Melting Pot

Wow, it's a star-studded field out there today. Among the vast hordes of poker-playing ladies and gents spread across the three high-ceilinged and chandeliered old-school card rooms, an impressive number of familiar faces are evident.

Representing America, we have last year's winner Jason Mercier, Greg Raymer and Chad Brown. From Germany, Sandra Naujoks, Jan Heitmann, George Danzer and Benjamin Kang. From Scandinavia, there's Annette Obrestad, Albert Iversen, Andreas Hoivold and Jesper Hougaard, and France has turned out Arnaud Mattern and Antony Lellouche. No one seems particularly shy about getting their chips in the middle and playing some hands, so it should be a very interesting day.