March 2007 Archives

Anyone who has ever read Dr. Seuss to their kid has likely run across "Hop on Pop." I keep hearing it in my head as I watch the chip leader play.

These days, I sort of feel like I'm watching a new Seuss offering play out in the poker room. Andy Black, who some could argue is like a character from one of the books, continued his domination here today. He ended the day at 709,000.

Black leads pack
That's right, Black.
That's some stack, Black.
Don't look back.
Black's got a stack,
With which to attack.
Black leads pack.

Zen Black, on the attack

Elsewhere, Chad Brown's first two days are now a distant memory. He finished in 33rd place after chipping down to the point in which he got 77 in against pocket kings. Other big stacks including Gavin Griffin at 550,000 and Carlos Mortensen at 385,000. Check in on the chip counts page a little later for a full accounting of the final 32.

The remaining players come back at 2pm Sunday to play down to the final table of eight. We'll be back with them to report all the action.

This post will be updated continuously throughout Day 3 of the EPT Grand Final. Click refresh to see the most recent action.

Blind Level: 3000/6000/600

10:01pm--The fast drop down to 36 slowed down for half an hour. Suddenly, we're done. The final bust out of the night was none other than Chad Brown who got pocket sevens in against pocket kings, held by Dean Sanders. They got it all in on the flop of 296. No miracles for Brown and suddenly we're down to 32 players. We'll have full chip counts out after the staff gets them counted up. We'll also update the results list when we have it in full. Andy Black continues to lead the pack, holding nearly 1/3 of the chips in play.

9:27pm--Down to 36 as Oscar Blanco's all-in push with K9 suited in diamonds could't outrun Erik Van der Berg's AA. Oscar flopped a million outs on a K56 two diamond flop, but couldn't catch up. Also out, the UK's Nick Goodall, who pushed with A-Q but could catch up with Pete Gardiano's 5-5.

9:10pm--Back from the dinner break. We lost a couple of players quickly, including 2006 EPT Baden runner-up Gunnar Osterbrod. We're in the process of updating chip counts for this level. We've also added a link to the EPT Monte Carlo results page.

7:45pm--We've reached the dinner break with 43 players remaining. Play resumes at 9pm local time. We're also working to get a new chip count to go on the chip counts page.

7:43pm--Carlos Mortensen is getting involved a fair bit with Canada's Marc Karam. I caught up with one hand when the five cards were already on the board - J-K-Q-A-3, the 3 being the third spade. Spain's Mortensen bets 50,000, and Karam clearly has a decision to make. He takes a good two or three minutes before making a great call with A-3 for two pair. Mortensen had pocket fives.

7:19pm--Dinner break approacheth and it seems players don't mind playing hard until food time. With 22 minutes left before the dinner break, we're left with only 45 players. We're working to get a full list of people who cashed posted, but at the moment, the line to cash out is still too deep and busy to get the list. Regardless, we'll have a list up some time soon and post it in the headline box above.

7:04pm--PokerStars qualifier Josh Prager is not a happy man. Under the gun, he pushes all in for 150,000. A monster must be in the offering. All agreed, apart from Holland's Eric Van der Berg, who called from the small blind for his last 70,000 with A-10. Josh, a pro player from the US who qualified here in a PokerStars cash satellite, held A-K and was well chuffed. Until, that is, the flop came 4-3-10. Now he needed a K, but the turn was a 2, and the river a devastating third 10 for the Dutchman. He raked in a nice pot to survive elimination, but Josh was non-plussed. "What did you think I was all in under the gun with? Nothing? There were people here covering me - I can't believe that call." Van der Berg was having none of it, and happily stacked his new pile. He's up to more than 140,000 now, while Josh sinks to 80,000 or so.

6:57pm--And as just as soon as we mention David Sonelin, he is gone. His naked ace couldn't out run Alex Kim's KQ. On my way back from the hand, I happened up Andy Black, who just made a good call with A9 on a Q97 flop. His opponent moved all-in for 160,000 and Andy called with A9. His opponent held A7 and that was all she wrote. We're down to 50 players and Black must be near the 800,000 chip mark.

6:32pm--Man down! Well, two actually, but we only just caught sight of this one: France's Ouri Cohen, nursing a 50,000 stack, pushed with the rockets, but his A-A was no match for the monster 10-7 spades of Marc Karam. He had Cohen, who qualified for this luxurious event using his frequent player points, well covered and calling was his only move. The flop, 3-8-2, two spades. The turn was the K of spades and unlucky Cohen was spinning to the rail. To get this far, and go out with the bullets, is unfortunate, to say the least. He does, however, leave with a comforting €13,000. So, 51 runners remain. They are playing this level, then heading off for a well-deserved dinner break.

6:31pm--Fifty-three players remain, among them a couple of well-stacked PokerStars qualifiers.

FPP qualifier Kristof de Smedt aka deluxy


David Sonelin

6:23pm--Age Spets has been eliminated. Short-stacked all day long, he survived the bubble. He made a play for the blinds and antes with A2. Alex Kim called in the small blind. The 82x/A board would've been great if if Kim hadn't held A8. Spets, alas, is gone.

6:07pm


Yeah, baby: Holly Vaswani and chips
Clearly this poker-playing lark is child's play. Here's 14-month-old Holly, pride and joy of Ram Vaswani, showing dad just how he should be using his chips. Except there were not his chips, they belong to Ram's mate Joe Beevers, still going strong here. Joe wandered over to find his pile, which he left neatly stacked as they went off on a 15-minute break, somewhat messed up by ten little fingers. "I had 145,000 chips when I left, and I'd better still have that amount now," said Joe, in jest, of course. Luckily no-one felt the need to tip Holly upside down, just in case. Doting dad Ram, meanwhile, is up to 300,000.

Elsewhere PokerStars has another success story here in Monte Carlo, in the shape of frequent player point qualifier Kristof de Smedt, from Belgium. Until recently, Belgium has not been known as a hotbed of poker action. But in this season's EPT all that has changed. PokerStars qualifier Daniel Dodet ran well to final table in Baden, Austria, and now Kristof is looking to do the same here. He has a couple of hundred thousand chips to play with. "I met Daniel Dodet here for the first time," said Kristof, "and he has given me some encouragement."


6:06pm--Players are just back from break. We're headed into the 3000/6000/600 level. Selected EPT Monte Carlo chip counts have been updated. It also appears we've lost Jonathan Little. Fifty-eight players remain.

All information below this was at Blind level: 2000/4000/400

5:39pm--Norway's Johnny Lodden is out. Not so long ago he was running into the hundreds of thousands - but he just threw his last 40,000 into a pot with Gavin Griffin and lost. A short while before he lost 50,000 when his 5-5 failed to improve against an all-in player's J-J. We'll try and establish what happened to the rest of his pile. Meanwhile, I've just returned from doing a commentary stint on www.eptlive.com (Simon Young) where I got to look at the feature table close up for a while. Two big names dominate - Ram Vaswani from England and Spain's Carlos Mortensen. But PokerStars qualifier Jan Veit from Germany - who took up poker just 12 months ago - is showing little respect. And no fear. Even on the bubble, and with 80,000 chips or so, he was mixing it up with the pros. On the bubble itself, he re-raised Ram all in, forcing a fold.

5:34pm--Some quick bustouts after the bubble, including Anthony Chatelain (who is all smiles following his squeak into the money) and Badgirl Pham, who just busted off the feature table.

5:14pm--As I typed the last, a Chris Bjorin got his money in with a flush draw and overs. He missed twice and left in 65th place. Now down to 64, we're in the money. The 3,500 stack, Anthony Chatelain, made it to the cash. Now, things will likely go much, much faster.


Chris Bjorin (left), the bubble boy man


Anthony Chatelain

5:09pm--As you might expect, the hand-for-hand bubble action has slowed down the action. One Swede is currently sitting in the cutoff with 3,500. It's barely enough to last him back to his big blind. For those following Marc Karam, he's managed to chip back up and is in better spirits. He currently is sitting just under average at 146,000. Andy Black remains the chip leader with 580,000.

4:53pm--It seems somebody lost count of the remaining players (and, to be fair, it wasn't us this time). We're down to 65. That means we're hand-for-hand on the bubble.

4:49pm--Down to 66 players, the most recent elimination coming up at the hands of Josh Arieh. From the button, he got short-stacked Mike Martin all-in. Arieh held QdJd to Martin's AK. A queen on the flop put Martin behind and he never caught up.

4:39pm--Age Spets just surivived a squeaker. With only 16,000 in front of him, he face a raise from David Sykes. Spets said, "It's almost impossible for me to fold." He squeezed both cards and said, "I call." AJ suited in clubs for him and pokcet fours for Sykes. An ace on the river doubled Spets up. "Poker is easy," he said.

4:36pm--Don't fear the reaper is apparently the motto here today. As fast as we are in getting back to report the action, players are busting out. We're down to 68 in just a matter of seconds. We're four off the money and will likely get to hand-for-hand action soon.

4:30pm--Ricki Nielsen has been eliminated by Andy Black. Seventy-one players remain.

4:19pm--A few selected chip counts have been added to the EPT Monte Carlo chip counts page. Here are a few pictures from the floor.


Marc Karam


Anonthy Lellouche


Josh Arieh


As seen in a hotel bar. As one player said, "This drink grows on you." Seems like it has a greater chance of growing IN you.

4:11pm--Players have returned from break. Keep an ear out on EPT Live for some color commetary from Team Blog's Simon Young! Seventy-two players remain.

All updates below this line are Blind Level: 1500/3000/300

3:53pm--Players are on a 15 minute break. We'll come back to the 2000/4000/400 level. Badgirl Pham just wandered by to tell us she's up to 70,000 from her starting stack of 30,000. We're nine off the money. Note: Ali Masterson was eliminated just before the break.

3:47pm--Devilfish is out after running after the nut flush draw and failing to get there. Seventy-three players remain.

3:30pm--Jan Veit, from Germany, is having a dream week here in Monte Carlo. The 21-year-old qualified for this trip using his Frequent Player Points to enter a PokerStars satellite. And he's made it this far, despite only having played poker for a year. This is his first live event, and he hopes to build on his credible starting stack today of 160,000. Good luck to him.

3:26pm--Over on the feature television table, Holland's Peter Dalhuijsen is out. He moved all in with A-10 of diamonds for his remaining 77,000, but was called by Carlos "The Matador" Mortensen, who held 10-10. Board - 5-2-6-6-6. A house for the Spaniard, and the rail has one more person on board. 73 players remain and the bubble moves ever closer.

3:23pm--Josh Arieh raises the price to play to 11K and gets a raise all-in by one of the shorter stacks at the table. Josh owes 45K if he wants to get involved and after counting out the pot he calls. 66 for Josh vs TT. There is no help for Josh and a chuck of change slides aways across the table from him. He is around the 300K mark. Andy Black is still at 550K.

3:18pm--Marc Karam has just taken a major hit. After a cutoff raise to 8000, Soren Kongsgaard, the small blind, raised to 31K, Karam raised enough to put the Kongsgaard all-in. The cutoff, Simon Johansson, folded. After thinking, the Kongsgaard called with pocket sevens. Karam showed AJ. A seven on the flop almost sealed the deal. Karam picked up a straight draw on the turn, but it didn't materialized. Karam is now sitting with about 75,000.

3:12pm--Mickey Wernick's comeback dream is over. Starting the day with just 13,000, he doubled up early, but is now out. He pushed with A-8 and found a caller. "The other guy took ages to turn over his cards, so I thought maybe I might be ahead. But then he flipped A-A. Oops. What can you do?" Well, the flop was 5-2-8, giving the Englishman some hope, but the following 4 and 7 failed to improve his lot. We are down to 75 players already - so much for a tightening up before the bubble.

3:08pm--David Kim makes it 21K to go and Ross Boatman calls all-in for around 19K. William Hill then moves in and David thinks for a while before he announces folding Jacks. A good fold but one he may regret. AA for William and 10-10 for Ross.The board came 4-J-8-2-4 so had David stayed in he would have won a very sizeable pot.

3:07pm--Roland de Wolfe has just arrived at Blog Central to report his elimination from the EPT Grand Final...on Day 1A.

3:04pm--A couple of hands from the floor:

On a rainbow flop of K-6-A a 15K bet from Samir Rahal is called by Johnny Lodden. A 4s on the turn and Samir moves in and Johnny folds.

William Hill makes an UTG raise to 7400. Called by both David Sykes and Roi Elmaliah. The flop is 4h-6h-2c and Roi bets 6K and David folds. William then moves in and wins the pot when Roi folds.

3:00pm--Lars Bonding has been eliminated after running pocket kings into Nicholas Ragot's pocket aces.

2:40pm--Fun and games at Andy Black's table already. But, surprisingly, it's not Black or tablemate Johnny Lodden making the early moves. Instead Pete "the beat" Giordano is getting busy. Hand two of the day he makes it 9,000 and it's folded around. Next hand, he raises again - folded to the big blind Hans Erlandsson of Sweden, a PokerStars qualifier, who dwells. "You really should fold," says Giordano. "I'm the tightest player at flipped over K-K. "That's not tight," retorts Black. "It's only the second nuts. Do you realise how many people have gone out of this tournament with K-K?"

2:40pm--Joe Beevers gets off to a flyer, doubling up with A-A against Christian Neirinck's K-K. The Hendon Mobster. Joe raised to 8,500, Christian re-raised to 35,000 and a very happy Beevers moved in over the top. No help for Christian, and the London moves up to 170,000.Meanwhile, short-stacker Mickey Wernick from the UK has found an early double up with A-A against Josh Arieh's K-Q.

2:38pm--Maurice Kenter of the US is out, running 10-10 into Anthony Lellouche's A-A. The board came 7-2-2-6-A. That rather rubbed salt into the wounds.

2:33pm--Nicholas Ragot has just eliminated PS qualifier Zack Stewart. The money was all in pre-flop with KK vs 99 and all low cards came down. Too low for Zackand he exits.

2:31pm--Age Spets has just doubled up. Lars Bonding raised to 6500 from the button. The SB Staale Egens called and Age Spets moved all in for 33K from the BB. Lars called and showed K10 vs Age's A10. The board came J-3-5-6-10 and Age more than doubles to 75K.

2:30pm--Daryl Jace is the first eliminated player for the day.

2:23pm--And we're underway at the 1500/3000/300 level. Here's a look at the players on both sides of the chip spectrum.


Andy Black, chip leader


Mickey Wernick, not so much the chip leader

2:09pm--Tournament director Thomas Kremser has just announced we'll be playing down to just 32 players tonight. It will take a while to get from 85 to 64 (the money), but after that, getting to 32 shouldn't be a major chore. We're not quite yet underway yet.

2:00pm--We're just about to begin Day 3 of the EPT Grand Final. With 85 players remaining, we're just a few short of the money bubble. Sixty-four players will be paid. We'll be providing live updates and pictures of all the action here. For a live webcast of the featured table, don't miss EPT Live.



The above reports are provided by the writers of the PokerStars Poker Blog, Brad Willis, Simon Young, and Ed Ramshaw.

2007 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final Winners List

1 Gavin Griffin (USA)1,825,010
2 Marc Karam (Canada) 1,061,820
3 Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) 610,550
4 Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 471,180
5 Josh Prager (USA) 391,550
6 Steve Jelinek (UK) 305,270
7 Andy Black (Ireland) 238,910
8 Ram Vaswani (UK) 159,270
9 Erik Van Der Berg (Holland) 99,550
10 Alex Kim (USA) 99,550
11 Carlos Mortensen (Spain) 66,360
12 David Peters (USA)66,360
13 Pete Giordano (USA) 49,770
14 Jan Veit (Germany) 49,770
15 Philip Hilm (Demark) 39,820
16 Christian Neirinck (Belgium) 39,820
17 Kristof de Smedt (Belgium) 33,180
18 Dean Sanders (UK) 33,180
19 Roi Elmaliah (Israel)33,180
20 Lars Eidissen (Norway) 33,180
21 Anthony Lellouche (France) 33,180
22 Shane Reihill (Ireland) 33,180
23 Johannes Strassmann (Germany) 33,180
24 Simon Johansson (Sweden) 33,180
25 Christopher Ulsrud (Norway) 26,550
26 Ben Callinan (UK) 26,550
27 Jacob Larsson (Sweden)26,550
28 Herman Zango (Costa Rica) 26,550
29 Josh Arieh (USA) 26,550
30 Richard Waters (UK)26,550
31 Cristinel Dumitru (Romania) 26,550
32 David Mobbs (UK) 26,550
33 Chad Brown ( USA ) 23,230
34 Thomas Wahlroos ( Finland ) 23,230
35 Joe Beevers ( UK ) 23,230
36 Sergey Altbregin ( Russia ) 23,230
37 Ernst Hermans ( Holland ) 23,230
38 Richard Herbert ( Ireland ) 23,230
39 Nick Goodall ( UK ) 23,230
40 Oscar Blanco Carrasco ( Spain ) 23,230
41 Gunnar Ostebrod ( Norway ) 19,910
42 Atanas Gueorguiev ( Bulgaria ) 19,910
43 Jesse Steinberg ( USA ) 19,910
44 Fadi Kamar ( Lebanon ) 19,910
45 Vladimir Troyanovsky ( Russia ) 19,910
46 Halldor Mar Sverrisson ( Iceland ) 19,910
47 Biri Balazs ( Hungary ) 19,910
48 Hans Ari Eskilsson ( Sweden ) 19,910
49 David Sonelin ( Sweden ) 16,590
50 Nicolas Ragot ( France ) 16,590
51 Thomas Bihl ( Germany ) 16,590
52 Ouri Cohen ( France ) 16,590
53 Hans Ari Vars ( Norway ) 16,590
54 Patric Martensson ( Sweden ) 16,590
55 Age Spets ( Norway ) 16,590
56 Sasa Biorac ( Germany ) 16,590
57 William Hill ( UK ) 13,270
58 David Sykes ( Canada ) 13,270
59 Nathan Rayan ( Australia ) 13,270
60 Johnny Lodden ( Norway ) 13,270
61 Xuyen Pham ( UK ) 13,270
62 Jonathan Little ( USA ) 13,270
63 Anthony Chatelain ( Sweden ) 13,270
64 Elie Marciano ( France ) 13,270

"Nobody is luckier than me today."

Those were Andy Black's words as he gazed across his chip stack, a virtual mountain range of multi-colored chips.

"How much do you have," asked a railbird?

He shrugged as if it didn't really matter and he really didn't know. Likely he knew this, though: He was the chip leader and didn't look to give up the spot. A quick look put Black 500,000 chip mark. He'd been pushing hard all day to catch up to Day 1 chip-leader Chad Brown and before the end of the night, he'd already passed him.

As for Brown, a bit of a cooler made him far easier to pass. Simon Johansson of Sweden flopped a set of tens to Brown's set of eights. All the money went in on the turn and Brown didn't catch his miracle. While he still had around 200,000 chips, he was surely thinking he was about to be a lot closer to 500,000. Instead, Simon Johansson is a lot more flush than he used to be.


Simon Johansson

Noah Boeken never recovered from his failed battle with jacks versus Joe Beevers' A9. He treaded water with his remaining 20,000 before finally running jacks into Simon Johnsson's aces. He had only one word for it as the day came to a close: "Sick."

How about some final words from Ed on how things wrapped up today?

The Ed Report

Harry Demetriou was crippled when on a low flop he got it all in and was called by pocket 9s. Just at the start of this level he was in the BB and had 3400 left back. An early pos raise to 5K was called by the button and Harry tried to make them fold by sticking the extra 400 in the pot. Surprisingly this did not get rid of the other two and the flop came down 7d-9s-Qc. Rather than check it down the early raiser made it 6500 to play which was called by the button. Turn was Jc and the initial raiser checked and found a bet of 19K coming towards him. He asked whether he had hit quads and no response. After a short pause he decided to jam all in himself effectively setting the button all in who had 24K left. An instant call from the button who had 99. QJ for the raiser and Harry had 5c7c and actually had some outs for the flush. The river was a Jack and we lost two players in one hand.

Gavin Griffin makes it 6K to go from the button and the SB raises to 19K total. Gavin calls and the flop is Ks-4s-2c. Checked to Gavin who bets 26K. The SB raises all in for another 75K on top and Gavin folds. The SB shows AQ for a risky bluff. Gavin is down to 150K. Immediately afterwards Mickey Wernick raises to 16K UTG(not sure why it was this much) and Gavin re-raises to 36K total. FrankieA10 on the SB pushes all in for 19K and Mickey folds(appapently 99). Gaving shows JJ and FrankieA10 has funnily enough has A-10. The board comes 3-4-3-3-10 and we have lost FrankieA10.

Dlopt raises to 8K from early position. David Sykes pushes all in from the BB. Dlopt takes a time to call and is elated when he sees David’s A9. Dlopt shows AQ and David is drawing pretty thin. The flop comes A-8-6 and then a 9 spikes the turn and a simultaneous strike on the table from both players for very different reasons. No miracle on the river and David doubles to just under 100K. dlopt down to 35K. A quick wander back to the floor and I find that dlopt was eliminated whilst I typed the above. Details of his exit are unknown.

AmbientIII raises to 6500 from UTG and it is folded round to David Sykes who calls in the BB. The flop is 6-5-3 rainbow and David checks. AmbientIII bets 8.5K and David raises to 25K which is good enough to take it down. David has 110K and AmbientIII 170K.

A raise to 8K from rkruok is bumped to 20K total by David Sykes on the button which rkruok calls. Flop comes 4d-10c-2h and rkruok moves in. David instantly calls and 88 for rk and AA for David. The turn is a 5 and then the 2 outer on the river hits when the 8c falls. David is back down to 75K and rkruok up to 100kish.

***

Day 3 play picks up at 2pm Monte Carlo time on Saturday. We now have fewer than 90 players left in the main event. As we approach the bubble, it's unlikely we'll lose a lot of players quickly. However, once we hit that 64 mark, look for the speed to pick up again. Full official chip counts will be up when we receive them from the tournament staff. Until then, check out the selected counts on the EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts page.

Night, all, from Monte Carlo.

Updated below with news on Greg Raymer.

As a whole, PokerStars has been well-represented here at the EPT Grand Final. More than 100 qualifiers and members of Team PokerStars began today. Many of them remain in the hunt as we near the 100 mark in remaining runners. Two of the more famous faces among them are Noah Boeken and Greg Raymer.

Boeken had been on a steady but slow climb most of the day, having worked himself up to around 75,000 in chips. I happened up on his table just as he got in a battle with Joe Beevers. Beevers was struggling on whether to call another 36,000--the rest of his chips.

"Pocket eights?" he asked Noah.

Noah chuckled a bit. "That's what you put me on? What? You have pocket nines?"

Beevers thought for a bit more and finally said, "Let's gamble." He called to see Noah's pocket jacks. Beever's was a decided dog, flipping over A9o. The flop came 235 rainbow, opening up four more outs for Beevers. The turn was another five. The river...an ace. Noah stood, threw his fist at nothing in particular, and then sat back down, incredulous.

"You called 36,000 more with A9?" he asked. If it was not a rhetorical question, it was treated as one. Noah is now on life support and looking for a quick double up.

Ace nine?

Beevers, the happy recipient of Boeken's chips, then ran into a spot of bad luck himself to drop back down to 50,000 or so. He found the bullets and raised to 6,000, called by his opponent. The flop was 4-4-5 and the Hendon Mobster lead out with 9,000, re-raised by the minimum from his foe. Beevers pushed, was called and they turned over: A-A for the Londoner, K-K for his neighbour. All well, except the other guy pulled a runner, runner flush out of the bag. "I got lucky against Noah, but then that last hand just before the break was horrible," he said.

***

Raymer asked, also perhaps rhetorically, "Why am I so tight? People think I'm some loose-aggressive maniac."

It wasn't but a few hands later, play folded to his small blind and he made it 5400 to play. The big blind, Aussie Jason Melross, thought for a moment before making it another 10,000 to play. Raymer called.

The flop came out TT7 rainbow. Raymer didn't take but a second before anouncing 50,000. The bet was large...certainly larger than the pot. What's more, Raymer had just 10,000 behind. He was, in a word, committed.

Melross couldn't seem to figure out what he should do. To call, he would be putting all his chips in the middle. As he struggled to put Raymer on a hand, Raymer grabbed a fresh bottle of Evian and mixed it with a bright red drink mix.

What could that mean? If Greg were making himself a drink, did that mean he was sure Melross would fold? Or did it mean he didn't care whether Melross called, because he thought he had a sure winner. In the end, it didn't matter, Melross folded and Raymer re-positioned himself around 100,000.

"Cranberry," he said, holding up the bright bottle of red water.

At least it wasn't yellow like the last one.



Sadly, the cranberry seems to have been Greg's undoing. Actually, two bad beats and a chilly deck undid him more. In less than 30 minutes AQ lost to AJ, two pair lost to runner-runner straight, and pocket jacks couldn't outrun a shortstack's KK. Now, Greg's stack sits at 36,000. Should he make a comeback, as Greg puts it, "It'll be a better story."

Update: An even better story would've been Greg starting his comeback with his winning WSOP hand, pocket eights. He got them all in versus AK. A king on the river has sent FossilMan home.

***

Finally, how about a few words from Ed.

The Ed Report

Ross Boatman raises to 6K from mid position and dlopt re-raises to 29K total. Ross takes a time to fold and dlopt picks it up but is down at 60K. Apparently he got caught bluffing a couple of hands on the trot with a fellow PokerStars qualifier Palacedeano being the recipient of some of these. This may have explained the reluctance Ross seemed to have about folding.

"Schooled" by the Devilfish? Former Eastender Beppe DiMarco, less well known as his real life name of Michael Greco, raises to 6K and Devilfish makes it 23K to play. Michael folds and the both have a below average stack of 60K. For once Devilfish does not show his hand, so he may have had the goods.

Rkruok raises to 6K and is called by David Sykes, AmbientIII, dlopt on the button and Ross Boatman on the BB. The flop is 6c-7c-9s and David Sykes bets 15K at it. AmbientIII raises all in for about 85K total. There are some pretty much instantaneous folds back round to David who eventually calls. Top set for the AmbientIII against David’s nut flush draw and overs with AcQc. The turn is the Qh which does not help and David needs a club that does not come. 6s on the river and David is down to 40K.

The Beat has just eliminated a shortstack all in preflop with AJ vs 10-10. An ace hit the flop and the rest of the board blanked. The Beat is now at 190K

Johnathan Little who made the PCA final table has just doubled up. With 30K raising preflop he chucked in his remaining 55K which was called by the BB with 10-10. Johnathan turned over J-9 and looked to be in trouble until the flop came J-5-9. A 7 on the turn gave the BB some hope but a 5 on the river secured the double through. He is up to 140K.

***

There is a bit of rumor (or rumour, if you're reading from somewhere other than the U.S.) that we may not play a full seven levels as planned tonight. The field has been cut down by 2/3 already today. We were schedule to play seven levels today and tomorrow. At the going rate, the tournament may be finished by that point, and our final table isn't scheduled until Monday. It still remains to be seen what TD Thomas Kremser will decide. Regardless, things are moving pretty quickly here.

Update: Only 90 minutes more to play tonight. Thanks, Thomas!

by Simon Young

I don't mean to start a debate about luck versus skill in poker tournaments, but in this instance there seems to be a distinct leaning towards the latter. You see, with the field here in Monte Carlo thinning all the time - we are now down to 128 of the 706 starters - the big-stackers are the ones with big reputations.

Okay, stacks can chop and change a fair bit, but some names have been near the summit all day. Among them in Monte Carlo are, and in no particular order, Spain's Carlos Mortensen (WSOP and WPT winner), Greg Raymer (WSOP winner) Andy Black of Ireland and Josh Arieh of the US (both WSOP final tablists), Chad Brown of the US (WPT final tablist), Ram Vaswani of England, and Johnny Lodden of Norway. Even David "Devilfish" Ulliot (WPT winner) is making a move after swimming in the shallows for most of the day.

It might be easy to say they have been lucky in a tournament this size to get so many chips, but let's face it, it's more than a little coincidental that they are the ones leading the charge into Day 3. Impressive stuff, so too is these boys' ability to use those huge stacks to their advantage, bullying others off pots to add yet more towers to their growing castles of chips. New counts will be up shortly.

It's the little differences, you know?

When the levels in the EPT Grand Final change, string orchestra music shoots from the speakers like a covey of quail. It's a light--but not whimsical--indication that it's time for the price of the game to edge up. Just after the dinner break, a side tournament kicked off. To help distinguish between the events, the tournament directors needed a different sound to indicate the changing of the levels. Their choice? Yello's "Oh Yeah." So, every 30 minutes, the clitter clatter of chips is broken up by a "bomp-bomp-chicka-chicka."

Andy Black, demure as ever, is on the move in more ways than one. Despite being on an upward chip trend, he's also been moved to a new table. That table now features Jonathan Little, Greg Raymer, and Black in a row (more on this in a moment). Still a long way to go, but should Black and Chad Brown make it to the final table, I call first dibs on the bad Black and Tan puns.

Team PokerStars' newest member Noah Boeken has been unnaturally quiet today, though is managing to hold on as he sits at Table 4, the toughest in the room. It features not only Boeken, but Carlos Moretensen, Joe Beevers, and Chad Brown, all of whom have sizable stacks.


Noah Boeken

Last night, we featured doctorin2010's t-shirt ("I would check-raise my own Grandma") at the end of the day. As it turns out, he's been pretty serious today and moved up to a sizable stack as we enter the second half of play.


doctorin2010

Finally, a special moment shared by Andy Black and Greg Raymer. A few minutes ago, I noticed Greg stalking the room for a fresh bottle of Evian. He found one and returned to his table. Later, I came back and discovered the water had turned a conspicuous shade of yellow. Any number of jokes could've been made about the drink, and Black saw fit to take the most obvious route when addressing the crowd about Greg's drink choice and its bodily source. Not one to be outdone, Greg picked up the bottle and offered Black a drink.

"I'm feeling a bit sick," Black said.


Black eyes up Raymer's yellow drink

Turns out it was white tea. Go figure.

Bomp-bomp. Chicka-chicka.

When PokerStars created Battleship tournament events back at the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, it was clear that a phenomenon was in the offing. The popularity grew so fast over the past couple of years, I'd often thought to remark, "We're going to need a bigger boat."

This year at the EPT Grand Final, the organizers decided not to run a tournament per se, but rather offer players the option of playing single heads up tournaments for as little or as much money as they like. As such, there have been people playing in the PokerStars Battleship Harbor for as little as 5 euros. At the dinner break tonight, though, something else developed. Word spread quickly that a couple players had found that elusive bigger boat.

As I type, William Thorson and fishrus are playing a series of three heads-up matches for 25,000 a piece. At the moment, William is up one match on fishrus. We need to return to the main tournament area for the big event, but if you'd like to keep tabs on the matches, you can get on the PokerStars software, click EPT, and All, then look for the Battleship matches.

fishrus


William Thorson


Relaxed and playing for 25K a piece...three times

Players are headed out to their dinner break. We now have in the neighborhood of 165 players remaining in the event. EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts have been updated at the end of Level 10. Players will be out for an hour while they dine.

Chad Brown continues to dominate the field, but Carlos Mortensen and Andy Black are creeping up on him. Still a very long way to go in this event. That said, we're 100 players away from the money. So, it's not nearly as far as it was.

Now, to dinner. Back with more in an hour or so.

by Simon Young

Phil Hellmuth is out and, as is customary for the "Poker Brat", he is not a happy bunny. The damage, when it came, was unfortunate as his K-K ran into A-A. So he had a right to feel a little aggrieved, but he did not stop there.

As he paced the floor he told me: "Welcome to Monte Carlo. I run circles around these guys for two days. I had kings twice and queens once and ran into aces each time. But I dodged the bullets and still had chips in front of me, that's how well I was playing. Then I had to go and get K-K that last time when the aces were out and I am now out of the tournament. It's unbelievable."

In fairness, Phil had played well to still be alive, after indeed dodging several bullets that could have taken him down long ago. He had built up to 40,000 at one stage today before getting all-in pre-flop on that last, fateful hand.

The room will be a quieter place without him.

Update: This post, though written not too long ago is now dated. Phil Hellmuth, in fact, did not dodge the latest bullets. More to come, but suffice it to say, The Poker Brat is out.

Devilfish was stretching. Earlier, I'd heard him call for cameras to record a chopped pot, one in which he was favored to win, and one which he described using an unprintable expletive. Now, he was exercising his deltoids and exorcising the demons. He wandered to Phil Hellmuth's table and they chatted for a bit. As Devislfish walked away, he muttered dryly, "I figured it must be going okay for you. It's been quiet over here."

As if it were a cue from a TV director, Hellmuth's voice rose a few decibels as he followed the 'Fish back to his table. "It's not been that quiet he said." He went on to describe a few hands, bluffs, and laydowns. "Dodging bullets, baby," he said, reprising one of his more infamous comments from WSOP television. "That's what I..." he paused slightly, then finished, "try to do."

That's what everyone in this room is attempting. THe weather outside shifts from sun to sprinkles every few hours, and players' moods are changing with the sunshine. With approximately 206 players remaining after two levels of play today, there is some suspicion that the event is moving faster than planned. Badgirl Pham, who survived a three-way all-in with pocket queens versus AK and AK, predicts otherwise.

"Now it will slow down," she said.

If a change in inertia doesn't do the trick, player attitudes might. During a stop at Emad Tahtouh's table, I saw a bunch of limpers and the action was headed toward Emad. Gearing up to raise, he balked as the player to his right threw out a bunch of chips. "I love this guy," Emad said, throwing a thumb in his tablemate's direction. "I was going to have to raise and he saved me."



As I type, I see that John Gale is making his way toward the rail. The one-time PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion had been nursing a short stack all day long. As we spoke earlier, he confessed, "I'm getting impatient." He knew, as I suspected, that it wouldn't be long before he either doubled up or went home.

Seconds later, we've learned that Katja Thater has also made an exit. Though tenacious with her short stack, it appears Katja could not find her double-up hand.

For the moment, here at the beginning of the 600/1200/100 level, the room has grown ever-so-slightly more quiet. The table chat is a bit quieter. The rail is not as thick. That may be because, as reports from The Outside are telling us, there is mayhem in the lobby, where the eliminated players are lining up to get into today's side event.

Breaking news: Barry Greenstein, Bill Chen, Vicky Coren have all been eliminated

More than one hundred of the players who started the day have now found their way back to their hotel rooms or, more suitably, a bar to lament their finish. We now sit under the 230 mark, causing blogger Simon Young to remark quietly, "It's a cull."

The rough run today is causing no small amount of tension in the room. Neil Stoddard told me a quick tale earlier about a hand involving Emad Tahtouh, Joe Hachem's big mate. Apparently, Emad - currently sitting on more than 140,000 - came in for a raise and one of his tablemates said something about Emad's poor table image. As it happened, there was still a player left in the hand. Said player had just arrived and knew nothing of Emad's image--good or bad. Regardless, right after the comment, the new player pushed all his chips in. Emad was, in a word, nonplussed.

Chad Brown, who started the day with a big chip lead, now has, er, an even bigger chip lead. He's up to over 300,000, with two new fresh scalps attached to his belt. One was a biggie - Sweden's William Thorson. Thorson and another player moved all in on a flop of K-Q-9, bets matched by Chad. The first had A-Q, bettered by Thorson's 9-9 for the set. Chad, perhaps worried one had 10-J for the straight, happily turned over his Q-Q for a higher set.

Missing, and presumed out, is Finland's Patrik Antonius. He had been yo-yoing dramatically for two days, and appears to have made one move too many here. Details when we can get them. The UK's Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham is enjoying herself. Short-ish late last night, she finished the day up a bit on 20,000. Now, she sits on a stack of more than 90,000 after trebling up with Q-Q against two A-K hands.

Team PokerStars' Katja Thater, fresh off her final table performance in Warsaw, is managing to hang in there, despite the mass blood-letting. Her stack is a bit short, but she seems to be able to afford some patience at the moment.

Other Team PokerStars' members aren't faring as well. Roving Report Ed Ramshaw has set himself up to watch the players as they are led away.

The Ed Report

Some quick fire news as players seem to be dropping like flies.

Bill Chen went out at the end of the last level. The chips went in the middle on a flop of J-10-9. Bill had J-10 and his opponent QQ. His opponent hit a straight to send Bill to the rail.

