Maybe it was the late start or maybe the rising temperature in the tournament room while the rain lashed down outside, but there was something about day 1a that made it feel like a long one. No one could put their finger on it but the 121 players from the 306 who started this morning have certainly earned their day off. Tuesday has become Wednesday. Here's how the day panned out.

There were highs and lows on and off the table - William Thorson's progress through the chip list (high), Marcin Horecki's elimination (low), showgirls dancing with leg kicks (high), the sinking of Barny Boatman (low), renditions of La Vie en Rose and Big Spender (high). You get the point.

Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson

As a level eight funk settled over the tournament room several players emerged looking pleased with themselves. Their number included Holger Kanisch, Jan Collado-Fernandez and Martin Hansen as well as Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson, who skipped past a number of potential pitfalls on his way to Dortmund (reaching the airport 22 minutes before his flight departed for example) to end the day on 84,450. That puts him at the top of the chip charts, narrowly ahead of second place Kanisch on 69,000.

Holger Kanisch

As you'd expect from a field of 300-plus there were spells of utter carnage. Arnaud Mattern went in half an hour, Ben Kang followed a little later, so too Thang Nguyen. The beer buying Casey Kastle and Michael Tureniec soon joined them as did Ivan Demidov. Stig Top Rasmussen too, but not without controversy. The Dane was eliminated after a clock calling fiasco left his stack in the hands of Petter Petersson. Mental note: when you call the clock make sure a floor person arrives and starts counting.

Ivan Demidov

EPTs are never short on local celebrities wanting to give this poker thing a go - today's notable being TV presenter Florian Silbereisen. Better known for his Volksmusic programme (picture the oompa-oompa type shenanigans of Bavarian beer drinkers), Silbereisen made some progress early on but was oompa'd out by level three.

TV's Florian Silbereisen

To be fair Silbereisen's day was not made easy by the table draw that seated him between Thorson and Jorn Walthaus, a final table finisher in Deauville earlier this season, who looked to be on course for a solid finish before losing all of his chips in a swan dive against Jan Collado-Fernandez.

PokerStars ShootingStar Sebastian Ruthenberg will be back on day two despite a turbulent day - at one point tripling up in part through Barny Boatman, before suffering a minor collapse, closing out day 1a with the same 10,000 he started with. Team Pro Alex Kravchenko did a similar survival job, leaving tonight with 22,500 while Andreas Hoivold, winner here two years ago, finished with 44,000.

But while there is joy for some there is bowel creaking pain for others, now harbouring that familiar feeling - that things could have been much different. Barny Boatman could easily have bagged up a good stack tonight but instead he rues the day from the rail. There are others like him but that's the price you pay when you take your seat... as well as the five grand of course.

Anyway, that's day 1a- day 1b is just a few hours away, where the likes of Eastgate, Minieri, Luske, Thater, Grospellier and some dancing girls, among a shed load of others, will prove that the show must go on - literally.

Goodnight from Dortmund.