Iwan Jones has started well and has around 16000 chips at this stage.
Nick Slade seems in good spirits and, at first glance, you can understand why. However, Nick's large stack consists mostly of 100 and 25 chips. He has recovered slightly from an earlier knock, though. Also on his table is Ben "Milkybarkid" Grundy and Elky. There should be plenty of action there!
Hidden away amongst the pillars and posts of the casino, we found Pascal Perrault with a small but manageable stack of around 6,000. Andrew Black (knocked out on Day 1A) was busy giving the table and Pascal a non-stop dose of good-natured Irish banter from the rail. The implication of his comments is that the table needs to start gambling!
Ireland's Simon Kelly, to Pascal's immediate right was looking happy with at least 20,000 to his name.
Roy Brindley tries not to look bored
Ireland's Roy Brindley, who was yawning on a regular basis early in the piece, is sitting nicely with around 18,000. Let's qualify that, the seat at which he was sitting has around 18,000 in chips parked in front of it. No sign of Roy but we have no reason to suppose the chips are not his. He is on the same table as Ash Hussein who looks to be shedding chips, and Germany's Katja Thater who was building a decent stack.
There are certainly more recognisable faces playing today. At this stage on Day 1a we had already lost a number of players. However, only six have departed so far today.
Could the high quality of this field be shining through? It is probably too early to tell. One thing is for sure, we're in for a long day!
