The second first day of the 2010 PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final went off in Monte Carlo Monday with 497 runners joining the fray.

With 351 players hitting the Le Sporting felt Sunday, this year’s Grand Final has drawn a grand total of 848 entrants.

Losing almost 100 players from last season’s total of 935 might be a warning sign in other years, but travel difficulties in Europe due to volcanic ash from Iceland was likely the cause of the dip in entries this time around.

The total prize pool for the 2010 Grand Final is €8,480,000 with first place paying €1,700,000.

When play wrapped on Day 1b around 11:30 p.m. local time Monday, approximately 252 players remained with Thiago Nishijima, Salvatore Bonavena, 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Joe Cada, 2009 WPT Champinship winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko and 2009 WSOP Main Event last woman standing Leo Margets among the leaders.

They will join Day 1a leader Simon Muntz and the 176 survivors from Sunday for Day 2 in Monaco Tuesday.

The PokerStars EPT Grand Final continues through Apr. 30.

Source:Pokerlistings.com