As level eight began it already felt like a long day. One player, standing by his table, demonstrated this. He looked like he was ready to relax a little, to slowly start to unwind, and quite rightly too. For he was on course for a minor poker achievement that everyone can lay claim.
But the long day spent in a chair had played havoc on, shall we say, intimate arrangements. So to correct this he performed an unusual dance, moving his legs very specifically, the same way you might move your arms while dancing the “chicken wing”. Finally feeling more comfortable, and with personal logistics taken care of, he did a little dance, fist pumped a complete stranger walking by, and clapped his hands to the music he was listening to.
In the general scheme of things reaching day two is not all that significant. There’s certainly no money to be had. But there is something greater at stake for the type of player to whom an EPT is still the highest of mountains to climb. Like those whose only goal is to reach Everest base camp, reaching day two is a big deal.
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So we salute those players tonight. That goes for awkward dancing man, and also for Canadian Sam Chartier, not exactly a new boy, but the leader tonight. He finished on 211,500, a good day by anyone’s standard and one achieved amid a field nearly 800 strong – never has the imbalance between day one fields been so pronounced. From that around 450 advance to day two, along with the 100+ who did the same yesterday.
Chartier’s count, along with all the day’s scores can be found on our live coverage page, along with all the details of the day. You’ll also find our feature stories from Day 1B, which let’s be honest, flirted with disaster.
Sometimes we find a table full of champions. Other times we come up with nothing. Then when things are really bad we sink as low as Christmas inspired poetry. Our apologies.
For now though the Main Event rests, picking up again at 12 noon tomorrow. That’s when Day 2 players will return. Congrats if that means you.
Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.
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