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There is a dress code here at the Casino de Barcelona, and we've just heard about one notable violator.
Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis turned up in a pair of fashionably ripped jeans, and the casino's doorman did not approve. Lex was turned away, and he's been forced to go retrieve a new, less-ventilated pair of trousers.
Team Pro Luca Pagano is always one of our favorites to talk about, and the EPT's second-leading all-time points earner has just taken his seat. Notably, this event is the one in which Luca Pagano got his first 15 minutes of fame, notching his first career five-figure cash by virtue of a third-place showing. That was all the way back in Season One -- 2004, if you're keeping track of these things.
We also followed Johnny Lodden into the room with our eyes, and we watched him take a seat at a table that already contained Andre Akkari and Tristan Clemencon.
Also spotted in the last walk-through were Olivier Busquet, Almira Skripchenko, and Ludovic Lacay.
John O'Shea seems to be very happy with his table draw after a hand he witnessed.
He told us that the elder statesman at his table doubled up to 55,000 after he cold four-bet to 5,500 with pocket nines and called when an opponent five-bet to 12,000. The flop fell 
and the rest of the chips went in. The player who five-bet had aces and failed to re-suck-out and is left with 5,000 chips.
O'Shea has position on the new table chip leader and almost licked his lips as he said, "He doesn't know what he's doing and he has no idea of the chip denominations!"
Annette Obrestad is doing her part to set the early tone at her table.
We joined the action very late on this hand, but we'll infer that Ms. Obrestad was the preflop raiser based on her under-the-gun position. The flop had come 
, and we'll make an educated guess that Obrestad check-raised against her late-position opponent. The gentleman reraised again to 6,200 total, and Obrestad moved her full stack all in over the top! It was several long minutes of deliberation before the unknown player surrendered his cards into the muck, the only action we actually witnessed for ourselves during the hand.
It's an early boost to Obrestad's stack, pressing her way up close to 37,000.
We know a wagonload of PokerStars Team Pros are on the way, but we only spot about four of them in the tournament room so far.
Over in the side corner of the room, Vanessa Selbst is keeping it friendly with a Friend of PokerStars. The lady is in the one seat, and she and Seat 4's Pierre Neuville both have their game faces on.
Over along the central rail, Marcin Horecki and Juan Maceiras are sharing table space in the one and three seats, respectively.
We've also spotted Andre Akkari, looking as smiley as usual this afternoon in Barca.
The opening announcements have all been run through, and the players are beginning to fill into their chairs.
They better hurry! -- the cards are in the air, and EPT Barcelona is officially a go. We'll play nine levels today with a dinner break after six.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Welcome to beautiful Barcelona, Spain for the second stop on the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Season 8. A spectacular tournament is ahead of us as this event is always one of the best. Last year, 758 entrants came out with Kent Lundmark earning the €825,000 first-place prize. Similar numbers are expected this year with the hopes of surpassing the 800-player mark.
A few of the notables already registered for Day 1a include Team PokerStars Pros Leo Fernandez, Juan Maceiras, Alex Kravchenko, Marcin Horecki, Theo Jorgensen, Vanessa Selbst, Ville Wahlbeck, Lex Veldhuis and Nacho Barbero. We'll see them in action today along with Benny Spindler, Mickey Petersen, Kevin Stani, Govert Metaal, Anton Wigg and Nicolas Chouity.
Play is set to kick off at 12:00 PM local time, so stay tuned for all of the action right here on PokerNews.com.
Main Event
Day 1a Started
