That's it. More than 200 eliminations, some ups and downs, one or two euphoric rises and the odd tragic collapse. After three courses for dinner and nine levels of play day 1a has finally come to a close in London. Outside Edgware Road is still alive, never a place to conform to modern expectations, with shops and bars still open for late night trade. Inside, for some at least, there is a collective sigh of relief.

We started with close to 300 players; a figure that in one day was bigger than the entire season one and two fields for the EPT London events. But by the close a few minutes ago fewer than 100 remained.

In the early optimism of the day, Team PokerStars Pros were on hand to stake their claim to EPT triumph. Former grand final winner Gavin Griffin and former EPT London winner Vicky Coren were here, so too Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Victor Ramdin, William Thorson, Alex Kravchenko, Alex Gomes and Luca Pagano. Naturally there were fireworks along the way for all of them.

Gavin Griffin rocketed ahead to close to 70,000 before petering out late into level nine, beaten in big pots before making a move with minutes remaining. It didn’t work and his tragic swan dive was complete.

Team PokerSTars Pro Gavin Griffin

Vanessa Rousso had a whizz-bang kind of day, like Griffin she roared high among the leaders in late afternoon before falling away slightly as darkness fell. There was also an early whoosh for William Thorson. The Swede had changed the habit of a lifetime by opting for a day 1a start rather than day 1b, but was soon destined for a day on the rail.

In terms of the overnight lead several names leap right out. PokerStars player Sorel Mizzi is a candidate for that spot, perched as he is above a red and purple stack of more than 92,000. Max Pescatori is also there. His was an incredible performance today, one that took him from the depths of despair – a stack of 3,500 in the first few levels - up to a colossal 93,000. Scott Montgomery is also sitting pretty. He smiled his way through the last level thanks to a stack measuring upwards of 90,000.

Among the leaders PokerStars player Sorel Mizzi

It was not a bad day at the office for some Team PokerStars Pros. Despite the loss of Brown, Pagano, Gomes, Griffin and Thorson there was still hope in Alex Kravchenko and the alliterative trio of Victor, Vanessa and Vicky.

Tomorrow the bulk of Team PokerStars Pro will take their seats, among them World Champions Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem, alongside ElkY Grospellier, Barry Greenstein, Hevad Khan, Isabelle Mercier, Humberto Brenes and Dario Minieri. We will also see the majority of the PokerStars Six, the Million Dollar Men here for a warm up before their date with destiny next month. For sporting panache, how about Alberto Tomba and Boris Becker, both here tomorrow.

Tonight though, it’s a job well done for the 90 players leaving tonight already looking ahead to Friday and day two.