Busted, but not one to feel defeated, Alberto Tomba talked with Kara Scott about his PokerStars.com EPT experience...

For latest chip counts click here.

Play has reached the end of level seven and players take a 15 minute break. Organisers have opted to play a ninth level today, leaving us with two more levels before the end of the day.

Chance then to catch up with Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Rahme break to see how things were going...

"All day up and down, I couldn't break through. I had a couple of close calls but I survived them - been all-in twice. Once I got called and doubled up. From there I've just been clawing my way back, all the time around 10k or 14k, back to 2k, back to 4k and I've eventually got back up to around 19k. I'm just trying to sit the day through now - I think I'll get through the end of the day on 20k and I'll be alright.

"It's the first EPT I've played and I'm enjoying it, it's good. A lot of tough players here but it's what I expected. I saw a lot of them in Australia, and also a lot of them in Vegas - the game is good."

Ray wasted no time after the break, building his stack up by 10k in the space of five minutes. His table is an awkward one, featuring Paul Tested, Robert Binelli and now Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano.

First a bet of 1,700 from Luca, re-raised by Raymond by over 3k. An A-4-9 flop and another 5k from Raymond, forcing Luca to fold. On the next hand Raymond makes it 4,500 from the button. He gets a caller and Raymond puts his glasses on to read the cards (it's how you know he's in a hand). The flop of 2-Q-J saw Raymond go straight to his chips, thumping all his blues over the line (about 10k) and leaving his opponent no choice but to muck.

Raymond has a plan and has turned it up a gear. The plan is working.

Meanwhile on the table alongside, Sweden's Bengt Sonnert moves all-in with his last chips worth just a couple of thousand. He's looking for a caller and finds one in Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri who despite a short stack peeking over the 5k mark finds himself dominating the Swede. He calls, showing first an ace, then a king. For Bengt J-T.

The board brings nothing for either. A handshake, a good luck and Sonnert is gone. Dario on the other hand increases his chances of making it through day 1a, more so when a few hands later he doubles up with pocket nines against pocket sevens. 337 players started today, 144 remain at the start of level eight.

Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater has busted out of the PokerStars.com EPT San Remo. She got her stack of 5,000 all-in with pocket tens, but didn't count on running into pocket kings. With a king on the flop, and another player admitting that he folded a ten it was all over for Katja.

PokerStars qualifier Brandon Schaefer did his tournament chances no harm in a pot that took him past 20k. There was already a sizeable pot with the board reading J-3-A-T-4 with three diamonds, when Brandon re-raised a bet. He got the call, showed K-Q of diamonds, and took the pot.

Whilst things have not gone so well for Katja the remaining Team PokerStars players strive on. Raymond Rahme has boosted his stack from 6k to over 11k whilst Dario slowly increases his stack which now measures 18k.

At the other end of the hall, past PokerStars Passport winner Dustin Mele on 16,500 is Luca Pagano, working on catching the chip leader Isaac Baron reportedly up to 60k. Luca has close to 50k though, not far behind and way ahead of most. So much for having other things on his mind.

You can find more chip counts by clicking here.

Photos © Neil Stoddart

An Italian player rests his hands on a countryman's shoulders, says a few words in his ear, wishes him luck and disappears. The man in question, getting the well wishes, is Alberto Tomba - a man famous in Italy and around the world as one of the best slalom skiers the sport has ever known.

Between 1987 and 1997 Tomba ('La Bomba' - or 'Tomba the bomb') rocked the skiing world amassing three Olympic gold and two silver as well as two World Championship gold and two bronze, bringing with him movie star adulation.

His event was slalom and giant slalom, a discipline that requires concentration and courage and one that Tomba attacked with brashness and aggression, setting record after record on his way down the side of a mountain, becoming among other things the first skier to medal in three different Olympic games.

I can't image what it takes to achieve that, not even as I performed my own less vertical slalom around the tables, following Alberto around as he changed table not once but twice in the space of a few minutes. Just the luck of the draw.

Things had been looking bad for Alberto who at one stage was down to a mere 2k. Things are better now but he remains below average on 6k, looking for a way back into this PokerStars.com EPT although in a twist of fate this may be an uphill task.

But like I mentioned earlier everything in San Remo is uphill, and there's no difference out in the tournament area where the field is about to reconvene after both dinner breaks. We're into level six.

The dinner break has arrived after four levels, for some anyway. With such a large field the room has been split into two groups. The first group gets a 15 minute break, the other group gets a one hour dinner break. When they return the first group will do the same.

Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy...

"I have 10,400. I was up to about 18 but I made a mistake on one hand - the mistake was I paid the guy off!

"Actually I moved in on him! I raised in the cut-off with Q-T of clubs, the guy on the button called with A-5 of diamonds. The flop came queen high, with all diamonds. So I bet, he called but he was short-stacked so I moved in for 4k more on him.... course he had the nuts..! Go easy - I didn't have to lose all that!

