Day 1 of the €10,000 High Roller at the 2012 PokerStars.com EPT Sanremo is done and dusted. With 74 players coming out to action and 10 reloads, a total field size of 84 entries was created. The prize pool stands at €823,200, and the top prize of €288,000 will go to the winner.
At the end of the night, 44 competitors remained. Finishing at the top of the leader board was Brandon Barnes with 211,700 in chips.
The event's Day 1 was full of notable players, but as tournament poker goes, not all of them could make it through to Day 2. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier was one of those players to exit on the day, busting not once, but twice.
On his first elimination, Mercier lost with pocket nines to Bryn Kenney's pocket jacks after the money went in on the turn of a ten-high board. Then on his second elimination, Mercier's couldn't beat the of Torsten Brinkmann, and he was eliminated.
Steve O'Dwyer was another player who busted twice on the day, while Sam Trickett, Mike "Timex" McDonald, Marc-Andre Ladouceur and Paul Berende all fired just one bullet and lost.
Of those remaining, Pier Paola Ruscalla (199,300), Justin Bonomo (190,600), Kent Roed (188,800) and Luca Pagano (188,600) all bagged up bunches. Other notables remaining are Igor Kurganov, Kyle Julius and Govert Metaal.
Play will resume tomorrow at 3:00 PM local time, so be sure to return right back here to PokerNews for all the live coverage. We'll see you then!
After a raise to 1,800 from Torsten Brinkmann out of the hijack seat, play folded to Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier in the big blind. He reraised all in for 17,100. Brinkmann took a minute, then called with the . Mercier held the .
On the flop, Brinkmann added a pair of jacks while Mercier picked up an open-ended straight draw.
The turn was the and river the . Both missed Mercier, and he was eliminated from the tournament.
Govert Metaal is doing very well here in the €10,000 High Roller as he's up to roughly 150,000 in chips. Metaal informed a fellow reporter of a big hand he played earlier in the tournament where he was able to double up big through Michael Tureniec with two kings. Here's what happened.
A player raised to 700, and Metaal called with two kings. Another player called behind, then the button made it 2,250 to go. Tureniec reraised to 5,200 from the small blind, and action folded back to Metaal. He reraised to 8,500. Play folded back to Tureniec, and he made it 13,000 to go. Metaal then bumped things to 20,000 before Tureniec went all in. Metaal called, and his kings were up against the for Tureniec. The kings held and Metaal won an early big pot.
Due to popular demand, PokerNews has decided to provide live coverage of the €10,000 High Roller here at European Poker Tour Sanremo. Right now, over 30 players have signed up, and that number will certainly grow as the day grows on. Also, a single €10,000 reload is available to each player.
Team PokerStars Pros Jason Mercier and Luca Pagano are amongst those registered, and also playing are Martin Jacobson, Philipp Gruissem, Dan O'Brien, Govert Metaal, Martin Finger and Marc-Andre Ladouceur.
At the last stop in Barcelona, Laurent Polito claimed the €10,000 High Roller title for over €270,000. Cards are in the air at 5:00 PM local time with the plan of getting through eight 60-minute levels on Day 1.
couldn't beat the 
of Torsten Brinkmann, and he was eliminated.
flop, Brinkmann added a pair of jacks while Mercier picked up an open-ended straight draw.
and river the 
. Both missed Mercier, and he was eliminated from the tournament.
for Tureniec. The kings held and Metaal won an early big pot.
