October 2005 Archives

I've seen people on go on rushes before. I've even seen a couple of people ride the same rush. Sunday night, however, it seemed like the entire city of Houston had been visited by the Rush Fairy. Three of the final table players hailed from the city. At one point, one of them said there were four, but I couldn't find the fourth. You look for yourself.

When the big event was down to the final table,it looked a little like this:

Houston's CASHRUS seemed to be the man to beat, but no one could do it. He won his races, he dominated his all-ins. The people who did not hail from Texas fell one by one until CASHRUS held nearly $2 million in chips. With five players remaining, the players figured, what with Houston owning and all, it was best to cut a deal. After working out the numbers, they left $10,000 or first place...which of course, is on its way to Houston at the moment.

PokerStars Sunday $700,000 Guaranteed Final Table Results
(reflects five-way deal that left $10,000 for first place)

1. CASHRUS (Houston, TX) $152,983
2. bloFISHmee (Houston, TX) $76,423
3. TheChevin (Stafford, United Kingdom) $59,186
4. bluemangroup (Houston, TX) $92,330
5. JOEYTHEB (Egg Harbor Twp. NJ) $76,395
6. kap10 (Louisville, KY) $33,320.00
7. confiteor (Roma, Italy) $24,990.00
8. Caleros (SC) $17,326.40
9. llghome (Phoenix, AZ) $11,412.10

As every sweet-toothed child around the world knows, today is Halloween. But as every poker player knows, if it's tricks and treats you're seeking, look no further than the EPT.

Someone who knows all about the sweetness of high-stakes poker is Mats Gavatin, from Sweden. Late last night, the 26-year-old tasted the glucose-rush of an EPT tournament win, earning himself €317,000 for his victory in Dublin.

Henric Olander can also buy a lot of candy. The 20-year-old, also from Sweden, was the dominant force at the final table, steamrollering through the field until the trophy seemed certain to be sitting on his laptop by the end of the night. But the irresistable force met the immovable object when the two Swedes went heads up, and Olander will have to settle for €174,500 for second.

Third place went to David Pomroy, a 22-year-old online whizz from England. Pomroy had been the menace of the Merrion for most of the tournament's second day, flying through the field and on to his first television table in what was one of his first major live tournaments. Pomroy has another €89,300 to wager on the online tables.

No one knows what Joe Rafferty did to upset the witches and warlocks of poker, but the 36-year-old from Ireland ended fourth, despite coming to the final table as chip leader. Rafferty was on the end of a couple of rough beats beneath the TV cameras, before finally departing while holding ace-four, his most hated hand. He had led the 2005 World Series main event, before falling in love with that hand cost him his chance at the big one. Nonetheless, Joe took €69,500 for fourth.

In fifth place was Peter Haslam, from Birmingham, England. Haslam was the form horse coming into the event, having won the Omaha tournament at the Merrion casino the day before. That title was worth €25,000, his fifth place on the EPT earned him another €59,500.

Jim Reid, another of the popular Irish contingent, took €49,600 for his sixth place. Reid was the short-stack coming to the final table but, buoyed on by some vociferous home support, clung on to outlast two others. He went chasing a flush-draw, right about the time that Olander could do no wrong. Jim didn't catch it and out he went.

The most famous face at the final table - at least in the world of British soap opera - was that of Michael Greco. A former star of Eastenders, Greco is the toughest graduate from the celebrity poker circuit and followed up an excellent showing at the summer festival in London's Victoria casino with his first televised cash. It's a measure of the man's progress that he was bitterly disappointed to finish where he did. His seventh place earned him €39,800.

Someone always has to be first out and that man was Michael O'Sullivan, from Ireland. The former farmer from Cork still took home the biggest tournament pay-cheque of his career: €29,800 for eighth place.

So, to recap:

1 - €317,000 - Mats Gavatin (Sweden) - also wins €10,000 seat in EPT Grand final
2 - €174,500 - Henrik Olander (Sweden)
3 - €89,300 - David Pomroy (England)
4 - €69,500 - Joe Rafferty (Ireland)
5 - €59,500 - Peter Haslam (England)
6 - €49,600 - Jim Reid (Ireland)
7 - €39,800 - Michael Greco (England)
8 - €29,800 - Michael O'Sullivan (Ireland)

He's a former baker. He studied information technology and maths. He's 26-years-old and he's from Sweden.

As unlikely as it might sound, that's the recipe for success for Mats Gavatin, the newly-crowned EPT Dublin winner. Mats overcame the vast chip-lead of Henric Olander, his countryman, to claim the €317,000 first prize this evening.

Mats Gavatin collects his winner's cheque

Gavatin came to the final table with 438,000 in chips, placed third from the eight players who survived the trip to the RDS from the Merrion. When just two remained, it was Olander who had a three-to-one chip lead.

But Gavatin squeezed all he could out of his super-aggressive opponent and was the one left clutching the winner's cheque.

1.35am-- That's it. We have a winner and his name is Mats Gavatin. The final hand was ace-king in Mats's hand against king-nine for Henric. End of story - although there'll be photos and a report here in a moment.

1.30am-- Wow. Huge swing to Mats. He's now the dominating chip leader after he flops trip eights with ace-eight in his hand. There's some tricky betting and flat calling before the turn, when Henric moves in. Mats calls in an instant, of course, and Henric shows ace-king. Nothing but ace-high. Mats now has more than two million, while Henric is as low as he's been for hours. He has 450,000.

1.20am-- Mats doubles up with pocket nines against wired threes for Henric.

1.15am-- It's been one-way traffic since Mats's huge double up. Henric has got them all back - and more - with some hugely aggressive heads up play. The chip count is as follows.
Henric: 2,500,000
Mats: 400,000

Behind the scenes at the EPT


Thomas Kremser officiating the match between the Swedes

12.55am-- The first hand of the heads up battle is a monster. Mats flops two-pair with his seven-eight but Henric is a non-believer and tries to bully him off it with his ace-two. All the chips go in and Gavatin doubles up. They're nearly even.

12.50am-- Heads-up. The two Swedes remain, with Olander the clear leader. He has 1,790,000. Mats has 672,000

Henric Olander, left, and Mats Gavatin: it's going back to Sweden

12.40am-- David Pomroy out in third - The biggest pot of the tournament by some measure gives Henric Olander a monstrous lead and sends David Pomroy to the rail. There's a raise, a re-raise, an all-in and a call and the players show ace-jack (David) and king-eight (Henric). When your name is on a trophy it's engraved deep and the flop of eight-king-ten gives two pairs to the Swede. David needs a queen to make the straight, but there's no sign of the lady and it's all over for the Brit. He takes €89,300. We're now heads up.

12.30am-- Joe Rafferty takes €69,500 for fourth place - The final local boy, Joe Rafferty, is out. He's been low chipped for a good hour and has been forced to make moves all night. This time he moved in with ace-four and Mats Gavatin called with king-eight. It was looking good for Joe when the flop brought him a straight draw and nothing to beat his ace-high. But the turn was the killer: an eight. Irish interest is over.

12.20am-- Peter Haslam is our fifth placed finisher - The man from Chorley, near Birmingham, England, had let himself get a little short-stacked of late, with most of his chips going to his immediate right. That's where Henric Olander is sitting, the man who has played round about 75 per cent of pots and won about 90 per cent of those. Henric raises from the button, Pete moves in, everyone gets out the way. Henric thinks, then calls, and shows king-jack. Pete has a mere eight-five but has a double belly buster draw on the flop, when it comes seven-nine-jack. But it doesn't fill and Haslam is out, taking €59,500 for his troubles.

11.55pm-- Better news for Rafferty, who gets some of his chips back when he calls David Pomroy's all-in with queen-six. Not much, but better than David, who shows five-six. No miracle outdraws this time and Joe doubles up.


David Pomroy gazes through the shades at Joe Rafferty, his recent adversary

11.45pm-- Joe Rafferty is the victim of the final table's first bad beat, which leaves David Pomroy smiling. Joe's pocket sixes find another on the flop, which is bad, bad new for Pomroy. He has ace-nine and for once can't bully his opponent off the hand. He goes all in in the attempt, but Joe calls. The runner-runner straight for Pomroy is just what happens in poker sometimes. Still five - and Pomroy is back in the mix.

11.20pm-- Another 15 minute break for the five players remaining. Here's what they're sitting with - and you might notice a Scandinavian bias again.

Henric Olander - 1,154,500
Mats Gavatin - 571,000
Joe Rafferty - 298,500
David Pomroy - 235,500
Pete Haslam - 223,000

The levels move to 7,500 - 15,000 with a 1,500 ante.


Henric Olander: running away with it

11.10pm-- Big pot, especially if you're name is Pete Haslam. Joe Rafferty raises pre-flop and Pete moves in. Then it gets interesting. David Pomroy, who was tearing through the field this afternoon but has been quiet recently, then moves all in as well. A massive-looking overbet, clearly intended to leave him heads up with Pete. It works - Joe folds - but when they show what they're holding, Pete has ace-king and David a mere nine-ten suited. No help and David gives most of his stack to the man from Chorley.

10.44pm-- Jim Reid is eliminated in sixth place.

The end of Jim Reid
Jim made a small pre-flop raise from the button, Henrik Olander called from the big blind. No surprises. The flop is eight, queen, king, with two clubs. Henric bets but is re-raised all-in by Jim Reid. After only a moment's thought, Henric makes what can only be described as a great call. He turns over just ace-seven, but must have put his opponent on even less. Or a flush draw. He was right as Jim shows ten-two of clubs and needs another one for the flush. An ace on the turn, no flush or straight to save Reid, and he's going home with €49,600.

10.20pm-- A moment of drama when David Pomroy raises and is reraised all-in by Joe Rafferty. David calls and both players show ace-king. No further drama, just a split pot.

10.00pm-- The six remaining players are now taking a five minute break. The updated chip counts, after the two eliminations, and the steamroller that is Henric Olander, are as follows:

Henrik Olander 776,000
Mats Gavatin 462,000
David Pomroy 416,000
Joe Rafferty 393,000
Pete Haslam 209,000
Jim Reid 189,000

9.45pm-- Michael Greco eliminated in seventh place Henric can do no wrong. Michael Greco, the former Eastenders actor, was sitting with pocket jacks. The Swede wasn't. The flop showed queen-four-four and the turn was a two. Greco moves in, Henric calls, and shows his holding: queen-jack. The actor played the tragic hero to perfection.

9.40pm-- Jim Reid proves that the luck of the Irish has not been exhausted despite Michael O'Sullivan's exit. He finds himself all in and called with a king-queen. Joe Rafferty, his countryman, is holding pocket queens. By the time the river is dealt, there's an ace, jack and a ten on display and that's a straight. He doubles up.

9.30pm -- Michael O'Sullivan is eliminated.

Mick bites the dust
The Irish player sticks in a moderate pre-flop raise and to no-one's surprise Henric Olander re-raises. He only has one word in his vocabulary. Michael moves in and Henric calls. Michael shows ace-ten and if Henric's pocket jacks were leading at this point, they are formidable when the flop brings jack-two-two. Henric flops a full house and Michael is heading back to cork with €29,800.


Michael O'Sullivan: our eighth placed finisher

9.15pm -- It's still the Henric Olander show. The Swede is raising pre-flop almost every hand and just hit two-pair with his eight-nine when the two blinds - Pete Haslam and Mats Gavatin - called and then checked it down. Henric began the final table with 209,000 in chips. He's the only early mover and is up to about 270,000.

A reminder of what they're playing for:

1 €317,000
2 €174,500
3 €89,300
4 €69,500
5 €59,500
6 €49,600
7 €39,800
8 €29,800

9pm -- Jim Reid, the short-stack from Ireland, moves in pre-flop and picks up the blinds and antes.

8.45pm -- The final table begins with Henric Olander, from Sweden, opening the first pot. He's re-raised by Joe Rafferty, the chip leader, and mucks. Olander is not to be denied, however, and raises the next three pots pre-flop, picking up blinds and antes.

The first fantastic four

From left to right: David Pomroy, Jim Reid, Michael Greco, Michael O'Sullivan

The final fantastic four
From left to right: Joe Rafferty, Henric Olander, Pete Haslam, Mats Gavatin

The final table of the EPT Dublin is coming from the Royal Dubin Society (RDS) in the Ballsbridge district of this wonderful city.

The television set has been created in the centre of a wooden-floored concert hall, with books lining the walls and elegant statues posing flamboyantly to welcome us in.



Residents of Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, might like to note that these date from before 1996.



Players are taking a break before battle commences, but the bleachers are already full as the Irish poker crowd awaits the action. There are three Irishmen, three British players and two Swedes in the final eight.


John Duthie: EPT supremo

Full profiles to follow. In the meantime, here are a few more sights from the city.








This chap just missed the final table

For the second time - out of two - the bubble burst in the face of a PokerStars qualifier. This time the unfortunate man was Jonas Molander, the man from Stockholm, who won't be featuring on television, but will take home €19,900 for his ninth place.

That leaves us with eight. They are:

Joe Rafferty (Ire) - 548,200
David Pomroy (Eng) - 474,200
Mats Gavatin (Swe) - 430,800
Pete Haslam (Eng) - 307,500
Michael Greco (Eng) - 259,800
Henric Olander (Swe) - 209,000
Michael O'Sullivan (Ire) - 163,000
Jim Reid (Ire) - 89,900

Pictures and profiles will follow. We're now all getting on a bus and heading to the new venue.

When it's the EPT.

We're down to nine and just one table. But there's only space for eight in the television stages and so we still need to lose one more before we head up the road to the RDS.

This is the TV bubble and although €19,900 softens the blow, it still hurts when this bubble bursts.

Chip counts will continue to appear in the post below.

The final nine, but one will still think himself unlucky

It's as good as impossible to check up on the players at the moment. With such a good showing from the local Irish players, as well as some exceptionally well supported British, the basement resembles a queue for free candy at an elementary school. They're a rabble.

Nonetheless, here are the latest chip counts of the eleven nine players remaining.

David Pomroy (UK) - 600,000
Pete Haslam (UK) - 360,000
Joe Rafferty (Ire) - 350,000
John Kalmar (UK) out in 10th (€11,900)
Mats Gavatis (Swe) - 320,000
Michael Greco (UK) - 240,000
Michael O'Sullivan (Ire) - 190,000
Jonas Molander (Swe) - 135,000 - PokerStars qualifier
Jim Read (Ire) - 130,000
Noah Boeken (Neth) - out in 11th (€11,900)
Henric Olander (Swe) - 75,000

The Merrion is a little less colourful than it has been.

