Team PokerStars Pro and former world champion Chris Moneymaker is among the chip leaders as the EPT Grand Final goes into Day 3. More than 400 players started the day and just 116 remain, all guaranteed a minimum payout of €15,000.

Moneymaker’s victory at the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003 is widely credited with causing the boom in poker’s popularity. Moneymaker won his WSOP seat via a $39 satellite and ended up besting a field of 839 players to scoop the $2.5 million first prize.

While Moneymaker was chip leader for much of Day 2, the current leader is American pro Nick Schulman who has 742,000. Also among the leaders is PokerStars.it Italian Poker Tour Venice winner Matt Perrins from the UK, Finnish high stakes online cash game player Sami Kelopuro, NAPT Venetian finalist David Paredes, last night’s chip leader Thiago Nishijima from Brazil and Swedish star Ramzi Jelassi. Also still in is the English football legend Teddy Sheringham who is sponsored by PokerStars.

Several members of Team PokerStars Pro are still in the running for the €1.7 million first prize including EPT3 London winner Vicky Coren (236,500), Swiss pro Rino Mathis (181,000), Alex Gomes from Brazil (141,500), Juan Manuel Pastor from Spain (193,500), new Czech pro Martin Hruby (155,500) and Dutchman Lex Veldhuis (194,000).

Only two of this season’s Main Event winners are still in contention – Swedish player Anton Wigg who took down EPT Copenhagen for DKK 3,675,000 and American Kevin MacPhee who won EPT Berlin last month for €1,000,000.

A total of 848 players entered the EPT Grand Final including 161 who won their seats to the €10,600 Main Event on PokerStars. They came from 51 different countries to create a total prize pool of €8,480. A total of 128 players will cash.

The event is running April 25 to 30 at Le Sporting venue at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel. Last year’s Main Event was won by Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver for a first prize of €2,300,000.