August 2007 Archives

Apologies for the lack of colour -- and for the "u" in that word, American blog readers -- but we're reaching the business end here in Barcelona and I expect more people are interested in cold, hard chip counts rather than life histories. (And on the "u" point, I'm English.)

So, here's the skinny: Twenty-two players remain, playing blinds of 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante. They's spread across three tables and they're sitting with, approximately:

Table A

Greg Dyer -- 205,000
Mohamad Kowssarie -- 475,000
Mika Paasonen -- 480,000
Voitto Rintala -- 185,000
Adam Junglen -- 370,000
Other -- 190,000

Table B

Aditya Agarwal -- 320,000
Peter Giordino -- 135,000
Patrick Bruel -- 250,000
Borge Dypuik -- 70,000
Christophe Ulsrud -- 260,000
Sander Lylloff -- 260,000
Tronde Eidsvig -- 440,000

Table C (TV table)

Sylvester Geoghegan -- 160,000
Alessio Isaia -- 170,000
Mark Teltscher -- 240,000
Davidi Kitai -- 131,000
Philip Yeh -- 108,000
Niklaus Jedlicka -- 297,000
Javed Abrahams -- 120,000

Those recent eliminations:

25 - Daan Ruiter (Holland) €16,700
26 - Henrik Jensen (Denmark) €16,700
27 - Ole Holgersen (Norway) €16,700
28 - Michael Greco (UK) €16,700
29 - Michael Wong (USA) €16,700 (PokerStars qualifier)
30 - Ian Woodley (UK) €16,700
31 - Martin Wendt (Denmark) €16,700
32 - Thomas Fjelleheim (Norway) €16,700
33 - Ryan Jones (USA) €14,650
34 - Eric Hardt (USA) €14,650 (PokerStars qualifier)
35 - Bjorn Erik Glenne (Norway) €14,650
36 - Giovanni Spadavecchia (Italy) €14,650
37 - Henrik Sorensen (Denmark) €14,650
38 - Nikolas Panopoulos (Greece) €14,650
39 - Fabrice Soulier (France) €14,650

Update: We've also just lost Sylvester Geoghegan (the mysterious "Vesty" from the overnight list) who got it all in pre-flop with A-Q but ran into Nicholas Jedlicka's A-K. Dag Mikkelsen also perished. He lost a chunk with K-Q against A-K and shoved the rest in with something very meagre and was busted.

As the players take another 15 minute break, we get a chance to dance around the railbirds and check a few chips.

There are 24 players remaining -- we play down to eight tonight, remember -- and among them are the following stacks:

Niklaus Jedlicka - 170,000
Adam Junglen -- 325,000
Sander Lylloff -- 310,000
Dag Mikkelsen -- 215,000
Mark Teltscher -- 250,000
Mohamad Kowssarie -- 345,000
Alessio Isaia -- 240,000
Peter Giordano -- 245,000
Mika Paasonen -- 490,000
Patrick Bruel -- 310,000
Greg Dyer -- 110,000
Aditya Agarwal -- 250,000
Javed Abrahams -- 100,000
Sylvester Geoghegan -- 240,000

Definitely out of the tournament are:

Martin Wendt
Fabrice Soulier
Eric Hardt
Ryan Jones
Ian Woodley

The players are back from their day three dinner break. Same old buffet, but more to go around.

There are 34 of them left chasing that million-plus top spot, and they're posting blinds of 2,000 and 4,000 with a 400 ante.

Among those challenging:

Greg Dyer - 145,000
Patrick Bruel - 168,000
Aditya Agarwal - 55,000
Bjorn Erik Glenne - 90,000
Mika Paasonen - 360,000
Pete Giordano - 355,000
Borge Dypuik - 170,000
Michael Greco - 120,000
Mark Teltscher - 365,000
Mohamad Kowssarie - 155,000
Michael Wong - 31,000
Ryan Jones - 31,000
Dag Mikkelsen - 110,000
Martin Wendt - 125,000
Nicklaus Jedlicka - 99,000
Philip Yeh - 80,000
Adam Junglen 290,000

They're being swatted out of this tournament like drunken flies. Here are the fallers so far:

41 - Stefan Mattsson (Sweden) €12,550
42 - Andrey Zaichenko (Russia) €12,550 (PokerStars Qualifier)
43 - Tutev Yovor (Bulgaria) €12,550
44 - Mika Puro (Finland) €12,550
45 - Daniel Dodet (Belgium) €12,550
46 - James Higgins (UK) €12,550
47 - Katja Thater (Germany ) €12,550 (Team PokerStars)
48 - Mark Vos (Australia) €12,550
49 - Massimiliano Rosa (Italy) €10,500
50 - Jean Paul Pasqualini (France) €10,500
51 - Alexander Philip Roumeliotis (Sweden) €10,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
52 - Cort Kibler-Melby (Germany) €10,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
53 - Jerome Ferron (France) €10,500
54 - Jesus Garde (Spain) €10,500
55 - Phil Starrs (UK) €10,500
56 - Daniel Stern (USA ) €10,500

Michael Wong is smiling. But really, after what's happened to him today, few could blame him for being crouched in the corner, head in hands, cheeks moistened by torrents of tears and a mutilated effigy of the poker gods kicked into the trash.

The PokerStars qualifier from San Diego, California, hit a flop on the second hand of today. He hit it pretty good. He had 3-4, that flop was 5-6-7 and there was nothing wrong with getting it all in there. Problem: his opponent had limped to the same flop with 8-9, otherwise known as the nuts.

"I lost three quarters of my stack," Wong confided. "I'm the short stack now."

It's merciful that he had such a lot of chips to begin today. He was the top-ranked PokerStars qualifier overnight with 193,000. Now he's down to about 50,000.

But, by his own admission, he went on a rush yesterday to get himself near the chip lead, and there's still every chance something similar could happen again.

Update: And if a picture is worth a thousand words, here's "War and Peace" courtesy of Neil Stoddart, peerless PokerStars photographer, who captured it all going wrong for Wong.

A monstrous pot just went the way of Mika Paasonen on the feature table.

Patrick Bruel was the victim of the coldest of decks and, holding A-10, must have thought he was ahead on a flop of Q-10-10.

Patrick Bruel in happier times

But there was some very suspicious checking and flat-calling through the streets, before Mika pushed and Patrick called on a blank turn. Paasonen had been exceptionally crafty with pocket queens for queens full and Bruel shipped towers of chips to the Finn.

On the outer tables, Mark Teltscher, the nemesis of Katja Thater, has continued to build. Meanwhile Cort Kibler Melby, an early leader in Barcelona, is out.

Updated chip counts will follow.

And so it ends for Team PokerStars in Barcelona.

Katja Thater, who had clung on and clung on late yesterday to end the night as the only Team PokerStars player to make the money, was always going to have to make a move early today.

Katja Thater stands and prepares to leave

But she must have been delighted when Mark Teltscher, the British player who triumphed in season two's EPT London, put in a button raise when Thater had glanced down at pocket kings. She tossed in whatever extra she had and Teltscher showed queens.

You guessed it, though. I don't even need to write it. Thater is on the rail.

Vultures and reporters share a lot in common -- it would be difficult to contest that they're not pretty much the same thing -- and an innate attraction to carnage and carrion is probably their most pronounced similarity.

So it was that I, and nine or ten others, gathered around Ryan Jones's table as the cards hit the air for the first time this morning. The United States player, who cashed in W-Dollars on PokerStars to buy his seat here, had the lowest chip stack of everyone, and was shaping up for a fairly certain first-round push.

And push he did when it was folded to him on the button. Ole Brandborg, in the big blind, insta-called. Brandborg has 10-10, Jones showed K-8 and there was much sharpening of talons and pencils.

But, behold, not only a king on the flop, but also an eight, leaving Brandborg looking for one of the two remaining tens to send Jones out. Neither materialised, and Jones lived to fight another few hands, at least.

Daniel Stern, another W-Dollars player, was not so fortunate. Despite holding the chip lead after day two, the American was also short-stacked coming into today and shoved from the big blind, over the top of a middle position raiser. Stern had K-Q, his opponent 8-8 and there was no help for the overcards. Stern was first out today.

Following him hastily to the rail was Phil Starrs, from Scotland. The PokerStars player won his seat here when he took down an APAT event on the site. But his A-9d was beaten by the J-8d of Bjorn-Erik Glenne. All this was on TV as well.

So, within the first half hour, it's two down, 48 to go until the final table. We'll have all the details here.

Welcome back to the Gran Casino Barcelona for day three of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour.

There's one thing on everyone's minds today: money. And while it's fair to say that the subject hasn't exactly been too far from most minds for the preceding three days, this time it's not a case of "what if" but rather "how much?"

The cash bubble burst late last night, meaning all 56 players who return today are already guaranteed a return on their investment, somewhere between €10,500 (for the first eight out), up to €1,170,700 for the last man, or woman, standing.

Ryan Jones, from the United States, is likely to be happy with anything. He's bottom of the chip pile going into today. Meanwhile, Mohamad Kowssarie, from Sweden, is eyeing millionaire status. He starts today with 332,200 and the chip lead.

Everyone and anyone in the middle also has a significant chance to become a star. The television feature table has been assembled overnight and one table of players, of the remaining eight, will have their every move scrutinised by the millions in their living rooms.

There's also a live webcast of the feature table, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Starting under the studio lights when play gets under way in the coming moments, is table seven, which features three PokerStars qualifiers -- Phil Starrs, from Scotland, Adity Agarwal, from India, and Andriy Zaichenko, from Russia -- as well as Patrick Bruel, the French actor/singer/poker player, and Bjorn Erik Glenne, who won this event last year.

Check back here for your words and watch the broadcast over there. Then scatter some sand around your feet and turn the central heating up and it'll be practically as though you're here.

Here's how they finished day two in Barcelona. This bunch will return tomorrow, where they're all in the money.

Payouts follow.

Chip counts:

Mohamad Kowssarie (Sweden) - 332,200
Mark Teltscher (UK) - 300,600
Patrick Bruel (France) - 267,000
Pete Giordano (USA) - 253,900
Adam Junglen (USA) - 227,800
Mika Paasonen (Finland) - 213,600
Christopher Ulsrud (Norway) - 197,000
Michael Wong (USA) - 193,800 (PokerStars qualifier)
Jean Baptiste Tomi (France) - 147,100
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 142,500
Tronde Eidsvig (Norway) - 141,200
Philip Yeh (Sweden) - 134,200
Dag Martin Mikkelsen (Norway) - 130,600
Martin Wendt (Denmark) - 130,400
Bjorn Erik Glenne (Norway) - 126,700
Thomas Fjelleheim (Norway) - 125,300
Javed Abrahams (UK) - 120,100
Ola Brandborn (Sweden) - 112,300
Nickolaos Panopoulos (Greece) - 110,600
Jan Sjaavik (Norway) - 106,200
Voitto Rintala (Finland) - 101,300
Kees Alblas (Holland) - 98,100
Giovanni Spadavecchia (Italy) - 97,000
Greg Dyer (USA) - 95,200
Daan Ruiter (Holland) - 92,200
Andrey Zaichenko (Russia) - 84,800 (PokerStars qualifier)
Alessio Isaia (Italy) - 84,700
Ian Woodley (UK) - 82,900
Juan Maceiras (Spain) - 74,300
Eric Hardt (USA) - 70,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
Nikolaus Jedlicka (Austria) - 67,700
Tutev Yovor (Bulgaria) - 62,300
Aditya Agarwal (India) 61,400 (PokerStars qualifier)
Fabrice Soulier (France) - 60,000
James Higgins (UK) - 56,500
Alexander Roumeliotis (Sweden) - 56,300 (PokerStars qualifier)
Vesty ? 55,000
Michael Greco (UK) - 49,700
Daniel Dodet (Belgium) - 47,400
Borge Dypvik (Norway) - 45,200
Henrik Sorensen (Denmark) - 45,000
Cort Kibler-Melby (Germany) - 43,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Phil Starrs (UK) - 39,900 (PokerStars APAT qualifier)
Mark Vos (Australia) 38,300
Stefan Mattsson (Sweden) - 35,000
Jean Paul Pasqualini (France) - 34,600
Daniel Stern (USA) - 32,500
Massimiliano Rosa (Italy) - 31,200
Kitai Davidi Jacob (Belgium) - 31,100
Ole Gabriel Holgersen (Norway) - 26,200
Henrik Jensen (Denmark) - 25,200
Mika Puro (Finland) - 25,100
Jerome Ferron (France) - 23,100
Jesus Manuel Garde (Spain) - 20,400
Katja Thater (Germany) - 19,200 (Team PokerStars)
Ryan Jones (USA) - 7,200

1 €1,170,700
2 €673,000
3 €388,800
4 €301,000
5 €250,800
6 €196,500
7 €154,700
8 €104,500
9-10 €64,800
11-12 €46,000
13-14 €33,450
15-16 €25,100
17-24 €20,900
25-32 €16,700
33-39 €14,650
41-48 €12,550
49-56 €10,500
Total prize pool €4,181,100

And that's it, the bubble has burst. The unfortunate player is also nameless: after seeing his move with Q-8 picked off by Martin Wendt's A-K, he disappeared into the Barcelona night. It would have been imprudent to follow him, notebook poised.

Cameras and chaos follows the announcement of "All-in, called!"


The bubble-boy makes his departure
So there we have it. The end of day two.

By my reckoning, Mohamed Kowssarie is the chip leader, with Mark Teltscher and Adam Junglen in pursuit. Katja Thater is the lone Team PokerStars member who made it, continuing her fine form from Vegas this year.

Cort Kibler-Melbey is in the mix, as are fellow qualifiers Michael Wong, Aditya Agarwal, Andrey Zaichenko and Phil Starrs. I'm confident there are more, and the official list, out as soon as we have it, will no doubt confirm it.

Alas, we lost Noah Boeken, Sverre Sundbo, ElkY and Daniel Negreanu. High rollers Johnny Chan and Patrick Antonius also went home empty handed. Joris Jaspers, who began the day with great promise, took a succession of bad beats and hit the rail before anyone started writing cheques.

We'll have that official list posted here in the morning, when you'll also be able to tune in to full coverage of day three, both here on the blog and via the EPT live feed. More details of that tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's what happened today:

Prodding at the bubble

Katja Thater catches a lifeline

The money nears

KidPoker hits the rail

The railbirds move in

The chaos continues

Ups and downs, ins and outs

Qualifiers waiting to pounce

Day two starting stacks

It's bubble time in Barcelona. Fifty-seven players remain, 56 will get paid. As ever, vultures are circling above the poker room as we await the most unfortunate cadaver.

Thomas Wahlroos, from Finland, was out in 58th. He pushed with 10-7c and was called by 9-9. The flop gave hope: J-Q-K but neither the ace nor nine came and he was gone.

For the record, we have a new chip leader in Mohamad Kowssarie, from Sweden. He's been silent all day, but must have just taken a massive pot from Fabrice Soulier because the Frenchman is down to about 40,000 while Kowssarie peers over 350,000.

Also near the top is Adam Junglen, from Stow, Ohio, who cashed in his W-dollars on PokerStars and has crept up to 235,000. Mark Teltscher, EPT winner in season two, has about 290,000.

Among the others:

Michael Wong (PokerStars qualifier) -- 165,000
Aditya Agarwal (PokerStars qualifier) -- 68,000
Daniel Stern -- 35,000
Martin Wendt -- 96,000
Mika Puro -- 25,000
Christopher Ulsrud -- 160,000
Katja Thater (Team PokerStars) -- 25,000
Cort Kibler-Melby (PokerStars qualifier) -- 45,000
Phil Starrs (PokerStars qualifier) -- 45,000
Michael Greco -- 55,000
Andrey Zaichenko (PokerStars qualifier) -- 90,000
Mark Vos -- 18,000

News of the unlucky bubble boy will be here soon.

Already we're down to 67 since the last update, and chips are flying in, out, left and right.

One of those profiting from this free-for-all is Katja Thater, with the distinct help of the dealer, it must be said.

Katja Thater
The Team PokerStars star, a bracelet winner at this year's World Series, got all her chips in pre-flop and found two callers. The flop was all diamonds, ace, nine, blank, and Michael Greco moved his remaining 20,000 or so into the middle.

The other player had enough behind that he could afford to pass and, after squeezing his cards proud enough to flash me a nine, did indeed let them go. Katja showed 5-4 of spades for low pair, no kicker. Greco tabled queens.

"Come on, give me a four," Thater implored, and there was a minimum of hesitation before a four did indeed pop out on the turn, leaving Greco punching the table in frustration.

The ace on the river was seemingly irrelevant, but the other player who had folded his nines, wheeled away in disgust, presumably at the sight of the card that would have given him a larger two pair than Thater.

But that was that. Greco took the side pot, containing only his chips anyway, and Thater was left to stack somewhere in the region of 40,000, which is a definite lifeline.

Other chip counts:

Phil Starrs (PokerStars qualifier) -- 65,000
Nikolaus Jedlicka -- 100,000
Paul Wasicka -- 45,000
Michael Keiner -- 85,000
Patrick Bruel -- 140,000
Fabrice Soulier -- 200,000+
Ryan Nathan -- OUT - ran aces into Soulier's set of tens
Pete Giordano -- 200,000
Thomas Wahlroos -- 30,000
Michael Wong (PokerStars qualifier) -- 138,000
Bryn Kenney -- 20,000
Aditya Agarwal (PokerStars qualifier) -- 68,000
Mika Puro -- 44,000
Mark Teltscher -- 240,000
Mark Vos -- 30,000
Katja Thater (Team PokerStars) -- 40,000+
Philip Yeh -- 79,000
Cort Kibler-Melby (PokerStars qualifier) -- 55,000
Michael Greco -- 18,000
Julian Thew -- 45,000
Bjorn-Erik Glenne -- 79,000

The Gran Casino, Barcelona, resembles Bedlam at the moment. Thomas Kremser has just banished the media to the rail, while 77 players retake their seats for the beginning of level 12.

The tournament director has also just announced that we'll be playing to the money tonight. Twenty-one of these contenders will go home empty handed. The remaining 56 will find their pockets lined with silver.

There are some huge stacks; there are some minute ones. The latter will be shoving, the former smugly picking them off.

I just caught up with Anton Smolyanskiy, the New Yorker who has had a tortuous day. He's down to less than 10,000 now after he flat called an under-the-gun raiser with 9-9 and pushed on a queen high flop. That raiser had A-Q and crippled him, and while Antony was stalking the floor during the break wondering if he played it right, it's difficult to see how it could have played out differently.

Among the others still fighting are Katja Thater (the final sponsored PokerStars pro after Sverre Sundbo departed), and qualifiers Philip Starrs, from the UK, who has 65,000, and Andrey Zaichenko, from Russia, who has a monstrous 122,000.

Aditya Agarwal, from India, has 65,000, while other PokerStars qualifiers, a little further out of view, are also prospering.

I'll check up on all them right away - as well as the other tournament chip leaders - and have a full update here very soon.

Daniel Negreanu is OUT.

He raised from the small blind and his neighbour moved all in for about 70,000 which, as Daniel noted, is a strange bet. The blinds at the time were 600-1,200 so this was strange indeed.

But Daniel had pocket queens, thought, and called. His adversary showed A-K.

OK, so we flipped a coin and the flop brought both king and ace. KidPoker packed his bags and is out of here.

PokerStars hopes now lie with Katja Thater, still battling with 20,000, and Sverre Sundbo, on 24,000.

Oh, and all those qualifiers. Who are doing rather well.

Forgive me for stating something obvious: poker is quite popular these days. One need only take a cursory glance around the Gran Casino Barcelona to judge how it's erupted in the public interest in recent years.

If people aren't playing poker here (there are juicy side games aplenty), they're railbirding it. Scarcely ten minutes goes by without Thomas Kremser, tournament director, grabbing the microphone and requesting approximately 19,526 spectators to move out of the tournament area.

That's testament firstly to tournaments like the EPT, which brings the best players in the world to one venue, and also to the television presentation of such events. As usual, highlights of this tournament will be broadcast worldwide within a year, and the feature table will be live online tomorrow (see a few posts down this page).

And television produces its own stars. Daniel Negreanu, for instance, is one of the most recognisable faces either side of the Atlantic for his multi-million dollar exploits around the baize. The likes of Katja Thater, Fabrice Soulier, Patrick Bruel and Marc Goodwin, all still also in contention here, are also very easy on the television eye.

But one of the boons for those of us who have followed the EPT since it's inception is the possibility of finding a quiet corner and watching some of the best poker you're likely to see almost untroubled by any spectators. Some players might not be glamorous, but boy can they play.

Table two here is one such example: here we have Thomas Wahlroos playing into Theo Jorgensen; two of Scandinavia's finest pitted head-to-head. Throw into the mix the PokerStars players Anton Smolyanskiy, from New York, and Andrey Zaichenko, from Russia, and it's a table to make a PokerStars blogger drool.

Andrey Zaichenko
Zaichenko is ruling the roost. He's up to about 95,000, while Wahlroos is on about 40,000 and Jorgensen has 26,000. Smolyanskiy, who was originally from Russia before moving to Manhattan, New York, is on 29,000.

It's definitely one for the purists.

The craziness continues in Barcelona -- as well as the eliminations that usually follow.

Some of those eliminations:

Moments ago, Noah Boeken bit the dust. He was all in on a flop of K-8-10 rainbow. Noah had 7-9 for the open-ended straight draw, but he was called in two spots; one player had 10-8; another pocket eights.

Noah Boeken

The turn was very kind to one of those, and very cruel to two. It was another ten, giving the player with 10-8 (believed to be Ola Brandborg) a full house and leaving the others, Noah included, drawing dead.

Also out are Paul Testud, whose queens lost to sixes. And Praz Bansi, whose queens lost to A-9. But the ladies were kinder to Daniel Negreanu, who thought about folding them pre-flop when a tight player moved in, but instead took the risk and ended up tripling through, beating A-K and K-10. He's up to around 60,000.



Daniel Negreanu

Patrick Antonius perished at the hands of Martin Wendt - twos versus queens, all-in pre-flop.

Four players then contested a huge pot on Joris Jaspers' table. One of those was Jaspers, and I'm happy to say the PokerStars qualifier prevailed. He moved in pre-flop over the top of two all ins in the seats immediately to his right.


Joris Jaspers

Paul Wasicka had all of them covered and thought for long enough for about 50 railbirds to flock to the table. In the end, Wasicka folded and the players -- Alexander Salabascher, Paul Gourlay and Jaspers -- showed 9-9, 10-10 and J-J respectively.

No suck out -- in fact, the jack flopped -- and Jaspers leapt to around 60,000.

Brandon Schaefer just took down a nice pot ahead of the dinner break. He made a sizeable bet on a board of two nines and a queen to push his solitary adversary out. Schaefer, EPT maestro from the United States, has about 93,000.

Other notables:

Michael Wong (PokerStars qualifier) - 90,000
David Williams - 39,000
Katja Thater (Team PokerStars) - 23,000
Daniel Stern - 85,000
Sverre Sundbo (PokerStars sponsored pro) - 60,000
Juan Maceiras Lapeido - 95,000
Ryan Nathan - 52,000
Philip Yeh - 85,000
Thomas Wahlroos - 58,000
Daniel Negreanu (Team PokerStars) - 58,000
Dag Mikkelsen - 52,000
Paul Wasicka - 75,000
Mark Teltscher - 100,000
Brandon Schaefer - 93,000

The last thing we at the PokerStars Blog would ever do is actively encourage you to go somewhere else for your coverage of this EPT event. We like to think we provide the best and most in-depth coverage of all the European Poker Tour action. That said, we can't really ignore one of the coolest things about the EPT.

Beginning Friday morning at around 11:00am ET (17:00 Barcelona time), you can watch the TV table of the EPT Barcelona action live on your computer. Then, on Saturday at the same time, you can watch the final table as it happens. What's more, it's free. No waiting to watch it on TV. No reading. Just top-notch coverage of one of the most exciting events in European poker.

To watch the stream, be sure to visit EPTLive.com.

And, of course, be sure to come back here. There are just certain things you won't see on TV and all the behind the scenes action will still appear on this blog.

Enjoy!

There are few things less surprising in poker than the all-in fest that ensues early on day two.

Having spent much of their respective first days clinging on to however small a stack they might be left with, most of the players towards the lower end of the chip ladder decide that it's double-up or go to the beach time within the first couple of rounds.

This, of course, makes for some crazy plays and crazier results, as some well-known names will testify.

Out on table 23, there was always going to be fireworks with the short-stacked but hyper-aggressive Annette "annette_15" Obrestad sitting the right of the short-stacked but seriously talented Paul Wasicka. Making up a fascinating trio was Peter Toefting, a PokerStars player from Denmark, whose seat in Barcelona cost him precisely nothing, having bested a field of 3,000 to win a freeroll organised by a Danish newspaper, then taking first spot in a single-table final to claim his place here.

Annette Obrestad and Paul Wasicka

It was about half an hour into proceedings when I strolled to the table to see a load of chips in the middle and some furious calculating of pots and side-pots underway. Neither Wasicka nor Annette seemed to have any chips in front of them, while Toefting also seemed to have a hefty chunk in the centre of the table.

When all the chopping and stacking was done, it became clear that this was a three-way coup, with Obrestad and Wasicka's tournament life on the line and Toefting's pretty much in the balance as well. They each flipped their cards: Obrestad had K-K, Wasicka 8-8 and Toefting needing to catch up with A-10.

But, as is so often the case, the poker gods soon turned all that on its head. The flop brought an ace, and an eight, catapulting Wasicka into the lead and relegating Annette's kings to the bottom of the heap. Nothing changed on turn and river, tripling up Wasicka, the former World Series runner up, handing a decent side pot to Toefting, and sending Obrestad back to the online tables, where she'll no doubt soon be running amok with even more ruthless elan than usual.

Meanwhile, mixed news for other qualifiers. Bryn Kenney was "at it" again, he proudly confided to me a few moments ago, and ended up cracking aces when his 10-6 squeeze play hit the fop squarely on the head. He's up to 80,000.

However, Cort Kibler-Melby was on the rougher end of a beat: his Q-Q outdrawn by A-Q all-in pre-flop for 20,000 and change.

And Team PokerStars lost an ambassador a moment or so ago. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was seen departing the card-room, leaving Katja Thater, Noah Boeken and Daniel Negreanu to fight the good fight.