Emad Tahtouh is up to around 100K having eliminated a player with AK against KJ.
Roy "The Boy" Brindley has been eliminated. With the flop showing K-10-4 Roy bet 4K and was minimum raised by the player to his left. Roy moved in and hiss opponent instantly called. Roy was drawing pretty thin when he showed AK against his opponent's 10-10. Thin turned into dead when the case 10 hit the turn to give quads.

Victoria Coren has also left the building. She moved all in from the button with A6. The SB called and BB folded. Vicky turned A6 and the SB pocket rockets. The flop gave her some hope for a gutshot draw with K-J-10 and a 6 on the turn increased her outs but the river was a 5 and we say goodbye to the EPT London Champion.

Barry Greenstein is also OUT. He raised to 3K, Andy Black re-raised to 10K, and Barry pushed in. AK for Barry and AA for Andy. No miracle outdraw for Barry and Andy moves up to 150K.

Fortunately Greg Raymer is still going strong. I saw him take a slight setback when he raised to 2400 from the cut off and was called by the button. The flop was 6c-Ah-6h and a bet of 3500 was called by the button. 10c on the turn and 9d on the river were checked by both and the button shows 88 for the pot. He moved all in soon after when a player re-raised him on the flop. A long dwell later, and Greg took it down, taking him back up to 75,000.

Finally, lukefromb13 has been eliminated. Facing an early position raise and three callers, lukefromb13 pushed with AK from the big blind, got called by JT, and was outdrawn.

From TLB to EPT

by Ali Lightman

"I am speechless, it's unbelievable" said Tyler 'tnetter' Netter, as he prepared to sit down in the biggest poker tournament of his young life.

"I am chasing my dream."

Even though he's only 20 years old, Tyler, from Gainsville, Florida, is no ingenue at the table. He estimates his winnings to date at $400,000.



"It's a beautiful game, the best game in the world," he said. "Everyone gets two cards and anyone can win. There's no other sport like it. Maybe it's my turn now."

Winning the PokerStars' Tournament Leader Board guaranteed Tyler's entry to the Monte Carlo EPT Season Three Grand Final.

He's sharing his first adventure in Monte Carlo with his cousin, Rick.

Rick was on the rail cheering for Tyler during the EPT events in London and Barcelona. So is Rick your lucky charm, I wondered? "No, I got knocked out on bad beats both times. I always do when he's around, but I bring him with me anyway."

I was feeling slightly nervous about the Rick Effect when I went to check up
on Tyler.

Where's Rick? I asked. "By the pool," Tyler replied.

Perhaps he should stay there.

by Ali Lightman

Barely 5 days ago Aussie, Jason Melross, was pottering around at home in Geelong, rural Australia, about as far removed from Monte Carlo as one can be. Rather than getting on with something useful, Jason logged on to his computer, saw a last chance $240 double-shoot out on PokerStars.com to the EPT Grand Final, and thought, "why not?"

His life has been a bit hectic since then. Jason won. When he had picked himself up off the floor, he had to pull off a major feat of logistics even to get here from the other side of the planet.

"It was quite a rush to get here," he grinned.

Luckily Jason had drawn a seat for Day1B. When I caught up with him yesterday at Table 3 he was fed and watered, and had his game face on.

I recognized at least half of his table mates and felt a shiver of nerves for my young compatriot; smiling champagne-drinking Tommy Dender, from Copenhagen, who finished 17th in the Season 3 EPT German Open in March, Tomas Brolin, the Swedish ex-International footballer, Richard "King Richard" Ashby from the UK and Thomas Fougeron (eliminated).

I might have been nervous but Jason wasn't. He took down two large pots in succession.

Jason, 24, learned to play poker with his mates after seeing it on television two years ago and started a home game.

But while his mates were content to keep swapping the same few bucks back and forth around the kitchen table, Jason read a book or two, signed up on PokerStars and practiced. Now he's doing so well that he's chucked in his old job to turn Pro.

"It was a pretty boring job," he told me, "just office work in a customs brokerage house."

I bet the pay wasn't anywhere near what he's earning now. In addition to his online winnings, Jason's made more than $130,000 with good finishes playing tournaments in Las Vegas and the Aussie Millions.

"This is a good structure, deep-stacked, it gives us lots of play," he said. "I'm just playing one hand at a time."

Jason goes into Day 2 with a comfortable 27075 in chips.

"This is a lot more fun that my old job, going to places like this. I couldn't have imagined this kind of life, two years ago. My mates keep asking me to give them lessons now."

The Ed Report

Erica Schoenberg, John Shipley and Fabrice Soullier have been eliminated.

Julian Gardner raises to 2K from the button and Pete “The Beat” Giordano bumps it to 7K. The BB calls and Julian throws his hand away. The flop is Ac-3c-5s and Pete bets 11K which is called by the BB. Ad on the turn and a check from Pete prompts an all in. Pete gives it up and is left with around 13K.

Greg Raymer has got off to a decent start today. An UTG raise from him was called by the button with the rest of the table folding. The flop came down 9c-8d-6d and a 3K bet from Greg was called. The turn was 4h and Greg kept firing this time with a armour piercing 5K shell. This did the job and the button folded. Greg is up at 62K.



News from John Shipley at the bar it was Andy Black who was the hatchet man for Chris Moneymaker. Chris bet out on the end with a board showing two Kings and the rest rags. Andy asked if this small bet was a stopper bet and asked if could call a raise. Chris said he could not but then shoved in when Andy raised. Andy priced in called with QQ which was enough.

by Simon Young

I like Tables of Death. Big names share the same felt, eyeing each other up in that menacing "don't even think about it" way. Or normally, anyway. Here, the undoubted table to avoid is actually the friendliest of the lot.

Sitting together are overnight chip leader Chad Brown, from the US, Team PokerStars' Dutchman Noah "Exclusive" Boeken, the UK's Joe Beevers (one quarter of the Hendon Mob) and, for good measure, Sweden's William Thorson, who finished 13th in last year's WSOP Main Event, and who finished third in this season's EPT Dublin. And they are getting on famously, chattering away like a bunch of mates in the bar.

So far they've enjoyed a discussion about the merits of being allowed to buy into this tournament, for €10,000 at the start of Day 2. Would it be worth it? Well, the consensus seemed to be yes. You'd start again with 15,000 chips and, with one double up, would be up to at least average in no time with just 330 or so of the 706 players left. Chad Brown insisted: "I think a good player would have perhaps less than a 50% chance of getting into Day 2, so I would love to start on Day 2 with 15,000." Mind you, that's easy to say when you actually started with 150,000!

Even when the serious matter of playing poker was ongoing, the banter continued. Hand two of the day and Beevers raises from the cut off. Brown, in the small blind re-raises him. "Is this going to happen all day?" asks the Englishman. "I hope so," says Brown, and Beevers mucks.

Elsewhere Anthony Holden, the UK author of The Big Deal, went out unluckily on hand two. Sitting with Team PokerStars' Lee Nelson to his right, he watched as the New Zealander pushed his 9,000 in the middle. A quick look at his cards, and a quicker all in from Holden spelt trouble for Nelson. His fears were realised - he had A-10, Holden Q-Q. But wait, the flop brought the ace and Holden had reached the final chapter of this particular story. Nelson, meanwhile said: "Great, now I can play some poker!" Not good news for the rest of his table.

Another man looking for an early monster hand today was Norway's Baard Dahl, who final tabled in Season One's EPT London. Handily, he found K-K on hand three - raised, found a re-raise and pushed. This was his chance, he thought, until his opponent flipped over.... K-K. Chop, chop. "Just my luck," he told me.

More now on Isabelle Mercier's departure. "I had A-K and came up against 5-5. Okay, I thought, let's go. The flop came down A, K ..... 5. Ouch, but never mind." And off she went. What a girl.

No details yet of Chris Moneymaker's demise, although the UK's John Shipley whispered to me that he "bluffed his chips away". I'll try and verify that as soon as I can. Still at the table with Shipley are no less that Team PokerStars' Barry Greenstein, Ireland's Andy "Quiet Man" Black (okay, we wish) and the UK's Dave "El Blondie" Colclough who, on his day, can rip through a field. Black has chips and looks dangerous - but he has just doubled up an opponent when his A-K was outgunned by the A-A. It cost him 20,000 or so, but Andy is still in good shape.

Team PokerStars also has Greg Raymer, Katja Thater, from Germany, Victor Ramdin and Bill Chen in the field. Katja and Bill are both short on chips, but as Katja showed in Poland a few weeks ago, you can make a few chips go a long way. In Warsaw she made 11,000 chips at the start of Day 2 stretch all the way to fifth place.

There is a slightly overcast sky on the Cote d'Azur. It's a rather perfect day for playing poker, methinks. I would think our chip leader, Chad Brown, likely believes so as well. As you will find on EPT Monte Carlo chip counts page, Brown finished Day 1 proper with an impressive chip lead, 150,425. His lead over second place is bigger than many players' remaining stacks.

Chad Brown

The curtains have been drawn here and, as one person remarked, this room is as full as many tournaments' Day 1. Crowd control is in full effect day as the march toward the money becomes even more serious. We started with 339 players today, 113 of whom are fighting under the PokerStars banner (including 30 players who qualified for this event via FPP freerolls). There are 32 nationalities representing five continents among the remaining players. We're still seeing action from players who hail from the U.S. to Saudi America to New Zealand. Not to mention an impressive lot of Europeans.

Early action has seen three crowd favorites fall. Isabelle Mercier (AK vs 55), Anthony Holden (out on his second hand), and Chris Moneymaker have already found their way toward the door.

The Ed Report

One table that immediately caught the eye today was Table 32. On a 9 handed table we have Chris Moneymaker, Barry Greenstein, John Shipley, Andy Black and Dave Colclough. Andy Black is a dominant chip leader on the table and has had a promising start to the day using his chips to bully players out of pots.

Facing a 5K raise from the cut off Andy called in the SB. The flop was Kh-5s-5h and a 10K bet from Andy picked that one up. Shortly after on a board of 4d-7d-4s-6d Andy called a bet of 6500 from the other player involved. The 5h made this look even more dangerous and a 7K bet from Andy was enough to win that one as well. He is chipped up at over 100K now.

We have just had a 3 way all in on a table near to this with AK vs A10 vs A9. The AK held up and two players were elimnated in a 40K pot. There are quite a lot of shortstacks out there and with it costing 1500 a round they are being forced into playing more marginal hands than they might otherwise do.

The Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth has just more than doubled up. On a board of Jd-2d-9d-7c, Phil had pushed all in. He was standing up putting his fake leather jacket on, assuming the worst as there were two players behind him to act.The first folded and he was called by the other.Phil showed trip deuces against AJ with no diamond, so Phil was safe. A 7d on the river gave Phil a fullhouse and the pot.

He is up to around 43K.

How serious do you have to be to be in this game? Well, apparently, you have to be ruthless enough to check-raise your own Grandma. Roving Reporter Ed Ramshaw spotted this ruthlessness at ElkY's table. I later learned, the man behind the poker aggression was Doctorin2010, a PokerStars qualifier who had done well enough for himself today to go into Day 2 with a much better than average stack. Right now we're estimating, but it looks like Chad Brown will head into Day 2 with the chip lead--looking to be around 150,000.

Indeed, that shirt reads "I would check-raise my own Grandma"

We're at the tail-end of today's action with approximately 180 players left in the field. It was a day that saw heavyweights like Joe Hachem, Phil Ivey, and Marcel Luske fall. And it was a day that saw players like Patrik Atonius and Chad Brown skyrocket to big leads. We'll have a full official chip count when it's provided to us by the tournament staff. In the meantime, here's some late action from Ed.

The Ed Report

Facing a 1500 raise PokerStars qualifier rkruok called and then saw the SB push in for 4750 total. The original raiser folded and rkruok made the call. AJ for the SB against 66. The board was all single digit cards and rkruok eliminates a player and moves up to just under 30K.

Mel Judah has been eliminated when the money was all in preflop AK vs QQ and his hand did not improve.

Andy Black is continuing to add to his already impressive stack despite a tough table including Vicky Coren, Erica Schoenberg and French PS qualifier dlopt who just missed out on the FT in Barcelona this year. An early limper to Vicky Coren’s BB was also called by Andy and Vicky checked her option. The flop was 9d-6h-7d and the initial limper bet 1500. Andy raised to about 11K enough to put either player all in. Both folded and The WSOP final tablist now sits on around 60K. Vicky is looking perilously short and the crossword is losing its chances of completion.

Bill Chen raises to 1500 and gets 2 caller. Flop is Ad-3d-7s and Bill fires 2500 into the pot and gets a called. Both check the 2c on the turn and the river is 8d. The other player bets 4K and Bill folds. As the pot is being scooped he is shown a 5h. Bill is back down to 14K.

---

And so, we end it tonight and plan for a 2pm start tomorrow. It looks like we'll have around 350 players going into Day 2, just about half the 706 that started. If you missed today's action, check out:

Big Guns Prepare for Battle
Champions in Monte Carlo
Champions Fall (Hachem and Ivey eliminated)
Faces in the crowd
Enormous first prize
Hellmuth's Hell and Stoddard's Eye
Gus Hansen's Tall Tale (and exit)
EPT Monte Carlo Payouts
Back in Action

On the outside, looking in

With the hour growing late, the players with the shorter stacks are starting to get'em in. We're down to 234 players in this flight with two hours left in play. You'll see, we posted the payout structure in the PokerStars Headlines box at the top. It's all now official. We started with more than 700 players and will be paying 64. That's going to be one heckuva grind for the remaining players.

After my heartbreaking defeat to Simon earlier today, I needed something to lift my spirits. Confined to the tournament reporting and blog duties, the best I could do to get in action was bet Team PokerStars' Isabelle Mercier in a last longer against Erika Schoenberg. When the bet was made, Schoenberg had around 9,000 to Isabelle's 6,000, and I got a great price at 2-1. Even better (and the real point of this little tale) is that Isabelle just doubled through Keith Hawkins in a battle of the blinds. She got her final 6,000 in with 88 vs. The Camel's 33. Not only did the eights hold up, they made a set and sealed the deal. Isabelle now sits on more than 12,000 and is smiling again.

As it turns out, though he's supposed to be on holiday, roving reporter Ed can't stop working. He's been out roving and returned with a sizable report.



The Ed Report

Phil Helmuth is handing out his normal words of advice at the table. I caught him berating a player in the middle of a hand about future misdemeanours that he might commit. With 2.8K in the pot and it showing 4c-Jc-6s Phil had bet 2K and found himself raised to 5K. With his cards ready to muck he then began the lecture which briefly summarised was "do not just gift wrap those and pass them on to someone else." Phil is sitting on around 13K.

You may find an abnormally large number of reports focusing on a couple of tables in during the final two levels. There is a reason for it. Members of the blogging team are hanging over Elky like a spectre of death. He is down to about 2K but seems in good spirits just picking his pots to desperately try and pick up the blinds and antes. One can only feel that unless he gets a real rush of cards it is only a matter of time.

Whilst loitering with intent I saw Jeff Lisandro boost his stack. He raised from the cut off to 1200 and the button called. The flop was 3c-9h-5d and was checked by both players. 8h on the turn and Jeff fired a 3500 chip shells - which the button called. The river brought a 2d and Jeff with only 2K or so left decided to check, as did the button. Jeff showed 43 against the button’s AQ. Jeff is now at 11K and the button player went out shortly thereafter.

Almost immediately after that hand we had some 5 way action at the table. Jeff limped UTG which prompted several other callers. A flop of Qs-Qh-5c only had two players interested. Jeff bet 600 and was called in the BB by PokerStars qualifier rkruok. Turn was a Kc and Jeff made it 1500 to play which was duly called. The river brought a 9s and both players checked. Rkruok showed QJ to take it down and move up to 23K. He was also scooping chips at the table the next time I looked round, and probably has close to 30K now.

For those UK readers out there former Eastenders "Star" turned poker player Michael Greco is doing well and giving a lesson on how to defend a blind. Facing a button raise to 800, Michael made it 3800 to go and Mel Judah folds on the BB. The button also mucks and Michael shows a rag ace.

In between accumulating chips Vicky Coren is explaining how to complete a Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword. In truth she should maybe do more of the doing and less explaining as I only saw about 5 clues done, but believe me these things are not your tea-break teasers. At the current rate if she final tables the event it may be complete. I did see her pick up a pot whilst I was trying to work out 10 across. With 3K in the pot and the flop showing 2d-4h-8c the BB had bet 1200 and Vicky had raised to 4K total effectively setting the BB all in. He mucked and Vicky is up to 26K.

In other news Chad Brown looks to have over 100K and appears to be leading the field.

Total players: 706
Prize pool: 6,626,400 euros
Places paid: 64

Payout structure

1 -- 1,825,010
2 -- 1,061,820
3 -- 610,550
4 -- 471,180
5 -- 391,550
6 -- 305,270
7 -- 238,910
8 -- 159,270
9 -- 99,550
10 -- 99,550
11 -- 66,360
12 -- 66,360
13 -- 49,770
14 -- 49,770
15 -- 39,820
16 -- 39,820
17 -- 33,180
18 -- 33,180
19 -- 33,180
20 -- 33,180
21 -- 33,180
22 -- 33,180
23 -- 33,180
24 -- 33,180
25 -- 26,550
26 -- 26,550
27 -- 26,550
28 -- 26,550
29 -- 26,550
30 -- 26,550
31 -- 26,550
32 -- 26,550
33 -- 23,230
34 -- 23,230
35 -- 23,230
36 -- 23,230
37 -- 23,230
38 -- 23,230
39 -- 23,230
40 -- 23,230
41 -- 19,910
42 -- 19,910
43 -- 19,910
44 -- 19,910
45 -- 19,910
46 -- 19,910
47 -- 19,910
48 -- 19,910
49 -- 16,590
50 -- 16,590
51 -- 16,590
52 -- 16,590
53 -- 16,590
54 -- 16,590
55 -- 16,590
56 -- 16,590
57 -- 13,270
58 -- 13,270
59 -- 13,270
60 -- 13,270
61 -- 13,270
62 -- 13,270
63 -- 13,270
64 -- 13,270

by Simon Young

Gus Hansen is taller than Tom Cruise. Okay, I admit this conundrum has probably never even entered your head, but let me explain. A picture of the Great Dane placed on a poker forum today made him look like a very small person. It was the perspective, you see. But a debate ensued about whether he was, in fact, much taller in real life. Some suggested he was no larger than actor Tom Cruise (not known for his loftiness).

To settle it once and for all, Gus was summonsed to the media room here in Monte Carlo where, stuck conveniently on the wall, was an arrow where Tom Cruise would have been. Good sport that he is, Gus stood next to it, and as erect as he could - and at least half his shaven head was above the "Cruise Arrow".

So there you have it. Gus Hansen IS taller than Tom Cruise - but not by much.

EDIT: Breaking news - Gus Hansen is OUT in a massive pot that saw one other player fetch his coat at the same time. The beneficiary of all this? Chad Brown, of the US, who just happens to be Team PokerStars' Vanessa Rousso's other half, and who now has a whopping 118,000 chips.

The hand was a monster. With blinds at 150-300, Chad limped. Folded round to the small blind who called, and Gus in the big blind, who checked. No danger at this point, but that all changed after the 7-10-K flop. Small blind and Gus both check, Chad bets 500, the small blind calls, but Gus raises to 2,500. Chad calls the raise - then the small blind goes all in for about 25,000.

As if that was not eye-popping enough, Gus pushed too for 30,000 or so and Chad, on a flush and a straight draw felt he had the right price to call. So, all on their backs. Small blind and first "all-inner" had A-K for top pair, Gus 10-7 for two pair and Chad the draw. The turn was gave him the magical flush and the river made no difference.

So Chad now looks like being chip leader. Gus is off to lick his wounds.

It's hard to pinpoint how this night is different than the last. Perhaps it is because there were a few more players in today's flight. Perhaps it's because a few crowd favorites were sliced and diced in the early rounds. Perhaps its just second flight fatigue. Regardless, though it's getting on toward 11pm here, it doesn't seem like the second half of action is as intense as it was in the late-going yesterday. Still, the enormity of the prize pool is lending some extra juice where the late-day fatigue is taking it away. Every chip matters. Speaking of which, the EPT Monte Carlo chip counts have been updated for Level 4.

Now seems as good as any time to give you another look at this event through the eyes of Neil Stoddard, our pro photographer who stops by once a day to unintentionally make me realize I should take a class or two in this photography thing (No worries, Neil. I know I'm an amateur and you had me at hello).

Phil Hellmuth (see a bit further down for a picture that gives a better idea of how the Poker Brat is faring now)


Devilfish (my vote for picture of the day)


Patrik Antonius, the one souvenir I may take home for my wife


Per "Nemo" Ummer, one of few you can call a fish without being insulting


Lee Nelson


Isabelle Mercier, in earlier, less stressful times


The Great Dane, Gus Hansen

Finally, as we begin Level 5, Simon Young happened to be standing near Hellmuth as the last blind level closed. He came back to report...

"Hellmuth feels he is getting the rough end of the luck today. The latest hand, the last before a 15-minute break, saw him lead out pre-flop, on the flop, and on the turn, called each time by his opponent. The river made his foe's flush and Hellmuth mucked in disgust. He slapped the table, then, as the other player trooped out for their quick break, he remained in hit seat, his leather jacket covering his head."


Hellmuth's day got a little worse after the break - he lost half his stack just now when he ran into a set of aces. Fears rise that a blow-up is imminent.

If there's anything a player likes to hear after a big meal (other than, "Okay, nap time, everybody!), it's that they are playing for a 1.8 million euro first prize. The exact payout structure is still being worked up, but first prize is a lock and players can't stop talking about it. If the EPT had not yet arrived, it certainly has now.

The dinner buffet ranged from squid to roast, not once leading anyone make a joke about fish or ponder "Where's the beef?" Now, those players who survived the dinner break are on their way back to attempt to go from a big meal to a big deal.

Isabelle returns from dinner with a new look


Shaniac realizes his Bose QC3s work pretty damned well


Mats Iremark passes the time with his toys


Gavin Griffin, blonde and spikey

The Ed Report

In a 3 way pot with 2K already in the middle and the flop showing 10c-3d-2h Devilfish fired out 1500 and was called by one player. An Ad on the turn and Devilfish led out with 4K this time. His opponent thought for an age before folding. Devilfish showed his 77 face up and mentioned something about not messing with the fish -- we are presuming he meant the Devilfish or he was just insulting his own poker play.

An early position raise to 400 is called by Willie Tann and ElkY. The flop comes Jh-3c-3s and Willie bets 600 which is called by ElkY. The other player folds. An 8s on the turn and a Ac on the river are both checked and ElkY shows J10 suited to take it down. Willie flashes 99 as he bins them. ElkY is around 22K and Willie is near enough at his starting stack of 15K.

2006 EPT Barcelona Champion Bjorn-Erik Glenne is absolutely motoring at the moment. I caught him involved with another dangerous player at his table, Patrik Antonious (another former EPT Champion). With 1100 in the pot and the board showing Ks-Kd-7h Bjorn had bet 1025. Patrik had raised to 3100 and a re-raise from Bjorn to 7300 was enough to make Patrick fold. Even without Phil Ivey at this table, the press are still swarming around it and no wonder as Bjorn is one of the days chip leaders with somewhere in the region of 70K. Patrik still has 23K.

High stakes French player Davd Benyamine has just doubled up someone at his table. The cut off raised to 550 and Vicky Coren on the button called. David raised to 2100 and the cut off moved in for 6100 total. David felt priced in and called. AQ for David vs JJ. The cards were all low and the cut off doubled leaving David at 24K.

The Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth is in town and after a shaky start seems to be settling into his rhythm. He bumped it to 500 from mid position to be called by the big blind. The flop was 8d-Kc-10d and after a check from the BB Phil bet 500. This was raised to 2025 and Phil pretty much instantly called. The As on the turn was checked by both players and the BB also checked the 9c river. Phil bet out 3K on the end which took down the pot and chipped him up to 19K.

Devilfish is continuing his persecution of the player sat opposite him. He showed a bluff earlier today with 77 into a big pot for that stage of the game. In this hand I caught site of a board showing 8d-2d-5h-2s-Ks and the chap was facing a 6K bet from Devilfish. The pot was 8.5K not including Devilfish's bet. Another fold and Devilfish shows A-10 for pretty much nothing.

Erica Schoenberg has just doubled a player up. She raised to 800 from mid position and the SB moved in for 6100 total. Erica counted out what she would be left with and decided to call showing JJ. The SB showed AK and it is race time. A king on the flop was enough to secure the win, although Erica did have a flush draw on the river, which missed. She is now down to 16K.

Keith 'The Camel' Hawkins limps UTG for 200 and the blinds, Shane 'Shaniac' Schleger and Isabelle 'No Mercy' Mercier also get involved. Flop comes Ah-6h-5c and Keith bets 300 after the others check. Isabelle decides to stay in and turn is 3s. Keith fires out 1K and Isabelle calls again. A 10d on the river prompts a check from both players and Isabelle shows a 6 which takes it down. This win puts her up to 8.5K.

I've been making my way around the room looking for faces we think we stand a chance of seeing in later days. They might not be worth 1,000 words, but I think they'll suffice for a few hundred or so.

Jonathan Little, 2007 PCA final table player, and the man who cracked Joe Hachem's aces


Chad Brown, among the the better tournament players you don't see much on TV


John Gale, 2005 PCA champion


Andy Black, 2005 WSOP final table player, and competing with Phil Hellmuth for most talkative player at the EPT Grand Final


Thang Duc Nguyen, EPT Baden Season 3 champion


Baard Dahl, one-time circuit rounder, now an entreprenuer who couldn't keep himself away from the Grand Final


ElkY, Supernova looking for Supernova Elite


Arshad Husain, 2006 EPT Grand Final final table player

by Simon Young

No sooner had Brad put up the last past about Joe Hachem and Jeff Williams biting the dust, than I chanced upon Team PokerStars' Vanessa Rousso's table to find her down to small change. A pile of green 25 chips, and a few black 100 ones added to no more than a thousand or so. It's a pretty vulture-like job we do here, and I had to stick around since, knowing Vanessa, it would not be long before she pushed.

First hand she's on the big blind and faces a raise. Here we go, I thought, but she passed. Next hand, though, it's folded around to her small blind and she sticks the greens and blacks over the line. The man to her left had her well covered. He looks at his first card. "It's an ace," he says, "so I have to call." He flips over A-4, Vanessa has the rather depleted J-3. The board started well with a flop of 2-6-3, but the turn and river were both fives. Vanessa was out to the straight.

She leaves the arena, but her partner Chad Brown, who had a good run in this season's London EPT, is still in.

Meanwhile Patrik Antonius, he who set off like a greyhound earlier to reach more than 35,000, has fallen back to 21,000. But he's not afraid to keep making moves. On a 5-J-4 flop he raises and is check-called. The 5 turn sees a bigger bet - 1,000 - check-called again. The river is a Q and his opponent leads out this time with 1,200. Antonius, the chisel-jawed former tennis coach from Finland, showed strength by re-raising to 3,000. His opponent thought for a moment and called. Showdown - opponent A-J - Antonius 7-9 for, er, nothing. That's the beauty of his game, though, no-one really knows exactly where he's at.

Great Dane Gus Hansen continues to boss his table around, and is drawing a big crowd. At the moment, all they see is Gus stretched out in his chair chatting on his mobile phone. Another big name, Ireland's Andy Black is up to 25,000. We need not follow his table too closely, since his booming voice keeps most of the room informed of his progress.

Team PokerStars' Lee Nelson is having a quiet time of it, and is hovering around the 12,000 mark, just ahead of The Big Deal author Tony Holden, who is flying the PokerStars flag, and who has 9,000 or so.

Phil Hellmuth is also drawing a crowd. Dressed head to foot in his usual black, the "Poker Brat" is busy telling anyone who will listen that he will "trap them and take all their chips. Just like that". Well, we are waiting, but it has not happened yet. No matter, he is up to 20,000 or so and looking solid.

We are now into level 3, with blinds at 75-150, with 333 of the day's starters still in their seats.

Within the span on 90 minutes--one level here at the European Poker Tour Grand Final--we lost both 2005 World Series of Poker champion Joe Hachem and 2006 EPT Grand Final champion Jeff Williams. Perhaps not surprisingly, both players had their aces cracked on their way to the door. As we wrote in a flash just a bit ago...

Joe Hachem has been eliminated from the EPT Grand Final. He raised to 300 pre-flop and was re-raised by Jonathan Little to 1000. Hachem called. The flop came out QsQc2c. Hachem bet out, was raised by Little, Hachem three-bet, Little pushed, and Hachem called. He quickly flipped up his aces. Little flipped up AQo. No miracle case ace on the turn and river and Hachem is gone.

Toward the end of Level 2, Jeff Williams had been chipped down to around 6,000 when he picked up pocket aces. A KT4 flop did him in against an opponent who held KT.

In the same level, Phil Ivey also fell victim to Patrick Antonius. Apparently Ivey had made two pair by the turn on a 3-5-6-T board with two diamonds. Ivey pushed in the rest of his 6,500 in chips. Antonius called with 7-9 of diamonds, hit his flush on the river, and sent Ivey packing.

All I can say is that I'm happy Isabelle has been running okay. Or, perhaps it better to say, it's nice Isabelle's aces haven't been cracked.



Now, at the beginning of Level 3 (EPT Monte Carlo chip counts now updated), the room seems just as full as it did when we started.

There are a lot of fun tables here, but Shaniac and Keith "The Camel" Hawkins seem to be keeping most folks at their table pretty entertained. They've been quoting lines from The Simpsons for quite a while.


Isabelle Mercier laughs at Shaniac

Note: I've also lost a bet which requires the following words. There is an ongoing Battleship Poker game running in the media area of the Grand Final. Lee Jones and his staff are running it smoothly for all who want to play. Some clever folks in marketing thought it would be a fine idea for me to face of against uber-blogger Simon Young in a heads-up death match for all to see. It was quite a show. Lasting for a full 45 minutes, Young and I battled back and forth. There were times I had him more than 2-1. There were times when he had me more than 2-1. It was an epic match that forced Lee Jones to remark several times, "You guys are still playing?" Unlike many of the other matches going on here, this one involved no money. Only pride was on the line. Well, that and the loser had to blog about the game. I suspect, if you have followed it this far, it's pretty clear who emerged with the victory. I'd like to say something ugly about Simon right now, but I can't come up with anything clever that wouldn't also make me sound like a sore loser. So, yeah, I lost. And Simon played well. And...yeah, I'm the big loser. Damn it, I would've rather lost 100 euros.

...EDIT from Simon Young: Erm, I'm sure we were playing for €100? Unlucky, old chap. ENDS EDIT...

Back to the floor. Carefully.

Quick flash: Joe Hachem has been eliminated from the EPT Grand final. He raised to 300 pre-flop and was re-raised by Jonathan Little to 1000. Hachem called. The flop came out QsQc2c. Hachem bet out, was raised by Little, Hachem three-bet, Little pushed, and Hachem called. He quickly flipped up his aces. Little flipped up AQo. No miracle case ace on the turn and river and Hachem is gone.

With a full room once again, it's hard to find folks here. The good thing is, there are so many big-name players and former champions of one major event or another, it's well-nigh impossible not to find something interesting to watch. For instance, up in the back left corner of the room, it's hard not to spot the crowds forming around a couple of tables. Joe Hachem and Phil Ivey, both champions in their own right, are drawing the biggest attention.

Phil Ivey, texting before the event begins


Hachem, all smiles as the day begins

A veteran of the Monte Carlo wars, I was interested in finding one young man from the states. Jeff Williams, the University of Georgia student who won here last year, has returned to defend his title. His dad, Dave, is along for the ride. It took both father and blogger a bit to find the lad, nestled in the back corner, a quiet place for title defense.


Nobody puts Jeff in the corner...except Thomas Kremser and a random table draw

One of the most familiar faces of the EPT has already left the building. Marcel Luske was eliminated in the first level in the most horrible way. Holding A-K he was dleighted to see the flop come A-10-A. He bets big, gets a call. The turn was 3, he bets bigger and is called again. River was a 2 (no flush on board). Marcel leads out, his opponent re-raises, then all the chips fly in. Marcel showed his trip aces, top kicker. His opponent, surely must have a full house? Nope, he called all the way with 4-5 and hit the gutshot on the river. It's a cruel game, but Marcel took the beat in his usual polite manner.

Still on his table, though, sits Team PokerStars' Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier. She's in high spirits, and tells us she is confident of a good run here. She sits next to England's Keith "The Camel" Hawkins, and is tucking into a variety of croissants and rolls. "I really need some fruit," she says. "There must be somewhere in here where I can get a banana or an apple?"

Her day has not been fruitless so far in the poker sense. She's up to 17,000 already after picking off a couple of pots from players perhaps wary of her fearsome reputation. On one, a chap raised her big blind to 150. She calls and sees a flop of K-J-7 hearts. Turn is another 7 and river the 3 clubs. It had been checked to the river, and now Isabelle bet out 250, forcing an instant fold. "I saw he thought I had a monster," she said later. Did she? A knowing wink said it all.

The familiar faces are hard to miss. Here are a few more shots from around the room.


Genius Bill Chen


Vanessa Rousso


ElkY


Shaniac


Vicky Coren

Quick reports from the field tell us Gus Hansen has just doubled up.

Now...The Ed Report!

The Ed Report

There is a scrum around the table that holds two young phenoms, Phil Ivey and Patrick Antonius. Following their action is nigh on impossible unless you are prepared to stay for the duration.

Instead, we are doing our usual ambles around the room. Already, at this early stage you can see some of the more aggressive players, such as Devilfish and David Benyamine with piles of green 25 chips.

Another of those is ElkY. I watched a pot unfold between him and well-known UK pro, Willie Tann. With 300 in the pot, the flop was showing Kc-7h-2c. A six of diamonds came on the turn. ElkY bet 300, Tann made it 800, and ElkY callled. The two of spades fell on the river. Tann made it 1,000 and ElkY called. His KJ was good enough, putting him up to 21,000.

KidPokerJD, who finished 7th in Barcelona this year, has made the trip over from Fresno. This time, he is without his family, but his girlfriend is here for support.

...

We should also finally note that Phil Hellmuth, king of fashionable tardiness, has arrive and is already doing on-camera interviews.

Now, to take us into Level 2, the one ubiquitous sight in the poker room.

The music thunders, the fog rolls, the disembodied voice of John Duthie comes down from the rafters. Somehow, it seems all-too familiar. Probably because the same thing happened yesterday. That's the thing about another flight of Day 1. For those of us who were here yesterday, it's something we've seen before. Though, I have to imagine, it's a bit like the birth of one's second child. Regardless of the relative newness, it's new for the kid, it's still fantastic, and that's all that matters.

Today here, glasses are already breaking. I've seen shards on the carpet and early days stumbles around the room. There are a lot of big faces here and about. Pictures are on there way.

While I've been working out the technical issues and roaming the room, Simon has been on top of the tables.

by Simon Young

Welcome to Day 1B of the European Poker Tour Grand Final in sunny Monte Carlo. If you thought yesterday's field was impressive, wait until you feast your eyes on this one! Names spring out like a Who's Who of World Poker. Joe Hachem, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Patrik Antonius, John Gale and... well, I could go on for ever.

As so often happens, the Poker Gods have come up with a fiendish seat draw, with several early candidates for the Table of Death Award.

One table, tucked away at the back of room, could be easily missed, if it were not for the fellows sitting around it. Sharing the felt here are Britain's John Gale, a bracelet winner at last summer's WSOP, Ireland's Andy Black, who came fifth in the main event just a couple of years ago, William Thorson, the fearsomely aggressive Swede who finished 13th in the main event last year, Thor Hansen from Norway, who plays so successfully in the US, Englishman Peter Gould and Baad Dahl, the Norwegian who finished 4th in the season one's EPT London - phew!

A little further down the line, two big guns face each other in the shape of Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius, from Finland, who made such a big impact last season after winning the EPT in Baden, Austria.

Another hot table sees Flying Dutchman Marcel Luske and Team PokerStars Isabelle Mercier as neighbours. A few seats along sits Keith "The Camel" Hawkins, a successful PokerStars player from the UK, who has a mean live game - final tabling at November's Amsterdam Classic being his latest success.

