[user76023]
A raise in early position to 250 is met by several callers, including EPT Monte Carlo runner-up Denes Kalo. Craig Marquis reraises on the button to 1,125 and everyone passes, save Kalo. They see a flop of and Kalo checks to Marquis, who bets 1,775. Kalo then raises to 3,950 and gets a thin, icy stare from his opponent who then mucks his hand.
A good start then for one EPT Monte Carlo finalist, but not so good for another. Isaac Baron has not been doing so well, he's down to 13,200 early on, but given the super slow structure of this tournament, it's easily recoverable.
[user38449]
There are six tables and at least as many TV cameras crammed into the Face 2 Face room here at the Empire. Some of the players seated at those tables include Jason Potter, Daniel Alaei, Linda Lee, Thor Hansen, Joe Beevers, Arnaud Mattern, Ross Boatman, Max Pescatori, Scott Fischman, Justin 'BoostedJ' Smith, Kathy Liebert, Vanessa Rousso, Ben Grundy and Josh Arieh.
The tournament staff has informed us that the back room tables will be the last to break today, which means they probably won't break at all. At least it's cozy back here!
[user38449]
We're just about 20 minutes into game play and the camera crews are going through the room table by table giving their 'spiel' to each one as they pass through.
"After you win a pot, please hold your cards up like this so that the cameras can see them," instructed one producer to Table 6.
"What?!" replied an unhappy customer.
"We need to see your cards for the cameras," the producer replied.
"You're telling me I have to show my hole cards after the hand? I don't even show my cards to my own brother let alone the people at my table!" the angry patron continued.
"No one will see them here, sir, only when the show airs on TV!" said the young producer.
"Oh, OK. I feel much better now, thank you," the man replied.
[user76023]
All the attention on the upper floor is focused on the former Australian cricketeer Shane Warne. There's three cameras trained on him already, as well three boom mics which are hovering above the players like a group of stalactites. Whether he or the other players will be affected by all this attention, remains to be seen.
[user46298]
Poker players are not known for their diurnal habits, and there's more than one bleary almost-awake eye gracing the early flops. It seems like everyone's pretty much made the effort to show up on time, however, which is unexpected. Maybe it's the free energy drinks liberally displayed on their side tables which convinced them to play the early levels.
A few names at the tables, where action is predictably a little slow to start, with 20,000 chips, two hour levels and starting blinds of 50/100:
Markus Golser
Karl Mahrenholz
Phil Ivey
Andy Bloch
David Benyamine
Andy Black
Mark Teltscher
Erica Schoenberg
Howard Lederer
Isaac Haxton
Ram Vaswani
Stuart Fox
Vicky Coren
Erik Seidel
[user76023]
Online prodigy Chris 'Moorman1' Moorman almost didn't make it to the main event today due to not having any ID. This problem was solved by a hasty trip to the passport office yesterday where the speedy and expensive 'express choice' was made. A few hours later and with the appearance of a brand new spanking passport, problem solved.
[user46298]
Empire Casino - It's Actually a Sunny Day
The dealers are sat at their tables, the players are thronging the bar, camera crews drift like recording clouds and the atmosphere here at the Empire has definitely risen a notch in intensity. The players have been called to their seats to take their shot at the big bracelet that's on offer in the £10,000 Main Event.
Spotted outside, and therefore definitely here on time - Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow, somehow amplified, on the pavement directly outside the casino. Whipping up a crowd made up of around 20% journalists and 80% random wanderers, they joked with each other, Hellmuth announcing the imminent start of the Main Event. So good is he at attracting attention, that when he'd finished the announcement and turned and strode off into the interior of the casino, most of the crowd, press or not, just sort of followed him into the marble corridor. Fascinating to watch.
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Kalo checks to Marquis, who bets 1,775. Kalo then raises to 3,950 and gets a thin, icy stare from his opponent who then mucks his hand. 
, an unknown player led out with a 1,600 bet.
