October 2007 Archives

Into level six with blinds at 150/300 with a 25 ante, it seems Frenchman Ludovic Lacay is the clear leader, but there’s plenty of action from PokerStars qualifiers with the likes of Justin Francis, Barry McGrath and Michael Durrer in close pursuit.

Ludovic Lacay – France – 95,000
Roman Yitzhaki – USA – 21,000
Andreas Hoivold – Norway – 22,000
Justin Francis – USA – PokerStars qualifier – 33,000
Tom Bentham – England – PokerStars qualifier – 19,000
Patrick Bruel – France – 19,300
Tony Cascarino – Ireland -- 23,000
Roy Brindley – Ireland – 19,000
George McKeever – Ireland – 21,000
Ben Grundy – England – 22,000
Surinder Sunar – England – 33,500
Annette Obrestad– Norway – 9,400
Luca Pagano – Italy – Team PokerStars Pro – 17,000
Daniel Tarnopol – USA – PokerStars qualifier – 27,000
Katja Thater – Germany – Team PokerStars Pro – 15,500
Alan Smurfit – Ireland – 15,500
Andreas Hagen – Norway – 26,500
Richard Ashby – England – 13,200
Anders Pettersson – Sweden -- PokerStars qualifier – 19,000
Barry McGrath – Ireland -- PokerStars qualifier – 40,000
Arshad Hussain – England – 42,000
Michael Durrer – Germany -- PokerStars qualifier – 31,000
Albert Smith – USA -- PokerStars qualifier – 16,500
Thor Hansen – Norway – 42,000
Jonas Molander – Sweden – 26,000
Ramzi Jelassi – Sweden – 11,000
Juha Helppi – Finland – 10,000
Runar Runarsson – Iceland -- PokerStars qualifier – 22,000

Eliminations:

PokerStars qualifiers Karsten Vogt, Tom Marchese, Bishar Khalaf and Antoon Kleynen have all found their tournament ending prematurely. Also out are Praz Bansi, Thomas Wahlroos and EPT Baden winner Julian Thew.

Team PokerStars pros Katja Thater and Luca Pagano are back from the dinner break in a little better shape than when they left. Both are off the felt after flying lower than is normally comfortable, Luca at times clipping the trees as his stack descended.

Luca moved in on the hand before the break. A chance to eat dinner in peace was at stake – either by double-up or elimination. So if you feel like sticking around Kings are a good way to increase your chances, which is what Luca showed when called by the player on his left who held pocket tens.

Back from dinner and whilst Katja enjoyed a massage and Luca dived under the cover of headphones PokerStars qualifier Daniel Tarnopol was happily adding to his stack, chatting with table mates along the way.

PokerStars qualifier Daniel Turnopol

Daniel, from San Mateo California, turned pro last December after working as an electronics engineer and looks like he made a good decision.

“I played in Baden last month and ran quite badly – I was card dead for a while. Here I have a great table and I busted a player out earlier.

Whether or not he had a read on Alan Smurfit I don’t know but he came out a hand with him better off, chasing away the bracelet winner with a strong bet on the turn.

“There are some good players here” he said, referring to Katja, Luca and Smurfit as well as Andreas Hagen and Ben Grundy. “Actually I like that – they’re easier to read.”

Industry Hall

Industries Hall has little left to show of its past and the factory that used to operate here. Big doors along each side - the type you’d see in aircraft hangers revealing a blimp or the space shuttle - are one of a few tell tale signs of what used to be. That’s all behind it now, a world of exhibitions, horse trials and the like are its main preoccupation now.

And of course poker.

In that case Industry Hall is not alone in diversifying. Poker players have varied backgrounds too, for example Luca Pagano used to run a disco. And he taught people to use computers - “A lifetime ago... maybe two or three lifetimes ago...”

What about everyone else?

EPT winner Pascal Perrault -- pharmacist
Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman -- journalist
Team PokerStars pro Noah Boeken -- door-to-door salesman
PokerStars qualifier Phidias Georgiou -- civil engineer
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier -- um, Starcraft player
Dave Colclough -- inland revenue
WPT and EPT winner Roland De Wolfe -- journalist
Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater -- horse breeder
EPT Dortmund Champ Andreas Hoivold -- cartoon collector
Norwegian pro Age Spets -- real estate
EPT Baden winner Julian Thew -- draughtsman
Andreas Hagen -- school teacher
Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri – Magic player
Tony Cascarino -- international footballer
Christiano Blanco -- sports journalist
Patrick Bruel -- actor and singer

Proof finally that you don’t need to have to be a maths genius (Thor Hansen excluded) or have just left college to make it in this game – although statistically that may help. It also pays to be good at poker, which is the running theme among all of the above.

