Poker’s best come here today loaded with visions of poker glory. If yesterday’s World Cup of Poker had the one off excitement of soccer’s FA Cup, then today’s high roller event must surely be the Pro Bowl, All-Star game and Stanford cricket series all rolled into one. Every star name this side of Orion’s belt will be here, with the exception of those not fortunate enough to have been eliminated from the PCA and be permitted the honour of a seat among champions. For as far as ego is concerned a high roller event is like the key to the executive washroom.

So what’s in store? We start at high noon and play until we can play no more. We make that sometime late tonight when one or two tables remain.

The last time this kind of feature rocked an EPT event was in London when a field of 100 played into the night almost oblivious to the outside world. Even when play stopped for the night some players wanted to carry on, like Forest Gump on his jog around the world, or the energizer bunny on lithiums; all displaying that blinkered vision of the typically elite player. What’s in store for us today will appear soon enough, and although this will be smaller if it’s anything like what we had in London, we’re in for a treat.

Back then the day belonged to Jason Mercier, who for the sake of a few initials became a de facto double EPT winner in all but official record books, adding to his San Remo master class. A colleague spoke to Mercier earlier this week, casually asking if he intended to play this one. With the cold thousand yard stare of a man hell bent on domination Mercier replied only that he intended to win it.

That’s enough pre-tournament drama. Already slated to play alongside Mercier are Boris Becker, Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Dario Minieri, ElkY and Joe Hachem; Isaac Baron, PokerStars Six stalwarts Ivan Demidov and Denis Phillips, as well as Team USA player Shaun Deeb.

That’s just for starters, the rest are on their way. Stay tuned.

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