Ray Coburn, the green-haired, Skittles-munching PokerStars qualifier from New Jersey has just departed in in 14th place. He was in the big blind with an ace-nine and David Pomroy, on the button, made approximately the ninth pre-flop raise of the round. Ray moved in, Pomroy called. He had queens and there was no help.

David Pomroy, the chip leader, accounts for Ray Coburn

Ray takes home €9,900 for his troubles. That's a lot of candy.

Michael Slevin was 15th. The Wexford man moved in with a pair of fours on a low flop, but Henric Olander called with two overcards and a flush draw. He hit a king and that was that.

Thomas Brandt exited in 16th place. His ace-two wasn't good enough to beat jacks.

Update: Baunach is knocked out by David Pomroy. He takes €7,900 for 17th place

Just two tables now remain, crammed into the far corner of an increasingly stuffy, and not a little aromatic, basement of the Merrion.

It's difficult to get an accurate chip count, but it seems as though Henric Olander and David Pomroy are near to the top, while Christoph Baunach is the short stack. The man from Wuerzburg, near Frankfurt, Germany, is playing his first ever live tournament and is deep into the money - although he'll need a couple more double ups to go much further. Stranger things have happened.

Patric Martenson and Christoph Baunach

Patric Martenson, who finished fifth in Barcelona earlier this year, departed in 18th place, taking home €7,900 this time.

The final 27 are as follows. I'll update eliminations as they happen.

Table 1

Magnus Eklund - 22nd (€ 6,000)
Birgitta Johansson - 23rd (€ 6,000)
Michael O'Sullivan
Jim Reid
Jonas Molander
Jon Kalmar
Jared Davis - 21st (€ 6,000)
Michael Slevin
Joe Rafferty

Table 2


Henric Olander
Stuart Forsythe - 19th (€ 6,000)
Patrick McFadden - 27th (€ 6,000)
Noah Boeken
Andreas Hagen
Peter Haslam
Michael Greco
Marcus Elfvring - 26th (€ 6,000)
Roman O'Malley - 24th (€ 6,000)

Table 3


Thomas Brandt
Mats Gavatin
David Pomroy
Patric Martenson
Christoph Bannach
Raymond Coburn
Jeffery Bensinger
Donnacha O'Dea - 25th (€ 6,000)
Andy Black - 20th (€ 6,000)

...and it's Ahmet. He had ace-jack, his opponent had pocket fives. The man who was looking at turning an entrance fee of precisely nothing into a great pay-day has been busted at the most critical moment.

Words defeat me. It's a cruel game.

We're down to 28 players in the basement of the Merrion - the time when all these tournaments grind to a halt. It's bubble time. The next player out walks away with nothing to show for their long day's toil.

With action spread across four tables, Thomas Kremser, the tournament director, orchestrates hand-for-hand play. It means that the cards are dealt at precisely the same time on each of the tables. There's no advantage or disadvantage to be gained from slow or fast play.

Ahmet Melin and Ray Coburn still have sufficient chips to hope the bubble passes them by.

Ahmet Melin: still freerolling his way to a fortune


Ray Coburn: the sign over his left shoulder says it all

Luca Pagano is about the steadiest player on the European Poker Tour. He has cashed four times in the year-and-a-half since the series of tournaments began, including two final tables. He and Noah Boeken, each with more than 65,000 in chips overnight here, were both vying to become the first player to make a third.

I'm sorry to report that it won't be Luca.

Steady players don't get busted easily - and pocket kings is a fair hand to shove all the chips in. There's one exception to that rule and it usually involves aces. Two of them. So it was that poker's most popular pre-flop match-up accounted for the Venetian.

It's been said before in a variety of ways. If you go into the barbers enough times you're going to get a haircut; if you go to the bar enough times, you're going to buy a drink. The same must go for the EPT. Luca Pagano will win one of these events soon.

Welcome back to the PokerStars European Poker Tour. It's day two of the €4,000 no-limit hold 'em event from the Merrion Casino, Dublin. Thirty-eight players made it to the second day and with only 27 being paid, these opening exchanges are going to be tense.

When we reach the final eight for the television table, we decamp to the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), where there is sufficient room for the full EPT feature experience.

As usual, some very minor chip discrepancies appeared through the night, but the list below is as comprehensive as you'll find at the moment. PokerStars has six qualifiers remaining, in addition to Luca Pagano, of Team PokerStars, and Patric Martenson, sponsored here after making the final table in Barcelona.

Return for lates updates throughout the day.

David Pomroy - 174,900
Michael O'Sullivan - 168,200
Henric Olander - 159,200
Mats Gavatin - 142,800
Jonas Molander - 135,900 - PokerStars qualifier, Stockholm, Sweden
Joe Rafferty - 129,400
Michael Greco - 115,700
Andreas Hagen - 106,800
Jeffrey Bensinger - 77,200 - Cash qualifier, Ohio, USA
Noah Boeken - 72,900
Luca Pagano - 68,500 - Team PokerStars
Patrick McFadden 68,200
Peter Haslam - 64,900
John Kalmar - 61,200
James Reid - 60,100
Thomas Brandt - 58,200 - PokerStars qualifier, Amsterdam, Holland
Stuart Forsythe - 57,600
Magnus Eklund - 54,500
Patric Martenson - 50,400 - PokerStars sponsored player, Stockholm, Sweden
Christoph Banach - 49,600
Donnacha O'Dea - 49,400
Jared Davis - 49,400
Ray Coburn - 45,200 - PokerStars FPP qualifier, New Jersey, USA
Marcus Elfving - 43,800
Ahmet Melin - 43,000 - PokerStars/Talksport freeroll winner
Andy Black - 40,700
Surinder Sunar - 39,900
Joep Durkstra - 36,100 - PokeStars qualifier, Groningen, Holland
Paul Moss - 35,600
Ronan O'Malley - 33,900
Novica Baic - 27,300
Michael Slevin - 25,800
Greg Amolis - 25,000
Thierry Cazals - 23,700
Birgitta Johansson - 22,400
George McKeever - 22,400
John Parr - 17,800
Jim Kerrigan - 13,800

...well, for today at least.

There are 39 players remaining, with Messrs Pomroy, Olander, Gavatin, Molander and Rafferty leading the way from an Eastenders actor named Greco.

Play re-commences tomorrow at 1pm local time. We'll have full updates, then a blow-by-blow report on the final table.

Goodnight for now.

Overnight chip counts

David Pomroy - 174,900
Henric Olander - 159,200
Mats Gavatin - 142,800
Jonas Molander - 135,900
Joe Rafferty - 129,400
Michael Greco - 115,700
Andreas Hazen - 106,800
Noah Boeken - 72,900
Luca Pagano - 68,500
Jared Davis - 49,400
Surinder Sunar - 39,900
Stuart Forsythe - 57,600
Marcus Eljuing - 43,800
John Kalmar - 61,200
James Reid - 60,100
Thomas Brandt - 58,200
Donnacha O'Dea - 49,400
Ronan O'Malley - 33,900
Andy Black - 40,700
Thierry Cazals - 23,700
Ray Coburn - 45,200
Ahmet Melin - 43,000
Patric Martensson - 50,400
Joel Durkistra - 36,100
Peter Haslam - 64,900
Jared Davis - 49,400
Paul Moss - 35,600
Greg Amoils - 25,000
Baic Novica - 27,300
George Reever - 22,400
Jim Kerrigan - 13,800

With just one level remaining tonight and 50 players still battling, it seems likely that there'll be 30 or more making it to the second day - with 27 of them earning a pay-day.

There's been a seismic power shift at the summit of the leaderboard, with Andy Black now scratching the felt and the frightening number of frighteningly young players taking frightening control.

This is Henric Olander, from Sweden.

He just knocked two players out in one hand. They were asking for it, really. One had king-ten, the other pocket sevens. Good call from Olander with his jacks and he's the tournament chip leader with 165,000.

Here's David Pomroy, poker blogger, online poker professional and now doing just fine with real, clay chips in his hands. Estimates put him at around 110,000.




This one is Jonas Molander, under the watchful gaze of another chap who did something related to poker once.




The Fossilman himself would be proud of Molander's 100,000.

Noah Boeken is now also in the mix, sitting with 80,000, while Luca Pagano has recovered to about 65,000 after slumping to about 12,000. All his chips went in with pocket nines and even though his opponent woke up with jacks, a third nine on the flop had the Italian offering a hand of apology - while the other raked the chips. Luca is sitting beside Ahmit Melin, the PokerStars competition winner, who is still (free)rolling.

It's not all good news, however, with Isabelle Mercier and Baard Dahl both biting the dust an hour or so ago. Baard's queens faced ace-king for a 60,000 pot. A couple of bullets on the flop ended that race before it had really begun.

Norman Pace is a comedian. You notice it when he tells his poker stories.

"What happened, Norman?" I asked, catching a glimpse of the funnyman by the bar, manifestly out of his debut EPT tournament.

"Well, I had a pocket pair and I stuck them in," he mused ruefully. "He's got two overcards and I'm outdrawn." He didn't say "c'est la vie", but he thought about it.

"How big was the pocket pair, Norman?" I asked, sensing we're not necessarily going to need a High Court ruling on this miscarriage of justice.

"OK, they were twos," he confesses. "But he might have had undercards. I actually put him on aces."

Beverley and Norman Pace: poker's dynamic duo

In truth, Norman was down to the felt by this point and the chips had to go in with any pair. He ran pocket jacks into slow-played aces, with five undercards on the board. That knocked him down to 2,500 and although he built it back to 8,000 at one point, he was cold-decked for the rest of the night.

Pace won a PokerStars media and celebrity tournament held on the eve of the London EPT event last month. There, he beat off competition from Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Isabelle Mercier, Luca Pagano and even your humble blogger.

But the stiffest competition came from a lady named Beverley. That's Beverley Pace, his wife. They were heads up at the end, but house bragging rights went Norman's way that time.

The prize was a trip to Dublin - and an awful lot of overcards.

It's well past midnight and we're down to 72. Top of the tree are the following, all of whom have around 80,000.

Richard Redmond


Joe Rafferty


Andy Black

The following are still in:

Baard Dahl: 19,000 when the photo was taken, 39,000 now. Baard raised from the cut-off with ace-ten, the big blind called and on a flop of Q-5-3, all the chips go in. They're that kind of player in Dublin. The big blind shows 4-6 for the up and down straight, but misses both ends. Double up for the Norwegian


Andy Black: the fifth-placed finisher in the World Series is keeping his menace on this side of the Atlantic for now. He's one of the chip leaders with 60,000+


Birgitte Johansson: the better half of Christer Johansson, WPT winner and EPT runner-up. Christer is gone but Birgitte is going strong


Patric Martenson: the Monopoly master from Stockholm, Martenson placed fifth in the EPT in Barcelona. Used to collecting a lot more than £200


Ray Coburn: the PokerStars qualifier collecting chips and candy


There's only one Jimmy Wan - and he's sitting behind a mountain


Ken Lennard: the original "Top Hat", Lennard is still among the best in Scandinavia

These are among the departed:

Ross Boatman, Barny Boatman, Norman Pace, Don Fagan, Simon Trumper, Cecilia Nordenstam, Rory Liffey, Roy Brindley, Patrick Bruel, Iwan Jones, John Kabbaj

Question: Who's actually leading this thing?
Answer: Richard Redmond, currently sitting with about 62,000 in chips.

Photos to follow, but here are some more (approximate) numbers in the meantime.

Ken Lennard 32,000; Iwan Jones 20,000; Ray "Candyman" Coburn 35,000; Surindar Sunar 15,000; Luca Pagano 24,000; Donnacha O'Dea 35,000; Ben Grundy 18,000; Ahmet Melin 29,000; Michael Greco 15,000; Don Fagan 10,000; Padraig Parkinson 2,000; Isabelle Mercier 28,000; Noah Boeken 30,000; Birgitta Johansson 20,000; Baard Dahl 15,000; Alex Stevic 23,000.

Last but not least a mention for Dennis Kobbero, the PokerStars qualifier who's sitting with his arm in plaster (football injury) and just three yellow chips. Each is worth 1,000, but he'll be making a move (with his good hand) soon. Dennis qualified for the Barcelona EPT on PokerStars, missed the Baden trip by one place, and is now back in the thick of it in Dublin. Even if he can't make it back from the dead tonight, there's a fair bet that his knack of qualifying will retun him to the EPT tables again soon.

Too many words so far, so here are some numbers as we enter level eight of competition.

There are 126 players remaining on 13 tables, six of which are in the basement and seven on the third floor. That's four flights of stairs required to keep in touch.

We've lost Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers, Tony Cascarino, Simon Young, David Colclough, Julian Thew, Xuyen Pham, among many others.

While we attempt to bring you right up to date with the latest chip counts, here's the tournament structure information. The payouts are below.

Level 8 - 400-800 blinds, with 100 ante
Level 9 - 600-1200 blinds, with 100 ante

Fifteen minute break

Level 10 - 800-1600 blinds, with 150 ante
Level 11 - 1000-2000 blinds, with 200 ante

Fifteen minute break

Level 12 - 1500-3000 blinds, with 300 ante
Level 13 - 2000-4000 blinds, with 400 ante

Fifteen minute break

Level 14 - 3000-6000 blinds, with 600 ante
Level 15 - 4000-8000 blinds, with 800 ante

End day one

Level 16 - 5000-10,000 blinds, with 1000 ante
Level 17 - 7500-1,5000 blinds, with 1500 ante
Level 18 - 10,000-20,000 blinds, with 2000 ante

Level 19 - 15,000-30,000 blinds, with 3000 ante
Level 20 - 20,000-40,000 blinds, with 4000 ante
Level 21 - 30,000-60,000 blinds, with 6000 ante

Level 22 - 40,000-80,000 blinds, with 8000 ante
Level 23 - 50,000-100,000 blinds, with 10,000 ante

€992,000 prize pool

1 €317,000
2 €174,500
3 €89,300
4 €69,500
5 €59,500
6 €49,600
7 €39,800
8 €29,800
9 €19,900
10-12 €11,900
13-15 €9,900
16-18 €7,900
19-27 €6,000

So, what of the PokerStars qualifiers? Simple answer: pretty good.

As usual, the site is exceptionally well represented here in Dublin with 45 satellite winners, cash qualifiers and FPP heroes proving once again - does this still need proving? - that those who cut their teeth in cyberspace can be pretty sharp in the real world as well.

