Players have been called to their seats, with the full list of players flashing up on huge screens at nearly-readable speed. Among them are previous winners Marty Smyth and Neil Channing, as well as 2006 WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold, who was spotted yesterday having his photo taken with various guys and playing in the only late-night cash game. Also playing today will be Dan Harrington, Roland de Wolfe, Phil Laak, Liam Flood, Barny Boatman, Julian Thew and Andy Black, to name just a few.
A number of top European players (from origins other than the UK and Ireland) are dotted around in the 668 runners who are raring to go (the room is now rustling with chip trickery) - Ludovic Lacay, Markus Golser, Bo Sehlstedt and Abel Meijberg are among those. There's also one Feature Table which (with a delay) will be streaming a little snippet of the first day of the Irish Open live - the pressure instantly on Brian Townsend, Richard Ashby and Michael Finn; which is now as they've shuffled up and dealt.