Day 1b of the EPT Budapest had a slow start, a frenetic middle and a finish that mixed everything together. Between the victorious and the defeated there will be those simply happy to be alive. A day on the EPT can be a harsh and unforgiving environment but 94 players tonight - give or take the usual vagaries of these things - have stuffed their chips in plastic bags and will focus on the battles they’ll encounter tomorrow.

The closing stages proved volatile with various eliminations catching us out. Sebastian Ruthenberg was spotted doing the walk of shame before anyone could figure out why, a walk performed by his countryman and fellow shooting star Jan Heitmann earlier in the day. While the Barcelona champ licked his wounds Italian player Mauro Corsetti left only a trail of dust as he sped away into the lead, ending the day as chip leader on close to 130,000.

Mauro Corsetti

He left a trail of contenders behind him looking towards tomorrow for their salvation. Frenchman Pierre Husson was probably next in line on 71,000. American pro Casey Castle was alongside him on 70,000 whilst Londoner Praz Bansi kept pace on 68,000.

For Team PokerStars Pro day 1b was a mixed bag. Noah Boeken was out early, out in the middle was Vicky Coren and out late was Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who could be forgiven for falling short having flown to Budapest on the back of a WPT win in Las Vegas only a few hours before. It had looked good for the Frenchman but then bad and ElkY drifted away courtesy of hand gone bad against a flopped set.

Dario Minieri flew close to the sun and looked set to re-appear a golden brown colour, a spell of relentless raising putting his table on the back foot almost permanently until he was shot down, crashing out at the mid way stage.

There was betting pickings for William Thorson and Alex Kravchenko however, both of whom were able to finish the day in the black but not by much in Thorson’s case. He lost a critical hand with minutes left on the clock to leave him with just 6,500. His Russian team mate will sleep easier on 40,000.

It was left to Team Pro’s adopted stars to shine. Johnny Lodden tried to break the habit of a lifetime but couldn’t, playing unplayable hands and winning with them to leave him with a stack of 42,000. Kara Scott’s more conservative approach served her well. Despite falling to around 4,000 before the half-way point she steered a careful course of survival, finishing with a flourish in the last few hands of the day and bagging up 20,500.

PokerStars sponsored player Johnny Lodden

So to tomorrow and day 2 when the surviving 88 from day 1a, including Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano, will merge to link up with the 94 of today, including Claudio Pagano.