EPT San Remo 2011 Down To 24 Players Today

The EPT San Remo managed to attract 879 competitors to the Casino di San Remo in Italy to create a prize pool worth €3,734,694 ($5,189,000).
By the finish of the two starting days of the €4,900 event the field had been cut in half with 482 players starting Day 2, 144 players starting Day 3 and then just 64 competitors making it through to Day 4.
With play getting underway later today and the blinds about to reach 5k/10k/1k, Canada’s Christopher McClung will start out as the chip leader. He is also the only player with more than one million in chips (1,202,000), with clear daylight between himself and nearest competitors Daniel Neilson (853,000), Angelo Tarallo (840,000) and the 2010 WSOP Main Event 3rd place finisher Joseph Cheong (833,000).
Other notable names near the top of the chip counts with their hopes still very much alive include Johnny Lodden in 6th (793,000), Lex Veldhuis in 9th (687,000) and Mike McDonald in 11th (648,000). Also in contention is the 2011 WSOPE Main Event winner Elio Fox, who won the prestigious tournament last week in Cannes for €1.4 million. The US pro is currently lying in 10th place with 652,000 in chips and will be aiming to pull off an incredible double.
At the other end of the scale, those players starting out Day 4 on either average or low  stacks include Vanessa Selbst (400,000), John Duthie (319,000) and Barny Boatman (292,000).
The good news for the remaining competitors is that by making it into the last 64, they are already guaranteed a minimum of €12,000, but the top prize of €800,000 will be the ultimate aim for these players.
Day 4 of the EPT San Remo will get underway at 2pm today, and will then play down to three tables of eight. There is also a good chance the local Italian crowd will have plenty to cheer about as the tournament progresses, with over a third of the remaining field coming from Italy.
Here are the top chip counts at the start of Day 4:
 
1 Christopher McClung (Canada) 1,202,000
2 Daniel Neilson (Australia) 853,000
3 Angelo Tarallo (Italy) 840,000
4 Joseph Cheong (USA) 833,000
5 Alessio Isaia (Italy) 818,000
6 Johnny Lodden (Norway) 793,000
7 Javier Ferrero (Spain) 780,000
8 Aleksandar Kostadinovic (Serbia) 763,000
9 Lex Veldhuis (Netherlands) 687,000
10 Elio Fox (USA) 652,000