"But I like it here. And I live in Las Vegas so I feel like I'm at home with all the cactus!"

Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano...

"It's going very well; I have more than 40k. I had pocket queens and they held up. I have a highly aggressive player on my left so basically that was my plan - I gave up a couple of times with him, I played weak with him. I was hoping he would do everything by himself and that's what he did. He was bluffing on the turn with open ended, and I had queens and that was a very big pot. And when you have chips everything is easier.

"It's not easy to concentrate- almost impossible! I'm really surprised I'm still in the tournament, I can tell you!"

John Duthie talked to the video blog team about bringing the PokerStars.com EPT to Italy, the part Luca Pagano played in bringing the event to San Remo and a word or two about how the Italians play their poker...

For latest chip counts at the dinner break click here.

Photos © Neil Stoddart

Winning a PokerStars.com EPT is one thing, but winning it as well as organising it in the first place would be something else entirely. That's the achievement available to one player - Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano. He has to win first though. He can worry about that later though as he began level two with close to 15k.

He gets involved in a hand with Italian Sandro Bellusci sat next to him who owns perhaps the biggest lucky charm on the EPT. I can only describe it as a miniature drum, on top of which is the figure of some kind of harlequin clinging onto a big red horn. Perhaps a picture would be better...

Luca called his bet of 725 for a flop of 6-J-4. Sandro bet out again, 1,225 this time, breathing heavily as he waited for Luca to act - a simple act in the end, one of folding. Luca was having none of it, Sandro showing J-9.

His countryman and Team PokerStars Pro team mate Dario Minieri just lost a chunk of his stack, doubling up an opponent, leaving himself with what he started with. Also Las Vegas' Patrick Antonius is also out, K-7 against K-9 with nines on the turn and river.

"I notice we have 700 runners, not 500?" said Dustin Mele as I passed him. "Nice - worth winning!"

Dustin just took a step towards that, winning a big pot with K-6 against his opponents K-7. Dustin was raising all the way and was re-raised on the river. A six hit the flop and the river to add to the passport winner's stack.

Not so good for Tony Cascarino. The Irishman went out, flipping in his last 1,250 with pocket tens only to be called by pocket queens. He busted to the soundtrack of Sandro Bellusci on the other table doubling up with pocket kings. He'd moved his stack, and the drum and harlequin into the middle - getting them back with interest.

Kara Scott has a recap from earlier during the break and as far as wardrobe choice is concerned it's not one you want to miss...

Photos © Neil Stoddart

It's a day at the office for some but even so there's the sense that there are worse ways to make a living. Kara Scott caught up with two Englishman abroad earlier today... Roland de Wolfe and Peter Gould.

You can keep track of selected chip counts throughout the day by clicking here or the link at the top of the page.

Early draws have thrown together a few familiar faces. Mel Judah starts alongside Magnus Petersson (EPT Season 3 Copenhagen winner) and London pro Joe Grech, whilst Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri lines up with Carl Hostrup and Rolf Slotboom. PokerStars qualifier Steve Jelinek will spend the first hours with Marcus Golser, Nick Gibson and Tommy Pavlicek, another PokerStars qualifier.

As players get tucked into level one PokerStars Passport winner Dustin Mele's girlfriend Tracy sits outside in the shade looking out over Italy whilst her man is at the coal face. After getting over the unfavourable dollar exchange rate the two spent the morning exploring San Remo, walking along the narrow streets and open air markets where Tracy showed her own skills with a poker face, haggling down the prize of a necklace from €25 down to €5. "It was only worth five!" she said, a brutal negotiating stance that would serve Dustin well.

Whilst Tracey watches the sun make the sea sparkle Dustin sits opposite Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy. Tom has none of the trappings that mark out the new generation of player - no sunglasses, no headphones or iPod, just the mark of truth that comes from wearing a WSOP winners gold bracelet - nothing discreet about that band of bling.

The table is a mixture of youth and experience, short hair, long hair, grey hair, with PokerStars qualifiers Ingo Mohr of Germany and Dypvik Borge of Norway at the table as well.

Dustin and Tom get stuck into an early hand after a period of calm in the first level. A bet of 150 pre-flop from Dustin in mid position called by Tom in the small blind. The flop 3-Q-9 gets a bet from Tom this time, 300, which Dustin calls as the players not in the hand lean in to see the first action in a while. The turn is a jack, seemingly putting the brakes on Tom's plans. He checks leaving Dustin to bet out 550, enough to put Tom off and win the pot. Perhaps it was a lesson learned this morning after all?

Meanwhile a few tables along Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater is on the sunny side of a double up, her pocket nines against A-Q with a queen and a nine on the board - an welcome early chip lead for Katja.

Photos © Neil Stoddart