With such a huge prize on offer, it's no wonder we are finding so many big-name match-ups, despite the huge field. A further tour of the room sees Team PokerStars' ElkY from France sitting next to Italy's Jeff Lissandro and Swedish singer-songwriter Dilba Demirbag, both PokerStars players. Also with them is English veteran Willie Tann and Germany's Erich Kohlmann.

And just to add to the mix, Norway's Henning Granstad, who sat at the same fearsome Table of Death in Warsaw as myself, is joined by some more tasty company today in the shape of Denmark's Gus Hansen and Finland's Juha Helppi.

Last year's Grand Final winner Jeff Williams is back again after qualifying on PokerStars, and sits at a quiet little table in corner of the room. Joe Hachem sits with England's Mel Judah (who has equal claim to be an Australian like Joe), and England's Micky Wernick.

With all this lot - and countless others - expect the action to be fast and furious despite the 90-minute levels and 15,000 starting stack. Stick with us, and don't miss a thing!

There are a lot of striking things about the last 14 hours. There have been your usual bad beats, good beats, and beat downs. There has also been an astounding number of broken water glasses around the room. At times, due to fatigue or clumsiness, it's seemed as though walking the tournament floor was more dangerous due to broken glass than the on-tilt players. Even more striking, though, has been the stamina with which the players have survived the day.

In the waning moments of the final level, Greg "FossilMan" Raymer was still in great spirts, even taking time to blow raspberries at his opponents. Perhaps it's a little easier to smile when you end the day with twice the average stack. He's had a good run at the end of the day. He has survived to Day 2 with many other of his fellow Team PokerStars members. Chris Moneymaker, Noah Boeken, Barry Greenstein, Katja Thater, and Victor Ramdin have all made it through, as well. For a look at all the official chip counts, visit the EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts page.

For a complete look back at the day, feel free to visit any of these links.

Raison d'etre: Arriving in Monte Carlo
EPT Grand Final set to begin
An Odyssey begins
Humberto Brenes making friends
Early action and big names
Black out that noise--the arrival of Andy Black
EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts
Level 3 News and Notes
Raymer's on the move
Barry's all set
The little things
Level 5 Action and Photos Gallery
Team PokerStars Neighbours
The fall of Annette_15
Day 1A Drawing to a close

For a little bit of late night action, how about one last Ed Report?

The Ed Report

Chris Moneymaker decides to defend his button, calling a 1200 raise from the cut off. The blinds fold and the pot is heads up with the flop coming Kd-5h-2s. Check from the raiser prompts Chris to bet 1500. This is raised to 4K which Chris calls. Jh on the turn and both players check. 4s on the river and the action is checked to Chris who bets 6500. The unknown PS qualifier thinks for an age and folds QQ face up. Chris had promised to show either way and flips up 6d4d. That pot takes Chris up to around 35K.

ActionJeff was been eliminated by LukefromB13 in a coin flip scenario. Full details are unknown.

The aggressive Hungarian PokerStars qualifier Csaboka doubled a player up. An early position raise was bumped up to 3200 total by the next seat. The BB, Csaboka, pushed in 12K enough to effectively set either player all in. The original raiser folded, but the other chap called. AK for Csaboka vs JJ. The board was all low and Csaboka’s stack dropped to around 50K.

On a flop of 4s-Js-6c and the pot at 3K Pete "The Beat" Giordano bet 4K. This was raised by Agent Vixen to 8K, and Pete called. Turn brought 4h and The Beat moved all in. It was instantly called by AgentVixen who shows AJ. The Beat shows 45 and the 10d on the river is no help to AgentVixen who doubles him up after a nasty turn card. She is now down to 12K and The Beat has moved up to just over 40K.

Agent Vixen then just crashed out. She had lost a few more chips in the interim period and raised to 1200. A random dude with a big stack set her all in and she called for her remaining 5K or so. KJ for AgentVixen vs AJ. The king did not come and there was no miracle straight and we lost another. Players are dropping fairly quickly during this last level of the night and we are down to 176 with an average stack of just over 28K.

My dinner guest uwillfold is still going strong. A raise from him brought a re-raise by Ben Grundy that was called by uwillfold and meant there was 8K in the pot preflop. Flop was 3c-8h-6h and uwillfold checked. Ben bets 5K and uwillfold announced all in. Ben had about 10K left and folded. The discussion afterwards indicated Ben had AK and uwillfold pocket 10s. uwillfold is up to 50K now.

A monster pot happened on the table a little while before. A Brazialian qualifier Thiago C. was eliminated with a flush and gutshot straight draw against a flopped set. The chap who knocked him out, Christopher Ulsrud now has 134K and is almost certainly the chip leader.
---

We'll leave you with this moment of poker zen. It's late. We're in a place of such opulence, one can hardly imagine a meal the consists of anything less than something that could be deemed gourmet. Even the desserts served at the bar have a look like they were created by a five-star chef. If one wants a personal pizza or a giant cheeseburger, it costs the equivalent of an American suburban family sit-down meal.

And so what would you imagine we find at tableside in the tournament area? Well, yes...four giant packages of McDonalds Chicken McNuggets.



Chew on that until Day 1B starts at 2pm Thursday.

Make no mistake, poker is no easy job. The massive field and perfect structure has forced a very, very long day. With 15,000 in starting chips, a couple extra levels, and more than 300 runners starting the day, tournament director Thomas Kremser (among the best in the business) made the decision to run a full seven levels for Day 1. That means now, as it comes up on 2am, we still have 90 minutes left to play tonight.

A bit ago, I stood with Isabelle Mercier as she sweated her friend Fabrice Soullier. Even she, young and in shape, knows that 14-hour days at the table can take their toll. She's in for one tomorrow. Soullier has been sitting on a short stack most of the day and under the glare of television cameras that follow his every move. He looks like he can go another round. There are other faces in the room that don't look as sure.

The fatigue is showing. Just before the break, Barny Boatman, once a man with a formidable stack, lost a large chunk of his chips. Even players no longer in the event are still awake and watching the action. Roland de Wolfe, long gone from the event, is making sport of toppling the stacks of his friends who are still in the event. Gobboboy, who we learned had quads force his exit, is back and chatting it up with Barry Greenstein and Carl Olson.

Faces here stretch with painful yawns. Players' only solace rests in the fact that if they survive the next 90 minutes, they will have a full day of rest in the Monte Carlo sea breeze before they have to return for Day 2.

We're now just a couple minutes before the start of Level 7, a 200/400/50 affair, that will start to put some pressure on the short stacks. We've put some selected chip counts on the EPT Monte Carlo Chip Count page.

Let's wish the best to the 192 players headed in Level 7. They'll need all the help they can get just to stay awake.

We know that many of our readers here are fans of young phenom Annette_15. Her day her, sadly, has not been as spectacular as her everyday performance. After struggling through a day that seemed painfully card dead, she moved all-in from the small blind with pocket eights against two people who had limped into the pot. One of the limpers called with A9o and spiked his ace on the river. Annette offered a polite, "Nice hand," and made for the door. Lina, our Swedish blogger is searching for Annette as we speak. If the reporter tracks down the player she calls, "her idol," you might see it in a bit on the Swedish PokerStars Blog.

In other news, Team PokerStars Victor Ramdin has just sent an opponent packing. After some pre-flop raising, he and his foe saw a Ts-Th-6c flop. Victor checked and his man moved all in for 13.7K. Victor muttered something about how the guy would've made the same move with a big hand as a small one and called with pocket jacks. The jacks held and Victor is now up to about 45,000. The knockout was all the sweeter, as just a few hands before, Victor had been re-raised off a hand by the same player, who then showed his bluff K-4 holding to the table. Victor had folded an ace face up.

Victor has had an up and down day today, no doubt because of his aggressive game. Last night at the welcome party, we were chatting with Isabelle Mercier. Victor said, "If I had my game and Isabelle's patience..." He left it at that.



Meanwhile, Spain's Carlos Mortensen, a WSOP and WPT winner, has just escaped elimination by the skin of his teeth. Facing a raise and a call, he pushed his remaining 11,000 with A-Q diamonds. Insta-call from the initial raiser (J-J), while the caller folded.

The flop was 2-7-5 with just one diamond. Carlos was standing now, about to pick up his coat and head for the door. But wait, the turn was 10 diamonds. The river needed to be another diamond, an A or a Q. It was the 3 diamonds. A punch of the air, and Carlos sat down again, now happy behind a pile of more than 25,000, above the room average of nearly 24,000.

It just goes to show how quickly things can change in this game. Carlos, known as the Matador, is a dangerous man with chips - a bit like holding a red rag to a bull.

by Simon Young

Germany's Katja Thater, having "really enjoyed" her table (well, she did have partner Jan on it, too), has now been moved - and is sitting right next to Team PokerStars colleague Victor Ramdin. Katja has around 20,000 - just 900 below the room average - while Victor has about 15,000.

Greg Raymer is still looking strong on more than 45,000, and is now keeping his opponents amused with tales of World Series hands of yesteryear, or 2005 to be precise. He recalls how close to the bubble, a player holding just 2-2 called his large river bet to bust out. "It was right near the bubble - did he really think I was bluffing him?" Rob Hollink, who won this Monte Carlo event two years ago but is struggling on about 2,000, nodded sagely.



Just then, Britain's Mark Teltscher, who won the London EPT last season, came to join the table, sitting to Raymer's right, and he then got treated by Raymer to the same 2-2 story. I think Teltscher would rather talk about cars, seeing as he has parked his gleaming red Ferrari right outside the building.

We are on level five - seven are being played tonight - and blinds are 150-300. We are down to 230 players from the 329 starters.

The world's most beautiful poker room


Luca Pagano, we hardly knew ye, but know you left in Level 4


Barry Greenstein, tired after a long night of flying and long day of playing


Jan Von Halle, poker player and German blogger extraordinaire


Humberto Brenes, reserved as usual


Annette_15 looking every bit the star she is


Moneymaker still in the moneymaking hunt

With thanks to Neil Stoddard, the real pro when it comes to capturing the feel of the room.

The Ed Report

With the blinds at 150/300, the bigger pots that we have all been waiting for are starting to materialise. We currently have 252 players remaining on Day 1A, with an average stack of just under 20K.

Due to the popularity of the event, there were a few too many people for the buffet, which meant that uwillfold joined a couple of us for a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant. He did not stay for long, conscious that he did not want get blinded away, and it may have been a better move to stay. He raised to 800 from the button when the action had been folded around and the BB called. The flop was 5s-10s-6c and his 1500 bet was called. A 3d on the turn prompted a couple of checks. Ace of diamonds on the river and a 3K bet from uwillfold was raised all in. Uwillfold instantly folded but is still left with a stack somewhere north of 40K. Just before his dinner break, he had doubled up on a low flop with KK v QQ, so he can afford to take this slight hit.

Fabrice Soullier is currently battling a shortstack, but has just doubled up. He moved in with 22 and was called by A9. The flop brought a 2 and a 'merci' from Fabrice. He now has just over 5K.

Four players limped to TheBeat's big blind, who checked his option. The flop was Qc-Jc-5s and Noah led out with 1500. This was called by Johnny Lodden and the rest of the table folded. 10d on the turn and Lodden fired out 3.5K which was called by Noah. A 2h on the river seemed pretty innocuous and Johnny bet out 7.5K which Noah eventually called. Johhny showed QJ for the pot. Noah flashed Q10 as he chucked them in the muck. Noah is still above average on 24K and Johnny has around 50K.

UK Poker Pro Ben Roberts is OUT. He got all the money in preflop with AK versus a unknown's JJ. The board were all low cards and Ben is going to have to head off to the SnG tables that started a while ago.

Update: End of Level 4 Chip Counts posted on the EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts page

by Brad Willis

Dinner is such a welcome reprieve for the players, they run off faster than a fish's chips disappear. We would follow, but with such a large field, only half the players leave at a time. Thus, we stay here, snack on granola and caffeine, and wait for a late-night club sandwich. It's during these protein deprived times we find ourselves noticing the little things. After a day of watching big hands and fighting with Content Publishing Beasts, there are a few things that just make us smile.

Blondes on the rail

To be sure, there are women playing here and doing quite well for themselves. They looks they get, though, are often ones of a gambler's curiosity. The ladies at the tables give nothing away. Not a smile. Not a wink. And, if they're good, not a chip. So, when non-playing women find their way into the room, they become instant celebs. They become, if you will, a destination. Crowds form. Cameras snap. Voices grow louder. It's quite a sight to watch. I'm not saying they don't deserve the attention. I'm just saying, if you want to see people flock to a spot like sand water rushes through a hole in an earthen dam, watch for three blondes to shimmy into the room.

It makes us sing "Blondes on the Rail" to the tune of "Band on the Run" and we're not sure why

The Pained Man

I don't know the man in the black PokerStars fleece, but if I did, I might have better sight into his condition. Maybe it's his health. Maybe it's the ache in his back. Maybe it's the constant clicking and clacking of chips. Regardless, no matter whether he's raising, calling, or folding, he looks like someone is driving bamboo under his nails. I'd like to ask if he's okay, but I'm afraid the mere question could drive him to scream.

The Overbet

Punishing limpers can be good for fun and profit. So says the man in the one-seat of a table in the middle of the room. Actually, he didn't say it as much as watch four people limp for 200 into his small blind. His response: All-in for 8,000. Not surprisingly, everyone folded (including the Pained Man, who looked like it really hurt him to fold).

Side action

I thought the waiters were giving away free beer or puppies. It's been a long time since I've seen such a mad rush for the corner of the room. I thought for a moment I should run, too. After all, if there was a bear loose in the room (or they were, in fact, giving away free puppies), getting in that direction might have been a good idea.

"I've got three seats for a 500!" came the yell. And then I knew. The sit-and-gos had started. Now, one corner of the room is dedicated to the folks who aren't in action in the big event.

I, for one, would have preferred the puppies.


The side action in action

All the players have now returned from dinner, so it's back to the grind.

Greenstein shows off his book, a gift to whoever busts him
by Simon Young

Barry Greenstein, of Team PokerStars, has been looking tired all day. He only arrived in Monte Carlo late last night, and after a sleep that did not look long enough, he was sat at his table today. But, periodic yawns aside, he has been alert to most that his opponents have thrown at him.

His stack has been growing steadily throughout the day, but has just jumped a fair few thousand more to nearly 25,000 after a successful tangle with Britain's Julian Thew. The two of them, plus an unknown, saw a flop for the price of 600 (blinds at 100-200), 2-8-6 rainbow. Barry, author of Ace on The River, now bet 1,000, called by both.

The pot was getting interesting. The turn was a 4, bringing a second heart to the board. Now Barry bet 3,500, called by Thew but the unknown third player had seen enough and mucked. The river was 10c. Barry bet 6,500 and, after a long dwell, knowing it would leave him only about 4,000 behind, Thew called. Barry's hand? Yup, the set of twos on the flop. Thew mucked, and now has a major rebuilding project to undertake.

Sadly Team PokerStars' Luca Pagano is OUT. He'd been unlucky early in the day, losing half his stack when his set was overtaken by a higher one. Despite signs of getting his chips back, he was unable to complete a recovery. Details of his exit hand when we can get them.

by Simon Young

Greg Raymer had been hovering on average chips for most of the day, but you sensed he was about to let loose any time soon. That moment has come, and he has doubled up to more than 35,000, way above the 17,000 room average. Fellow world champ and Team PokerStars player Chris Moneymaker has also improved to about 24,000.

But they are still being eclipsed by the Boy from Brazil, Thiago Carrico, who has nearly 50,000 and is contender for current chip leader. He's a PokerStars player who had initially qualified for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, but was unable to attend and managed to swap his seat for one here in Monte Carlo. It could, just could, be the best decision of his life.

All these players are still slogging it out while the other half of the field enjoy tucking into their dinner in the main hotel complex. But in ten minutes the two halves of the field will swap over - and Greg, Chris and Thiago will lead the charge to the buffet.

Currently 285 players from the 329 starters remain. But with blinds now running at 100-200, we expect the death rate to increase.

...

Moments after Simon put up this post, it all went wrong. Ed brought back this piece of news.

Chris Moneymaker has been on a rollercoaster ride during level 4. On a board of 5h-7c-10d-Ac-3c an unknown bet 1500 into Chris. He raised it up to 5K to play, which was called. Chris showed Jc-10c for the flush. This pot took him up to around the 24K mark. Shortly after though he doubled a player up. The chips were all in the middle preflop and Chris turned over KK against JJ. You know where this is going, so I will simply say that the Jack hit on the flop. This setback knocked Chris back to around 16K.

Greg Raymer's stack had risen to around 35K but he has just had to give 9K of that to the player opposite him. He bet out 4K on a flop of 5h-8c-9h. The random dude moves in for 9K and Greg is priced in and calls with his flush draw and overs showing KhQh. His opponent had flopped top pair and Greg did not spike any of his outs. He is back down to 25Kish.

...

And to show this is a true team effort, Brad ended up reporting at Raymer's table as Greg got it all back. The pot was 600 six ways going to a flop of 2-3-5 rainbow. A young nordic player bet out 2000 and Greg called it, as the rest of the players went away. The turn was the king of clubs, putting two clubs on board. This time, the young man checked and Greg bet out 4000. He got a call. The river was the a non-club ace. Again, the young blonde-haired man checked. Greg wasted little time betting out 7000. His opponent agonized for a minute before folding in disgust. His friends on the rail reported seeing him peel up a deuce. Greg offered this little comfort: "I wouldn't bet that river with anything other than a straight or a bluff." His opponent stood and said, "Nice bluff." Raymer now sits on 36,000 as he goes to have a bite to eat.

If you're just logging on, here's what we have reported so far:

Raison d'etre: Arriving in Monte Carlo
EPT Grand Final set to begin
An Odyssey begins
Humberto Brenes making friends
Early action and big names
Black out that noise--the arrival of Andy Black
EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts
Level 3 News and Notes

And, because I think it looks nice and she's got quite a fan club, a quick picture I took of Annette_15.

Ending Level 3 now, with half the field headed for a bit of dinner. The chip counts in the Headline box above have been updated with our most recent count.

Level 2 was a rough one for Team Blog as we struggled with a mighty content publishing beast. At this point, it appears we may have won the battle, if not the war. We continued to report during our struggles however. Here are a few notes from around the floor.

Mikael Westerlund, 2005 PCA and Scandinavian Open final table player, made an early exit with pocket jacks all in vs. pocket kings. Marcus Golser is out after getting short and running AQ into pocket aces. Golder at one time sat at the designated Table of Death which also featured Christian Ulriksen, Greg Raymer, and Rob Hollink.

Golser, pre-exit


FossilMan

Now, for a bit of news from our roving reporters, Ed and Andrew.

----

We have had a couple of well known fallers at the 2nd fence. Both Carlo Citrone and Roland de Wolfe appear to have been eliminated. Carlos Mortensen is still in but had just been moved tables and was hence missed in the chip counts. He is sitting at around 7K.

Katja Thater and her fiance Jan were drawn at the same table and both seem to be doing fairly well. They are around the 18K mark and Jan took down a 4K pot whilst I passed. On a board of Ah-3d-10d we had a bet of 500, the next player raised to 1200 total and Jan after a pretty long think bumped it to 3K total. The original bettor got out the action and after flashing his cards at Jan as did the second.


Katja Thater

5 limpers including TheBeat, Johnny Lodden and Noah Boeken see a flop of Kh-10d-8s and all of them check. The turn bringis 9c and an unknown bets 500. Lodden is the only caller. Another 9 on the river and a 1K bet from Johnny takes it down. He now has around 17K.

An UTG raise to 300 folded round to Katja Thater who bumps it to 800 and gets a call. The flop is Ah-4s-3d and a 1100 bet from Katja wins it there and then. She is up to around 16K after that.

Internet player ActionJeff is showing he can excel in a live game as well. With a pot of 4K and a flop of 6c-Qh-8c he bets out 4,500 and his opponent folds. This pot takes ActionJeff to close to the 30K mark.

Martin Wendt was eliminated by a Jacks full of twos fullhouse.

There are a lot of big players on PokerStars, but this year BigJoe2003 is at the top of the pile. Leading the race to be the first player to hit SuperNova Elite, he's certainly been putting in the hands. Chris Moneymaker is now better aquainted with him too, after a raise and a reraise preflop saw BigJoe2003 pushing all-in with a pot sized bet on the QQ2 flop. Chris didn’t have to think long before calling with his Aces. BigJoe2003 sighed and... turned over two Aces of his own. BigJoe2003 remains on around 15k, Chris is looking for some chips with 8k of his original stack remaining.

Luca Pagano is still battling a fairly shortstack. On a flop of 6d-5s-5h he bet out 750. This was raised to 1650 and Luca announced all-in for approx 6K total. The other player folded and Luca's stack move up to around 9K.


Luca Pagano

Josh Arieh is the kind of guy who plays a lot of pots, and it's no surprise to find him with a couple of precarious stacks of the smaller denomination chips to go with his high-value purples and blues. Typical Josh Arieh: Seat 4 raises, Josh (Seat 5) reraises, they see the Ac Kd 5c flop. Seat 4 check calls Josh's flop bet, and both check the As turn. When the river comes the Queen of spades and Seat 4 bets, Josh decides he can win the hand and his reraise proves him correct. Seat 4 doesn't seem too thrilled to see Josh’s KJ, but Josh is happy seeing how tall a building he can construct. A lot of his 22k is is made up of 25s and 100s.

Final Table Chip Counts

Seat 3: Marc Karam (Canada) 5,120,000
Seat 7: Gavin Griffin (USA, PokerStars qualifier) 5,410,000

by Simon Young

All was going nice and quietly here; soothing chit-chat at the tables and players taking their bust-outs without a loud fuss. Then Andy Black turned up, increasing the volume of the room two-fold... and he's not even playing today.

As so often happens, the bearded Irishman, who finished fifth in the WSOP Main Event in 2005, likes to pop into the poker room on his day off to see how his pals are doing. Two of them now sit together - Britain's Roland de Wolfe and Barny Boatman - and the banter started. All good natured, but Black has one of those voices that flies across the biggest of rooms, even one this size.

He then wandered off and started talking with Greg Raymer, teasing him about his green shirt that, so Andy thought, clashed alarmingly with the green 25 chips here. "I bet if your wife was here she would not have let you wear that shirt," said Andy. "No, you are wrong," replied Greg. "She would not have let the organisers use these green chips."

Compare Andy's entrance to that of Danish superstar Gus Hansen, who also just arrived on his day off, but who calmly walked the floor, then walked out again without a murmer. So too did Britain's John Gale, who walked away from Vegas last summer with a WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Pot Limit event.

Greg Raymer seems to be enjoying his table in his usual calm way. He's up to more than 20,000, helped a short while ago when his A-A held up on a board of 10-4-6-5-4. His opponent mucked, but nodded like a man that was well behind. Still on Greg's table is our PokerStars qualifier Thiago Carrico from Brazil. He's far from daunted about playing the FossilMan as well as Season One EPT Grand Final winner Rob Hollink, from Holland, on his right.

Team PokerStars' Luca Pagano, from Italy, seems to have recovered a little after losing half his stack early on when his set was overtaken by a higher one. He is now back up to 10,000, but not looking overly happy with his day's work. Better luck for Victor Ramdin who has shot up to over 20,000.

Elsewhere Team PokerStars' Noah "Exclusive" Boeken is sitting at the same table as dangerous Norwegian Johnny Lodden. I have not seen the two of them clash yet, but right now Noah has the best of it with 15,000 chips compared to Lodden's 10,000.

Players are now on a 15-minute break after the end of Level 2. When they return the blinds will be 75-150. The structure is mouth-watering, but even so we have lost 22 players already, with 307 still in the fight.

Note: Selected count counts have been added to the scrolling bar at the top of the screen. We're experiencing what will hopefully be temportary publishing issues and will be back as soon as possible.

by Ed Ramshaw

With the stacks at 15,000 and 90 minute levels large hands at this stage are hard to come by. Carlos Mortensen is one big name player who has had a hard time of it early. On a board of 10h-4d-5h-7s and 4K in the pot Carlos leads out with 2,750. This is called in two spots and the river is the 8c. Carlos checks to an unknown who bets 3,200. The other chap folds but Carlos calls the bet and the unknown in the BB shows 62o for the straight. This hit knocks Carlos down to around half his starting stack. A recent wander round the room has shown that this has dwindled yet further and he now has just over 5K.

Barry Greenstein is up early. On a board of 8d-7h-9c-Kd-8h and a pot of 1,800 Barry fires out 2K. This is called and Barry shows pocket cowboys to take the pot down with a Full house. This pot puts Barry up to around 19K.

Barry Greenstein

Gobboboy is continuing where he left off in Atlantis and the Aussie Millions and is already accumulating a healthy stack. With a flop of 10h-9s-7h and the pot around 1K gobboboy fires 750 out. This is raised by the one other player in the hand to 2,250 total. Gobboboy calls. Turn is the Qh and both players check. The river is 5s and gobboboy leads out with 4K. The unknown PokerStars qualifier makes a crying call and gobboboy shows AhKh for the nuts. Gobboboy had around 22K after that hand.


Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke

Victor Ramdin seems to be getting a fair amount of respect at his table and doubtless the Foxwords WPT winner deserves it. With some power poker he took down a semi decent pot firing out shell after shell on a raggedy board. This increase worked and the unknown folded for the 1,600 bet on the river. A little while later he was in the BB and got 5 limpers. The flop came 2h-6c-10d and a 200 bet from Victor is enough to take it down.

There are so many big names out in the field it is no surprise to find several tables laden with stars. Greg Raymer and EPT regular Marcus Golser are at the same table and have already been involved in an early exchange. 3 players including GR and MG check a flop of 10h-Qh-3h. The turn brings the 8s and a 300 bet from greg is called by both players. The river brings another 8 and again the action is checked. Marcus shows a queen t take it down and win the early exchange.

Porsche driver Dario Minieri is also doing fairly well at his table. With the board showing 8h-4c-Jd-Ad-2s and facing a bet of 1,800 he makes a crying call and the other player immediately mucked. There was some confusion as to whether Dario had to show or not. He chose not to and that win takes him up to around 18K.

A few notable names in the field today:

Mikael Westerlund
Ben Grundy
Steve Vladar
Rob Hollink
Age Spets
Jan Christoph Von Halle
Katja Thater
Fabrice Soulier
Mex Pescatori
Paul Roper
Roland de Wolfe
Barny Boatman
Julian Thew
Pete Giordano
John Shipley
Carl Olson
Mark Vos

by Simon Young

Online buddies: Brenes and Taylor

With so many players starting today, it's no wonder nearly each of the tournament tables hosts at least one big name. Take Table 4, where Team PokerStars' Humberto Brenes has been joined by no less than three PokerStars qualifiers.

Sitting with the jovial Costa Rican are Stuart Taylor from Yorskhire in the UK (screen name zpaceman). He sat down at table, and found himself next to the man with the famous moustache. "Aah, I've played you online in the Sunday Million," he said. "Good, good," replied Humberto, "then we are friends already." Friends for now, that is, but both are out to win, with Stuart hoping to better his performances in this season's Barcelona and London EPT events, where he missed out on the cash.

Joining them at the table are Canadian cash qualifier Ciaran Carter (1profiler on PokerStars) playing his first EPT, and another PokerStars man in Piers Whyman from Eastbourne in the UK (screen name megawinner). He has played one EPT so far - season one's Deauville, where he hit a brick wall at some stage of Day 2. "I'm hoping for a bit more luck this time," he said.

Meanwhile, over on Table 25, more giants of poker are clashing. First there is the one and only Greg Raymer, world champion of 2004 and, and he has been joined by Rob Hollink, the Dutchman who won this event in Monte Carlo two years ago. Sharing the felt is dangerous Austrian Marcus Golser, who has a habit of running hot in early stages of an EPT.


FossilMan: Greg Raymer

Spare a thought, then, for PokerStars qualifier Thiago Carrico in seat two - who has flown all the way from Brazil to be stuck on this early "Table of Death". Thiago, who plays on PokerStars under the name Tcarrico, spent 18 hours travelling here to play in his first big live tournament. "It's a long way to come and look who I have on my table. I don't mind, though, because it will be fun and, of course, a great experience."


Boy from Brazil: Thiago Carrico

Also playing today are Team PokerStars' Chris Moneymaker, Luca Pagano (who has unluckily just lost half his stack with a set against a higher set), Noah Boeken, Barry Greenstein, Victor Ramdin and Katja Thater. Phew! I'm glad Brad Willis and I are working together on this one.


Chris Moneymaker

by Brad Willis

To some it might seem presumptuous to open an event (say, a bachelor party or child's birthday) with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (thanks, Pauly) aka, the overture from 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, for an event of this magnitude, the thundering music seemed almost fitting. Fog rolled from the stage and revealed the EPT Grand Final trophy.

Now, we begin with 15,000 in starting chips, 90-minute levels, and the promise of seven full levels of play. Simple math dictates, we're going to be here for a while as the first flight of the event makes its way toward Day 2. So, we settle in, the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra still in our ears and the rattle of chips bouncing around the room.

A quick look at the tables reveals a bevy of name players in the field. Simon Young will be logging on shortly to offer us a review of some of the bigger players in the field. Until then, a few photos from around the room.


Noah Boeken


Carl Olson


Barry Greenstein


Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke

Sit with me, if you will, for just a moment as we wait. If you look up, you might think we're sitting in a planetarium. Uneven lights are scattered across the ceiling, unknown constellations on a semi-circular sky. It's quiet in here with only a gentle murmur of British accents, the quiet preparations of TV production crews and dealer assignments. Each table is covered in a light chamois-like baize. Half the walls are mirrored, giving this already large Salles des Etoiles an even bigger look. Bottles of Evian and Pellegrino sit beside every table, though at the moment, it would be hard to imagine why anyone would need a drink in such a peaceful setting. Age-old cliches about calms before storms come to mind, but the jovial tension in the lobby tells another tale. This room may be placid, but the air is far from calm.

We're set to begin the European Poker Tour Grand Final, an event that promises to be the richest ever held outside the United States. A mere 16 hours ago, players ate, drank, and laughed with one another. Newer players smiled and tried to get a glimpse of players like Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, and Phil Hellmuth. Older circuit veterans sat among their peers, discussing days gone by. Today, the first half of this field will meet in this room, ready to do battle.

Last night as I sat among the poker glitterati, I spotted many a familiar face. I saw last year's champion, Jeff Williams, and his father Dave. We chatted briefly about Jeff's wise investments, and his relative youth keeping him from yet another WSOP. Against the bar I spotted Richard Shtrax. We followed him last year as he worked his way through the field. This year, due to some issues best left unspoken, it looked as if he might not make it. However, at the last moment, he entered a FPP qualifier on a whim. It was winner take all, and he took it.

Now, as we settle in for the final hour before play, I'm joined by my fellow bloggers, Simon Young and Ed Ramshaw (made famous by the now-infamous Ed Report from the Bahamas. We've positioned ourselves in a perfect place and have powered up our 'puters. Now, the clicking of drink glasses signals we're all but ready to start. As they say in the American South, the good lord willing and the creek don't rise, we'll be all set to rock and roll come 2pm Monte Carlo time.

View from Monte Carlo Bay Resort hotel

I'd encourage you, if you ever have the opportunity, to explain a poker tournament the likes of the European Grand Final to a French-speaking cab driver who knows nothing about poker. Cultural differences and language barriers aside, one would think it would be a simple task. One would be wrong.

"Bon voyage?" he asked, pushing his speedometer past where it should be and grunting at a motorcyclist who owned the road.

I struggled to remember my French. "Comme ci comme ca," I said, hoping that it meant "So-so" and not "You're driving like a maniac, sir, could we slow it down a bit."

The driver launched into barrage of questions in French and I was forced to admit that when it comes to speaking his language, I only spoke "un peu."

It was then he asked why I was in town and I began trying to explain the Grand Final. Over the course of the next several minutes, a few hand gestures, and a quick poker economics lesson, I explained how it worked. And the driver seemed duly impressed.

It is my job to explain this poker phenomenon, both to the learned and the folks who could never conceive of winning in the neighborhood of $2 million just for playing a card game. And though I've been offering said explanations for a long time now, I sometimes have a difficult time conveying just how insane the concept is.

Now on the ground for about 24 hours, I've managed to settle in. This, my third visit to Monte Carlo, is a comfortable one, and is made only more comfortable by the people of the Monte Carlo Bay Resort. It was upon my visit here last year (shortly after the resort opened) that I became one of the first people to lock himself out on a hotel balcony (an incident quickly remembered by Team PokerStars' Isabelle Mercier upon our reunion). A sign on the balcony door upon my return indicated, however, I was not the last.



Hotel balconies are not where we'll be spending our time, however. This event, now looking to be the richest ever held outside the United States, is not something easily explained. Held in one of the most gorgeous European locales, the Grand Final is a 10,000 euro buy-in no-limit hold'em event that will feature some of the most famous and talented poker players in the world. More than 640 players have already registered to play and satellites tonight will add even more to the field. Two hundred journalists are slated to cover this contest. The winner stands to win roughly $2 million for his or her efforts.

Equal, perhaps, to the money involved here is the astounding ambiance. I, like many, am guilty of focusing on the cards more than the environment. As the cards go in the air in less than 24 hours, it seemed a good time to give everyone a look at what this beautiful city has to offer to the eye.









Players are now arriving in droves, in anticipation of tonight's party and tomorrow's poker. Word on the street that two guys named Phil will be in attendance. I, of course, went looking for the Team PokerStars crew. After some fruitless searching, I found them all by following this floor-direction.



Fear not. They weren't into the bottle this early in the day. I understood they were there for a photo shoot that involved some sort of champagne toast. Nonetheless, it seemed some of the Team PokerStars players were ready for the games to begin. With no cards available, I found ElkY, Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin, Chris Moneymaker, Bill Chen and Joe Hachem playing a game that involved $100 bills and...well, blind luck. Hachem seemed to be encouraging the fun, despite the first round of $100s going to Moneymaker. While the pot was enough to put me up in this hotel for a couple more nights, I reminded myself, these were the same guys playing 10,000 and 20,000 SNGs last year in the same room.







Indeed, everything here looks the same, with one glaring exception. The main tournament area has been moved to, perhaps, the most beautiful poker room I've ever seen. It was still under construction when I stopped in for a look, but it's clear that EPT creator John Duthie has outdone himself this time.


Check out that view


The featured table stage




Duthie, directing his vision

Tonight, players head to the hottest club in Monte Carlo, Jimmy'z, for a welcome party. It will be the last chance to relax and reflect before the event kicks off tomorrow. The PokerStars Blog, staffed by yours truly, the venerable Simon Young, and hopefully a return visit of The Ed Report (see PCA coverage), will be on hand from the time the cards go in the air until we have a Grand Final champion.

Now, to work on my French a bit before I get myself in too much trouble.

This week's Sunday Million was the quarterly $1,050 event and it was a monster. More than 1,700 players showed up and played for an amazing $1.7 million prize pool. When it was over, the top two players split a half million bucks. Final table results are below.

PokerStars Sunday Million results
Based on finishing order and two-way deal that left $50,000 for first place

1. fouruhaters (United States) $291,472.80
2. hankat (United Kingdom) $241,472.80
3. Mr_BigQueso (United States) $125,318.40
4. mman_status (United States) $100,665.60
5. XTraCey (United States) $78,752.00
6. jordankickz (United States) $59,920.00
7. Econ Adager (United States) $42,457.60
8. pbdrunks (United States) $26,193.60
9. troy1979 (United Kingdom) $15,408.00

One of the grand rules of news distribution is to never--ever!--say, "We're bringing you all the news, but if you'd like to check out another news outlet, here's how to find it." It's just not good business to send your customers across the street. However, since I'm not selling anything here, I guess I can safely mention the coolest (baddest...sickest...what are the kids saying these days?) new innovation to hit the European Poker Tour.