Now of course their labour is poker, where the average player will work 12 hours a day with an hour break with no pension or health care provision, and an hourly rate than can vary between “I’d rather not say” and “can you carry that big check for me?” Hmm. The old job wasn’t so bad after all.

Tom Bentham has gone beyond proving himself to be a capable online player. The former university student quit his studies to turn his attention full time to playing and it’s working out well, qualifying for another EPT after his appearance in London last month. Oh, and he’s also won four seats to the PCA.

PokerStars qualifier Tom Bentham

His latest attempt at an EPT cash has taken a few set-backs though and as far as his table draw goes it isn’t the easiest. Sat alongside him are the likes of Joe Grech, Roy Brindley, Tony Cascarino, Joey Lovelady, Liam Flood, Patrick Bruel and fellow PokerStars Qualifier Justin Francis.


Tony Cascarino, Joey Lovelady and Liam Flood

It can't be a bad way to spend your retirement - qualify online and travel a few thousand miles to have a crack at an EPT. That’s the position Justin Francis finds himself in. The former Engineer from South Carolina, here with his wife Jodie, is making his first trip to Dublin (“although I’m part Irish”) and only recently began playing Texas hold’em after returning to the game after raising a family.

Right now nothing seems to be slowing him down. Taking a few small pots and a sizable one in an inter-PokerStars scrap with Tom Bentham that left the veteran with the upper hand.


PokerStars qualifier Justin Francis

With the flop of 7-8-J already on the board Tom made it 350 which Justin called. Tom checked the ace on the turn leaving Justin to bet 2k. Tom called, betting 2,500 when another ace came on the river. Justin, hardly moving and with hands clasped in front of him, paused for a while before calling. Both had an ace but the accompanying eight gave Justin a full house. It edges Justin past the average chip mark.

“I had a pretty shaky start but chips wise I’m okay” he said. “But you can only win with good hands!”

For Tom though things would get a little worse before they would get better. A hand or two later he came out firing again, a bet of 500 called by Joe Grech and Patrick Bruel. Tom bet again, 1,100 on a flop of 9-3-2. Grech, whistling now, called leaving Patrick to get out of their way. A nine on the turn, a check from Tom and a 2k bet from Grech. But it was too rich for the PokerStars Qualifier who takes another knock.

What was it I said about demons? For Tom they seem to be from an older generation, and they’re playing havoc with his stack.

Tournament update:

Early fallers include two former EPT Dublin winners. Ram Vaswani was out shortly after the start and Roland de Wolfe found his top two pair shattered by a straight- flush draw which hit on the turn.

In the meantime the payouts have also been announced, with a combined prizepool of €1,701,700 divided among the top 24 finishers.

1st - €532,620
2nd - €297,800
3rd - €178,680
4th - €127,630
5th - €105,510
6th - €83,380
7th - €66,370
8th - €47,650

9th and 10th - €30,630
11th and 12th - €23,820
13th and 14th - €20,420
15th and 16th - €15,320
17th to 24th - €10,210

Cards are in the air – by design not by any evil force and day 1b is underway. A bigger field than yesterday with 132 sitting down to play. It's top heavy with Irishmen as you'd expect but large chunks of the world are represented. Among those here...

John Tabatabai -- Wales
A new face on the EPT scene. He finished second in the WSOP Europe giving his profile a boost. Originally from Cardiff he now lives in London and tears up games on the internet.

George McKeever – Ireland
Ever present on the Irish poker scene. Seventh in the WSOP main event back in 1999.

EPT Baden winner Julian Thew

Julian Thew -- England
One of the most popular players on the circuit who topped his six previous cashes by winning the EPT Baden earlier this month, paying off the last of his mortgage in the process. Can he make it two in a row?


Luca Pagano

Luca Pagano – Italy -- Team PokerStars Pro
Five cashes and two final tables in the EPT to date and a mainstay on the tour since its early days events like this are part of Luca’s successful day job.


