It takes a special kind of poker nerd to be able to reel off the winners from all five seasons of the European Poker Tour. But there are some people who can do it, and they can often even name the runner up, the venue, other notable incidents and give a rough estimation of the prize pool. Some people like that kind of thing.

On the eve of the tournament (now), latest figures suggest that there are 143 qualifiers here in Germany who won their seats on a PokerStars satellite. Half that number again comprise a band of players who have made their way here after exchanging PokerStars dollars for their tournament entry and/or accommodation. That’s 215 in total, and registration remains open for last-minute additions. There’s as high a chance as ever before that Germany could crown its third winner of the season.

We’ll find out if that proves to be the case over the coming five days in Casino Hohensyburg. Day 1a of the tournament kicks off tomorrow, a €5,000 affair, capped at 700 runners. Although it would be hugely remarkable for us to reach that number, there’s a very good chance that we could get past 500. And that would mean another monstrous prize-pool, soaring far past a million euros, and another remarkable (and remarkably rich) champion.

From Team PokerStars Pro, Dortmund welcomes Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Katja Thater, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano, Alexander Kravchenko and William Thorson. And the chances are, that if any of them can outlast all the PokerStars qualifiers here, they will be new winner of an EPT event.

Play begins at 3pm local time.