by Howard Swains

The organisational secrets of the PokerStars blog team are not especially difficult to comprehend. Each member of our small army is allocated a particular trait to pursue: a European accent, an embroidered "Team PokerStars" shirt, a SuperNova qualification, or a huge stack of chips. We keep an eye open, grab the story, then file it back to Papa Smurf in the media room, who refines it for your delectation.

Sometimes - and it happens more often than you might think - a certain player ticks more than one box and finds himself the eye of a PokerStars blog storm. What happens when a European SuperNova builds a sizeable early stack in flight C? Ask Dario Minieri, from Italy, who is such a man and has earned both myself and CJ's attention this afternoon.

Minieri is sitting one to the left of "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan. It's unknown whether Dario and the charasmatic Meehan are exhanging much in the way of anecdote, but there is a certain flow of chips in Minieri's direction. The suave, young Italian has more than 36,000. Meehan does not.

Minieri has form in live events, having cashed in March at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo for just more than $20,000. But that probably represents little more than change for anyone who has progressed to SuperNova status. Minieri may look small and young, but the gold bracelets and rings give some idea of his true standing.

It's a neat contrast to the Western fashions of Minneapolis Jim - and a table near enough to the railbirds have already found their afternoon's prey.