Among them in the Emerald Isle this time is a certain gem named Ahmet Melin, who entered the Talksport freeroll, a tournament announced on the radio and hosted on PokerStars. Cost? Do you know what "freeroll" means?

By virtue of the fact that I have just been chatting with Ahmet during a recent players' break - in the "real world" - you can deduce that the freeroll went quite well.

Two beautiful daughters and a huge stack of chips: Ahmet Melin has it all

With the chip leaders sitting with about 50,000, Ahmet's 42,000 puts him right up there. He's getting some help with the deck - trip queens, nut flush, that kind of thing - but is making all the right decisions at all the right time. Nothing wrong with that.

But it's been even better for the Londoner in the past few days, especially when one particular tricky decision was made for him. The birth of Ahmet's second child was expected round about the precise time he was due to be getting on a plane to Ireland. Did he stay or did he go? As it happened, Tuesday's early arrival of Sienna was all the more joyous.

So, dad says hello to all the ladies in his life. Tonia, his wife, Chanel, his five-year-old daughter, as well as the latest Miss Melin.

€400,000 buys a lot of diapers.

There's more than just the same old bloggers here this week and, representing PokerStars London, is a certain Joanne Haslam, who has taken to this job like a duck to Guinness water. Here's her rundown on some of the more distinctive competitors on display.

I'm Joanne and my usual job is as a Poker Specialist in the support team, but this weekend I'm in Dublin helping Howard with the blog. With 198 players spread among the five floors of this old building my work today involves running up and down the many flights of stairs, checking player's chip counts, taking photos, and chatting to anyone who has a story to tell. It's very different from my usual role answering emails, and a lot harder on the feet. In the office I don't regret wearing high heels.

With so many players still in the game I spot anyone who stands out from the crowd and with what appears to be just five female players left in the tournament I've decided to follow the ladies' progess. You can't really accuse this of being sexist as I'm a lady too.



Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham

Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham has 35,000 and must be one of the chip-leaders at this stage.


Isabelle Mercier

Isabelle Mercier, representing Team PokerStars, has 20,000 and is in very good shape. Yes I know you guys are thinking Isabelle is always in 'good shape' whether she has chips or not.


Natasha Ellis

Natasha Ellis, another PokerStars player, has only 6000 chips, but also a determined look in her eye, and Cecilia Nordenstam is the other girly in the game, and has around 12,000 chips.


Cecilia Nordenstam's back

I've also noticed Ray Coburn, a PokerStars FPP qualifier. No Ray is quite clearly not a girl's name and I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning him here, but Ray also stands out from the crowd. Ray has bright green hair, and 20,000 chips surrounded by his many candy wrappers.


Ray Coburn

If you can't wear a dress when you play poker and you want to get a blogger's attention I'd recommend you get yourself some hair dye. Unless you prefer to get a big stack of chips, and just let your poker do the talking.

Some more approximate chip counts:

Ben Grundy 15,000; Surindar Sunar 5,500; Baard Dahl 10,000; Kevin O'Connell 5,000; Steve Vladar 6,500; Simon Young (Team PokerStars) 14,000; Ram Vaswani 18,000; Noah Boeken 21,000; Joe Beevers 9,000; Cecelia Nordenstam 5,000; Simon Trumper 7,000; Andy Black (fifth in World Series) 25,000; Patrik Antonius (EPT winner Baden); Patrick Mortensson (final table, EPT Barcelona) 10,000; Dario Alioto 25,000; Isabelle Mercier (Team PokerStars) 12,000; Norman Pace 6,000; Tony Cascarino 10,000; Josh Darby (probable chip leader) 42,000; Iwan Jones 20,000

We have lost 42 players, including Noel Furlong, the former World Series champion.

The blinds are now at 150-300.

Here's what they're playing for:

€992,000 prize pool

1 €317,000
2 €174,500
3 €89,300
4 €69,500
5 €59,500
6 €49,600
7 €39,800
8 €29,800
9 €19,900
10-12 €11,900
13-15 €9,900
16-18 €7,900
19-27 €6,000

And here are some of those doing the playing (with approximate chip counts):

Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham - 15,000

Barny Boatman - 30,000

Christer Johansson

Donnacha O'Dea - 7,500

Joe Beevers - 9,000

Luca Pagano - 8,000

Padraig Parkinson - 15,000

David Colclough (5,000) and Ram Vaswani (15,000)



Simon Trumper - 7,000

Ross Boatman - 11,000

There's never quite as much to report during the early stages of these tournaments as the frenzied activity among the press pack might suggest.

The players begin with 10,000 points in chips, with the blinds taking just 25 and 50 of them. You're either unlucky, foolish or a little bit of both if you're making the acquaintance of someone with a notebook aready.

Joe Grech: television interview = bad beat
That, of course, doesn't stop those reporters flying round in search of something to say. In the unique surroundings of the Merrion, "flying" is not quite the right word, but the more times you tread on someone's toes or bump into them on the stairs, the more likely they are to give you a story you might have missed.

Currently, everyone is on about the Milky Bar Kid. Ben Grundy, who made the final table of the Monte Carlo EPT event last year, is taking liberties with his reputation. He just ran his mighty five-four into Joe Grech's pocket queens. A queen on the flop had Grech sitting pretty, especially when Ben moved all-in with nought but a straight draw. Let's cut out the really gruesome part to spare Joe's feelings, but anyone who knows poker knows what came next.


Ben Grundy: butter wouldn't melt
Ben has the big grin - and chip stack - at the moment.

Hello and welcome to a drizzly Dublin, where 250 of Europe's finest - and an fair representation from the other side of the Atlantic - have put down their €4,000 for a shot at the latest EPT title. And the small matter of a million euro prize-pool.

Dubin has delivered. There's Guinness and there's rain. No one expected anything more or less and everyone is happy.

The best of Dublin: a bar and some rain

The Merrion is in the beautiful Georgian district of the city, where there's a fully appointed casino lurking in what looks like the residence of gentleman in a bowler hat. All the poker players of the world know the place, but the next-door neighbours possibly don't even know what's behind the brass knocker and letterbox. Vegas it ain't.


The Merrion casino in the rain

As usual, we'll have comprehensive coverage from all five floors of action. The cards are now in the air, so continue to check for the latest news. In the meantime, enjoy the sights of the city.


A bridge over the River Liffey. In the rain.

Molly Malone: the "tart with the cart". And rain.

With the first-ever PokerStars Blogger Championship in the books, it's time we move on to other events. But before we do, I thought you should get to know the man who won the big event last night.

Easy_wind, a 29 year-old consultant with a big IT services company, had trouble sleeping last night after taking down the event.

"Ever since I started playing poker about 2 1/2 years ago I've dreamed of rubbing elbows with the big boys I watch on TV," he said. "This year I watched the Bahamas WPT episode with my fiancee and we were blown away by how gorgeous Atlantis looked and said to each other, 'we should go there.'"

After starting off as a non-profitable player, easy_wind started to study up, buy some poker books, and start taking his game more seriously. He also fell in love with the poker blogs.

"I love to read the poker blogs, especially from some of the folks I've gotten to know through the Livejournal poker community," he said. " I started the livejournal a couple of years ago as well, because my then girlfriend (now fiancee) had a journal too and she encouraged me to start it. I don't write in it all that often, but it is a nice thing to have."

Now his love for poker and love for blogging will be sending him to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

"I could not be happier about winning this event and will be counting down the days until the cards are in the air," he said.

Here are the final table finishers one more time. Congratulations to all of them.

1. easy_wind (Cambridge, MA)--2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Prize Package
2. simonvlc (Valencia, Spain)--24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
3. Ribs (Warrington, United Kingdom) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
4. mattymillne (Edinburgh, United Kingdom) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
5. Sunday8pm (Edmunds, United Kingdom) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
6. butwin (Cypress, CA) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
7. Lucky Poet (Oslo, Norway) --Xbox 360
8. maverick81 (Crowborough, United Kingdom) -- Xbox 360
9. MrAckley (Anchorage, AK) --Xbox 360

How easy do the winds blow at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas? Well, very easy. Now, they're about to blow even easier for the winner of the first PokerStars Blogger Championship.

After battling through nearly 1500 of his fellow bloggers, easy_wind took first place and won a $12,000 prize package to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

If you missed out on the event, PokerStars became the first online poker site to offer the bloggers of a world a $25,000 freeroll. The bloggers came out in droves and battled for some great prizes.

Normally at this point I would write up a final table report, but this tournament is all about the writers of the world, and I'm sure they can tell this story better than I can. Here are your final table winners and links to each of their blogs.

1. easy_wind (Cambridge, MA)--2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Prize Package
2. simonvlc (Valencia, Spain)--24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
3. Ribs (Warrington, United Kingdom) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
4. mattymillne (Edinburgh, United Kingdom) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
5. Sunday8pm (Edmunds, United Kingdom) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
6. butwin (Cypress, CA) --24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor
7. Lucky Poet (Oslo, Norway) --Xbox 360
8. maverick81 (Crowborough, United Kingdom) -- Xbox 360
9. MrAckley (Anchorage, AK) --Xbox 360

Congratulations to everyone and thanks to my fellow bloggers for making this a great success.

It was another big night for the Sunday PokerStars $500,000 Guaranteed event. More than 3500 people turned out to create a massive $702,200 prize pool. Here are your final table results.

PokerStars $500,000 Guaranteed Final Table
(based on three-way chip-count deal that left $10,000 for first place)

1. RawDeal55 (Panorama City, CA) $97,382
2. dragonlady7 (Lynwood, CA) $87,008
3. sss_gogeta (Gainesville, FL) $92,979
4. lintje (Groningen, Netherlands) $40,727.60
5. stivolino (Quarto Miglio, Italy) $31,599.00
6. suckoutqueen (Madrid, Spain) $24,577.00
7. SheFaLLs (Houston, NY) $18,257.20
8. stglobe (Orange Park, FL) $12,639.60
9. lasbas (Valby, Denmark) $7,583.76

Congratulations to all the players

Looking to play deep-stacked? Looking for more action in six-handed events? Check out PokerStars new Deep Stack and Six-Handed events.

DeepStack

DeepStack tourneys run just like regular tournaments except the players start with 5,000 chips and the blinds last 30 minutes.

Mon 18:15 No Limit Hold'em $30+$3
Tue 18:15 Pot Limit Omaha $20+$2
Wed 18:15 No Limit Hold'em $20+$2
Thu 18:15 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo $20+$2
Fri 18:15 Limit Hold'em $20+$2
Sat 12:00 No Limit Hold'em $10+$1
Sat 19:15 No Limit Hold'em $100+$9
Sun 12:00 No Limit Hold'em $10+$1


6-Handed

Six-Handed tourneys run just like any regular tourney except there are six players at the table (as opposed to a regular tourney's nine players).

Mon 20:45 Pot Limit Omaha $20+$2
Tue 20:45 No Limit Hold'em $30+$3
Wed 20:45 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo $20+$2
Thu 20:45 No Limit Hold'em $10+$1
Fri 20:45 Limit Hold'em $20+$2
Sat 20:45 No Limit Hold'em $20+$2

After a month of waiting, the first-ever PokerStars Blogger Championship is today. After reading a lot of the blogs on the block for the past several months, I know the poker blogging community has been pretty happy with the event's set-up. Sadly, not everybody will turn out to be a big winner today. However, there will be a few big winners.

If you're one of those fortunate few who make it into the top 99, here's what you'll be walking away with. Good luck, everyone.

1st place - PokerStars Caribbean Adventure poker tournament package (valued at $12,000).

2nd-6th place -- 24" Dell Flatscreen LCD monitor (valued at $1,199)

7th-16th place -- Xbox 360s full editions (worth $399 ea)

17th-36th place -- iPod nanos, 4gb version (worth $249 each)
37th-99th place -- PokerStars Hats (worth $15 each)

In addition, the top nine bloggers who make it to the final table will have their name and blog site posted on the PokerStars.com website and Official PokerStars Blog after the event is over. You deserve some recognition for beating the field and we're happy to give it to you!

There's little doubt at this stage that the first-ever PokerStars Blogger Championship is going to be a big hit. As of this moment, 1340 bloggers have registered. All of them will be competing for $25,000 worth of prizes, including the first prize: a package to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (a trip that I and several other bloggers took last year and had a ball).

But if you needed further evidence of the legitimacy of the event, check out this article. Seems CardPlayer.com is taking some notice.

Please take note, you cannot wait until the last moment for this freeroll. There is a deadline.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, Team PokerStars' Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier is on the cover of the latest issue of CardPlayer College. She actually opens up a lot in an interview with my fellow writer Rolf Slotboom.

Enjoy.

One thing about gamers: they don't mess around when it comes to competition. Normally, they are locked in andrenaline-juiced virtual firefights. No doubt, a lot of that will be taking place this weekened at IGN Live.

It will be a gamers paradise in Anaheim, CA on October 22-23. IGN live promises just about everything the gamers of the world want. To keep the adrenaline flowing between the hardcore shoot'em-up fights, Team PokerStars' Greg Raymer and Wil Wheaton will be there to take on the poker playing gamers.

If you've got the gaming bug or just want to take your shot at Team PokerStars, click here for more information.

And take note: no weapons are allowed at the poker table.

It's the freeroll the bloggers of the world have been waiting for. It's the freeroll the dedicated bloggers deserve. It's PokerStars first-ever Blogger Championship.

If you haven't heard about this yet, it's almost too late. In short, PokerStars recognized a long time ago how important blogs are to the online world. That's why they let me set up this fulltime blog just to cover all things PokerStars.

Now, the rest of the world's bloggers have a chance to hit it big for free. How big? First prize is a free package to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure WPT Event in the Bahamas. In total, this is a $25,000 freeroll. Click here to see all the details, prizes, and sign up.

One of my cohorts at PokerStars has been keeping the bloggers up to date over at the Blogger Championship Blog. While this blog has been reserved for keeping up with other PokerStars events, this week is dedicated to my fellow bloggers around the world.

There are some crazy-good prizes to be had, and if you're a blogger in search of traffic, the top nine bloggers in the contest will be linked in the right bar for a while.

This has been a popular idea in the blogosphere and some of the top poker blogs have been sending the legions of bloggers to the tournament. The Blogger Championship blog has also been keepinig up with the referrals (even running a contest for the top referrers). As of last count, these were the top ten referrerals (they also happen to be some of the best poker blogs out there).

1. Tao of Poker
2. Up For Poker
3. Wil Wheaton(currently in tech support hell and in exile)
4. 50 Outs
5. Bill's Blog
6. Matt Matros
7. Al Can't Hang
8. DoubleAs
9. The Poker Chronicles
10. The Sound of a Suckout

Please keep in mind, I have a hand in all this, but I'm not the one to run to for questions. If you have any queries at all, e-mail this guy and he'll hook you up.

