Day 1B at an end

We have had a few technological problems here in Deauville - and they are far from resolved as I write.

The poker, however, is over, leaving the only heads being scratched belonging to the IT technicians. I've sneaked a couple of minutes on one of the only computers that has survived the information massacre to fill you in on a few key facts.

There are 44 players remaining, with the queue being led by either Julian Gardner, from Manchester, England, or Tune Seidelin, from Denmark. They are at the 99,000 mark. Martin Greene is close behind on 90,000.

Peter Roche, from Ireland, is on 58,375; Julian Thew is on 65,325; Willie Tann is close to 50,000. Micky Wernick, who won the European rankings last year, is also near to 50,000 and Jen Mason is sitting behind a similar stack.

Brian Hansen and David Albertson, on 69,000 and 75,100 respectively, will also be sleeping soundly.

Isabelle Mercier is still going strong, but we lost Anina Gundesen late on.

Apologies for the rather scant nature of the updates and lack of pictures. It's a miracle (and one that owes a lot to antesup.com) that we have this much information.

We hope it will be better tomorrow for Day Two.