If you head over to EPTlive.com, you'll see what I'm talking about. Starting in just a few days, you'll be able to see live streaming coverage of the EPT Grand Final featured table. You're going to be able to hear expert commentary and see all the action before it shows up on TV. Here's a schedule of the coverage:

March 31, 2007 EPT MONTE CARLO GRAND FINAL LIVE -- TV TABLE
DAY 3 Start: 1400 local, central European time (0800 ET)
Running time: approximately 8 hours

April 1, 2007 EPT MONTE CARLO GRAND FINAL LIVE -- TV TABLE
DAY 4 Start: 1545 local, central European time (1145 ET)
Running time: approximately 10 hours

April 2, 2007 EPT MONTE CARLO GRAND FINAL LIVE -- FINAL TABLE
Start: 1700 local, central European time (1100 ET)
Running time: approximately 8-10 hours

So, you see, it looks like there is to be 25-30 hours of live internet TV from Monte Carlo. And from what I've seen of the trial runs, it's the bees knees (bomb...shiz...seriously, what are the kids saying?).

Of course, by telling you about this, I run the risk of driving all the traffic I would receive here to the relative ease of television viewing. It's a risk I'm willing to take. Just promise you'll come back. The one thing I can offer by way of a TV alternative is all the stuff you won't see on TV. So, when a bad beat happens and a chair gets kicked across the room, or the $30,000 SNGs break out in the corner, come looking here. Oh yeah, and we'll have some chip counts and pictures, too.

In less than a week, this blog will be coming to you live from the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo. This will be the third time the PokerStars Blog has been to Monaco. And it looks like we're going to have our work cut out for us.

I've been chatting with some of the people behind the scenes. The in-the-know folks say there's a chance we'll see more than 600 players at this year's grand final and that first prize could very well be in excess of $2 million.

Registration is still open for the event and PokerStars is running one big Last Chance online qualifier. That event is going to go off at 1:30 ET Friday afternoon. That event is looking to be a big one and if I weren't supposed to be writing about the Grand Final, I'd like to take a shot at it myself.

Below you'll find a few pictures from around Monte Carlo Bay that I took when I got on the ground last year. I suspect not much has changed. Also, after the pictures, a news release somebody slipped me this morning. It should fill you in on the rest of the details.


Bird of Paradise, outside the poker room


Monte Carlo, from a distance


The cliffs of Monte Carlo


Refreshments waiting tableside for the players


Indicators of the sea breeze






Security in a palm's shade




Your humble blogger, a year younger. Chat him up when you get to Monte Carlo and get yourself on the blog.

--

The European Poker Tour Grand Final kicks off next week in Monte Carlo (March 28-April 2) and is set to smash all records for a European poker tournament -- with nearly double last year's numbers and a total prize pool of at least 5.5 million euro.

With still a week to go before the event starts, more than 550 players have registered to play, making the EPT Season 3 Grand Final - sponsored by PokerStars.com - the richest poker tournament ever held outside of the USA.

The six-day Texas Hold'em No Limit Grand Final event is the climax to a phenomenally successful series of EPT tournaments. There have been seven tournaments since last September, including Germany and Poland for the first time. Many of the events have been sell-outs with player numbers vastly higher than last year -- close to 3,000 entrants and a total prize pool of over 13 million euro.

The tournament begins Wednesday, March 28 2007, in the Salles des Etoiles room of the Monte Carlo Sporting complex at the exclusive Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort. Thanks to the high numbers wishing to play, the Grand Final has been extended by an extra day with the final table now taking place on Monday, April 2.

At last year's Grand Final, 19-year-old American student Jeff Williams, from Atlanta, Georgia became a dollar millionaire, walking away with 900,000 euro for his first place cash prize. This year the winner is likely to take home nearly 1.8 million euro.

More than 250 poker players have won their seats to this year's Grand Final by qualifying online with PokerStars.com. They will be playing against some of poker's top professionals, including World Champions Joe Hachem (2005), Greg Raymer (2004), and Chris Moneymaker (2003), as well as other Team PokerStars members Isabelle Mercier, Luca Pagano, Bill Chen, Noah Boeken, Katja Thater, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Humberto Brenes, Lee Nelson and Vanessa Rousso. All this year's EPT winners automatically qualify for a seat - and the chance to be crowned the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Champion.

John Duthie, executive producer of the PokerStars.com EPT and holder of the Poker Million title, said: "The EPT has firmly established itself as the most prestigious poker tour in Europe. Many of Europe's top players have always seen the potential for major events here and thanks to their support and enthusiasm -- and the involvement of PokerStars.com -- we've been able to make that happen. The tour now attracts top players from all over the world and this year's Grand Final looks set to be the biggest poker event ever to take place in Europe."

The EPT is televised by BAFTA award winning production company Sunset+Vine. Season Three is currently being shown on satellite channel EuroSport on Fridays and starting from May 4, 2007 on Challenge TV at 23:00 weekdays. For more information visit the EPT TV shows page.

Following the highly successful inaugural broadcast at the EPT German Open, PokerStars is offering live coverage of the last three days of the Grand Final. Visit EPTlive.com to watch the Grand Final action live from Monte Carlo. The service is free and coverage begins Saturday March 31st at approximately 1400 local time (0900 ET).

PokerStars VIP Club members Chris "Skoal" Falconer and osmosis21 recently used their FPP points to buy a dream NBA vacations. They had such a good time, they have given us some pictures trip reports to show you what it's like to roll with the NBA. Below you'll find Skoal's photos and a trip report from osmosis 21. If you'd like to see what you can do with your PokerStars FPP points, be sure to visit the PokerStars VIP Club and FPP Store.

Skoal's photos

Trip report from osmosis21

The story begins with an unexpected release in the PokerStars FPP store:

We have added a one game road game package to the VIP Store for 30,000 FPPs. The item is for two people and the VIP player that makes the purchase must attend. If you want to purchase this item you must email the VIPclub@pokerstars.com. Plane leaves Feb 27th.

by osmosis21

On Sunday night when I was talking to my buddy (who is a travel agent, but more on that later) it was snowing a bit and we were supposed to get three centimeters of snow. We decided to make sure we got to the airport early in case traffic was slow due to the snow. I left my place at 5:00 am (after an hour of sleep) and the roads were pretty cleared since it stopped snowing around 1:00 in the morning. I was very excited about the trip and I go to bed late anyways. Usually its easier for me to just stay awake and go directly to the airport, but I napped a bit because I knew that it would be an action packed day.

Once I was in my car the thing I was most excited for was that we would have a chance to grab McDonalds breakfast. I love egg mcmuffins and their hotcakes and sausage, but I am rarely up in time to grab breakfast there or anywhere else, because I normally sleep in to noon. Breakfast is a huge treat for me. So I am just on cloud nine.

I pick up my buddy Daniel and he tells me our flight is cancelled. I think he is messing with me, and it takes me about 10 minutes to comprehend that he serious (Im a little tired). I go upstairs and he shows me online that the flight was cancelled. Ive never had a flight cancelled on the same day, and Im in disbelief that they wouldnt even call us to let us know. Panic starts to set in, but looking at the roads its hard to imagine that our flight was cancelled due to weather. He says it is somewhat common, so we rush to the airport to see what we can do.

We get to the airport and a guy directs us to phones to call Air Canada reservations so they can help us. There is a long line up and everyone is pissed off, as a lot of Air Canada flights were cancelled. I look on the board and I can see that other airlines are flying. Since the reservation line can take forever just to speak to someone, we instead go to the ticketing booth. There were two older women there, and I joked to Daniel that neither of them look to be basketball fans. The woman we dealt with was just rude and bitchy to us. She said she could put us on the flight tomorrow, but she couldnt comprehend that was not acceptable, as there was no point in us taking the next days flight. She said we could go on standbye for a flight that same day. We asked about other carriers, but she wouldnt even look to see what was available. She just said we could go talk to the other carriers.

At this point I almost broke down and cried like Vince Carter when he gets fouled going to the basket Luckily it was Daniel with me and he knew which airlines flew to Dallas. We knew we could probably get a connecting flight threw Chicago, but looking at a newspaper neither of us wanted to take the chance due to the snowstorm happening there. We went to the American ticketing booth and as we get in line I see that a direct flight to Dallas is taking off (we dont have time to get on that flight, but Im pissed off that Canada's biggest airline doesnt have enough de-icers but other airlines can fly no problem.

Anyways the guy was a basketball fan and was extremely helpful. There was a lot of room on the flight, but we would have to pay the fair difference of 600 bucks each (which I was more than happy to do). Anyways he helped us get on that flight and showed us a way to get Air Canada to endorse the ticket. It helped that Daniel was a travel agent, as he had his office do some things to our ticket. Anyways after a two hour wait and a lot of stress, we got booked on that flight and Air Canada payed the difference.

Now we just had a 5 hour wait at the airport. Originally we were supposed to fly out of terminal one which is new and is a much better place to wait, but we now flew out of terminal three which has very little in terms of bars or restaurants. We ended up sleeping and eating and drinking a bit. Although we had a flight booked we were both very nervous as it was snowing quite hard all afternoon. Our flight takes off and we are both extremely happy.

The flight landed an hour before the hawks game in Dallas. Our contact at the Mavs was kind enough to give us tickets for that game, even though it wasnt included in the package. We meet up with him and he takes our bags inside the arena for us (had to go through metal detecters as a security measure there, which we dont have in Canada). Everything worked out well, and we get to our seats 5 minutes before tip off. He gave us tickets in the corner about 20 rows up. The arena is really nice. Its only a couple of years old. The arena is fairly narrow and quite elevated so the upper bowl, looks like it really sits on top of the floor. As a result it is fairly loud in the arena and every seat looks like it has a good view of the court. There are great concession stands with great food, and there was a lot of promotions throughout the game. They even have Mark Cuban talked to the crowd and the excitement level was much higher then at a Raptors game. We were sitting next to Chris *and his son harrison who was the other guy that pokerstars sent. A really nice guy from Cleveland.

The game itself was a blowout, as Dallas won easily. But the fans were loud and we had a great time. I get pleasure of the simple things in life and loved the fact that we could by bottles of beer and take them to our seats. They were plastic, but I hate the big cups at the raptors game, so having a bottle made the game that more enjoyable......

After the game we met up with Ryan (our contact from the Mavs) and he gave us our stuff back as well as these really cool Mavs bags that had a bunch of shirts and hats in it. One was just a tshirt, but an awesome sweatshirt, and a Mavs warmup jersy, which I really like.

Chris rented a car and he offered to drive us ot the other airport for our flight.


So we arrive at the private terminal at Dallas Love field airport. Its one small lounge with nice leather couches and valet parking. We wait for the team to arrive. We meet Tiffany the PR person from the Mavs and our chaperone. There are ten of us on this trip. The Mavs are the only team in the NBA that offer this trip to season ticket holders and they run on every road trip so the team is used to having guests. We later find out that the costs vary based on the length, but our trip would cost about $3200 per person. Not a bad deal for less than $500 bucks in FPPs.

She outlines her role (shes been with the team for 8 years) and basically she deals with all the non basketball issues that the team deals with. On off days she often spends most of her time running errands with the players. She seems pretty young, but is extremely friendly.

We go through security and they go through every bag that I have....and we board the plane. The plane looks fairly new and is really nice, with the Mavs logo on the wing.

The front of the plane is for the players and have these massive seats with tons of leg room. The middle part of the plane is for the coaches and with large seats too. We sit at the back of the plane in what is still first class, sitting in leather seats that is like my lazy boy back home. There are about 30 of us at the back of the plane.

They didnt have any hard liquor on the plane (we still find that hard to believe) so we just drank beer on our way to Minnesota. Each row of seats had a drop down monitor and they had a movie, and a tv show on, or we could watch what the coaches were watching. They basically replay the game and rewind most plays five times over. They are looking for mistakes that were made as well as adjustments from their team and the other team. Although the Mavs won the game very easily, the way the coaches dissected the game, it was very easy to see the missed assignements by players, and figure out who didnt rotate in time. When someone made a mistake the game would be paused for a few minutes and you just knew the coaches would be discussing the play and the players would get yelled in practice.

Tiffany was very open about telling us stories about the team and answering all our questions. She did tell us that Avery Johnson is very tough on the team and that expectations are very high. The Mavs have the best record but if they dont win the title the season will be a big let down. The team is very business like and Dirk spends most of his free time shooting in the gym. He is there all day and night long refining his game. He also finds it very tough to go in public, as he doesnt really blend in, so on the road he spends most of the time in his room. Tiffany also told us that she loves her job, because the guys are great. They all get along and are really nice. She described them all as real ppl, but just taller.

We get into Minnesota after a few hours and there are two buses. The team gets on one bus and we get on the other and go to the hotel. The hotel is in downtown about seven blocks from the Target Center. It wasnt that cold (similar weather to Toronto), but every block there was a pile of snow that had been plowed that was just massive....much taller then me. The apparently get a lot of snow Toronto had that much snow a few years ago and they called in the army to assist, but I think that it is part of life in Minnesota.

The hotel is really nice. A very fancy place called the Grand Hotel. We go up to the elevator and Dirk walks out (ducking so he doesnt hit his head). We ride up the top floor to our rooms, with the massage therapist (the call him fingers). He is a really funny guy and seems like he is the father figure of the bunch. Everybody from the team is extremely nice, but he is a really outgoing guy. On the ride up he tells us about who needs a massage to work out the kinks after a game, especially on the back to back games. We get to our rooms when we realize they gave Daniel and I our own seperate rooms. We think that is pretty funny, especially when I open the door into the largest, nicest hotel room Ive ever been in. They have absolutely everything in the room, and the bathroom, is the size of my living room. A clock radio stereo system that you can plug your ipod into provides music as I fall asleep on the softest most comfortable pillow I've ever slept on.


So the next morning we get up and go grab a bite to eat. We both think that the downtown core is pretty dead. Toronto has a lot of residential mixed in with business so there are always ppl around, but the streets of Minnesota were very quiet. We see a couple of places to go eat, but its just the window and there are no doors to get in. We cant figure it out, but decide to go back to Brugger Bros that we saw earlier. On the door it says to use the mall entrance, so we see the entrance a few doors over and grab a bit to eat. We ask the guy if the mall is fairly big, because we have 6 hours to kill. He isnt sure and asks someone else and they say yeah there are a few stores. So we start to walk around the mall. At this point we realize that Minnesota is a huge underground city. Every building has a glass tunnel that connects to the next building that is on the second floor (We saw a few of these walking around but didnt put two and two together).

Basically you can walk almost anywhere in the city without going outside, which is pretty cool. They definitley had the insight, and there are tons of ppl walking around, mostly from the office towers going for a bite to eat. We walk around for a while and are really hot with our jackets (they do a great job of heating the buildings), so we dump our jackets off at the hotel. While there we decide to explore the hotel a bit. They have an awesome full court basketball court (nobody was playing) and a huge gym that was extremely busy, but has more and newer equipment then our local YMCA. We go back and explore the city some more until its time for us to go to the game.

We get on the team bus and wait. Tiffany puts us in seats halfway back, and slowly team members get on. They all say hi....and are all really tall. Most of them duck to go through entrance ways. Anyways they all seem pretty relaxed before the game and are joking around. I got the same vibe as when Im changing in the lockerroom getting ready to play bball with my friends. A few of them at the back are talking about poker, but I cant really hear what they are saying, although my ears are perked up.

On to the poker side.....As we left the plane last night we saw some chips and cards, and asked Tiffany about it. She told us that the coaches do play for fun, but the players sometimes play with each other and its for big cash (according to her). The players dont always play, but will on long trips or if they are not exhausted. I guess it all depends on when they flights leave and if they have a game the next day. Our flight left at 11:30 and got in around 2 and since they had a game the next day they wanted to get some rest. Tiffany told us they sometimes play holdem, but they play a couple of other games that she didnt know the name of (I think its a funky game that can be found in home games, but never did find out). She said that a player can lose thousands in a night and there are usually stacks of hundreds on the table. We told her that if they play both Chris and I would love to play. She seemed to think that it was beyond our bankroll, but we both assured her we were very comfortable playing whatever limits they did (and both of us knew we would be the favourites in the game)....after all its poker...not like Im playing them in bball.

We also tried to get her to tell them we would be happy to coach them in poker, and she thought they might be interested as they are all very competitive ppl. Unfortunately the trip was so quick and they had back to back games it never really happened....I think if we were on a longer road trip it would have been possible.

Basically the plane ride and the bus trips are a chance for them to relax and mentally prepare in their own way. Its also the only time there are no outsiders around (except for Mavs empoyeess and guest)...Even in the locker room there is media around. The players just seemed very business like but still were joking around as any group of friends do.

We left for the arena with everyone except the coaches, Dirk, Stackhouse and Jason Terry. Tiffany explained that the veterans arrive a bit later and don't warm up as long as the younger players. There is definitely a hirearchy on the team and the younger guys and non starters really spend time practicing during shoot around.

We arrive at the arena 2.5 hours before tip off and go through the players entrance. The players go off to change and we go into the arena and sit in the first row of the floors on the baseline to watch them during their shootaround. (our tickets for the game were in the 6th row, but we sat in the front as the general public wouldnt be allowed in the arena for another hour and a half). We were given passes that would allow us anywhere, but the security staff at the arena was weird. Even though Tiffany goes there twice a year with guests, she had to explain multiple times who she was and who we were, and ppl are usually not allowed in the areas we went to. The staff must have been new, but Tiffany told us that every arena is different, but most are extrememly accomodating and nice, and for whatever reason, they were giving us a hard time, but she never has had a problem before in Minnesota.

So we walked around the arena before tip off, and they really do need a new arena. The concession stands are very bare and they have very little promotion going on. Especially compared to Toronto and Dallas. For those of you that have been it reminded me of the old exhibition stadium. Even during the game the promotions were pretty lame. Their mascot threw shirts into the stands, and Harrison caught one, but it wasnt even a Timberwolves shirt, it was a tshirt for a building company ,
The dance pack just danced to one song and for the rest of the same stood by the entrance to the floors (right next to us) and shaked their pompoms. I now understand why the Timberwolves havent traded Kevin Garnett to rebuild their team. In order for them to really improve they need to trade him while he still has such high value. By blowing up the team and starting over they have an opportunity to get good in a couple of years. As it stands they will never be able to surround him with good enough players to win a title (unless they get lucky in with the number one draft pick this year). Even though for the teams succes they need to start over they really cant because there isnt enough of a draw for ppl to just check out a mavs game. For example my gf enjoys raptor games, because there is a lot to see and a lot of entertainment besides the basketball. Minnesota can't afford to go through a rebuilding process because there attendance will drop if the team is lousy for a season or two. As it is there team didnt have any energy and got blown out, but I really think they will shoot themselves in the foot if they hang on to Garnett and he ends up leaving past his prime.

After the game we walk back to the team entrance to get on the bus. The FAA actually has ppl down there and we cleared security so we didnt have to do it at the airport. I thought it was pretty neat, but didnt understand the logic, since our carry on bags were on the bus already and those would never be checked. THey thouroughly searched my body but if I brought something on the plane, I could get it on easily in my carry on luggage.

Most of the players get on our bus, and as soon as Stackhouse got on the bus wearing a pimpin brown fur jacket and a pimpin hat we left for the airport. We got on the plane and walked past the players (last time they got on last)....they were all smiles and said hi as we congratulated them on the win.....I saw popeye Jones who is an assistant coach and told him he was great when he was with the raptors....He still looks really young and I think he could still play in the NBA if he wanted to. He warmed up with the players passing the ball etc and he moved quite well.

We take a two hour plane ride back to Dallas and all the cars are pulled up by the plane. The playes say bye to us and off they went.

They are going to send me an autographed basketball from the entire team. They do this so that guests dont bug the players for autographs during the trip. Also tiffany said she will get us each an item from one player, so Im thinking about this...I dont know what I want....Im thinking either buy a Dirk rookie card and get him to sign it, or get him to sign a Jersey.....any suggestions?

Overall we had a great time....Avery Johnson really is strict about distractions so its not like the trip was interact with the Mavs...it was more about seeing how the mavs travel....I still had a great time. I was really impressed on how foccused everyone was on winning a title. The whole organization works towards that goal, and I got the feeling that it was a pretty tight nit family. Everyone was super friendly...even the producers of the games, invited us to check out the trucks at a Mavs game and see what goes into producing the broadcasts (they all assumed we were from Dallas as every guest this season has been)...they all thought it was great that a poker site sent us on it......

I really would have loved to seen a closed door practice or hear them talk about strategy, but I can appreciate that they are all business and dont want any distractions as their quest to win surpases everything. Even on the bus and plane after the game they all acted like they expected to blow out the Timberwolves, and I think that they would have been dissapointed if the game was even close. I had a great time and would do it again in heartbeat, although I would prefer to do a longer trip....who knows I might even use the concierge service to do a longer trip down the road

Nearly 7,000 people took time out of their Sunday to play in the biggest weekly poker tournament on the planet. the PokerStars Sunday Million. With nearly $1.4 million in the prize pool, the competition was fierce. In the end, a two way deal awarded the top two players six-figure paydays. Congratulations to power2prut for winning $180,000! Final table results are below.

PokerStars Sunday Million Results
Based on finishing order and two-way deal that left $30,000 for first place

1. power2prut (United States) $180,000.00
2. kuparinen (Sweden) $115,273.60
3. Vorcirion (Finland) $69,640.00
4. renassence (Brazil) $55,712.00
5. Round42 (United States) $41,784.00
6. geotico (United States) $30,641.60
7. matlik (France) $21,588.40
8. espnman (United States) $12,535.20
9. dontriverme2 (Canada) $8,217.52

Peter Jepsen is our winner in EPT Warsaw. The former soldier took up poker when he was seriously injured in Iraq, and became a different kind of hero today when he took the Polish Open title. This Danish player always stacked his chips with military precision, and had a cool methodical style of play, this made his assault on this EPT title look almost effortless.

I don't know whether it was anything to do with his girlfriend being the EPT's regular massage therapist..!? Peter seemed completely relaxed at every stage of this EPT. At the final table he played his cards, made his moves, but always seemed in quiet control. As the final unfolded his girlfriend watched from the sidelines, and he didn't seem to need a back rub, but he did seem happy when she gave him a proud, hug when he won.

Peter had this to say about his win, "The money is great but I really, really wanted to win this EPT tournament. I won $165,000 at a tournament in St Kitts last year, but it’s important to me to have a proper title to my name."

Peter now has less than a fortnight to prepare for the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. I expect he'll treat his next big game in typical pragmatic style. I wouldn't be surprised if he quietly advanced into the money there too.

Peter Jepsen - EPT Warsaw's winner (and girlfriend)

It was an interesting final table. I predicted fireworks, and it felt like a long fuse wire, but then lots of pretty poker sparkles. There was also a bang with three players going out in the space of of just four hands. Here's a reminder of who figured in this final day in Poland:

2nd Farid Meraghni, €182,063

Our 2nd place finisher, Farid Meraghni, was one of the busiest players at the table, raising, re-raising, more than any other. No wonder his chip stacks were never tidy - he was too busy getting them in play. Farid seemed like the aggressor when heads-up against Peter Jepsen, however it was a key hand where he got caught raising 2-3, then bluffing the turn, that lost him his momentum at the final. Farid will be cursing Jensen hitting a set in that hand. He was a forceful presence at the table, and if he plays this way every time I expect he'll force his way to more final tables.

3rd John Conroy, €109,238

PokerStars qualifier John Conroy, a regular on the UK tournament scene, probably had the most experience of any player at the table. He played a solid game, the short-stack as he reached this final table, he never seemed flustered by this fact and soon gathered chips. He'll count himself unlucky that he didn't progress further. When you're all-in with AK and get called by A-A, you have to give a 'one of those things' shrug, and hope for the Poker Gods favour next time around.

4th Marius Torbergsen, €78,027

This PokerStars qualifier from Norway, impressed many. Although his income is derived from online poker, he certainly showed he has no fear in live games. He played a big stack extremely well on Day 2. He got caught a few times without the cards, but at the same time rarely seemed to put his whole tournament in jeopardy. It seemed like he had a wise poker head on his young shoulders.

5th Katja Thater, €64,502

This was Katja's first EPT final table, but she played it like she was expecting to win. She made some great plays in this EPT, particularly an all-in call with only A-4 when Ramsi Jelassi tried to bully her. She never seemed to have great cards, or many chips, but made the final despite that. The Team PokerStars Lady will be wishing her 2-2 had beaten Jepsen's A-Q to give her a little longer to make her mark at the final today.

6th Andy O'Flaherty €50,978

Another 2-2 exit, this hand put Andy out of EPT Warsaw. Farid Meraghni finding JJ when he moved all-in. It's a shame Andy was out early, he made many all-in moves early on at the final, and this one was just bad timing for him. He wasn't afraid to get involved at the table, in more ways than one... It was funny when he asked Farid, "Are you untidy at home too?" when he saw his poorly stacked chips.

7th Patric Mortensson €40,574

Patrick's becoming something of a legend in EPT circles. It could be something to do with making three final tables in the last 18 months. It could also be to do with his friends telling the press fake biographic details. A 'Google' search on his name will reveal many references to his success as Sweden's Monopoly Champion, amongst other things. No chance for Patrick to claim he was EPT Warsaw's Champion today. A bad beat early in the tournament put him out, his A-K losing to Farid's A-Q.

8th Fredrik Hostrup €29,130

A fun player to watch, perhaps something of a show-off at the table - always ready with a witty comment for the crowd, or a bold bluff to show his table. He took the mike from Lee Jones in a break, and announced to the crowd, "Raise! Raise! All-in!" They're the kind of words he uses a lot... He went out when his Ks-Ts ran into a better hand, he's not a player to be afraid to go out fighting. The EPT is always glad to see players like him creating a buzz at any table. This was his second cash in a row, with a placing in EPT Dortmund too. I hope he plays in Monte Carlo's Grand Final.

This was the first EPT to be held in Poland, but I'll say it was a great success. The venue was perfect, the staff here exceptionally friendly and helpful. Even Andy Black on the mike as commentator (in a break from his cash game) decided he ought to thank the organisers for a great EPT. I understand EPT Warsaw will be bigger and better in Poland next year. I've seen the future, and it is a fancy ballroom, and a televised final table..! It might not be every poker player's first consideration but if you play an EPT you can get some great poker, but also nice desserts, and room service that bring free chocolates to your room!

Thats it for the EPT blog in Poland, and it's close to the end of this EPT season. The Grand Final in Monte Carlo is its swansong, beginning on March 28th. I'm not sure whether last year's winner Jeff Williams is doing it for free chocolates, and hotel opulence..? I do know he's qualified for his seat at PokerStars and is ready to play. If I were you I'd try to do same. Read all about Jeff, other EPT stars, and PokerStars would-be stars, on PokerStars blog soon.

9.15PM -- Farid wastes no time, he's all-in the very next hand. Peter calls immediately, turning over 7-7. Farid has A-5.

The flop is 7-6-9, giving Farid hope of a straight. The turn a 4. He needs a 3 or an 8 on the river..! But it's a 2. Farid is out, he's our second place finisher, taking home €182,063 to France. Peter Jepsen wins €325,633, a seat in the Monte Carlo final, a very nice trophy, and a hug from his girlfriend Frida, the EPT massage therapist!

Peter Jepsen, EPT Warsaw's winner, with his €325,633 prize

9.11PM -- Farid raises pre-flop, Peter calls. They see a flop of Td-5c-2c. Both players check. The turn is 5c. A 10,000 bet from Farid. Peter re-raise 200,000 more. Farid announces, "All-in."

Peter quickly calls. He shows 9h 5h. Farid has 2d-3h. The Qh on the river is irrelevent. The hand leaves Farid on just 170,000. Peter has about 2,700,000.

9.01PM -- Of course everything gets interesting as soon as I leave the tourney floor... I get there to see Farid all-in on a board of 5c-Ad-Ks-2h-9d. It was 485,000 to Peter to call, perhaps another 200,000 in the centre of the table. Peter thinks for a long time, before announcing, "Call". Farid grins as he flips over 9-2 for two pair. This puts the players around level on chips.

8.36PM -- Peter and Farid have been playing around half an hour now, and I can see now why they wanted that dinner break. It must have been to give them energy for a long, long, heads up contest..!

So far it's all like this:

call - see flop - bet - fold
preflop raise - fold
or else, raise - call - check - check - check - low pair wins

Not even a re-raise to report as a bit of minor poker excitement.

I can report that there are vast differences in the player's styles. Farid has been cautioned for messy chip stacking in this tournament, his stack looks like it's infested with a kind of chip-fungus. Whereas Peter regularly uses a solitary chip to carefully straighten his neat piles into orderly, sharp-edged, towers. Farid's jacket looks like it needs an iron, whereas Peter wears a smart, black, PokerStars dress shirt. Apparently he's not wearing the PokerStars shirt because he's sponsored, or because he qualified at the site. He just likes PokerStars. Or perhaps nice smart, black, shirts?

As for differing poker styles..? Well, I wish there was more to report. Hope there will be soon.

Peter has the (neat) chiplead with around 1,700,000 Farid looks to have a (messy)stack of about 1,400,000.

Peter Jepsen

7.11PM -- The players come back from their end of level break, sit down at the table, and then ask for the dinner break. Tournament Director Jerard obliges, and we'll be back to play in 40 minutes. The press and waiting railbirds groan, we would have been fine with them having a sandwich at the table.

6:46PM -- PokerStars qualifier John Conroy might want to log in and and get himself a seat in that satellite. He won't be getting his Monte Carlo seat in this tournament. John raised preflop and was re-raised by Peter Jepsen. Farid shrugs thoughtfully and passes. Back to John who moves all-in. Peter quickly calls and turns over A-A. It's A-K for unlucky John, and no miracle board to save him. Farid tells the table he passed 8-8... It's a short break and then we're heads up between Farid Meraghni and Peter Jepsen.


John Conroy is 3rd, winning €109,238

6:35PM -- I mentioned the prizes here in Warsaw, but of course the winner here in Poland also gets a €10,000 seat in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. PokerStars final Saturday $800 satellite is just about to kick off, with a starting field of 238 (and counting!) This makes it the most popular EPT satellite ever on PokerStars. It should award at least a dozen seats to happy PokerStars punters. A few of those can expect their stories written up on this blog in a few weeks.

6:03PM -- Marius Torbergsen, the Norwegian PokerStars qualifier was getting shortstacked, many of his bets were getting re-raised.

On a flop of 5-4-6 Marius makes it 50,000. That's a big chunk of his stack. Peter pushes forward a tower of pink 10,000 chips. It's 200,000 to Marius, which sets him all-in if he calls.

He calls.

Q-5 for Marius.

7-8 for Peter. Yes, that's the nuts..!

The turn a Queen gives Marius faint hope of the full-house variety. Sadly, the river's a dull card, which sends Marius out in 4th place. Peter must be our new chipleader with over a million, Farid close behind on 900,000. John on approximately 700,000. Marius cashes for €78,027. The remaining prizes are:

1st €325,633
2nd €182,063
3rd €109,238


Marius Torbergsen, out in 4th place

6:00PM -- Approximate chipcounts of the remaining four players. Blinds just gone up to 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante.

Peter Jepsen 765,000
Marius Torbergsen 200,000
Farid Meraghni 900,000
John Conroy 760,000


Farid Meraghni, current chipleader with 900,000 chips

5:55PM -- After the madness of losing 3 players within 4 hands it's all quietened down a bit. We haven't seen a showdown for quite a while. There was a rare family pot. Andy Black, commentating on the final table, seemed excited, but just a bet by Farid and everyone folded. The very next hand, as if disappointed by the players, Andy said, "I'm going to go back to my cashgame." Before he left he did try to generate a bit of noise by getting the crowd to sing along to the blind change music. He wasn't impressed, "That was pathetic, and it's one hour before you try again."

5:24PM -- The very next hand, Katja Thater is all-in. Her 2-2 is no good against Peter Jepsen's A-Q. An Ace on the flop put Katja out.


Team PokerStars Katja Thater out 5th for €64,502

5:23PM -- PokerStars qualifier John Conroy just doubled up. Farid's A-J paying off John's A-A. Conroy now our second chipleader, looks like he's on 800,000

5:18PM -- We've lost another one! Marius raised to 32,000. Andy O'Flaherty moves all-in, Farid moves all-in too, he easily covers Andy. Marius folds, so we two player to showdown. It's 2-2 for Andy, J-J for Farid. The board doesn't help Andy, he's out in 6th place with €50,978 Just 5 players left.

5:10PM -- Farid raises to 32,000. It folds round to Patric Mortensson who moves all-in. Farid quickly calls. It's As-Kd for Patric, Ah-Qh for the Frenchman. The Board is Ts-Th-7d-7h... giving Farid a flush draw with one card to come. But the river is a Queen. Farid puts Patric out in 7th place.


Patric Martensson, our 7th place finisher wins €40,574

4.56PM -- In early position Fredrik Hostrup moves all-in. Andy O'Flaherty asks for a count, then moves all-in too. 136,000 chips was Fredrik's count. Everyone else folds, so we see the cards. Ks-Ts for Fredrik, T-T for Andy. The board of Q-7-5-3-5 isn't what Fredrik wants to see. He's out in 8th place, taking home €29,130.


Fredrik Hostrup of Denmark, out in 8th place for €29,130

4.49PM -- A short break. Andy Black asks Lee Jones if he can take over the commentary. Lee obliges.

"What's everyone's name?" Andy asks. He starts asking the players to introduce themselves. Lee gives him a sheet listing the players.

Farid isn't back at the table when they want to resume play. Lee asks Andy to call him on the mike.

"Calling the French Guy..." Andy says. Not sure he's reading that sheet.

4.46PM -- Lee Jones counted these so I think they'll be good:

Fredrik Hostrup 129,000
Peter Willers Jepsen 670,000
Marius Torbergsen 431,000
Andrew O'Flaherty 193,000
Farid Meraghni 749,000
Katja Thater 166,000
Patric Martensson 204,000
John Conroy 336,000

4:31PM -- Fredrik raises, as usual... Andy O'Flaherty moves all-in. His chips are counted, 65,000 the verdict. Fredrik calls and shows J-T. Andy has K-J. The board of 7-7-3-4-A sees Andy double-up. Still 8 players.

4:27PM -- A 200,000 pot is won. Marius raises to 30,000. Farid calls. Peter Jepsen, on the big blind calls too. Three players see a flop of Ad-Td-7h. Peter checks. Marius bets 50,000. Farid calls. Peter thinks, but finally passes. Marius calls. The turn is 6c. Marius bets 100,000 and Farid quickly folds. The Norwegian PokerStars player wins a nice pot.

4:22PM -- Fredrik raises to 35,000. Marius moves all-in. Andy O'Flaherty moves all-in also. Fredrik gets out of their way. It's 7-7 for Marius, A-K for Andy.

The board 7-8-3-J-A.

A set sees Marius double up.

Frederik isn't put off, a raise to 35,000 the very next hand. This time everyone folds.

4:01PM -- Approximate Chipcounts below. Blinds are now 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante.

Fredrik Hostrup 245,000
Peter Willers Jepsen 640,000
Marius Torbergsen 135,000
Andrew O'Flaherty 270,000
Farid Meraghni 810,000
Katja Thater 170,000
Patric Martensson 220,000
John Conroy 370,000

3:56PM -- Andrew O'Flaherty moves all-in on the small blind. Farid, on the big blind, folds. Lee Jones on the mike announces, "Andy shows a random card... He shows the single best runner to the fourth best nut flush!" Ok, not a key hand, but I just think Lee Jones is funny.

3.53PM -- Katja doubles up again. Farid Meraghni makes it 22,000 to play. Katja moves all-in, she has 76,000 chips, and so it's not much of a decision for Farid. Q-T for the Frenchman. K-K for Katja, a set on the flop, quads on the river and Katja decisively wins that one.

3.43PM -- Players on a short break while they colour up the chips. Frederik Hostrup and Lee Jones discuss Neil Young. It seems John Conroy's not a fan...

3:33PM -- John Conroy started with less than 80,000 chips but an earlier triple up, and a few moves, have seen the senior member of the table now stacking close to 320,000 chips. Here's how he won a a few just now. He just moved all-in with the flop showing Jd-7d-Th. A re-raise by Marius, saw Conroy make this rapid all-in move. Conroy shows J-T for two Pair. Marius must have liked his kicker, but is trailing with A-J. The turn's a 7. The river's a T. A full house for the happy UK player.

3.00PM -- Marius Torbergsen raises preflop. Katja moves all-in. It's 48,000 chips. Marius announces 'call'. He has plenty of chips to do it with. It's 5h-6d for Marius and Ks-Jd for Katja. The cards are dealt. Kh-9d-8h... Katja has a pair. The turn a Th... gives Marius a flush draw. The river 6c sees Katja double up.


