Welcome to the 2010 PokerStars Grand Final!
Last year year 935 runners assortedly satellited in, won a seat via the medium of winning another EPT, or just plain coughed up the whopping €10,000 to play cards in the beautiful sun-drenched ballroom overlooking Monte Carlo Bay. We're not sure of numbers yet for this year's Big One, but one thing we can be sure of is quality. Among the players on the list for today are Team PokerStars Pros Katja Thater, Chris Moneymaker, Julian Thew and Arnaud Mattern, former Grand Final champion Gavin Griffin, EPT Berlin champ Kevin MacPhee and serial qualifier Pierre Neuville.
Dealers have taken their seats and chips have appeared at tables, and furthermore the removable roof of the tournament area has been cranked open and subsequently closed after the poker players just cowered in the shade. We were due to get this party started at noon, but clearly we are running a little late. Please stand by...