If you like rain, open plains, a chill in the air, and plenty to do with your time, Campione might not be the place for you. Today it’s 68 degrees with a light breeze coming in from the south, between mountains stretching thousands of feet into the sky. If you’re not here to play cards there really is nothing else to do but sit back and look at it all.

Some of us though need a little more in our daily schedule; a shop for instance, or the ability to pay for things with a credit card, although that’s irrelevant given that there are no shops. A poker tournament will also suffice, which brings us neatly to Day 1B.

Campione in the morning

Yesterday some 178 players took seats in the tournament room of Casino di Campione, on the ninth floor of this bunker-like building wedged into the side of a mountain. Today that figure should be significantly higher.

At stake is a place in Day 2 tomorrow, where survivors from today will join the 107 survivors from yesterday. That prize awaits those who survive eight levels of play and a dinner break buffet. If you don’t survive the levels you still get the buffet, but then you’re on your own with nothing to do but stare at those mountains again, which disappear when it get dark.

We don’t disappear when it gets dark, with coverage of both the live and colour variety available on the PokerStars Blog through to the finish at around midnight tonight.

Back to Top