Without question, one of the most exciting things about the European Poker Tour is the continued emergence, and subsequent rise to prominence, of the PokerStars qualifiers. There's a seemingly limitless source of top quality players in cyberspace who come blinking out of their bedrooms and studies to take their place near the chip lead of these major tournaments in the "real" world.

Barcelona, season four, is no different.

As the players unbag their day two chips, Joris Jaspers, from Nismegen, Holland, has the most stacking to do. He endured, then prospered, from a roller-coaster day yesterday to start this afternoon with 62,150.

Up to 20,000 within the first few levels, he then inched up to about 40,000 before being crippled by a set-over-set encounter. He battled back to 22,000 and was rewarded for his persistence with a move to Daniel Negreanu's table late in the day. Within one level, he was up to 62,000, where he finished the day.

"You know what's going to happen now," said Paul Gourlay, an English player sitting to Joris's right today. Gourlay then mimed a huge growth in his own stack, and a corresponding reduction in Jaspers'. We all laughed amiably. But that should stop very soon.

Also with ample stacking this afternoon are Lukas Benkovic, from Dunajska Streda in Slovakia, who has 28,900, and Bryn Kenney, from Long Island, NY, in the United States, who has 34,300.

Lukas Benkovic

Kenney also had an up-and-down day yesterday that finished, unfortunately, somewhat on the down side. He shipped a 25,000 pot late in the day to an opponent holding Q-2. Kenney had pocket fours and shoved pre-flop, but paid the price for having made a similar move earlier in the day, then showing the mighty 5-3.

This time his opponent must have thought his picture card was ahead and took the chance. He spiked it on the flop and the 20-year-old Kenney was cut down to size.

No fear, though. He has plenty to play with -- and some pedigree too. He won the first EPT Barcelona satellite that was run on PokerStars this year, and rather than waste time waiting for it to come around, won a satellite to next month's London event as well.

Worth keeping an eye on, is the official judgment here.

Also worth keeping an eye on - but mostly because he falls into an unfortunate "blink-and-you'll-miss-him" category is Richard Guttman, from Austria. Of all the players who made it to day two, he has the fewest chips: just 1,100. And with levels starting today at 400-800, he'll be waiting the draw for the button more anxiously than most.


Richard Guttmann

After our two day ones, day two proper will begin at the Gran Casino Barcelona at 5pm, central European time.

The following 204 players made it, some with significantly more than others. Join us for the early all-in fest, followed by some first-rate battling.

Day 2 chip counts:

Daniel Stern (USA) - 101500
Thomas Wahlroos (Finland) - 87800
Fabrice Soulier (France) - 78400
Gregory Dyer (USA) - 76500
Mark Teltscher (UK) - 67300
Mark Vos (Australia) - 64300
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 62600
Joris Bernard Jaspers (Holland) - 62150 PokerStars qualifier
Jean Paul Pasqualini (France) - 61900
Sverre Sundbo (USA) - 60500 PokerStars sponsored pro
Massimiliano Rosa (Italy) - 60100
Cort Kibler-Melby (USA) - 59500 PokerStars qualifier
Jean Baptista Tomi (France) - 58500
Voitto Aulis Rintala (Finland) - 57800
Björn Erik Glenne (Norway) - 56700
Juha Jaakko Lauttamus (Finland) - 56100
Andrey Zaichenko (Russia) - 56000 PokerStars qualifier
Jose Roldan Vicente (Spain) - 53000
Rayan Nathan (Australia) - 52700
Philip Chen Yun Yeh (Sweden) - 52600
Theo Jorgensen (Denmark) - 52200
Mohamad Ali Kowssarie (Sweden) - 52000
Kitai Davidi Jacob (Belgica) - 51900
Nikolaus Jedlicka (Austria) - 50900
Ilari Sahamies (Finland) - 46900
Martin Wendt (Denmark) - 45700
Ola Brandborn (Sweden) - 45100
Fabrizio Tripicchio (Italy) - 44700
Henrik Jensen (Denmark) - 44600
Kristian Ulriksen (Norway) - 44500
Gyorgy Moger (Macedonia) - 43800
Patrik Antonius (Finland) - 43200
Francis Mahiout (France) - 43200
Joan Sastre Durin (Spain) - 42900
Stefan Mattsson (Sweden) - 42700
Mika Paasonen (Finland) - 41800
Adam Marc Junglen (USA) - 40800
Richard Ashby (UK) - 40500
Michael Wong (USA) - 40100 PokerStars qualifier
Imad Derwiche (France) - 40000
Jan Olav Sjaavik (Norway) - 39600
Eric Scalisi (France) - 39400
Johnny Chan (USA) - 39200
Tutev Yovor (Bulgaria) - 38800
Sebastien Compte (France) - 37400
Sergey Rybachenko (Russia) - 36900
Eric Van Der Burg (Holland) - 36800
Pepe Samuel Laborde (France) - 36200 PokerStars qualifier
Thierry Cazals (France) - 34900
Nikolay Losev (Russia) - 34800
Bryn Kenney (USA) - 34300 PokerStars qualifier
Juan Maceiras Lapido (Spain) - 34200
J.Pierre Petroli (France) - 34000
Lex Veldhuis (Germany) - 32900
Jesus Manuel Garde (Spain) - 32100
Sampo Lopponen (Finland) - 31100
Francisco Lopez Martos (Spain) - 30700
Johan Niermi Tjader (Sweden) - 30600
Dag Martin Mikkelsen (Norway) - 30400
Marc Goodwin (UK) - 30200
Marcus Friman (Sweden) - 30000
Ryan Jones (USA) - 29500
Daan Ruiter (Holland) - 29400
Ian Woodley (UK) - 29200
Lukas Benkovic (Slovakia) - 28900 PokerStars qualifier
Youssef Fawaz (France) - 28800
Thor Hansen (Denmark) - 28700
Patrick Bruel (France) - 28500
Nickolaos Panopoulos (Greece) - 28500
Nikolas Vicente (France) - 28400
Sylvester Georghegan (Ireland) - 28300
James Desmond Higgins (UK) - 28300
Anton Amolyanskiy (USA) - 28300
Cees Bal (Norway) - 28000
Mark Dickstein (USA) - 27800
Carlos Llado (Spain) - 27800
Alesko Isaia Italy - 27600
Peter Clark (UK) - 27400
Kees Alblas (Holland) - 27100
Mario Georgiev (Bulgaria) - 26800
Pete Giordano (USA) - 26500
Patrick Bueno (France) - 26300
Brian Green (USA) - 26300
Carl Ygborn (Sweden) - 26300
Dennis Plejdrup (Denmark) - 26200 PokerStars qualifier
Alexander Salabaschew (France) - 26100
Samir Rahal (France) - 25800
David Sonelin (Sweden) - 25700
Michiel Brummelhuis (Holland) - 25400
Julian Thew (UK) - 25400
Thomas Fuller (USA) - 25000
Magnus Cornmark (Sweden) - 24900
Gerard Lancry (France) - 24700
Anton Bergstroem (Sweden) - 24600
Daniel Negreanu Canada - 24500 Team PokerStars
Vesa Leikos (Finland) - 24400 PokerStars qualifier
Sanchez Raymi (Sweden) - 24000
Hans Eskilsson (Sweden) - 23600
Emmanuel Loubradou (France) - 23000
Gunnar Ostebrod (Norway) - 23000
Hansen Casper (Denmark) - 22900
Mika Puro (Finland) - 22500
Ayaz Manji (Portugal) - 22400
Brandon Schaefer (USA) - 22000
Nico Behling (Germany) - 21500
Juan Pastor (Spain) - 21100
Eric Hardt (USA) - 20900 PokerStars qualifier
Noah Boeken (Holland) - 20800 Sponsored
Santiago Holguin (Spain) - 20600
Pascal Peretti (France) - 20600
Giovanni Spadavecchia (Italy) - 20600
Mikael Isik (Sweden) - 20300
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (France) - 20100 Team PokerStars
Simon Wolf (UK) - 20100 PokerStars qualifier
Ognyan Ivanov (Bulgaria) - 19700 PokerStars qualifier
Daniel Mangas (Spain) - 19600
Janne Lamsa (Finland) - 19400
Erik Tamm (Sweden) - 19200
Thomas Tollund (Denmark) - 19200 PokerStars qualifier
Jean Yves Chicheportiche (France) - 18700
Ramzi Jelassi (Sweden) - 18700
Borge Dypvik (Norway) - 18400
Thomas Fjelleheim (Norway) - 18100
Joep Durkstra (Holland) - 17900
Daniele Mazzia (Italy) - 17900
Katja Thater (Germany) - 17900 Team PokerStars
Javed Abrahams (UK) - 17800
Walter Srour (Brazil) - 17800
Thierry Van Den Berg (Holland) - 17600
Henrik Sorensen (Denmark) - 17100
Daniel Dodet (Belgium) - 16900
Praz Bansi (UK) - 16700
Michael Greco (UK) - 16600
Christopher Ulsrud (Norway) - 16600
Angel Botana (Spain) - 16500
Tomas Brolin (Sweden) - 16500
Ville Aleksi Salmi (Finland) - 16300 PokerStars qualifier
Aditya Agarwal (India) - 16100 PokerStars qualifier
Jason Coyle (UK) - 15800
Augustin Federici (France) - 15800
Jgors Kalinicenko (Latvia) - 15700
Marc Naalden (Holland) - 15400
Christophe Palmeri (France) - 15400
Janne Juutilainen (Finland) - 15300
Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) - 15300
Hans Ari Varsi (Norway) - 15300
Kenny Johansson (Sweden) - 15100
Philip Starrs (UK) - 15100 PokerStars qualifier
Gianluca Gentili Italy 14900 PokerStars qualifier
Isaac Garcia (Spain) 14800 PokerStars qualifier
Trond Erik Eidsvig Norway 14600
Andreas Hagen Norway 14500
Paul Testud (France) 14200
Atle Walgren Norway 14100
Peter Tofting (Denmark) 13900
Jeff Garza (USA) 13700
Pascal Barrau (France) 13500 PokerStars qualifier
Pedro De Jodar Muñoz (Spain) 13400
Paul Gourlay (UK) 13400
Piero Compagnoni (Italy) - 13000
Senastian Skuja (UK) - 13000
Frederik Vestberg (Sweden) - 13000
Renart Yague (Spain) - 12800
Phil Gordon (USA) - 12700
Keven Stammen (USA) - 12600 PokerStars qualifier
Paul Wasicka (USA) - 12500
Anders Henriksson (Sweden) - 12300 PokerStars qualifier
Andre Kolzch (Germany) - 12000
Alexander Stevic (Sweden) - 11900
Jannick Wrang (Denmark) - 11800
Stephane Daniel Subrenat (France) - 11600 PokerStars qualifier
Peter Bertelsen (Sweden) - 11300
Sonny Ridgewell (UK) - 11200
Joakim Angle (Sweden) - 11100
Alexander Roumeliotis (Sweden) - 11100 PokerStars qualifier
Ole Holgersen (Norway) - 11000
Gordon Vayo (USA) - 10800 PokerStars qualifier
Dan Carter (UK) - 10600
Kjetil Ness (Norway) - 10600
Eric Da Silva (France) - 10100
David Williams (USA) - 10100
Michael Keiner (Germany) - 9900
Annette Obrestad (Norway) - 9700
Seweryn Brzozowski (Poland) - 9600
Isaac Baron (USA) - 9500 PokerStars qualifier
Raoul Refos (Holland) - 9500
Dan Boren (Sweden) - 9300
Stig Top Rasmussen (Denmark) - 9200
Henrik Wärn (Sweden) - 9200
Jerome Ferron (France) - 7700
Mika Antero Heikkinen (Sweden) - 7700
Carlo Bordogna (Italy) - 7500
Miguel Magan Tier (Spain) - 7300
Tommi Mourujarvi (Finland) - 7000
Thomas Peterson (Sweden) - 7000
Jerome Zerbib (France) - 7000
Alexander Hanell (Sweden) - 6800
Orjan Holt (Norway) - 6400
Lee McCreery (UK) - 6000
Nicola Filesi (Italy) - 5500
Geir Inge Haugland (Norway) - 5400 PokerStars qualifier
Rob Hollink (Holland) - 4800
Davood Mehrmand (Germany) - 4000
Richard Guttmann (Austria) - 1100 PokerStars qualifier

The bagging up has begun here in Barcelona, and the usual end-of-night chaos has ensued. Through the clattering and chattering, it's just about possible to discern that 112 players have made it into day two, where there'll be joined by the 99 from yesterday.

Here's what they'll be playing for:

1 €1,170,700
2 €673,000
3 €388,800
4 €301,000
5 €250,800
6 €196,500
7 €154,700
8 €104,500
9-10 €64,800
11-12 €46,000
13-14 €33,450
15-16 €25,100
17-24 €20,900
25-32 €16,700
33-39 €14,650
41-48 €12,550
49-56 €10,500
Total prize pool €4,181,100

Those 200-odd contenders almost didn't include Daniel Negreanu, who found himself all in on the final hand of the night. The board was 2h-3h-6c and Negreanu's push for around 8,000 was called by Lex Veldhuis. Daniel showed 7-7 for an overpair; Veldhuis was on the flush draw and overcards. He showed Kh-8h.

None of his outs materialised, though, and KidPoker lived to fight another day.

The chip leaders still include Daniel Stern, Thomas Wahlroos, Fabrice Soullier, Patrick Antonius and Theo Jorgensen. A full count will, of course, be posted here as soon as we know it.

Also still bagging at the end are: Patrick Bruel, Johnny Chan, Mika Puro, Alexander Stevic, Raymi Sanchez Thorn, Eric Van Der Burg, Dag Mikkelsen, Marc Goodwin, Stig Top Rasmussen, Praz Bansi and PokerStars qualifiers Aditya Agarwal, Dennis Plejdrup and Anton Smolyanskiy.

There will be others, so be sure to check back tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's what you may have missed today (and can catch up with right now):

Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu starts to play

The table of death, and others

Johnny Chan starts prop betting

Fossilman faces extinction

Early chipcounts

Dario Minieri and Greg Raymer suffer early setbacks

Introducing some qualifiers

Day 1B begins: who's in the field

Goodnight from Barcelona.

Day 1B is drawing to a close - and there are some very big stacks developing.

Daniel Stern, from the United States, is probably top of the pile still, sitting behind about 115,000 or so (if my tired chip-counting eyes aren't deceiving me.)

There's also a nice little battle developing on another table, where Fabrice Soullier, the French player, is nursing a stack of around 75,000 right next to where Thomas Wahlroos, of Finland, riffles about 80,000.

Elsewhere, Patrick Antonius has taken a hit and is down to about 34,000; tablemates Martin Wendt and Dag Mikkelsen remain healthy on 30,000 and 35,000 respectively. Ross Boatman, however, has perished.

Daniel Negreanu has a new neighbour, and a slightly reduced stack. Next to him now is Praz Bansi, a British World Series bracelet winner, and his stack is about 15,000. I can't be certain where it went, but PokerStars Supernova Lex Veldhuis has around 43,000 - at least 10,000 of which he didn't have a few minutes ago.

Not a big stack but always worthy of a mention is Dennis Plejdrup, a serial qualifier for the EPT and World Series on PokerStars. He's still battling, and recently got it all in with A-9. That's nice when the board brings another three aces.

Plejdrup has about 13,000 as the end of the day nears.

After an uncharacteristically quiet opening few levels -- both in terms of chatter and play -- Daniel Negreanu is moving into gear. And it's a joy to watch.

Daniel Negreanu: the moment KidPoker woke up

Always the entertainer, for the poker connoisseuer and the amiable railbird alike, KidPoker has snapped into action in the past couple of hours, stealing pots, posing for photos, accumulating chips, accepting dinner invitations, running over his table.

A moment ago, he entered into a conversation with a gaggle of enthusiastic players/spectators about the upcoming World Cup. One problem: Daniel was talking soccer, they were talking poker.

"What position do you play?" he asked. "Forward, midfield, defence?"

"Errr," they replied. Big laughs.

In the middle of all that, he called a pre-flop raise on the button and saw the big blind come along for the ride. When both opponents checked the J-9-5 board, Daniel fired out 1,500 and picked it up. He shrugged his shoulders. Easy as that. Back to the conversation.

Negreanu knows that now is about the time to start making his moves. He has somewhere like 22,000 as we enter the final level of the day.

Not so good for both Luca Pagano and Humberto Brenes, who are out. Daniel Stern, however, has more than 80,000 and is the probable tournamant chip leader, having overtaken Gregory Dyer's total from Day 1A.

We're just about to enter level seven, meaning blinds at 200-400 and a 50 ante. There are 162 left from the 279 who started today and, predictably, some a faring better than others.

In the happy category, we find the likes of Daniel Stern, from the United States, who is not only sitting on the same table as Isabelle Mercier and Liz Lieu -- worth the buy-in alone -- but also has about 65,000 in chips.

His tablemates aren't quite so chirpy: Mercier has about 12,000, even after winning a decent pot with A-J just before the break. Lieu has slightly more, but not so much that she's troubling the chip leaders.

Most definitely among those -- probably at the very top -- is Patrick Antonius, the Finnish high-stakes player and glittering EPT alumnus. Antonius has at least 60,000, possibly much more.

He makes up at least one component on the undoubted table of death here: to his immediate left is Martin Wendt, also chipped up to about 24,000, and Marc Goodwin, a poor relation on about 8,000.

Table of death: (l-r) Patrick Antonius, Martin Wendt, Marc Goodwin

That table also happens to feature Ross Boatman, the solitary Hendon Mobster in today's field, sitting with a meagre 5,000, as well as Eric van der Burg, the Dutch player who just missed out on the final table at the Monte Carlo Grand Final earlier this year.


Ross Boatman

And it doesn't stop there: EPT watchers will probably remember Anton Bergstroem, from Sweden, who made the final table here in season two. He has 22,000. Oh, and there's Dag Mikkelsen, a PokerStars Supernova from Norway, who led the World Series after day four, sitting behind 13,000 or so.


Dag Mikkelsen

Elsewhere, Theo Jorgensen, from Denmark, always a contender when the EPT comes to town, has about 41,000, recently doubling up with Q-Q against A-K. The queen on the flop was overkill. Alexander Stevic, another EPT star from Sweden, has 22,000. And while we're in the Nordic countries, Stig Top Rasmussen, from Denmark, has 25,000.

Johnny Chan's domination is waning somewhat. He's down to about 21,000.

As far as Team PokerStars goes, well, it isn't really at the moment. Luca Pagano just shipped most of his stack elsewhere and has about 1,100; Humberto Brenes is also likely to be moving his shark forward fairly soon: he has about 8,000. Daniel Negreanu isn't necessarily panicking yet, however. He has 11,000.

On the rail, we find Dario Minieri, Marcel Luske and Terence Chan, among many others.

Update: Isabelle Mercier just busted. She had 3-3, her opponent had J-J and Isabelle missed her backdoor straight draw on the turn. She's out.

Big pots draw big crowds, even in this relatively early stage of the tournament. And it's always amusing, for the railbirds at least, to see a player turn over a hand like 5c-7c when they've just shoved their entire stack -- of close to 13,000 -- in the middle.

In this case, there was good reason. Just. A flop showed Kc-2c-9h and it was heads up. Peter Dalhuijsen, from Holland, had obviously sensed some kind of weakness from his adversary and moved in with his bottom-of-the-barrel flush draw.

It looked to be a fine move: Douglas Champie, PokerStars qualifier from the United States, had to think for nearly five minutes, running through the possible hands that he might be up against. "Aces?" he muttered, before calling with K-J for top pair.

That's when he saw the flush draw, and he dodged the two bullets on the turn and river to knock out Mr 5-7.

"I only played one qualifier," he told me as he stacked his 28,000 chips. He could take it a long way.

Meanwhile, Patrick Antonius, who made his first real splash on the live circuit with a third place here in season two, just doubled up courtesy of a total cold deck. Antonius had 10-J, his opponent K-Q and the board was K-Q-9. Enough said.

Elsewhere, Johnny Chan is not content with hogging somewhere near the chip lead. He's also looking for some side action and has found a customer in Sorel Mizzi. According to reliable sources, they're betting &euro1,000 on each flop: if it's mainly black, Chan gets it. If it's mainly red, it goes to Mizzi.

After the first hand was taken down by a pre-flop raise, thwarting the gamblers, Chan ended up calling another raiser the next time with 10-9 of diamonds. Not only did a 10 flop, earning the real pot for Chan, but he also took the prop bet as black outnumbered red on the board.

Mizzi looked on as Chan explained his dubious call: "I had two red cards!" he said.

Ask any poker player what is their least favourite hold 'em hand, and it's likely that a fair number will answer J-J. Unless there's been some crazy action before it reaches you, allowing a fairly simple pre-flop fold, pocket hooks usually present one of those rock/hard place decisions.

If you raise and get action, the chances are you're a coin-flip at best - any Q-K-A on the flop and you're worried; any three undercards might have made someone else a set. If you raise and get no callers, you've managed to nick the minimum with, supposedly, one of the best two-card holdings in the game.

Or, this could happen. Which is worse. (And it happened to the best, I'm sure you'll notice. So don't feel so rough the next time it happens to you.)

Greg Raymer saw the knaves pre-flop and made a fairly standard raise to 800. A short stack to his left took less time than we might expect to shove his entire 4,425 stack into the middle. Greg didn't have a great deal more than that, and figured it's a mandatory call. At this stage, and with that stack, a coin flip is fine.

It's even better when your opponent tables K-J for the bluff. But it can go horribly south when the five community cards come Q-4-4-5-6. No problem? Not if four of those are clubs, and that rogue king across the table is black and club-shaped.

Greg was felted.

But, ever the battler, the former world champ was happy to shove his remaining 800-odd into the middle on the very next hand. The big blind is almost priced in to the call, and eventually does, tabling Q-J. And, guess what, Raymer has J-J again.

"Surely I can't lose against two hands that I'm dominating," he says.

This, I'm afraid, was hubris.

The first four cards off the deck are fine: A-K-K-5, rainbow.

"At least I won't lose to the flush this time," Raymer says.

True. But out popped the queen on the river and the Fossilman is OUT.

There's been mixed fortunes for the big names in the tournament so far, with the likes of Dario Minieri bludgeoning his way out of the tournament, while Greg Raymer just doubled up his meagre short-stack courtesy of an ace flopping for his A-4 to outdraw an opponent's 10-10.

Elsewhere, Daniel Negreanu has spent four hours amassing 500 more than he started; Luca Pagano is on about 7,800 and Isabelle Mercier's finely manicured nails are scratching the felt around her 3,500 in chips.

And for shark fans: Humberto Brenes has 8,900. Chomp, chomp.

Humberto Brenes

Among the others:

Thomas Wahlroos - 22,000
Liz Lieu - 9,500
Jorge Correia - 12,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Marc Goodwin - 10,400
Martin Wendt - 8,500
Karl Mahrenholz - 7,500
Dennis Plejdrup - 7,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
Terence Chan - 8,800
Top Ramassen - 31,000
Rolf Slotboom - 8,000
Daniel Stern - 27,000
Johnny Chan - 40,000+
Lex Veidhuis - 13,500
Alexander Stevic - 8,500
Peter Eichhardt - 6,700
Mads Anderson - 7,000
Ben Grundy - 3,000
Patrick Antonius - 15,000
Ross Boatman - 5,900
Sonny Petersen - 2,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Marcel Luske - 8,000

We're down to 239 players from more than 270 who started today (final count and payouts are imminent). It's approaching the end of level four where the blinds are 100-200.

That's the word that applies to both Greg Raymer and Dario Minieri after they each got involved in the early skirmishes.

Dario, never one to hang around, moved all in on a flop of 4s Ks 5h, a 10,000 re-raise of another player's meagre 2,000 bet. That other player thought for a moment, before calling with pocket sixes - a call that hints at the kind of respect Dario's bets usually command at these events.

As it turns out, this one was a pretty good call. Dario was on a steal -- a semi-bluff at best, with the mighty 5s 3s, or a pretty feeble flush draw, in other words.

Dario Minieri makes a familiar forward motion

This time it failed to hit and the young Italian is down to 2,000 and change. Which, if past history is anything to go by, will have either trebled or vanished by the time I finish writing this next word.

As for Raymer, he was aggressive and unlucky, a combination that usually ends in a hefty stack sliding into the distance. He had Jd-10d and bet 1,000 on a nice looking flop of Jc-5d-3d. But after the 2d turned, Fossilman's adversary came out betting: 1,500 into this growing pot.



Greg Raymer: anguished

Greg called with his made flush, and the river was a harmless 5c. Somehow both players managed to check here, and Raymer's opponent showed Kd-9d, a bigger flush than the former World Champion's.

Crippled, but it probably could have been worse.

Update: Johnny Chan is the likely chip leader after winning a three-way coup with A-K. One opponent was all in pre-flop, the other folded on the turn to a hefty bet from Chan. The Orient Express had hit his ace, but the premature folder was distraught to see a seven appear on the river, which they saw to determine the winner of the main pot. It would have made a set with the pocket sevens he claimed to have folded. As it is, Chan won about 12,000 to more than double his starting stack.

As ever on the EPT, the Barcelona field is swelled by a sizeable number of PokerStars qualifiers, that significant bunch of "just another internet player" who seem to invite the scorn of the so-called established names, before relieving the contemptuous of their chips, titles and dignity.

It's likely to be no different here. Lurking among the TV pros today are 36 players who won their seats in online satellites hosted by PokerStars. And some of them are already attracting the attention that they probably deserve.

Take Sonny Petersen, a 26-year-old qualifier from the Faroe Islands. The Faroes are hardly renowned as a poker hotbed, but then they're hardly renowned for very much at all*. This small group of islands, positioned between Norway and Iceland in the Norwegian sea, has a population of a little more than 48,000, making it the 202nd largest country in the world, just smaller than St Kitts and Nevis, but bigger than the Cayman Islands.

Sonny Petersen: Faroes' finest

There are no casinos in the Faroes and certainly no poker rooms. But that didn't stop Petersen entering a $100 satellite to the $1,000 EPT qualifier and winning both, earning him his spot in Barcelona.

And that in itself is big news in the Faroe Islands: Petersen was interviewed on a national radio station about his qualification, and now carries the weight of a country, albeit a tiny one, on his shoulders. We'll follow his progress on behalf of all the Faroese -- and PokerStars players -- here.

