On a recent wander to check out some chip stacks, it didn't take long to find a notable tower right under our noses. In the very first seat on the very first table outside our press room sits Constant Rykenberg, who is playing the first EPT of his career. He flew to Dortmund last month only to fall ill on the eve of the tournament, deciding to save his buy in instead of playing while under the weather. But he took his seat on day 1a in San Remo and got off to a flier, knocking out Manuel Bevand on the seventh hand of the tournament.

Rykenberg had rightly picked Bevand for an aggressive player looking to double up early, or die trying. And after Rykenberg straddled/raised blind under the gun, he peeked down at 5c-7c and Bevand seeing a flop with him. That flop was good for Rykenberg: it came [5s][Jh][5h] and the young Dutchman knew he could probably extract a good deal of cash with a well-timed check raise. He checked, Bevand bet 2,500, then they got it all in on when a non-heart ten came on the turn. Bevand had a gutshot, with 7-8, and Rykenberg's hand held up.

That set him on a tear through today's field, and he's up to about 61,000 at the start of the final level of the day.

He is sharing those lofty heights with the likes of Tyler Cornell, who has 65,000, Gregor Larsson, who has 75,000, and Jonas Danielsson, who has 68,000. Less than an hour until the bagging and tagging begins.

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