Main Event Day 1b | 2010 EPT Deauville

01-21-2010 11:44 UTC+1

Welcome to Day 1b in Deauville

Join us in a few minutes as cards hit the felt for Day 1b of European Poker Tour Deauville. Yesterday 339 players sought refuge from the rain inside the Casino Barrière de Deauville. Today the sun is shinning, and the field is expected to be even larger. Will anyone be able to catch the Day 1a chip leader? Yesterday Romanian Robert Cezarescu set the bar at 216,900.

Play is scheduled to begin at 12:00 CET, and the day will feature nine hour-long levels. Stay tuned for updates live from the casino floor.

01-21-2010 12:06 UTC+1

We Just Need a Little Time

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Once more, the noon start time has come and gone and we are absolutely nowhere near kickoff. We are assured that a tournament will be taking place today, though, and furthermore it's going to be a whopper. The board reads 750 total runners so far - minus yesterday's 339, that means we're already over 400 for today, and registration is open until the first break. Watch this space...

01-21-2010 12:21 UTC+1

Who Is Supposed to Be Here?

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Seeing as very little is happening at the moment, it seems like a good time to mention some of the folks expected to grace the felt today.

Among the vast field at the Casino Barriere today will be, we hope, yesterday's absentee Team PokerStars Pros Dario Minieri and Peter Eastgate. Other Team PokerStars Pros spotted lurking in the foyer include Greg Raymer, Ben Kang, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Vicky Coren, Luca Pagano and Jude Ainsworth.

Players are just now beginning to filter into the tournament area, so it shouldn't be long now.

Level: 1

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

01-21-2010 12:42 UTC+1

Tournament Is Underway!

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The Kremser has spoken! Dealers, shuffle up and deal!

01-21-2010 12:56 UTC+1

USA! USA!

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We've got a few Americans kicking around the field today so far.

The aforementioned Greg Raymer is representing his home country for the Team PokerStars Pros. We've also spotted Jon "FatalError" Aguiar, Melanie "Callisto 5" Weisner, and Shane "Shaniac" Schleger.

We're still on the hunt, but it's nice to see at least a few Americans have made the trip across the pond.

01-21-2010 13:12 UTC+1

Eu-Ro-Peans! Eu-Ro-Peans!

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Completely obliterating the Americans today, in numbers at least, are the stars of Europoker.

Representing the UK, we have Ms. Vicky Coren and Messrs. Praz Bansi, Joe Beevers and Martins Adeniya.

For the Netherlands, we have the legendary Rob Hollink, Michiel Brummelhuis and Team PokerStars Pro Joep van den Bijgaart.

Representing Scandinavia, Messrs. Juha Helppi, Ramzi Jelassi and Stephan Kjerstad are all in attendance.

Portugal has the affable Ricardo Sousa and EPT Warsaw winner Joao Barbosa.

And let's not forget the home country! France has outdone itself, and today is represented at the felt by an absolute bunch of impressive names. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is here, as are French Poker Awards winners Ludovic Lacay and Julien Brecard. Young up-and-comer Tristan Clemencon is here, as are (Belgian, and therefore almost French!) WSOP bracelet winner Davidi Kitai and veterans Manuel Bevand and Pascal Perrault.

All in all, this is a very impressive field. Today's going to be fun.

01-21-2010 13:18 UTC+1

Leisurely Level

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With action slow and blinds small this level, many of the players are taking their time settling in for the day. Some are milling around chatting with each other between hands. The sponsored players are busy getting branded with various patches. ElKy only saw a few hands before leaving the tournament room for a few on-camera interviews. And despite sitting down to play only half an hour ago, Antony Lellouche took a break to pick up a sandwich at the lobby bar.

Still, action is never quite slow enough for everyone to survive a whole level. The first of many "seat open" calls was just sounded.

Tags: Antony Lellouche Bertrand Grospellier

01-21-2010 13:43 UTC+1

Donating to Donev

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Players are admittedly still tricking in, but the table that currently has the highest concentration of recognizable faces is Table 18, currently featuring Tristan Clemencon, Greg Raymer and Ivo Donev.

Strolling by their environs, we were lucky enough to witness a fairly sizeable pot for Level 1.

Raymer raised from the cutoff and Donev made the call from the big blind to see a {5-Clubs}