by Howard Swains

For further updates on Dario Minieri, click here.

When I first caught up with Dario Minieri, back on Day 1, there was one thing on his mind.

"You work for PokerStars?" he asked. "I don't have my SuperNova T-shirt yet," he said.

Dario Mineri before finding his specialized Supernova gear

Essential as poker-table fashions are, it was not the reason I had initially approached the young Italian. I was considerably more interested in the piles of chips in front of him, chips that were spawning chips as if Gremlins past midnight in a bath.

Today, Day Three, we are all happy. Dario now sits proudly in his tailored SuperNova basketball shirt, his screen-name (the same as his actual name) proudly embroidered across his narrow shoulders.

What's more, the sartorial improvement has also been reflected in those chips. He now peeks over approximately $280,000 worth of those prized discs and is, by some measure, table five's undisputed captain.

With Surinder Sunar, British professional, to his left and three other well-chipped PokerStars qualifiers on the table, Dario is nonetheless the picture of calm. He is merrily chewing the fat with his neighbour concerning his PokerStars play, detailing past battles with Jason Strasser and the like, other big players making huge ripples here.

But geniality aside, get Minieri in a pot and there really is no letting up. He is a raising machine and if you want to tangle, you better have the goods. With the bubble now burst and everyone in the money, they are coming like lambs to the slaughter to Dario.

We'll check up in a few hour's time. Then probably tomorrow as well. And the next day. Twelve million dollars is an awful lot of euros.