EPT San Remo: French Guy With a Non Sounding French Name on Top After Day 1b

Today's EPT San Remo report brought to you by Giorgia Palmas, the stunningly perfect 26-year-old Italian television personality who just may be the hottest hot girl from the land of pizzas, cannolis, and guys who put gobs of grease in their hair. Do yourself a favor and get to know Giorgia here (NSFW), here (NSFW video) and the clickably candid beach photos below.

France's Eric Koskas, whose name doesn't sound very French to us in that it doesn't sound like the name of some man-loving fashion designer who wears a beret, says "oui oui" a lot and puffs on Gauloises all day, finished Day 1b at the EPT San Remo as the chip leader. Koskas takes 106,200 in chips onto Day 2, putting him just behind Day 1a leader Ville Nyman of Finland.

Here's what the top 5 look like heading into today at the Casino Sanremo:

Ville Nyman -- Finland -- 107,100
Eric Koskas -- France -- 106,200
Henrik Brockmann -- Germany -- 100,100
Antony Lellouche -- France -- 97,200
Yung Hwang -- US -- 96,000

208 poker players have made it through to Day 2 of the sold-out event, which started April 1 with 700 entries and almost a third of the field from the home country Italy. The next largest contingency was neighboring France who had 64 players ready to surrender their chips at the first sign of aggression. The US Americans also showed up in force with 61 players, no doubt thanks to PokerStars online qualifiers.

The total purse at the EPT San Remo is an impressive €3,195,860 with first place set to earn €869,000 and a total of 72 players walking away with some cash in their pockets.

Big names making it to Day 2 but already eliminated include Daniel Negreanu, Thor Hansen, Pascal Perrault, Steve Zolotow. Noted players from Day 1b still among the field on Day 2, last we checked, include Theo Jorgensen, Antonio Esfandiari, Marc Goodwin, Todd Brunson, Juha Helppi, Max Pescatori, and Soren Jensen.

Best Italian name of the day: Flavio Ferrari Zumbini

Best use of the useless umlaut: Eero Kekäläinen

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