Also in today's field Jorge Correia, from Portugal, and New Zealander Clinton Herring. Correia's progress to the EPT cost him a grand total of $22 after he won a special PokerStars qualifier restricted to Spanish and Portuguese players.

Just one seat was on offer in this unique qualifier, and it went to Correia, which was all the more impressive since he didn't take a single rebuy. (An add-on at the end of the rebuy period accounts for the additional $10 he had to spend.)

Correia is on the same table as Marc Goodwin and Liz Lieu.

Herring's journey from New Zealand to Barcelona clocks in at around 8,000 miles. So it's just as well that he didn't take too long in qualifying: he signed up to PokerStars about two days before entering his first EPT satellite, from which he qualified at the first attempt.

To get near the money will take significantly longer, but with a played one, won one record in PokerStars organised events, he could be one to watch here.

"I'm in first place. Write that," chimed Anton Smolyanskiy, a PokerStars player from New York City. He was right: the tournament hadn't quite started yet, so technically his 10,000 chip stack was as dominant as any other.

With confidence like that, there's plenty this actuary from Manhattan, originally from Russia, could achieve. And if he gets stuck in Barcelona, he's happy as well.

"This place is awesome," he said. "I could live here."

His reason?

"Everybody works so slowly. It's awesome."

*Except, obscure soccer stats fans, once holding Scotland to a faintly amusing 2-2 draw in a European Championship qualifying match in 2002.

"It looks like a bit of a tougher field today," understated a PokerStars colleague here in Barcelona.

And he's right.

One of the common trends during these multi-tiered first days is a tendency for the well-known touring pros to sit out the early exchanges, forsaking a day off in the middle of the tournament for a one night fewer away from home.

That usually means precisely what has transpired here: around the 30 or so tables in the Gran Casino Barcelona is assembled one of the most glittering fields in world poker.

Let's just take a quick look around:

Representing Team PokerStars today we have:

Daniel Negreanu (Canada) -- Team PokerStars' latest addition is making his debut on the EPT. But with three WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles, he has the chance to complete a unique hat-trick here in Barcelona.

Greg Raymer (USA) -- Fossilman is yet to cash in an EPT event, but the 2004 World Champion remains one of the most feared players in any field.

Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica) -- Two WSOP bracelets, three WPT final tables, a sun visor, moustache and trademark plastic sharks. You know who we're talking about.

Isabelle Mercier (Canada) -- "No Mercy" has shown characteristically little mercy on the European Poker Tour and has cashed three times with one final table appearance.

Luca Pagano (Italy) -- Among the most successful EPT players, Luca made two final tables in season one and has four other cashes in EPT events.



PokerStars sponsored pro:

Dario Minieri (Italy) -- Undoubtedly one of the most exciting players on the tour, this PokerStars Supernova is always one to watch.

Among the others:

Johnny Chan (USA) -- Few players need less introduction than the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner. But he's a rookie here. It's the Orient Express's first EPT appearance.

John Shipley (England) -- Made the World Series main event final table in 2002, and won the first EPT event to be held in London. Here, he's a PokerStars qualifier.

David Colclough (Wales) -- Among the most well-respected and most feared British pros. A former European player of the year with 16 cashes in World Series events.

Marcel Luske (Holland) -- The Flying Dutchman has been on two EPT final tables, including the Grand Final in season two. Mentor to PokerStars' own Noah Boeken.

Juha Helppi (Finland) -- Ten WSOP cashes and a WPT title for this highly-ranked Finnish player.

Praz Bansi (England) -- World Series bracelet winner in 2006, highly ranked British player.

Liz Lieu (USA) -- A "spectators' favourite", Lieu has amassed more than $500,000 in tournament winnings including three cashes in World Series events.


Alexander Stevic (Sweden) -- Winner of the first ever EPT event in Barcelona in 2004, Stevic followed up with third place in the season one Grand Final.

Ben Grundy (England) -- Four cashes on the EPT for the Milky Bar Kid, including seventh and tenth places in successive Monte Carlo Grand Finals.

Jonas Molander (Sweden) -- Ninth in Dublin during season two; twelfth in London and seventh in Baden during season three. One of the EPT's most consistent performers.

Theo Jorgensen (Denmark) -- Two EPT final table appearances in season two and three.

Peter Eichhardt (Sweden) -- Two final table appearances, in Deauville in season one, and Baden last year.

Fabrice Soulier (France) -- Three World Series final tables and a string of cashes across Europe.

The chip counts have been finalised from yesterday's action. Of the 263 who started, 99 made it through to the second day, with Greg Dyer, of the United States, top of the pile.

Three Team PokerStars members -- Katja Thater, ElkY and Noah Boeken -- are still in the mix, while Sverre Sundbo, a PokerStars sponsored pro here in Barcelona, is among the chip leaders. Moreover, 12 PokerStars satellite qualifiers are also still involved. Of those, Cort Kibler-Melby and Andrey Zaichenko lead the way.

Day 1B begins within the next few hours.

Full chip count from Day 1A:

Gregory Dyer (USA) 76,500
Mark Teltscher (UK) 67,300
Mark Vos (Australia) 64,300
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) 62,600
Sverre Sundbo (Norway) 60,500 (PokerStars sponsored pro)
Massimiliano Rosa (Italy) 60,100
Cort Kibler-Melby (Germany) 59,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
Björn Erik Glenne (Norway) 56,700
Andrey Zaichenko (Russia) 56,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Jose Roldan Vicente (Spain) 53,000
Rayan Nathan (Australia) 52,700
Kitai Davidi Jacob (Belgium) 51,900
Nikolaus Jedlicka (Austria) 50,900
Ilari Sahamies (Finland) 46,900
Ola Brandborn (Sweden) 45,100
Fabrizio Tripicchio (Italy) 44,700
Joan Sastre Durin (Spain) 42,900
Mika Paasonen (Finland) 41,800
Richard Ashby (UK) 40,500
Michael Wong (USA) 40,100 (PokerStars qualifier)
Eric Scalisi (France) 39,400
Tutev Yovor Anastasov (Bulgaria) 38,800
Sebastien Compte (France) 37,400
Pepe Laborde (France) 36,200 (PokerStars qualifier)
Thierry Cazals (France) 34,900
Juan Maceiras Lapido (Spain) 34,200
Jean Pierre Petroli (France) 34,000
Jesus Manuel Garde Belio (Spain) 32,100
Sampo Lopponen (Finland) 31,100
Francisco Lopez Martos (Spain) 30,700
Marcus Friman (Sweden) 30,000
Daan Ruiter (Holland) 29,400
Lukas Benkovic (Slovakia) 28,900 (PokerStars qualifier)
Youssef Fawaz (France) 28,800
Nickolaos Panopoulos (Greece) 28,500
Bal Cees (Holland) 28,000
Mark Dickstein (USA) 27,800
Carles Llado Fabregas (Spain) 27,800
Alesko Isaia (Italy) 27,600
Mario Georgiev (Bulgaria) 26,800
Pete Giordano (USA) 26,500
Samir Rahal (France) 25,800
Julian Thew (UK) 25,400
Thomas Fuller (USA) 25,000
Emmanuel Loubradou (France) 23,000
Gunnar Oestebroed (Norway) 23,000
Brandon Schaefer (USA) 22,000
Juan Pastor Baez (Spain) 21,100
Eric Hardt (USA) 20,900 (PokerStars qualifier)
Noah Boeken (Holland) 20,800 (Team PokerStars)
Santiago Holguin Lopez (Spain) 20,600
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (France) 20,100 (Team PokerStars)
Erik Tamm (Sweden) 19,200
Ramzi Jelassi (Sweden) 18,700
Borge Dypvik (Norway) 18,400
Joep Durkstra (Holland) 17,900
Daniele Mazzia (Italy) 17,900
Katja Thater (Germany) 17,900 (Team PokerStars)
Walter Srour (Brazil) 17,800
Michael Greco (UK) 16,600
Christopher Ulsrud (Norway) 16,600
Tomas Brolin (Sweden) 16,500
Jason Coyle (UK) 15,800
Jgors Kalinicenko (Latvia) 15,700
Marc Naalden (Holland) 15,400
Christophe Palmeri (France) 15,400
Janne Juutilainen (Finland) 15,300
Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) 15,300
Phillips Starrs (UK) 15,100 (PokerStars qualifier)
Gianluca Gentili (Italy) 14,900 (PokerStars qualifier)
Carlos Isaac Garcia Frontelo (Spain) 14,800 (PokerStars qualifier)
Andreas Hagen (Norway) 14,500
Paul Testud (France) 14,200
Atle Walgren (Norway) 14,100
Peter Tofting (Denmark) 13,900
Pascal Barrau (France) 13,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
Piero Monzio Compagnoni (Italy) 13,000
Frederik Vestberg (Sweden) 13,000
Phil Gordon (USA) 12,700
Paul Wasicka (USA) 12,500
Anders Henriksson (Sweden) 12,300 (PokerStars qualifier)
Stephane Daniel Subrenat (France) 11,600 (PokerStars qualifer)
Peter Bertelsen (Sweden) 11,300
Sonny Ridgewell (UK) 11,200
Alexander Roumeliotis (Sweden) 11,100 (PokerStars qualifier)
Ole Gabriel Holgersen (Norway) 11,000
Dan Carter (UK) 10,600
David Williams (USA) 10,100
Michael Keiner (Germany) 9,900
Annette Obrestad (Norway) 9,700
Isaac Baron (USA) 9,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
Henrik Waern (Sweden) 9,200
Jerome Ferron (France) 7,700
Jerome Zerbib (France) 7,000
Alexander Hanell (Sweden) 6,800
Orjan Holt (Norway) 6,400
Lee McCreery (UK) 6,000
Nicola Filesi (Italy) 5,500
Rob Hollink (Holland) 4,800

Things have just about wrapped here in Barcelona and the players are bagging up their chips and heading to the bar bed.

It's been a good day for Team PokerStars, with all four of those who started still breathing at the end of it all. Katja Thater has a little over 17,000; ElkY nearer 19,000; Noah just over 21,000 and Sverre Sundbo up to 60,500 by close of play.

Some of the PokerStars qualifiers are going great guns too. Andrey Zaichenko, from Russia, just bagged up 55,000 chips; Cort Kibler-Melby, from Germany, has 59,450. Also returning on Wednesday are Phil Starrs, from the UK, who has about 19,000 and Samuel Laborde, from France, who's sticking 36,000 under his pillow tonight.

As ever in these huge events, there are players we will have missed and players who will come from nowhere to soar into the chip lead. The full chip count will be posted here and on the EPT site as soon as it's made official by Thomas Kremser, EPT tournament director, and his super-efficient casino staff.

Check back tomorrow for full coverage of day 1B, which is certain to be another star-studded affair.

In the meantime, here's what happened today:

Welcome to Barcelona
An introduction to some of the notables
The rise and fall of Gobboboy
Boeken and Shaefer go in opposite directions
Cort Kibler-Melby: an early contender
Sverre versus Supernova

You give action, you get action. It's one of those poker precepts that everyone who's anyone knows and loves -- until it turns around and bites you somewhere unpleasant.

Sverre Sundbo, Team PokerStars representative from Norway, gives action. He also gives plenty of chat and usually sports an incorrigible smile. That is, until he ends up shipping the best part of 20,000 to a neighbour holding K-5.

Rewind.

I arrived at Sverre's table to find him sporting shorts and flip-flops, a book opened beneath his seat, and a huge stack on the table in front of him. As usual, he's also engaged in pleasant conversation with anyone around, but breaks his monologue to announce "call" when a short stack in the nine seat moved all in pre-flop. Sundbo tabled A-9, the short-stack showed A-K. Sverre winced.

But the flop was kind and showed that magic nine. Sverre winced again, but this time out of sympathy. Handshakes were offered and the unlucky holder of the big slick slipped into the night.

Two hands later, though, and Sundbo is involved again. This time it's a battle of the blinds between the Norwegian and Nikolaus Jedlicka, PokerStars Supernova from Austria. Sverre makes it up, Jedlicka checks and the dealer peels off 5s 5h 4c.

Sverre checks, Jedlicka bets, Sverre calls.

Sverre Sundbo, left, and Nikolaus Jedlicka take a nap after their confrontation

The turn is an innocuous looking Js, but this is when the action starts. Check from Sverre, bet from Jedlicka, raise from Sundbo. Jedlicka thinks, but not so long that it appears he's got a real decision. In fact, he announces all in and tosses in an extra 8,000 or so.

Sverre now has the decision, and in keeping with the way the hand had played out to this point, he keeps it brief. "Call," he says.

Jedlicka now shows his K-5 for trips and a pretty sizeable kicker. Sundbo mucks. "I'm drawing dead," he says.

The table tries to determine what he had. Sundbo tells them that it's obvious what he had. He couldn't beat any real hand but put Jedlicka on a complete bluff or a draw. The chips go to Austria, and Sundbo picks up his book. It's upside down, he puts it away and carries on the chatter.

He's down, but by no means out. Sundbo still sits with about 28,000, while Jedlicka nurses something very similar.

Players are now taking a 15 minute break before we enter level seven, where the blinds will be 200-400 with a 50 ante. We're playing eight levels only today, meaning a relatively early finish of just after 3am.

Play is still racing along. We're down to 136 players of the original 263 and it's fair to expect that we'll comfortably break the 100 level tonight. Tomorrow's field will be bigger: there are some players who didn't show today who will be included tomorrow, while plenty of pros pre-registered for Wednesday, preferring to play three days straight, with any luck, rather than take a day off.

Among the notable chip-stacks, or notable names, are the following:

David Williams -- 34,000
Noah Boeken -- 19,000
Sverre Sundbo -- 46,000
Anette Obrestad -- 21,000
Brandon Shaefer -- 15,000
Mark Teltscher -- 48,000
Cort Kibler-Melby -- 55,000
Katja Thater -- 19,00
Mickey Wernick -- 13,000
Paul Testud -- 26,000
Roland de Wolfe -- 9,000
Ilari Sahamies -- 30,000
Phil Gordon -- 13,000
Michael Greco -- 21,000
Rob Hollink -- 2,500
ElkY -- 20,000
William Thorson -- 3,500
Paul Wasicka -- 19,000
Ramzi Jelassi -- 26,000
Richard Ashby -- 23,000
Johnny Lodden -- 19,000
Julian Thew -- 10,500
Thierry Cazals -- 21,000

Among the notable eliminations:

Ram Vaswani
John Kabbaj
Jimmy Fricke
Jani Sointula
Sorel Mizzi

Spotted in the crowd:

Johnny Chan

Here's what's been going on today so far:

Welcome to Barcelona
An introduction to some of the notables
The rise and fall of Gobboboy
Boeken and Shaefer go in opposite directions
Cort Kibler-Melby: an early contender

Jimmy Fricke's destroyer was a player named Cort Kibler-Melby, a PokerStars qualifier from Germany. Kibler-Melby has been destroying pretty much anyone and everyone so far and is the early chip leader here in Barcelona, with close to 70,000 in chips.

Cort Kibler-Melby

That's no mean feat, given that his starting table included Fricke, Rob Hollink and Jani Sointula. Fricke's place has now been taken by the equally fearsome Anette Obrestrad, better known to quivering online opponents as annete15.

It's the action table, no doubt, and most of it so far is going in Kibler-Melby's favour.

Update: Kibler-Melby's table has just broken. But it doesn't get any easier: he's now to the right of William Thorson and directly opposite Brandon Shaefer.

Meanwhile, Team PokerStars members Noah Boeken and Katja Thater are sitting on around 11,000, while Sverre Sundbo is enjoying his opening table and is up to around 37,000.

Chip counting in these early stages of an EPT tournament is a particularly fruitless endeavour. You scan your eyes up and down a variously ordered stack of chips, before deducing that the player in question has more or less 10,000. Or somewhere near what they started with, in other words.

Obviously that's not absolutely precise, because we've just finished level four now and already more than 50 players are out. Their chips have scattered across the remaining 209, who, after a 15 minute break, will play be posting blinds of 150-300 as we enter level five.

Noah "Exclusive" Boeken might wish the break had come a hand or two earlier. He just shipped about 9,000 of his chips to an unknown opponent after a decidely crafty river bet. Looking at a board of 7s As 5c 6d 5d and holding A-K for two pair, Boeken had a big decision to make. His opponent had moved all in when the second five fell on the river; a massive overbet of about 7,000 into a pot of just 4,000.

Eventually Noah called and was shown 5s 4s. If Exclusive had put his opponent on a missed flush draw, he'd have been right. But that missed draw had just rivered trips, leaving Boeken scratching his head and down to about 4,000.

Moving in the right direction, however, is Brandon Schaefer, from the United States. Schaefer has one of the most impressive EPT records of all: played three, won one, runner-up in one. That success came in season one, when he triumphed in Deauville, France (after qualifying on PokerStars) and riding his free ticket to second spot in the Monte Carlo Grand Final.

Brandon Schaefer


This time around, Schaefer has bought in directly and must have loved a flop of A-K-7 when he was holding pocket kings. There'd been some pre-flop action, which slowed into a trapping battle after the action flop. Schaefer checked, his single opponent checked. On the turn, Brandon fired out a modest bet and was delighted to see his opponent move all-in for about 5,000 more.

Schaefer called, obviously, and was shown pocket jacks. The pot of around 17,000 was moved in his direction.

Another EPT cash here for Schaefer will send him rocketing up the rankings once more.

Update: Jimmy Fricke is out. No details as yet, but he was spotted departing the card room a moment into level five.

EPT players are given 10,000 in chips for their eight grand, with the dealers demanding just 25 and 50 for the blinds in the first one-hour level. But while many players decide to take it easy during the opening exchanges, deciding that survival is the name of the game, others go straight for the jugular -- and sometimes straight for the exit door.

Ram Vaswani, the leading player in the EPT rankings, is one such casualty. He was seen disappearing into the Barcelona sunset barely an hour after this whole thing started.

Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke, the well-known internet player, who burst onto the live scene with second place in this year's Aussie Millions, is playing a similarly dangerous game.

Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke

Fricke, who has found himself on the same table as Rob Hollink and Jani Sointula on his EPT debut, was the only player for the first couple of levels who seemed to want to mix it up. He stole a lot of blinds, and increased his stack accordingly, but then got involved in one of those crazy pots where no one is really sure what's going on or why, but about 5,000 gets shipped in an opponents' direction.

When I got to the table, the flop was already down after what seemed to be some moderate pre-flop action. Fricke was against one other player, who check raised the flop of 10s 4c 2h. Fricke re-raised, opponent called.

The turn was the Js, which didn't seem to be the kind of card that could help much. Fricke's opponent bet 2,000 - an early outing for two blue 1,000 chips - and Gobboboy thought a while before calling. The river was even more innocuous seeming - the 3c.

Fricke's opponent bet out again, this time 3,000. Once more, Fricke dwelled then called and was shown an unsuited 10-4 for two pair on the flop. Fricke sighed, squeezed his cards once more to himself, then mucked.

At that point, he was down to about 7,000, grateful that his early action had given him the extra breathing space.

Even as the Catalonian sun continues to beat down outside, the stars are out in the Grand Casino Barcelona.

Among today's 263 contenders, cramming the cardroom to bursting point, are the following names, faces and, indeed, bodies:

Click name for player profile from EPT database

Rob Hollink (Holland) - winner of the first EPT Grand Final
Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke (USA) - PokerStars qualifier, second in Aussie Millions 2007
Brandon Shaefer (USA) - winner of EPT France in season one and Grand Final runner up; ninth in all-time EPT rankings
Ram Vaswani (England) - Hendon Mobster, WSOP bracelet winner and leader of EPT rankings
Noah Boeken (Holland) - winner of EPT Copenhagen, season one, among five EPT cashes. Team PokerStars player

Mickey Wernick (England) - former European No 1
Paul Wasicka (USA) - WSOP main event 2006 runner up
Phil Gordon (USA) - multiple WSOP final tablist and WPT champion
Mats Iremark (Sweden) - EPT Deauville champion, season two - PokerStars qualifier

Sverre Sundbo (Norway) - Team PokerStars player
Thomas Brolin (Sweden) - former international soccer player
Julian Thew (England) - six cashes on EPT, including two final tables
Mark Naalden (Holland) - third in EPT Copenhagen, season two
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (France) - Team PokerStars player, Supernova, second in EPT Copenhagen, season three

Andreas Hoivold (Norway) - winner EPT German Open, season three
Johnny Lodden (Norway) - Internet legend, four cashes in EPT
Roland De Wolfe - EPT Dublin winner, season three. WPT winner.

Katja Thater - Team PokerStars player. Winner of WSOP bracelet 2007.

William Thorsson (Sweden) - Third in EPT Dublin, season three

Here's something you don't hear every day.

How would you like to play on the EPT? In Barcelona? Tomorrow?

One of the PokerStars qualifiers over here in Spain has managed to lose his passport, meaning he can't register at the Grand Casino Barcelona. But his seat needs filling - and it's yours if you want it.

The buy-in here is €8,000, and the seat is availabe to anyone with the dollar equivalent ($10,900 approximately) in their PokerStars account. You'll need to find your way to Barcelona in time to play at 5pm tomorrow, and take a shot at that prize pool, estimated at around 4 million total.

Interested? If so, e-mail ept@pokerstars.com as soon as possible.

It would be a story to end all stories.

Hello and a very warm welcome to beautiful, balmy, beach-side Barcelona and the beginning of season four of the European Poker Tour.

The success story for the EPT continues, with 550 players pre-registered for this €8,000 ($10,900 approx) event. To put that into perspective, when the first EPT event began in this very casino in September 2004, a grand total of 229 players parted with €1,000 to generate a €229,000 prize pool. Alexander Stevic, of Sweden, took the €80,000 first prize.

This time, Stevic's payout is the equivalent of just ten times the buy-in. And we're looking at a pool of nearer to €4 million. And there are about as many members of the press corps as there were players in that inaugural event.

Also dotted around Barcelona this week are some of the leading lights of the international poker scene. Representing Team PokerStars in Barcelona, we have Greg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, Humberto Brenes, Katja Thater, Isabelle Mercier, Luca Pagano, Noah Boeken and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. We'll follow all their progress closely here.

And that's not all. In fact, that's barely the start of it. As ever, there are a host of PokerStars qualifiers from across the globe hoping to make a name for themselves. Some have qualified for as little as, well, nothing, instead cashing in their frequent player points (FPPs) for a taste of the high-life. Check back here throughout the week to hear their stories and watch their rise or demise.

Day 1A of the tournament is due to get under way any minute. We'll play until 4am, central European time, and then we'll start again with our second contingent tomorrow. Day Two proper begins on Thursday, day three on Friday and a final table of eight will convene on Saturday to play for the big, big money.

Stay tuned. There will be fireworks.

The end of the month brought some big money to the PokerStars Sunday tournament tables. The biggest winner of the day was the United States' Egar1m who picked up more than $243,000! Congratulations to all the people who pulled in the big cash this week. See you next Sunday!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up
Based on finishing order and two-way deal

1. zivziv (Israel) $64,642.86
2. gennaro (Austria) $59,872.50
3. Bryan_Furry9 (Denmark) $29,694.72
4. jpmetalman (United States) $24,042.60
5. mgw21 (United States) $18,854.46
6. ael1979 (Cyprus) $14,214.66
7. conslice (Canada) $9,996.66
8. QuasiFiction (United States) $6,200.46
9. mattymat (United States) $3,711.84


PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand
Based on finishing order and two-way deal

1. ozzieowen (United Kingdom) $16,820.48
2. luckynutz21 (United States) $10,506.54
3. Duecesover3s (United States) $6,376.31
4. O.Mustang (United Kingdom) $4,554.51
5. 72_Chevy (United States) $2,732.71
6. drhoopsmd (United States) $1,821.81
7. DAVIDOXXX (France) $1,457.45
8. bibiaans (Netherlands) $1,184.18
9. mppowerm (Germany )$910.91



PokerStars High Stakes Showdown

1. malicous222 (United States) $25,000.00
2. Iftarii (United States) $15,000.00


PokerStars Sunday Million

1. Egar1m (United States) $243,115.80
2. Sir_DonaldRM (Spain) $123,607.00
3. kaweco (Canada) $81,831.80
4. rk58 (Sweden) $67,422.00
5. MattZman69 (United States) $54,202.00
6. scarface_79 (United States) $40,982.00
7. jeffreyjjj (United States) $28,819.60
8. pokerguru69 (United States) $18,243.60
9. OnlyPlayRagz (United States) $10,576.00

Barcelona Final Table Report

London Final Report

Baden Final Report

Dublin Final Report

Copenhagen Final Report

Germany Final Report

Poland Final Report

Monte Carlo Final Report

European Poker Tour Monte Carlo

European Poker Tour Barcelona

European Poker Tour London

European Poker Tour Baden

European Poker Tour Dublin

European Poker Tour Copenhagen

European Poker Tour Deauville

Filed by Sean Callander

The name of Brett Parise will be etched in poker history forever as the first winner on the new PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).

Parise, a 22-year-old political science student originally from Indiana in the USA, outlasted a field of 255 players at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila, Philippines, to pocket the first prize of $179,775: one of the biggest tournament prizes ever awarded in Asian poker.

What makes Parise’s performance more impressive is that he qualified for the tournament via a free-entry tournament on PokerStars.

Holding a 2:1 chip lead when the heads-up battle with Thailand-based US lawyer Ira Blumenthal started, Parise gradually wore down his more experienced opponent. On the final hand, Parise called the all-in bet of Blumenthal with a pair of 10s. Blumenthal’s hand of J 5 was dominated and did not improve on a board of Ks Qc 9c Kh 9h.

The minor placings were filled by another US student Nicholas Bamman (third), PokerStars’ Supernova Van Marcus (Australia) and Maor Feldinger, an Israeli student playing in his first major poker tournament.

The APPT continues next month at the Paradise Seoul Casino at the Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. That event is scheduled for September 26-30. The APPT grand final will then be held at Star City Casino in Sydney from December 13-16.

