The first day of play of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Tallinn main event took place in Estonia today, with 181 players ascending upon the coastal city’s Casino Olympic to take part in Day 1a.

Among that list of 181, were numerous recognizable names to poker fans including Annette Obrestad, Vanessa Selbst, Alex Kravchenko, Arnaud Mattern and Sorel Mizzi, though not all survived the troublesome day.

Obrestad, for instance, was just one of nearly 100 Day 1a casualties, cruelly eliminated during the very last level of the day's play, however numerous other beloved pros did survive including Luca Pagano, Ivan Demidov, Scott Montgomery, Ville Wahlbeck and chess wunderkind Jeff Sarwer.

In total 89 players moved on from Day 1a and will now have a day off as the Day 1b players take to the felt, a group that is already rumored to contain such big names as Dario Minieri, Katja Thater and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

For updates from that day, plus a more complete picture of Day 1a read the PokerStars blog, live from Tallinn, Estonia.

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