I'll see all the bloggers on Sunday, where I plan to play the role of Lee Jones at the final table.

It was another big Sunday on PokerStars with more than 3000 people forking out $200 to compete for the week's biggest prize pool. Here are your final table results.

Sunday $500,000 Guarantee Final Table Results
(Results based on five-way deal that left $10,000 for first place)

1. $30K (Port Richey, FL) $103,653
2. diktatore (Bergen, Norway) $57,195
3. fwordz (Trondheim, Norway) $51,107
4. Icemann15 (Fargo, ND) $49,798
5. MannoR (Gothenburg, Sweden) $68,420
6. slimshaggy (Cimarron, KS) $23,233.00
7. RolldUpTrips (Coral Springs, FL) $17,258.80
8. Reddog133 (Vermillion, SD) $11,948.40
9. heavyhustlin (CA) $7,169.04

Congratulations to all the players.

If the bright lights, honking cars, and hordes of people weren't enough clues, the giant sign gave it away. I was standing in Times Square. Still jet-lagged from my return from Austria, I thought I might be a bit confused, or at the very least, seeing things. I admitted to myself, the bright lights of the big city might be getting to me.

Then again, I was pretty sure of what I'd seen.

I was staying at the luxurious W Hotel, the kind of place where brushed steel and new age music are just about everywhere. Where there is no steel, there are rocks with thoughtful words like "wisdom" and "wonder" printed on them. The more I looked at them, I found myself more and more sure of what I'd just seen. It was not a wish, but it was certainly a wonder.

The scene was a PokerStars party, where New York's biggest media and poker folks were having a little fun. Single table satellites were running as hot as the room. Bad beats were crushing everyone from the writers to the pros. As I attend these events pretty regularly, I get used to seeing World Series of Poker championship bracelets. After all, everybody knows PokerStars is home to 2003 champion Chris Moneymaker and 2004 champion Greg Raymer. Just as things got rolling, though, another wrist started reflecting the room's lights.

I can count. There were three bracelets there.

The room was abuzz with familiar faces. Raymer, Moneymaker, Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier, PokerStars Card Room Manager Lee Jones, Nolan Dalla, and many of my friends in the media were all in attendance. My camera rarely stopped clicking.

Indeed, it was all very familiar. And though there was a new face (and new bracelet) in the crowd, it was not an unfamiliar visage. That guy, friends, was 2005 World Series of Poker champion, Joe Hachem.
What was he doing there? Sources say Hachem and PokerStars have been getting very chummy recently. Hachem has been playing on PokerStars for years and when he strapped on his bracelet, few people had any doubt where he would land. Frankly, I can't say if there is an official relationship or not yet, but it's looking like a real possibility. After all, Hachem was decked out in a PokerStars shirt and posed for pictures with his fellow champions.
The media, from ESPN to MTV to Vanity Fair, were intrigued. As Hachem and his Aussie mates proved at the World Series and Hachem later illustrated on the Tonight Show, he's a charismatic and humble guy. Still, he seemed right at home in front of the cameras.
The night went on, full of good food, good drink, and bad beats. Toward the end of the evening, Seth from "Stuff" magazine got heads-up with Greg Raymer, and showed that media folk aren't always bad at poker.
Seth left with a story to tell and the rest of us were left with the distinct impression that PokerStars will very soon have another world champion in its posse.

And this one is an Aussie...named Joe Hachem.

The PokerStars Blog is in transit today. Hence, we'll miss the final table report this week. Nonetheless, here are your results.

PokerStars Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed Results
(Results based on five-way deal that left $10,000 for first place. Results are listed in order of finish)

1. Vegasking (Halmstad, Sweden) $62,654.54
2. Ryokan (Dublin, Ireland) $85,457.15
3. JAQK (Tempe, AZ) $79,616.99
4. PokerDarth (Toronto, ON, Canada) $37,106.93
5. CASHRUS (Houston, TX, United States) $50,000.00
6. GuitarGod69 (Victoria, BC, Canada) $22,127.00
7. EY400 (Los Angeles, CA) $16,437.20
8. B2Bullets (Edinburgh, United Kingdom) $11,379.60
9. knowledgez24 (Mississauga, ON, Canada) $6,827.76

This news just in from PokerStars:

Player Appreciation Bonus: PokerStars values its players and wants to make sure they know it. How does $150 sound? From now until October 16th, when you make your next deposit, we'll give you 25% more -- up to $150! Click here for full bonus details and then make your next deposit today. From the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure to the European Poker Tour, there's a lot going on at PokerStars right now, so there's no better time to have a little extra cash in your account. Make your next deposit today.

All roads may have led to Rome, but all street signs in Baden, Austria point a weary traveler to Casino Baden. It sits on a small hill backed by several larger rises. The grass is green, the flowers are somehow remain in bloom, and fountains shoot water in the air in every direction. A small river, smelling of the region's famed sulphur springs, runs through the middle of the shopping district.

At first, a casino might seem out of place in this sleepy little village. The hamlet is a place where elderly ladies walk their dogs, men sit reading newspapers in Tabak shops, and most of the stores close down by sundown. It is bucolic and urban simultaneously. It is not the place you would expect to find a luxurious casino. And yet you do.

Somehow, the casino blends in with the town-scape and welcomes a pedestrian directly inside. It sits and exists in harmony with the rest of the hamlet. Inside, chefs cook filets, and sea bass, and stir fry, and creme broulee. Bartenders poor champagne, beer, coffee, and wine. There is rarely a dinner break during a card tournament because the players are eating gourmet food at tableside.

This is Baden, home of the European Poker Tour's Baden Classic.
When the tournament began, it was said that Finland's Patrik Atonius was late. Something in his travel had set him back and his blinds were being taken faster than filet mignon from the kitchen. The man had been on a rush in recent months, winning the Scandinavian Championship and taking third place in the EPT Barcelona event. Perhaps the players thought it best to scoop up his chips before he had a chance to defend them. Somehow, though, he stepped up and worked his way back over two days and came to the final table with nearly the chip lead.

Here's how the final table players stacked up as the final table began:

Seat 1: Gunnar Osterbrod (NOR) 184,300
Seat 2: Patrick Antonius (FIN) 308,400
Seat 3: Torstein Iverson (NOR) 179,500
Seat 4: Edgar Skjevold (NOR) 90,400
Seat 5: Peter Muhlbeck (Austria) 247,700
Seat 6: Ingemar Backman (SWE) 294,500
Seat 7: Christian Grundtvig (DEN) 180,000
Seat 8: Abel Meijberg (NL) 315,100

It took nearly an hour before the first of the final table players said auf wiedersehen. Edgar Skjevold made a stand with AQ and ran into Patrik Antonius' pair of jacks. Edgar got all in pre-flop and the board didn't help him out. He cashed for 20,520 euros. A former financial analyst from Oslo, Edgar burst onto the poker scene last year when he won $425,000 in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. After a quiet year following that success he placed well in the WSOP main event this summer (winning more than $100,000).
The rail was full of Nordic men cheering for Edgar. The Norsemen is a group of players bent on showing the world that Norwegians are a force with which to be reckoned. When Edgar left, the Norsement didn't stop cheering. Why? They had two players in the final eight. Any accusations (which there were none I heard) that they were working together were quickly dispatched with when the players got in a major pot together on Day 2 holding aces and kings.

Once Edgar was gone, the Norwegian crew was left to root for Torstein Iverson. Unfortunately, he was the next to go. He got all in with an over-pair of sixes on a baby board. That board held two hearts and Gunnar Osterbrod had the heart flush draw. The heart fell on the river. Iverson cashed for 27,360 euro. Father-of-two, Torstein has been playing cards from a young age and has always believed he had a special skill. He's been supporting his young family from Oslo as a poker pro for the last two years, mixing live and online action.
Though this tournament was held in the heart of Austria, only one countryman made the final table. Peter Muhlbek lives in Vienna with his wife and two kids, graduated with an MBA and had a job offer from international accountancy firm, but his poker earnings were such that he couldn't afford the pay cut. After gradually getting chipped down, he got all in with KQ on a king-high board. It was no good against Abel's pair of aces. He cashed for 41,040 euros.
With the blinds moving up to 5000/10000/1000, the remaining five players stacked up like this:

G Osterbrod 471.5k
P Antonius 212k
I Backman 381k
C Grundtvig 133.5k
A Meijberg 608k

During a break, the rail started to notice what the only Swede at the final table had done with his chip stack. He'd turned it into his country's flag.
Ingemar Back was at home in the mountains, having been a professional snowboarder for 12 years, representing Sweden at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. He also is also a founding partner in the successful 'We' chain of street fashion wear. Poker has been a hobby for the last two years, and although he has never played at this level before, he looked relaxed among the pros.

After the break, though, he might have gotten a little too relaxed. He pushed with AKs and got called by Abel Meijberg who had pocket jacks. The massive 650,000+ pot got pushed to Abel and Backman headed out in fifth place, cashing for 41,040.
Edgar Skjevold, you'll recall, won the 2004 PokerStars.com World Championship of Online Poker. In a strange twist of fate, the second place finisher in that same event was sitting across the table from him. Christian Grundtvig, a one-time stamp collecting enthusiast, had ended day one with a large stack and rode it all the way to the final table. He found pocket jacks and pushed in. Osterbrod called with AK and by the river had made a full house. Grundtvig was out in fourth place earning 47,880 euros.
The Netherlands had pinned their hopes on 22-year-old Abel Meijberg. The young student of industrial engineering from Groningen in Holland started playing poker around two years ago, mostly online. He has no superstitions and relies on his analytical skills to give him an edge. Abel had a refreshing attitude towards this final table: "I'm already a winner. This is the biggest prize money of my life, so any extra is just for fun."

And the extra money built up and up until he was three-handed. Then things took a turn for the worse. He got AQ all-in against Antonius' AK. The ensuing loss crippled him. After doubling up once after that, his ace was no match for Atonius' pair of fours. Miejberg was out in third place, cashing for 61,560 euros.
That left Antonius and Osterbrod to fight it our. At the beginning of heads-up play, Antonius had a 2-1 chip lead. He would not look back. It would take just aobut hald an hour (including a five minute break) for Antonius to chip away at Osterbrod. The Antonius flopped two pair, eights and fours on a ragedy board. Osterbrod didn't believe Antonius' bet, pushed all in, then discovered he was all but finished, holding only queen high. Osterbrod cashed for 120,384.

Antonius may have been late for the party, but like all good revelers, was the last to leave. When he walked out, he had another 218,990 euros to his name.

6:46pm--It's all over. Patrik Antonius flopped two pair on an 84x flop. Gunnar picked the wrong time to make a move with overcards and exited in second place. A full report will be out shortly.

6:41pm--Blinds are now 8000/16000

6:32pm-- Patrik has opened up his chip lead some more and is steadily chipping away at Gunnar's stack. We're on break for just a few minutes.

6:14pm--A few words on our two final players.

Gunnar finished his ecomomics degree last spring and is giving professional poker a try until he decides on his next career step. He makes a regular income from online cash games, but has never won a significant tournament before. Playing only his second EPT event, that could change soon here in Baden. But it is going to take some serious work against Patrik's massive stack and greater experience.

This has been a remarkable two months for Patrik. He won the Scandinavian Championship (70,000) in Stockholm in August, then made the final table at the Barcelona EPT, where he picked up £72,870 for third place. Now he is in his second EPT final table in three attempts. Patrik is the man in form.




6:10pm--The players are heads up. Patrik has about a 2-1 chip lead.



6:00pm--Abel Meijberg has been eliminated in third place cashing for 61,560. He doubled through once after being crippled, but called all in with A2s against Patrik's on the next hand. A student of industrial engineering from Groningen in Holland, Abel started playing poker around two years ago, mostly online. He has no superstitions and relies on his analytical skills to give him an edge. Abel has a refreshing attitude towards this final table: "I'm already a winner. This is the biggest prize money of my life, so any extra is just for fun."



5:57pm--I suppose no matter what language you speak, the term "chip-lead" is easily translated. Right now, I'm trying to find a goof Finnish translator, because Fin Atonius has the lead.

5:54pm--Trouble in Abel-ville. Abel has just been crippled after getting all-in pre-flop with AQ versus Patrik's AK. The board didn't help Abel one bit. Already, the crowd is murmuring about "a chip and a chair." Since Patrik had lost some chips in the last half an hour, Abel had him covered, but just barely.

5:49pm--Got quiet didn't it? Again, I have to appluad the structure here in Baden. Deep stack poker is good poker. We've had no massive hands since we returned from break. There has been some jousting and a couple showdowns, but nothing massive. These guys are playing pretty well.

5:14pm--Chip counts at break:
Blinds: 5000/10,000/1000
Abel--563K
Patrik--769K
Gunnar-478K

5:07pm--Abel just took a hit to the massive double-up benefit of Patrik Antonius. The players got all in pre-flop. Abel held AJ to Patrik's TT. The pair held up and this is going to be onoe helluva three-handed contest.

4:59pm--Christian Grundtvig has been eliminated in fourth place. He pushed all in with a pair of jacks. Gunnar called with AKs. The board brougt AKxQK and Christian exited the contest. In case you're not aware, Christian's favourite pastime used to be stamp collecting, and he still runs his own private dealership. Poker, however, has been his primary activity over the last two years, with lucrative results. Christian finished runner up to Edgar Skjervold in the 2004 WCOOP. He earns 47,880 for his efforts.



4:37pm--Do not, repeat do not, underestimate Abel. The media had lengthy discussions last night about a laydown Abel made yesterday. It was one of those pots that make or break you and I'm almost certain he was ahead when he mucked his hand. I'll admit, I spent too much time talking about how I wouldn't have made the same laydown. In retrospect, he made the right move. He came into today with the chip lead and has not looked back. He just called that all-in with pocket jacks (a lesser holding than he laid down yesterday). He knows when to gamble. This time, it paid off handsomely. He has a commanding chip lead right now. I estimate it is more than 2-1 over Gunnar in second place.

4:32pm--Ingemar Backman has just been busted out on a massive 650K+ pot. He pushed with AKs and got called by Abel who had pocket jacks. For fifth place he gets 41,040.



4:10pm--Play has resumed with the following blinds and chip counts.

