Hello and welcome to the second stop of Season 3 of the Eureka Poker Tour. Much like the first stop of Season 3, Croatia is a familiar stopping point for the tour, but we're in an unfamiliar location.
For the first two seasons the Golden Sun Casino in Zagreb was the location but today - and indeed until the conclusion of the tournament on Wednesday - the action is coming from it's sister casino, the Golden Sun Casino in Dubrovnik. The casino itself is situated in the Rixos Libertas hotel, which is set into a cliff and offers stunning views of the Adriatic sea. Not too bad a place to bust a tournament early then.
Of course the players, who've satellited their way in or bought in directly for €1,100 will be hoping to emulate Bart Lybaert, the Belgian won the opening event of Season 3 in Rozadov in March. There is in fact a feature table/final table stage already good to go here. There's a couple of banners right behind it from which six Team PokerStars Pros, including Chris Moneymaker, Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu stare out at any player fortunate enough to make the final table.
Both Greenstein and Moneymaker have actually played in Eureka Croatia events in the past and there will be a few players proudly wearing the Red Spade with pride this week. Whilst Negreanu won't be among them, a player who made the EPT Grand Final with him will be. Yep, Johnny Lodden and the De Meulder twins will all be playing. If I was a betting man I'd expect them to play Day 1B as the SCOOP main events get underway today.
The players are now in their seats, 80 is the number on the board, and although some of the 13 tables currently in use are playing short handed I expect that number to rise to triple figures during the opening level. Late registration is open until the start of level three.
The plan for today is to play a maximum of nine levels with a break every two levels and a dinner break after level six. Starting stack, as always on the Eureka Tour, is 20,000 and the blinds start at 25-50. The full Eureka structure can be found here.
Cards are now in the air and play is underway.
PokerStars Blog reporting team in Croatia: Nick Wright.