a spot on Day 2 at the Club Hotel Loutraki on the Corinthian coast. The field will continue to be cut down to size until a winner is decided on November 20th.
Here are the top ten chip counts after Day 1A:
1 - Julian Herold - 138,425 2 - McLean Karr - 103,100 3 - Roman Makhlin - 102,100 4 - Alexios Zervos - 97,425 5 - Ioannis Taramas - 85,000 6 - Ilias Zografos - 83,125 7 - Rupert Elder - 82,700 8 - Miltiadis Kyriakides - 82,500 9 - Enver Abduraimov - 76,750 10 - Ramin Hajiyev - 76,500Photo Credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog.
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