A peaceful evening, a good night’s sleep, a slow morning and a pleasant walk to your table is a best case scenario for each of the 382 players who have made it through to day two. But things may not have gone totally according to plan this morning. Some might have been woken by a loud bang, followed by another which, for a few fuzzled and disorientated moments were spent wondering if it was their fault, that perhaps they didn’t finish day one with anything like as much as they thought, and that the world was crashing down around them.

There were thunderstorms across Monaco this morning, a noise not unlike a series of grand pianos being pushed off the tenth floor balcony. Actually some slept through it, but for others it was an early awakening for what is likely to a tumultuous day at the tables.

Day two is where the face of the tournament begins to change, mutating into something a lot nastier than it seemed yesterday. Surviving day one is an achievement when looked back on at the end of the day, but the brutal reality is that it’s just one step of many on the way to ensure the week has a happy ending.

The blinds may still be relatively small, starting as they do at 200/400 with a 50 ante in the middle of level 7, but today the strong will get stronger and the weak will get weaker. By close of play it’s not unlikely that a few of the names at the top of the chip list will grow more and more familiar, whilst for others just the reality of the check out desk and a bill to go with it.

Players vying for one of the former positions are arriving back in the tournament area, and for a full list of how they stack up check out the chip counts page.

Leader coming into today is Frenchman Cyril Bensoussan with 128,300, whilst the tail end charlie is Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin on just 1,950.

The payouts have also been confirmed with the winner set to take away a record €2,020,000. For a complete list of payouts follow this link.

We’re about to start playing at the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final on day two. Tournament director Thomas Kremser has welcomed back the players... let the carnage begin.

For a look back at Day 1B, check out this PokerStars Video Blog.