Howard Swains reports on Day 1 at the EPT Baden...




And that's that.

We started at 6 p.m. with 282 players, we played six levels, and now the remaining 156 have bagged up and gone home. Job done. End of day one. See you tomorrow.

So, what happened?

Well, it's been a typically tough day on the European Poker Tour. But when the going gets tough, etc, etc., and there's a lot of toughness in this game.

Leading the pack at the end of the day is Sander Lyloff, the Danish player who won in Barcelona a few weeks ago. He has 66,150 but is looking over his shoulder at an amazingly high quality field. (The full chip count is at the bottom of this post.)

Fellow former EPT champions chasing that elusive second crown include Patrik Antonius (29,925), Ram Vaswani (22,175), Pascal Perrault (27,250), Mads Anderson (24,650), Thang Nguyen (21,200), Andreas Hoivold (22,650) and Noah Boeken, who finished with 4,575 after taking a late hit from Team PokerStars team-mate Katja Thater.

Thater finished with 17,525, surviving a table that not only included Boeken, but also Andre Akkari, the Team PokerStars Pro from Brazil, who doubled up at the death to finish with 27,925.

It was a pretty good day for the guys and gals in the PokerStars shirts. Despite losing Vanessa Rousso early in proceedings, and also seeing ElkY and Marcel Baran depart towards the end, Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri and RaiNKhan are still afloat, as is Sebastian Ruthenberg, a PokerStars player here in Austria. Barry Greenstein is leading the Team PokerStars Pros, with 30,325.

As ever, the numbers and the quality of play was raised in this tournament by a number of PokerStars players in the field. Among the 42 who started today, the name of Thierry Van Den Berg has featured prominently on leader boards. The $1,050 satellite winner from Holland is sitting pretty with 42,100.

Also well within spitting distance are Michael Durrer and Tobias Reinkemeier, both from Germany, as well as John Shipley (17,350), from England, who is a PokerStars player but needs no introduction to most followers of the game. As well as a World Series main event final table, Shipley won EPT London during season one, and has the class to match any previous major result.

End of day chip counts:

Sander Lylloff (Denmark) 66,150
Gyoergy Moger (Hungary) 46,775
Manfred Hammer (Germany) 43,825
Thierry Van Den Berg (Holland) PokerStars player 42,100
Markus Lehmann (Germany) 40,100
Michael Durrer (Denmark) PokerStars player 39,700
Raul Mestre Lleida (Spain) 39,700
Victor Escudero Mellado (Spain) 39,325
Christophe Defforey (Germany) 39,300
Thomas Wahlroos (Finland) 38,150
Sebastian Riviere (Sweden) 35,575
Mark Vos (Australian) 32,875
Mark Secher Petersen (Denmark) 32,675
Voitto Aulis Rintala (Finland) 32,625
Daniele Cuomo (Italy) 32,050
Andreas Fluri (Switzerland) 31,275
Luis David Sevilla Petit (Spain) 31,075
Tobias Reinkemeier (Germany) PokerStars player 30,750
Dan Bitsch Pedersen (Denmark) 30,650
Barry Greenstein (USA) Team PokerStars Pro 30,325
Patrik Antonius (Finland) 29,925
Sigi Stockinger (Austria) 29,675
Christian Aris (France) 28,900
Florian Langmann (Germany) 28,400
Dennis Naci Hansen (Denmark) 27,925
Andre Akkari (Brazil) PokerStars player 27,925
Roman Yitzhaki (USA) PokerStars player 27,900
Hevad Khan (USA) Team PokerStars Pro 27,825
Simon Munoz (Spain) 27,350
Pascal Perrault (France) 27,250
Balazs Gergely Biri (Hungary) 27,000
Julian Thew (UK) 26,525
Denes Tamas Kalo (Estonia) 26,475
Bonyadi Farzad (USA) 26,250
Robert Binelli (Italy) 26,200
Magnus Mamsen (Denmark) 25,500
Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) Team PokerStars Pro 25,300
Christophe Benzimra (France) 25,075
Mads Andersen (Denmark) 24,650
Edward Lawson (USA) 24,625
Adam Levy (Canada) PokerStars player 24,525
Harald Poeschl (Austria) 24,500
Janne Wilhelm Juutilainen (Finland) PokerStars player 24,050
Luca Pagano (Italy) Team PokerStars Pro 23,725
Acar Mazlum (Switzerland) 23,225
Johan Van Til (Holland) PokerStars player 23,150
Joep Durkstra (Holland) 23,075
Johnny Groenne Jensen (Denmark) 23,025
Andreas Hoivold (Norway) 22,650
Ram Vaswani (UK) 22,175
Jan Olav Sjaavik (Norway) 22,075
Armin Stocker (Switzerland) 22,025
Klaus Haunschmidt (Austria) 21,975
Johann Fest (Germany) 21,875
Thang Nguyen (Germany) 21,200
Martin Rask (Denmark) 21,025
Mikael Johansson (Sweden) PokerStars player 20,700
Mats Erik Iremark (Sweden) PokerStars player 20,700
Baroukh Fowzi (UK) 19,975
Paul Testud (France) 19,925
David Sonelin (Sweden) PokerStars player 19,675
Rino Mathis (Switzerland) 19,325
Philip Chen Yun Yeh (Sweden) 18,950
Hector Fuentes (Spain) 18,700
Theo Jorgensen (Denmark) 18,525
Vlado Sevo (Svn) 18,300
Richard Ashby (UK) 17,825
David Daneshgar (USA) 17,625
Matthias Neu (Denmark) PokerStars player 17,575
Katja Thater (Germany) Team PokerStars Pro 17,525
Joshua James Gould (UK) 17,350
John Shipley (UK) PokerStars player 17,350
Andreas Rathje (Germany) 17,250
Thor Hansen (Denmark) 16,800
Thomas Fuller (USA) 16,575
Eldos Davlet (France) 16,500
Martin Vallo (Denmark) 16,300
Kalil Rahal (France) 16,250
Alexander Kravchenko (Russiasia) 16,175
Szabolcs Attila Saskoey (Hungary) 16,075
Victor Goossens (Holland) 15,925
Hans Vimmo Eskilsson (Sweden) 15,625
Johan Storakers (Sweden) 15,150
Alan Peter Smurfit (Irl) 15,025
Werner Lorenzoni (Austria) 14,700
Giuseppe Festa (Italy) 14,625
Vladimir Poleshchuk (Russia) 14,575
Dave Colclough (UK) 14,550
Pier Paolo Ruscalla (Italy) 14,475
Bill Edler (USA) 14,400
Adrian Koy (Germany) 14,050
Roy Von Der Locht (Germany) 13,850
Jeffrey Glaser (USA) 13,750
Anton Allemann (Switzerland) 13,700
Krzysztof Czerwinski (Pol) PokerStars player 13,675
Andreas Krause (Germany) 13,575
Daniel Mangas (Spain) 13,550
Magnus Persson (Sweden) 13,425
Marcus Naalden (Holland) PokerStars player 12,600
Barny Boatman (UK) 12,575
Herbert Otto (Germany) PokerStars player 12,300
Morten Erlandsen (Denmark) 12,125
Josef Kollarits (Austria) 11,900
Raoul Gilmar Refos (Holland) 11,825
Christian Hohendorf (Germany) 11,625
Mark Bartlog (Germany) 11,575
Thanh Pham (Germany) 11,575
Dario Minieri (Italy) Team PokerStars Pro 11,450
Rein Roelof Zijda (Holland) 10,750
Dalibor Oliver Zjacic (Croatia) 10,475
Mika Paasonen (Finland) PokerStars player 10,425
Gabor Kovacs (Hungary) PokerStars player 10,425
Matthew Tyler (UK) PokerStars player 10,125
Peter Gould (UK) 10,075
Jonas Erik Svante Oedman (Sweden) 9,200
Justin Charles Smith (USA) 9,200
Pavel Blatny (Czech Republic) 9,050
Eva Marianne Ulrika Skoennemark (Sweden) 9,025
Jeppe Mikkelsen (Sweden) 9,025
Ilhan Eyikat (Turkey) 8,975
Daniel Tarnopol (USA) PokerStars player 8,975
Istvan Zsolt Novak (Hungary) 8,950
Katja Svendsen (Norway) 8,775
Marcin Krzysztof Horecki (Poland) PokerStars player 8,750
Age Spets (Nor) 8,700
Martin Jaeger (Austria) 8,675
Dean Plumley (UK) 8,650
Surinder Pal Singh Sunar (UK) 8,575
Michael Csango (Austria) 8,525
Heimo Krainer (Austria) 8,450
Matteo Taddia (Italy) 8,250
Ugur Coskun (Turkey) 8,025
Joris Bernard Antoine Jaspers (Holland) PokerStars player 7,875
Paul Christoffersson (Sweden) PokerStars player 7,750
Yakov Zvi Hirsch (USA) PokerStars player 7,325
Mika Puro (Finland) 7,125
Carlo Di Renzo (Italy) 6,850
Hugo Franca (Denmark) PokerStars player 6,675
Gunnar Rabe (Sweden) PokerStars player 6,600
Adriaan Schaap (Holland) PokerStars player 6,575
Danny Stiegler (Denmark) PokerStars player 6,475
Mark Raymond Segal (UK) 6,475
Benjamin Charles Johnson (USA) PokerStars player 6,200
Jan Bendik (Slovakia) 5,275
Sorin Posa (Romania) 4,875
Uffe Holm (Denmark) 4,750
Jiri Vacek (Czech Republic) 4,725
Zsolt Peter Mayer (Hungary) 4,675
Gianni Giaroni (Italy) 4,650
Noah Boeken (Holland) Team PokerStars Pro 4,575
Aurangzeb Sheikh (USA) 4,500
Mikkel Aakjar Lassen (Denmark) 3,925
Chris Bush (USA) PokerStars player 3,875
Soraya Homam (Germany) 3,575
Christina Stadel (Germany) 3,025
Manutscher Parsian (Austria) 2,650