by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Feb 6, 2012 | Updated on Feb 6, 2012With just eight players remaining in the European Poker Tour’s Deauville Main Event, Paul Guichard has taken a narrow lead over his competitors heading into the final table. Guichard holds a stack of 5,955,000 chips, just about 300,000 more than Vadzim Kursevich, who sits comfortably in second place.Heading into Sunday’s play, there were 24 players battling to make the final table. In the end, it took just over six hours of play to trim the field to eight. Each player remaining in the tournament has clinched a prize of over €67,000, while all eyes are on the top prize of €875,000.However, that prize won’t be going to one of the superstars of poker that we’re used to seeing pull down massive prizes at major events. Instead, a field of talented but mostly inexperienced players will be vying for the EPT Deauville title.The leader, Paul Guichard, is a Frenchman who has won less than €20,000 in his career, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database. Most of his winning at poker has come in side events on the Partouche Poker Tour.However, several of the players who are chasing Guichard have more impressive credentials. Kursevich, for instance, has already made noise on the EPT in recent years, finishing third in last year’s EPT Berlin Main Event. Bruno Jais, who currently sits in fourth place, has $200,000 in live cashes, including a World Series of Poker final table appearance in 2004.But the player with the most impressive resume is almost certainly Luca Pagano, who currently has just over 2 million chips (good for 6th place). The Italian veteran has over $1.9 million in winnings during his career, which includes several EPT cashes and a win on the Italian Poker Tour last year.The final table will be played to its conclusion on Monday. The standings heading into the final day are as follows:Paul Guichard – 5,955,000 chipsVadzim Kursevich – 5,670,000Olivier Rogez – 4,415,000Bruno Jais – 3,450,000Vuong Than Trong – 2,570,000Luca Pagano – 2,010,000Yorane Kerignard – 1,680,000Mick Graydon – 960,000
