![Casino Gran Madrid - soon to be heaving with poker professionals and happy qualifiers](https://s.pnimg.net/M5KR4uKEVcfI0Qep0hGa_NYLESWTLyTmJFwPt6gzS68/pr:reporting-leading-desktop/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbmlt/Zy5uZXQvbHJlcC8x/Nzk2Lzc5L3g3M2Q3/ZTZmM2VlLmpwZw.webp)
Good morning and welcome back to the Casino Gran Madrid where Europe's most prestigious tournament is about to undergo its second Day 1.
Yesterday we saw one of the toughest fields in poker history do Day 1 battle - a total of 302 players that reads like a who's who of international poker. After nine levels, the overall leader was serial EPT qualifier David Sonelin. Recent EPT Berlin winner Ben Wilinofsky was in third place, Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes in third.
But today is a brand new day. Among the luminaries expected to play today are Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, Daniel Negreanu, ElkY, Johnny Lodden, Joe Hachem and Luca Pagano. They and an estimated 400 others will be bussing out to the casino from their various hotels across the city in the next 90 minutes or so, and we will be there to watch them alight. In the meantime, pull up a cup of coffee and sit yourself down. It's going to be a long, satisfying day of poker.