As I'm sure you recognize by now the EPT Dublin Poker Festival is the largest of its kind to be hung on the Emerald Isle. As is the custom at PokerStars' EPT festivals the third and final high roller kicks off three days from the top of proceedings. Already this week we have seen big names with prior high roller success win the massive events. On Sunday Mustapha Kanit took down the €25,000 High Roller and an afternoon later Charlie Carrel triumphed within the 'Single-Day €10K'.

After Day 1 of the 'Three-Day €10K' it is a player who's having an out of this world festival who flew highest of all throughout the opening 10 levels. Dominik Nitsche finished runner-up to Carrel within the €10,000 Single Day High Roller. That result came just 24 hours after he'd won the UKIPT €2,000 High Roller. Those results combined earned him almost €300,000. That figure's just shy of the 305,600 chips he accrued today, he was the one player to wreck the 300,000 chip mark. He leads the 80 players who'll be back tomorrow. For the reason that reentry is open until the beginning of play we predict that number to swell considerably before another card is dealt.

Nitsche's great week continues

It's not surprising that an event of this magnitude attracted a stellar field dripping with poker talent. There has been a slight delay in play but by the point the primary level ended the likes of Jared Jaffee, Timothy Adams, Sam Greenwood, Daniel Dvoress, Joao Vieira, Christoph Vogelsang, Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari, and EPT12 Dublin €25K High Roller runner-up Chance Kornuth had taken their seats.

Anton Wigg

They were joined inside the day by players busting out of the primary Event with Nick Petrangelo, Artem Litvinov, Pierre Neuville and Anton Wigg among folks that immediately put €10,000 in their winnings back into play.

By the time the dinner break approached it was Connor Drinan who had risen to the highest of the chip counts, he was the primary player past the 200,000 mark and he led from the likes of Shyam Srinivasan, Luuk Gieles, Jason Wheeler and Jason Mercier.

Mercier doing what Mercier does best

The American was considered one of just two Team Pros who entered the fray today and he enjoyed another hey on the felt. He won a large pot against Sam Greenwood to get his tournament moving within the right direction and steadily built within the day, he'll be back for Day 2 with plenty, 189,300 to be precise.

Andre Akkari completed the duo and it was a mixed day for the Brazilian. By level three he was on his second bullet (he wasn't alone). By the beginning of the overall two levels though he had over 100 big blinds and was one of the crucial big stacks. It doesn't take long for a tournament to solve and with HALF-HOUR left at the clock he had his coat on and was heading for the exit after jamming into Or Hedad's made straight at the river.

Good day for Greenwood

When play restarts tomorrow they'll be a chasing pack of poker sharks breathing down Nitsche's neck challenging for the chip lead. Mark Radoja (280,000), Jerry Odeen (250,600), Sam Greenwood (248,300) and Ben Heath (240,300) finished only some big blinds shy of Nitsche's haul.

Swing and a miss twice for McDonald

Because it is a single reentry tournament we cannot make sure that a lot of people who busted today are out for good as they still give you the option to reenter. However we all know needless to say that in addition to Akkari, Pratyush Buddiga, Jean-Noel Thorel, Ivan Luca, Jeff Rossiter, Max Silver and Mike McDonald are out of bullets.

By the time the bell tolled to signal the top of level 10 roughly 84 players from the 181 players (139 uniques and 42 reentries) had made it through to Day 2. A WHOLE list of end-of-day-1 chip counts can also be seen here, however the seat draw is probably not available until play has started because of reentry still being open.

Join us tomorrow starting at 12:30 GMT when Day 2 of the €10,000 High Roller continues.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: European Poker Tour]