Katja Thater

Katja Thater – Germany –Team PokerStars Pro
Katja got everyone’s attention this year by winning a bracelet at this year’s WSOP, preceding that with a final table appearance in the EPT Warsaw. She cashed in Barcelona in September and has cemented her reputation as one of the best players in Europe.


Last year's EPT Dublin winner Roland De Wolfe

Roland De Wolfe – England
His past life as a journalist fades more and more as Roland keeps winning. The first player to win both a WPT and EPT event Roland made that record in Dublin last year and shows no sign of slowing down.

Mickey Wernick – England
A former European Player of the Year and veteran of Vegas in the old days, Mickey has cashed twice in the EPT.


Thomas Wahlroos

Thomas Wahlroos – Finland
Always good to listen to at the tables the ruthless Finn normally batters his way deep in tournaments or is out in the first levels. He plays like it means nothing and gets results.

Roy Brindley – Ireland
Born of England now a native of Ireland. One of the unsung talents of the game in Europe and winner of numerous tournaments around the world.

Tony Cascarino – Ireland
The former footballer turned poker player cashed in London last month and will want to at least repeat that feat on home soil.


Liam Flood

Liam Flood – Ireland
A veteran of the European poker scene Flood is also a tournament director.


Patrick Bruel

Patrick Bruel – France
Solid poker player and singing sensation in the French speaking world. Normally followed by the cameras of the French media for selling millions of records and winning a WSOP bracelet along the way.

Andreas Hoivold – Norway
The cartoon collector made headlines when he talked and played his way to EPT success is Dortmund last season.

Arshad Hussain – England
Popular player on the English and European poker scene. The family man from the north west of England came second in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in season two and has a fondness for Ferraris.

Praz Bansi – England
Since winning a bracelet at the 2006 WSOP has gone on to win a GUKPT event and cashed all over the place.

Ben Grundy – England
An internet grinder and one of the best English players in the game. Still known as the ‘Milkybar kid’ for his youthful looks he may never lose that moniker.


Annette Obrestad

Annette Obrestad – Norway
Short to international fame after winning the inaugural WSOP Europe main event in London earlier this year. Could certainly take the EPT by storm.

Jonas Molander – Sweden
Three strong finishes in the EPT including a final table appearance at Baden last year, a ninth in Dublin and 12th here in season two.

Anthony Lellouche – France
Another of the popular Frenchmen crowd, Anthony had his best EPT to date in London last month where he finished sixth.

Thor Hansen – Norway
An old style gambler and a successful one who has made his living from pool and poker for many years. A mathematician and well respected member of the poker community. When he wins everyone is pleased.

Florian Langmann – Germany
Back for more EPT action after his second place finish in London last month.

Juha Helppi – Finland
The extreme poker champion as well as holder of various other titles. Famously came second to Phil Hellmuth as the Brat won his 11th bracelet.

Ram Vaswani – England
‘Crazy Horse’ is one member of the Hendon Mob and won this event in its first year, then finished second in Copenhagen. He has two other final table appearances including last season’s Monte Carlo Grand Final.


William Thorson

William Thorson – Norway
Young, aggressive and Scandinavian. One of the best players in the game today he finished third in the EPT Dublin last year and has shown his ability around the world.

Surinder Sunar – England
An English professional and regular on the Late Night Poker series which revolutionised poker. Described as quiet he takes no prisoners at the table.

Thomas Fougeron – France
Popular Frenchman and regular on the EPT. The Parisian made a stunning comeback at EPT Dortmund last season coming from a single chip on day one to finish on the final table.

Karl Mahrenholz – England
Another new face to the poker scene in the last year he has had GUKPT success and wins across the world. He also has four WSOP chases to his name.

A tricky-treaty kind of day lays ahead for the second flight of players making their way to EPT glory. For some it will be a night of horror! (my emphasis) one of disaster and mayhem. For the rest the promise of sweet reward - a seat in day two and maybe a toffee apple. You never know. They will then return tomorrow for day 2, joining the survivors of yesterday, when the blur between the real world and the spirit world will have faded for another year.

The Royal Dublin Society is in the Ballsbridge district of Dublin, an area yet to embrace this Halloween spirit. It’s early though and office workers on a stolen lunch break seem uninterested in witches and demons. The grey skies remain but there’s no sign of broomsticks, ghouls, nothing of Harry Potter.