Blinds 5k/10k/1k

G Osterbrod 471.5k
P Antonius 212k
I Backman 381k
C Grundtvig 133.5k
A Meijberg 608k

3:37pm--As the players finish up their lunch, I thought it might be a good time to tell you about snowboarding champ turned poker player Ingemar Backman. Ingemar is the last Swede standing out of the 20 or so who made the journey to Austria. He is at home in the mountains having been a professional snowboarder for 12 years, representing Sweden at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. He also is also a founding partner in the successful 'We' chain of street fashion wear. Poker has been a hobby for the last two years, and although he has never played at this level before, he looks relaxed among the pros.

No doubt he has a creative side. Check out his patriotic chip stack.




3:00pm-- The players have taken a one-hour break to grab a quick bite to eat. In the meantime, here are your chip counts and blinds heading into the next level.

Blinds 5k/10k/1k

G Osterbrod 471.5k
P Antonius 212k
I Backman 381k
C Grundtvig 133.5k
A Meijberg 608k

2:46pm--Peter Muhlbek is out in sixth place. KQ on a king-high board was no good against Abel's air of aces. Peter, who lives in Vienna with his wife and two kids, graduated with an MBA and had a job offer from international accountancy firm, but his poker earnings were such that he couldn't afford the pay cut. This 41,040 euro payday shouldn't hurt the cause.



2:35pm-- Torstein Iverson has just departed in seventh place. He got all in with an over-pair of sixes on a baby board with two hearts. Gunnar had the heart flush draw and got there on the river. Iverson cashes for 27,360. Father-of-two Torstein has been playing cards from a young age and has always believed he had a special skill. He’s been supporting his young family from Oslo as a poker pro for the last two years, mixing live and online action.



2:29pm-- Gunnar just took a 250K pot off Christian. All-in pre-flop, Gunnar had AK vs. Christian's TT. That loss moved Christian down to the short stack...looking to be arous 100K, maybe a little more.

2:17pm-- Peter just took a very nice pot off Patrik. Peter pushed all in on a ten-high flop and Patrik called with JT. Peter showed pocket queens and took down a nice pot.

2:04pm--The play is starting to get a bit more aggressive here after the break. Abel has re-raised Patrik pre-flop and forced him to lay down his hand. Gunnar just re-raised Ingemar all-in pre-flop to get him to lay down his hand as well. A conversation with some of the other folks in the room has the early money on Patrik and Torstein getting heads up. Other bettors have Abel and Peter in the mix as well. I'm not willing to put my money down on this one. Patrik's aggressive style has earned him a lot of chips over the past couple of days, but it seems the players have decided to not back down as much. At the same time, it seems Patrik might be dialing back his aggression just a bit. I wouldn't be suprised to see him work a good trap here eventually. Torstein is in a good rhythm and seems to be picking his spots well. Peter is not getting involved too much, but when he does, he seems to have the goods. Ingemar is playing a lot of pots. Abel and Christian are staying out of the way in most hands, but are playing the hands they are in strongly.

1:51pm--A nice scrap just now between Gunnar and Patrik. After some none-too-light betting, both players checked the river. Gunnar showed...six high to Patrik's pair of nines. From the crowd came the immistakable voice of Noah Boeken: "Six high no good?"

1:42pm-- After a break, we have returned to play.

1:10pm--Edgar Skjevold has been eliminated in eighth place. He made a stand with AQ and ran into Patrik Antonius' pair of jacks. Edgar got all in pre-flop and the board didn't help him out. He cashes for 20,520. A former financial analyst from Oslo, Edgar burst onto the poker scene last year when he won $425,000 in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. After a quiet year following that success he placed well in the WSOP main event this summer (winning more than $100,000). Nice job, Edgar.



1:03pm--As is pretty normal for a televised EPT final table, the action is not very big. The psychology is always such that no one wants to be the first knocked off. What's more, the structure here in Baden has been fantastic. The players have loved the deep stack play. The shortest stack at the table started with 15 big blinds. We're actually getting so see some poker played among the final nine. It's rather refreshing. In other refreshing news, a trip to the bar for an orange juice has turned into a quandry. Upon my return to Blog HQ, I've found the orange juice has been spiked and I've actually picked up a Mimosa. That better explains why the juice was being served in a flute. It does not better explain why I've chosen to keep the drink and sip it like a lady.

12:53pm--Things just got a little fun. If you missed the 12:44 time stamp, check out the relationship between Edgar and Christian. Just now, they tangled, both getting all in preflop. Christian held AK. Edgar held a monster...AK. The board didn't flush either of them up, so play continues after the split pot.

12:44pm--My, my. We've seen a showdown. Ingemar Backman and Edgar Skjevold tangled on a king-high board. Both had queens, but Edgar had the king. Incidentally, if you didn't already know, Edgar is know as RAGDE on PokerStars. He won the 2004 World Championship of Online Poker. In other news, Christian Grundtvig is als sitting at this final table. Why is that relevant? As it happens, Christian came in second place in the 2004 WCOOP. That means we have a chance of seeing a repeat heads-up match between the two big guns from the 2004 WCOOP.

12:39pm--Alright, here's a hyopthetical for you. You're sitting in a televised poker tournament. Someone's cell phone rings. It sounds like yours, but you're pretty sure it is not. Shortly thereafter, a wild siren screams through the room and an Austrian voice speaking in a foreign language announces something over a loudspeaker. Two TV producers look at each other and run at a dead sprint out of the room. What do you do?

12:34pm--As usual the action is pretty tight in the first level. A raise is taking down most pots pre-flop. The only confrontation we've seen so far was Abel coming in for a raise, Patrik re-raising, and Abel folding. This happened a little bit yesterday as well. As the two starting chip leaders, Abel predicted he and Patrik would clash. Their styles are noticably different, however. Abel is a reserved (and I can confirm, very careful) player. Patrik is the antithesis of that. We'll see how it turns out.

12:25pm--Blinds will be 3000/6000/500.

12:22pm--The players are being introduced. That usually indicates we're about to get started.

The final table here in Baden is about to begin. The latest updates will be at the top of the page. Click here for a look at the final table players. Chip counts and payouts are below.

Seat 1: Gunnar Osterbrod (NOR) 184,300
Seat 2: Patrick Antonius (FIN) 308,400
Seat 3: Torstein Iverson (NOR) 179,500
Seat 4: Edgar Skjevold (NOR) 90,400
Seat 5: Peter Muhlbeck (Austria) 247,700
Seat 6: Ingemar Backman (SWE) 294,500
Seat 7: Christian Grundtvig (DEN) 180,000
Seat 8: Abel Meijberg (NL) 315,100

Payouts

1. 218,990
2. 120,384
3. 61,560
4. 47,880
5. 41,040
6. 34,200
7. 27,360
8. 20,520

Seat 1: Gunnar Osterbrod (NOR) 184,300


Seat 2: Patrik Antonius (FIN) 308,400



Seat 3: Torstein Iverson (NOR) 179,500

Seat 4: Edgar Skjevold (NOR) 90,400

Seat 5: Peter Muhlbeck (Austria) 247,700

Seat 6: Ingemar Backman (SWE) 294,500

Seat 7: Christian Grundtvig (DEN) 180K

Seat 8: Abel Meijberg (NL) 315,100

5:19pm--The final TV table has been set.

Seat 1: Gunnar Osterbrod (NOR) 184,300
Seat 2: Patrick Antonius (FIN) 308,400
Seat 3: Torstein Iverson (NOR) 179,500
Seat 4: Edgar Skjevold (NOR) 90,400
Seat 5: Peter Muhlbeck (Austria) 247,700
Seat 6: Ingemar Backman (SWE) 294,500
Seat 7: Christian Grundtvig (DEN) 180,000
Seat 8: Abel Meijberg (NL) 315,100


5:18pm--Morten Jensen eliminated in 9th place, cashing for 13,680 euros.

4:45pm--Martin Pollack has expired in tenth place. All in with KQ vs. T8, his opponent Abel Meijberg spiked a ten. Pollack cashed for 8,208. The players are currently re-drawing for seats at the final table. We will play until we lose one more player, then break for the day with plans to play thein final TV table on Thursday.

3:47pm--At long last, Austria's Kurt Muller, who began the day in 32nd place out of 36, has expired. Down to a precious few chips, he went all in with ATo and got four callers. Terminator Patrick Antonius flopped two-pair and send Mullter out in 11th place. Two more to go until the TV table.

3:18pm--Tobias Persson is out in 12th place, cashing for 8,208 euro.

3:11pm--David McGeachie just became further proof that no one is match for Patrik Antonius' ratty queens. McGeachie pushed all in with K8 on a Q62 flop. Antonius held Q7 and it held up. McGeachie takes 13th. Money goes up for the next person out.

3:05pm--PokerStars qualifier Dustin Dorrance-Bowman has exited in 14th place. He got all in with Patrik Atonius on a queen high board with only one card to come. Antonius had the queen, which was too big for Bowman's 88.

2:48pm--Paul Testud will be heading back to France. In the cutoff, he pushed with KQ. Peter Muhlbeck called with AQ. The best hand held up. Testud cashes for 6,840 euros.

2:29pm--Henrik Joern is out. After a rolle-caoster day, Joern saw a king-high flop with AK. Thing is, it was all diamonds and Gunnar Osterbrod held T7 of...indeed...diamonds. Joern takes 16th place. Money goes up from here.

2:24pm--PokerStars qualifier Thomas Bihl just suffered a very similar departure as Jason McCombie. Under the gun, Bihl pushed in with pocket fives. Tobias Persson woke up in the big blind with pocket aces. The aces held up and Bihl left in 17th place, cashing for 5,472 euros.

2:19pm--PokerStars FPP qualifier Jason McCombie has been eliminated in 18th place after pushing all-in under the gun with KT suited in clubs. Gunnar Osterbrod looked down at pocket aces, made the call, and busted our man. McCombie will take 5,472 euros back to the U.S. (In fact, he may trade them for dollars before he leaves, but that is neither here nor there). Nice job, Jason.

2:03pm--Julian Thew, who came into the day on a very short-stack and survied int the money has been eliminated in 19th place.

1:51pm--We've lost three more, and now have 19 players remaining. The money jumps up after we lose the next player. David Kleman got in with pocket nines versus pockt kings AND pocket aces. Edgar "RAGDE" Skjevold (2004 WCOOP champion) was on the wrong end of the hand as well with the kings. He is still alive. Kleman is not.

1:20pm--Two PokerStars qualifiers have nearly doubled up at the expense of two other players (who have now busted out). Jason McCombie just busted Kjersti Grini. She held J7 to to McCombie's TT. She didn't improve and busted in 22nd place. Then Dustin Dorrance-Bowman knocked out Erich Kollmann. Kollman got in ahead with KJ but lost to Dustin's QT when a ten came on the flop. Kollman placed 21st.

1:06pm--We are on a short break between levels. As it stands right now, Gunnar Osterbrod of Norway looks like that chip leader with about about 272,000 in chips. For those in the states following the progress of Jason McCombie, he has about 37K. He will be in need of making some sort of move soon. Also, young Dustin Dorrance-Bowman is holding strong, as well.

12:43pm-- Some big action in the tournament area. First off, we lost Frode Fagerli in 25th place with AJ vs Julian Thew's KQ. A king came on the river. Daniel Larsson departed in 24th place with 44 vs. QQ. Both players cashed for 4,104 euros.

In other news, we saw a crazy suck, re-suck hand. Christian Grundtvig got all in with AA vs KT. The board came down 55K...K...A. The Danes are some happy, jumping around folk right now.

12:37pm--Stefan Rapp is out in 26th place. He was pleased to get all-in with pocket nines, especially when his opponent turned over 33. The flop came out gruelingly slow. In the middle of it was a three. Rapp couldn't draw out his nine. He takes home 4,104 euros.

12:32pm--Jonathan Hancock is out in 27th place. He got AQ in vs. 99. A nine on the flop almost sealed the deal. The turn opened up a gutshot straight draw, leaving Hanock with four king outs. None of them came. Hancock cashed for 4,104 euros.

12:12pm--In the money. Alex Steic, Gyorgy Moger, Dario Alioto, and Caspar Hassen have all departed. We are now down to 27. That means were in the money. The next eight players out will get a little more than 4000 Euros.

11:48am--Five players have busted out since play began 45 minutes ago. Rob Hollink, Markus Friberg, Stefan Jonasson, Morten Erlandsen, and David Colclough have all departed. In other news, after losing his first all-in, short-stacked Julian Thew has doubled through twice, both times through Alex Stevic (who seems understandably a bit frustrated with the developments).

EPT Baden Day 2 is about to begin. We have 36 players remaining. The players will compete until eight remain. The top 27 make the money. Click here for a list of chip counts as we begin the day. The most recent events from the day will be at the top of this post.

Payouts

1. 218,990
2. 120,384
3. 61,560
4. 47,880
5. 41,040
6. 34,200
7. 27,360
8. 20,520
9. 13,680
10-12. 8,208
13-15. 6,840
16-18. 5,472
19-27. 4,104

See the links on the right for all the coverage from day one. Click here for end of day one chip counts.

Word spreads quickly in a poker tournament room. Like wildfire on a dry mountain, word circulated that Roland Dewolfe, recent WPT champion, had busted out. I'd seen it happen. He kicked himself later, replaying his ace-king versus ace-ace hand, trying to decide if he should've played it any differently. Everyone I heard said he couldn't have done anything else. Nonetheless, it stung.

The word on the street was two Europeans at table four had stacked up. Daniel Larsson and Christian Grundtvig had moved toward the chip lead and didn't seem to letting up. They would not end the day with the chip lead, but they would be close.
And word was spreading, too, that play would end when there were 36 players remaining. The Austrian Poker Scouts were standing on the stairs, looking down over Noah Boeken's table. He'd had an up and down day, most infamously cracking a poor gent's kings with A6. It would come back to haunt Boeken. He finally found pocket kings and got all his chips in. It just so happened he ran into aces. Boeken busted in 37th place and play ended for the day.
And then there were 36. Among them is Jason McCombie, PokerStars FPP qualifier and four other PokerStars cash qualifiers. McCombie sits in 15th place and stands a decent chance of making the money (top 27 pay) if he doesn't run into any monsters.

Play is set to resume at 11am on Wednesday. We'll be playing down to the final eight players. Keep it here for all the action.

