The players are filing into the room and taking their seats. Some have more chips than others, but all 148 players returning today have one thing in common: they've all made it to Day 2 of the PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw Championship Main Event.
We're just a couple of minutes away from the first deal of the cards, so get ready and we bring you all the up to date coverage of the event.
The PokerStars Baltic Festival takes place at the luxurious Swissôtel in Tallinn, Estonia next week from October 28-31. The schedule includes the €1,100 Main Event and a €10,000 High Roller Event.
Confirmed for the High Roller Event are Team PokerStars PRO and reigning WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate along with PokerNews' own Tony G. Theo Jorgensen is also signed up to play and there is interest from many other big names.
National Hockey League legend and Team PokerStars SportStar Mats Sundin will be playing the Main Event along with Team PokerStars PROs Johnny Lodden, William Thorson, and Eastgate.
Over 100 PokerStars players have already won seats online for the tournament which is set to be the largest ever held in the Baltic States.
Combining the efforts of flights Day 1a and 1b, 148 players will be back in action today to continue grinding it out here in Poland for the 2009 PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw Championship Main Event. Last month's EPT Barcelona champion Carter Phillips emerged as the chip leader on the first starting day, while French pro Antony Lellouche headed the pack after the second. The 21-year-old North Carolina native Phillips will be the overall leader, holding over 60,000 chips more than Lellouche.
Team PokerStars PRO is well represented as we move forward with Luca Pagano, Thierry Van Den Berg, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Peter Eastgate, Arnaud Mattern, Alexander Kravchenko, Dario Minieri, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Marcin Horecki still in the mix. Other notable names include Mel Judah, Davidi Kitai, Ludovic Lacay, and Shaun Deeb.
The start of the day is just over two hours away. The tentative plan is to play five levels today before calling it quits. We'll see you all here at 12:30pm local time (CEST) for the start of Day 2!