by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Mar 27, 2012 | Updated on Mar 27, 2012The European Poker Tour Campione began Monday, as 178 players came out to the Casino di Campione in order to take part in Day 1A of the event. At the end of the day, it was Italian Davide Andreoni who had bagged the most chips to take an early chip lead.EPT Campione features one of the more interesting locales on the tour. Campione is an Italian exclave in what is otherwise the Swiss canton of Ticino, and lies on the opposite side of Lake Lugano from the rest of Italy. The Casino di Campione is the largest casino in all of Europe, making it a perfect venue for a major poker event.The Day 1A field was largely composed of local Italian players, though there were some notable names who decided to play on the first of two starting days. Alex Kravchenko made it through to Day 2 with a short stack, while Roberto Romanello and Marion Nedellec are slightly healthier. Of the Italian contingent, Luca Pagano is the most famous player from Day 1A, but finished with a stack of just 16,200 chips.But the most notable name on the leaderboard is definitely Nick Yunis, who finished just behind Andreoni in second place. The Chilean pro has never made an EPT Main Event final table, but has already has a very successful start to his 2012, cashing twice during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure series, and making two final tables at side events during EPT Madrid.Several early eliminations took out some of the more notable players in the field. Theo Jorgensen suffered an early exit, with Pierre Neuville and Mads Wissing also failing to make it through the first day of play. James Dempsey and Casey Kastle were among the other notables who fell on Day 1A.A larger and more experienced field is expected during Day 1B, which will take place on Tuesday. The survivors from both starting days will be combined for Day 2 of EPT Campione on Wednesday.