1 MUHLBECK Peter (Austria) 165,600
2 OSTERBROD Gunnar (NOR) 152,775
3 ANTONIUS Patrik (SWE) 113,075
4 LARSSON Daniel (SWE) 97,075 PokerStars qualifier
5 POLLAK Martin (Austria) 89,200
6 GRUNDTVIG Christian (DK) 88,350
7 JOERN Henrik (Austria) 84,950
8 SKJEVOLD Edgar (NOR) 82,975
9 MEIJBERG Abel (NL) 81,250
10 IVERSEN Torstein (NOR) 78,875
11 PERSSON Tobias (SWE) 55,800
12 HANSEN Caspar (DK) 48,000
13 JENSEN Morten (DK) 47,475
14 BACKMAN Ingemar (SWE) 46,450
15 MCCOMBIE Jason (USA) 44,900 PokerStars FPP qualifier
16 STEVIC Alexander (SWE) 43,500
17 RAPP Stefan A (SWE)41,625
18 GRINI Kjersti (DK) 39,200
19 MCGEACHIE David (GB) 36,250
20 ALIOTO Dario (Austria) 31,750
21 YE Zhengfa (Austria) 31,175
22 KOLLMANN Erich (Austria) 29,575
23 MOGER Gyorgy H 28,900
24 COLCLOUGH David (GB) 27,450
25 HANCOCK Jonathan (GB) 26,975 PokerStars qualifier
26 KLEMAN David 26,400
27 BIHL Thomas D 24,500 PokerStars qualifier
28 FAGERLI Frode (NOR) 22,025
29 ERLANDSEN Morten (DK) 21,050
30 HOLLINK Rob (NL) 19,450
31 DORRANCE-BOWMAN Dustin (USA) 19,375 PokerStars qualifier
32 MULLER Kurt (Austria) 16,450
33 TESTUD Paul (FR) 16,125
34 THEW Julian (GB) 15,675
35 JONASSON Stefan (SWE) 11,775 PokerStars qualifier
36 FRIBERG Markus 3,600

Well, as it turns out, we're either playing until 11pm local time or until we get down to 36 players. With only 40 players remaining, the end could come soon. A few notes:

Roland Dewolfe has been crippled with AK vs. AA.

Noah Boeken's naked aces can't lose.

Daniel Larsson, Christian Grundtvig, and Patrick Antonius look really big right now

FPP qualifier Jason McCombie is still in.

I've also been handed a list of payouts (all prizes in Euros):

1. 218,990
2. 120,384
3. 61,560
4. 47,880
5. 41,040
6. 34,200
7. 27,360
8. 20,520
9. 13,680
10-12. 8,208
13-15. 6,840
16-18. 5,472
19-27. 4,104

Some closing pictures and chip counts will be out in a bit. Until then, here's a shot of the so-called Poker Scouts (aka Austrian chip runners). Any time a player is moved to another table, one of these ladies carry the chips in a little black bucket.

If you read this post before, I've now received an explanation for why Young got some chips back. Apparently, the 700 900 in chips he got back was the amount of his raise over Testud's original raise. Thus, the chips he lost constituted a call of Testud's bet. All in all, it seems like a reasonable decision. What's more, it's a damned good reminder that if you're in seat one or ten, your cards are very vulnerable. Be careful.

The room is still abuzz about a confusing descision involving The Sun newspaper's Simon "Suffolk Punch" Young. As it happened, Paul Testud came in for a raise. Young had just more than 4000 in chips and decided to make a stand with AT. He pushed all in, not yet revealing his cards because there was still a person to act. The remaining player folded and Testud called, revealing AK. Young went to reveal his cards and discovered they weren't there anymore. The dealer had mucked them.

The floor was called and a strange ruling came forth. Obviously, since Young's cards were in the muck, there was no getting them back. His chips, however, remained another question. Testud had him covered and likely very beat. While I'm not a Roberts Rules or TDA expert, it would seem one of two things would happen. Either Young gets his chips back or he doesn't. It seemed fair to give Young his chips back, but at the same time, it is up to Young--who was in the ten-seat-- to protect his cards. Young's defense was he had no chip to put on them because they were all in the middle. Still, it was up to him to protect them.

And still, there was the matter of the chips.

The decison? Odd, at best. Young was given 700 chips back. The remainder went to Testud. Why 700? I still haven't heard a good explanation.

If there are any TDA experts out there, shoot me an e-mail at blog @ pokerstars dot com. How would you have ruled?

Just a few more words as the evening progresses here. It appears Daniel "looptroop" Larsson has moved into the chip lead with around 80,000 in chips at the 600/1200 level. Notable names still remaining: Noah Boeken, Ben Grundy, Alex Stevic, Cecilia Nordenstam, PokerStars FPP qualifier Jason McCombie, Roland DeWolfe, and many others. Right now, around 60 players remain. Play is scheduled to last for another three hours or so.

Below you'll find the crack reporting of journalist-turned-marketing man, Conrad Brunner, who has the story on the guy in the picture below. If you've missed any of the earlier reports, look for links in the "Baden Briefs" section on the right.

Stefan Rapp, our favourite Austria semi-professional table tennis player, is the local boy aiming to make a mark in Baden. We remember Stefan for making the final table at the first Barcelona EPT event while wearing a lurid Hawaii shirt.

He's looking nattier in Baden in a velvet jacket, set off with a pair rather unusual sunglasses. Stefan, whose chip sack was sinking at the time, was handed the specs by his brother in mid-tournament - with instant results.

He made a late position raise and the player to his right took offence: "Just because you've got these fancy new sunglasses, you think you can make a steal."

"Move all-in, and you will see for yourself if I'm stealing," said Stefan.

His opponent moved all-in, Stefan called instantly and flipped two kings to his opponents Ace three. The Austrian's hand held up and he now has 16k

Supernova explosions are among the most energetic events in the universe. It happens when massive Stars, eight time the size of the Earth's sun, collapse due to loss of their life-giving fuel. The biggest of these stars actually leave behind black holes upon their demise.

Suffice it to say, Casino Baden is home to two massive black holes at the moment.

As we labor through level four in the most cush of surroundings, PokerStars' stars Greg Raymer and Isabelle Mercier are on the rail. Mercier's demise is less storied than Raymer's. She lost a good portion of chips after investing a lot in a pair of jacks then being forced to lay them down on a nine-high board after an opponent pushed all in. She survived for a few more levels before pushing in from the big blind with pocket fours after one person had limped in from the cutoff. The cutoff called with KQ and improved enough to send Mercier on her way.

Raymer's tale is a bit more storied. Raymer had lost about half his stack before the final hand. It seems the big blind had taken a walk. His chips were up for grabs. So, it seemed a bit suspicious when a player in early position came in for a sizable raise. Raymer thought it was a bit hinky, so much so that his own cards were irrelevant. Raymer pushed in his remaining 5000 in chips, fulling expecting the early-position raiser to fold. When, in fact, the call came, Raymer expected to see an un-foldable monster. Instead, he saw AQ. Not a monster, but good enough to beat Raymer's 5-6.

In other news, PokerStars Frequent Player qualifier Dan Hahn of Portland, Oregon has just suffered a sad beat. Holding KQ on a KKx board, he got in versus KJ. I suppose there's little need to explain the sickness of a jack falling on the river.

That said, I've just learned there is another man from Portland is in the field. Mark Potovsky is sitting with Marcel Luske upstairs. We'll hopefully have more on him later.

And so with the black holes sucking the superstardom from the room, we go in search of other stars. We've found a few. Their pictures are below.

Just logging on? Check out The Pre-Game Ritz.

Just a few notes to start off. As we begin, the field has 175 players. Registration will remain open for the first three levels. Chip counts mean little at this point, but we'll have them as the hours go on in the right hand box under Baden briefs. With the game just beginning, I thought we should start with a few pictures from the floor. Included below is my version of a gossip column pictorial. That's what blogging is all about, right?

A stand-up comedian in America once spoke at naughty length about how a man reacts when he gets out of prison. Not to be too dirty about it, but a man has needs and when he can finally meet them, the most mundane of luxuries (be it women, food, accomodation, etc) seem like paradise. The punchline goes something like this: "This can't be a regular saltine cracker. What is this, a Ritz?"

And so we planed our way over from London to Austria, where a cab driver seemed intent on making the taxi men look like ninnies. At no less than 150 kilometers per hour (I looked at the speedometer), we barreled down the Austrian highway and into a little hamlet called Baden. Anout 25 kilometers south of Vienna, Baden is a little shopping and gambling village. Late at night, when a loneyly blogger goes a walking, the town is quiet. A old lady walked her dog. A few Badenites sipped beers in a bar. The casino lights and fountains dance as the only activity on the horizon.

Why then would I bring up the Ritz cracker analogy? In short, we members of the press and poker playing community have happened upon an Autumn paradise in this little town. Casino Baden not only rolled out the red carpet for us here, but ordered out for the rest of the red carpets in all of Austria. As I sit typing in a wonderfully appointed press area (complete with high speed internet access, an ample power supply, and waitresses bringing me the richest coffee in the land) a piano player effortlessly churns out old jazz rags and standards.
Now, don't get me wrong. The Vic in London was an historic venue with many a tale to be told. However, with history comes age and The Vic's history made for rough conditions for the press and players. It was a fine tournament, but covering it and playing in it proved to be a challenge. Hence, upon our arrival here, we've been speaking in as many languages as necessary to thank our hosts for their generous offerings (in fact, I was just greeted by two lovely Austrian waitressess who offered me some chilled water and a fresh coffee).

Indeed, it doesn't take much to impress poker players and press. Here, it has happened ten-fold.

The casino itself sits on a small hit, backed by several larger rises. The grass is green, the flowers are somehow still in bloom, and fountains shoot water in the air in every direction. A small river, smelling of the region's famed sulphur springs, runs through the middle of the shopping district. It's here that a couple hundred poker players have come to compete for an EPT title and soak in all that is Baden.
Inside the casino, players have been checking in all morning, preparing to play in their second tournament inside a week's time. The poker tournament area is set up and ready to greet them. In a few minutes time, we'll get underway and start this party.
PokerStars Conrad Brunner just saw me pounding at the keys. When he walked over, I spoke at length about how happy I am with the venue. I may have overdone it a bit. In a way only he can, he nodded, spied my fourth cup of Austria's finest, and said, "Not too much coffee, Brad."

Indeed, perhaps I am a little over-caffeinated and quite excited. However, it is quite nice to be greeted in such a manner. And lest you think it's just me, allow me to offer a final photo. Roland Dewolfe, who recently won the World Poker Tour's Paris event, seems to be just as pleased.
Seriously, what is this? A Ritz?

The weather in London, despite a few hours of drizzle, had been quite nice. The skies had been clear, the temperatures warmer than one might expect. Edgware Road teemed with exotic, international sights and smells. Rich tombacco smoke slipped from the Indian coffee houses. Arabic women looked from beneath veils as children trailed along the sidewalk. Meats spun on spits in windows up and down the street. And just around the corner, through a revolving door, stood the staid gatekeepers of London's gambling glitterati.

The Grosvenor Victoria Casino is said to be among the most respected gambling venues in greater London. Its people have rules and they cling to them as if they were the last ties they have to the fine days when people respected each other and institutions such as The Vic.

It was in this setting that 236 poker players divided into two flights of 118 and battled for three days until eight of them reached a finely appointed table underneath televison lights. The 16 players who had fallen before them had all walked away with money, but it was the final eight who stood to make the kind of money people will make an international call to phone home about.

Among them were a couple of PokerStars online qualifiers, a roofer, the son of a bridge champion, and a Russian champion. When the cameras began to roll, the final eight players stacked up as so:

1. Noah Jefferson (USA) 350K
2. Jonas Helness (Norway) 700K
3. Paul King (England) 160K
4. Mark Teltsher (England)700K
5. Graham Clarkson (Scotland)175K -- PokerStars qualifier
6. Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 58K
7. Istvan Novak (Hungary) 100K -- PokerStars qualifier
8. Dale Greenleaf (England) 160K

For a full hour, it seemed there was more than money binding the players to the table. Blinds were given up without a fight. Raises reared their head, but re-raises were few and far between. It was not until Graham Clarkson, an e-commerce analyst from Scotland (aka flashbadger on PokerStars), decided to play a hand to the river did we see action. When Clarkson opened the door to post-flop poker play, the doors to the loser's lounge soon opened. Clarkson lost a good portion of his chips when his A6 was no match for Kirill Gerasimov's AK. Though he had few chips left, he managed to turn two trash hands into winners before finally watching his QQ succumb to Noah Jefferson's AK. For his eighth place finish, Clarkson won 13,889 pounds.

Indeed, as often happens at televised final tables, when one player gave up the ghost, others soon followed. On the very next hand, Istav Novak's KT was no match for Paul King's A2. He placed seventh and won 17,350 pounds.

Dale Greenleaf did not want to make as hasty an exit and felt fairly confident when he flopped top pair. He found himself in a betting battle with American Noah Jefferson. When Greenleaf got all-in, Jefferson didn't seem pleased with himself.

"I've got myself into a predicament here," he said.

Turns out, Jefferson had basically committed himself to the pot with a nine-high flush draw. Unfortunately for Greenleaf, that flush got there on the turn. Greenleaf had a re-draw for a queen-high flush, but those outs didn't materialized. Greenleaf was out in sixth place, cashing for 20,820.


Against the odds, Russian Kirill Gerasimov had surived thus far. He had come to the final table with just seven big blinds and had fught his way all the way to fifth place. There are those who would say he should've lived longer. He came in for a raise pre-flop and Jonas Helness called. When the flop came down 789, Kirill got his chips in the middle, only to find that his pocket aces were no good to 5-6 offsuit. Helness had flopped the straight. The 34-year-old Russian pro was out in fifth place, earning 24,290 pounds.


To that point and for a while thereafter, the action had not been what one would call overtly dramatic. However, after a ten-minute break, that would all change. On a flop of 782, Jonas Helness bet out 60,000 and Noah Jefferson called. A jack came on the turn. Jonas bet out, Noah moved all in and Jonas called. Jonas showed two pair to Noah's top pair. Noah was behind and the look on his fce showed it. Then came the river. Jefferson paired his second card for a bigger two pair. Normally reserved, Jefferson breifly exploded with uncontrollable excitement. The American tournament player now had a chance at first place.

It would not be long before Jefferson and Helness tangled again. Jefferson came in for a raise, Helness re-raised, and Jefferson pushed all-in. After thinking for nearly five minutes, Helness called. The players both showed...

A pair of jacks.

Several people around the table murmurred, "Here comes the flush."

Surely, not.

Then the flop: three hearts. Noah put his hands to his head. When players are all-in, the dealer moves the cards to the center of the table. Sometimes it is hard to remember who had which hand.

In this case Noah didn't seem to remember if he had the heart. After half a second he said... "I have the heart, right?" Indeed he did.

