From a whopping field of 993, they reached the general eight-handed table with about an hour left to play last night within the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event that has helped kick off the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final festival.

The FPS Monaco Main Event final table

Before play concluded we lost one -- Michael Ferrari -- in eighth, meaning seven will return to make your mind up who turns into the following FPS Monaco Main Event champion. Here is a little more about all of the final tablists:

Seat 1: Joseph Mouawad (USA) -- 3,220,000

Joseph Mouawad

Married with three children, Joseph Mouawad is an actual estate developer originally from Beirut who first began playing poker nearly 15 years ago.

He currently plays about three EPT festivals per year, and brings to the overall table probably the most impressive résumé of tour success highlighted by his win within the EPT London Main Event back in Season 4, earning him a handsome £611,520 first prize. His most up-to-date cash at the tour saw him final table a €2,200 NLHE event at EPT10 Barcelona where he finished eighth.

Seat 2: Gilles Silbernagel (France) -- 3,890,000

Gilles Silbernagel

The lone Frenchman making the overall table, 43-year-old Gilles Silbernagel could also be a father a 3 and a businessman who has enjoyed success playing tournament poker.

Considering himself an amateur, he nonetheless has collected several cashes in various events in Europe over the past several years, the most important coming from winning a €330 NLHE Estrellas event at EPT10 Barcelona where he topped a field of 469 to earn a €30,780 first prize. After two levels he was all the way down to just 2,000 from the starting stack of 25,000, and now Silbernagel sits in third position a few of the final seven.

Seat 3: Sergio Braga (Brazil) -- 840,000

Sergio Braga

A live cash game specialist, the 49-year-old Sergio Braga's prefered games are pot-limit Omaha and seven-card stud. In fact, he's already tasted success this week in Monaco by winning Event #15, the €500 limit seven-card stud event.

The Brazilian has earned numerous cashes and made many final tables on both the LAPT and BSOP, with a runner-up finish in a BSOP event in 2013 earning him his biggest career score comparable to just over $60,000. He has hopes of spinning what's currently the fast stack up today, perhaps to win as a birthday present to himself as he turns 50 in two days.

Seat 4: Pablo Gordillo (Spain) -- 7,005,000

Pablo Gordillo

At age 20 and sitting with just over 7 million chips, Pablo Gordillo is both the youngest of the rest players and the only with essentially the most chips to start out the general day of play. A finance student from León, Spain, Gordillo has put his studies on hold for now as he pursues what's fast becoming a successful career in poker.

Gordillo won his way into this event via a $215 satellite on PokerStars, where he can often be found playing NLHE tournaments and PLO cash games. Despite his young age, he's already notched some significant tournament cashes, including a fourth-place finish within the EPT10 Vienna Main Event earning him €262,150. He made another EPT Main Event final table in London earlier this season as well, ultimately finishing eighth.

Seat 5: Michael Ferrari (USA) -- finished 8th

Michael Ferrari

Michael Ferrari entered the official final table because the short stack with eight left, and ultimately was knocked out for a €16,750 cash. A commercial real estate developer from San Francisco, California, Ferrari was here playing his first overseas tournament.

Ferrari had notched only a few tournament cashes previously, the most productive coming for winning a $400 Deep Stack Extravaganza event on the Venetian in 2012 where he topped 661 to earn $50,268. It was a tournament he hadn't even necessarily planned to play, but were in Las Vegas for a marriage and never with the ability to play a WSOP event decided to take a shot. Besides poker, Ferrari's hobbies include motorcycles.

Seat 6: Luca Moschitta (Italy) -- 1,655,000

Luca Moschitta

The 25-year-old Luca Moschitta has the honour of getting back in 2009 become the youngest SuperNova Elite at age 19. He continues to play a high volume of high-stakes sit-n-gos on PokerStars.it as a member of Team PokerStars Online, and following the trail of his fellow countryman Dario Minieri has bought a few Porsches together with his FPPs.

Moschitta has become a typical at the live circuit besides where he plays with his girlfriend, Sofia Lovgren. His largest previous live result was for winning the IPT Main Event in Saint Vincent in 2013, a €180,000 score.

Seat 7: Manuel Martinez (Spain) -- 3,950,000

Manuel Martinez Solsona

Manuel Martinez is a 27-year-old Spanish poker pro currently residing in London. A cash game specialist for the last five years, he enjoys tournaments in addition occasionally.

Martinez final tabled the Estrellas Main Event in Madrid in 2012, finishing fifth for his largest live score of €24,300. He'll exceed that quantity should he have the capacity to outlast another player and make it into the highest six today.

Seat 8: Sebastian Supper (Germany) -- 3,520,000

Sebastian Supper

A 29-year-old student from Munich, Sebastian Supper is an amateur who was playing poker for 6 years. He qualified online for just €30 to play this event.

Supper has collected a couple of cashes in Europe previously, the most important coming after finishing third in a 188-player event in Pardubice within the Czech Republic, good for the equivalent of just about $8,500. Supper studies chemistry and geography, with plans eventually to become a professor.

When the general seven return today, here's what they'll be playing for:

1st: €177,0002nd: €107,5003rd: €75,4004th: €56,6005th: €43,8006th: €32,7007th: €23,500

Play begins at 12:30 p.m. Central European Time -- that's six hours prior to Eastern time, and 3 hours sooner than GMT. They'll be at the feature table commonly tournament room here on the Monte Carlo Bay Resort and Hotel, with cards-up coverage starting on a one hour delay at 1:30 p.m. locally. That's when we'll pick up our start-to-finish coverage here to boot. Join us then to look who beomes the following FPS Monaco Main Event champion.

To get all of the latest news, chip counts and payouts, you should definitely download the EPT App on both Android or IOS.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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