Final results (APPT Manila, Hyatt Hotel and Casino, Manila, Philippines)

1. Brett Parise (USA) $179,775
2. Ira Blumenthal (Thailand) $113,858
3. Nicholas Bamman (USA) $62,921
4. Van Marcus (Australia) $44,940
5. Maor Feldinger (Isreal) $35,955
6. Roger Spets (Sweden) $26,966
7. Bas van Liere (Netherlands) $20,974
8. Kazuhiro Sato (Japan) $14,981
9. Derrick Hernandez (Philippines) $11,386
10. Steve Junhee Yea (South Korea) $8390
11. Carlo Gosselin (Thailand) $8390
12. D’amor Nario (Philippines) $8390
13. Alexander Fitzgerald (USA) $5993
14. Carlos Lascano (Philippines) $5993
15. Ronald Javier (Philippines) $5993
16. Se Jin Lee (South Korea) $5993
17. Eric Sia $4794
18. Nicolas Chouity (Lebanon) $4794
19. Steven Djingga (Indonesia) $4794
20. Kelly Flynn (USA) $4794
21. Seung Soo Jeon (South Korea) $4794
22. Ronald Singson $4794
23. Jean-Marc Hauducoeur (France) $4794
24. Dan Idema (Canada) $4794

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 201: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal all-in and he takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 202: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise makes it 90,000 from the small blind and hauls in another pot.

Hand 203: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – A free pass for Parise.

Hand 204: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise raises to 60,000 and Blumenthal calls. Parise bets 150,000 on the turn and takes it down.

Hand 205: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal says “I’m all-in”. Parise requests a count, and the call will cost him 270,000, but he passes.

Hand 206: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise’s raise is 60,000 from the small blind, Blumenthal folds.

Hand 207: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Another free pass, this time for Blumenthal.

Hand 208: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Yep, another free pass, this one goes to Parise.

Hand 209: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – With blinds at 30,000/60,000 and antes of 5000, Blumenthal has announced all-in and Parise folds.

Hand 210: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise declares all-in from the small blind and Blumenthal folds.

filed by Sean Callander

Hand 191: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – No action in hand 191 as Blumenthal folds from the small blind.

Hand 192: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Blumenthal goes all-in and Parise folds after initially calling.

Hand 193: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Parise pushes all-in and Blumenthal folds. Parise is slowly turning the screws on Blumenthal in this heads-up match.

Hand 194: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise is all-in again, and again Blumenthal wants no part of it.

Hand 195: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal is down to 220,000 and gives a straight pass to Brett Parise.

Hand 196: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise goes all-in and this time, he gets a call from Blumenthal. Parise shows Qd 10h against Blumenthal’s 8c 6c. The flop is 2s 2c 8h, giving Blumenthal a pair. The turn is Ah and the river 3c, doubling Blumenthal to just under 400,000.

Hand 197: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Straight pass to Blumenthal.

Hand 198: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise in the small blind raises to 90,000, and Blumenthal folds.

Hand 199: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal is all-in from the small blind and gets no action.

Hand 200: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise pops it to 90,000 and Blumenthal folds.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 181: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal raises 100,000 and makes it two hands in a row, just the third hand he’s won of the 11 played so far heads-up.

Hand 182: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – There’s a raise to 100,000 from Parise and he claims the pot.

Hand 183: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – This time, it’s Blumenthal who pops it up to 90,000 and he scoops it in.

Hand 184: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise raises to 60,000 and he gets a call. The flop is 5c 7d 8h and both players check. The turn is 5s, Blumenthal bets 75,000 and Parise calls. The river is the Ad, Blumenthal checks, Parise bets out 160,000 and Blumenthal passes the sugar to the 23-year-old American.

Hand 185: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal makes it 60,000 to go and he is called by Parise. The flop reads 9d 7s 7h. Both check before the turn card, the 6c. Parise checks, Blumenthal bets 75,000 and Parise folds.

Hand 186: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise bumps it to 90,000 and Blumenthal folds.

Hand 187: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal raises to 90,000 in the small blind and Parise folds.

Hand 188: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise makes it 90,000 and Blumenthal calls. The flop arrives Jc 5c 2s. Check check and the turn is Ac. Parise announces all-in and Blumenthal folds.

Hand 189: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal raises 90,000 from the small blind, Parise goes all-in and Blumenthal folds.

The short stack has only 260,000 remaining.

Hand 190: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – No betting as Parise folds pre-flop.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 171: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Brett Parise starts the heads-up showdown with a precise 2:1 chip lead, 1.7 million to Ira Blumenthal’s 850,000. Brett Parise takes the first pot.

Hand 172: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise pops it to 60,000 from the small blind and Blumenthal calls. The flop is 2h 2s 10c. Blumenthal checks, Parise bets 85,000 and takes it down.

Hand 173: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal sticks another 60,000 in the pot per-flop and Parise calls. 5h 9h Kh is the flop, Parise checks and Blumenthal takes the pot with a bet of 100,000.

Hand 174: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise raises to 60,000 and gets an immediate call. The flop is all clubs – 4 A 3 – and both players check. The turn is As, Blumenthal checks, Parise bets 85,000 and is called. The river card is 8d, Blumenthal bets 150,000, Parise raises to 340,000 and claims a big pot.

Hand 175: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal raises 200,000 from the small blind and claims the pot. Parise is up to 190,000, Blumenthal has 620,000.

Hand 176: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise calls, Blumenthal raises to 90,000 in the big blind and Parise makes it an extra 200,000. No mas, says Blumenthal.

Hand 177: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal calls and Parise checks. The flop is 9d 8c 9c, and it’s check check. Parise bets 65,000 on a turn card of 10h, and Blumenthal folds.

Hand 178: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – It’s another cheap flop of Ah 8d 9s. Parise bets 85,000 and gets a call. The 5s falls on the turn, Blumenthal checks, Parise bets 180,000 and Blumenthal’s cards go into the muck.

Hand 179: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – A free pass for Parise as Blumenthal folds.

Hand 180: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise raises to 60,000 from the small blind and Blumenthal calls. The flop is 7d Qd 5h. Parise bets 85,000 and Blumenthal declares all-in. It will cost Parise an additional 210,000 to call, but he doesn’t.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 161: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Parise raises to 95,000, and Blumenthal folds.

Hand 162: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Brett Parise (seat 3) – No action for Bamman in the big blind.

Hand 163: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Nicolas Bamman (seat 2) – Bamman raises to 80,000 and gets a call from Blumenthal. The flop is 8s 4h Qc. The bet is 100,000 from Blumenthal and Bamman calls. Blumenthal bets 200,000 on the turn (5d) and takes it down.

Hand 164: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 3) – Blumenthal pushes all-in from the small blind and there’s no interest from Bamman.

Hand 165: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal calls, Bamman declares all-in and Blumenthal passes.

Hand 166: Brett Parise

Button: Nicolas Bamman (seat 2) – Bamman folds and the blinds get into a pot. The flop is 10h Jd 6c, Parise checks, Blumenthal bets 30,000 and Parise calls. The turn is 10d, and it goes check check. The Ad on the river brings a 125,000 from Parise and he wins the pot.

Hand 167: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise passes and Blumenthal’s 120,000 raise is enough to take the biscuits.

Hand 168: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal calls, Bamman is all-in but Parise folds.

Hand 169: Brett Parise

Button: Nicolas Bamman (seat 2) – Parise calls and Blumenthal checks in the big blind. The flop is 3 J Q, both check and turns comes 4. Check check again, and the river is a 5. The bet is 50,000 from Parise, Blumenthal calls and Parise shows a seven-high straight. Nice hand.

Hand 170: Brett Parise eliminates Nicholas Bamman in 3rd position ($62,921)

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise’s bet is 100,000, Bamman pushes all-in and gets an immediate call. Parise shows Ad 7s while Bamman has Ks Kh. The flop shows 7c 6d 10c, the turn is a 7h and the river is 9h, ending Bamman’s tournament in third spot. We’re down to heads-up between the young American Brett Parise and the Thailand-based US lawyer Ira Blumenthal.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 151: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal raises to 70,000, Bamman folds and Parise reraises to 330,000. Blumenthal folds.

Hand 152: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – This time it’s a raise of 71,000 from Bamman, Parise folds and Blumenthal calls. The flop comes 3h Jd 4h, Blumenthal checks, Bamman bets 100,000 and gathers the pot.

Hand 153: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise folds, Blumenthal raises to 75,000 and Bamman folds.

Hand 154: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal folds, Bamman calls in the small blind but Parise throws another 85,000 into the pot. Bamman says no thanks.

Hand 155: Ira Blumenthal

A J 4
Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – It’s a free pass for Blumenthal – a shame, as he shows pocket kings.

Hand 156: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – On the last hand before the break, Parise folds, Blumenthal raises to 70,000 and there’s a call from Bamman.
The flop comes A A J, and it’s check check. On the turn of 4h, Blumenthal bets 70,000, and takes the pot.

Hand 157: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blinds will now be 15,000/30,000 with 5000. Chip counts with three players remaining are: Nicholas Bamman 560,000, Brett Parise 1.165 million and Ira Blumenthal 825,000. Bamman raises to 80,000 on the button and takes the pot.

Hand 158: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Blumenthal’s additional raise of 100,000 on the big blind is enough to scare Parise out of the pot.

Hand 159: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise raises to 80,000 and Bamman calls. The flop is Kc 8h Js, Parise bets 100,000 and scoops the chips.

Hand 160: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Parise gets a free pass in the big blind.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 141: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Bamman gets a free pass in the big blind.

Hand 142: Van Marcus

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Marcus bumps it up to 48,000, Bamman gets out of the way and Parise passes.

Hand 143: Brett Parise eliminates Van Marcus in 4th position ($44,940)

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Marcus is first to act and declares all-in. Parise makes the call in the small blind for 215,000. Blumenthal folds, Parise shows Ah Jd and Marcus has Ad 5h. The flop is 8s Jh 3h, and a 6d leaves Marcus drawing dead. The meaningless river card is a Jc. The best credentialed player at the final table, Australia’s Van Marcus, is out in fourth position.

Hand 144: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Bamman gets a walk in the big blind.

Hand 145: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – First to act, Blumenthal pops it up to 70,000, Parise then raises an extra 160,000 and Blumenthal folds.

Hand 146: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Bamman raises to 80,000 and takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 147: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Blumenthal raises to 75,000 and doesn’t get any action.

Hand 148: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – This time first to act, Blumenthal matches the bet of the previous hand with a bet of 75,000. Again, he takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 149: Brett Parise

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Parise follows the pattern and bets 75,000 to scoop up the pot.

Hand 150: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Blumenthal makes it three out of four with a raise of 70,000.

Filed by Sean Parisi

Hand 131: Maor Feldinger

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Feldinger pushes all-in from the small blind and Marcus folds. Feldinger shows 3 5 offsuit.

Hand 132: Brett Parise

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Parise raises to 110,000 and gets a call from Blumenthal. The flop is 7s 3s 10c. Parise bets 150,000 and takes the chocolates.

Hand 133: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Four-way action between Blumenthal, Marcus, Parise and Bamman. The board comes Qs 9d 4d. Blumenthal bets 150,000, Marcus raises to 650,000, the other two get out of the way and Blumenthal calls with top pair (Qh Js). Marcus has a flush draw (Ad 10d). The turn is 5c and the river 6s, missing Marcus and shipping a pot of just over 1 million in chips to Blumenthal.

Hand 134: Maor Feldinger

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Approximate chip counts are Blumenthal 1 million, Marcus 300,000, Bamman 300,000, Parise 850,000 and Feldinger 200,000. Feldinger declares all-in and takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 135: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Bamman goes all-in but gets no callers and wins the pot.

Hand 136: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal pops it to 200,000, and gets no interest from the blinds. He shows Kd Qd.

Hand 137: Nicholas Bamman eliminates Maor Feldinger in 5th position ($35,955)

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Feldinger goes all-in again but this time gets a call from Bamman, who shows As 7c, against Feldinger’s Jd 9d. The flop of 5c Qs 8c misses both players, as does the 2s but a 7d gives Bamman the pot and ends the hopes of a dream tournament debut for the popular young Israeli, who’s made plenty of new friends here in Manila. That’s our first elimination in 36 hands.

Hand 138: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Latest chip count after Feldinger’s elimination is Bamman 567,000, Parise 789,000, Blumenthal 971,000 and Marcus 223,000 (average stack 637,000). Bamman sniffs at the pot from the small blind and takes the pot.

Hand 139: Brett Parise

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Action folds to the blinds and Parise takes the pot with a raise of 80,000.

Hand 140: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Blumenthal raises all-in and Marcus folds in the big blind.

Hand 121: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – No interest from anyone as Marcus takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 122: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Marcus raises to 60,000, and that’s enough to claim the pot.

Hand 123: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Once again, Marcus pops it up to 60,000 and takes the chips in the middle.

Hand 124: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – This time it’s Blumenthal who gets the free pass.

Hand 125: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise raises to 50,000, and takes it down without any further action. It’s like a sparring session with one bet enough to take the blinds and antes. The value of this play is about to be increased with the new level of 6000/12,000 and antes of 2000.

Hand 126: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – The bet of 80,000 doesn’t interest Feldinger or Marcus.

Hand 127: Brett Parise

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Blumenthal gets it going with a bet of 80,000 and Parise declares all-in. Blumenthal calls, but is miles behind with sevens against Parise’s kings. The board of 5h Ks 2h 3d 9c make Parise a set and he doubles through Blumenthal. That makes a pot of more than 650,000 for the youngest player at the final table.

Hand 128: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Bamman reraises to 190,000 after Marcus raised 60,000. Marcus folds.

Hand 129: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – For the second round in-a-row, Blumenthal takes the pot unchallenged.

Hand 130: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Parise raises to 90,000 on the button and gathers the blinds and antes.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 111: Maor Feldinger

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Feldinger raises to 55,000 from the small blind and gets a pass from Marcus.

Hand 112: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Marcus, in the small blind, makes it 60,000 and gets an all-in call from Bamman in the big blind. Marcus requests a count and goes into the tank. It’s an extra 305,000 to make the call, but he folds.

Hand 113: Van Marcus

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Marcus is another pot with a raise to 55,000. Everyone passes, and he gathers 48,000 in blinds and antes.

Hand 114: Van Marcus

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – In a carbon copy of the previous hand, Marcus makes it 55,000 and gets no callers.

Hand 115: Van Marcus

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Again, Marcus makes it 55,000 and this time, he gets a call from Feldinger. The flop reads Qd Ad Ac, and both players check. The turn is 9d, and again it’s check check. Marcus then pushes all-in after the 4s lands on the river. Feldinger has Marcus covered, but it will take 313,00 to call. Two minutes go by before Feldinger calls, but Marcus shows A Q for a full house. It’s a massive turnaround and takes Van ‘sirens’ Marcus to more than 900,000 in chips.

Hand 116: Van Marcus

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Out of respect for Marcus’s giant pot, no-one goes near his big blind.

Hand 117: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Van Marcus pops it to 60,000 and gets a call from Blumenthal. It’s checked down and Blumenthal ends the run of Marcus scooping in the chips.

Hand 118: Maor Feldinger

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Feldinger makes the push with his short stack but receives calls from Marcus and Parise. It’s checked all the way on a board of 9d 9h 6s 3c Qh, and Feldinger survives when he shows a 6 to make two pair.

Hand 119: Van Marcus

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Marcus makes a move with a raise of 60,000 and takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 120: Maor Feldinger

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Marcus again bumps it up to 60,000 and Feldinger pushes all-in. Marcus calls with As Qh, Feldinger has Kd 9s. The flop of 3h 7d Qc, hitting Marcus. The turn is Js, but Feldinger hits the Kc on the river to stay alive and double through to almost 250,000.

Filed by Sean Callander

The race to find the first Asia Pacific Poker Tour champion is down to five after seven hours and 100 hands of the final table at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila.

The players still in contention for the APPT Manila crown are Australia’s Van Marcus, US duo Brett Parise and Nicholas Bamman, Thai-based American lawyer Ira Blumenthal and Israel’s Maor Feldinger.

Four players have been eliminated so far today. Just nine hands into the action, the last local hope, Filipino Derrick Hernandez bowed out when Parise made a set (three-of-a-kind) of 10s against Hernandez’s pocket aces.

Next out was Japan’s last hope Kazuhiro Sato, who was forced to act as his stack dwindled. Blumenthal called him with pocket jacks, and Sato was always behind holding just 5 4.



In contrast, the Netherlands’ Bas van Liere had plenty of chips when he declared all-in with A 10, only to run into Feldinger’s pocket kings.

The board of 2d Qc Jh gave Van Liere an inside straight draw, but Feldinger’s cowboys held up to send the Dutchman to the rail.



Roger Spets had performed gallantly in his first major poker tournament, leading the event for a significant portion of day two. However, the Swede suffered a devastating blow when he pushed in with just 2 4 against Nicholas Bamman’s K 7 (Bamman made a pair of kings on the river), then was KOed in sixth spot when his pocket sixes were dominated by Blumenthal’s pocket jacks.



The remaining five players are ensured a minimum payout of $35,955, with the winner set to pocket $179,775.

Filed by Sean Callendar

Hand 101: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Marcus calls from the small blind and Bamman checks. It’s checked all the way on a board of 7s 8d 8h 2c Kc, and Marcus takes it down with kings.

Hand 102: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – In a battle of the blinds, the all-in bet of Spets on a board of 5d 7s 5c 6s sends Bamman into the tank but he eventually makes the call with Kd 7h while Spets has an open-ended straight draw with 2h 4c. The Ks on the river gives Bamman the 400,000 pot but makes a major dent in Spets’ stack (now less than 100,000).

Hand 103: Roger Spets

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Spets goes all-in from the small blind for 76,000 and Parise calls from the big blind. Spets has Qd 5h and Parise 8c 2s. The flop is 6d 5c 7c, the turn a Kh and the river a 3c, saving Spets’ tournament bacon.

Hand 104: Ira Blumenthal eliminates Roger Spets in 6th position ($26,966)

Button: Roger Spets (seat 9) – Spets is back in the pot, all-in for about 170,000. Blumenthal also pushes all-in, and his jacks (Js Jh) have Spets’ sixes (6d 6s) dominated. The board comes 8s 9s 3s 3d 4h, sending Spets to the rail, an amazing turnaround in just three hands.

Hand 105: Maor Feldinger

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – We’re just back from the dinner break with five players remaining in the hunt for the first APPT Manila title. The current level is 10,000/20,000 with 200 antes.

The current chip count reads:

• Nicholas Bamman (USA) 467,000
• Brett Parise (USA) 372,000
• Ira Blumenthal (Thailand) 694,000
• Maor Feldinger (Israel) 524,000
• Van Marcus (Australia) 496,000

And Feldinger gets a walk on the first hand after the evening feast.

Hand 106: Van Marcus

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Marcus is the next in the big blind and all players fold to him.

Hand 107: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Blumenthal bumps it up to 65,000 in the cutoff seat and receives calls from Feldinger and Bamman. Blumenthal bets 200,000 on the flop after Bamman checks – Feldinger and Bamman both fold.

Hand 108: Brett Parise

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Marcus makes it 55,000, Parise reraises all-in from the big blind and Marcus folds.

Hand 109: Van Marcus

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Marcus’s raise to 40,000 is enough to scare everyone else out of the pot.

Hand 110: Van Marcus

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Marcus pops it up to 55,000 to take down another pot unchallenged.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 101: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Marcus calls from the small blind and Bamman checks. It’s checked all the way on a board of 7s 8d 8h 2c Kc, and Marcus takes it down with kings.

Hand 102: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – In a battle of the blinds, the all-in bet of Spets on a board of 5d 7s 5c 6s sends Bamman into the tank but he eventually makes the call with Kd 7h while Spets has an open-ended straight draw with 2h 4c. The Ks on the river gives Bamman the 400,000 pot but makes a major dent in Spets’ stack (now less than 100,000).

Hand 103: Roger Spets

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Spets goes all-in from the small blind for 76,000 and Parise calls from the big blind. Spets has Qd 5h and Parise 8c 2s. The flop is 6d 5c 7c, the turn a Kh and the river a 3c, saving Spets’ tournament bacon.

Hand 104: Ira Blumenthal eliminates Roger Spets in 6th position ($26,966)

Button: Roger Spets (seat 9) – Spets is back in the pot, all-in for about 170,000. Blumenthal also pushes all-in, and his jacks (Js Jh) have Spets’ sixes (6d 6s) dominated. The board comes 8s 9s 3s 3d 4h, sending Spets to the rail, an amazing turnaround in just three hands.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 101: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Marcus calls from the small blind and Bamman checks. It’s checked all the way on a board of 7s 8d 8h 2c Kc, and Marcus takes it down with kings.

Hand 102: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – In a battle of the blinds, the all-in bet of Spets on a board of 5d 7s 5c 6s sends Bamman into the tank but he eventually makes the call with Kd 7h while Spets has an open-ended straight draw with 2h 4c. The Ks on the river gives Bamman the 400,000 pot but makes a major dent in Spets’ stack (now less than 100,000).

Hand 103: Roger Spets

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Spets goes all-in from the small blind for 76,000 and Parise calls from the big blind. Spets has Qd 5h and Parise 8c 2s. The flop is 6d 5c 7c, the turn a Kh and the river a 3c, saving Spets’ tournament bacon.

Hand 104: Ira Blumenthal eliminates Roger Spets in 6th position ($26,966)

Button: Roger Spets (seat 9) – Spets is back in the pot, all-in for about 170,000. Blumenthal also pushes all-in, and his jacks (Js Jh) have Spets’ sixes (6d 6s) dominated. The board comes 8s 9s 3s 3d 4h, sending Spets to the rail, an amazing turnaround in just three hands.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 81: Van Marcus

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Marcus raises to 42,000 under the gun and takes the blinds and antes. He shows pocket aces.

Hand 82: Maor Feldinger

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Spets bets 35,000 on a board of Ks Jc 3s and gets a call from Feldinger. The turn is a Ah and river 6d. Feldinger bets 50,000, Spets calls and the 200,000 pot goes to Feldinger with two-pair, jacks and threes.

Hand 83: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Blumenthal makes it 48,000 to go from the cutoff to claim the blinds and antes.

Hand 84: Van Marcus

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Feldinger bumps it up to 40,000 but Marcus comes over the top to make it 100,000. The Israeli raises an additional 95,000, but Marcus raises it again and Feldinger folds..

Hand 85: Van Marcus

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – There are calls from Marcus and Spets while Parise checks the big blind. The flop is 5h 4c As. Marcus makes it 38,000 and the others fold.

Hand 86: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Bamman raises to 44,000 from the cutoff, to ensure him 38,000 in blinds and antes.

Hand 87: Maor Feldinger

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Marcus raises to 40,000 and Feldinger calls in the big blind. The flop is Qh 3d Qd, Feldinher bets another 40,000 and Marcus calls. It goes check-check on the turn of Ks. The river is Ad, Feldinger bets out 100,000 and Marcus folds, showing A K. This 200,000 pot makes Feldinger the new chip leader.

Hand 88: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Parise makes it 48,000 to go from the cutoff and takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 89: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Feldinger raises it to 40,000, Marcus makes a statement with a raise to 400,000, and Feldinger steps back from another sparring contest with the Australian.

Hand 90: Van Marcus

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – This time it’s Blumenthal who takes it up to 48,000, Marcus raises again to 400,000 and Blumenthal folds.

Filed by Sean Callendar

Hand 71: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Marcus raises to 36,000 from the small blind and Bamman calls. The flop is Ks Ac 9s, Marcus bets 35,000, Bamman reraises 65,000 and Marcus folds.

Hand 72: Roger Spets

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Feldinger calls, Marcus raises to 47,000, Spets calls from the big blind. Feldinger folds and the flop comes 6h 8c 8s. It’s check-check and the turn is 2s. Spets bets 70,000 and gets a call from Marcus. The river is 7s and Spets announces all-in. Marcus asks for a count but lays it down. Spets shows A Q.

Hand 73: Brett Parise

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Parise reraises to 120,000 after Bamman’s initial raise of 36,000 and takes it down. We’re now on a break and when we return, the blinds will be up to 8000/16,000 with a 2000 ante. The stacks have evened up dramatically with Roger Spets back in the lead (580,000) from Maor Feldinger (490,000), Brett Parise (460,000), Ira Blumenthal (350,000), Nicholas Bamman (349,000) and Van Marcus (318,000), who started the day as chip leader.

Hand 74: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Blumenthal gets a walk on the first hand after the break.

Hand 75: Maor Feldinger

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Déjà vu as Feldinger gets a walk in the big blind.

Hand 76: Van Marcus

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – And again, this time Marcus takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 77: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – The first action after the breaks sees Marcus call from the small blind. It’s checked down to the river on a board of Ks 3s 9d Ac Qs, and Marcus takes the pot with a pair of nines.

Hand 78: Van Marcus

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Marcus raises to 32,000 and makes it a hat-trick of pots.

Hand 79: Brett Parise

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Spets and Parise get into a pot from the blinds. On a flop of 9d 5c 7h, both players check. The turn is 10h, Parise bets 32,000 and Spets folds.

Hand 80: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Bamman raises to 45,000 in the cutoff, and everyone else behind him folds.

Filed by Sean Callendar

Latest Chip Counts:

• Seat 2: Nicholas Bamman (349,000)
• Seat 3: Roger Spets (580,000) titantilts on PokerStars
• Seat 4: Brett Parise (460,000) Mr.BlueDuck on PokerStars
• Seat 5: Ira Blumenthal (350,000)
• Seat 6: Maor Feldinger (490,000) jusepe236 on PokerStars
• Seat 9: Van Marcus (318,000) sirens on PokerStars

Hand 61: Maor Feldinger eliminates Bas Van Liere in 7th position ($20,974)

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Feldinger raises to 40,000, Van Liere declares all-in for approximately 155,000 and Feldinger calls, showing Ks Kc while Van Liere has As 10s. The flop comes 2d Qc Jh, giving Van Liere an inside straight draw. A Js on the turn and 10h on the river miss the Dutchman and he bows out in seventh spot.



Hand 62: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Rogers Spets (seat 3) – Parise calls in the small blind, Blumenthal pushes to 30,000 and takes the pot.

Hand 63: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Marcus raises to 35,000 under the gun, Parise pumps it up to 100,000 and Marcus folds.

Hand 64: Maor Feldinger

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Feldinger calls in the small blind and Marcus checks. It’s checked down to the river, Feldinger bets 20,000 and Marcus folds.