But turn and river proved ot be less dramatic. No heart. Just a split pot and two sighs of relief.

Relief for Jefferson would be short-lived. With first place in his sights, Jefferson was tickled to see pocket kings in his hand. When he and Londoner Mark Teltcher got in a betting war, Jefferson only had to worry about one thing: the aces Teltcher held in his hand. Both players got all their chips in the middle and the aces held up. Jefferson's shot at the title wasn't over, but his chances were severaly diminished.

With four players still remaining, the chips stacked up like this.

Jefferson--262K
Helness--725K
King--52K
Teltcher--1.3 million

Short-stacked, part-time English pro Paul King doubled up once with aces, but could never get a foothold after that. He eventually put his chips in with K3. It was no match for his opponent's ace. King was out in fourth place, earning 41,640 pounds.


Finally, Jefferson would give up the ghost. After popping over to The Vic after a friend's Irish wedding, Jefferson battled his way all the way to four-handed play. He got his chips in with AQ after missing a flop, hopinh Helness had less of the flop. In fact, Helness has a pair of sixes. Jefferson couldn't hit his draw and he is out in third place, earning a very respectable 72,870 pounds.


Those who predicted a long, drawn-out battle, likely didn't see Teltcher turning a set of jacks at the same time Helness flopped a king-high flush draw. And anyone who didn't see that coming, likely would not have predicted all the chips going in the middle with one card to come. Nonetheless, that's what happened and Helness' flush didn't come. He earned 145,740 poinds for his second place finish.

That left first for Teltcher, who won 280,000 pounds and a seat to the Monte Carlo Grand Final next year.

12:44pm--Well, I am a damned idiot. It's over. Mark turned a set of jacks and moved his chips into the middle. Jonas called all-in on king-high diamond flush draw. He missed. Mark won it all. More later.

12:24am--I might have failed to mention. We took a ten-minute break. We're about to head into heads up play between Jonas and Mark. For all intents and purposes, the players are even in chips. As I've said in the past, I've been known to be wrong before, but I suspect we could be here for a while. How about this? I'll put the over/under on the finish time at 2:12am.

12:08am--Noah Jefferson has been eliminated in third place. He got his chips in with AQ after missing a flop. He had to hope Jonas had less of the flop. In fact, Jonas has a pair of sixes. Noah couldn't hit his draw and he is out in third place, earning a very respectable 72,870 pounds.

11:46am--Paul King has been eliminated in fourth place. He put K3 vs Ax and didn't improve. King wins 41,640 for his efforts.

11:46am--Paul King doubled up off Mark.

11:36pm--We have just seen the biggest hand of the event so far. Noah and Mark, the two of the biggest stacks at the table, got all-in...aces versus kings. Mark's aces held up. The pot...a monster 1.3 million. Noah looks like somebody just hit him in the face with a washboard.

Chip Count:

Noah--262K
Jonas--725K
Paul--52K
Mark--1.3 million

11:25pm--In the most dramatic hand of the evening, Noah came in for a raise, Jonas re-raised, and Noah pushed. After thinking for nearly five minutes, Jonas called. The players both showed...

A pair of jacks.

Behind me, an off-duty dealer said, "Here comes the flush." Surely, not. Then the flop: three hearts. Noah put his hands to his head. When everybody is all in, the cards get moved to the center of the table. Noah didn't seem to remember if he had the heart. Then he recalled. "I have the heart, right?"

Then turn and river proved ot be less dramatic. No heart. Split pot. And two sighs of relief.

In other news, somebody playing a table game just hit what seemed to be a very profitable win. The noise there eclipsed the noise from the final table.

11:06pm--A wild hand finally devloped. On a flop of 782 Jonas bet out 60K and Noah calls. A jack came on the turn. Jonas bet out, Noah moved all in and Jonas called. Jonas showed two pair to Noah's top pair. Noah was behind until the river. He spiked a card to pair his second card for a bigger two pair. A quick look at the chips makes me think Noah has now moved into the chip-lead.

10:52pm--...and we're back. Blinds are now 6000/12000.

10:29pm--This level is over and we're on a ten minute break. Blinds are on the way up. Exactly where they're going, I dunno. It's not for a lack of asking. It just seems no one knows for sure. Odd, that. I suppose they'll figure it out by the end of the break.

10:12pm--Just as I was about to type a long note about the need to watch Kirill, he suffered a rough beat to Jonas. Kirill came in for a raise, Jonas called. The flop came down 789. They got all in. Kirill had pocket aces. Jonas showed 56o for the flopped straight. Kirill departed in fifth place for 24,290 pounds.

10:02pm--Kirill just doubled up at Paul King's expense. If my eyes didn't deceive me, I believe it was AT vs TT and Kirill flopped an ace.

9:54pm--After three-straight all-ins, play has slowed down a little bit. That's what happens when the stack sizes even out a little bit. The short-stack story of the night so far is Kirill Gerasimov who came into this table with the shortest stack is playing conservatively enough to stay alive this far.

9:42--Dale Greenleaf is out. After flopping top-pair he got in a betting battle with Noah, who, in his own words, "got myself in a predicament." As it turns out, they got all-in post-flop. Dale had a nine-high club flush draw. Dale had the re-draw for the queen-high flush but couldn't get there. He's out in sixth place for 20,820. Thanks to Greg Raymer for helping me out with that one. Calling the action here is like watching a movie through a wet paper towel.

9:35pm-- Istvan Novak eliminated in seventh place for 17,350 pounds. Looks like he had KT vs Paul King's A2. Crowd noise is overwhelming the voice of Isabelle who is calling the final table this level (and is feeling a bit sick tonight). Nonetheless, we're down to six players.

9:32pm--Graham gets all in with QQ versus Noah's AK. Noah flopped his king. Graham eliminated in eighth place for 13,889 pounds (that's about $27,000).

9:29pm--Graham calls all in rom the big blind with 69s vs QJ. Board gives him trip nines for the double up.

9:16pm--Blinds are going up to 5000/10000 (incidentally, where they were before we started the final table).

9:11pm--Graham called all-in for the few chips he had left. The pot was 28K. Graham had 7d4d, Jonas had a pair of fours. Graham flopped open ended and hit the straight on the turn. He still needs some help.

9:04pm--Graham raised pre-flop, Kirill moved all in, Graham had to call 30,000 more, and he did. Kirill had AsKd, Graham has A6. Kirill caught his king on the turn (not that he really needed it) and doubled up to more than 100,000. Graham is not in good shape at all.

8:54pm--The chip leaders are tangling. On a flop of 49Q, I believe Mark checked from the small blind, Jonas bet out, then Mark raised to 140 and Jonas called. The turn was the four of clubs, putting a club flush on board. Mark bet out 150,000. After a bit of thought, Jonas laid down his hand. That's one where I'd like to see the hole cards. That win gives Mark the sole chip lead.

8:53pm--Pardon the delay. You haven't missed much other than a broken bar glass, a broken internet connection, and a few chips getting passed around. No big woop.

8:40pm--Noah raised, Jonas re-raised and made it 72K to go. Noah gave up his hand, apparently not quite prepared to tangle so much with the big stack. However, don't shortchange this guy. He knows what he's doing. A regular at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. LaFayette California, Noah decided to play in London because it happily coincided with a friend's wedding in Ireland. He recently cashed in the WPT Bay101. His biggest tournament win to date is $40,000. Noah is familiar with the Victoria Casino, which he used to visit while at Law School in London.

8:29pm-- Graham min-raised, Noah called from the big blind. Flop: 6c9s9c. Checked twice. Eight of spades on the turn. Noah bet 25K. Graham called. River came as the ace of hearts. Noah checked, Graham bet 30K. Noah called and showed AQ for the win.

8:23pm--In a skirmish for the blinds, Graham and Kirill checked down a board of Ad2c9s/As/9c until the river. Graham stabbed at it, Kirill called with king-high and won.

8:21pm--The first several hands have been no more than a practice in blind-stealing. Perhaps it will loosen up a bit after one orbit.

8:15pm--Play is now beginning. Blinds have been reduced to 4000/8000.

8:05pm--Play is about to begin. The players are seated as follows:

1. Noah Jefferson (USA) 350K
2. Jonas Helness (Norway) 700K
3. Paul King (England) 160K
4. Mark Teltsher (England)700K
5. Graham Clarkson (Scotland)175K -- PokerStars qualifier
6. Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 58K
7. Istvan Novak (Hungary) 100K -- PokerStars qualifier
8. Dale Greenleaf (England) 160K

The big developments at the final table will be recorded here. I'll timestamp each development as it happens. The latest developments will be at the top of the page. The final eight players are fighting for the following prize money.

1. 280,000 pounds + seat to Monte Carlo Grand Final
2. 145,740
3. 72,870
4. 41,640
5. 24,290
6. 20820
7. 17,350
8. 13,889

We're still 45 minutes out from the beginning of the final table. Here are your seating assignments and approximate chip counts. Below you'll find a few pictures from the day. The post immediately below this one will show you how we reached the final table.

1. Noah Jefferson (USA) 350K
2. Jonas Helness (Norway) 700K
3. Paul King (England) 160K
4. Mark Teltsher (England)700K
5. Graham Clarkson (Scotland)175K
6. Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 58K
7. Istvan Novak (Hungary) 100K
8. Dale Greenleaf (England) 160K

6:25pm--Here are your final eight by seat number. We're on a dinner break.

1. Noah Jefferson (USA) 350K
2. Jonas Helness (Norway) 700K
3. Paul King (England) 160K
4. Mark Teltsher (England)
5. Graham Clarkson (Scotland)175K
6. Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 58K
7. Istvan Novak (Hungary) 100K
8. Dale Greenleaf (England) 160K

6:06pm--It appears Frank Callaghan has departed in ninth place. We'll now be on a break for a meal and the TV table prep.

5:58pm--Um. Blinds are actually 5000/10000/1000. And Henning Granstead of Norway has just departed. Shortstacked, Granstead moved in his last 72,000 with JT. American Noah Jefferson insta-called wih ATs. An ace on the flop sealed the deal. Granstead placed tenth.

5:37pm--As my dad likes to say, "Lord knows I've been wrong before." Contrary to the last post, blinds will now be 6000/12000.

5:25pm--During a quick break, it's safe to say we have two people that, barring some massive bad luck, should make the final table. Mark Teltsher (London) has more than 670,000 in chips. Jonas Helness (Norway) has around 600,000. Blinds, I believe, are going to be 4000/8000 with a 400(?) ante.

5:17pm--Tony Bloom just suffered a rough beat to be eliminated in 11th place. He came in for a raise, was re-riased by chipleader Jonas Helness. Bloom pushed all in. Helness thought for several minutes before grudingly calling. Bloom had two black kings. Helness had AQ. The flop gave Helness aces up. The turn opened up a flush possibility for Bloom's king but the needed club didn't come.

5:03pm--Young Tom "holdem_nl" Dwan has been eliminated in 12th place when his AK ran into...AK. It just so happened the board made his opponent a flush.

4:57pm--Daniel Burke has been eliminated in 13th place. His jacks ran into a pair of queens.

4:48pm--V. Kanwar has been eliminated in 14th place. All on in a seven-high flop with J7, he ran into Granstead's TT.

4:24pm--David Shallow has been eliminated in 15th place.

4:17pm--Jeff Bensinger has been eliminated in 16th place. Kirill gerasimov raised in early postion. Granstead pushed all in. Bensinger pushed all in behind him. Gerasimov folded. Bensinger had aces to Granstead's kings. A king on the flop sent Bensinger packing.

3:55pm--Tilt at Table T. American Jeff Bensinger has most of his table on tilt. After having his kings cracked by Bensinger's AJ, opponent David Shallow went into a slow burn that was only further heated by Bensinger's table talk and what Shallow perceived to be Bensinger's rooting against him. Bensinger said he was simply rooting for his friend, but it has not soothed the international relations. Bensinger later suffered a bit of an ugly beat himself. After the player to his right moved all in with A5 suited. Bensinger isolated with JJ. An ace and two spades on the flop crippled Bensinger. In the meantime, Denmark's D. Smitsbertelsen got all in with an open-eneded straight draw and missed. He left in 18th place. Richard Gryko left shortly thereafter, out in 17th.

3:21--We need a ticker instead of a blog. The players are busting too fast. Ram Vaswani is out in 19th place. How? Couldn't tell you. I was typing up the last bust out. When I asked Ram what happened, he answered simply, "Lost a couple of pots and that was that."

3:17pm--Jaime Ponte has been eliminated in 20th place. In with pocket sevens against AJ, an AQJJQ board does him no favors.

3:06pm--Robin Keston has been eliminated in 21st place. All-in with AQ, he's up against A4. An ace and fouru on the flop spell the high-rolling Englishman's demise.

3:02pm--Stewart Brown has been eliminated in 22nd place. All-in, his A6 was outkicked by AQ. The Inside Edge HomeGame Qualifier is headed back to Scotland.

2:57pm--John Caldwell has been eliminated in 23rd. Shortstacked,, he got in with A4 versus QQ and couldn't find an ace.

2:52pm--Anthony Girasou has been eliminated in 24th place. He pushed all-in on the first hand of the day with pocket queens. Tom Dwan called with A9 and spiked an ace on the river.

In just moments, the final 24 players will begin their run for the final table. Instead of fancy narratives today, you'll get just the facts (and perhaps a few pictures). Expect quicker updates and a lot of action today. Here are the final 24 players and their chip counts. Updates will be above.

Mark Teltsher (London) 232,200
J. Helness (Norway) 190,200
Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 175,100
Paul King 174,400
V. Kanwar 170,300
H. Granstead 149,800
David Shallow 133,700
Tony Bloom (England) 133,200
Daniel Burke (USA) 116,000 -- PokerStars qualifier
Tom "holdem_nl" Dwan (USA) 113,900 -- PokerStars qualifier
D. Smitsbertelsen (Denmark) 104,100
Robin Keston (England) 100,200
Ram Vaswani (England) 89,500
Stewart Brown (Scotland) 72,500 -- PokerStars/Inside Edge Home Game winner
I. Novak 66,800
J. Bensinger (USA) 57,800 -- PokerStars qualifier
Graham Clarkson (Scotland) 52,800 --PokerStars qualifier
Anthony Girasou 47,800
N. Jefferson 47,300
D. Greenleaf (England) 32,200
R. Gryko (England) 29,800 -- PokerStars qualifier
John Caldwell (USA) 29,000 --PokerStars qualifier
Jaime Ponte 23,500
Frank Callaghan (Ireland) 21,900

We've reached the final 24 players in the EPT London Poker Masters. The remaining runners will begin play at 2:30pm Sunday afternoon. Here's how they stack up as they fight for the eight seats at the final table.

