Groundhog Time
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Good morning and welcome once again to the absurdly sunny Algarve, where around 200 poker players are about to go and hide inside the darkened casino for the rest of the day. Yesterday saw 181 runners take their seats in the Salao Miralago and we're already pretty much guaranteed to beat last year's total of 322 runners, but it will be a while before we know the final numbers.
The top spot at the end of play was occupied by PokerStars Team Online Pro Andre Coimbra. Also near the top were Brits Paul "Pab" Foltyn and Toby Lewis, Team PokerStars Pros Dario Minieri and Arnaud Mattern, enthusiastic prop bettor Antonio Esfandiari, top French players Antony Lellouche and Michel Abecassis, and reigning EPT Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity.
Among the pros expected to grace the felt today are Daniel Negreanu, Luca Pagano and David Williams, and they will all be hoping to join the 102 survivors from Day 1a come bagging-up time around 9pm GMT+1. Before that, though, there are eight levels of poker-packed fun to get through. Play is due to start at noon, so watch this space.