With a break just a few minutes away it’s not difficult to see where the two unofficial feature tables are – that is if the crowd on the rail is anything to go by, and they happen to be next to each other.

On the one side is Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu whilst the other features wunderkind Annette (15) Obrestad who may feel she is more than capable of going one better than her runner-up finish at EPT Dublin. Ironically it also has on it one Arnaud Mattern, widely regarded as a player with plenty of potential and winner of the EPT Prague in December. With his back to the rail and a less than goliath ego he’s easy. But perhaps, like in Prague, it’s better to let the attention focus elsewhere.

I spoke to a few players at the break, notably Pavel Blatny who managed to double up three times since being reduced to a couple of hundred and now has 2k, and also Frederick Hostrup, back on the EPT trail after missing a few due to other commitments. The popular Dane recorded his first EPt cash here in Dortmund last year, a performance he went on to better a week later by making the final table of the EPT Warsaw.

One player not destined to win in Dortmund though is Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano. Luca took some hits early on and found himself all in with 8-3, making two pair from the board. His opponent however, had made a set, sending the Italian to the rail in much the same fashion as his countryman and friend Dario Minieri yesterday.

Still, these are the early stages and there’s plenty of poker still to go. But as Kara Scott reports you don’t need to be one of the big names to stand a chance of progressing in an EPT event like this...