"TeflonCoated" is the handle Englishman David Davies plays under on PokerStars.com and judging by at the line up of his table a touch of the Teflon coating might indeed be in order. He sits with Andrew O’Flaherty, Julian Thew, Ben Grundy and John Gale and faces a long storm if he’s to make it through day 1b.

That said David is no stranger to this game, no newbie making his first venture into the world of live casino poker. The 54 year old father of three from Altrincham near Manchester in England, began playing poker over 35 years ago “in establishments where you need to be well connected or known to the right people to get out with your winnings.”

David Davies

Right now he’s enjoying a somewhat more relaxed atmosphere regardless of the ferocious opposition. A first pot does well to ease the nerves and as John Gale sat opposite inspects the canapé offerings of vegetable samosas and fish blinis, a little shine appears on Teflon as he rakes in a pot against Ben Grundy, betting all the way to the river before Grundy mucked his hand.

I caught up with David at the break.

“It’s a good table with John Gale, Julian Thew and Ben Grundy - some very entertaining banter. And I’m where I want to be – slightly up. The EPT is the biggest tournament I’ve played to date and marks a kind of return to poker that I’m making.”

David was brought back to the game after his son Brett, a University student asked for the basics of the game when he started to play 2 years ago. Father helped son and then father started playing himself, online at PokerStars.com. Now it’s a game the whole family plays including his other son, an officer in the British Army’s Logistics Corp (known to win a few quid from the enlisted men.)

“There aren’t many father son teams in poker and my son Brett and I are hoping top both qualify for more tournaments.”

So is it good to be back on the poker scene all these years later, albeit in different and more serene settings.

“It’s like a time warp. I look at the internet players playing so aggressively but here it seems a lot slower. I’m playing alongside older guys, rather than the young kids, so it’s a more relaxed game.”

We’ll keep tabs on ‘TeflonCoated’ David as the day progresses...

Tournament update:

It's rare that these early stages generate a great number of stories, but in keeping with yesterday's slaughter, it's been tough out there so far.

Already on the rail are former EPT champions Thang Duc Nguyen, Ram Vaswani and Gavin Griffin, while Carlo Citrone and John Gale have also departed.

The likely assassin of Ram (although this is not yet confirmed) is Katja Svendsen, a PokerStars qualifier from Denmark. Katja was tangling with Ram early in level one, and is now sitting behind more than 30,000 in chips, while the Hendon Mobster is on the rail. Two plus two equals...?


Katja Svendsson

We'll catch up with her soon to get the story.

The casino has just announced the payout structure. Here it is...

1st -- £611,520
2nd -- £346,528
3rd -- £203,840
4th -- £152,880
5th -- £124,342
6th -- £97,843
7th -- £77,459
8th -- £57,075

9th-10th -- £34,652
11th-12th -- £28,537
13th-14th -- £22,422
15th-16th -- £16,307
17th-24th -- £12,230
25th-32nd -- £8,153