Katja Thater

2.37PM -- The final table is now underway. One of our staff here spoke to Katja before the game started, and she told him she was feeling confident of her ability to manage her short stack. She had hardly any chips for most of Day 2 yesterday, but seemed to make moves at just the right times to keep going, including a great call with A-4 against a K-4 bluff. I hope to report more of Katja's hands soon.

Seat 1: Fredrik Hostrup, 42, Denmark - 288,000
Frederik "Dynamisk." Hostrup has been an online pro since 2001 and has quickly become known as one of the best multi-table tournament players in the world. As chairman of the Danish Poker Federation, he is a high-profile figure on the Danish poker scene and he is also a member of Pokerteam.dk. Norwegian pro Sverre Sundbo said of Frederik: "He’s a really nice guy, but a crazy, crazy, crazy poker player."

Seat 2: Peter Willers Jepsen, 24, Denmark - 498,000
Peter took up playing poker after serving in Iraq and being sent home injured. Desperate to rekindle "the rush" of army life, he discovered online poker and in a relatively short time had worked his way up from low 0.5/1 NL Hold’em to high stakes play, both cash and tournaments. In 2006, Peter won $165.000 at the Caribbean Poker Classic in St. Kitts. Like Frederik Hostrup, he is a member of Pokerteam.dk.

Seat 3 Marius Torbergsen, 23, Norway - 434,000
Marius, a Poker Stars online qualifier from Tromsø, in the north of Norway, has been playing poker for the last three years, mainly online and in NL cash games. He played in the WSOP last year and cashed in a side event. Although still studying, Marius says poker is his main source of income. The young Norwegian used to play basketball for Tromso.

Seat 4 Andrew O'Flaherty, 45, UK - 168,000
Andrew has been playing poker 20 years and competing in big tournaments for the last eight. The married father-of-three hails from Dublin but now lives in Leeds. His biggest win so far was $125,000 in a $1,000 buy-in event at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. Andrew is not only successful on the felt though; for a hobby, he races greyhounds and has had two St. Leger winners.

Seat 5 Farid Meraghni, 22, France - 971,000
Like his friend Noah Boeken, Farid was a keen player of Magic: The Gathering winning a professional tour event aged just 17. When he saw all his fellow competitors switching to poker, he made the move himself and quickly became an expert online cash game player. Although he qualified with PokerStars for last year’s WSOP, he hasn’t played many live tourneys: he finds them way too slow – and he hates having to stack his chips.

Seat 6: Katja Thater Germany, 40, Germany - 105,000
Katja famously took up poker after standing in for her partner Jan while he went to the bathroom during a high-stakes game. Immediately hooked and enjoying success in her home city of Hamburg, she turned pro in 2000. She came 2nd in the Poker Nations Cup in Cardiff, bubbled five times in a row at the WSOP Tunica event in 2005 and cashed twice at last year’s WSOP. Her many TV appearances have quickly made her the best-known female poker player in Germany. She joined Team PokerStars last year.

Seat 7: Patric Martensson, 20, Sweden - 305,000
Patric is something of an EPT phenomenon. He has made three final tables in the last 18 months, and cashed four times. His biggest EPT win was 4th place in Barcelona in 2005. Thanks to his friends giving out spoof biographic details, Patric is now widely known as Sweden’s Monopoly Champion which he claims isn’t true. Before the EPT Polish Open, he was 18th in the EPT Tournament Leader Board but his exceptional performance in Warsaw will push up him way up the table.

Seat 8: John Conroy, 43, UK - 73,000
John, a PokerStars cash qualifier, is – like his fellow final table opponent Andrew - another Dubliner who lives in Leeds. He started playing poker 20 years ago; his first forays were draw and stud cash games in Dublin card rooms. He then stopped playing until the poker internet boom kicked off two years ago. He made the final table of the Monte Carlo Millions consolation event but for no prize money. His biggest win to date was last month at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour in Walsall for £10,800. He runs the Bad Beat hedge fund which invests in high-roller poker players.

We're back for the final day of EPT Warsaw, it's rainy here in Poland today. And I expect it to be soon pouring down with all-in chip moves at the final table. Although I expect the dealer might prefer it if players pushed them to the middle in tidy piles, rather than flinging them in rain style.

Yesterday's final few hours saw lots of action - it felt like an all-in every other hand... This is looking likely to be a short lived final table. It's a shame this event isn't televised, as with most EPT poker, the final will be plenty of fun. There's a good mix of players so I expect a lively, interesting game. Having said that 'the bloggers curse' could set in and I'll be writing 'not much to report' twelve hours from now.

I've lost both Press Room 'last longer' bets, wishing they'd been for 'first player out,' so please don't expect my predictions to have much value, but for what it's worth this is how I expect the final table to play... Farid Meraghni and Frederic Hostrup fling their chips around in jolly fashion, barely looking at their cards, then re-raising each other in a macho bluff war. Katja Thater finds a short stack, and big blinds doesn't suit her patient game, she goes on tilt and plays A-J. John Conroy on 70,000 chips pays a few blinds and is out before his seat has chance to get warm. Marius Torbergsen and Andrew O'Flaherty get stage-fright at their first big money final, misread their hands and go out moaning, 'I thought I had the flush.' Peter Jepson sees his massage therapist girlfriend flirting with Andy Black, and is forced all-in so he can pick a fight...

So, as you see, it could be anyone's game!

The important thing is all the bloggers finish early and head to the bar. Of course I'm only joking, I'm very much looking forward to writing plenty about this event. Whatever happens here in Poland, I'll bring you news from this EPT final table very soon.

Our final table

A couple more quick exits and we have our final eight.

Dennis Plejdup out in 10th, he moved all-in with A-K. Patric Martenssen called immediately, as you do when you're holding A-A.

Then we lose our second Dennis. Dennis Bejedal moves all in with Queen-Jack. He got two callers, Farid Meraghni and Frederic Hostrup. They both check to the river. The board is 9-6-T-4-3. Farid's A-Q was good enough to win the pot, and Bejedal is out 9th.

Coming back tomorrow are the following players, with the following chips:

Frederic Hostrup 288,000
Peter Jepson 498,000
Marius Torbergsen 434,000
Andrew O'Flaherty 467,000
Farid Meraghni 971,000
Katja Thater 105,000
Patrick Martenssen 305,000
John Conroy 73,000

Team PokerStars Katja Thater will be glad of her first EPT final table. PokerStars qualifier's John Conroy and Marius Torbergsen will also feature. John started play today with very few chips, and will be the shortest stack at the final table. Howevr Conroy hails from Yorkshire, a county with a fine tradition of making something from nothing. There's a Yorkshire saying 'Many a Mickle makes a Muckle' and I think this translates as, 'If you don't have many chips don't worry, you can still win plenty.'

Marius Torbergsen has plenty of muckles made already. I mean 'he has lots of chips'. He was near-chipleader yesterday, and near chipleader at the end of play today, and he'll be hoping to take all the chips tomorrow.

Here's the money placings so far. It was a bit hectic at the end, this should straighten out who finished where.

9th Dennis Bejedal euro;18,726
10th Dennis Plejdrup euro;18,726
11th Benjamin Kang €14,565
12th Roberto Matic €14,565
13th Ole Gammeljord €12,484
14th Priyan De Mel €12,484
15th Mikael Westerlund €9,363
16th Henning Granstad €9,363
17th Paul Kristofferson €6,242
18th Bertrand Grospellier €
19th Ramsi Jelassi €6,242
20th Anders Berg €6,242
21st Jes Bondo €6,242
22nd Lukasz Wasek €6,242
23rd Morten Haakenstad €6,242

And this is what they're playing for tomorrow...

1st €325,633
2nd €182,063
3rd €109,238
4th €78,027
5th €64,502
6th €50,978
7th €40,574
8th €29,130

The final table is 2pm local time. I hope you'll join us then.

Katja Thater: 105,000 chips for the final table


Marius Torbergsen 434,000 for the final table

Players haven't been afraid to move their chips around since the dinner break. Of course we lost another one in double-quick all-in-I-call time. Benjamin Kang lost most of his stack getting his chips in with A-T on an Ace high flop. His opponent held A-2 but rivered a 2 to leave him with next to no chips. Kang moved in with A-J, to be called by Farid Meraghni with Q-4. He hit a Queen and Kang was out 11th. Apparently the tallest player of EPT Warsaw was big-time cross.

In a typical 'Woo hoo! Let's play!' hand of the latter stages of this tournament. Dennis Bejedal raised preflop, Frederik Hostrup re-raised. Katja Thater on the big blind takes an interest, "How much?" she asks the dealer.

It's as if every player at the 5-handed table wants a part of this hand. Suddenly Farid Meraghni goes all-in. Katja suddenly loses interest and folds, Dennis Bejedal folds too. Frederik Hostrup asks for a count.

The dealer counts Meraghni's stack. They're pretty neatly piled up now, Katja having told the player earlier, "It looks lousy your stack, can't you organise your chips?"

Meraghni's newly organised chips are counted. There are 125,000. As if there's little now to think about Frederik announces, "Call."

The cards are turned over. And there are mutters and gasps from the rail. Holstrup has A-5, and Meraghni K-J.

The board is dealt quickly. It's 4-K-6-8-J. A great board for Meragni.

A huge pot, and Frederik Hostrup looks at me sadly, "I had the better hand."

Frederik Hostrup and Farid Meraghni

It's not so much that I blink and I miss a player's exit, it's more that I'm heading up the stairs, typing up what's going on, heading down again and by the time I get there I find out that we've lost 5 more players. Yes that's right - 5! In around 20 minutes we're down to just 11.

We've lost Michael Westelund and Henning Granstad. Frederik Hostrup apparently put out these two in the same hand.

Next it was Priyan De Mel. He lost with A-K called by Katja Thater whose T-T won.

Then we lost Ole Gammeljord, betting his 9-9 on a A-6-5 board. Marius Sokglund Torbegsen had called his raise with 6-6 and hit the set.

Finally Roberto Matic was out in 12th, with 5-5. Andrew O'Flaherty calling with A-T. Roberto was sorry to see an Ace on the board.

I'd better run before we lose another one...

Last 2 tables...
24th Thomas Osmun €6,242

As I mentioned ElkY was shortstacked and getting busy with his all-in push. I was busy typing when he went out, so didn't catch the final hand, but he's out in 18th. We also just lost Paul Kristofferson.

Down to two tables, the final 16 line-up as follows...

Table 1:

Seat 1: Benjamin Kang
2: Henning Granstad
3: Priyam De Mel
4: Frederik Holstrup
5: Farid Meraghni
6: John Conroy
7: Mikael Westerlund
8: Dennis Bejedal

Table 2:

1: Dennis Plejdrup
2: Roberto Matic
3: Katja Thater
4: Peter Willers Jesper
5: Patric Martensson
6: Marius Sokglund Torbegsen
7: Andrew O'Flaherty
8: Ole Gammeljord

Usual thing, PokerStars people in bold. Let's hope they play bold...

We're down to 18 players. We lost Ramsi Jalassi. Notable players remaining are Frederik Hostrup, Benjamin Kang, Peter Jepsen, John Conway, Dennis Bejedal, Mikael Westerlund, Andrew O'Flaherty. PokerStars players still in this thing are ElkY, Katja Thater, Roberto Matic, Pryan De Mel, and Marius Skoglund Tobergson.

Elky on the button went all-in. He wins the 3000/6000 blinds and 600 antes. The very next hand he goes all-in again. A player demands a count. It's 61,000. All fold. Elky shows 4-4.

Those were quiet hands. I hear a "wooohoooo!" from the next table. Mikael Westerlund is all-in, J-K showing. Benjamin Kang has called his raise with Q-Q. The board was what all the fuss was about. 7-7-7-J... and then another 7!

Westerlund saves in - playing Quad 7's with a King kicker. A crazy hand. Westerlund looks dazed, but has the grace to smile about it.

Mikael Westerlund smiles as he contemplates his survival


Benjamin Kang wonders, 'how did I lose that?'

We lost a few players quickly, and in the last hand before the dinner break Age Spets was the 25th player to go out. Which left 24 players in the money, and in celebratory mood as they headed to the break.

Lucask Wasek, a Polish player, led the cheers. "Money! Money! Money! Money! Small money!"

Frederik Hostrup was proudly telling no one in particular, "I was in the money in Dortmund too."

Another player from his table smiled and told him, "I still can't get over that hand!"

This player told me he'd folded A-T to Frederik, and been shown 4-7os. Frederik had raised, A-T player had re-raised. Frederik had re-re-raised another 40,000 and then Hostrup had shown he had no hand. Frederik made €6,950 in Dortmund, and with moves like that looks on form to make more here in Poland.

Frederik Hostrup
For PokerStars, ElkY and Katja Thater are in the money in Warsaw, as are qualifiers Priyan De Mel and Roberto Matic.

Priyan has been making much use of a PokerStars stress ball at the table. And I've seen his chips yo-yo in a way that makes me understand why he might need it.

The London player claimed, "It's a real loose call, but..." Then on the big blind he called the small-blind's all in 15,000 bet. Pryan showed Q-7, the small-blind, T-7. The small-blind's raise was maybe looser! But a Ten on the flop and Pryan's low-to-medium stack took quite a dent.

The very next hand Pryan goes all-in. He's called and quickly turns over K-K. His caller has 8-8. Pryan wins and heads to dinner leaving a healthy 85,000 stack, and his stress ball, behind.

Pryan De Mel
Roberto Matic is a Kentucky player, originally from the Phillipines. He mentioned to my colleague, Bob, that he played his EPT satellite using FPP only because he was having a problem making a deposit. Bob nipped upstairs, borrowed my computer, and fixed the problem. Roberto can now make a deposit and play online in the break if he so chooses. Although the desserts are great here. I know what I'd do.

Roberto Matic
Andreas Hoivald won't be winning two EPT's in a row, departing in the last level before the dinner break.

Age Spets was on the bubble. His A-Q up against a measly 8-5. The 8-5 made a full house. It might well be a while before Agi relaxes and feels like he'll enjoy the dinner buffet.

Farid Meraghni is our chipleader going into the dinner break. I'll bring you more news, and some chip counts after the break.

My Yorkshire Mum sometimes says, 'It's all swings and roundabouts.' I hope ElkY's thinking that now. I think you're supposed to think it when there's a change, to convince yourself there's nothing worth worrying about.

There are 36 players left now, just 5 tables, playing down to the final one tonight. We hae 1500/3000 blinds with a 300 ante.

Here's some approximate chipcounts for you:

Katja Thater 30,000
Thomas Osman 120,000
Peter Willers Jepsen 350,000
Roberto Matic 75,000
Andreas Hoivold 30,000
Marius Skoglund Tobergson 110,000
Priyan De Mel 85,000
Michael Westerland 150,000
Henning Granstad 110,000
Ramzi Jelassi 35,000

As I reached ElkY's table to count his chips I saw him push a big pile of his chips into the middle. There were already 50,000 in the pot.

He'd just set a player in a stripey jumper all-in.

The board was Q-Q-6-5-9. The player in the stripy jumper looked at the board, looked at his chips, looked at ElkY. Finally he said, "Call".

ElkY gave a small smile as he mucked his cards face down.

Stripy-jumper player's chips are counted. ElkY counted out another 30,000 to give him. The hand leaves him with around 75,000. He seemed to be smiling about it afterwards, perhaps he was thinking, 'it's all swings and roundabouts'?

Contemplating a big call...

Katja Thater has taken a seat next to ElkY, at perhaps the toughest table in the room. It's a table of big names and big stacks. Michael Westerland sits there, playing 150,000. ElkY seems confident with 125,000. Katja looks serious with 40,000.

We've recently lost Karl Mahrenholz, Ben Grundy, and Essex PokerStars qualifier Dave Welch. Thomas Mathiesen is also out - he of the 90,000, A-7, raise. Peter Willers Jespen is clear chipleader with 300,000. He the recipient of the 90,000, A-7, raise. Henning Granstad is another big stack with around 115,000.

Andreas Hoivold is one of the shorter stacks, but has just doubled up. He was clutching aloft his winning A-K, as I passed his table. His new table. It seems he'd just moved.

"This table's better than the other," he said. "Does everyone get these cards here? Can I keep them?"

He points to the dealer, still unwilling to give up the cards. "If Marek lets me, can I keep them?"

Marek didn't oblige. It's another hand, another two cards, for Andreas.

ElkY and Katja, their moods match the size of their stacks

It started fairly insignificantly. Norwegian, Thomas Mathiesen, raising under the gun to 5,000. Peter Willers Jepsen, on the blind re-raised to 17,000. But then Mathiesen moves all-in.

It's only when you see the tower of chips in front of each player that you realise why this is an unusual hand, it's the kind of hand that causes a crowd to gather around the table, trying to get a decent view.

If they could break through the crowd to see the table what they'd see would be Thomas Mathiesen sitting very still, giving nothing away. At the time I didn't know who he was, couldn't even see his name tag. Of course everyone wouldn't who such a player was, who could amass so many chips, and then risk them against one of the few players in the room who could jeopardise his tourney chances.

Peter Willers Jepsen wasn't sitting still, he was shifting in his chair, head in his hands, thinking, thinking, thinking. He thought for a long while, but spoke confidently when he said, "Call."

The cards were turned over. No one moved to count the towering chip stacks yet.

Peter Willers Jepsen was the caller, he showed A-K.

Thomas Mathiesen's hand was shaking a little as he showed A-7.

The cards were dealt. 3-5-6 the flop.

Peter stood up, his excitement mounting.

The turn a 5. The river a J...

Mathiesen still hadn't moved yet. "How much?" was all he said, as the final card was dealt.

Our tournament director counted the chips. "Ninety one thousand seven hundred," he announced to Thomas.

So Thomas counted out his 91,700 chips. "Good call," he said.

He looked down at four small stacks of grey 100 chips. He had around 4,000 left.

As the hand finished I still hadn't learnt Thomas Mathiesen's name. His dinner-privileges name tag was hanging the wrong way round. A group of press were also asking, "Do you know his name?" Finally we found someone who knew.

Thomas heard his name mentioned. He saw the press eagerly writing it down. He gave us all a disgusted look, like, 'do you have to write about that?'

Of course we do. Sorry Thomas.

I expect Peter Willers Jepsen to be chipleader now. The press room do know a thing or two about this player, the lucky guy's not only Warsaw's chipleader, apparently he's dating the massage girl..!

Peter Willers Jepsen

There are 65 players now. I do expect things to settle down soon, especially when we get close to those 24 places that will pay.

I told you I'm cursed with standing beside Katja Thater's table and never seeing her in a hand? Well I must have missed some good ones. From her 11,000 at the end of Day 1B she's now on around 37,000.

Ross Boatman just went out his 8-8 beat by A-K.

I just saw Jani Sointula double up taking chips from Norwegian, Marius Tobergsen. He was all-in again just a few hands later, the last of his chips going on the turn, when the board read 3-2-8-7. ElkY was his caller. 9-9 for Jani. 7-8 for ElkY and two pair.

The dealer spread the cards, about to shuffle the next hand.

ElkY was the one to point out, "We need another card."

The dealer obliged, an insignificant 4. Jani out. ElkY started bouncing along to his Ipod tune, looking happy, as he should be with a 60,000 chip pile in front of him.

Jani Sointula

EPT blogger, Simon Young, was one of the shortstacks at the start of play today.
He was down to a just a handful of black 100 chips, and on the big blind, when I found his table. He was forced all-in with 2-9, and found two callers both with K-Q.

The flop of Qd-2d-2s suited Simon. But the word 'suited' might well have been ringing in his head on the turn. The turn was a 5d, and gave his opponent a flush draw. But this is poker, with the unexpected just around the corner... You're expecting a diamond to seal Simon's exit? No, no, the river was a Queen - and split pot full houses for the K-Q players.

I guess Simon's going to Monte Carlo's EPT Final to blog instead of play. And of course I wasn't rooting for him just so I got that blogging job..!

I hear Peter Eichhardt, Fabrice Soulier and Paul Testud are also out. Wonder how many tables we're down to when I head down those stairs again...

Simon Young

We get handed a nice printed table plan, head down the three flights of stairs from the press room to the tournament floor, and by the time we get there the information is already out of date. We're already down to 80 players, and by the time I type this up I expect we'll have lost more. Shortstacks aren't hanging around with 600/1200 blinds and 100 antes. We're No longer playing on 12 tables in 3 rooms, it's now on 10 tables in 2.

We lost our Finnish FPP qualifier Kalevi Haikola. Kalevi was all in with A-A, as was Thomas Billum with T-T. They were called by Dave Gregory holding the mighty A-3. Well it looked kind of 'mighty' when the flop was 2-4-5. Dave put two players out, and contributed to the rapid table breaking downstairs.

Spencer Lawrence a PokerStars player from England is another unlucky A-A elimination. Polish player Darek Paszkiewicz called Stephen's re-raise to 3000 liking his K-Q. The flop brought K-T-4 and Darek check called Spencer's bet. The turn brought a Q and two pair for the Pole. Darek check re-raised all in for around 50,000. Spencer called and missed his 8 outs. Darek moves up to around 95,000 and may well now hold the chip lead.

Interesting tables so far.

ElkY shares a table with Jani Sointula, Paul Testud and PokerStars big-stack Marius Skoglund Torbergsen.

Katja Thater is at a table with Andreas Hoivold.

Juha Helppi, Mikael Westerlund and Peter Eichart are table mates.

Expect this information to be out of date by the time I get downstairs again...

ElkY and Marius Skoglund Torbergsen.

I popped back to my room to collect something yesterday, and there was a knock on the door.

"Chocolates!" Said a pretty girl in a hotel uniform.

I like chocolates. So I thanked her and collected two boxes of sweet treats. Of course this reminded me of the poker of Day 2 of the EPT. I like Day 2's best. The two day 1's are interesting of course, you look around the tables and see star players, or dreaming would-be stars. The final day has all the obvious glamour, the chase to see who will be the best. But I like the ups and downs and sheer drama of Day 2. It's that all or nothing day. The day when some will go home with nothing, others will feel satisfied that they won some part of a 4,047,000 Zloty prize pool. And of course a lucky few will still be in the fight for the €.325,633 first place.

Forrest Gump had this to say about chocolate, "Mama always said life was like a box a chocolates, never know what you're gonna get."

Maybe it's just me, but I think chocolate is chocolate, so whichever one you pick is never going to be so bad. And what makes this day of EPT poker so 'sweet' is that there's highs and lows today.If Forrest Gump was talking about Day 2 of the EPT he might say, "Poker is nothing like a box of chocolates, because sometimes you get a great prize, sometimes you get nothing."

So that's what I thought as I enjoyed my sweets. That's kind of why I'm excited by the EPT Poker on offer today. Play begins soon, I'll bring you all the stories of who's in the money and who's out with nothing but a free chocolates for consolation.

PokerStars has 18 qualifiers still playing in the tournament, as well as ElkY and Katja Thater of Team PokerStars, and Simon Young of PokerStars blog fame.

Somehow we much have lost a few before the start, 93 play today, not the 100 I mentioned yesterday. I guess the casino big screen hadn't updated the figures after a few all-ins in the last few hands.

Here's the chip counts for all those who play on Day 2 of EPT Warsaw:

Henning Granstad (Norway) 80,800
Patric Martensson (Sweden) 79,000
Marius Skoglund Torbergsen(Norway) 74,000
Peter Willers Jepsen (Denmark) 73,300
Roberto Matic (USA) 71,900
Paul Kristoffersson (Sweden) 63,200
Raymi Sanchez Thorn (Sweden)61,300
Thomas Mathiesen (Norway) 60,600
Leszek Krawczyński (Polska) 58,800
Orjan Holt (Norway) 57,200
Jakub Wisniewski (Polska) 57,100
Thomas Osmun (USA) 56,600
Age Spets (Norway) 55,900
Ramzi Jelassi (Sweden)55,200
Mikael Westerlund (Sweden) 54,200
Dariusz Paszkiewicz (Polska) 53,300
Jacob Juhl (Denmark) 51,100
Andrew O'Flaherty (UK) 50,400
Mark Petersen (Denmark) 46,200
Kerry James Kerrigan (UK) 44,400
Spencer Lawrence (UK)44,200
Ole Gammeljord (Denmark) 42,400
Lukasz Wasek (Polska) 41,900
Andreas Hoivold (Norway)41,900
Christopher Ulsrud (Norway)41,300
Benjamin Kang (Germany) 40,800
Frederik Hostrup Pedersen (Denmark)40,400
David Gregory (UK) 40,300
Anders Berg (Norway) 38,800
Kasper Bisgaard Nielsen (Denmark)36,700
Piotr Lopusiewicz (Polska) 36,000
Martin Ostby (Norway) 35,600
Bertrand Grospellier (France) 35,500
Sondre Sagstuen (Norway) 34,500
Ben Grundy (UK) 33,600
Thomas Billum (Denmark) 33,100
Farid Meraghni (France) 32,700
Paul McCann (UK) 32,700
Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 31,500
Jes Bondo (Denmark) 30,400
Kevin Love (UK) 29,300
Soren Bakfort (Denmark) 28,900
Craig Wexler (USA) 28,700
Nikolas Liakos (Sweden) 28,000
Dennis Bejedal (Sweden) 27,800
Tom Schasfoort (Netherlands) 27,000
Stuart Wilson (UK) 26,700
Dennis Barting (Denmark) 26,400
Dennis Plejdrup (Denmark) 25,500
Ross Boatman (UK) 25,300
Janne Jutilainen (Finland) 25,300
Søren Kongsgaard Nielsen (Denmark) 24,700
Jan Wronowski (Polska) 24,700
Finn-Erik Egeland (Norway)23,300
Rolf Woods (Norway) 23,200
David Welch (UK) 21,600
Tomasz Al Chalabi (Polska) 20,200
Torstein Berget (Norway) 19,800
Michal Panasiuk (Polska)19,700
Jani Sointula (Finland) 19,300
John Conroy (UK) 18,200
Karl Mahrenholz (UK) 18,000
Thomas Tyszkiewicz (Sweden)17,800
Przemyslaw Samsel (Polska)17,200
Priyan De Mel (UK) 16,000
Russell Carson (Canada) 15,700
Julien Neumann (France)15,500
Tomas Alenius (Sweden) 15,300
Martin Vallo (Denmark) 14,800
Michael Van Putten Due (Denmark) 14,600
Fabrice Soulier (France)14,100
Tim Gillig (Germany)14,100
Patrice Boudet (France) 13,600
Juha Helppi (Finland)13,500
Simon Young (UK) 13,000
Katja Thater (Germany) 11,800
Jaakko Penttinen (Finland)11,700
Ulrik Pedersen (Denmark) 11,400
Kalevi Haikola (Finland) 11,200
Simone Rossi (Spain) 11,200
Juuso Kauppinen (Finland)10,500
Annica Ivert (Sweden)10,100
Christoffer Sonesson (Sweden)9,300
Paul Testud (France) 9,200
Christopher Robson (UK) 9,000
Damian Porębski (Polska) 8,700
Albano Mathieu (France) 8,500
Morten Huseby Haakenstad (Norway)7,400
Simon Kelly (Ireland) 7,200
Peter Eichhardt (Sweden) 7,000
Pyysing Aki (Finland) 6,800
Axel Herbst (Germany)6,100
Bjorn Erik Suhr (Norway) 6,100

PokerStars players are in bold. I'll bring you news of the table draw soon.

Play has now ended here in Warsaw. 54 players will return tomorrow, to meet the 46 players of Day 1A at the tables. Which makes it exactly 100 players starting on day 2.

Interesting players we'll be watching tomorrow include Team PokerStars ElkY and Katja Thater. We'll also follow last week's EPT winner Andreas Hoivold, PokerStar's blogger, Simon Young, Ben Grundy, Jani Sointula, Ross Boatmen... And anyone else with chips and a story to tell.

There were a couple of tournament casualties late in the day here in Poland.Thomas Wahlrus who had only 9,000 chips and seemed willing to gamble, but the gamble didn't pay off and he's out. I just saw Marcel Luske go out too, on the button and shortstaked, his J-2 met Peter Eichhardt's A-3 and didn't get any help.

I claimed a chipleader for PokerStars after the end of day 1A yesterday, and I'm going to do so again today. Norwegian player Marius Skoglund Torbergsen looks to have around 75,000 chips at the end of play today. I'm not getting put off by the fact that PokerStars qualifier Thomas Osmun was not quite chipleader yesterday... Who's top of the pile at this stage is not what it's about, there are two more days of poker to play.

As usual we'll have the facts, a full official chipcounts, and news and stories from Poland's EPT for you tomorrow. Play begins 2pm local time once again.

Marius Skoglund Torbergsen, one of the chipleaders at the end of play today.

61 players remain, Average chips now 24,262. Blinds are 400 800 with a 100 ante. We're on the last level of the night.

Marius Skoglund Torbergsen (Norwegian PokerStars qualifier) 49,000
Ross Boatman 6,000
Marcel Luske 6,000
ElkY 29,000
Ben Grundy 27,000
Benjamin Kang 47,000
Jani Sointula 20,000
David Welch (UK PokerStars qualifier) 28,000
Sebastian Skuja (Swedish PokerStars qualifier) 21,000
Katja Thater 6,000
Thomas Wahlrus 14,000
Peter Eichhardt 19,000

And sadly table 4, the table that might well win an award for 'Most interesting table at an EPT tournament' is about to be broken.

The players protested, "You can't break this table, it's too much fun!"

Even ElkY, usually reserved, joined in with his support when the player's protested.

"We can't break, we still have issues to resolve."

I don't know whether the tournament director let them off, but the table was still playing last I saw.

Marcel Luske is still playing, Katja Thater is also very short of chips. Apologies for failing to mention the Team PokerStars lady. I think I must be a very unlucky blogger indeed, because I've covered 3 EPT tournaments now, I've watched Katja's table plenty in each one, but I've yet to see her play a hand. But just now, on around 3000 chips I saw her go all-in twice in a row. All folded, and she gathered up those blinds and antes. Perhaps feeling she had momentum going now, Katja was disappointed that at the end of level 8 there was to be a break.

A lot of players seemed annoyed that with just one hour of play remaining, the tournament was to break. Someone demanded of an official, "Why is there a break?" It was explained that it was to colour up the chips. We'll lose the many green 25 chips that are forming tall stacks in front of the players. And why are we colouring up these chips? well surely it's to make getting chip counts easier for us bloggers! Back soon with some numbers.

Katja Thater

I am watching other tables, I promise, but at the moment all the action seems to be on Table 4. I had to head across from the other side of the room to see what was going on, because undoubtly the tallest player of Warsaw EPT, Benjamin Kang, was towering over his table. Possibly the loudest, Nick Slade, was shouting.

"I think I need a ten!" Slade was standing up as well. He was all-in.

On the table were chips, and a board that befitting such a scene. Around 30,000 chips and the glamour cards of A-Q-K.

Kang turned over the kind of cards you'd expect to get a lot of chips moving, he held A-K. Slade had, of course, J-J.

He was right about needing a ten. But no ten appeared... Nick's out.

Kang didn't sit down for a little while, just muttered, "He worried me. I was really worried when he called 7,000 chips."

80 players remain, Marcel Luske is a shortstack. Quite a crowd has gathered round his table. "Are you all watching me die? It's like the vultures circling," he said. Despite the comment he seems to be relishing the attention.

Better get back, and circle...

Roy Brindley can't believe the move another player made, "Are you mad?" he asks.

On a board of 7h-Kc-4c-8h-5h Roy's just moved all-in, and around 14,000 chips sprawled across the table in front of him. It was the player who called him that Roy was asking if he were 'mad'.

I don't think many would question his opponent's mental health if they saw his cards. He turned over 4-4 for a set.

You wouldn't question Roy's boldness, he turned over As-Qs for a... nothing much.

Roy's out. Thomas Wahlroos was feeling bold too, commenting within Roy's earshot, "And just like that he’s gone. And my guess you’ll never hear from him again!"

Roy 'the boy' Brindley

There's a commotion over at Elky's table, which is perhaps the liveliest in the room. Mainly because of chatty Ben Grundy, and Nick Slade who also has plenty to say, and who if he were still at school would likely get told of for 'fidgeting' in his chair.

I got to the table in time to hear the player's description of a bizarre hand.

"He had nines, he had tens, he had Jacks!"

ElkY frowned as the player pointed at him. He was the one with the Jacks. I was guessing this table was so lively because it wasn't as dull a story as the best hand holding up.

"He hit a set, he made a straight, Jacks nowhere!"

ElkY looked at his depleted stack, looked like he was down to just 6,000 chips.

The table's self appointed commentator piped up yet again, gesturing wildly round the table, "I'm steaming because of him. He's steaming because of you. He's steaming and wasn't even in the hand! The whole table's steaming! Get some air conditioning for this table."

Nick Slade pipes up, "You asked me why I'm steaming? I lost the biggest pot of the night. Thirty thousand..."

Elky at the 'Steaming Table'

Ben Grundy asks Nick Slade, "How many times have you had Queens?"

"Six," Nick replies, "and won with them twice." He scowls with disgust.

He and ElkY see a flop.

3h-2h-Kd.

Slade bets just 600. ElkY calls.

The turn 9d. ElkY bets 1,700. Slade calls.

The river 4s. ElkY bets 2,600. Nick Slade scowls again. Stands up. Sits down. Scowls some more. Calls.

ElkY doesn't scowl, but I imagine he must be thinking 'scowl'. He mucks his cards unseen and Slade takes the pot.

As he sees a couple of press people writing down hand details he says, "Did you see the other one? It was a 30,000 pot!"

It was his set of fives against a set of Kings. And once he'd got his bad beat story off his chest, he returned to the table to play.

Nick Slade

We're now back after the break. Playing 150 300 blinds with a 25 ante.

Approximate chipcounts:

Katja Thater 9,500
Roy Brindley 25,000
Robin Keston 10,800
Juha Helppi 13,000
Jani Sointula 20,000
Ben Grundy 15,500
Nick Slade 36,000
ElkY 8,500
Dave Gregory 17,000
Ross Boatman 9,200
Martin Vallo 5,500
Fabrice Soulier 9,400
Peter Eichhardt 12,000
Paul Testud 9,000
Thomas Wahlroos 19,000

It seems Ash Hussein is out, pocket tens losing to Kings.

Here are the prizes for this 15,000 Zloty buy in event. The prizepool is 4,047,000 Polish Zloty or €1,040,360. It seems the pay-out won't be in Zloty. Maybe because this would be too many notes to fit into the shiny silver winner's briefcase?

1st €325,633
2nd €182,063
3rd €109,238
4th €78,027
5th €64,502
6th €50,978
7th €40,574
8th €29,130
9th to 10th €18,726
11th to 12th €14,565
13th to 14th €12,484
15th to 16th €9,363
17th to 24th €6,242

Some news for you just before the dinner break. Shortstacked Noah Boeken moves all-in, he's called by an unknown player with Ah-K. Noah's trailing with A-T.

The flop is As-2h-6h.

The observant amongst you will have noticed that I said our unknown player held 'Ah'. The clever amongst you may guess the way this hand goes...

The turn is Th.

Noah has two pair...

But the river is a heart, and Noah's out. We've lost 30 players now, notable casualties are Luca Pagano, Barny Boatman, Thang Nguyen, Magnus Petersen, Joe Beevers, Tony Cascarino, Iwan Jones and Jonas Molander.

Something to enjoy in the dinner break...

I found Noah Boeken. He's now sitting in the chair vacated by Luca Pagano. I hope this Team PokerStars player has more luck with the seat.

The blinds are now 150 300, and with only a tiny stack of chips to his name Noah wouldn't be thrilled to put 300 in on the big blind.

An Italian player in a grey blazor has called pre-flop, the small blind calls too. Noah looks at his cards, then quickly moves all in.

The Italian player wants a count. 2,600 to call Noah's bet. Noah fiddles with his MP3 player. Grey-blazor shrugs, sighs, and folds. The small blind does as well.

Noah won himself 600 more chips, he'll need still more very soon. Not a very exciting hand, but I'm just glad to still be writing about this Team PokerStars player.

I was just complaining that nobody's playing a hand, and when I step away from the tables it all happens. There could also be an element of the 'bloggers curse.' I write about Alexandre Poulain and Luca Pagano, now both seem to be out. I'm afraid I missed the details of their exits.