Hand 65: Van Marcus

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Marcus calls in the small blind, Bamman checks and the board comes Ad 8h 5d Jc 10h. Marcus bets 15,000 and gets no interest from Bamman.

Hand 66: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Blumenthal bumps it up to 35,000 and the blinds fold.

Hand 67: Maor Feldinger

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Feldinger calls the 12,000 as does Spets and Parise checks. Feldinger bets 20,000 after the flop and takes it down.

Hand 68: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Rogers Spets (seat 3) – Bamman pops it up to 35,000 and steals the blinds.

Hand 69: Brett Parise

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – On the button, Parise raises to 35,000 and gets a quick call from Blumenthal. The flop reads Kh 2d 5c, and Blumenthal bets 30,000. Parise raises it to 95,000 and Blumenthal folds.

Hand 70: Roger Spets

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Spets makes it 35,000, which is enough to take the pot.

Filed by Sean Callendar

Hand 51: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Blumenthal raises to 35,000 in the small blind and takes down the pot.

Hand 52: Maor Feldinger

Button: Bas van Liere (seat 7) – Feldinger, Marcus call, Bamman checks and the flop is Qc 9d 8d. Marcus bets 25,000, Feldinger raises to 60,000 and Marcus folds.

Hand 53: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Blumenthal raises to 35,000 and takes down the pot.

Hand 54: Roger Spets

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Feldinger, Bamman and Spets call, Parise check and the flop is 5c Qc Ah. All players check before the turn of 8c. Spets bets 25,000, Parise folds, Feldinger calls and Bamman folds. The Qd is the river card, Spets bets 45,000 and claims the pot.

Hand 55: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Bamman, in the cutoff, raises to 30,000 and Blumenthal calls. The flop comes Jd As 10s. Blumenthal checks, Bamman bets 45,000 and hauls in the chips.

Hand 56: Maor Feldinger

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Feldinger gets a walk on the big blind.

Hand 57: Brett Parise

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Parise’s bet of 35,000 is enough to take the blinds and antes.

Hand 58: Maor Feldinger

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Feldinger calls, Van Liere raises to 35,000, Feldinger pumps it up to 80,000 and claims the pot.

Hand 59: Roger Spets

Button: Bas van Liere (seat 7) – First to act, Spets raises to 35,000 and everyone else folds.

Hand 60: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Blumenthal raises to 35,000 and Marcus calls. The flops 2c Ad 6d, and Blumenthal bets 40,000 and Marcus folds to claim the 100,000 in the pot.

Filed by Sean Callander

Current chip count (after 38 hands)

• Seat 2: Nicholas Bamman (200,000)
• Seat 3: Roger Spets (510,000) titantilts on PokerStars
• Seat 4: Brett Parise (360,000) Mr.BlueDuck on PokerStars
• Seat 5: Ira Blumenthal (270,000)
• Seat 6: Maor Feldinger (170,000) jusepe236 on PokerStars
• Seat 7: Bas van Liere (200,000) beerround on PokerStars
• Seat 8: Kazuhiro Sato (210,000)
• Seat 9: Van Marcus (630,000) sirens on PokerStars

Hand 38: Roger ‘titantilts’ Spets

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Blinds are up to 6000/12,000 with a 1000 ante. Bamman calls in the small blind, Spets raises 25,000 and Bamman calls.

Hand 39: Bas van Liere AKA beerround

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Van Liere calls, Bamman calls, Spets in the small blind calls and Parise checks. The flop comes Qd 10h 4d, and all four players check. The turn is a 10c, Bamman bets 18,000 and Van Liere calls (Spets and Parise fold). The river is a 5d, Van Liere bets 30,000 and Bamman folds, giving Van Liere a pot of 75,000.

Hand 40: Van Marcus

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Van Marcus raises to 20,000 from middle position and takes down the blinds and antes.

Hand 41: Maor ‘jusepe236’ Feldinger

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Sato raises to 24,000 and Feldinger calls in the big blind. The flop is 4s 2h 10d, Feldinger checks, Sato bets 24,000 and Feldinger announces all-in. Sato calls with Ac 10s, while Feldinger has Jd Jh. The turn is Qd, and the river a 4c, allowing Feldinger to double through Sato in a pot worth more than 400,000. Sato is now crippled with just 20,000 in chips.

Hand 42: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Bamman raises to 24,000, and drags in the blinds and antes.

Hand 43: Ira Blumenthal eliminates Kazuhiro Sato in 8th position ($14,981)

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Blumenthal raises to 24,000 and the short-stacked Sato pushes all-in. Blumenthal shows Jd Jc, while Sato has only 5c 4s. The flop of 4c 6h 10s hits Sato, and the turn of 3s gives him more outs. But the river is a 9d, sending the Japanese player to the rail.

Hand 44: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Bas van Liere (seat 7) – Blumenthal raises to 24,000 and takes the blinds and antes.

Hand 45: Nicholas Bamman

Button: dead – Spets raises to 35,000 in the cutoff, and Bamman calls in the big blind. The flop reads Qc 9s 8h, and both players check. The turn is a 4s, Bamman bets 50,000, sending Spets into the tank. Eventually he calls, and the river comes 9c. Bamman pushes all-in and Spets folds, giving Bamman a pot of more than 150,000.

Hand 46: Van Marcus

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Marcus raises to 24,000 to earn him the blinds and antes.

Hand 47: Van Marcus

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Marcus raises to 24,000 to again claim the blinds and antes.

Hand 48: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Blumenthal checks in the big blind after Feldinger and Parise call. The flop is 8h Js 10h. Blumenthal raises to 25,000 and Feldinger calls. The turn is Ad, Blumenthal checks, Feldinger raises to 50,000 and Blumenthal calls. The river is 2s, it goes check-check and Blumenthal wins a nice pot with a pair of 10s.

Hand 49: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Bamman raises to 24,000 and receives no action from the blinds.

Hand 50: Van Marcus

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – First to act, Marcus raises to 34,000, and both blinds fold.

Filed by Sean Callendar

Hand 31: Brett Parise

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Spets calls from the small blind and Parise checks. The flop is Ac 6s 6c, Spets bets 10,000 and Parise calls. The turn is a 5d, Spets checks and Parise bets 25,000. Spets folds.

Hand 32: Brett Parise

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Brett Parise raises to 25,000 from the small blind and takes the pot.

Hand 33: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Van Liere calls, as do both the blinds. The flop is 5h Qc Js and all three players check. The turn is 6h, Blumenthal bets 20,000, Feldinger folds, Van Liere reraises to 40,000 but folds on Blumenthal’s minimum reraise.

Hand 34: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal raises to 24,000 and takes down the blinds.

Hand 35: Brett Parise

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Spets raises to 16,000, Parise reraises to 34,000 and Spets folds.

Hand 36: Bas Van Liere

Button: Bas Van Liere (seat 7) – Van Liere raises to 20,000 on the button and both blinds fold.

Hand 37: Van Marcus

Button: Kazuhiro Sato (seat 7) – Marcus raises to 25,000 from the small blind and Bamman folds. We’re on a 15-minute break.

Filed by Sean Callander

Hand 21: Maor Feldinger

Button: Kazuhiro Sato (seat 8) – Feldinger raises to 18,000, Marcus calls from the small blind and the flop comes J 10 6. Marcus checks in the dark, Feldinger bets 20,000, Marcus folds.

Hand 22: Van Marcus

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – actions folds to Marcus, he raises to 18,000 and Spets calls in a battle of the big stacks. Spets checks, Marcus bets 30,000 and takes the pot.

Hand 23: Maor Feldinger

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Feldinger raises to 15,000 and the blinds fold.

Hand 24: Roger Spets

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Action folds to Spets, who raises to 19,000, the blinds fold.

Hand 25: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – Nicholas Bamman raises to 20,000, the blinds fold (perhaps in the shock of the power blackout we’ve just experienced at the Hyatt Hotel here in Manila). The power (and the Internet) are back, and on we go!

Hand 26: Bas van Liere

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Blumenthal and Feldinger call, Van Liere announces all-in for 101,000. Both players fold.

Hand 27: Kazuhiro Sato

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – with the blinds up to 4000/8000 with a 1000 ante, all players fold to Kazuhiro Sato in the big blind.

Hand 28: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Bas van Liere (seat 7) – Blumenthal raises to 18,000 from middle position, Marcus calls from the big blind. The Flop is 9s Kc 9d. Blumenthal bets 30,000 and Marcus calls. The turn is a 10d, Marcus bets 45,000, Blumenthal pushes all-in with Kh 10c and Marcus calls with 8d 9c. The river is a 10h, giving Blumenthal a full house on a two-outer and doubling him up through the PokerStars Supernova known as ‘sirens’. Blumenthal takes down the biggest pot of the final table so far, worth more than 300,000.

Hand 29: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Kazuhiro Sato (seat 8) – the action folds to Sato, who raises to 30,000. Nicholas Bamman announces all-in, and Sato folds.

Hand 30: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – Nicholas Bamman raises 30,000 from the small blind and takes the pot.

Filed by Sean Callendar


Hand 11: Roger Spets

Button: Feldinger (seat 6) – Roger Spets raises 15,000 on a board of Qd Jc Qs Js Ad, the callers Blumenthal, Feldinger and Marcus fold.

Hand 12: Van Marcus

Button: Bas Van Liere (seat 7) – Spets, Blumenthal, Feldinger and van Liere call, Marcus in the big blind raises to 40,000 and all players fold.

Hand 13: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Kazuhiro Sato (seat 8) – Marcus calls from small blind, Bamman checks. Bamman raises to 15,000 after the flop and takes down the pot.

Hand 14: Split pot

Button: Van Marcus (seat 9) – From the big blind, Spets raises to 25,000, Feldinger reraises to 60,000 Maor, Spets pushes all-in, Maor instantly calls. Both players show pocket kings – Spets Kh Kc and Feldinger Ks Kd. The board helps neither players and it’s a split pot.

Hand 15: Ira Blumenthal

Button: Nicholas Bamman (seat 2) – Blumenthal raises to 18,000 under-the-gun, all players fold.

Hand 16: Kazuhiro Sato

Button: Roger Spets (seat 3) – Feldinger calls, Sato raises to 20,000, Marcus and Feldinger call. The flops comes Jh Qs Ad. Sato bets 25,000 and takes the pot.

Hand 17: Ira Blumenthal
a
Button: Brett Parise (seat 4) – all players fold to Blumenthal in the big blind

Hand 18: Nicholas Bamman

Button: Ira Blumenthal (seat 5) – Bamman raises to 18,000 and takes down the blinds.

Hand 19: Roger Spets

Button: Maor Feldinger (seat 6) – Spets calls, Van Liere raises to 25,000 and Spets calls. The flop comes 8h 2s 6d. Both players check. The Qh comes on the turn, Spets bets 25,000 and Van Liere folds.

Hand 20: Van Marcus

Button: Bas Van Liere (seat 7) – Sato calls from the small blind, Marcus raises to 16,000 and takes the pot.

Filed by Sean Callander

Blinds: 3000/6000 with 1000 ante

Hand 1: Roger Spets
Button: Blumenthal (seat 5) – Nicholas Bamman raises to 17,000 from late position, Roger Spets raises to 55,000. Bamman folds.

Hand 2: Roger Spets

Button: Feldinger (seat 6) – Hernandez calls, Rogers Spets raises to 35,000, the blinds fold and Hernandez folds.

Hand 3: Van Marcus

Button: van Liere (seat 7) – Four callers, Van Marcus raises to 20,000 on the flop and the other three players fold.

Hand 4: Van Liere

Button: Sato (seat 8) – Hernandez calls, Bas Van Liere raises to 18,000, the blinds fold and Hernandez folds.

Hand 5: Kazuhiro Sato

Button: Marcus (seat 9) – Van Marcus calls, Sato pushes all-in for 109,000 from middle position, the blinds and Marcus fold.

Hand 6: Kazuhiro Sato

Button: Hernandez (seat 1) – Kazuhiro Sato pushes all-in for 109,000 and Derick Hernandez calls. Sato shows Ac 9c and Hernandez Qd Qc. The board comes As 10h Kd 2s 9h, and Sato doubles through.

Hand 7: Bas Van Liere

Button: Bamman (seat 2) – Bas Van Liere raises to 20,000 from late position, and the blinds fold

Hand 8: Brett ‘Mr.BlueDuck’ Parise eliminates Derick Hernandez in 9th position ($11,386)

Button: Spets (seat 3) – Derick Hernandez raises to 18,000, Brett Parise reraises to 55,000, Hernandez pushes all-in and Parise calls. Hernandez shows As Ah, Parise 10h 10d. The board hits Parise (Jc 9c 10s), the turn is 8d and the river is a 6d. The last remaining Filipino player in the field, Derick Hernandez is eliminated in ninth position.

Hand 9: Maor Feldinger

Button: Parise (seat 4) – Nicholas Bamman raises to 18,000, Maor reraises to 40,000 from the big blind and Bamman folds.

Hand 10: Kazuhiro Sato

Button: Blumenthal (seat 5) – Kazuhiro raises to 20,000 under-the-gun, the blinds fold.

• Seat 2: Nicholas Bamman (240,000)
• Seat 3: Roger Spets (413,000) titantilts on PokerStars
• Seat 4: Brett Parise (173,000) Mr.BlueDuck on PokerStars
• Seat 5: Ira Blumenthal (184,000)
• Seat 6: Maor Feldinger (199,000) jusepe236 on PokerStars
• Seat 7: Bas van Liere (207,000) beerround on PokerStars
• Seat 8: Kazuhiro Sato (109,000)
• Seat 9: Van Marcus (738,000) sirens on PokerStars

We’re just about to welcome players to the final table in the race for the first Asian Pacific Poker Tour event in Manila, Philippines.

Play moves to a purpose-built TV table and studio, which looks absolutely spectacular. TV crews are just completing their final preparations before the nine players are introduced and the order is given to “shuffle up and deal”.

Play will start today with blinds at 3000/6000 with a 1000 ante, before raising to 4000/8000 (1000). The 5000/10,000 level may be skipped straight to 6000/12,000 (1000).

The line-up for the final table is:

Seat 1: Derrick Hernandez (287,000)

Seat 2: Nicholas Bamman (240,000)


Seat 3: Roger Spets (413,000) titantilts on PokerStars


Seat 4: Brett Parise (173,000) Mr.BlueDuck on PokerStars


Seat 5: Ira Blumenthal (184,000)


Seat 6: Maor Feldinger (199,000) jusepe236 on PokerStars


Seat 7: Bas van Liere (207,000) beerround on PokerStars


Seat 8: Kazuhiro Sato (109,000)


Seat 9: Van Marcus (738,000) sirens on PokerStars


Maor Feldinger and Brett Parise both qualified for the event via FPP-point tournaments on PokerStars while Van Marcus is a PokerStars Supernova (only attained when a player accumulates 100,000 VIP Player Points during a calendar year).

Players will be cashing the following payouts:

1. $179,775
2. $113,858
3. $62,921
4. $44,940
5. $35,955
6. $26,966
7. $20,974
8. $14,981
9. $11,386

Filed by Sean Callander

The nine players for tomorrow’s APPT Manila final table have been decided after a marathon second day in the opening event of the new PokerStars-sponsored tour.

Chip leader is Australian Van Marcus, best known for his third place in the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ rebuys event at this year’s World Series of Poker, is the chip leader on 738,000.

Malaysian-based Swede Roger Spets, in his first live poker tournament, started the day as chip leader and despite riding the roller coaster, finished second in the chip count.

Reflecting the huge number of countries represented in this tournament, the final table participants hail from7 different nations.

Action kicks-off again tomorrow at 2pm local time, with players chasing a first prize of $179,755 and the honour of being crowned the first APPT champion.

The APPT is not only the first televised poker tournament in Asia, it’s also a first tournament experience for almost half of the final table players. First-timers at the final table include; Roger Spets, (Malaysia), Ira Blumenthal (Thailand), Maor Feldinger (Israel), and Bas van Liere (The Netherlands).

Final Table Summary:

• Seat 1: Derrick Hernandez (Philipines) - 287,000
• Seat 2: Nicholas Bamman (USA)- 240,000
• Seat 3: Roger Spets (Malaysia) - 413,000
• Seat 4: Brett Parise (USA) - 173,000
• Seat 5: Ira Blumenthal (Thailand) - 184,000
• Seat 6: Maor Feldinger (Israel) - 199,000
• Seat 7: Bas ver Liere (Netherlands)- 207,000
• Seat 8: Kazuhiro Sato (Japan)- 109,000
• Seat 9: Van Marcus (Australia)- 738,000

Final table profiles

Seat 1: Derick Hernandez (Manila, Philippines – chip count 287,000): Born and raised in the host city for the first event in Asia Pacific Poker Tour history, Derick Hernandez is the only Filipino still in the running to win the title. The 35-year-old studied business administration at the Far Eastern University in Manila and now runs a cabinet-making business. Primarily an online player over the past seven years, Hernandez won a PokerStars weekly tournament (the precursor to the Sunday Million) in 2004. Earlier in this event, Hernandez survived a three-way all-in in which world pool champ Alex Paguluyan was eliminated and day one chip leader David Saab was crippled. One thing’s for sure, Hernandez can be assured plenty of support at the final table from the hometown fans.

Seat 2: Nicholas Bamman (Princeton, New Jersey USA – chip count 240,000): Home to one of the most famous educational institutions in the United States, Princeton is also home to the chip leader of the USA citizens left at table 9. Bamman didn’t really get serious about his poker until he finished his political science course at Northwestern University in Chicago. He’s since applied to attend law school at Fordham University in New York City. Earlier this year, the 23-year-old chalked up an impressive second placing in the weekly $1000 tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, earning him $16,250. He bought-in to the APPT Manila tournament for the full $2500, but is on the cusp of a handy return on that investment.

Seat 3: Roger Spets (Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia – chip count 413,000): Imagine turning up to Wimbledon or Augusta and winning your first professional tennis or golf tournament. Virtually impossible, but Roger Spets is within reach of achieving such a feat. Spets, a 40-year-old originally from Sweden but a resident of Malaysia for the past 10 years, is playing in his first live poker tournament. The owner of a wealth management company, Spets has been playing poker for only two and a half years, starting out in home games before turning his focus to cash games and sit ‘n’ goes on PokerStars. Despite being home to one of the highest ratios of online players in the world, Sweden has turned out surprisingly few champions on the world tournament poker stage (Martin de Knijff a rare exception), but Spets could soon write a new chapter in Swedish poker history).

Seat 4: Brett Parise (USA – chip count 173,000): After staging a remarkable recovery at the end of day two (he doubled up twice in the last 15 minutes), 22-year-old Brett Parise has little to lose in his first final table experience. However, the college student (he’s studying political science and business economics in California) had a taste of the limelight when he started in the Mixed Hold’em event at this year’s World Series of Poker. With four years of poker experience under his belt, the Indiana native battled through a massive field in a PokerStars freeroll to win his seat to the APPT in Manila, which marks just the second time he’s trekked outside the United States.

Seat 5: Ira Blumenthal (Bangkok, Thailand – chip count 184,000): They’ll be breaking out the champagne in the offices of law firm Blumenthal, Richter & Sumet in Bangkok on Monday should senior partner Ira Blumenthal triumph at the final table of the APPT Manila tournament. The father of two manages a staff of 60 but still finds time to enjoy a regular game of poker after getting his first taste of poker 10 years ago. Like the majority of the final table qualifiers, Blumenthal has no big-time tournament poker experience but remains confident of prevailing over the equally inexperienced field.

Seat 6: Maor Feldinger (Ashadod, Israel – chip count 199,000): Plans for a relaxing trip to the Philippines after qualifying online for the APPT Manila event have taken a dramatic turn for this 25-year-old from Ashadod, a small town to the north of the Israeli capital Tel Aviv. Maor Feldinger has played online at PokerStars for about three years (as live poker is not available in Israel) and like Roger Spets, is playing in his first live tournament. “Wow” is how Feldinger described reaching a final table at his first attempt. A computer science student, Feldinger is hoping to emulate the feats of famed Israeli player Eli Elezra, who won the $3000 Seven-card Stud Hi/Lo (eight-or-better) title at the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Seat 7: Bas van Liere (The Hague, Netherlands – chip count 207,000): This Dutchman was planning a trip to the Philippines before he won a satellite seat to the APPT Manila event on PokerStars. Suddenly, the 30-year-old from The Hague had his trip paid for and, after making the final table, will have plenty of pocket money to spend on his travels throughout South-East Asia. After studying systems engineering and working in the IT industry, van Liere started his own online business, which sells designer furniture. Like other final table participants, he’s a relative newcomer to poker having taken up the game less than a year ago.

Seat 8: Kazuhiro Sato (Japan – chip count 109,000): The sole Japanese contender for the first APPT title in Manila, Sato faces an uphill battle as the short stack entering the final table. However, the 45-year-old is delighted to have made it so deep into his major poker tournament (his previous biggest buy-in event being a $200 daily tournament at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas). A resident of Tokyo, Sato’s presence reflects the growing popularity of poker in Japan, which was represented by a strong contingent of eight players.

Seat 9: Van Marcus (Melbourne, Australia – chip count 738,000): A regular in the Crown Casino poker room in his hometown (the largest poker room in the southern hemisphere), Van Marcus enters the final table as not only the best credentialed player, but also the form player. He made two final tables at the Aussie Millions earlier this year finishing fourth in both the $1500 No Limit Hold’em Feature Event and the $3000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament. However, his best tournament performance came just two months ago at the 2007 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas where he finished third in the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ rebuys event behind Irishman Alan Smurfit. Marcus won more than $190,000 for this performance, which will stand him in good stead for the battle at today’s final table.

Players who’ve cashed in the event are:

• 10th Steve Junhee Yea (South Korea) $8390
• 11th Carlo Gosselin (Thailand) $8390
• 12th D’amor Nario (Philippines) $8390
• 13th Alexander Fitzgerald (USA) $5993
• 14th Carlos Lascano (Philippines) $5993
• 15th Ronald Javier (Philippines) $5993
• 16th Se Jin Lee (South Korea) $5993
• 17th Eric Sia (Philipines) $4794
• 18th Nicolas Chouity (Lebanon) $4794
• 19th Steven Djingga (Indonesia) $4794
• 20th Kelly Flynn (USA) $4794
• 21st Seung Soo Jeon (South Korea) $4794
• 22nd Ronald Singson $4794
• 23rd Jean-Marc Hauducoeur (France) $4794
• 24th Dan Idema (Canada) $4794

filed by Sean Callander

More than 90 per cent of the 255 players who started the APPT Manila main event have been eliminated with just 13 players remaining. Roger Spets is the chip leader. The field was redrawn when the field reached 16, with the seating assignments and chip counts comprising:

Table 1

• Seat 1: Carlo Gosselin (Thailand) 115,000
• Seat 2: Steve Junhee Yea (South Korea) 230,000
• Seat 3: Bas Van Liere (Netherlands) 62,000
• Seat 4: Nicholas Bamman (USA) 282,000
• Seat 5: Derrick Hernandez (Philippines) 308,000
• Seat 6: Brett Parise (USA) 73,000
• Seat 7: Roger Spets (Malaysia) 340,000
• Seat 8: Juan Carlos Lascano (Philippines) 78,000

Table 2

• Seat 1: Alex Fitzgerald (USA) 78,000
• Seat 2: Ira Blumenthal (Thailand) 136,000
• Seat 3: Maor Feldinger (Israel) 213,000
• Seat 4: Kazuhiro Sato (Japan) 142,000
• Seat 5: Ronald Javier (Philippines) 73,000
• Seat 6: Van Marcus (Australia) 160,000
• Seat 7: Se Jin Lee (South Korea) 60,000
• Seat 8: D’amor Nario (Philippines) 185,000

Already, three of the final 16 have fallen by the wayside. South Korean Se Jin Lee (Ad 9d) pushed all-in for 56,000 and was called by Maor Feldinger (Ac Qd). The board of Jh 10d 3h 5d gave Lee a flush draw, but the 8s ended his tournament in 16th.

Ronald Javier followed shortly after in 15th place when his pockets nines were dominated by Kazuhiro Sato’s kings, which held up.

Then on the final hand before the most recent break, local player Carlos Lascano pushed all-in with Ad Jc on a flop of 9c 8s 3s. Roger Spets called in a heartbeat with pocket nines, and his set was never threatened.

Players who’ve finished in the money so far are:

14th Carlos Lascano (Philippines) $5993
15th Ronald Javier (Philippines) $5993
16th Se Jin Lee (South Korea) $5993
17th Eric Sia $4794
18th Nicolas Chouity (Lebanon) $4794
19th Steven Djingga (Indonesia) $4794
20th Kelly Flynn (USA) $4794
21st Seung Soo Jeon (South Korea) $4794
22nd Ronald Singson $4794
23rd Jean-Marc Hauducoeur (France) $4794
24th Dan Idema (Canada) $4794

Filed by Sean Callander

The short stack on the bubble of a poker tournament has two choices: sink or
swim. After spending much of the last hour sinking like a stone, Norihito Suzuki finally decided it was time for fight for his survival when he pushed all-in with his A 3.

Unfortunately, the Japanese player ran into Steve Junhee Yea’s pocket jacks, and without help on the board, Suzuki finished with the unwanted title of the ‘bubble man’.

With Suzuki’s elimination, the remaining 24 players are ensured a minimum payout of $4800, but their focus remains firmly centred on that first prize of $179,755.

The man in the box seat remains Israel’s Maor Feldinger on 220,000 in chips, followed by local player Derick Hernandez (210,000), Australian Van Marcus (175,000), Lebanon’s Nicolas Chouity (160,000) and another Filipino player Ronald Javier (152,000).

Speaking of Lebanese players, one of the world’s most famous (well, he’s an Australian but was born in Lebanon) is Joe Hachem. After bowing out of the main event yesterday, Joe is back in the room tonight teaching the finer points of poker to a large and attentive contingent of local media. Not a bad teacher to have!

Joe spent the better part of the day on the golf course, along with fellow PokerStars’ players Daniel Negreanu and Emad Tahtouh plus PokerStars Asia-Pacific director of marketing Sarne Lightman.

In the interests of bringing you all the best stories from the APPT, we sent a ‘mole’ to cover the game – his report shocked even an awful golfer like me.