Mark Teltsher (London) 232,200
J. Helness (Norway) 190,200
Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 175,100
Paul King 174,400
V. Kanwar 170,300
H. Granstead 149,800
David Shallow 133,700
Tony Bloom 133,200
Daniel Burke (USA) 116,000 -- PokerStars qualifier
Tom "holdem_nl" Dwan 113,900 -- PokerStars qualifier
D. Smitsbertelsen (Denmark) 104,100
R. Keston 100,200
Ram Vaswani (England) 89,500
Stewart Brown 72,500 -- PokerStars/Inside Edge Home Game winner
I. Novak 66,800
J. Bensinger (USA) 57,800 -- PokerStars qualifier
Graham Clarkson (Scotland) 52,800 --PokerStars qualifier
Anthony Girasou 47,800
N. Jefferson 47,300
D. Greenleaf (England) 32,200
R. Gryko (England) 29,800
John Caldwell (USA) 29,000 --PokerStars qualifier
Jaime Ponte 23,500
Frank Callaghan (Ireland) 21,900

FLASH: Now down to 16 players at two tables. Tony Bloom, Paul King, John Caldwell, Stewart Brown, and 12 others remain.

The hour again grows a bit late. With the not-quite-dawning of a new day comes this nitty and gritty part of the tournament in which narrative commentary on the day's events becomes both impossible and ineffectual. We're down to 20 players and headed toward the magic number of 12. Remaining in the field are recognizable faces like Tony Bloom, Paul King, and the like. And there relative unknowns, as well. I happen to know two of them. Stewart Brown of Scotland and American (not to mention one-time South Carolinian) John Caldwell remain. From here on out, the developments will appear above in the form of a FLASH.

The remaining 12 players in this flight will meet the 12 remaining players from Flight #1. All will be in the money. All will be fighting for one of the eight spots on the final table.

Let's get to it.

Just logging on? Check out this previous coverage.

Cricket and Poker meet
Payouts, stats, and such
Couple smiles, couple tears
Flight #1 coverage

Just logging on? Check out this previous coverage.

Cricket and Poker meet
Payouts, stats, and such
Flight #1 coverage

Stewart "stoogster: Brown looks right pensive, doesn't he? Almost as if he were sitting right at home, or at the very least, a homegame.

It stands to reason. Brown found his seat here by way of a homegame in Scotland. PokerStars and Inside Edge magazine sponsored a series of homegames all over the United Kingdom. Brown, a solicitor (read: lawyer) from Scotland, won his homegame then went on to face the chammpions of the six other home games.

Brown won that match, as well.

Now, the homegame hero is sitting pretty. At last report, Brown had around 42,000 in chips and was holding strong. It begs the question: Who would you trust more: a poker player or a lawyer?

I'm not sure of the answer, but I think it is best we keep an eye on that guy.

Pondering assault

"You think they would kick me out of here if I hit him?"

Kathy Liebert, though smiling, seemed as if she might be serious. I couldn't tell exactly what brought on the potential violence, but I wasn't going to test the waters.

"You think I'd be barred from here permanently or temporarily?"

I suggested it would likely only be temporary. I've seen more violence in the bar area than Kathy seemed capable of, so I thought she'd be fine.

Then she got really violent. Well, sort of. She funneled her aggession into the chips. I turned my back for a moment and she knocked a guy off her table. Figuratively, of course.

I grabbed my camera.

"Get me while I'm still smiling," she said.
San Jose online meets London live

Rhea "rhea-n-lana" Clevenger isn't so bad at her online game. She's good enough anyway to have won an EPT seat to the event here in London. When she got here, she soon discovered, London ain't her San Jose home. But instead of shirking from the pressure, she embraced it, shaking off the stage fright, taking a nice pot of Noah "Exclusive" Boeken, and making it to the feature table.

I may not have mentioned this was her first live tournament.
As one of the few remaining women left in the field, she became a crowd favorite. Sometimes that can be a curse. Moments after I snapped the picture above, her pocket sevens ran into pocket queens. It seemed fate would smile on her. A seven fell on the flop. Then, as wicked as it is, fate turned her back and dropped a queen on board to send Rhea to the rail.

So, now it's back to San Jose. But, oh, the stories she can tell.

Just logging on? Check out this previous coverage.

Cricket and Poker meet
Flight #1 coverage

Well, the official numbers have come in. So, rather than startle myself with my own verbosity, here's some raw numbers and slightly less raw photos.

Total entrants: 236 (two flights of 118)
Places paid: 24
First place: 280,000 pounds
Players remaining from first flight: 12
Players remaining from second flight: 100+

Payouts:

1. 280,000 pounds
2. 145,740
3. 72,870
4. 41,640
5. 24,290
6. 20820
7. 17,350
8. 13,889
9. 10,410
10-16. 7,000
17-24. 4,000

Some random chip counts:

Paul Maxfield--8k
David Mermand-13k
Ken Lennart--3k
Tony G.--24k
Dale Greenleaf--21k
John Shipley--7k
Bambos Xanthos--15k
Neil Channing--25k
Patric Martenson--7k
Simon Young--8k
Ross Boatman--10k
Isabelle Mercier--4k
Thomas Fougeron--14k
Micahel Atheron--Eliminated by holdem_nl who now has around 30k
Noah Boeken--5k
Jac Arama--27k
Christoffer Stahle-14k
Chris Moneymaker-7k
sdnav (PS screen name)--6k


And now for some pictures...

The American lady seemed perplexed by my camera's firing shutter. She followed the direction of the lens and asked her tablemates what made my subject so special.

"He's famous," the man in the ten-seat answered.

"Famous for what?"

The Brits at the table were incredulous.

"He's famous for cricket."

I was hoping I wouldn't hear the next question, but it was inevitably coming.

"What's cricket?"

Indeed, to we Americans, the game of cricket is a bit of a foreign concept. Most Americans grew up listening to the chirping ourtside their windows or baiting their hooks with the insects we call crickets.

From across the table, another Brit smiled and playfully huffed. "It was around before baseball."

Here, asking what cricket is would be a lot like asking what baseball is in America. And asking who this guy is is akin to asking why everyone is so excited about Derek Jeter.

That folks, is Mike Atherton, one of the most famous faces of English sport in the last decade. I'll be he first to admit, I don't follow cricket. A couple of days ago, an English friend asked, "So, what do you know about cricket?"

I could only answer, "I know it takes a very long time to finish a game."

So, I'm not the best to fill you in on Atherton. Fortunately, there are others who can. A local television network website describes Atherton thusly:

Enjoyed an illustrious career that saw him graduate from Cambridge University to England captain via Lancashire CCC, accumulating 115 Test caps and 7,728 runs (at 37.69) in the process. A stubborn right-handed opening batsman, he captained England on 54 occasions, being voted the Cricket Writers' Cricketer of the Year in 1990 and named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1991. Got unwelcome flak for the infamous "dirt in the pocket" incident but stood firm until a degenerative back condition forced his retirement in 2001. It had already curtailed a promising sideline in leg-spin that brought him more than 100 first-class scalps early in his career. Since then he has joined C4 as a commentator and continue to write for the Sunday Telegraph. Awarded OBE in 1997 for services to cricket.

At this moment, Atherton sits downstairs (right next to Noah "Exclusive" Boeken, by the way) playing in his first-ever major poker tournament. Decked out in PokerStars gear, he's catching the eye of many in the room.

We'll keep an eye on him as well.

Miss yesterday? Click here for Flight #1 coverage

Flight #2 of this event here in London is underway. The tables are again full and the game is again fresh. I guarantee, that freshness won't last.

I'll be headed out to the floor here in a moment and bring back the first sightings and pictures of the day.

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Shuffle Up and Deal
After Dinner Sprint
Late night poker
Homicides, etc.


It took another brutal beat to end the night. With only 13 players remaining, on the virtual money bubble, El Blondie himself limped in from the small blind with A6. Kirill Gerasimov checked his option with J7 suited in clubs. The flop came down with 866 with two clubs. They got all in and Gerasimov rivered the flush. That left us with twelve players.

Mark Teltsher (London) 232,200
J. Helness (Sweden) 190,200
Kirill Gerasimov (Russia) 175,100
David Shallow 133,700
Daniel Burke (USA) 116,000
Ram Vaswani (Great Britain) 89,500
I. Novak 66,800
Graham Clarkson (Scotland) 52,800
Anthony Girasou 47,800
R. Gryko 29,800
Jaime Ponte 23,500
Frank Callaghan 21,900

Flight #2 begins Saturday at 3pm London time. Keep it right here for all-day, all-night, all-morning coverage.

FLASH #2: Anders Berg eliminated by a sad, sad hand. All-in pre-flop with A8 of clubs, he's up against El Blondie's A8 of hearts. First three cards off the deck are hearts and Berg is gone. We're down to two tables in the first flight.

FLASH: Greg Raymer has been eliminated. Raising pre-flop, Raymer pushed all in to his table nemesis' re-raise. Raymer held QQ. Nemesis held AK suited in hearts. The flop was benign, all undercards with one heart. The turn brought another heart. The river was a king. The pot, worth 84,000+ got pushed to Raymer's opponent and Raymer departed just short of the money.

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Shuffle Up and Deal
After Dinner Sprint
Late night poker


"I want to kill you."

Simon "Aces" Trumper said the words genially enough, but at just a few feet away, one might've believed he actually meant it.

"But what can I do? That's poker."

Trumper's face didn't give away the amount of rage he certainly was feeling. Moments before Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani had called all-in with a pair of sevens. Trumper held kings. A seven on the flop was enough that I wanted to call Scotland Yard myself. The pot was enough to rocket Vaswani toward the top of the pack.

Trumper skulked from the room and saved his vitriol for an interview in the bar. It wasn't pretty.

Moments later, EPT Vienna final table finisher David Clayton saw his stack disappear in two hands, AQ losing to JJ, then a mayday Q9 vs. AJ.

We're now down to three tables, with the intention of getting down to 12 players in this first flight.

More later.

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Shuffle Up and Deal
After Dinner Sprint

In the land of televised poker, there is the oft-referenced Feature Table. Many folks speak of it with a hushed reverence, as though an appearance there somehow bestows upon the seated some sort of poker legend. To be fair, most folks playing at this level has some legendary quality inside them, even if it hasn't yet been realized. Nonetheless, until the feature table becomes the final table, in most cases, those appearing on TV just happen to be seated with someone or multiple someones who the TV producers find interesting.

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The smoked salmon was on the buffet table in the bar. The chicken and lamb were in the dining area. A healthy supply of flatbread and pastries were ready for a healthy repast. And yet, Ben "Milkybar Kid" Grundy looked as if he'd lost his appetite at birth. Indeed, he is a thin chap, but it was the look on his face that truly told the tale.

"Rubbish cards," he grumbled as he walked past me and toward the bar.

The 10,000 in chips each player received did not spell a long day for many. The structure, which some have said is a bit fast, meant some early tangles that ended many a runner's day. The Milkybar Kid was one of the fallen runners.

Dinner came and went. Mike "Antesup.com" Lacey didn't seem to be much in the mood for food. Although he'd been catching cards in the early levels, he was not getting paid off. His stack sat just below the starting level and his mood was a bit sour. The story circulating through the room was of his calling down Simon "Aces" Trumper on a paired, flushy board with nothing better than ace-high...and winning.

"It was a small pot," he said, his humble demeanor getting the better of him again.

I, myself, tok a walk and enjoyed the warm, damp London air. Edgware Road was abuzz. Indian restaurants, catalog shops, and pubs were all full. Vieled Arabic women walked with the children. Double-decker busses tried to run over me.

When we returned to play, there was a certain urgency. Already, within just a few hours, the blinds had gone up to a level that required the players to start making moves. And for many of them, it did not seem to be working. Lacey retired shortly after dinner, as did Bad Girl Pham.

Still, others would hold on. Still in contention are Pascal Perrault, Baard Dahl, Jason Strasser, Peter Eichardt, and still too many to name in full.

With dinner still settling, here are a few pictures to taste with your after dinner coffee.

"Sir, are you coming into the casino today?"

The young man stood in line, his youth not telling the the real tale of his poker experience. I knew him, having first run into him in Vienna during Season 1 of the EPT. I knew he came from Duke University and that despite his age relative to his competition, he was no slouch at the poker tables.

The man at the front desk of the Grosvenor Victoria Casino was nonplussed. The rules at this venue are tighter than a rusted bolt. He was staring at the young man's feet.

"You can't come in like that," the desk man said.

The younger man, Jason Strasser, followed the desk man's eyes to his own feet.

"Like what?"

"With that footwear, sir."

A few minutes of discussion revealed that flip-flops, though comfortable, were verboten on the casino floor. If Strasser planned to come in and play, a trip to the shoe store would be in order.

Indeed, the rules here are, in anything, the antithesis of Las Vegas. Proper dress only begins the laundry list of requirements. A 24-hour advance membership is required before one can step foot in the casino without being the guest of a member (that rule is going the way of the Dodo soon). Further, if a player chooses to go out to the sidewalk for some fresh air in the moment before the cards are dealt, he stands a very good chnce of losing his seat. The rule, bitterly paraphrased, is simple: No ass in the seat at deal time means no seat.

Strasser went and bought shoes. Everyone found their seats. The cards went in the air and hit the felt. To be sure, the EPT event here in London was underway.
Here are a few things I laid out earlier, but bear repeating:

While the final number of players is still a matter of question, there is little doubt we'll hit very close to the 256-player maximum. Those players have been split into two flights, one of which began just a bit ago. The second flight of players will play tomorrow at 3pm.

As it currently stands, both flights will play until either 4am or until the flight is winnowed down to 12 players. Given that we reach 12 players each day (I'll concede to having my doubts), the final 24 players will begin Sunday at 2:30pm and play until there is a winner. The final table is scheduled be eight-players strong.

Each player will begin with 10,000 in chips. The blinds will begin at 25/50 and go up every hour or so. It appears at this point that the top 24 players here will be making the money.
After building a homebase for the PokerStars Blog (it is only coincidence that Blog HQ is now the casino bar), I was able to make a quick run through the tournament areas. Players have been split up into three areas. Theere are two tournament rooms downstairs. Upstairs, there is one tournament room and the featured table area where Greg Raymer is playing.

Many of the room are very tight and the players frown on my sitting on their laps to get good pictures. I was able to snap a few of some familiar faces.