I could also see no sign of Noah Boeken, and Thang Duc Nguyen. It is possible both these players have been moved. Players are now on a break and not at the tables, but I'll try to 'bring them back from the dead' for you if I find they still have chips.

Here's some approximate chips:

Katja Thater 9,500
Roy 'the boy' Brindley 40,000
Ashad Hussein 14,000
Ben Grundy 29,000
Nick Slade 14,000
ElkY 13,000
Ross Boatman 9,000
Jonas Molander 8,000
Marcel Luske 19,000

Noah Boeken missing presumed in a cash game..?

There's a lively cash table close to the tournament. Barny Boatman, John Duthie and Andy Black seem to be involved in many more wild and interesting hands than those I see at level 3 of this EPT tournament.

There was one loud and unusual tournament moment. The loudspeaker came on to announce the blind change for level 4 and suddenly the whole room was filled with radio pop music - 'da da da boooom booom chak-chacka-chackaaa... and the blinds are now 100 200.'

From the cash game Andy Black stood up and approached Marcel Luske.

"You're looking elegant, you're witty, you're funny, you even smell good!" Andy told Marcel.

Marcel ignored him, he just looked at his cards, trying to play his tournament. Andy still hovered near by.

"Just being near Marcel makes me feel more of a man!" Andy continued.

"Are you trying to borrow money or **get intimate** with me?" Marcel asked?

Marcel got involved in a hand, so Andy Black retreated, with neither money nor any offer of 'intimacy'.

Marcel had called a small raise preflop, as had Luca Pagano, the raiser an Italian player wearing a grey blazer.

The flop was 4c-Qh-4d.

Luca checked, Marcel checked, grey-blazer checked.

The turn was Qs. Luca bet 700. Marcel folded. Grey-blazor goes all-in.

The dealer pushes Grey-blazors chips towards all the chips in the centre of the table. Marcel points out, "You need to count them!"

The dealer does as he's told, and it's 4300 to Luca. Luca sorts out a neat pile of 4,300, carefully thinking about calling. Then he counts how much it leaves him with, if he's wrong. Around 3,000.

Luca stands up, thinking, thinking... Finally he sits down again and finally, reluctantly, he folds.

Grey-blazor looks at him, "One time. For you..." The player flashes a Queen. "Because I like Italians," he smiles.

Luca with a decision to make

Chips from that table now, Luca Pagano 7,500. Marcel Luske 19,000, James Honeybone 7,000.

Play seems unusually slow today with just 11 players out so far, and the average stack not much more than we started with, around 11,000.

Still little to report from the tables, now on a break at the end of level 2. Tough tables so far seem to be these...

Table 1: Katja Thater, Arshad Hussain, Roy Brindley

Team PokerStars Katja Thater

Table 3: Juha Helppi, Jani Sointula


Jani Sointula: Monte Carlo Millions winner

Table 4: ElkY, Ben Grundy, Thang Duc Nguyen, Nick Slade.


Thang Nguyen: Winner of EPT Baden

Table 11: Jonas Molander, Rehne Pedersen, Thomas Wahlrus and Iwan Jones.


Jonas Molander : My pick for the press room last longer bet.

Table 14: Marcel Luske, Luca Pagano


Team PokerStars Luca Pagano: Cool jacket!

Alexandre Poulain is a French PokerStars qualifier, who's managed to lose a lot of chips already, but looks surprisingly relaxed about the smallish stack in front of him. Maybe this is because in EPT Copenhagen he nursed a similar tiny pile of chips into a fairly sizeable win? He finished 6th in Copenhagen, for €.89,089. When Alexandre is not running a discount electronics store in Paris, he's a regular at the Aviation Club on the Champs Elysees which is where he won his first major tournament, picking up the Pot Limit Omaha title and 25k - at the European Finals of Poker Masters.

I reached Alexandre's table just as he pushed all-in, re-raising a young bearded guy in a PokerStars jersey. PokerStars-beardy contemplated this 1,900 re-raise for some time. Alexandre smiling all the while.

The other player folded and Alexandre returned to reading his poker magazine. Perhaps he'll read about his own success at EPT Warsaw in next month's edition?

Alexandre Poulain, smiling as he pushes all-in.

Play has begun here in Warsaw, the usual style of play you see when you have 10,000 chips and the blinds are 25 50, players are simply easing into their game.

I've hung around the likely looking tables, hoping for some blog-worthy stories to tell. So far I must have been at the wrong table at the wrong time. Press room gossip tells of Barny Boatman down to 1,100 chips after just 20 minutes. And now I just heard Barny's out, running his 8-5 into pocket Kings.

Interesting tables so far, well Luca Pagano shares a table with Marcel Luske. Elky sits beside Ben Grundy. PokerStars New Zealand qualifier James Honeybee, is also at this table. James told me his preperation for EPT Warsaw involved three days in London meeting 'Hot chicks!' James seems to have lost a few chips already, but was confident he'd do well, on his last poker trip to Europe he had a 5th place tournament finish and took $85,000 back home to New Zealand.

I reached James table just as Elky won a pot, but missed the details of this hand. Told you, wrong table, wrong time. And I'd better get back to the tables, to try to be in the right place at the right time for you...

Elky wins a pot, it was a straight flush vs quad aces... well just maybe.

It's a grey day here in Warsaw, the buildings look grey, the sky looks grey, and the 100 value chips are grey too. And that's all that matters to most people around here.

45 players remain from Day 1A, they have a day off today so might wish for better sight-seeing weather, or it might mean they stay in with a laptop and find a game.

Thomas Osman, one of yesterday's chipleaders, enjoying his day off.

We expect the casino to fill 150 of its rather plush seats for EPT Warsaw's Day 1B. Of those 150-ish, 29 won their seats at PokerStars, four of them for just a handful of FPP. Not sure how you hold a handful of FPP, but those players must know what to do with them, to spin them into a poker trip to Poland!

We'll see four of Team PokerStars players start in Warsaw today - ElkY, Luca Pagano, Katja Thater and Noah Boeken.

Of course we'll be watching al lour PokerStars players, but from the player list I spotted many more names to file under 'interesting.' Notable players include Marcel Luske, Peter Roche, Juha Helppi, John Houston, Thomas Wahlroos, Pascal Perrault, Fabrice Soulier, Jonsa Molander, Rehne Pedersen, Peter Eichhardt, Roy Brindley, Tony Cascarino, Dave Gregory, Ross Boatman, Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman, Jani Sointula, Ben Grundy, Nick Slade, Arshad Hussein, Robin Keston, Iwan Jones, Thang Nguyen, Magnus Petersen and Martin Vallo.

The players still playing at the end of 9 levels today will be tablemates with the survivors of Day 1A tomorrow. We have some official chipcounts now, and 10 PokerStars players remain. In the list below PokerStars qualifiers are listed in bold.

Day 1A Survivors official chipcounts:

Henning Granstad (Norway) 80,800
Patric Matensson (Sweden) 79,000
Raymi Sanchez Thorn (Sweden) 61,30
Thomas Mathiesen (Norway) 60,600
Leszek Krawczyński (Poland) 58,800
Thomas Osmun (USA) 56,600
Ramzi Jelassi (Sweden) 55,200
Mikael Westerlund (Sweden) 54,200
Dariusz Paszkiewicz (Poland) 53,300
Mark Petersen (Denmark) 46,200
Kerry James Kerrigan (UK) 44,400
Spencer Lawrence (UK)44,200
Andreas Hoivo ld (Norway) 41,900
Kasper Bisgaard Nielsen (Denmark) 36,700
Martin Ostby (Norway) 35,600
Sondre Sagstuen (Norway) 34,500
Paul McCann (UK) 32,700
Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 31,500
Kevin Love (UK) 29,300
Soren Bakfort (Denmark) 28,900
Craig Wexler (USA) 28,700
Nikolas Liakos (Sweden) 28,000
Tom Schasfoort(Netherlands) 27,000
Stuart Wilson (UK) 26,700
Dennis Plejdrup (Denmark) 25,500
Janne Jutilainen (Finland)25,300
Finn-Erik Egeland (Norway)23,300
Michał Panasiuk (Poland) 19,700
Karl Mahrenholz (Denmark)18,000
Priyan De Mel (UK)16,000
Russell Carson (Canada) 15,700
Tim Gillig (Germany)14,100
Patrice Boudet (France) 13,600
Simon Young (UK) 13,000
Jaakko Penttinen (Finland) 11,700
Ulrik Pedersen (Denmark)11,400
Kalevi Haikola (Finland) 11,200
Simone Rossi (Spain)11,200
Annica Ivert (Sweden)10,100
Damian Porębski (Poland) 8,700
Albano Mathieu (France) 8,500
Morten Hseby Haakenstad (Norway) 7,400
Pyysing Aki (Finland) 6,800
Axel Herbst (Germany) 6,100
Bjorn Erik Suhr (Norway) 6,100

Day 1B play will get underway very soon at the Hyatt Regency Casino.

Just 46 players remain of the 136 who started this first day of play at EPT Warsaw. Johnny Lodden won't be coming back on Friday. He was short of chips late in the day day and moved in with A-7. He was called by two players, one with Q-Q and the other A-K. Two Aces on the flop gave Johnny a little split plot hope, but it wasn't to be. It seems Andrej Skawinski is also out, the Team Poland WCP player's chair was empty.

Blogger Simon Young will be back for his second day of play. So much for me getting him to help me with tomorrow's chipcounts..!

PokerStars qualifier Thomas Osman appeared to be chipleader as play ended, but we'll have the official chipcounts, as well as news of Day 1B's field, tomorrow. I hope you'll be reading..!

Dave Colclough looked surprised by his own actions. On a board of 2-4-8-7 he looked at the cards, and chips, as if he knew it was trouble, but knew too that there was no escape. It was like he was looking at the cards and chips equivalent of the mother-in-law visiting, on Mother's Day, when it was her birthday also, and your wife was out, and the MIL didn't have a key to let herself in. He pushed his chips in unwillingly, knowing he was comitted, knowing he had to call. Knowing he really didn't want to.

"I've only a seven," he said.

Janne Juutilainen didn't have a huge hand either, but it was enough. He showed 8-10 for top pair. Dave's 7-6 didn't improve with the final card. He left the table shaking his head.

At the same table Thomas Osman had been regularly gathering chips, playing a lot of hands, and winning all that I saw. He called a small raise from Michael Westerland. On a flop of 6c Ad 2d. Thomas checks. Another bet from Westerland. Thomas calls.

The turn a 6s. Unusually cautious in this hand, Thomas checks again.

The river a 8d. A bigger bet from Westerland, around 12,000.

Thomas shrugs, almost apologetic as he calls, "Just got a deuce."

He shows his 2-10, and wins another big pot as Westerland mucks.

Michael Westerland, and Thomas Osman with a bigger pile of chips.

We've lost a few recently. Shortstacked Jen Mason made a move with K-8, she got called by the big blind's 6-6 and went out. Also out are Jan Sjavik, Roland de Wolfe and Thomas Fougeron.

Approximate chip counts:

Andrej Skawinski 8,000
Craig Wexler 26,000
Thomas Osman 65,000
Thijs Tabak 4,500
Janne Juutilainen 27,000
Tom Schasfoort 45,000
Jeff Buffenbarger 6,000
Priyan De Mel 13,000
Karl Mahrenholz 20,000
Dave Colclough 5,075
Patrick Bueno 9,000
Gunnar Osterbrod 5,000
Ken Lennaard 11,500
Robert Stevenovski 13,000
Jim Kerrigan 20,000
Mads Andersen 19,000
Andreas Hoivold 23,000
Ramzi Jelassi 27,000
Simon Young 19,000
Johnny Lodden 10,000
Henning Granstad 50,000

Craig Wexler

Level 7 now, 72 players remain, with the average around 18,000 chips. PokerStars shirts seem to be lucky for some.

Simon Young probably didn't feel lucky when he got moved to the corner table. The table of 'Scandi-Doom' one poker journo christened it. Here sits Johnny Lodden, Andreas Hoivold, Mads Andersen and Henning Granstad. Simon Young's been at a few tough tables today, but doesn't seem daunted.

Johnny Lodden, has around 27,000 and decides to call for the massage therapist. Johnny enjoying the massage, appears to have his eyes closed as he raises 1,500. Simon's not the type to call for a massage, or to play with his eyes shut, he'll leave that to the Scandi Doomsters, but he does seem happy with his cards. He calls. Johnny opens his eyes enough to see a flop of 3d-4d-4c. I imagine he likes what he sees, he makes it 2,000. Simon seems to like it too, he calls.

The turn a 2d.

Lodden bets 3,000. Simon pulls out 3,000 as if to call, but with a, 'sod that' look he moves all-in.

Lodden mucks. Simon up to 16,000. Lodden closes his eyes again, down to 20,000.

Thomas Osmun seems to win more chips each time I pass his table. The US player was contemplating a flop of 2d-6h-Ah as I passed this time. There was was a big pile of chips beside the cards already. A player in a purple shirt had just made a bet.

"I'll see what you've got," Thomas says.

"I'm all-in blind," purple-shirt says.

"I need a count."

The dealer confirms that purple-shirts all-in re-raise is 13,500. Thomas has plenty more than this.

"I call," the PokerStars player drawls.

Cards on their backs and it's A-K for purple-shirt, and A-6 and two pair for Thomas Wexler. The turn and river don't change anything, Thomas counts his stack. At 65,000 he's one of the chipleaders.

Thomas Osmun stacks his chips, watched by Dave Colclough

Around 40 PokerStars players started play on Day 1A, I've tried to track down names and chipcounts of the remaining PokerStars faithful.

4 Finnish players started, and three of these still have chips and hope to 'finnish' the day.

You may remember I mentioned a 'Mystery Finn' who was involved in a hand with Roland de Wolfe? Well I've discovered his name is Mika Erkki Olavi Alanen. And I'm sure I won't forget that name in a hurry. No, I won't forget any of his four names. Mika was left with just 700 chips after losing the hand I mentioned, but he's survived and now holds 4,000.

Playing in a PokerStars shirt, that will eventually be packed and flown on a plane to Finland, we also have Janne Juutilainen on 19,000 chips. And Kalevi Haikola on 9,000.

Janne Juutilainen

French PokerStars player Thierry Passeron has 10,500 chips at the start of level 6. Thierry has managed to qualify for 3 EPTs with his FPP this year. I'd call that some French Power Play.

Thomas Osmun from the quaintly named Wesley Chapel, in Florida has a healthy stack of 38,000 chips. He's sitting on Dave Colclough's left. Thijs Tabak from Holland is on 8,000 chips and also playing at the same table.


Thomas Osmun and Thijs Tabak

Jen Mason, PokerStars qualifier and London poker writer is on 8,000. She's the only female PokerStars player to start today. I don't know much about Peter Gerich from Germany, but I do know he has 12,000 chips.

PokerStars Blogger Simon Young counted out his chips for me, and is probably glad that it's the only stack he has to count on his blogging day off. Simon said he had 15,700.

If you're looking for news of your PokerStars buddy and they're not mentioned here, don't despair, they could still be playing, there are around 90 players left. Tell your friend to wear a PokerStars shirt, it makes them easier to spot. Or else get them to catch me during a break and say 'Hi,' and give me a hand story or two.

Tom Schasfoort had a couple of interesting hands to tell me about. The Dutch player just won a big hand when his A-A got paid off by an all-in player with A-K. The very next hand he found K-K, and ran into still more big hands. (You see, it doesn't only happen online.) Tom was no doubt glad to see another player with Q-Q, but there was yet another player eager to put his chips in the middle - he was holding A-A. Tom thought he was out of this EPT, but a lucky river King kept him in the game. (You see, it doesn't only happen online.) Tom now plays 13,000 chips.


Tom Schasfoort

I was going to tell you about Italian qualifier, Emanuele Musso but just heard he is out. Marcin 'Doli' Doliwa, the captain of the winning Polish World Cup of Poker team is also now out. His team mate Andrej Skawinski is still playing, with around 7,000 chips.

I'd better head back to the tables and count more chips... More news soon.

The player's are now on a dinner break.

From around the end of Level 5, these are approximate chip counts from the tables…

Johnny Lodden 22,000
Mads Andersen 13,000
Henning Granstad 19,000
Ken Lennard 11,000
Jeff Buffenbarger 13,000
Priyan De Mel 11,000
Jen Mason 7,000
Jan Sjavik 5,000
Dave Colclough 9,000
Tony Chessa 24,000
Patrick Bueno 4,500
Gunnar Osterbrod 15,000
Theo Jorgensen 6,800
Thomas Fougeron 9,000
Richard Gryko 8,000
Simon Young 14,500
Jim Kerrigan 15,500
Ramzi Jelassi 20,000
Roland De Wolfe 4,000
Robert Stevenovski 11,000

If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned Noah Boeken, it seems the Team PokerStars player will start tomorrow, not today as I mentioned in my introduction. A lot of 'name' players will appear on Day 1B, perhaps they don't want a free day to explore the city. I can tell them the park here is very nice.

Praz Banzi is not on our chip list as he's out. Lucky guy now has time for a stroll in the park. Hmm...

At a lively table in the corner of the room sit Johnny Lodden, Henning Grandstad, Mads Anderson and Ken Lennard.

Johnny Lodden looked comfortable with around 30,000 chips, and on his left Henning Granstad seemed chipper too, chipped up to around the same mark.

A raise and re-raise preflop, then Lodden and Henning see a flop of J-Q-4. Then suddenly these players with a lot of chips -and a lot of play- get busy flinging chips in the middle. Perhaps it's because thet have more than most to play with, the average stack being about 13k?

The turn's an Ace, and the pot gets bigger still. Neither player seems much concerned. The river is a two, and as if both players realise how involved are in this hand they suddenly both check.

Henning shows A-K. Lodden smiles, and laughs, "Jacks!"

The table waits to see his cards, looking at the Jack on the flop and expecting him to show a J-J pocket pair, and claim the pot with a set. Johnny mucks.

He laughs again, 'Just a Jack.'

One of 'those' kind of poker hands, between players who'll throw their chips around with not so much. And Lodden was ahead when chips went in on the flop. Henning was optimistic in sticking it out for the Ace turn.

I couldn't tell you who played that bad or good. I can tell you Lodden lost 15,000 chips, but was still smiling about it afterwards.

Johnny Lodden

On the button Andy Black makes it 600. The player in the small blind calls.

J-3-2 on the flop.

SB player checks. Andy bets, making it 600 again.

SB player raises another 2000.

Andy Black calls, about half his stack invested in this hand.

The turn's a 7. The SB quickly moves all-in. Andy calls straight away.

It's been a day of spur of the moment decisions for Andy Black. He flew here to play when he woke up at dawn and couldn't sleep. He might just regret that decision now. It was A-A for the SB player, and 10-10 for Andy, who didn't improve. I wonder whether he'll make this a day trip to Warsaw, and head straight back to Dublin and an early night?

We're on level 4 now, with blinds 100 200 and the average chips 11,623. There are 136 players still playing.

Sverre Sundbo is now out, last I heard the Norwegian had a fever. He hasn't been having a good week in Poland, getting arrested, getting ill, and now getting it all in with his 88 against Andreas Hoivold's AK. It's been a better week for Andreas winning €.672,000 in EPT Dortmund just a few days ago.

Here's a few approximate chipcounts:

Roland de Wolfe 8,000
Simon Young 16,000
Ramzi Jelassi 24,000
Johnny Lodden 21,000
Andreas Hoivold 10,000
Thomas Fougeron 13,000
Jen Mason 14,000
Martin Wendt 12,000
Christoffe Stahle 8,000
Praz Bansi 11,000
Andy Black 6,000

Dave Colclough: 8,000


Richard Gryko: 4,500

A big hand at Roland de Wolfe's table. Some raising preflop, Roland, Kaspar Nielsen and a Finnish PokerStars qualifier see a flop. It's A-6-5. The turn an 8. Then the betting gets fiery. Roland passes his J-J. Turn an 8. More betting, and mystery Finn ends up all-in. Kaspar shows A-A for top set. The Finn, A-K. And he's down to just 600. And it's looking likely he'll be out before I need to find his name... Kaspar Nielsen wins a 18,000 pot, a big pot for a big hand.

Roland and the Mystery Finn

Swedes are not just good at poker it seems... Andy Black was discussing the skills of the Swedish Masseur who was rubbing his back. It was Andy's big blind and Praz Bansi raised. Maybe he was worried Andy wouldn't notice?

"Someone raised, I don't know who?" Praz said.

"Well I have to call," Andy said, "Any two cards, I won't look."

"Well it's two times in a row," Praz said.

Andy checked before the flop was dealt. He still hadn't looked.

The flop 10d-7h-5d. Both players check.

The turn 2h.

Praz bets. Andy looks at his cards now, and calls.

The river 5d.

Praz bets 1700. Andy's still getting a massage, but doesn't look so relaxed now.

Praz shows Ac-Tc. Andy mucks.

"Why didn't you just fold?" Praz rubs it in.

"I know." The masseur rubs harder, doesn't look like Andy's enjoying her skills.

Andy Black now on 7,000 Praz has around 15,000. We're on a short break at the end of level 2.

Andy Black, up at 4am to fly here. (And feeling the effects?)

Play has begun and 9 levels will be played tonight. Player's start with 10,000 chips, blinds are 25 50.

There are a few interesting tables. Blogger Simon Young is sitting at the kind of table he'd usually like to write about. Andy Black, Praz Banzi and Ramzi Jelassi. Maybe not the kind of table he'd want to play at...

Andy Black seems lively as ever, despite his 4am start this morning. He told Roland de Wolfe, 'You're a big girls blouse!' As Roland made a grab for Andy's chips, Andy told him, 'You're too fat to make a move like that!'

So far it's all table talk with those two, not many chips either won or lost.

I only discovered Roland was playing when I picked up his passport on the casino stairs. He'd dropped it. I hope he's not as careless with his chips today.

Another table I'll be watching contains PokerStars World Cup of Poker winner Andrej Skawinski, Johnny Lodden, Jan Sorensen and Henri Boutboul.

Karl Mahrenholz, Martin Wendt, Sverre Sondbo and Dortmund winner Andreas Hoivold also share a table. I took a few pictures of Sverre but none of them came out quite right - and I know a fair few ladies in PokerStars Staff here are eager for photo journalism about this Norwegian player. I'll try to oblige...

Simon the blogger, and Praz Bansi


Roland de Wolfe

The Polish Open is about to begin here at the Hyatt Regency Casino. Play taking place in a smallish basement room, it looks likely that all 300 EPT seats will be filled - so it'll be cosy down there. The players paying 15,000 zloty a seat.

It's the usual format for an EPT with half the players starting on today's Day 1A and the remainder playing on Thursday's for 1B. It's a 4 day tournament, which means Saturday is the exciting final day.

Johnny Lodden takes his seat
Notable player's starting today are Martin Wendt, Johnny Lodden, Richard Gryko, Andreas Hoivold, Tony Chessa, Dave Colclough, Mikael Westerlund, and Jan Sjavik. Andy Black is also here, he's a late buy in, having woken up at 4am this morning he wondered, 'What can I do today?' He decided to play EPT poker, hopped on a plane from Dublin to make it here to Warsaw just in time to register.

Team PokerStars will be represented at this event by Noah 'Exclusive' Boeken, Betrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, Luca Pagano, and Katja Thater. Noah the only one of the team starting today.

Sverre Sundbo also plays in a PokerStars shirt. He's likely to have been the only player considering a jail break to get to the casino. Yesterday Sverre tried hailing a taxi, intending to go see Warsaw, and apparently the police decided this was suspicious behaviour and arrested him for begging. When they discovered his pockets stuffed with cash they had a rethink. His, 'But I'm a poker player!' explanation didn't convince them. I guess Polish Police don't play regularly in the 50 100 Zloty No Limit game here? After some time in the cells they decided to believe Sverre's story and let him go. Maybe he regaled them with hand stories for an hour and this convinced them?

Another player I'll be watching out for today is regular EPT blogger Simon 'Suffolk Punch' Young. Simon's taking a holiday from writing about the EPT to play. He's hoping to be the one taking home a suitcase of cash, rather than taking a photo of it to upload to this blog. He told me if he wins he'll log in to write a final post. A simple one. The text will be, 'I won!'

I expect a good showing from the homegrown players at this event. Well, Poland are obviously he best poker nation in the world..! The Poland Team are reigning Champions of PokerStars World Cup of Poker. Captain 'Doli' Marcin Doliwa and Andrej Skawinski will play in this EPT. I'll be watching out for both these players.

Team PokerStars ElkY, with his eye on the prize...
As usual on these occassions we're a little late getting going. Play was scheduled to start at 2pm, but at 20 minutes later players are still taking their seats. The internet connection here is a little erratic, but I'll keep you updated as best I can. More news from Warsaw, just as soon as play gets underway...

The Warsaw Streets, rebuilt after the devastation of World War II may be
mainly grey, uninspiring blocks, but the sun was shining today, and Andrez,
my friendly taxi driver, was happy to point out the parks and statues that
gave the city character.

I told him that I was here for PokerStars blog, that I'd come to Warsaw for
the Polish Open, the first EPT to be staged in this country. Andrez, didn't seem much interested in the poker. His English wasn't great and I wasn't sure he even knew the word. My gestured description of the game with imaginary all-in bets, wasn't doing a great job of explaining it to him.

The cab driver wasn't interested in this EPT first, yet another kind of
history excited him. He told me, 'the first park in Poland' was just around
the corner from my hotel. He said he'd give me a map, and at each red light
the car would stop and he'd draw the route I should take to reach this park.
He held up the traffic a few times. He seemed happy when he'd dotted and
crossed the map with each part of Warsaw I should see.

The Royal Park of Lazienki, just around the corner from the Hyatt Regency Casino

The Regency Hyatt isn't a historic place, it's a smart modern building,
with a buzz about it today. Poker players gathered beneath EPT banners to
discuss who was playing in the game, or asking, 'Are you 1A or B?' Not many
had yet had chance to see any sights. I guess they hoped they'd be playing
and wouldn't have free time to see much of the city at all.

Less than a week ago a record number of players had gathered in a casino in a forest in Dortmund to play EPT poker. I imagine flights between Dortmund
and Warsaw were busy this week, with many of those who'd missed out on a
prize in Germany eager to have another go in Poland. They might eat pierogi not bratwurst in the break, pay Zloty not Euro for the buy in, but they'd get chips and cards, and another chance to satisfy a hunger for a win. Victory feels good in any currency.


The Welcome Party
PokerStars hosted a champagne and canape welcome party tonight. Amongst the guests was EPT Dortmund winner Andreas Hoivold . Two EPT wins in a row would be quite some first for EPT history, if he could pull it off.

As this is the first Polish EPT, I thought I'd share a few more firsts from
Polish history.

-- Jan Heweliusz was a seventeenth century Polish astronomer, he produced the first accurate maps of the surface of the moon.

-- Karol Wojtyla was the first non-Italian pope for 500 years, he became John
Paul II in 1978. Perhaps to avoid becoming the first Pope with a girl's name?


King Boleslaw the Brave
-- The first Polish king was King Boleslaw I, he was crowned in 1025. Legend tells of his legendary sword that smight cabbage, he buried the chopped up foe in mayonnaise, and a tasty salad dish was born. His fallen enemy tasted so good, he named his firstborn Prince Coleslaw I...

Ok, I made that up...

Let's forget Polish history, and cabbage based salads. Tomorrow, I promise there'll be plenty of facts to talk about, and poker stories to share. If there's fanciful nonsense it'll be the usual EPT kind, with crazy outdraws, big hands, and audacious bluffs.

Coverage starts at 2pm local time, from this first ever Polish EPT, where every player hopes to finish first place. To find out who makes poker history in Poland just check out this blog.

First anniversaries are a big deal. Whether it's marriage or a business, making it through the first year is a decent indication of future success. A few weeks ago, I heard rumblings that PokerStars was ready to celebrate the first anniversary of its already successful Sunday Million tournament. Over the past year, I've watched the final table of almost every one of the Sunday Million events and it's rare that I'm not amazed. As the anniversary drew closer, I chatted up Lee Jones, the other man who has seen almost every one of the final tables. We did a little interview and I posted it here: Lee Jones on the Sunday Million anniversary.

It had already been quite a year for the Sunday Million. In the past 52 weeks, PokerStars had paid out more than $64 million in prize money. The Sunday Million had quickly established itself as three times bigger than any other ongoing poker tournament.

When PokerStars announced it was going to guarantee $1.5 million for the event, I thought privately, "That's a good number." I'm not sure what I meant, but $1.5 felt like a comfortable number and I expected the event to be pretty cool. Then, PokerStars announced it was going to host a tournament of champions for all the winners of previous Sunday Millions. Again, I thought, "Man, that's pretty cool."

I had no idea how cool Sunday would be.

The Tournament of Champions kicked off first. The list of names in the event was more than familiar. I've written about every one of them over the course of the past year, and met several of the players at live events. By the time the event was over, five of the previous Sunday Million champions had once again added to their bankroll, courtesy of the TOC freeroll. First prize was a coveted trip to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final.

During the 2006 WSOP, I happened to almost literally run into an imposing man in a Sooners jersey. It didn't take a great deal of effort to discover he was the same Sooners that had won one of the PokerStars Sunday Million events. By the end of the Sunday Million TOC, Sooners was again on top. I expect you'll be seeing him on the blog again when we report live from Monte Carlo at the end of this month. Here are the people who finished in the money in the Sunday Million Tournament of Champions.

PokerStars Sunday Million Tournament of Champions Results

1. Sooners (United States) EPT Grand Final entry
2. tiger76 (United States) $4,000.00
3. CZuke39 (United States) $3,000.00
4. dim--tix (United States) $2,000.00
5. westmenloAA (United States) $1,000.00

Midway through the afternoon, I noticed the Sunday Million Anniversary event was starting to get heavy on registration. As 4pm passed and the event was drawing toward its start, I started to get a feeling that we were about to see some serious records broken.

Again, I had no idea.

PokerStars kicked off registration by paying for the buy-ins of the fifty players who played the most Sunday Million events in the past year. Other than that, PokerStars simply guaranteed the $1.5 million, sat back, and watched the tournament start breaking records.

By the time registration closed at 4:30pm ET on Sunday, more than 10,500 people had signed up to compete in the biggest (in terms of the number of participants) real money poker tournament in history. The prize pool was a massive $2,101,600. More than 1,300 people stood to walk away with at least some cash. First prize rested at an amazing $271,106.

Over the course of the night, I kept tabs on the tournament. It seemed like every time I browsed through the top 50 players, I kept seeing the name "Zeddor." So, it was little surprise to find the same player sitting at the final table. Like most of the Sunday Million final nine, the Anniversary event was an international one, this time featuring players from Denmark, the U.K., and the United States.

Of all the stories that could've come out of the final table, gambforlife likely had the most interesting (and most pressing). He revealed that within a few hours of standing up from his computer, his was taking his wife to the hospital to have a baby boy. No doubt, whatever he won at the final table was going to help with what every parent knows are insane diaper bills.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, the players battled down to the final five. Those players, seemingly quite aware of the huge amount of money at stake, decided to cut a deal and lock up their profits. Every one of the final five nailed down six-figure paydays.

And, again, no surprise...Zeddor ended up taking first place.

"The Sunday Million has become an online institution for millions of poker player around the world," said Lee Jones, PokerStars Poker Room Manager. "This is an incredible milestone for poker, for the Internet, and for one very skilled player from Denmark. I wish him all the luck in the world."

Here's how the final nine cashed out.

PokerStars Sunday Million Anniversary Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and a five-way deal that left $30,000 for first place

1. Zeddor (Denmark) $131,971.74
2. nickym998 (United Kingdom) $160,949.52
3. gambforlife (United States) $119,209.08
4. Othimua (United States) $103,142.40
5. francky2011 $102,177.33
6. xxallthenutz (Canada) $36,778.00
7. EZCash1 (United States) $25,219.20
8. wsu79 (United States) $17,863.60
9. pbdrunks (United States) $12,189.28

Indeed, first anniversaries are a special thing. If they are, in fact, an indicator of future success, it looks like the PokerStars Sunday Million has a happy future ahead.

We'll see everybody next Sunday.

It was an anniversary celebration like no one could've expected. More than 10,500 players showed up to celebrate the anniversary of the Sunday Million and compete for a prize pool that eclipsed $2 million. The top five players in the event walked away with six-figure paydays. Final table results are below. Also, congratulations to Sooners who won the Sunday Million Tournament of Champions event and will be headed to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo!

PokerStars Sunday Million Anniversary Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and a five-way deal that left $30,000 for first place

1. Zeddor (Denmark) $131,971.74
2. nickym998 (United Kingdom) $160,949.52
3. gambforlife (United States) $119,209.08
4. Othimua (United States) $103,142.40
5. francky2011 (France) $102,177.33
6. xxallthenutz (Canada) $36,778.00
7. EZCash1 (United States) $25,219.20
8. wsu79 (United States) $17,863.60
9. pbdrunks (United States) $12,189.28

EPT German Open Champion: Andreas Hoivold
by Simon Young

A record-breaking EPT field of 493, one of the biggest prize pools in Europe, one of the nicest guys to take a title. Andreas Hoivold has lifted the EPT German Open trophy here in Dortmund, Germany, collecting a massive €672,000 - but, boy, did he have to work for it.

The Norwegian, 35, clawed his way through a gruelling seven-hour final table using his undoubted talent and cheeky sense of humour to win many new friends, as well as the cash. The victory is his second big result in recent months, after his third-place finish in the Poker Million in London in December, where he secured $250,000. His decision to turn pro just seven months ago now looks inspired. This victory makes him the second Norwegian to lift an EPT title this season, after Erik-Bjorn Glenne's stunning success in Barcelona.

Eight players sat down at the final table here at the Casino Hohensyburg, just outside Dortmund. The building nestles atop a hill and in the middle of woodland, providing a relaxing and picturesque setting for the players that swarmed here from all over Europe and beyond. Some even came as far from the US, Australia and Japan. Most, however, were from Germany (126), desperate to take the title on home ground.

Of the eight today, just one remained from Germany - PokerStars qualifier Sebastian Ruthenberg from Hamburg. He was down, then up, and then out in third.


8th Place: Thomas Fougeron
And of those eight, one was arguably the success of the tournament, even though he was the one who went out first. Thomas Fougeron, from Lille, France, was down to just 600 chips on his Day 1. All in with 6-6, he thought he was out when his cards were overtaken by the river. But he had 600 left and was called back from his walk to the door. From that little acorn of a stack, he built an oak tree and got this far with 286,000 chips in hand.

His astonishing run came to an end, though, when his all-in bluff was called by PokerStars qualifier Gunnar Rabe, from Sweden. Fougeron, who manages a computer company in France, pushed when the board showed 6-A-8-6. Rabe announced he had no ace but "had to call" with his suited 8-9 for a pair and flush draw. It was a good decision, as the Frenchman flipped over Q-10 for, well, nothing at that stage. The river was a 3 of clubs, bringing the flush, and Fougeron left with €60,300.


7th Place: Nicolas Levi
Only a hand or so later we lost our second player, with Nicolas Levi, also from France, being busted in 7th - also by Rabe. They got in a raising war pre-flop that had only one, inevitable conclusion... all in, call. Levi, 24, who lives in London and is an online pro, had K-Q, but was dominated by Rabe's A-K. Nothing the dealer produced changed the natural order of things, and Levi trousered €85,700.

At this stage Hoivold was one of the also-rans, as Italy's Christiano Blanco and Sebastian Ruthenberg stole the chip-stacking show. But Hoivold came back from the dinner break in cheerful - and chirpy mood, soon more or less doubling up through Blanco when he hit a Q on the turn to make his K-Q a winner.


6th Place: Erik Lindberg
Next to go home was Sweden's Erik Lindberg. The 24-year-old from Stockholm, an online pro, is on a decent live run having finished 11th in the EPT Copenhagen in January. And his sixth place here, for €109,000 will be sweet for his bankroll. It all ended when he re-raised Blanco all in while holding K-J. Blanco had the 6-6, although three spades on the flop - Lindberg's J was a spade, giving him hope for a flush as well as hitting his overs. Nothing came.