“Well, Sarne and Emad battled it out for the title of the world’s worst golfer. At one point, Emad was given 5-1 that he could hit the fairway, a seemingly simple task that he failed to achieve (even with the help of a six-iron) as the ball sailed into the water. That shot cost him $500.

“Daniel prevailed over Joe in a fierce contest by a couple of holes. Joe’s a pretty handy golfer – he can hit a ball, but he can sure hit a tree as shown by his description of the layout as a ‘national park turned into a golf course’.” Thank you mole, the cheque’s in the mail!

Filed by Sean Callander

The bubble is rapidly approaching on the day two of the APPT Manila main event, with just 33 of the 255 players that started the tournament yesterday still in the hunt.

With the redraw for the final four tables imminent, our new chip leader is Israeli player Maor Feldinger – the first player to break the 200,000 chip mark – one of the many tournament first-timers here at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino.

Van Marcus, who finished third in the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ rebuys event at the 2007 WSOP has been a big mover in the last session (he’s up to 170,000), but the big loser was last night’s chip leader David Saab.

In the biggest pot of the tournament, Derick Hernandez (120,000), Alex Paguluyan (26,000) and Saab were all-in on a flop of Jd 8c 4d. Saab showed pocket eights, Hernandez Kd 6d and Paguluyan Jh 10s. The 10d on the turn made Hernandez’s flush, and he stayed ahead when a 2c fell on the river, sending Paguluyan to the rail and crippling Saab.

Earlier, we chatted with another player who was making his tournament debut: Roger Spets. The chip leader early on day two, Spets is still in the hunt despite riding the proverbial roller coaster on day two as his name was regularly announced as part of an all-in.

Spets is originally from Sweden but currently runs his own wealth management company in Kuala Lumpar. So Roger, tell us about your poker-playing background: “I’d like to tell you but it would be a very short conversation.

I’ve been playing for about two and a half years mostly with friends but
this is my first live tournament,” he said.

He’s also struggling to measure his own play against the competition, as he has no experience with which to compare the APPT Manila main event.

“I’m really enjoying it, but it’s hard not to enjoy when you are the chip leader. And I think I’ve learned a lot even after a day and a half,” he said.

Spets has also had to adjust from cash-game play to the tournament format: “I play a lot of cash games and sit ‘n’ goes on the Internet (of course, on PokerStars) but there’s no substitute for live tournament experience,” he said.



Regardless of how far Spets progresses, he’s definitely hooked and is already plotting another APPT appearance.

“It’s hard for me to find the time to travel to the big tournaments in Europe and the USA so the APPT is great, I’m planning to play in the APPT grand final in Sydney,” he said.

Filed by Sean Callander

We’re down to 46 players at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila in the race for the APPT Manila crown, with Roger Spets still leading the chip count. It’s worth noting the excellent performance from the Korean contingent, which is particularly relevant given Seoul is the next stop on the APPT schedule.

Junhee Yea was among the pacesetters yesterday, while Se Jin Lee has been a big mover on day two – just two of the highlights among the 22-man contingent from South Korea.

So what’s the poker scene like in 대한민국 (sorry, I’m just showing off, thanks to one of our PokerStars Korean bloggers). Dan Park, the CEO of Bluff Events in South Korea said while poker is new to his home country, it’s quickly making an indelible mark.
“Asia being the final frontier for poker, I think it’s a great opportunity for the poker business to be coming to Asia at this time,” Dan said. “The domestic poker market used to be mainly seven-card stud but slowly everyone’s migrating to hold’em. It’s a pretty big range of age groups, but mostly players in their 20s and 30s.”

A huge ‘underground’ poker scene is fuelling the growth in South Korea,
which currently is home to just one legal poker room at the Walker Hill
Casino (the venue for the APPT Seoul tournament).

“I’d say there’s more than 100 underground clubs going 24/7. The Walker Hill
Casino is only open to foreign ex-pats but it’s the underground games that
are fuelling the growth. It’s completely organic growth, just word of
mouth,” Dan said.

Dan, who is assisting in the PR and marketing of the Seoul event said the
APPT would be a massive boost for poker in South Korea.
“It’s huge, to have an internationally recognised event coming to Seoul will
only act as a catalyst for the future growth of poker in Korea. We hope to
see everyone there,” Dan said.

There’s a big APPT Seoul satellite running here tomorrow, and hopes are high
that a capacity field will converge on Seoul next month.
Remember, PokerStars' online satellites for APPT Seoul run until September
16, 2007. Daily qualifiers start from as little as $22, giving players the
chance to win an APPT prize package worth $5000 - including the $2500
tournament buy-in, four nights' hotel accommodation (from September 27-31)
and $1900 spending money to cover transportation expenses.

File by Sean Callander

Is everyone in a hurry to get somewhere? Players are falling thick and fast
early on day two in the APPT Manila event as the field is reduced from 72
down to the nine that will contest tomorrow’s final table.

In the first 30 minutes of play, nine players were eliminated including
Japanese duo Masa Kagawa and Hiroshi Simamura.

Kagawa first came to our notice during the high-stakes $100,000 buy-in event
at the 2007 Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia.

Just months after he’d played his first hands of Texas Hold’em, Kagawa stepped right into the firing line of some of the world’s best players including Team PokerStars’ Daniel Negreanu, but the businessman and high stakes gambler held his own and finished third behind Erick Lindgren and eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel.

The continuing emergence of players like Masa is reflected in the mix of players still in the hunt for the first APPT title.

The 63 players remaining come from 23 different nations: a remarkable statistic given that poker is so new to the region.

For the record, countries still represented are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA.

Currently, it’s the Malaysian-based Swede Roger Spets who’s leading the way on just over 130,000 in chips, ahead of Australian pair David Saab and Paul Gianfriddo, both in the mid-70,000s.

Another player who’s steadily moving up the chip count also encapsulates the international flavour of poker and the APPT. Guillaume Patry is a native of Quebec, Canada but now lives in Seoul (the next stop on the APPT schedule). He is recognised the world’s premier Starcraft gamer and is a celebrity in his adopted country.

Patry has been swept up in poker fever like many gamers in South Korea, and is making the most of this opportunity to gain some live tournament experience. He’s proving an astute student of the game, sitting just 60,000 in chips (20,000 above average) and well placed for a charge at the title.

Over the past couple of weeks, we already introduced you to two of Team Mexico's players in the World Cup of Poker IV finals, CORONABEACH and onasis16. Here are the two other players who make up the foundation of the team from Mexico.

elricardomty

My name is Ricardo Rios Rodriguez. My friends call me "Barandales." I'm the youngest of my family, I'm a communications student in the University of Monterrey (UDEM), I'm 23 years old. I was born in Matamoros, Mexico. I'm in my last semester. I'm about to graduate. I play a lot of sports like soccer, basketball and poker. I have been playing poker for five years. Going to Barcelona to this tournament is my biggest achievement in poker to date.

I played really good in the qualifications tournament for my country, but when I reached the division finals my goal was to be in top three and I ended up in fourth place. I still won some important points for my country.

This has been very exciting. I'm very proud of myself and never thought I could get here. All of my friends and family are being very supportive. We are bringing back that cash to Mexico!!

xmeteorox

I'm a student right now. I am 18 years old and I like to play poker, chess, soccer, and hang out with my friends. I've played poker since I was 15. I won a play money tourney with 5000 players, so I realized I was good. Then I started to play real money; my best cash and place were 2nd out of 1600 players and I won $850. I have also won tickets in satellite tournaments, so I think its a good beginning for me in poker.

In the World Cup of Poker preliminary rounds, I played well, but not as well as I wished. I made so many mistakes in the finals that cost me lots of chips, and I didn't make the goal. The goal was to finish top 3 for all members of my team, so we could make enough points to beat them all.

Filed by Sean Callander

The opening day of the historic first event on the inaugural PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) has wrapped up. Appropriately, a player of Asian descent, Australian David Saab, topped the chip count at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in the Philippines capital Manila.

Saab, the reigning Australian Heads-up champions, drove his opponents mad with his incessant chatter but others found his aggressive play hard to counter as he became the first player to break the 100,000-chip barrier.

Others prominently placed at the end of the day’s play included Swede Roger Spets (100,000), Kelly Flynn (80,000), Korea’s Junhee Yea (70,000) and Canadian Dan Idema (65,000).

Another player to finish the day strongly was local Filipino player Alex Pagulayan. Nicknamed ‘The Lion’ and ‘The Killer Pixie’, Paguluyan was born in the Philippines, raised in Canada but returned to his homeland in 2004.



He is famous for having once sunk six balls on a break in a nine-ball tournament in a match he eventually lost! His achievements include the 2007 World Summit of Pool, the 2005 US Open Nine-ball Championship and the 2004 WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
Paguluyan finished the opening day of the APPT Manila event full of steam when he doubled-up through Kelly Flynn.

After raising to 3500, Paguluyan was reraised by Flynn to 8000. The Filipino moved all-in for an additional 18,700 and Flynn made the call.

Flynn showed Ac Jh, but Paguluyan was ahead with Ah Kh. The board of 10d 8s 4d 4h 6s improved neither player, rocketing Paguluyan to 55,000 in chips. Could he won day add a WSOP bracelet to his pool achievements? What a double that would be!
Play recommences at 2pm local time tomorrow, and will continue until the final table is decided.

Filed by Sean Callander

Of all the nations represented in the PokerStars APPT Manila event, the highest proportional representation surely has to be the contingent from Guam. The southernmost of the Marianas Islands in the western Pacific, Guam has a population of about 170,000 so to have four players from the US territory is a great effort.

And the so-called Team Guam – including Rey Serafico, Chris Morato and Ben Babuata – is not here to make up the numbers, as ‘captain’ Kevin Brunton said. “We travel and play quite a bit. I’ve just returned from the WSOP with Ben and Chris where I played in three events including the main event,” Brunton said.

“There’s a good poker scene in Guam – we play a lot of home games and we just had a tournament $400 buy-in tournament that attracted 300 people. There’s also some regular tournaments in Tinian, a small island to the north of Guam. We also fly to the Philippines regularly to play.”

Brunton said the advent of the APPT was great news for Team Guam – they can now start spending more money on buy-ins and less on airfares.

“The APPT is great, especially with Seoul and Sydney coming up. It means we don’t have to fly to the US – it takes eight hours to fly to Hawaii just to start with.”
So what’s the chance of seeing a Team Guam member at the final table? “My hope was for all four of us to make the final table but we just had our first elimination (Rey Serafico, on the last hand before the dinner break). But we’re strong – we’ll get there.”

Team Guam is looking strong, with just 118 of the original 255 still in the running for the $179,775 first prize.

Recent eliminations include Dan ‘Rekrul’ Schreiber, Manlee Wan and less than an hour after the dinner break, Joe Hachem.



Thailand's Mortin Kaspersen called Hachem’s raise of 1700 before a flop of Jc 10h 3d. Neither player bet the flop, but Hachem pushed in 3000 on the turn of 2h. Kaspersen raised to 9000, causing to ask "am I going to go broke on this hand, it doesn't make sense”.

However, Hachem still pushes his chips in, and receives an instant call from Kaspersen. Despite holding pocket nines, Hachem is drawing dead when the Thai player shows pocket 10s.

Filed by Sean Callander

Less than 200 of the 255 players who started the APPT Manila event remaining in the running for the title.

Two who won’t be packing the trophy in their luggage are Team PokerStars duo Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Rousso.

The writing was on the wall for Negreanu when he was sighted practicing his golf swing behind his chair just prior to his exit. Negreanu pushed all-in for his last 220 in chips on a flop of 10h 3s 2h.

American Brett Miller couldn’t get his chips in fast enough with pocket kings, while Negreanu showed A 8. Neither the jack nor the queen that fell on the turn and river helped Negreanu. Anyone planning a game of golf in the Manila area over the next few days, watch out – ‘Kid Poker’ is on the loose.

The same hand – A 8 – also proved unlucky for Vanessa Rousso against pocket 10s. All-in pre-flop, a 10 on the flop sent Rousso to the rail, free to sample some of the wonderful Philippines hospitality.



Not only is the room full of different nationalities, there’s some contrasting styles at play. The battle between David Saab and Daniel Schreiber on table 15 has been particularly enthralling.

Talk about chalk and cheese – Saab, the reigning Australian Heads-up champion, started talking just after taking his seat at 2pm, and hasn’t stopped. Annoying, maybe, but he’s the chip leader on 45,000 and is a player to watch.

Coincidentally, the 21-year-old Schreiber also won a major heads-up event recently – none other than the 2007 WSOP title.

In contrast to Saab, Schreiber has sat stoically through the opening five levels – the yin to Saab’s yang! Schreiber, a sponsored PokerStars player, is well positioned above the chip average.



We also caught up with the winner of the first ‘official’ APPT tournament, the Manila Cup tournament played earlier in the week.

New Zealander James Honeybone was still beaming after his win and, while
struggling in the main event, was more than happy to return home with at
least one title to his name.



Honeybone, a 23-year-old business student, quizzed us on the likelihood of
an APPT event coming to his home country. “It would be so great for poker in
New Zealand, it’s just what we need,” he said. Our reply: no comment.

Filed by Sean Callander

The final numbers are in for the opening APPT event in Manila, with 255
players signing up for the $2500 buy-in main event, creating a prize pool of
just under $600,000 and a first prize of $179,755.

To put that into perspective, the previous biggest prize offered in a
Philippines poker tournament was one-million pesos, which equates to about
$21,500. That makes $180,000, well, a whole lot of pesos!!

In addition to the big prize pool up for grabs, players also received a
small, carved animal on arrival at their tables.

Theories flew thick and fast as to its origin, but the small figurine is in
fact a Carabao, a species of water buffalo and a national symbol of the
Philippines (representing the Filipino people’s hard work and sense of
industry).

From a distance, it looks like a herd of miniature-sized boars have taken
over each table!

Speaking of national symbols, we caught a quick word with Joe Hachem, the
2005 world champion, during the first break.



Two years of constant travel since winning the WSOP title have started to
catch up with Joe, who by his own admissions is feeling run down.
And as has been the case since winning the 2005 main event bracelet, players
love to take on the world champ.

The latest to battle Hachem was Timmie Chua, a local player clearly not
overawed to have one of the world’ top pros at his table.

Just after the break, Hachem raised to 525 and was called from the cutoff by
Chua. On a flop of 9s 4c 3s, Hachem bet 1500 and Chua called. A 9d came on
the turn, Hachem bet 3500 and again, Chua called. It’s check-check on the
river (7h), and Hachem announces he has no pair. Chua shows pocket kings to
take down a nice pot, and halve Hachem’s stack.

That’s the problem with being the world champ – everyone wants a piece.

This story has been filed by By Sean Callander


The cards are in the air for the historic first event on the inaugural
PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour.
Players from all over the world – including Team PokerStars’ big guns Daniel
Negreanu, Joe Hachem and Vanessa Rousso – have converged on the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila.

The ballroom has just been filled with 250 (and counting) players, along
with some equally eager dealers – many of who will be also having their
first taste of a big-time poker tournament.

It’s clear the APPT has already captured the attention of players all over
the globe – the field includes players from the US, Europe, Australia and
numerous Asian nations, a great sign for the future of the game in this
region.

The day kicked-off with a touch of local culture from the award-winning
group, the Cercada Sisters. After some instructions from tournament director
Danny McDonagh, the cards were in the air.



Already, some enthralling match-ups have been set-up via the table draw.
Negreanu found himself on table 17 with highly ranked online player Marcus
Collins, while Team PokerStars’ Manlee Wan had 2007 Aussie Millions $1,100
Omaha Hi/Lo champion Jethro Horowitz to his immediate left.
However, the award for toughest draw of the day went to local player Rey G
Serafico. The Filipino player qualified for the tournament via a freeroll
but seated just two seats to his right is 2005 WSOP champ Joe Hachem.
Emerging young Australian player, the ultra-aggressive Julian Powell, is
also on table one.

Another table to watch is table four, where Joe’s younger brother Tony was
preparing to go to battle with Emad Tahtouh, who finished runner-up in last
year’s PokerStars EPT event in London.

Since we’re talking history at this Manila event, the name Nick Blackburn
will be forever etched in the history books as the first player to be
eliminated from an APPT event.

Blackburn, from the USA, was miles ahead when he pushed in with his aces against Sydneysider Carl Gosselin’s kings, and the board came 9h Qc 4h 5cbut a king on the river crippled Blackburn, and he bowed out just two hands later. Tough break Nick.

For the past couple of weeks, we've been introducing you to the World Cup of Poker IV finalists. Here are three members of Team Iceland who are getting packed for Barcelona.

Frikki

My name is Fridrik (Fredrick). I'm 26 years old and called Frikki. I was a sports bar owner but i sold it and started a marketing company with my uncle. I've been playing poker for a little over a year. I mostly play 45-player turbo tournaments, but have made it to the final table in some regular tournaments. So far, the World Cup of Poker has been unreal--so much fun. I just want to thank PokerStars for putting on the WCP and giving guys like me a chance to see what the can do in a real live tournament without having to pay lots of money for it. Just playing well is rewarded.


Squrell

I'm 26 years old and I am self employed. I don’t play as mush poker as I would like and I would like to play higher stakes. I live in Reykjavik, Iceland. I mostly play at PokerStars. I have five year-old son.

I've been playing poker for about three years and moved over to PokerStars because I consider my self a tournament player. As you know, PokerStars is the best site for tournaments. I don’t play much live, but hopefully I will play more in near future. It is a great honor to be the Team Captain of the Icelandic team. I hope I can play for the Icelandic team every year. Not long ago the last World Cup of Poker was televised here in Iceland. GO ICELAND!

uglyjoes

I'm 42 years old and sales manager from Reykjavik. I worked as a fisherman for 15 years . I'm half Spanish and half Icelandic. I have three kids and have been playing poker for two years. I took third place in the Icelandic championship last year, first in the place Icelandic open, and 4000th place or something in the World Series 2006 main event after winning a satellite on PokerStars last year. The experience has been great and I'm really looking forward to playing in
Barcelona.

Story filed by Miriam Verburg

At a media event to mark the official launch of the PokerStars APPT tournament, President Jeffrey Haas, sharing a panel with Director of Marketing for PokerStars Asia Pacific, Sarne Lightman, and Team Poker Stars players Joe Hachem, Vanessa Rousso and Daniel Negreanu introduced, “modern international poker tournaments to Asia.”



As Haas pointed out ‘spectacular’ Asian players have been very successful on the North American and European scene for years, and now local tournament players improve their game and experience the benefits of a professional-caliber tournament close to home.

The Philippines is taking the lead in making a home for Poker in Asia with executives from The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) making every effort to establish that the APPT in Manila runs smoothly. Manila is only the first stop on this groundbreaking tour that will hold events in Seoul and Sydney. Haas mentioned that there are plans to add as many as another 2 venues to this year’s tour and 8 stops for the 2008 season.

Originally planned to cap at 250 players, an additional 100 seats have been added, raising the cap to 350, due to the high local demand and popular satellite events online over the past month.

One local online qualifier Philip Chua attended the press conference. A 34-year old Manila-based businessman, he started playing online poker 2.5 years ago and qualified by winning the East-Asia Freeroll event last week. Says Chau of poker as a strategy sport: “You’re not playing against the house, it’s strategy with your mind and it’s with other people, so it’s more social.” He has high hopes for the sport's continued emergence in Asia.

Lightman pointed out that the adventure isn’t just for locals, as over 70 qualifiers from 25 countries have made their way to Manila after qualifying in PokerStars satellites.

Team PokerStars Vanessa Rousso and Joe Hachem were happy to be in Manila and ready to start play tomorrow. For once Hachem’s jet- lag was less than his North American counterparts, another perk for all players in the region, of the APPT’s arrival in Asia.

A milestone has been reached today in the evolution of poker as a truly global sport with the launch of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour.What’s been described as the birth of poker in Asia began with the Manila Cup, in the five star Hyatt Casino and Hotel, a stone’s throw from beautiful Manila Bay.

In the run-up to tomorrow’s Main Event, 108 players entered the Pesos 5 000 ($106.00 USD) buy-in No Limit Texas Hold’Em Freezeout Tournament, and three quarters of the field were Filipinos.

Four local players remained when the final table of ten had been reached, after 7 hours of tough competition.

Despite the lateness of the hour, applause erupted in the room as 2005 World Series of Poker Champion Joe Hachem appeared, to wish the final ten good luck and, and check out the competition before the big one.
First out was local player Mark Pagsuyin, who collected P10 700, followed by one of the handful of women players in the field, Linda Guo.It was hard to tell what excited her more, her final table finish or meeting Joe.
Another Filipino player was out in 8^th place, Garry Cantong taking home P 21 400, followed by Ravi Mahtani from the USA P 26 700. Benny “Mr Energy” Gonzales finally ran out of steam in 6^th place and the Filipino player collected P 32 100.

Busted out fifth was another American, Victor Catalan, who won P 40 100, and the last local player remaining, Amor Nario, was eliminated in 4^th place taking home P 48 100.

And they were down to three contenders for the Cup. Amongst them, PokerStars qualifier Gianni Barbieri from Sydney, who won his way to the Philippines after playing in a $22 rebuy event.It was Gianni’s first major tourney. “I found the level of play was excellent, really couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s great being able to play major tournaments without traveling to USA or Europe." That’s the sentiment expressed by many of the players who have traveled here from within the Asia Pacific region, who are glad that for once it’s not them suffering jetlag.Gianni turns 30 the day of the main event final table so no prizes for guessing what he’d like for his birthday.

Kenneth Leong, a Hong Kong-based Singaporean, dominated for most of the heads-up game but after one slip he saw all his chips move across the felt in just a few hands, to James Honeybone from NewZealand

32 year old Kenneth, who won P 106 900, is delighted to be able to play in major tournaments so close to home. "Poker is exploding all over Asia" he said." So many Asian players are coming up now, it’s going to be great."

It was an impressive performance by 23 year old James, a business student from Hamilton, who had been up for more than 30 hours straight when he finally clinched the Cup in the early hours of this morning.

"It’s huge, absolutely huge" he said of the launch of the APPT. "I want to thank everyone for putting on such a fantastic event, the competition has been great."

As we continue our look at the World Cup of Poker IV finalists, we now turn our eyes to the members of Team Germany.


Sasa "kosa28" Kojcinovic
Age: 21
Location: Augsburg
Occupation: student (computer science)

I've been playing poker for about one and a half years. During the first half year I played just for fun, so I've been playing "seriously" for a year, though seriously doesn't mean lot in this context. It's just the fact that I'm trying to improve my game. I'm still a micro stakes donk.

I've not made a big score yet. Playing at the World Cup of Poker finals is definitely my biggest achievement so far. I'm still working on my first tournament win. I don't play as much as I'd like to but this may change soon.

It was very exciting playing for a team and my team is great! We had so much fun in our meeting room. I can't wait to meet the guys in Barcelona! I'm looking forward to playing in a televised event, having fun with my teammates, and the money, of course.

David "Rennwurm" Windisch
Team Germany Captain

I am 26 years old, studying at a University of Applied Sciences hoping to finish it this month I started playing poker online at PokerStars.com in the end of 2005, so it's about 20 months ago. I never played the game before. I only play the smaller cash game stakes at PokerStars, currently No-Limit $200. My best tourney result is a 2nd place out of 2,000 players in the $3 Rebuy. and I won a couple of $20 180s SitnGoes, but it's all nothing to mention. Like I said, I don't play that many tournaments.

It's been a fun tournament and I'm happy making it this far. I'm looking forward to having a good time in Spain and having a great experience, since it's the first time I'll play a live tournament. Congratulations to all my teammates who played a great qualification tourney.

Patrick "Corn0815" Kuebert

My name is Patrick Kuebert. I am 25 years old and live in Karlstadt,Germany. I am studying "Ingenieurinformatik (mechatronics) in Schweinfurt. When I'm not playing poker, I spend my free time with playing online games, badminton, or going out with friends. I've been playing poker for nearly a year now--first only freerolls, then, since late 2006, mostly fixed limit till $1/$2.

I took a break from poker during this semester. After the tests had all been written, I swapped to playing SnGs. After having qualified for the final 18 2 table SnG for the Bavarian regional team i started practicing short-handed SNGs

Aside of the qualification for the World Cup of Poker Finals, I haven't made any greater tournament finishes. So my best result would be my $1,000 earnings in fixed limit cash games. This has been a great experience for me so far. We had a lot of fun with our team so far. In the finals I hope we will continue to succeed and be a good representatives for our country. I am not afraid of any other team, especially on my table. So, our goals for Barcelona are, of course: having a lot of fun, playing some live poker, and, of course, a money finish for our team.


bolsans

I'm 48 years old, married and I have two children and two grandchildren. I'm an electrotechnical engineer and have worked at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg for the past 26 years.

I have been playing poker for more than 30 years (5 card draw with 32 cards and 5
card stud). In 2001, I started playing 7 card stud, Omaha, and Texas Hold'em. I started playing with online poker in the year 2001.

My major achievements include a win in in Austria in the 7-card stud Bodensee Masters, and a win in Omaha. I often make final tables. I placed 33rd in the 2004 European 7 card stud event in Baden/Austria. I think I've won collectively more than $100.000 in the past few years. My biggest prize was the 11,000 EUR (7 Card Stud Bodensee Champion).

Now, with the World Cup, playing for a team is an indescribable emotion. It's great to play for a national team with a chance for big glory.

If you never realized how small a world we live in, check out Team Canada. Thousands of people across the entire country played for a spot on the team. Out of the five people who will eventually make their way to Barcelona, Spain, two of them are a father and son. They introduce themselves below in our continuing look at the finalists.

The Father

My name is Otto Byrne. I'm 62 years old and a semi retired-electrician. I have three children and five grandchildren. My son is also on this team! I've been playing poker recreationally for 50 years and started playing online about 2 years ago. Qualifying for this event is my biggest poker achievements to date. I felt I could have played better in the first team score round that we played, but I'm very pleased with my performance in the divisional final.

I was short stacked and moved all in with an AT, and hit my A on the river. This moved me to 2nd position and took lots of pressure off. At that point, if I finished either 2nd or 3rd we were assured the win. Since then, as "Tony the Tiger" says it's been G-R-E-A-T!!

