Live från EPT Monte Carlo 2007

A new EPT record - the tournament has started, only 20 minutes late!

Seven 90 minute levels will be played per day, with nine persons per table and some 15 minute breaks.

The players have started with 15,000 chips each, and the first level has blinds of 25/50.

Andreas Høivold . Vinnare ETP Dortmund.

Barry "Robin Hood" Greenstein

jag tar tillbaka att det är mörkt i lokalen. Gardinerna drogs bort och in strömmar jättebra ljus in.

Ramzi Jelassi spelar nu idag.



Sebastian Riviere spelar dag 1b

Johan Storåkers med AK i första handen.

The first prize... well, that and the money.

Den vackra bucklan. men något säger mig att cirka 17 miljon kronor som förstapriset nog landar på inte ses som fel det heller.

Ett nytt EPT-rekord - turneringen har startat, bara 20 minuter sen! Det kanske låter sarkastiskt, men det är det inte. Med tanke på det enorma deltagarantalet och folks tendenser att komma hit sent är det faktiskt väldigt imponerande.

Det kommer att spela sju nittiominutersperioder per dag, med nio spelare på varje bord och kvartslånga pauser efter varje nivå.

Spelet började med 15 000 marker var, och på den första nivån spelas det med mörkar på 25/50.

We’ve finally arrived in Monte Carlo, at our four-star hotel. Very luxurious but lacks a working wireless internet connection. No matter, we probably won’t be sitting at the hotel a lot anyway.

Despite having lived in Dublin, I have never seen such a rebuilding frenzy as here. The roads during the 45 minutes between the airport in Nice and Monte Carlo were borded by reconstruction signs and holes in the ground. Still, that made more sense than the road to the hotel being blocked when we finally got there. So we had to take another route – only ten more minutes, but still – only to learn upon arrival that the first road had been unblocked and the new one was closed off instead.

Our taxi driver was very apologetic, but obviously, it wasn’t her fault. She kept talking to us in rapid French though, despite our trying phrases such as ”Sorry, we don’t speak French” and ”Pardonnez-moi, je ne parlez pas francaise”, or however that’s spelt.

In Schiphol, the airport in Amsterdam, we met Andreas Hoivold, Norwegian winner of the EPT event in Dortmund, the German Open, and a generally nice guy, as well as his countryman Espen Saltnes, most famous for his eighth place finish in the WPT Challenge event last year. They were both in a very good mood and assured us they’re here to win, though in Schiphol, they seemed a bit more interested in vodka.



Espen and Andreas laughing, until reminded of the bad results their soccer team’s been getting lately.