5th Place: Jacob Rasmussen
By now Hoivold was getting into his stride, looking and, no doubt, feeling, supremely confident. Denmark's Jacob Rasmussen soon became the eventual winner's next victim. The Norwegian raised to 106,000, saying "six is my lucky number". Rasmussen thought for a good few seconds before announcing he would raise. Quick as a flash, Hoivold asked Lee Jones - calling the final table here - "Can he do that?". With that, Rasmussen pushed all in, called in a flash by Hoivold.

Rasmussen had Q-J, but Hoivold had the K-K. "May the best hand win," he said. And indeed it did when the board came 7-10-3-3-J. Rasmussen, 23, is studying Economy and Law at Odense University, and now has €139,000 to help supplement his meagre student income.


4th Place: Gunnar Rabe
With four left, there was still everything to play for. Blanco's lead had been slashed first by Rabe, then by Hoivold. Rabe then took a huge hit himself, losing a critical pot to Ruthenberg, leaving him exposed. With just a few hundred thousand left, he was in push or fold mode - and he lost one all-in too many. The action was folded around to him on the small blind, and he went with his 2-2. Hoivold, in the big blind, looked at his first card - an ace - and called. His second was a 9.

The flop was 5-5-4, the turn a J. So any 4, J, 9, or A would knock Swedish PokerStars qualifier Rabe out. It came a 9, and he walked the plank, but now has €169,000 to dull any pain.

So then there were three, and Hoivold, Ruthenberg and Blanco were destined to trade chips for a while. Blanco, however, was by far the shorter stack, and could have been forgiven if he had started to work out how to spend €220,000 that came with that position. But, as so often happens, it was the two large stacks who went to war - and Hoivold won it.


3rd Place: Sebastian Ruthenberg
The blond-haired Norwegian, who had a small Mickey Mouse as his card protector, found K-K in the small blind, and raised Ruthenberg's 60,000 big blind to 140,000. The young German called. The flop was 2-3-10 and Hoivold bet out with 200,000 - called. The turn was 9 spades, making two spades on the board. Hoivold bet 500,000, Ruthenberg, with the A-5 spades moved all in with the flush and Gutshot draw, and Hoivold called. The German needed a spade, ace or 4 on the river to win, but it fell 8 clubs.

That huge hit left him with just 100,000 or so behind, forcing him to move all in each hand. It worked once, but no more. Pushing with his 236,000 holding A-3, he was called by Blanco and, not surprisingly Hoivold. The flop came 5-7-5 and was checked, the turn a 6, induced a 200,000 bet from Hoivold. He had the trip nines and did not want Blanco catching a straight on the river. The Italian had no piece of the flop anyway, and folded, leaving Ruthenberg to show his A-3 - the river was a meaningless 8 and Ruthenberg was out with €220,000.


2nd Place: Christiano Blanco
So we were heads up. Hoivold had a massive chip lead, and we expected the kill to be quick. But the manner of its speed - just one hand - did surprise us a bit. That's all it took for Blanco, 26, a football writer from Rome, to push his 400,000 with 9-10 offsuit. Hoivold looked down, saw Q-Q and obviously called. The flop was Q-A-8, giving Hoivold a set, but giving Blanco, who has only been playing for a few years, some hope of a straight if a jack fell. But the turn was another 8 and the river a K.


1st Place: Andreas Hoivold
Blanco took home €380,000 for second, a fantastic effort, but it was Hoivold who took home the cream - €672,000 to be precise.

And after watching his dominant performance, no-one would say he did not deserve it.

Hope you have enjoyed the coverage from Dortmund. Join us in a few days when the circus kicks off again in Warsaw, Poland, for that country's first EPT.

* For a full list of results, stats on player nationalities etc, please visit the official European Poker Tour site HERE.

EPT German Open champion: Andreas Hoivold
by Simon Young

Norway's Andreas Hoivold has beaten Christiano Blanco heads up in the very first hand. The Italian moved all in for his last 400,000 with 9-10 offsuit, instantly called by Hoivold. The Q-Q in his hands explained his quick decision. The flop was Q-A-8, giving Blanco some hope of a straight if a jack fell. But the turn was another 8 and the river a K.

Blanco pockets €380,000 for second, a fantastic effort, but Hoivold takes the cream - €672,000 to be precise.

We'll have a full final table report for you shortly.

Sebastian Ruthenberg has suffered the inevitable exit. He pushed with A-3 for his last 236,000. He was called by Christiano Blanco and, not surprisingly Andreas Hoivold. The flop came 5-7-5 and was checked, the turn a 6, inducing a 200,000 bet from Hoivold. He had the trip nines and did not want Blanco catching a straight on the river. He folded, leaving Ruthenberg to show his A-3 - the river was an 8 and Ruthenberg leaves with €220,000.

Sebastian Ruthenberg has been left virtually crippled chasing a nut flush that never arrived against Andreas Hoivold's K-K. Hoivold raised on the small blind to 140,000, Ruthernberg called. The flop was 2-3-10 and Hoivold bet out with 200,000 - called. The turn was 9 spades, making two spades on the board. Hoivold bet 500,000, Ruthenberg, with the A-5 spades moved all in, and Hoivold called. The German needed a spade, ace or 4 on the river to win, but it fell 8 clubs. He is down to just 100,000 or so, and now pushing each hand.

Gunnar Rabe has been eliminated in fourth place by Andreas Hoivold. Down on chips - at just 400,000 - he pushed in a battle of the blinds with 2-2. Hoivold looked at one card and found it was an ace. Call. He saw the 2-2, turned over his second card. A 9.

The flop was 5-5-4, the turn a J. So any 4, J, 9, or A would knock Swedish PokerStars quaifier Rabe out. It came a 9, and he walks the plank, but now has €169,000 to dull any pain. Blinds are now up to 30,000-60,000, with 6,000 ante. The title is getting close for either Hoivold, Sebastian Ruthenberg, or Christiano Blanco.

Sebastian Ruthenberg has come from nowhere to take the lead in his home EPT in Germany. After winning an earlier big race with Andreas Hoivold, he then took a huge pot off Gunnar Rabe.

On a board showing A-4-10-8-5 with FOUR spades, Ruthenberg, a PokerStars frequent player point qualifier, had a set of eights (no spades) and Rabe Q-10 for a pair (no spades). Somewhere along the line, the pot had grown to about 2.5 million. Rabe is now the short-stack on about 400,000, Christiano Blanco is on 800,000.

by Simon Young

The four remaining players are now on a short break. Leader right now is PokerStars qualifier Gunnar Rabe, from Sweden, with 2,146,000. Second is table talker Andreas Hoivold with 1,361,000, followed by Christiano Blanco on 1,082,000 and Germany's hope Sebastian Ruthenberg on 457,000.

EDIT: Straight after the break, Sebastian Ruthenberg doubles through with J-J against Andreas Hoivold's K-Q.

Jacob Rasmussen is our fifth place finisher, falling for more speech play from Andreas Hoivold. The Norwegian raised to 106,000, saying "six is my lucky number". Rasmussen thought for a good few seconds before announcing he would raise. Quick as a flash, Hoivold asked Lee Jones - calling the final table here - "Can he do that?". With that, Rasmussen pushed all in, called in a flash by Hoivold.

Rasmussen had Q-J, but Hoivold had the K-K. "May the best hand win," he said. And indeed it did when the board came 7-10-3-3-J. As Rasmussen sloped off to collect his €139,000, Hoivold explained to the table: "I tried to play it strong so he thought I was weak - and it worked.

He has now soared past the million chip mark, and is looking a real threat.

Latest approximate chip counts:
Gunnar Rabe 2,000,000
Andreas Hoivold 1,700,000
Christiano Blanco 1,100,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg 400,000.

Erik Lindberg has been busted in sixth place, a victim of Christiano Blanco. Blanco raised pre-flop, Lindberg moved all in with his remaining 260,000, and Blanco, after some deliberation, called. He showed 6-6 to Lindberg's K-J.

The flop was A-9-5, all spades, giving the Swede a flush draw with his J spades. But the turn and river failed to drop a K, J or spade, and he was putting on coat and collecting €109,000 for his efforts in Dortmund. Blanco, meanwhile, eases slightly more ahead in the chip lead.

Blinds have gone up to 20,000-40,000, with 4,000 running ante.

Table comic: Andreas Hoivold
by Simon Young

The remaining six players are back from their dinner break - and Andreas Hoivold is in jolly mood. The table's short-stack, he moved all in three times in the first four hands. Not once was he called. "Well it works everytime - until the last one," he said.

The Norwegian has also stepped up his speech play as he seeks that elusive double up to get him back within reach of the summit.

Although not a double up, he did just win a huge 400,000 pot against Christiano Blanco. He bet out on the flop of 5-5-4, matched by Blanco. "Good call," says Hoivold. The turn was a Q, checked by both. The 8 river caused a 120,000 bet from Blanco, which Hoivold called, saying: "I really hope you do not have something." The Italian had nothing but ace high, so Hoivold's K-Q won the day. He's feeling a little more comfortable now.

Blinds are now back up to 15,000-30,000 with 3,000 ante after they were wound back a level when the final table started.

Latest chip counts:

Christiano Blanco: 1,340,000
Gunnar Rabe: 1,320,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg: 780,000
Andreas Hoivold: 620,000
Jacob Ramussen: 660,000
Erik Lindberg: 415,000.

New man at the top: Gunnar Rabe
by Simon Young

PokerStars qualifier Gunnar Rabe from Sweden is the new chip leader after busting two players in quick succession. For more than an hour, chips had passed around the final table with no-one seemingly willing to make that brave, last stand. That is until France's Thomas Fougeron fell in eighth, and soon after Nicolas Levi in seventh.

First Fougeron, from France, re-raised all in when the board showed 6-A-8-6. Rabe announced he had no ace but "had to call" with his suited 8-9 for a pair and flush draw. It was a good decision, as Fougeron flipped over Q-10 for, well, nothing at that stage. The river was a 3 of clubs, bringing the flush, and Fougeron left with €60,300.

Next out - and also at the hands of Rabe - was fellow Frenchman Levi. The pair got into a bit of a raising squabble, resulting in the inevitable all in and call. Levi? K-Q, dominated as it turned out by Rabe's A-K. Levi left with €85,700.

Earlier Rabe had added nicely to his stack with 7-7, after calling a bluff all in from Andreas Hoivold with the questionable 8-6 suited.

New chip counts:
Gunnar Rabe: 1,698,000
Christiano Blanco: 1,375,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg: 632,000
Jacob Rasmussen: 608,000
Erik Lindberg: 430,000
Andreas Hoivold: 302,000

* Don't forget our innovative live webcast of the final table is on right now. Visit EPTLive.com

Final table chip leader: Christiano Blanco
Here are the chip counts as the players prepare to sit down at the final table:

1 Christiano Blanco, 26, Rome, Italy: 1,258,000
TV football journalist Christiano has only been playing a couple of years - mainly online and in home games with friends. This is the biggest tournament he's been in and he's delighted to have made the final table. Although mad about football - he
says he will travel anywhere for an AC Roma match - he reckons it's poker that's going to make him rich. He said: "In poker, I am a marathon runner, rather than a sprinter. It is the person who folds well who is the best."


Andreas Hoivold
2 Andreas Hoivold, 35, Norway: 750,000
Hoivold's decision to turn pro seven months ago has proved a pretty good move. In December, he banked $250,000 after coming 3rd in the Poker Million and he is now on the final table in Dortmund, assured of at least €60,300. He also won €24,000 last May after winning the Tallin Challenge Cup in Estonia. Andreas used to have the largest comic book collection in Norway and is known as the "Cartoon Collector" - but he recently sold the lot to concentrate on his poker career. His card marker is a Mickey Mouse.


Sebastian Ruthenberg
3 Sebastian Ruthenberg, 23, Hamburg, Germany (PokerStars qualifier): 717,000
Known as "Luckbox", Sebastian is a big online player and qualified for this event in a PokerStars Frequent Player Point satellite. Now a professional and well-known in Germany, he's been playing about three years. His biggest win so far was 50k in an invitational tournament. Online, he plays both tourneys and cash games.

4 Gunnar Rabe, 53, Vasteras, Sweden (PokerStars qualifier): 651,000
PokerStars qualifier Gunnar runs an engineering company in his home town and this is only his second ever live tournament. The first was last July's WSOP when he qualified online with PokerStars and came 287th for around $39,000. He is wearing the same PS cap now to bring him luck. He has been playing about three years, almost exclusively in online tournaments. He is married with two children.


Erik Lindberg
5 Erik Lindberg, 24, Stockholm, Sweden: 617,000
Erik started playing poker five years ago and turned pro soon after. He focuses mainly on 25/50 online Pot Limit Omaha cash games but has been to three EPTs - and the World Series three years running. Making today's final table is his biggest success to date, but he also came 11th at the EPT3 Copenhagen in January to win €24,000.


Nicolas Levi
6 Nicolas Levi, 24, France: 467,000
Originally from Paris, Nicolas now lives in London and is an online pro - known as "Croque Monsieur" as well as being a familiar figure in the card rooms. He studied computer sciences at Norwich University before turning pro. Although he went deep in a number of tournaments in 2006, including 7th in the Caribbean Classic $6,000 event, he has yet to trouble the cashiers at an EPT. He writes up his poker performances on his blog: teamrobusto.com


Thomas Fougeron
7 Thomas Fougeron, 32, Lille, France: 286,000
Thomas is a well-known figure on the European poker circuit but still holds down a day job as the manager of a computer services company. His biggest tournament wins recently were two cashes in last season's EPTs in Deauville and Barcelona. Thomas travels the EPT circuit with his great friend, poker champion Pascal Perrault. He is an "ultra" supporter of the Olympique Marseille, Tony Cascarino's old team.


Jacob Rasmussen
8 Jacob Rasmussen, 23, Denmark: 265,000
This is Jacob's second big tournament and he is doing even better than in his last one - January's EPT in Copenhagen where he won €7,424 after coming 27th. Known as "Sasuke" in the poker community, he has been playing around three years, fitting in his online cash games while studying Economy & Law at Odense University. He is being supported here in Dortmund by his girlfriend Jagge.

Missed out: Christoph Steihler
by Simon Young

Christoph Steihler has busted on the final table bubble, out in ninth after pushing with the wrong hand at the wrong time. With the last nine players now re-grouped, and re-drawn on one table, he pushed his remaining 280,000 from mid position with nothing more than 8-6 offsuit.

It was folded around - but only as far as fellow German Sebastian Ruthenberg, who insta called after looking down and finding pocket jacks. Steihler's heart sank when he saw them, but the flop of 6-10-Q gave him some hope. But the turn of another 10, and river 4 sent him spinning away to find the cash desk, where €37,100 was waiting for him.

So we are down to the last eight, and the televised feature table. There we will have Ruthenberg, Andreas Hoivold, Erik Lindberg, Nicolas Levi, Christiano Blanco (chip leader), Thomas Fougeron and Gunnar Rabe, a PokerStars qualifier from Sweden.

While I was busy posting about Michael Muecklisch's downfall, Philip Yeh also busted out. He pushed his remaining chips with K-10 suited, and Norway's Andreas Hoivold made what may be described as a speculative call with A-6. The ace-high held up, and Yeh from Sweden, who was second in chips at the start of the day, leaves with €37,100 in his back pocket (probably not literally, but you never know, he may have a large back pocket.)

It's still been a good 12 months for the Swede - last summer he came fifth in the WPT Paris event, winning $172,000.

Tenth place: Philip Yeh

Busted: Michael Muecklisch
by Simon Young

The blogger's curse has struck again. My tip to take the EPT Dortmund title, Germany's Michael Muecklisch, has been busted in 11th place, sending Italy's Christiano Blanco into the chip lead.

It was Ruthenberg who actually killed him off, but the damage was done the hand before. Muecklisch and Blanco saw a flop of 4-2-7. Check, check, but the turn was another 2, bringing a second heart. Muecklisch bet out with 110,000, called by Blanco, and the river was a third heart but also a second 7. Blanco bet, Muecklisch raised all in, Blanco called. Who had the full house? Neither - Muecklisch showed the the jack-high flush (J-8) but Blanco had the king-high flush, holding the K-6 hearts.

After the count, Muecklisch was left with just 20,000 - and as expected put them all in next hand with Q-3. He was met by Rutheberg's A-K suited. A Q on the flop gave him a glimmer of hope, but Ruthenberg hit runner, runner flush to take him down. Muecklisch leaves with €27,800.


Feeling at home: Sebastian Ruthenberg

Unlucky 13th: Johnny Lodden
by Simon Young

Johnny Lodden must wait a while longer for his first big live tournament win - he has just been busted in 13th place by Sweden's Erik Lindberg.

Under the gun, Nicolas Levi raised up to 60,000. Quick as a flash, Lodden, from Norway, moved his 210,000 stack all in holding 6-6. Just as quick, however, Lindberg called on his left with A-K. The original raise from Levi did not look like such a good move now, and he folded.

So it was a straight race. The flop? 5-3-A, leaving Lodden in desperate hope of a 6 to save his tournament life. The turn was 3, and river 4, and the man who lead after Day 1A was walking crestfallen to the exit with €20,900. Lindberg is up to more than 600,000.

Just a few hands later we lost Vincent Sokalski from Pennsylvania. Down to his last 140,000 or so, he re-raised all in on the button with A-10 to Jacob Rasmussen's 60,000 raise from the cut-off. Rasmussen had A-Q suited, and Sokalski needed a small miracle. It didn't come - the flop K-5-6 with two spades also gave Rasmussen the flush draw. The turn was a rag and the river 7 of spades for the Dane's nut flush.

Sokalski leaves in 12th place with €27,800 to take back to school.

Money, money, money: the cash awaits
by Simon Young

It's Sunday in Germany and the world and his wife appear to have come out of the house for a healthy walk. Hohensyburg, home to our casino for this EPT Dortmund event, is crawling with people out for a stroll in the beautiful rolling hills and forests. Even their kids have joined in. And to add to the atmosphere, about 200 bikers have roared up for a ride-out, too.

No chance for such relaxtion for 13 poker players today, as they have the serious matter of winning an EPT event to worry about, complete with its first prize of €672,000. Even the first to be busted today is guaranteed €20,900.

We have four PokerStars qualifiers remaining: Sebastian Ruthenberg and Michael Muecklisch from Germany, Gunnar Rabe from Sweden, and Vincent Sokalski from the US. He's from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is about to graduate in engineering. Handy, as he certainly knows how to build a big stack.

Joining them are several big guns - including Norway's Johnny Lodden, Erik Lindberg from Sweden, and France's Thomas Fougeron, who has stunned everyone by coming back from just 600 chips on his Day 1. It's a trick he has done before. At Copenhagen he played a deep-stack sit and go, got a bad beat and was down to just one chip - enough for one ante. He ended up winning that game, so maybe fate will give him his chance here.

Play is due to begin at 3pm local time (9am US Eastern time). We will play down to eight, when the final table will begin. Blinds will start at 10,000-20,000 with a running ante of 2,000.

Don't forget we have our unique live webcast of the final table action, due to start at around 5pm local time (11am US Eastern time) at EPTLive.com.

You can see today's starting chips and the cash payouts so far by clicking HERE.

And just to show how little we, the media, know, we have had a book opened on who we think will win. Favourite with three backers is floppy-haired Frenchman Thomas Fougeron - the fact that all three are women may just be a coincidence! For the record, my money is on Michael Muecklisch.

by Simon Young

Play has finished for the day, and 13 players remain for the big push to the final table tomorrow.

Late fallers were Ben Grundy in 16th, pushing with K-3 suited but finding Michael Muecklisch behind him with A-K. Tommy Klurup went in 15th, when his A-10 failed to improve against Nicolas Levi's pocket sixes, and finally PokerStars qualifier Jesper Witved departed in 14th when his J-Q push ran into Chris Steihler's Monster A-A.

So the remainder all have a chance for the title of EPT Dortmund champion, in the knowledge they will have won against the biggest field (493) an EPT has seen. Among them German PokerStars qualifiers Sebastian Ruthenberg and Muecklisch, Johnny Lodden from Norway, who has safely navigated through the day which he started as chip leader, and France's Thomas Fougeron, who was amazingly down to just 600 chips at one stage yesterday. Infact, he thought he had been busted, but was called back to the table when he made a runner, runner flush!

Make sure you check back here tomorrow for all the final day action - and to see who has won the bumpper €672,000 first prize.

And to see who has cashed so far, please click HERE.

Goodnight!

Leading man: Sebastian Ruthenberg
by Simon Young

We are now down to two tables - and will play the remaining 30 minutes of this level before stopping for the evening. The survivors will then return tomorrow to fight for a place on the eight-man final table.

Leading the way is home favourite Sebastian Ruthenberg on 702,000, but not far behind is Jacob Rasmussen from Denmark with 680,000. There's than a gap until third placed runner Philip Yeh of Sweden with 493,000.

The latest casualty was Britain's Ben "Milky Bar Kid" Grundy, out in 16th, who was busted by PokerStars qualifier Michael Muecklisch, who now has approaching 500,000.

by Simon Young

Apologies for the slight updating delay - I've been doing a stint commentating on the live webcast of our feature table here in Dortmund - if you have not had a look at this innovative broadcast, then visit EPTLive.com

We are now down to just 18 players on three tables. On Level 18, blinds are up to 6,000-12,000 with a running ante of 100, while the average stack is a substantial 245,000.

Big stacks seem to be headed at the moment by Sebastian Ruthenberg, a German PokerStars player. Still in the hunt - Johnny Lodden, Gunnar Rabe, and Philip Yeh.

Out, though, is Norway's Andreas Hagen. He got all in with A-J against German PokerStars qualifier Michael Muecklish holding K-10. A K on the turn did the terminal damage.

Fighting back: Johnny Lodden
by Simon Young

As predicted, after a tight period up to the bubble there appears to have been a head-long rush to the exit - or the bar, at least. We are now down to 38 players, meaning we lost ten in just half an hour.

Those we have lost since the money kicked in include Sverre Sundbo of Norway, PokerStars Spanish qualifiers Pablo Rua and Jose-Luis Navarro, and Jim Kerrigan.

Navarro was particularly unlucky. England's Ben Grundy moved all in with just 7-5 off suit, called by the Spaniard with A-10. Flop had both the ace and a 5, the turn was a blank but the river was a 7, crippling Navarro, and Grundy spinning upwards. With just a few chips left, the Spaniard was out soon after.

We have a host of big stacks, but no one is racing away with the lead. The blinds have just gone up to 5,000-10,000 with 1,000 ante, and those fighting for the top include Johnny Lodden, the Norwegian who started the day as chip leader, then fell away again. He has 270,000.

Other big stacks: Andreas Hagen, Norway, 230,000, Dirk Specht 269,000, Philip Yeh from Sweden on 280,000.

For a full list of the prize payouts - and who has so far cashed - click HERE.

Bubble boy: Hiroshi Shimamura
The bubble has burst! The unfortunate man to leave empty-handed was Hiroshi Shimamura from Japan. Down to his last 40,000, he pushed with 4-4, but was called by 10-10. He had travelled here with his friend Masaaki Kagawa to be the first Japanese players to take part in an EPT event. While it's unlucky for Hiroshi, Masaaki is still going strong.

Soon after Christer Johansson, of Sweden exited, pocketing €5,800 for his two days' work. Markus Schlepphorst also bit the dust in 47th for the same amount of cash.

But first to bust after the bubble was Norway's Sverre Sundbo. The PokerStars player had been crippled shortly before, then pushed with 8-9 suited but found a willing caller with 10-10. He may have been disappointed, but this was a player down to his last 525 chips at one stage yesterday.

The action will speed up now as the short-stacks, now safely in the money, put their gambling hats on.

We are on the bubble here at the EPT Dortmund - and have been for some time. No one wants to be busted in 49th place, the last before the money positions kick in. It's making for gripping stuff. Who will be brave enough to make a stand?

EDIT, 25 minutes later: We are STILL on the bubble, despite some all-in action (five times), the short-stack has survived each time. One had to walk out of the room covering his ears because he could not bring himself to watch. He came back in to find he had doubled up!

EDIT No 2: PokerStars frequent player point qualifier Jesper Witved has just survived the bubble - thanks to the river. Short-stacked, the Dane who runs a restaurant in Morocco, pushed with A-J and was called by Phillip Yeh with K-8. The flop was K-9-Q racing Yeh into the lead. Turn, 9, leaving only a 10 or Ace to save Witved. The river was the 10, filling up his straight.

Rising sum: Masaaki Kagawa
by Simon Young

Japan's Masaaki Kagawa has joined his friend and fellow countryman Hiroshi Shimamura in rising through the ranks after starting today on a modest 20,000. Massaki had silently been creeping up without a fuss - and then doubled up dramatically. He found himself all in with A-10 v 7-7, and the 10 fell on the flop to send him soaring.

Not so much luck for Spanish lawyer Pablo Rua, outdrawn by fellow PokerStars qualifier Michael Muecklisch. He lost a 120,000 pot after getting all in when the turn bought a 9 to make his set - but that 9 had also given Muecklisch a flush draw, and river filled him up.


Flushed with success: Michael Muecklisch
Pablo now has to dwell over that hand over the one-hour dinner break. We are down to 54 players spread over seven tables, just six places off the cash payouts, and blinds are about to shoot up to 3,000-6,000 with 300 running ante. His countryman Jose Luis Navarro is hanging in with 30,000. Ben Grundy is steady on 60,000, and Christer Johanssen 52,000.

Meanwhile Mattias Andersson lost a huge pot on the last hand before dinner and is down - but certainly not out, on 140,000 with the room average about 83,000. After some pre-flop raising action, he ended up pushing on the turn of 9 after a J-8-3 flop. Unfortunately for the Swede, his opponent was sitting on J-J all along for the set, and river could change nothing.

Those we have lost include French doctor David Tavernier and Austrian Marcus Golser.

Home favourite: Sebastian Ruthenberg
by Simon Young

PokerStars player Dilba Demirbag is out, after running her A-Q, and remaining 50,000 chips, into big-stack Sebastian Ruthenberg's Q-Q. The board failed to bring the magical ace, and the Swedish singer/songwriter's excellent run in Dortmund is over. German Ruthenberg, another of our qualifiers, is now on nearly 350,000.

Blinds are now starting to get huge - at 2,000-4,000 and 400 running ante - and shorter stacks are making a move. Some 63 players remain, but with the bubble approaching soon, expect play to tighten a little. Recent movers include Johnny Lodden, back up to 120,000 or so, Japan's Hiroshi Shamimura, on 105,000, and Andreas Hagen, up to 240,000.


You're joking: Hiroshi Shamimura and Ben Grundy
Mattias Andersson, from Sweden, is still on about 250,000, but capable of anything at the moment.


Aggressive: Mattias Andersson

The End: Tony Holden
by Simon Young

Tony Holden has written many successful books, most notably his poker journey, Big Deal, but he failed to have the last word today. Arriving with just 17,000 chips, he started to gain hope, approaching 30,000 at one stage, but then slid backwards and is now out.

"I was very low and had been fed up with getting cards like 7-2. I said to myself all I needed was a face card, and when K-2 suited was served up, I pushed. I was hoping both would be live cards - but my opponent had A-K. Typical, but there we go." And there the Brit, representing PokerStars, went. A good run, though.

The remaining 64 players are now on a 15 minute break, trying to squeeze through the crowd that has gathered to witness this, Germany's biggest poker tournament. Survivors include Thang Duc Ngyuen, Sebastian Ruthenberg, now on a huge 340,000, David Tavernier, Pablo Rua and Horishi Shimamura, who has moved quietly on to a menacing 104,000.

Bubble time (49th place) is approaching fast, the time when some dreams are realised, and some hearts are broken.


Thang Duc Nguyen, Marcus Golser and Michael Greco

by Simon Young

The blinds have just gone up to 1,500-3,000 with a 300 running ante, and only 78 players have survived a couple of hours of carnage. Top of the tree still seems to be Mattias Andersson from Sweden, with 230,000.

PokerStars qualifier Sebastian Ruthenberg is up to 190,000 while Jepser Witved, who qualified here in a 400 FPP satellite is up to 55,000.

I warned earlier how Johnny Lodden, overnight chip leader, could blow up early. Well he's still in the hunt, but is down to 50,000, under half his starting stack.

Down but not out: Johnny Lodden
Don't forget EPTlive.com is up and running, showing live streaming of the feature table here in Dortmund. On the table right now is Brit David Barnes. His son Thomas - a good player himself - has let us know he's enjoying watching it all from his home in the UK - seeing his dad pushing his chips around!

Busted: Roland de Wolfe
by Simon Young

Roland de Wolfe is OUT after being crippled with his A-Q v 10-10. The Londoner raised on the button, was re-raised to 10,000 by Ben Wolbers on the big blind - then pushed all in. Call. The flop of 6-K-J gave added outs for EPT and WPT winner de Wolfe, but no furthe help arrived. Shortly after, he pushed with his remaining 10,000 with A-9, but was busted with - ironically - A-Q.

Also gone is Hendon mobster Joe Beevers, choosing a bad time to bluff push with J-7 and getting insta-called by Norway's Andreas Hagen holding K-K. Michael Greco, the British actor who starred in the soap EastEnders, is also gone. He had been holding on grimly for much of yesterday, and finally departed when his Q-Q push was smashed by A-A.

Author of the Big Deal, Anthony Holden, is here with PokerStars and surviving on 17,000.

We now have the prizes our remaining 90 runners are fighting for - and well worth winning they are, too:

1st €672,000
2nd €380,000
3rd €220,000
4th €169,000
5th €139,000
6th €109,000
7th €85,700
8th €60,300.

The cash is being paid right down to 48th place, which will be €5,800.

by Simon Young

We are only in to the first hour but already the action is hot. Johnny Lodden, chip leader at the start of the day, has already lost a chunk of chips and is down from 101,000 to 70,000. The person scooping them up was Mattias Andersson, new chip leader with over 140,000.

Andersson is one of those fearless, aggressive players who won't let go of a pot. I watched as he moved all in on a board of 4-K-10-J-Q with three clubs to knock his opponent off another huge pot. Did Andersson have the flush, or the ace-high straight? Nope, he flashed a pair of pocket fives to the bewildered table.

PokerStars qualifier Mika Paasonen, from Finland has won a big early pot to move up to 105,000, and a special mention for PokerStars frequent player point qualifier (only 400 FPPs, at that) Jesper Witved, who has just doubled through. He had K-J diamonds on a flop of 5-8-K with two diamonds and got all in with the other player holding A-10 diamonds for the nut flush draw. Jesper survives.

He is from Denmark, but spends most of his time in Morocco, where he runs a BBQ-style restaurant as well playing an awful lot of online poker. He's cooking on gas right now.

Thang Duc Nguyen
Another PokerStars restaurateur is German Thang Duc Nguyen. He looks to have lost a small chunk of his stack, but is still one of my tips for this title. Having won the EPT in Austria last October, he has impressed with his quiet, assured style.

Sitting to Thang's left is Austria's Marcus Golser, who just folded 3-3 face up to an all-in re-raise. He's down to 38,000 as a result.


Pablo Rua
Elsewhere qualifier Pablo Rua from Spain, has found himself on a tough table, with Britain's WPT and EPT-winnning Roland de Wolfe sitting on his left. No damage yet, and lawyer Pablo continues to be among the chip leaders.

And Danny Ryan, from North Dakota, who has already played through PokerStars at the EPTs in Barcelona and Dublin this season, is sitting behind a nice-looking stack of about 80,000. "Things are looking good," he said.

Not so for husband and wife team Steve Vladar and Xuyen Pham, who have both bitten the dust. Vladar got all in with A-A v Q-Q, but was crippled by a Q on the flop. He busted within a few hands. Also out is Spanish PokerStars qualifier Carlos Ferron, finally busted when his A-K was trumped by Q-J making a straight on the river.

Meanwhile Sweden's Dilba Demirbag is up to 75,000 after forcing her opponent to pull out of a big pot on the turn, with two clubs showing on the board. Cards of both parties remain unknown.

For a full list of Day Two starting counts, click HERE.

by Simon Young

Great news! You can watch the the feature table here in Dortmund LIVE on your computer! PokerStars has set up a live television stream of the action as it happens at Casino Hohensyburg at EPTlive.com, making it the first-ever major European tournament to be shown live over the internet.

This is a free service, and coverage begins today at approximately 5pm local German time (11am Eastern US time) and the same time tomorrow, depending on tournament progress. There are two broadcasts - one in English, featuring PokerStars' Poker Room Manager Lee Jones as one of the guest analysts - and one in German.

Don't miss this innovative new service, and keep checking back here for in-depth coverage of the tournament.

Catch me if you can: Johnny Lodden
by Simon Young

He has a fearsome reputation as an internet player, but has yet to secure the big live tournament win that his undoubted talent deserves. That could all be about to change for Norway's Johnny Lodden, as he heads into today's Day 2 of the EPT Dortmund as chip leader with 101,400.

Aggressive, fearless, sometimes reckless: all qualities that can propel the pro to dizzy heights, and Lodden has them in spades. He'll be one to keep an eye on, however, for the reckless side of his game can have negative - and often fatal - results in terms of his tournament life.

Today he starts with 118 others, leading the charge for the final table of eight, which we should reach by the end of play. Of those runners, 48 will make the money, getting a return for their €5,000 entry investment in this, the largest field to sit down in EPT history. Many, of course, notably our PokerStars qualifiers, got here for much less, some even winning seats in satellites that cost them just a few of their frequent player points.


Austria EPT winner: Thang Duc Nguyen
Among our 28 remaining PokerStars hopefuls (19 cash satellite qualifier, six frequent player point qualifiers and three sponsored) are German Thang Duc Nguyen, who won the EPT in Austria last October. Living in Germany, where he runs a successful restaurant, he is desperate to add a second EPT crown - his home one - to his bag. He has more than 70,000 chips to throw around and is in good shape. So too is French doctor David Tavernier, runner up in Dublin, who has 39,200. Germany's Michael Mucklisch, a pro player who qualified with us, has 39,000.

Others sponsored by PokerStars for this event are still flying high - Norway's Sverre Sundbo has a handy 62,000 - quite incredible since he was down to 600 at one stage yesterday - and Swedish singer/songwriter Dilba Demirbag has 51,000.


Comeback of the day yesterday: Sverre Sundbo


Dilba Demirbag tells all to your blogger
But looming over Johnny Lodden's shoulder are a host of players just waiting to take over the running. Second in chips is Mattias Andersson with 97,000, third is PokerStars qualifier Danny Ryan, from the US, on 93,000. Big names are not far behind, including Britain's Roland de Wolfe, the only player ever to win a WPT (Paris) and EPT (Dublin) event. He has 76,000. Others in the hunt include Austria's Marcus Golser, Mudassar Khan, Henning Granstad, and another PokerStars qualifier - Spanish laywer Pablo Rua.

Also through to today are both the Japanese players who showed up yesterday, the first from that country to play in an EPT event. Masaaki Kagawa and Hiroshi Shimamura have work to do to move up the leader board, but both have the game to do it.

Full combined chip counts will follow soon.


Hiroshi Shimamura

Casino Hohensyburg
by Simon Young

Day 1B has drawn to a close after a marathon ten one-hour levels. Leading the pack are Norway's Andreas Hoivold and Britain's Paul Gourlay, both with 90,000 or so, but there are a host of big names waiting in the wings not far behind.

Roland De Wolfe (UK), Marcus Golser (Austria), Thang Duc Nguyen (Germany) and David Tavernier (France) to name but a few. Just less than 60 have survived to join the 59 who got through last night. All return tomorrow at 3pm local time for Day 2- and the charge for the money and coveted final table.

Among them will be our two visitors from Japan - Hiroshi Shimamura and Masaaki Kagawa, who was down to the felt a level or two ago before rebuilding to 15,000-ish. Comeback of the day, however, goes to Sverre Sundbo from Norway, representing PokerStars, who was down to just 600 but has clawed his way back up to 40,000.

Team PokerStars' Katja Thater and Noah Boeken fell mid-way through the day, along with a bunch of our qualifiers, including US buddies Noel Garcia and March Swartz, James Broom from Australia and David Gibbs from Britain.

We'll bring you the overnight chip counts, combined with the Day 1A survivors, as soon as we have them. Make sure you come back tomorrow when the action really hots up.