I'm hoping to play my best and for the team to finish in the top 4 for the team score round. I'm also looking forward to seeing Spain with my son. This has been a great tournament, and an awesome experience. It's been fun to be able to take part in an event like this, especially with my son.

The Son

My name is Ed Byrne, I'm 37 years old. I'm an IT instructor for the College of the North Atlantic. I'm married and have two children. I've been playing poker online for about 2.5 - 3 years.

I've had a couple of good results in some freeroll tournaments on PokerStars (finishing 9th in a first round of a Moneymaker freeroll, 2nd in a 10 Billionth hand freeroll, and made it to the weekly Round 2 from the Hubble) but qualifying for the World Cup of Poker is my biggest accomplishment so far.

I'm pleased with the way I played in the World Cup match. I finished first in both team score rounds and hope to continue to be effective for my team. The most pivotal hand for me was when I was down about 500 chips to the average table stack. I was in the BB and was dealt pocket 2's. Two players limped into the pot. The flop came up 8 2 A rainbow so I made a small raise, and was re-raised so I went all in. My trip 2's held up and then the momentum at the table went my way from that point on.

My World Cup of Poker experience has been awesome. The team format is great! It adds so much pressure to the game. One bad play can impact the entire team. I also
love the fact that both my father and I qualified for this tournament and are on the same team. We get to have this very unique poker experience together.

I've only ever played tourneys online, so getting to play with people from around the world in a televised final is pretty awesome. Getting to travel to Spain and share it with my Dad just makes the whole thing that much better.

The World Cup of Poker IV live finals in Barcelona are only a few weeks away. As the date draws closer, we're taking a look at some of the players who will be fighting for their country. Here is Team Mexico's CORONABEACH in this own words.

My name is Jonathan Stoker (aka CORONABEACH). I am 33 years old and originally from Yardley, PA, USA. I moved to Cancun, Mexico in 1996 where I worked as an Activities Director for The Hotel Crown Paradise for four years. I then tested the waters in vacation property sales where I found I had a true talent with people and reading their body language. I quickly rose to the top of the business, winning Salesman of the Year my first year. Shortly after that, I moved into management where I have been for the past seven years. I am currently the assistant manager at Playa Del Sol Resorts in Neuvo Vallarta, Mexico. The past two years have been very exciting. I met my beautiful wife and mother of my wonderful new eleven month old. God bless you both!

As a sales manager here in Nuevo Vallarta, I would work from 9 to 4 or so, and when was done, I would walk home along the marina and stop in to have a beer with friends. Each day, I noticed a gentleman playing on the computer. I asked "What are you doing each day?"

He said "Poker!"

And that was it.

I figured this would be a good way to spend some time in the house (I was single at the time), so I bought a laptop and joined PokerStars. This was three years ago. Since then it has been an uphill battle with game. I watched all the TV poker, read all the books, and have had so many bad beats I thought it was just better to play the worst hand. This past year, I took another approach. I realized that I would need to study more, watch more videos, study my play more and analyze my game to find the leaks. As a result this year, I feel my game has elevated to a higher level. The support of my wife is a big reason to my success. I could not play at the level I am or reach the goals I have without her by my side. Thanks for all your support!

My biggest achievement to date would be reaching the finals this year in the World Cup of Poker in Barcelona, Spain. This is the highlight of my poker playing. I also had strong finish this year in the $30,000 guaranteed $3 rebuy event on PokerStars. Recently, I was in Las Vegas playing at the Golden Nugget daily $100 tournament where I had five final tables of seven entries. One of the final tables was a first place finish for $1,800.

I feel I brought my A game to the World Cup Division Finals. I have been studying and analyzing my game every day. With this, I feel it gave the skill and mental edge over my opponents for first place finish out of 12.

The World Cup experience is amazing and we have not even begun the fun part! To think that the best players from 54 countries from around the world are in front on the computers and shooting for a chance to represent their country in Spain on TV and bring the a world title home to their country is truly priceless!

What do I expect at the live finals in Barcelona, Spain? The obvious is the best answer: I think I expect Mexico to bring home the title. I assure everyone onasis16, our other two teammates, and I are not flying 22 hours for second place.

I plan to grow from this experience by having the opportunity to meet people from around the world that have a good sense for the game of poker. I plan to use this World Cup to elevate my game to the next level, proving to myself I have what it takes to be a professional poker player.

You never know who you'll see show up on the Sunday Tournament leaderboards. This week, for instance, the High Stakes showdown featured none other than barryg1, aka Team PokerStars' Barry Greenstein. Greenstein took down that event while the other three big tournaments of the day featured players from all over the world, including hockeystud94 who picked up the win in this week's Sunday Million. Tournament results for all the events are below. Congratulations to this week's winners.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up

1. thechemist83 (United States) $79,853.40
2. nederen_dk (Denmark) $40,293.00
3. coxquinn (United States) $28,652.80
4. BananasJoe (Sweden) $23,199.00
5. ch0ppy (Canada) $18,192.90
6. mossified84 (United States) $13,715.90
7. Jon9ball (United Kingdom) $9,645.90
8. TotallyWired (United Kingdom) $5,982.90
9. sonelk!!! (United States) $3,581.60

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand
Based on finishing order and six-way deal

1. jogu68 (Sweden) $11,311.78
2. bbdoll23 (United States) $9,204.57
3. robfoot (Canada) $6,558.39
4. deznuts (United States) $5,153.82
5. calidris (Sweden) $6,925.23
6. Teh_Miser~ (United States) $3,989.92
7. cocnhai (Canada) $1,468.73
8. $wanswan (Ireland) $1,193.34
9. chribrain (Italy) $917.96

PokerStars High Stakes Showdown

1. barrgy1 (United States) $25,000.00
2. UGOTPZD (United States) $15,000.00

PokerStars Sunday Million
Based on finishing order and two-way deal

1. hockeystud94 (United States) $166,000.00
2. Dunk_17 (Canada) $116,516.66
3. wwwBTHEREcom (United States) $69,628.02
4. SevenToes (United States) $54,255.60
5. ArbahChamesh (United States) $41,466.78
6. jeanette_33 (Norway )$29,711.40
7. ZillaalliZ1 (United States) $21,314.70
8. PrtyPsux (United States) $12,918.00
9. sharp (France) $8,009.16

We continue our look at the players who are headed to Barcelona, Spain for the World Cup of Poker IV finals with an introduction from Team Portugal's Guto in his own words.

I am a business lawyer based in Lisbon, Portugal. Originally from Brazil, I have been living here in Lisbon since 1.990. I am a national of both Portugal and Brazil. I am married with three children. Besides poker, I am also passionate about contemporary art. I usually divide my free time these days between poker and taking care of my art collection.

I started playing draw poker at high school. At that time we had a regular table with friends that met every Friday and Saturday to play poker for hours. Unfortunately, after high school I lost contact with most of these friends and also stop playing completely.

Three years ago, totally by accident, surfing about poker movies in the internet, I came across some poker internet sites and started playing some free rolls at Poker Stars. At that point I didn't have a clue about Texas Holdem and was a big fish at the 5 and 10 dollars tourneys and Sit & Gos.

After six months, I decided to read more about the game and started buying and studying some very good books like Super System I and the three Harringtons. Since last year I think my game has improved a lot with the help of PXFactor.

I intend to continue playing poker on the internet and whenever possible live but just as a hobby. This year I was second at a $109 buy in tourney and fourth in a $55 tourney. I was also second at a live tourney at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London (£70.00 buy in) and second and third in some tourneys at Binions , Las Vegas last year.

I think I played very well in the two first World Cup of Poker rounds against the Portuguese, being 4th among almost 400 and then 1st in the final 18 players Sit & Go. Then I did not really had a good run of cards in my Divison play off and kind of lost my patience. I think I should have been more cautious even more considering that we were playing for adding points to the team.

I am really amazed by the efficiency of PokerStars and very much looking forward to being in Barcelona--lots of competition, fun, and, of course, to win and bring the cup to Portugal.

This week, we're highlighting players who will be representing their home countries in the World Cup of Poker IV finals. Today, we offer an introduction that likely doesn't need to be made--PokerStars player shaundeeb.

I would think it's gotta be hard running around in the poker world with a name like Deeb. After all, between the ugly shirt, the ESPN coverage, and winning this year's $50,000 HORSE event, most people think Freddy when they think Deeb. Or, at least, they used to. These days, there is a guy tearing up the online tournaments who threatens to take over the Deeb name and claim it in the name of Troy, NY.

If you don't know shaundeeb (and, yeah, his name is actually Shaun Deeb), you don't play much tournament poker online. Deeb is a young, consistent, and constant player who is best known for turning a $30 deposit into $33,000 in just a couple of weeks. Deeb made his place on USA's national team after running roughshod over the PokerStars tournament leaderboard and earning his spot on the team.

If you happened to miss Deeb at the online tables (and if you have, I have to wonder what tournaments you're playing, because Deeb seems to play them all), you've probably seen him playing at Turning Stone or in Las Vegas. If you missed him there, well, check your DVR for an episode of ESPN's World Series coverage. That segment where they guys are playing Monopoly with real money? Yeah, Deeb is in there. In fact, I'm not uncertain that Deeb isn't everywhere. He's been known to play 30 tournaments at once. Not 30 SNGS. Thirty freakin' tournaments. It's like playing most of the World Series in one sitting.

As he said in an interview, "Anytime someone asks me how I play so many tables at once, I tell them it took a lot of practice. Anyone who tries to play a lot of tables right away will be a significant loser at the tables. You are afforded so little time to make decisions that it's not something new players should try. If you take it baby steps and don't try to jump from three tables to thirty tables, it can be done."

Right now, Deeb is looking forward to his trip to Spain and is hoping to extend it a bit by winning a seat in the European Poker Tour event in Barcelona that precedes the World Cup finals by a couple of days.

So, if the entire Freddy Deeb thing is still messing with your brain, you can check his blog, Shaun Not Freddy Deeb. That should set you straight. If not, stay tuned for the World Cup of Poker IV finals. What Shaun does there may just secure his rightful place in Deeb name ownership.

This week, we're intriducing you to some of the more colorful characters from this year's World Cup of Poker live finals in Barcelona. Forty players from around the world will be headed to Spain in just a few weeks. Today's player is from Team Ireland and goes by the name Conno!!y on PokerStars.

My name is Joe Connolly, I live in Connemara County Galway in Ireland. I'm 20 years old and have been playing poker for about two years now. I play under the alias Conno!!y on PokerStars. I starting playing for just play money and then made a deposit for just $5 and haven't looked back since. Making the Ireland team is my biggest poker achievement to date. My best tournament win is $850, for a $2 entry fee. I feel I played well in my World Cup match. I didn't make too many mistakes and finished 2nd.

I played tight to start off, winning small pots and loosened up my game as the blinds increased. I won a nice pot with pocket jacks when the flop came down KJT. I knocked out a player when I limped with A8 suited from the small blind to his big blind. He was raising a lot of the time. He then pushed all-in. I made the call and he showed T3 offsuit and my hand held up. I got lucky in one hand when I called a
shot-stacked player's all-in with an A6. He showed A8 and I spiked the 6 on
the turn.

The World Cup for me so far has been great. When I entered that first freeroll, I never thought I'd get this far. It has been a great run to date and I hope it continues and Ireland wins the event. I'm looking forward to Barcelona a lot. I've never been to Spain. I'll be bringing a few mates to support me and the Irish team. I'm confident we can do well over there.

Thanks once again to PokerStars for giving me this opportunity.

Among the fascinating stories coming out of the World Cup of Poker finals is that of onasis16. His background is as international as the World Cup of Poker itself. With the Barcelona live finals still several weeks away, it seems like a good time to start introducing you to some of the key players. Here is Mexcio's Team Captain, onasis16, in his own words.

My name is Tony. I am from Greece. I was born and raised in Germany. I am a world traveler who likes to see different cultures and countries. I have lived in several countries and this helped me to speak five languages fluently. After school in Germany, I started my own business--a video club rental like Blockbuster. Then I got involved in import export business and started exporting cars from Germany to Greece and motorbikes from Italy to Germany. I did that until I was 25 years old. Then I decided I needed a break, so I called the airport and asked for the next available flight. I gave them three destinations--Thailand, South America, or Caribbean. They called me back saying tomorrow morning 6am to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Arriving there it was like a shock for me. Summer all year around, not like in Germany--all gray and rainy all day, hot chicks, turkise blue water. Man, did I fly to paradise? How come I never have heard of that island?

My two weeks vacation became eleven years in the Caribbean. It was not hard to trade 30 degrees minus Celsius to 30 degrees plus Celsius all year long. People there a very friendly and have a great mentality. So after three years of hanging out beaches, casinos, discos,and so on, I got bored of doing the same day in day out. So, I decided to get a job and see what I could do here. Meanwhile, I had learned the Spanish language perfectly, so I got introduced to the vacation ownership industry.

After a fast start, I skyrocketed to the sales manager position in nine months. I was very exited and had a lot a fun with my work. I started getting offers from other companies. I did that for eight years in the Caribbean. After meeting my future wife there and five hurricanes, I decided it's time to move.

So, I came to Mexico and went to Cancun. I stayed there five months but I didn't like it very much so I moved to Vallarta. There, I started working and met one of my managers. One day he said, "Do you now how to play poker?"

I answered, "Yes, but only five-card draw." I had played a lot of five-card in Germany. I was actually a decent player.

He answered, "No, I mean poker. No-limit hold'em."

I said, "No."

He said, "You want to try?"

I said, "Sure, why not."

So, we went to my house and opened an account at PokerStars. I registered and started donking off in some small buy in MTTs. A couple of days later, I came third in a rebuy for $2,400. Three days later, another final table for almost $2,000, so I decided to take it more seriously and study the game of poker. This friend who introduced me to online poker is coronabeach [Editor note: Coronabeach is also a member of Team Mexico.]

I'v played online poker for two years and four months. I usually make my living off 5-card draw high stakes games. I multi-table them and do quite well. My biggest achievements have been the 12,000 WSOP seat I won on PokerStars this year and a couple of wins and cashes in MTTs. The World Cup of Poker qualifier is also an achievement. Last year we lost in the playoffs versus Costa Rica.

The World Cup experience has been great so far. I am very exited about that. We are looking only to one direction in the finals and that's winning the whole thing and bringing the title to Mexico.

How many times will zangbezan24 win the PokerStars High Stakes showdown? One guess has it at, "All of them." How many people can you fit in a deal on the PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand? This week the answer is five. Who won more than $188,000 in this week's Sunday Million, beating out more than 6,000 other players and winning without making a deal? Well, scroll down through this week's Sunday tournament results to see the answer to that question. Good luck to all of this week's winners!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up
Based on finishing order and two-way deal

1. ael1979 (Cyprus) $65,569.12
2. BOKPOWER (Netherlands) $43,718.40
3. puyablaze (United States) $29,101.44
4. NemoStars22 (United States) $23,404.80
5. mymandi1 (United States) $18,547.20
6. PezPoisson (United States) $14,087.04
7. Mighty_L (Denmark) $10,112.64
8. vic_xcite (Sweden) $6,359.04
9. bid7777 (United States) $3,709.44

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand
Based on finishing order and five-way deal

1. mk12lt (Australia) $12,335.81
2. UsedTa (United States) $7,335.81
3. magicmeess (Germany) $7,335.81
4. Insnow (Finland) $7,335.81
5. Dantes_11 (United States) $7,335.81
6. concretemike (United States) $1,852.41
7. seculin (Germany) $1,481.93
8. ThereIsNo (United States) $1,204.07
9. ulalalalalal (Switzerland) $926.21

PokerStars High Stakes Showdown

1. zangbezan24 (Canada) $50,000.00
2. $tinger 88 (United States) $30,000.00


PokerStars Sunday Million

1. IG0tDibs (United States) $188,176.68
2. downosaur (United States) $98,014.14
3. Roberta114 (Finland) $70,533.54
4. roosterfish (United States) $54,961.20
5. flyndra (Norway) $42,006.06
6. EirikS (Norway) $30,097.80
7. PokerSkill (United States) $21,591.90
8. bobbybagpipe (United States) $13,086.00
9. barbar31 (Austria) $8,113.32

Team Romania has snagged its spot in the World Cup of Poker IV finals. Last Sunday, Teams Romania and Hungary played to a tie in the Division finals. Today, PokerStars hosted a heads-up match to decide which of the two teams would head to Barcelona. Team Romania's captain took a pass on the tie-breaker and put Tardeea in the chair to fight for his country's spot. He went head-to-head with Hungary's captain Belabacsi.

After a hard-fought match, Team Romania watched its player come out with the win. Now, Romania will join Teams Iceland, Mexico, Portugal, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and USA in Barcelona's live finals next month. With the final team in place, here's who we'll be watching play for the World Cup of Poker IV championship.

Barcelona Live Final Teams


USA National Team 1
tnetter, shaundeeb, principe4, d-28
(USA Division)


Canada Province Team 1 (Newfoundland)
tilterino, SirWatts, gummer2004, poppyoppy
(Canada Division)


Bayern--Province Team 3
Rennwurm, bolsans, kosa28, Corn0815
(German Division)


Team Ireland
ROONEY_DIVES, luckysod, Conno!!y, greenrizla
(Britain and Ireland Division)


Team Iceland
Squrell, uglyjoes, @tl@sinn, frikki
(Europe Division I)


Team Portugal
spxdes, zumytime, Guto ,jojo19713
(Europe Division II)


Team Romania
razvan1ian, alin111, Tardeea, keke22
(Europe Division III)


Team Mexico
onasis16, coronabeach, xmeteorox, elricardomt
(Rest of World Division)


Now that all eight teams are in place, a celebrity player from each country will join the teams to play for the championship. Stay tuned to find out who will step in for the fifth spot on each team.

Congratulations to all the teams for making it this far. Good luck in Barcelona!

When the finals of the World Cup of Poker III started, I was in Las Vegas for the World Series. PokerStars.net Blog writer, Jo, took over for me in Barcelona--somehow I keep missing those trips...--and did a bang up job. I asked her to take a look back at her days in Spain.

by Jo

Someone sent an email asking, 'How many beds do you get in a hotel room?' PokerStars Support are used to helping players with all kinds of questions, but I must admit this was the first time I'd been asked that one. This question was from a player who'd won a PokerStars satellite, the lucky guy would be playing in a big money tournament, and I knew he would be staying in a very nice hotel.

It reminded me of the World Cup of Poker last year. I remember the day when my boss called me into his office to ask, 'Would you like to blog at the World Cup of Poker?'

I'd never blogged about poker before so of course I was terrified, but this was a trip to Barcelona, and I'd get to stay in a very nice hotel! So of course I said, 'Yes!'

I didn't make good use of my hotel's roomy bed on that first night in Spain, I
was up all night writing and re-writing my introduction, scared to hit 'publish' on my first ever PokerStars blog post.

The next day I was tired, and I felt lost as I waited in the hotel lobby
for the coach to take me to the World Cup Welcome Party. I wasn't in party mood at all. I could see Tom McEvoy and Anthony Holden waiting around too.
I wanted to tell these respected authors how much I loved their books, but I was too shy. I told myself that overcoming shyness was an important part of this new job. I decided I sucked at this new job.

Then I looked around and realised that the hotel lobby was filled with people almost as lost and shy as me. Eight teams of five players were competing in Barcelona for the honour of their countries. I realised that most of these players had never met their team mates before. If they were lucky they might figure out who was in their team by overhearing a language they knew, or perhaps they'd recognise a face from a casino game back in their homeland.

This poker trip was strange to everyone, that thought gave me confidence. I was standing next to a tall, thin, dark-haired teenager. 'Hello,' I said, 'I'm writing the blog for PokerStars.'

Andrzej Skawinski spoke pretty good English,and happily introduced me to the rest of his Polish Team. The young Poles knew each other already, it seemed the poker scene in their country was small, so most of the team had met and played each other before. As I chatted to Andrzej and his team mates, I realised that he, and every one else in the room were eager to talk about their qualification games, to discuss hands, talk wins or losses, to share good and bad beat stories. There were eight nations represented in Barcelona that June, but when we talked poker it felt like everyone spoke the same language.

After a couple of days nobody was a fish out of water any more, the only concern they felt was avoiding looking like a poker kind of 'fish'. The teams were bonded and felt like real teams, each with a different character. The Brazilians were macho, eager to watch the football World Cup that was playing at the same time, often with a bet on the line. The Irish were quirky, eccentrics, always ready with a joke and a smile. The US Team seemed serious and clever, focused only on poker success... Teams could be seen together, talking tactics, laughing, drinking, or simply dreaming that they'd enjoy a World Cup win.

PokerStars had put together a completely free to enter contest, flown 40 poker
players and their guests on an all expenses paid trip to Barcelona. I know that for some players this would be their first live game, for some it might be the first time they'd left their home country. Maybe it would even be the first time some had stayed in a hotel? I wonder if they knew how many beds to expect?

Whatever these players backgrounds, all were here on poker merit, having qualified through tough online tournaments, or persistent tournament leaderboard success. Each team was led by an experienced captain, and each also benefited from a 'celebrity player', a talisman of their poker power.

The prize money in this competition was generous, but I don't think money was the sole motivation for these World Cup teams.

An image that sticks with me from this event is the crowd of anxious players gathered around a paper on the casino wall. It reminded me of the day my school exam results were posted this way. This important scrap of paper was the tournament league table. Points were updated on this on each players exit from the tourney. The numbers on that scrap of paper signified each teams chances of reaching the final. Players would look at this, and then nervously discuss complex mathematical equations, like, 'If Brazil finish higher than Ireland, but Canada don't win, then we make the final!'

This was exciting fun for a neutral observers like me. But I do remember a few less happy occasions when players seemed close to tears. A badly played hand that costs you half your bankroll will always hurt, but I don't think it would cause most thick-skinned poker players to reach for the Kleenex. A badly played hand that lets your team down, and will then be replayed on TV for your country's poker fans to criticise...? The World Cup could provide some serious poker pressures!

The team game poker of the WCP brings out the romantic in me. I don't know if poker will ever be classed as sport. The very idea of defining 'sport' hurts my head. But I do think the World Cup of Poker flies the flag for a poker game with purer motives. It feels like 'people poker' rather than 'profit poker.'

Poker has a reputation for a game full of selfishness and greed, it's a loners game, a game that rewards those who take advantage of the weakness of others. I admit that I admire this dark and moody side of poker, but I do enjoy the contrast I notice in the World Cup of Poker. It's free to enter for all who love the game, it's about poker played with a passion for more than just money, it's about supporting your team mates, it's about folks back home caring about your game. It's about feeling the same way as others, sharing something... And I feel honoured to have shared my World Cup of Poker experience with the teams of WCP III.

A few weeks after my trip to Barcelona a member of the winning World Cup team got in touch. Andrzej, who'd been a friendly face on my first day as a blogger, sent a letter, photos of his team's win, and postcards from his home town. He said he hoped we'd meet again if he wins a seat to another PokerStars event. I hope that too.

Which leads me back to thoughts of that satellite winner who asked, 'How many beds do you get in a hotel room?' I smiled as I wrote my reply, happily thinking that PokerStars had broadened this player's horizons, sending him on foreign adventures, to nice hotel rooms. I told him there would be room to bring a friend. I like that poker isn't just about selfishness and money, I like it when it's a people game.

I'm very much looking forward to following the people of the World Cup of Poker IV. I wish them well and I look forward to reading their stories here on PokerStars blog.

Team Poland and their fans


Team Poland : World Cup of Poker III Champions

With seven of the final eight teams already planning their trips to the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV finals in Barcelona, Spain, I found myself thinking today about the first time I saw the World Cup of Poker take place on a live stage.

In 2005, I started doing blogging work for PokerStars. It started with a blog I created the 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January of that year. A few weeks later, I was on a plane to Copenhagen and had created a blog for the European Poker Tour. After the Grand Final in Monte Carlo, the idea arose that PokerStars needed its own full-time blog. As it happened, that's what you're reading now and all PokerStars coverage has been here ever since.

With the PCA and EPT events done for the season in 2005, I wondered when the PokerStars Blog would next see live event action. I didn't have to wait long before I hopped on a plane and found myself in jolly old England for the PokerStars World Cup of Poker II. Back then, the WCP was a series of heads-up matches from beginning to end and in 2005 the finals were hosted in a television studio. It was a far different world back then, but one that I found more enjoyable than even I thought I would.

Among my favorite memories from that time was stumbling, exhausted out of the TV studio on the penultimate night of the competition. Here's what I wrote at the time.

Last night as I departed Riverside Studios, I happened upon the Costa Rican team. They stood at curbside, speaking in rapid-fire Spanish with tense looks on their faces. My rudimentary understanding of the language allowed me an ever-so-simple understanding of the conversation. They were working out their line-up for the final. They looked up at me knowing full-well who I was and knowing I was no threat, but hushed their voices as if I might be a spy for the Norwegian team.

It was a simple little moment that made clear to me that the teams in this competition don't take their roles lightly. It's serious business. The next night, Team Costa Rica went on to win its second straight World Cup of Poker title and took its championship back across the pond. It would be more than a year before Team Poland took over the title. For a look back at the final match of Costa Rica's win, visit the World Cup of Poker II Champions recap.


Jose Rosenkrantz celebrates his title winning match


Team Costa Roca celebrates its win


World Cup of Poker II Champions

Now, Barcelona is the home to the World Cup of Poker finals. This year, a new champion will be crowned in the first week of September and once again the PokerStars Blog will be on hand to cover the action live. It will be another year of memories as a new country takes home the title. For a look at who will be heading to Spain for the championship, be sure to take a look at the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV Division Finals recap.

