The opening day of a European Poker Tour Main Event always sends a trickle of excitement down the spines of any player taking part. For many years, of course, that excitement would come in a far-flung European City, be it in Barcelona, London or… that famous European outpost of The Bahamas. At this time of year, it feels like EPT Prague should be happening and the entire cardroom should smell of Trdelník.

That isn’t happening, of course, but what is going on in its place is very special in its own way. The EPT Online Series has reached the Main Event stage and it’s still the bumper price of $5,200 to enter. Taking place in an 8-Max format, it was ‘Stars own Fintan Hand who led the way at the conclusion of the 15th and final level of the night.

With seven and a half hours of action taking place – each blind level lasting 30 minutes – there were 1,182 entries, with just 351 surviving so far. The prizepool has almost made its guarantee and then some, currently sitting at $5.9 million, and it may well tip past $6 million, with registration open until five minutes before the start of play on Day 2. 

The Day 1 field comprised just 870 unique players and it was Hand who stacked up the biggest pile, with the Irish PokerStars ambassador coming back for Day 2 with 2,899,772 chips.