Introductions are being made, some between team mates, with the opening sit and goes about ready to start. Blinds start at 25-50, increasing every 15 minutes for a quick paced battle royale in this first stage. Nine countries in the chase for a first prize of $100,000. Time then to meet the teams...
Poland - Team captain Marcin Horecki
Jerzy Slaby, Pawel Chmiel, Patryk Slusarek and Leszek Krawcynski.
USA - Team captain Greg Raymer
Shaun Deeb, Benjamin Zamani, Jarred Gabin and Bruce Armstrong.
Canada - Team captain Daniel Negreanu
Blair Maltby, Dennis Hamlyn, Wanda Whitlock and Tammy Bailey.
Latvia - Team captain Krisjanis Jurdzs
Vjaceslavs Ivanovs, Juris Saicans, Ance Laganovska and Dmitrijs Kurchins.
Mexico - Team captain JC Alvarado
David Harold Huber, José Francisco Muñoz Osuna, Antoine Barriere and Jorge Lozano.
Italy - Team captain Luca Pagano
Michele Migliore, Pennisi Omar, Valeriano Bilancetti and Villa Gerardo Fabrizio.
Great Britain - Team captain Vicky Coren
Steven Devlin, Laurence Houghton, Derek Morris and Karl Mahrenholz.
New Zealand - Team captain Lee Nelson
Nicholas Webb, Richard Grace, Wayne Lo and Jordan Bryant
Germany - Team captain Jan Heitmann
Georg Geissler, Bastian Wulff, Peter Schmidt and Malte Strothmann.
The draw has put together a couple of zingers. Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu and Greg Raymer are drawn on the same table alongside Mexico's captain JC Alvarado. While two more, Vicky Coren and Lee Nelson do the same one table along. Marcin Horecki is drawn alongside Luca Pagano on what will become the feature table when the EPTLive coverage begins.
The only early excitement comes two hands in when a cry of "Yes! Yes!" breaks the silence. It was German captain Jan Heitmann, who had just won the blinds, getting into the spirit of things.
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