In just four tournaments on Sunday, PokerStars awarded more than $2 million. The Sunday Warm-Up, Hundred Grand, High Stakes Showdown, and Million have all become appointment poker for the online community and the $2 million prize money is just another indication of how strong the poker world continues to be. Check out all the results from this week's Sunday tournaments below.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-up

1. Soterdelf (Germany) $84,091.32
2. ZOR_Gambler (Turkey) $42,431.40
3. Tulkaz (Denmark) $30,173.44
4. Ian J (United States) $24,430.20
5. KUDUZ (Slovenia) $19,158.42
6. MikeMaverick (Germany) $14,443.82
7. JBDenaro157 (United States) $10,157.82
8. Kovax (Sweden) $6,300.42
9. Swansen (Denmark) $3,771.68

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand
Based on finishing order and four-way deal

1. grotan (Norway) $16,504.88
2. halmarkkid (United States) $6,048.02
3. stiesnking (Germany) $9,608.80
4. FlushLee (Netherlands) $8,164.64
5. TYBELL 33 (Canada) $2,880.46
6. TheRedBaron (Canada) $1,920.31
7. Leifcake (United States) $1,536.25
8. newspaperman (United States) $1,248.20
9. MAGNUM8454 (United States) $960.16

PokerStars High Stakes Showdown

1. zangbezan24 (Canada) $50,000.00
2. APerfectGent (United States) $30,000.00

PokerStars Sunday Million
Based on finishing order and four-way deal

1. Omoneyman0 (United States) $110,323.42
2. tilerman (United Kingdom) $107,238.45
3. Guesty001 (United Kingdom) $103,913.36
4. tetergold (United States) $91,720.41
5. Dsnyder9521 (United States) $42,160.14
6. soad_live (Canada) $30,208.20
7. loosefer (United States) $21,671.10
8. taskel (Sweden) $13,134.00
9. zizou444 (Bermuda) $8,143.08

For eleven hours on Sunday, national poker teams from around the globe fought it out in the Division Finals of the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV. At stake--more than money. The winners were guaranteed to have a seat at a televised poker table. They were guaranteed a free trip to Barcelona, Spain for the live finals. Finally, the winners get a shot to win an international poker title for their home country. It will be a battle for bragging rights, national pride, and big cash in Barcelona.

But first, the teams had to beat out all of the other teams in their division. It started at 7am ET and ended just before 6pm. When it was over, seven of the the eight final teams had been decided. A tie in European Division III will force a a playoff between Hungary and Romania. For a complete look back at the eleven hours of coverage, including the scores of all the matches, be sure to visit the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV Division Finals Live Blog .

Now, I present to you, your finalists in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV.

Barcelona Live Final Teams


USA National Team 1
tnetter, shaundeeb, principe4, d-28
(USA Division)


Canada Province Team 1 (Newfoundland)
tilterino, SirWatts, gummer2004, poppyoppy
(Canada Division)


Bayern--Province Team 3
Rennwurm, bolsans, kosa28, Corn0815
(German Division)


Team Ireland
ROONEY_DIVES, luckysod, Conno!!y, greenrizla
(Britain and Ireland Division)


Team Iceland
Squrell, uglyjoes, @tl@sinn, frikki
(Europe Division I)


Team Portugal
spxdes, zumytime, Guto ,jojo19713
(Europe Division II)

--or--
Team Hungary or Team Romania
Playoff pending
(Europe Division III)


Team Mexico
onasis16, coronabeach, xmeteorox, elricardomt
(Rest of World Division)


As soon as I have details on the playoff between Hungary and Romania, I'll be sure to post them here. What's more, the PokerStars Blog will have have coverage of the finals in Barcelona.

Good luck to all the players--and safe travels to Spain!

Note: This is the all-day live blog of the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV Division Finals. Click refresh to see the latest updates below.

5:46pm--Stay tuned for a recap of the day.

5:41pm--Well, after nearly eleven hours, all the matches in the Divison Finals are finished. Seven out of eight teams are getting ready to book flights for Barcelona (one playoff match in Europe will decide the eighth team). The end of the USA matches signaled the end of the day. The final four matches ended up to be a horserace between the USA National Team 1 and USA - Louisiana. In the end, the National Team edge Lousiana by a point.

USA National Team 1 -- 58
(tnetter, shaundeeb, principe4, d-28)

USA - Louisiana -- 57
USA - South Dakota -- 47
USA National Team 2 -- 42
USA - Maryland -- 36

5:35--Here are the results from the USA Divison matches.

1. tnetter (USA National Team 1) 20
2. crookedtoe (USA - South Dakota) 15
3. mattg1983 (USA -- Lousiana) 11
4. stealurmoney (USA National Team 2) 8
5. The Shrike (USA -- Maryland) 6

1. BeL0WaB0Ve (USA National Team 2) 20
2. ImASick0 (USA -- Lousiana) 15
3. TSU Tigre (USA -Maryland) 11
4. shaundeeb (USA National Team 1) 8
5. biggies05 (USA - South Dakota) 6

1. jacquno (USA - Lousisana) 20
2. principe4 (USA National Team 1) 15
3. P0kerstar (USA - Maryland) 11
4. Hoogah (USA National Team 2) 8
5. thesidedish (USA - South Dakota) 6

1. vintnerbfg (USA - South Dakota) 20
2. d-28 (USA National Team 1) 15
3. JJDude (USA - Louisiana) 11
4. mandel55 (USA - Maryland) 8
5. BettaGirl (USA National Team 2) 6

5:10pm--With the end of the Canada matches, we now have our next team set for Barcelona (see below for the others): Canada-Newfoundland!

Canada Province Team 1 (Newfoundland) -- 61
(tilterino, SirWatts, gummer2004, poppyoppy)

Canada National Team 2 -- 51
Canada National Team 2 -- 47
Canada Province Team 3 -- 43
Canada Province Team 2 -- 38

5:02pm--Here are the results from all four Canada Division matches.

1. theTaxMan75' (Canada National Team 2) 20 pts.
2. snake8484 (Canada Province Team 3) 15
3. tilterino (Canada Province Team 1) 11
4. derek8 (Canada National Team 1) 8
5. UGOTPZD (Canada Province Team 2) 6

1. ocrowe (Canada Province Team 2) 20
2 SirWatts (Canada Province Team 1) 15
3. zangbezan24 (Canada National Team 2) 11
4. yadio (Canada National Team 1) 8
5. bondsmvp25 (Canada Province Team 3) 6

1. gummer2004 (Canada Province Team 1) 20
2. farkoo (Canada National Team 1) 15
3. whyme63 (Canada Province Team 3) 11
4. Boneman7812 (Canada National Team 2) 8
5. whippers (Canada Province Team 2) 6

1. Erniee96 (Canada National Team 1) 20
2. poppyoppy (Canada Province Team 1) 15
3. Joe Bluff (Canada Province Team 3) 11
4. nexlyne (Canada National Team 2) 8
5. 54bruschi (Canada Province Team 2) 6

4:49pm--And then there were two. With the exception of the playoff between Hungary and Romanio, all we have left to decide are the Canada and USA Divisions. Both of those battles have been underway now for nearly two hours. Three of the four Canada matches have already finished. Only one of the USA matches is complete.

4:38pm--We can once again add to the list of teams that will be headed to Barcelona to fight for big cash and even bigger national pride.

Barcelona Live Final Teams

Bayern--Province Team 3
Rennwurm, bolsans, kosa28, Corn0815
(German Division)


Team Ireland
ROONEY_DIVES, luckysod, Conno!!y, greenrizla
(Britain and Ireland Division)



Team Iceland
Squrell, uglyjoes, @tl@sinn, frikki
(Europe Division I)



Team Portugal
spxdes, zumytime, Guto ,jojo19713
(Europe Division II)


Team Mexico
onasis16, coronabeach, xmeteorox, elricardomt
(Rest of World Division)



There was a tie in Europe Division III between Hungary and Romania. There will be a tie-breaker between those two teams in the coming days.


4:22pm--It felt this way from the beginning and it feels this way now. Please join me in welcoming Team Mexico to the final eight teams of the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV. Here are the final standings in the Rest of the World Division.

Mexico 42
(onasis16, coronabeach, xmeteorox, elricardomty)

Argentina 39
Japan 33
Brazil 31
Puerto Rico 22
Venezuela 22
Australia 21
South Africa 21
Korea 19
New Zealand 18
Costa Rica 8
Philippines 4

4:17pm--I fear we may be in for another Blogger publishing problem. Hopefully not. The Rest of the World matches just wrapped up. Here are the results of the final match.

1. lisykey (Argentina) 20 pts.
2. GUAZZELLI (Brazil) 15
3. sjh1799 (Korea) 11
4. Adrian A.A. (Puerto Rico) 8
5. xmeteorox (Mexico) 6
6. evo.com (New Zealand) 4
7. Dostojewski (Japan) 3
8. BULLDOGLW (Costa Rica) 2
9. haigang (Venezuela) 1
10. Judas75 (South Africa) 0
11. sammy_j_01 (Australia) 0
12. iko1688 (Philippines) 0


4:08pm--South Africa's mosbay just made a great comeback to take first place in his match in the Rest of the World Division.

1. mosbay (South Africa) 20 pts.
2. daytona955i (Japan) 15
3. aakkari (Brazil) 11
4. onasis16 (Mexico) 8
5. tioalberto (Venezuela) 6
6. ak97b (Philippines) 4
7. godhatesme76 (Korea) 3
8. Tekeelya (Puerto Rico) 2
9. SilkysNuts (Australia) 1
10. argenpoker (Argentina) 0
11. bismillahno (New Zealand) 0
12. brzgroup (Costa Rica) 0

3:50pm--Give that match to Australia.

1. just4fun;-p (Australia) 20 pts
2. thepatan (Venezuela) 15
3. Shingen (Japan) 11
4. elricardomty (Mexico) 8
5. TansNZ (New Zealand) 6
6. cristian10 (Argentina) 4
7. R_Caiaffa (Brazil) 3
8. CHEONGPA (Korea) 2
9. Gaor (Puerto Rico) 1
10. LADYBUGER (Costa Rica) 0
11. Trejiem (South Africa) 0
12. LSDUDE (Philippines) 0

3:46pm--Australia or Venezuela. The looks to be the question in one of the three remaining Rest of the World matches. Auatrailia's just4fun;-p holds the chip lead, but Venezuela's thepatan looks like he might be able to make up some grounf. Who knows. They are heads up as I type.

3:38pm--And that's that. In the first match of the Rest of the World playoffs, Mexico has jumped out to an early lead with coronabeach's victory.

1. coronabeach (Mexico) 20 pts
2. Crisper (Argentina) 15
3. PRbigFish (Puerto Rico) 11
4. rjmgrace (New Zealand) 8
5. JPablo (Costa Rica) 6
6. OrganizeThis (Japan) 4
7. "24" IN DUBS (Korea) 3
8. IgorFederal (Brazil) 2
9. tinpot (South Africa) 1
10. sunderland4 (Australia) 0
11. Vnezolano (Venezuela) 0
12. winroy (Philippines) 0




3:35pm--It's almost time for a cold one down Mexico way. Coronabeach has taken a commanding lead heads up and is going to have to stumble more than once to not win this one.

3:31pm--In case you're just tuning in, this morning four teams made it through to the Barcelona live finals.

Barcelona Live Final Teams

Bayern--Province Team 3 (German Division)


Team Ireland (Britain and Ireland Division)


Team Iceland (Europe Division I)


Team Portugal (Europe Division II)


There was a tie in Europe Division III between Hungary and Romania. There will be a tie-breaker between those two teams in the coming days.

3:24pm-'Tis a good day for Mexico. Still a long way to go, but every time I click on a screen, Mexico is doing something that makes me think it is destined to get there. This time, it was elricardomty flopping tens full when he needed it most.

3:08pm--I think there is a certain pride that goes along with representing something called The Rest of the World. After two full hours of play, all four matches in the divison are still going strong.

3:00pm--And now, for our next trick, the final matches of the Division Playoffs. USA and Canada are kicking off now for what should be a big ol' time. In just a few hours, we will know seven of the eight Barcelona final teams.

2:55pm--If you happen to see PRBigFish walking around the streets of Puerto Rico today, ask him about getting queens in agains ace king...ace on flop...and a queen on the turn...and river.

2:48pm--But wait! OrganizeThis from Japan has stormed up and taken the chip lead mentioned in the last update. Where I come from, we call this one a barn burner.

2:41pm--We have a couple of Rest of the World matches down to one table. In one match, Mexico's coronobeach and New Zealand's rjmgrace have pulled away to mid-game chip leads and look to do well for their team in the late going.

2:07pm--Play is back underway in the Rest of the World Division, as members of the U.S. finalists and Canada finalists start putting together their games for the 3pm start.

1:54pm--Coming up on the first break with only a handful of eliminations so far. Hour two figures to be a lot more exciting.

1:30pm--One note...since these matches have 12 players, they could take a bit longer than this morning's matches. So far, only one player, LSDUDE from the Philippines has been eliminated

1:12pm--If I had to pick a feature match right now, it would be Match 1 of the Rest of the World Division. It features none other than Andre Akkari of Team PokerStars, not to mention brzgroup, a well-known Costa Rican player.

1:00pm--The Rest of the World Division is underway with a whole bunch of teams fighting for one spot in the live finals.

12:49pm--Looks like--save one niggling little math error--the unofficial results below are now official. Congratulations to the teams who have already won their trips to Barcelona.

Now, we have about ten minutes before the big Rest of the World Division in which one of the following nine teams fight for one spot in the finals.

Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Costa Rica
Japan
Korea
Mexico
New Zealand
Philippines
Puerto Rico
South Africa
Venezuela

Those games kick off at 1pm ET, followed by the USA and Canada divisions at 3pm ET.

12:36pm--I'll admit, while I do my share of math at the poker table, I'm not much for calculatin', figurin', and cipherin'. That said, while I wait on the official results from PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV HQ, here are the unofficial results from this morning's action.

Barcelona Live Final Teams

Bayern--Province Team 3 (German Division)


Team Ireland (Britain and Ireland Division)


Team Iceland (Europe Division I)


Team Portugal (Europe Division II)


There was a tie in Europe Division III between Hungary and Romania. There will be a tie-breaker between those two teams in the coming days.

12:33pm--Here are the final standings from the Britain and Ireland Division.

Team Ireland 65
Team England 59
Team Wales 54
Team Scotland 36
Team N. Ireland 26

12:25pm--There may be an issue with the math on Europe Divison III. Working on it as we speak. (Resolved)

12:14pm--The matches that startes at 9am this morning are all finished up, so we now have all the results from the Britain and Ireland Division. Here are the results of the four matches.

1. TwistedEcho (England) 20
2. ROONEY_DIVES (Ireland) 15
3. lee xxx (Scotland) 11
4. Rekwob (Wales) 8
5. allinstevie (N. Ireland) 6

1. luckysod (Ireland) 20
2. Crazeology (Wales) 15
3. Andy134 (England) 11
4. cess_man (Scotland) 8
5. superking21 (N. Ireland) 6

1. Ecclesbury (England) 20
2. Conno!!y (Ireland) 15
3. barry_dread (Wales) 11
4. garscull (N. Ireland) 8
5. am.gan.boosh (Scotland) 6

1. Jimellis100 (Wales) 20
2. greenrizla (Ireland) 15
3. TheInfector (Scotland) 11
4. jeffex (England) 8
5. spudgunn (N. Ireland) 6

12:02pm--Based on the unofficial results from Europe Division III below, the unofficial four Barcelona live event finalists so far are Team Iceland, Team Germany Province 3, Team Portugal, and....Team Lithuania! So, while we're sad to report Team Poland will not have a chance to defend its title in Barcelona. The only chance we'll have to see a repeat champion is if Team Costa Rica wins its division this afternoon. Here are the standings from Europe Division III. Looks like we have a tie.

Romania 44
Hungary 44
Luthuania 38
Ukraine 38
Austria 37
Russian Federation 35
Netherlands 21
Poland 12
Switzerland 11


11:42--Let's wrap up the European Divisions, shall we? Here are the unofficial results from Europe Division III.

1. Belabacsi (Hungary) 20
2. razvan1ian (Romania) 15
3. ~US&Co~ (Ukraine) 11
4. thopra (Austria) 8
5. sekme (Lithuania) 6
6. Banane03 (Switzerland) 4
7. idolaf (Netherlands) 3
8. BighandLeo (Poland) 2
9. Alex_Moscow (Russian Federation) 1

1. KD_Toll (Russian Federation) 20
2. RaSZi (Netherlands) 15
3. 0lis (Lithuania) 11
4. Avesalom (Ukraine) 8
5. adamHU (Hungary) 6
6. fcbpro (Switzerland) 4
7. copi (Austria) 3
8. punisher2007 (Poland) 2
9. alin111 (Romania) 1

1. Tardeea (Romania) 20
2. kestasg (Lithuania) 15
3. caesar321 (Russian Federation) 11
4. VOVCHENKO (Ukraine) 8
5. black1980 (Austria) 6
6. bzurd (Poland) 4
7. kasztor (Hungary) 3
8. schlabbi65 (Switzerland) 2
9. Supermenno (Netherlands) 1

1. DnCarlos (Austria) 20
2. vgerte (Hungary) 15
3. t_spieler (Ukraine) 11
4. keke22 (Romania) 8
5. Andriokaz (Lithuania) 6
6. sanojca (Poland) 4
7. Furunduk (Russian Federation) 3
8. Bodibikkel (Netherlands) 2
9. pip's-ch (Switzerland) 1

11:26am--With all of the early games completed, we're working on both official and unofficial scoring. As we mentioned, Team Iceland and Team Germany (Province 3) appear to have advanced to the finals. I've unofficially calculated the results of Europe Division II and would like to be the first to congratulate Team Portugal for making it to the live finals in Barcelona! Official results will be in later.

Portugal -- 52
(spxdes, zumytime, Guto ,jojo19713)
Spain -- 48
France -- 46
Israel -- 35
Greece -- 32
Belgium -- 27
Slovenia -- 22
Italy -- 14

11:08am--Here are the results of Europe Division II.

1. spxdes (Portugal) 20 pts.
2. VARICO (Spain) 15
3. amichaiKK (Israel) 11
4. kalamitsis (Greece) 8
5. Jeffray73 (Belgium) 6
6. tilou4fun (France) 4
7. Zgaga (Slovenia) 3
8. confiteor (Italy) 2

1. zumytime (Portugal) 20 pts
2. mulatek (Slovenia) 15
3. djalminha (Spain) 11
4. Mendasoni (Greece) 8
5. HappyFish (Israel) 6
6. alessio (Italy) 4
7. scymeganck (Belgium) 3
8. tambourin (France) 2

1. Nisa34 (France) 20
2. OLDstyleNL (Israel) 15
3. SobraoBoY (Spain) 11
4. VeNSe (Greece) 8
5. Guto (Portugal) 6
6. Gridi (Italy) 4
7. Dexia (Belgium) 3
8. marjan99 (Slovenia) 2

1. kob85 (France) 20 pts.
2. maxtaminesp (Belgium) 15
3. Kocoliso (Spain) 11
4. tavernari (Greece) 8
5. jojo19713 (Portugal) 6
6. turlino (Italy) 4
7. ACE_YOU (Israel) 3
8. DavidSLO (Slovenia) 2


11:04am--Alright, I'm catching my breath a little bit here. European Divisions II and III have finished up as well. I'm working on tabulating those results. In the meantime, I'll offer unofficial congratulations to German Province Team 3 and Team Iceland for unofficially making it to Barcleona (official results coming in a while). You can find results below.

10:54am--We mentioned a little earlier that unofficial scoring has Team Iceland as the first Barcelona finalist. It will be a bit before we get official word from PokerStars World Cup of Poker HQ, but we have also tabulated the unofficial results from the German matches and show German Province Team 3 as the team headed to Barcelona!

German Province Team 3 -- 62
(Rennwurm, bolsans, kosa28, Corn0815)
German National Team 1 -- 54
German National Team 1 -- 40
German Province Team 4 -- 39
German Province Team 2 -- 33
German Province Team 1 -- 28

10:40am-- We posted this result earlier:

1. eppur (German Province Team 4)-- 20 pts
2. TheSouthern (German National Team 1)-- 15
3. bolsans (German Province Team 3)-- 11
4. trinitob (German Province Team 1)-- 8
5. Ameise1979 (German Province Team 2)-- 6
6. bolito (German National Team 2) -- 4

Here are the other three German matches.

1. Karl Marx (German National Team 1) -- 20 pts.
2. Barlor (German Province Team 2)-- 15
3. Rennwurm (German Province Team 3)-- 11
4. energie99 (German Province Team 1) -- 8
5. Edgardoo (German National Team 2) -- 6
6. dilce (German Province Team 4)-- 4

1. kosa28 (German Province Team 3)-- 20 pts.
2. W David W (German National Team 2) -- 15
3. Mecki85 (German National Team 1) -- 11
4. Schochi1234 (German Province Team 2)-- 8
5. Tytem79 (German Province Team 1) -- 6
6. sobelix (German Province Team 4)-- 4

1. Corn0815 (German Province Team 3)-- 20 pts.
2. HeadCrusher (German National Team 2) -- 15
3. studyx (German Province Team 4)-- 11
4. Ikone07 (German National Team 1) -- 8
5. XMrMemphisX (German Province Team 1) -- 6
6. Cellixxx (German Province Team 2)-- 4




10:37pm--Germany's team has been decided. Unofficial results are coming in now.

10:27am--We are still waiting on official results from PokerStars World Cup of Poker HQ, but the PokerStars Blog unofficial scoring has Iceland the first team to make it to Barcelona! Here are the unofficial results from Europe Division I.

Iceland -- 51
(Squrell, uglyjoes, @tl@sinn, frikki)
Latvia -- 49
Norway -- 38
Finland -- 34
Denmark -- 33
Estonia -- 33
Sweden -- 27

10:22am--Here are the results of the final Europe Division I match.

1. FlyingSumo (Norway) -- 20 pts.
2. Squrell (Iceland) -- 15
3. Vorcirion (Finland) -- 11
4. Riverloser (Sweden) -- 8
5. EDUARD_II (Latvia) -- 6
6. butch_dk (Denmark) -- 4
7. madiso (Estonia) -- 3

10:16am--Europe Divison I is the fastest on the planet. Here are the results from the third completed match (with one still remaining).

1. krossmajo (Iceland) -- 20 pts.
2. hartsa (Finland)-- 15
3. Skanke (Sweden)-- 11
4. Wildlion (Latvia)-- 8
5. bjolla (Norway) -- 6
6. nisuw (Estonia) -- 4
7. daniBOOM (Denmark) -- 3


10:11am--Here's another completed European Division I match. Latvia looks to be making a run for Barcelona. After the completion of this match, Latvia has jumped out to the lead in Europe Division I.

1. mr.Krubs (Latvia) -- 20 pts
2. Tulkaz (Denmark) -- 15
3. Annette_15 (Norway)-- 11
4. uglyjoes (Iceland) -- 8
5. henri72 (Estonia)-- 6
6. mongeron (Finland) --4
7. Dihxm (Sweden) --3


10:01am--Germany is starting to look a little more defined. Here's how its first match finished up.

1. eppur (German Province Team 4)-- 20 pts
2. TheSouthern (German National Team 1)-- 15
3. bolsans (German Province Team 3)-- 11
4. trinitob (?)-- 8
5. Ameise1979 (German Province Team 2)-- 6
6. bolito (German National Team 2) -- 4


9:52am--We've got a match in the books. In Europe Division I, the match ended up like this:

1. c0ldfish (Estonia)-- 20 pts.
2. IljaV (Latvia) -- 15
3. voigt2006 (Denmark) -- 11
4. frikki (Iceland) -- 8
5. abyn403 (Sweden) -- 6
6. KillerKeni (Finland) -- 4
7. lecofiret (Norway) -- 3

9:38am--We have our first heads up match and it looks like it may not last long. In the German Playoffs Match 3, W David W is heads up with kosa28. W David W is playing for the German National Team 2.

9:34am--Well, the biggest name to go down yet has just hurt Austria. Copi is probably Austria's best known online tournament player. He has been eliminated in seventh place in a Europe Division III match.

9:28am--In Europe Division III, the Netherlands lost Supermenno and Switzerland lost schlabbi65.

9:25am--Over in the Britain and Ireland matches, Northern Ireland has just lost its captain, allinstevie.

9:22am--National German Team 2 just lost bolito.

9:12am--Out of all the matches running right now, the quickest one of the bunch is one in Europe Division I. Seven players started and five now remain. Norway's lecofret, Finland's KillerKeni, and Sweden's abyn403 have already been eliminated.

9:08am--More bad news for Germann Province Team 4. It just lost another player. Dilce just went out in sixth place. Things on Team 4 could look better.

9:00am--The new hour brings two things. First, Italy's confiteor is out. Second, the Britain and Ireland playoffs are beginning.

8:55am--In German playoff news, Munich's sobelix has bitten then dust in sixth place. Solbelix is a member of German Province Team 4.

8:52am--Man down! It might be impossible to report every elimination today, but I think it's worth noting, the first elimination today came at the expense of Team Romanio who just lost alin111 with AT vs QQ.

8:33am--With 16 matches underway, you might think we might have had a player down by this point. In fact, all teams are still alive and kicking.

8:20am--So, a few matters of logistics. As the first matches are now underway, you might be interested in knowing who is playing for which team. A full list of the current team stuctures can be found on the World Cup of Poker Teams page. To see how today's matches are being scored, here's how the World Cup of Poker Scoring works.

8:00am--And we're off!

7:47am--You may already know, the first two years this event took place, the tough team from Costa Rica won the championship. I was in London in 2005 for the PokerStars World Cup of Poker II and remember marveling at the sheer joy Team Costa Rica showed as it took down the championship for the second year. I still love this picture of the team. I snapped it just as the river card came down on the final hand.



The following year, Team Costa Rica did not make it to the finals. So, obviously, PokerStars ended up with a new champion. That turned out to be the tough team from Poland.



Now, as the matches get ready to kick off, the question is...who will join Costa Rica and Poland as champions? We'll be a lot closer to finding out at the end of the day.

7:12 am--In Germany, the sun has been up for some time now. In America, the first orange and yellow hues are just starting to water color the horizon. It's at the this hour, the one we call "7:00" on the PokerStars lobby clock, that members of the PokerStars World Cup of Poker IV Division Finals have started to assemble for a day of action that promises to land eight teams in one of the coveted spots in the live finals. Those eight teams will all converge on Barcelona in just a few weeks to compete for money and national pride. This year, I've pulled myself from bed with a mere hour and half of sleep to follow the Division Finals as they wind their way from a loose collection of online poker masters to a list of teams that will soon have the chance of joining Team Costa Rica and Team Poland as World Cup of Poker Champions.

The European teams are currently in their virtual meeting rooms and will be sitting down to play at 8:00am ET. To watch the teams play live, open up the PokerStars lobby, click "Events" then "World Cup" then "Division Finals." Or, just keep checking back here throughout the day to see how everyone is faring.

Good luck, everybody.