Hungry like de Wolfe
by Simon Young

Roland de Wolfe has been sitting on the same table all day, accumulating 63,000 chips. But now the WPT and EPT winner from London has been told his table is being broken and he's on the move. "Terrible shame," he told me. "Had I stayed on that table for the rest of the night it would have been very difficult NOT to reach 100,000 chips."

With that, he followed me into the press room to find out who his new foes will be - because players have now gone on a break at the end of Level 9 and his new home is empty. When they get back in 15 minutes, the players will pay blinds of 400-800 and running ante of 100.

Just over 100 remain of today's 247 starters. Among the departed are Team PokerStars' Noah Boeken, from Amsterdam, Marc Goodwin, and most recently Magnus Petersson, the Swede who won in Copenhagen, who pushed with A-K suited but was trumped by J-J. A further J on the flop rather rubbed salt into the wounds.

Germany's Sebastain Ruthenburg had dropped back a bit in chips, but has just made the sort of call that can make a championship. On a flop of A-5-4 he re-raised to 10,000 or so, only for his opponent to come back over the top - effectively putting Ruthenburg all in. He went into the tank for a good three minutes before announcing "OK, I call" and moving his stack to the middle.

It was an inspired decision - the other guy had 3-5 for middle pair and gutshot straight draw, while Ruthenburg had J-5 for middle pair, better kicker. He was delighted, and the turn of a Q and harmless river improved his mood further still.

Current chip leader is Norway's Andreas Hoivold, who has accumulated 85,000 chips. Tobias Holmeider has 55,000 alongside Austria's Marcus Golser. And Sverre Sundbo continues his steady climb back to safety, now up to 26,000 from his desperate position of being down to 600.

PokerStars qualifier David Tavernier, who lost to de Wolfe when heads up in last October's Dublin EPT, is proving to be an immovable object and has about 20,000 chips. Hit quad fives just before the current break helped him along nicely. Meanwhile Germany's Thang Duc Nguyen is looking threatening on 50,000.

No way, Jose: Navarro
Jose-Luis Navarro and Pablo Rua make up the third (and possibly last, but who knows?) pair of friends we have uncovered today. Both hail from Spain - and when they met at a tournament there recently, they both realised they had qualified for this EPT event in the same satellite.

Pablo, a lawyer, played yesterday's Day 1A and finished with a lofty 70,000 or so, while Jose Luis is playing today and is staying about average in chips as others fall by the wayside. We have not had many Spanish players, so it's nice to see two doing well together at the same event.


Fancy seeing Rua here: Pablo

by Simon Young

Team PokerStars' Katja Thater is out. She had struggled to find a decent hand all day, and on the promising ones rarely found a positive flop. She joins the rail with Marcel Luske, Ross Boatman and Martin Wendt to name just a few of the 70 or so we have lost so far.

We are now on blinds of 150-300 and the running antes have kicked in at 25, which generally speeds up the action somewhat. Those making a move include Tobias Holmeider on 51,000, German internet sensation Sebastian Ruthenberg on 42,000 and Fabrice Soulier from France on 30,000. Austria's Marcus Golser, the early chip leader, still sits with 42,000 - although he's sitting a little more comfortably thanks to having a massage at the table.

Flying Dutchman derailed: Marcel Luske
Britain's Roland de Wolfe, the only holder of a WPT and EPT title, is heading skywards with 33,000, while Magnus Petersson, winner of the Copenhagen EPT is on 28,000. Another previous EPT winner, Duc Thang Nguyen is also doing well in his home EPT event, with 40,000 chips.

Team PokerStars' newest recruit Noah Boeken has 12,000, while Sverre Sundbo continues his stunning comeback from just 600 - now up to 16,500! "A guy who has hardly played a hand all day suddenly pushes with K-K. I have A-A so.... thank you very much."

Meanwhile, March Swartz, from Arizona is out after his Q-Q was busted by A-K. But it was not an ace or king that did the damage, but a runner, runner flush. "It was a terribly hard way to go out - and very disappointing to have come all this way and end it with a bad beat like that. But it has been a great experience and everyone at PokerStars has looked after us all so well."

His new friend, and fellow PokerStars qualifier Noel Garcia from California is still going strong, up to about 14,000.

On a charge: David Gibbs
Electrical engineer David Gibbs is plugging away here after qualifying in a PokerStars satellite. The Brit has lived in Germany for the past few years, and was delighted to make it through. He's on about 9,000 chips and has been taking it steady so far. "I've had three busted on my table already," he said. "This is a great event, and I plan on sticking around."

by Simon Young

We are used to all nationalities pitching up at EPT events. But I'm struggling to remember a Japanese player sitting down at one of our tables. Until today, that is, when two turned up together.

Hiroshi Shimamura
Hiroshi Shimamura and Masaaki Kagawa may be new to the European scene, but they are no strangers back home, where they both enjoy success. Hiroshi is chairman of Japan's Poker Player's Association, and a pretty good figure head, too. In 2005 he came sixth in the WSOP $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event, collecting more than $50,000, then just last week he pocketed another $15,000 in Goa at the Asian Poker Classic.


Masaaki Kagawa
Masaaki was relatively unknown until coming a superb third in the $100,000 Hold'Em event at the Aussia Millions, winning around $200,000. A few days later he came fifth in the Australian Heads Up Championship for another $6,000. A decent week in Oz, then!

Both look quite at home here in the Dortmund poker cauldron, and sit on about 9,000 chips apiece.

The split dinner-break is over and the field has come back as one again to start level four with blinds at 100-200.

PokerStars Poker Room Manager Lee Jones is like the rest of us. He's a poker player. He's a night person. He's the type of guy who can stay up all night. That said, if he's anything like me, getting up in the morning has to be one of the least pleasant things he can do. Still, he does it at least once a week as the host of the PokerStars Sunday Million.

This weekend, PokerStars is celebrating the one year anniversary of the Sunday Million with a $1.5 million guarantee and a Tournament of Champions. I thought that was as good an excuse as any to chat up Jones about his early mornings with the Sunday Million and what he's seen along the way.

---

PokerStars Blog: So, how do you do it? Caffeine? Toothpicks?

Lee Jones: I think most of your readers realize it, but I've been doing most of the Sunday Million final tables from the Isle of Man, which is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). So that means that I have to get up around 5:30-6:00 AM on a Monday morning to do the final table. Yes, folks, I've handled many of the Sunday Million final tables in pre-dawn darkness, wearing sweats and clutching a cup of coffee to keep me warm and awake.

I need to shout out to my colleagues who have stepped in to work the Sunday Million, both as my backup and to cover for me so I could sleep in on a Monday morning once in a while. Bryan, Jeanne, Jeff, Mike, and Thomas are invaluable.

A big shoutout also to the Costa Rican staff who give me a wake-up call when we're down to 12-13 people. I go to sleep on Sunday night secure that somebody will call me and wake me up when it's time to go to work. Although I must admit that I'm starting to get like the dalmatian at the fire station who jumps on the fire truck before the alarm bell goes off. I find myself just waking up pre-dawn, trudging in to check the tournament, and discovering that we're down to 14-15 players.

PokerStars Blog: Ah, so coffee and Costa Ricans. Got it. You know, I remember a time when the Sunday Million was...well, less that a million.

Lee Jones: Nobody really thought about it like "Hey - maybe we'll be able to offer a $1 million guarantee." Well, Dan Goldman probably did. I just more or less woke up one day and said, "Wow, we can guarantee a million bucks."

PokerStars Blog: And now something has to be very wrong for the prize pool to not be bigger than $1 million...

Lee Jones: I thought we were being pretty aggressive by guaranteeing the million bucks last March. But the players' response has been beyond the call. Somebody on my staff suggested that we might hit 7000 players and I laughed at him. His only mistake was in not making a bet with me.

PokerStars Blog: I always smile when I hear players who plan their entire weekends around the Sunday Million. I know there is at least one person who played every Sunday Million for the past year. Why do you think it's become appointment poker for so many people.

Lee Jones: Two reasons: (1) we're guaranteeing $1 million - you know that you're playing for serious money, and (2) you know that there's a fair chance that
the prize pool will be dramatically bigger than $1 million. If you only get one chance to play poker every week, why not play in he best, most famous weekly tournament in the world, with the chance of winning life-changing money?

That the players show up no matter what. Holidays, sporting events, good weather, bad weather. For instance, last week, PokerStars had a (fortunately extremely rare) crash and had to delay the event an hour. We added $100,000 to the prize pool to say "We're sorry." Immediately the buzz started on the forums... "Oh - PokerStars is afraid they won't make the guarantee... blah blah". Heh. I wish I could have made a prop bet with every one of those people. We had 6672 players - blew the guarantee out by 30% and then put $100,000 on top of it. First prize was over $200K.

PokerStars players are the best, most devoted and loyal players in the world. And the Sunday Million guys are the best of the bunch.

PokerStars Blog: We all have a ringside seat to this event, but you sit closer than anyone else. You oversee the deal-making. You keep control of the table.

Lee Jones: I've been intrigued how some tables would start discussing deals within a few seconds of the final table being set. Other tables, they played right down to a winner without the word "deal" being mentioned.

Of course, there were an amazing array of comebacks, burnouts, and wire-to-wire dominations. Sometimes I'd feel like I could feel that awful four-out beat coming on the river and then *wham*, it'd happen. But of course most of the time it didn't, and I'd just forget it. It's when the gutshot hits on the river that you remember.

I've been amazed at the good humor that the players have shown. They're playing for tens (often hundreds) of thousands of dollars, but they congratulate each other, make jokes, and generally have a good time. And man, some of them are tough. I remember one time when second place was about $100,000, and first place was about $190,000. We were down to two players and nobody had said a thing about a deal. At one point, the two players had almost exactly the same number of chips - they were within 1% of each other. I was sure they'd do a deal. Instead, one of 'em said, "$45K HU S&G?". "OK" was the only response. Suddenly my screen lit up with IMs from PokerStars staffers cheering for the two players. We all totally understand people wanting to deal when the money is that big, but we are in near-awe of those who can look six-figure numbers in the eye and say, "Deal the cards."

I also need to thank all the railbirds who provide the buzz before we shut off the rail chat at the final table. I know it's sometimes just mindless babble, but I love the excitement and energy that it brings to the event. It's great to see dozens (hundreds?) of people gathered around watching great poker.

PokerStars Blog: Finally, there are a lot of fans out there who love your punny bust-out send-offs. What are some of your favorites?

Lee Jones: We had a player called "html". When he busted out, I wrote:

 < p>Well done HTML. You've won < b>< u>$32K< /b>< /u>.< /p> 

Some people on 2+2 were posting that the PokerStars chat facility was malfunctioning until somebody else posted, "Um, check out that guy's userid."

Another time, some guy had an image of the Muppets character "Beaker". When he busted out: "bork bork bork $24K bork well done bork bork"

Finally, there was a guy who had an image of a mime. When he busted out, I said NOTHING. One of my colleagues IM'd me: "Guy just busted out."

I said, "I know."

----

Thanks to Lee Jones for getting up so early every week and to the whole PokerStars team for continuing to make the Sunday Million such a great event.

The Sunday Million Anniversary tournament starts at 4:30 ET. Good luck to everyone who plays. See you there.

Amongst friends: Katja Thater
by Simon Young

Team PokerStars' Katja Thater, currently on about 7,000 has been joined at her table by good friend and fellow German Michael Keiner (8,700). The pair know plenty about each other's play, so don't expect either to be caught out.


Michael Keiner
Katja's Team PokerStars colleague Noah Boeken, from Holland, has got off to a good start and is up to 17,000 or so. He's been a regular finisher in the EPT money positions, and is a past champion in Copenhagen, so players at his table will not want him to build too quickly on his promising opening three hours.


Team man: Noah Boeken
Chip leader as the first half of the field head off for dinner is Austria's Marcus Golser who has more than 36,000. I caught a hand just before the break where he pushed all in to take a huge pot on a three-heart board. He gave no indication if he had the flush or not, but the bet had the desired effect anyway.

Elsewhere Sweden's Jonas Molander is up to 16,000, but Magnus Petersson has taken a hit and is down to 7,000.


Jonas Molander
Holland's Marcel Luske is down in the dumps on about 1,700 - but telling everyone he has no intention of going bust just yet. And heading for comeback-of-the-day prize is Norway's Sverre Sundbo, flying the PokerStars flag, who was down to 600 chips at one point but has built back up to a credible 9,000. "I'm rebuilding nicely," he said. Not faring so well is Australian PokerStars qualifier Jason Broom, who is down to about 3,000.


Comeback of the day?: Sverre Sundbo
We are down to 231 players from the 247 starters. The last to go was mighty unlucky. Down to 500, he tossed the lot in with A-A - and was delighted to be called by Brit Roland de Wolfe holding the rather paltry 9-2. But when your luck's out, it's out. The flop? J-9-2. Ouch.


Nice flop: Roland de Wolfe

by Simon Young

The Hendon Mob's Barny Boatman and Ram Vaswani are BOTH out of the EPT Dortmund within the first two levels. Barny's two pair was smashed by a flopped set of aces, followed by a critical hit with a runner-runner flush in the next hand, while Ram pushed with a pair but was up against a set of threes.

Fellow mobster Ross Boatman is still in today, while the fourth member of the Londoners' gang, Joe Beevers, survived yesterday, with room to spare, on about 45,000.

Out: Ram Vaswani


Out: Barny Boatman

Kelvin Beattie, left, and James Broom
by Simon Young

Two friends have travelled to Germany together all the way from Australia to play in the EPT - after both qualifying on PokerStars. Kelvin Beattie and James Broom are both from Melbourne and regulars at the famous Crown Casino.

And to their amazement, they both realised they had qualified for this event in a cash satellite on PokerStars! They decided to make a holiday out of the trip, arriving in Germany last week to spend some time in Munich before moving on to Dortmund refreshed and jet-lag free.

First to play was Kelvin yesterday (screen name aces_up4108), watched the whole day by James until he busted at about 3.30am. Today James (screen name J_T_S80) is at the felt - and English teacher Kelvin is the one standing on the rail willing him on. Whatever the result, the boys from Down Under are having the time of their life. Said James: "We are treating it as a holiday and are loving the experience.

"We have a slight disadvantage in not knowing many of the big internet players here. For example I had Johnny Lodden on my table yesterday but did not know who he was. All I knew was that he was a good player - now I know why." Lodden, of course, went on to be overnight chip leader. Sadly, 8,000 or so of his 104,000 chips belong to busted Kelvin.

First faller: Peter Gould
by Simon Young

We've been playing for nearly an hour, and already lost two players. First out of the door was England's Peter Gould, whose pocket jacks bit the dust leaving him with just a handful of chips to play with. He lasted two more hands. But he was philosophical in defeat, telling me: "Oh well, if you are going to go you may as well go early. Just a pity we are not near a nice beach."

Play has been entertaining so far. Over on Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman's table, two players got a little confused during a particular hand. Turns out one had K-K, the other A-A. Pre-flop raises and re-raises were called, followed by more betting on a J-4-J flop. Both slowed on the 7 turn then after the river 8, Mr K-K threw in two black 100 chips into a pot of 7,000 or so - a strange bet, explained when he said: "Oh, I thought they were 1,000 chips. Can I change it?" Of course not, and the bet stood. Called by sceptical Mr A-A, who was given the pot. But he then said: "What, is that for me? Wasn't there a K on the flop?" Er, no! Ross Boatman is licking his lips.


Watching the confusion: Ross Boatman


Strong-willed: Magnus Petersson
More K-K action elsewhere, this time on Magnus Petersson's table. The Swede, who won in Copenhagen's EPT in January, is sporting PokerStars colours here and got into a bit of a pot with aggressive Dane Martin Wendt. On an ace-high flop Wendt threw in a decent pot-sized bet, but faced a minimum re-raise from Petersson. The Dane went into the tank and reluctantly folded, very possibly with an ace. Petersson showed the K-K - a great bet to knock Wendt off? We may never know.


Ace up his sleeve?: Martin Wendt
At the next break, Petersson let me into his thinking: "Martin is a very good player, and I knew that if he had a weak ace he would have to fold. It is likely he had one, so I was pleased he put it down!"

Meanwhile Britain's "Mr Cool" Marc Goodwin is already providing some entertainment on his table. After warning a player not to raise because he was on the button, Goodwin duly called when he did up the stakes. The flop brought two kings. Goodwin then produced some great speech play designed to make it look like he was bluffing about holding a king. His opponent fell for it, called the bets - and Goodwin duly showed the king for pretty-looking trips.


Cool customer: Marc Goodwin
Entries for today has been confirmed at 257, which added yesterday's 237 makes a total field of 494 - easily the biggest EPT entry so far.

Noah Garcia and March Shwartz
by Simon Young

Welcome back to Dortmund for Day 1B of Germany's first EPT event. Another 250 runners or so will sit down today hoping to join the 59 who got through last night to tomorrow's Day 2.

We have a load more PokerStars qualifiers running today - and many have become big buddies already. Take, for example, Noel Garcia from California, and March Schwartz from Arizona, who only met at the hotel but are getting on like they have known each other for years.

Noel, an electrician, has been playing the beautiful game for 20 years, the last three or so on the Internet. "I'm not concerned about the other players here," he said. "They should be concerned about me! I have played so many live hands over the years - and matched that on the internet in three years because the game is so quick - that I feel confident.

"This is a great trip for me, it's the first time I've ever been to Europe and I love it!" Noel, who won his seat here in a cash satellite, reckons he will play a solid but aggressive game as he feels his way through his first ever big live tournament.

His new friend is March Schwartz, a courier driver for FedEx in Arizona. He's been playing Hold'Em online for the past three years, but was brought up on the likes of 7 Card Stud. What made him join the online poker revolution? "Watching Chris Moneymaker win the World Series and thinking, 'I can do that'."

In fact March came pretty close - he played in the WSOP Main Event last year and cashed in 613th place for $20,617. So the big live atmosphere here will not faze him. On PokerStars he plays under the name MarchMadness and usually frequents the $100 or $200 sit and goes.


Katja Thater in action in Baden, Austria, last year

Joining them and our other online qualifiers today are Team PokerStars' Katja Thater, playing in her home event, and Noah Boeken, the young Dutchman who joined the Team only weeks ago. Other big names lining up include Marcel Luske, Ross and Barny Boatman, Ram Vaswani, Michael Keiner, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Roland de Wolfe, Liam Flood, Ben Grundy, Carlo Citrone and many, many more.

It promises to be a fantastic day. All will sit down with 10,000 chips, and will enjoy an hour-long clock starting on 25-50 blinds. The entry here was €5,000 and the prize pool is approaching A bumper €2,500,000!

The target set yesterday was by Norway's Johnny Lodden, the fearsome online player who is due a big live result. He has just over 100,000 chips - a total that me not be overtaken today.

Previous EPT winners will try - we have Copenhagen winner Magnus Petersson playing today, de Wolfe - who won in Dublin - and Thang Duc Nguyen, the German restaurant owener who grabbed the title in Baden.

Keep checking back here as we follow the action. Hold on tight!


Noah Boeken

Chip leader: Johnny Lodden

by Simon Young

Here are the top ten chip counts for survivors of Day 1A of the EPT Dortmund in Germany. A total of 59 managed to make it through to Saturday's Day 2. For a full list of those, click HERE.

1 Johnny Lodden, Norway: 101,400
2 Brian Hansen, Denmark (PokerStars qualifier): 88,600
3 Henning Granstad, Norway: 84,700
4 Frederik Haugen, Sweden: 83,400
5 Frederich Hostrup, Denmark: 79,000
6 Pablo Rua, Spain (PokerStars qualifier): 76,300
7 Mika Paasonen, Finland (PokerStars quaifier): 71,700
8 Andreas Hagen, Norway: 70,600
9 Malrus Schepphorst: 65,500
10 Mark Bartlog, Germany: 64,400

The action for Day 1B is due to kick off at 3pm local time today (9am eastern US time), and once again we'll bring you all the drama as it happens.

by Simon Young

Play has finally finished after a marathon Day 1A here in Dortmund. Of the 237 starters, only 59 remain to come back on Saturday for Day 2.

We'll have the overnight chip counts for you as soon as we can, but it looks like Norway's Johnny Lodden leads the way with over 100,000 chips, followed by Sweden's Frederik Haugen with about 80,000. Andreas Hagen of Norway is one of those close behind, alongside PokerStars qualifier Pablo Rua, a Spanish lawyer.

Author Anthony Holden, flying the PokerStars flag today, looks to have survived with 17,000. Team PokerStars player ElkY (Bertrand Grospellier of France) was an early faller, although Ireland's Andy Black had gone within the first few levels after running K-K into A-A.

We have several PokerStars qualifiers still in the hunt, including Spanish lawyer Pablo Rua, and Swedish singer-songwriter Dilba Demirbag.

Quirk of the day was Swede Mats Iremark's fondness for his Rubik cube, which he must have completed six times before busting out well into the evening.

Join us tomorrow when we start afresh with Day 1B. Big names taking centre stage include Team PokerStars' Katja Thater, appearing in her country's first EPT, new teammate Noah Boeken, Marcel Luske, Michael Keiner, Roland de Wolfe, Ram Vaswani, Barny and Ross Boatman, and another host of PokerStars qualifiers.

Team PokerStars' ElkY is OUT. Morbid details will follow when I get them, but he was stuck on 8,000 or so looking for a double through.

Frederik Haugen from Swden has taken over the chip lead from Andreas Hagen, sitting on a huge 80,000 or so chips. Most came in a huge pot when he speculatively raised under the gun with Q-10 and was smooth called by his opponent with A-A. He hit the open ended straight draw on the flop, and filled up on the turn.

With 126 players still in, it has been announced we will play TEN levels today, instead of the publicised nine, meaning we are heading for a 3.50am finish local time.

Marcel Luske

Meanwhile, next to the main tournament area, we have had an interesting sideshow during most of the day - a special televised sit and go dubbed German Stars of Poker. Included in the field were Team PokerStars' Katja Thater, Michael Keiner, and Marcel Luske (okay, he's a Dutchman, but he speaks jolly good German).

Forget your average PokerStars sit and go, which may go on for an hour or so, this marathon lasted from late afternoon into mid evening. Keiner and Luske got heads up, and after a titanic battle, Luske won when his K-2 beat Keiner's Q-10. Luske wins a €10,000 seat in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo as a result.

by Simon Young

Norway's Andreas Hagen is the runaway chip leader as we approach fold or push time for most of the short-stacks. Blinds are up to 200-400, and with antes of 50, there is now no time to hang around.

One of the push or fold merchants was unlucky with A-K against 8-8. First two cards on the flop were kings, but the third was an eight, giving his grateful opponent the boat.

Another remains in - just - after raising with A-K and finding two callers, including Mats Iremark, who has again got his Rubik cube out for a twiddle. The flop was K high, so the initial raiser shoved in 5,000, only for Iremark to push all-in for a thousand or so more. Turns out the Swede had K-K for a flopped set, and he doubles up to about 17,000 - the room average.

Just under 140 players remain, and we will play a full 9 levels tonight (another two) before disappearing through the forest and back to nearby Dortmund.

Meanwhile, Team PokerStars' ElkY was down in the dumps on 3,000 or so, but has just trebled up his Q-Q held up against two callers.

And good news for author Anthony Holden - up to about 30,000 after doubling up with A-8 v A-7 on a flop of 8-7-2.

Holding court: lawyer Pablo Rua

by Simon Young

Spanish PokerStars qualifier Pablo Rua is well qualified to deal with people stealing his blinds - he's a top lawyer. He's not doing too bad here in Dortmund, either, and has rocketed up to 22,000 after picking up a set.

"I had 9-9 and the man in early position had A-K. He raised pre-flop and I called, and the flop was excellent for me, A-9-10. He thought he was ahead and bet, I raised and we both ended up all in. Nothing changed on the turn or river and I'm now in a great position."


Song and dance: Dilba Demirbag

Also holding her own is PokerStars player Dilba Demirbag, a well-known singer-songwriter from Stockholm in Sweden. She was up to 16,000 at one point, but is now back down to 7,500. She's looking very much at home at the table, which she now shares with former professional footballer Tony Cascarino and John Shipley.

Shipley, from England, is a serial PokerStars qualifier, and has already won a seat to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo - twice! "I play mainly cash games and tournaments during the week, then at weekends will play the PokerStars satellites for these events. I seem to be doing quite well with them at the moment!" Unfortnately his luck is not holding out here, and he's down to about 4,000.


Cube in a stack

Meanwhile, with blinds up to 150-300 and 160 of the 236 starters remaining, Mats Iremark has tired of playing with his Rubik cube after solving it twice. He's now decided to form his chip stack around it, another poker first, I reckon.

Back to square one: Joe Beevers

by Simon Young

Hendon Mobster Joe Beevers has seen his 20,000 stack cut in half after getting his kings up against aces. He's now back to where he started, but still in a jovial mood.

"When I sat down there were three people at the table who I felt would lose their chips in the first three levels. I managed to get a lot of their chips and was running well, but then I ran my K-K into aces. I couldn't get away from it, so I'm back to about 10,000 again. It feels like a re-buy!"

His team-mates - Ram Vaswani and the Boatman brothers, Barny and Ross, are expected to play tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the first half of today's remaining field have wiped the crumbs from their lips and are heading back into the tournament hall, while the other half get up to enjoy their dinner break.

Latest movers in the upward direction include fearsome Norwegian Johnny Lodden, on 22,000, and Britain's Julian Thew who has eased past 20,000. Hungary's Richard Toth, one of the best new players of the past year, is stagnant on about 7,000.

Team PokerStars ElkY, Bertrand Grospellier from France, continues his steady climb and sits happily on 17,500.

Apologies for the slow updates, folks, but we are having some internet problems here at the casino. Five men with screwdrivers are scratching their chins, sucking in breath and trying to sort the connection out.

So far it is patchy at best. But let me tell you the action is as fast and furious as ever in the tournament hall. Half of the field are now on their dinner break, but the remainder have started on the 100-200 blinds level. Britain's Steve Vlader has moved up to over 20,000, Norway's Jan Sjavik is struggling on just 2,000 or so. He is a master of the comeback, however, so don't rule him out just yet.

Kings busted: Andy Black

by Simon Young

Andy Black is OUT after running his kings into aces. The unlucky Irishman, who came fifth in the WSOP main event in 2005, had got off to a good start in Germany before finding the one hand he did not want to see in the hands of his opponent.

Players are now on their first 15-minute break after completing two one-hour levels - but we have still only lost about 15 so far.

Big news at this stage for Sweden's Mats Iremark - he has managed to complete his Rubik cube puzzle. What will he do to amuse himself now?

Praz Bansi

by Simon Young

After a slight delay owing to the usual registration congestion (50 minutes to be precise) play is now well into the first level, with blinds at 25-50.

But despite the huge starting stacks of 10,000, some players are throwing chips around like confetti. One has now left the building, the first of 250 starters, after calling an all in with his 10-10 - only to be met by Praz Bansi's monster A-A. Londoner Praz, who won a WSOP bracelet in last year's $1,000 no limit event, now sits on approaching 20,000 and is one of the early leaders.

Also making an early move is Team PokerStars' ElkY, who has 14,000, while sharing his table is Ireland's Andy Black, on about 13,500.


Steady start: ElkY

Britain's Tony Holden, sporting PokerStars liverie, is also up to 15,000 or so after catching a full house on the river and finding a willing caller.


Catching an early boat: Tony Holden

The huge poker room here is perfect for a tournament of this size, and players are eagerly tucking in to the grub that gets left on little tables next to their chairs at a tummy-bulging rate.

That seems to be of little interest to Sweden's Mats Iremark - winner of the EPT Deauville event last season - who seems to have a new passion for the 80s toy icon, the Rubik cube. When not in a hand, he is furiously twiddling the annoying contraption, trying to make all sides end up the same colour. He's been at it for over an hour now, and progress has been, shall we say, poor.


Puzzling: Mats Iremark

PokerStars qualifier Harrison Williams, the American whom we first met in Copenhagen, is back again in Europe, and survived an early all-in against Sweden's Anders Wijk - not that he was unduly worried as he had the nut flush.


Harrison Williams in Copenhagen

Plenty of big names are keeping out of harm's way in these early tussles, including Johnny Lodden, Dave Colcough and Joe Beevers of the Hendon Mob.


Mobster: Joe Beevers

Casino Hohensyburg

by Simon Young

Nails are beng bitten, trips to the lavatory becoming more frequent, and the nervous chatter is getting louder. Yes, Europe's biggest-ever poker tournament is about to get under way.

Welcome to Dortmund, Germany, for the country's first ever European Poker Tour contest. We are expecting up to 500 players, beating the EPT's previous record of 480 at Barcelona last September, generating a mouth-watering prize pool of €2,500,000. The huge field has been split into two day ones, today and tomorrow, before the survivors combine for day two on Saturday and the final table on Sunday.

Playing today is Team PokerStars' ElkY (Bertrand Grospellier) from France, who finished a fantastic second in Copenhagen in January. Other big names joining him include Britain's Roland De Wolfe and John Shipley (a PokerStars qualifier), Big Deal author Anthony Holden, Norway's Johnny Lodden and Hungary's Richard Toth, who played so well to make the final table in Denmark.


Feeling confident: ElkY

Each player starts with 10,000 chips and looks forward to the generous EPT structure of a one-hour clock.

The casino here nestles in woodland and overlooks a beautiful valley, offering splendid views over the German countryside. Staff appear to have left no stone unturned in offering excellent facilities for the players.

Play gets under way at 3pm local time (9am eastern US time), and we'll be bringing you all the excitement as it happens. Watch out for your friends and family who have qualified on PokerStars, and follow your favourite big players as the drama of the tournament unfolds.

Ship-shape: Katja Thater

by Simon Young

The soft sound of waves lapping on the sand; exotic drinks and morcels; beach bars with attractive staff; a who's who of poker's finest magicians. Think you are back in the Caribbean for the WPT? Think again, for this is Dortmund, Germany, at the start of what could be a record-breaking week for the European Poker Tour.

We are here for the first-ever EPT event in Deutschland, expecting to top the 480 runners who sat down for the biggest field so far in Barcelona last September. And to get us in the mood, PokerStars threw a lavish party that your's truly left reluctantly in order to keep you up to date (I know, it's a tough life).

Allow me put you in the picture. Dortmund is a city of about 600,000 people - the seventh largest in Germany - and not far from the border with Holland. Traditionally it is an industrial heartland, yielding steel, coal... and beer. Sadly the steel workers and the miners have long since put away their tools, but happily the brewing is still a feature of the city, and let me tell you that they do a pretty good job with their pale pilsner lager.

Just south of here is the picturesque Hohensyburg Casino, home for this trail-blazing tournament. It nestles in a forest, presenting a thus-far unique venue for your intrepid PokerStars players. Coming, as ever, from across the globe, they all met up for the party to launch the tournament. Set in a warehouse, the party venue was transformed magically into a beach scene, with sand, decking, picnic tables and BBQ food. Fire eaters entertained as our qualifiers got to know each other before the serious business began across the felt.

Joining the cash and frequent player point satellite qualifiers were Team PokerStars players ElkY (Bertrand Grospellier), from France, Katja Thater, revelling in representing the Team on her home soil, and Holland's Noah "Exclusive" Boeken, the newest recruit playing his first major event since signing on the dotted line.


Welcome aboard: Noah Boeken


ElkY with EPT admiral John Duthie

Other big names were also enjoying the atmosphere, including Marcel Luske, from Holland, who got into the party spirit with a huge pizza, which at least prevented him from snatching a microphone and bursting into song.


Slice of the action: Marcel Luske

Here, too, is Anthony Holden, British author of the unmissable poker book The Big Deal, and who's sequel "is now at the publishers after being finished on time - thankfully". Also present is ex-professional footballer Tony Cascarino, who played for Ireland and Chelsea, and is now very much at home on the poker table. "I'm in reasonable form after cashing in two tournaments in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, so this could be another nice result," he said.


Booked:Anthony Holden


Kick out of poker: Tony Cascarino

And to add to the mix, we have two recent EPT winners playing in Germany - Thang Duc Nguyen, the German who won in Baden, Austria, last October, and Magnus Petersson, the Swede who beat ElkY heads up in Copenhagen in January. Magnus is looking for another good result: "After that win in Copenhagen I am playing far more relaxed. It has improved my game further," he told me.


Hungry for victory: Thang Duc Nguyen


Swede smell of success: Magnus Petersson

Finally, I bumped into PokerStars' Poker Room Manager Lee Jones, who was enjoying meeting many of the site's players - and the lovely Natalie Pinkham, who presents the EPT television show.


Natalie Pinkham and Lee Jones

I did have another nice shot to show you, intending to bring the whole party scene to your desktop. But my camera, rather irritatingly, decided otherwise (donations for new lens to PokerStars account SuffolkPunch). So for now, it's goodnight. Join us tomorrow (Thursday) for Day 1A. We will follow it up with 1B on Friday, before the two sets of survivors join forces for Day 2 on Saturday, hoping to make it through to the big final table pay day on Sunday.

The Sunday Million, the world's largest weekly poker tournament, has been running now for just about one year. PokerStars is celebrating this milestone and inviting everyone to celebrate. The March 11th Sunday Million is a special anniversary tournament, and just for this one event, PokerStars is guaranteeing a $1,500,000 prize pool.

PokerStars will also be hosting a Tournament of Champions on Sunday at 12:30pm (Eastern Time) for all previous winners of the Sunday Million, dating back to the first one held on March 4, 2006. In the TOC, there's an EPT Monte Carlo package and $10,000 in other prizes up for grabs. Finally, there will be special 10 FPP satellites at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM daily from now through Saturday. Each of these satellites will put 27 players into the Anniversary Million. Good luck. See you on Sunday.

It took a little extra time to get started on Sunday, but it was worth it. With $100,000 added to the prize pool, nearly 6,700 players fought hard to win the $1.4 million event . In the end, a four-way deal gave six-figure paydays to the top three players. Final table results are below. Don't miss next week's $1.5 million Sunday Million anniversary event!

PokerStars Sunday Million Results
Results based on finishing order and four-way deal that left $30,000 for first place

1. OnlyHope (United States) $118,382.90
2. 5iveofaKind (United States) $123,345.67
3. admiral77 (Germany) $118,548.23
4. jintsrule56 (United States) $90,985.44
5. alcswab (United States) $46,044.24
6. #1PEN (United States) $32,991.20
7. 10Ten_Deuce2 (United States) $23,667.60
8. Hist007 (France) $14,344.00
9. DeuceBuster (United States) $8,893.28

I was just looking back through some of my files and realized it's been just about one year since PokerStars created the Sunday Million. A little birdie at PokerStars happened to mention to me that there might be some special plans in the works to celebrate the one year anniversary of the world's biggest weekly poker tournament. Full details to come when everything is confirmed. In the meantime. here is a list of all the Sunday Million winners, going back to the first one in March of 2006.

3/5/2006 aaaaaaaa
3/12/2006 Huck Biggins
3/19/2006 frank-n-cyn
3/26/2006 E-Daddie
4/2/2006 Payperwiew
4/9/2006 Cubbie76
4/16/2006 adanthar
4/23/2006 brandon686
4/30/2006 Sooners
5/7/2006 bbbbb33
5/14/2006 Whitfield74
5/21/2006 Rizen
5/28/2006 lobojiji
6/4/2006 hirs10
6/11/2006 Stronghold
6/18/2006 PHARLAP 2
6/25/2006 FlopSpanker
7/2/2006 mMagic_cards
7/9/2006 tpope212
7/23/2006 elcubanito71
7/30/2006 tsifknits
8/6/2006 goldy18k
8/13/2006 DeuxExMachin
8/20/2006 CardXFactor
8/27/2006 ocrowe
9/3/2006 simmsux
9/10/2006 luchador420
10/8/2006 Fenster
10/15/2006 Håcken
10/22/2006 osten87
10/29/2006 dizney1984
11/5/2006 CZuke39
11/12/2006 Legato
11/19/2006 tiger76
11/26/2006 Jovial Gent
12/3/2006 Gurre
12/10/2006 mrrain
12/17/2006 pokerno
12/24/2006 Bhoth
12/31/2006 dim--tix
1/7/2007 ch0ppy
1/14/2007 SwedisRotKuk
1/21/2007 Mazinho1977
1/28/2007 westmenloAA
2/4/2007 MortalNutzz
2/11/2007 W Snipes
2/18/2007 CharlieBraun
2/25/2007 ZIGENAAREN