There’s not a lot of space to manoeuvre around the tournament room. Due to the expected large number of runners the organisers have packed in the tables, and as this event is being filmed for TV, there are a number of roaming cameras to contend with as well.
Table 24 is near the door so is easy to get to, and easy to tell you that it’s a tough one. Andrew Brokos has won an awful lot of money on line but he’ll find it tough with Scott Seiver, Olivier Busquet and Barny Boatman all sat to his left.
Germany is renowned for efficiency in everything it does. We not feeling the German love so far today as the tournament got underway a little late and the internet is only coming out to play every now and then. Apologies for our (hopefully temporary) sporadic early coverage.
Looking around the room we have noticed a number of players who are in red hot form right now. We have the recent Irish Open champion Kevin Vandesmissen, the recent Premier League V winner Scott Seiver, and two heroes who made the EPT Campione final table in Mario Nagel and Olivier Busquet. We will keep an eye out for even more in-form pros.
Tristan Wade was busy chatting with one of our reporters as the hand at his table finished up. Wade was set to be under the gun the next hand and said, "Hold on, I have to go straddle," before jumping back into his chair and blind raising to 200.
Action folded around to Johannes Holstege in middle position and he made the call. The player on the button called and then play moved to Michal Grzegorczyk in the big blind. He raised to 650. Wade tossed in the call and the two limpers came along as well.
The dealer produced the for the flop and Grzegorczyk bet 1,150. Wade was the only caller to see the pair the board on the turn. Here, Grzegorczyk bet 1,600 and Wade called. The river card was the and both players quickly checked to get to a showdown.
Grzegorczyk showed two pair, queens and threes, with an ace kicker after tabling his . Wade showed a better two pair with the for aces up and won the pot.
MarcC
A reminder of the past: The Holocaust Memorial
We’re back in the fabulous Berlin for the third time on the European Poker Tour, and we’re also back in the Hyatt hotel. No one need worry this year though as the security is tight and all money is being processed in the Spielbank Casino just across the road (There was an infamous armed robbery here two seasons ago).
Last season Ben Wilinofsky made his first ever live cash here and went on to claim the title for a cool €825,000. He’s coming into hot form again this year as he just finished third at WPT Vienna for €122,910. He won’t be playing until day 1b but there are plenty on names to fill today’s coverage. Kevin Vandersmissen is an EPT regular and also comes in sparkling form. He took down the prestigious Irish Open over Easter weekend for a whopping €420,000.
Also playing today from Team PokerStars Pro are: Pierre Neuville, Henrique Pinho, Martin Staszko, Barry Greenstein, Theo Jorgensen, Jan Heitmann, and Vanessa Selbst.
We’re expecting a very large field for this event so the days will be long. The PokerNews reporting team up are for the challenge though and we’ll be here to the very end. Donnie Peters is even working with a damaged Achilles tendon and is limping in as we speak. That’s just our dedication to the cause.
Play is due to start at 12 midday CET and this is Germany so we expect to start at 11.59. Join us back here then.
for the flop and Grzegorczyk bet 1,150. Wade was the only caller to see the 
pair the board on the turn. Here, Grzegorczyk bet 1,600 and Wade called. The river card was the 
and both players quickly checked to get to a showdown.
. Wade showed a better two pair with the 
for aces up and won the pot.