Betfair Official Blog

Poker Players Get Lost In San Remo

TO Italy and the PokerStars European Poker Tour's event in San Remo.

The €5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event has pulled in 700 entrants. Well, that's what it says in the brochure.

As Card Player reports, the cap was originally 500 players, but room was made for the extra demand.

The first EPT event to be held in Italy is a hit.

Just look how many people there are - seven hundred. Poker News makes it one...two... 337 players at table.

A quick back-of-a-fag-packet calculation reveals that 337 is not quiet 700. Have hundreds of players disappeared? Is San Remo where poker players go to be disappeared and culled?

Or do marketeers count not all that well and round things up to the nearest 700? Answers on a missing person's poster to the usual address.

And there is more trouble in San Remo than just adding up. Not everyone is pleased with the tournament.

The event has provoked complaints in Italy. There is talk of legal action from the country's licensed operators in the country.

Gambling Compliance says, "The stand-off has also drawn out conflicting views of the present legislation from gaming experts."

While the money men and legal suits argue, the show goes on. And Daniel Negreanu is covering the event.

On his blog Daniel gives an insight into his working day:

Wake up 10:30am. Shower, grab a bite to eat, then get in the car and head down to the recording studio on East Flamingo, about a 30 minute drive from my house. As soon as I get there, we load a show and I step into the booth with my partner on the broadcast and we essentially stay in that tiny little room for about 8 or 9 hours...

By the end of it I was losing my mind a little bit as evidenced by my insane doodling. My doodling in between hands became completely nuts. Just random scribbling, the kind of thing you see in a mental institution.

Playing poker can be maddening. Daniel needs a rest. He could do worse than try to sleep by counting players - 337...338...699...

Play online where the only number that matters is the bonus and No.1..

• Poker