It was here in Ireland where Halloween is thought to have first been celebrated emerging from the Pagan festival of Samhain (stay with me) before it was exported across the sea one way and across the ocean the other. In the pursuit of coffee this morning I half expected to see the traditional Halloween meal of Colcannon available in the local food outlets, a Halloween dish said to be eaten for lunch, often with coins wrapped inside. The tradition seems to have died out, possibly due to the risk of choking on the coins.

That all done and dusted attention reverts back to the poker with many players preparing for a visit by their own personal demons at some point today - if things don’t go according to their plan. A growing number of players, each with their €8,000 seat secured, are milling around the tournament area in anticipation of the start, which should be approaching in the not too distant future. But it wouldn’t be a poker tournament without a slight delay.

Mike McDonald leads the field at the end of day 1a with Dave Colclough not far behind. Among them are 16 PokerStars qualifiers and a quick look at who's left shows...

Mike McDonald – Canada –- 67,250
Dave Colclough – UK -- 59,350
Phidias Georgiou – Cyprus -- PokerStars qualifier -- 55,475
Kristian Kjøndal – Norway -- 53,150
Jacques Zaicik – France -- PokerStars qualifier -- 48,225
Andrew Black – Ireland -- 45,675
Simon Christensson – Sweden -- PokerStars qualifier --5,000
Christoffer Egemo Hansen – Denmark -- 43,050
Kevin Vreeswijk – Holland -- 42,725
Marcel Baran – Germany -- 40,150
Henric Stråth -- Sweden -- PokerStars qualifier -- 39,000
Csaba Malnai – Hungary -- 37,250
Johnny Lodden – Norway -- 37,225
Casper Hansen – Denmark -- PokerStars qualifier -- 37,150
Johannes Steindl – Austria -- 36,500
Adrian Koy – Germany -- 35,850
Andrew Grimason – Ireland -- PokerStars qualifier -- 35,400
Sebastian Ruthenberg – Germany -- PokerStars sponsored player -- 35,175
Oran Holt – Norway -- 33,450
Kenneth Hicks Jr. – USA -- PokerStars qualifer -- 30,950
Aleksandr Arutjonov – Estonia -- PokerStars qualifier -- 30,150
Noah Boeken -- Holland -- Team PokerStars Pro -- 27,825
Daniel Ryan – USA -- PokerStars qualifier -- 27,550
Carl Hostrup – Denmark -- 26,850
Brandon Schaefer – USA -- PokerStars player -- 26,725
Stig Top-Rasmussen – Denmark -- 26,300
Martin Wendt – Denmark -- 25,125
Ian Woodley – UK -- 24,550
Christopher Hamman – USA -- PokerStars qualifier -- 18,875
Hans Eskilsson – Sweden -- 18,550
Mark Segal – UK -- 18,500
Paul Testud – France -- 17,750
Reijo Manninen – Finland -- PokerStars qualifier -- 17,525
Len Collin – Ireland -- 17,275
Michael Hogbom – Sweden -- PokerStars qualifier -- 16,100
Gustaf Jonasson – Sweden -- 15,200
Johan Storakers – Sweden -- 15,050
Thierry Van den Berg – Netherlands -- PokerStars qualifier -- 14,250
Daan Ruiter – Netherlands -- 14,125
Terje Augdal – Norway -- 13,925
John Conroy – Ireland -- 11,525
Reuben Peters – USA -- PokerStars qualifier -- 11,050
Mathieu Gallienne – France -- 10,750
Martin Rask -- Denmark -- 10,175
Davide Calabro – Italy -- 8,125
Patric Fredriksson – Sweden -- PokerStars qualifier -- 5,850
Jan Sjavik – Norway -- 5,450
Seth Blackman – USA -- PokerStars qualifier -- 5,000

The Royal Dublin Society

Far from being ravaged by any potential Guinness hangover the start of the EPT Dublin saw 91 poker players from across Europe and the world fresh, on time and ready to take their €8,000 seat to the next round of the EPTs fourth season. Industries Hall at the Royal Dublin Society would be home for the best of them for the next nine hours. By close of play less than half would be permitted to return for day 2.

Liked, local and lesser known faces were here, including Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Dario Minieiri and Noah Boeken. So too the likes of former EPT winners Brandon Schaeffer, Rob Hollink and Pascal Perrault, plus multiple WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel, Englishman Barny Boatman, local boy Andy Black and Dave Colclough - to name just a few.

Whilst the day would end well for Boeken and Schaeffer, both ElkY and Dario Minieiri felt the wrath of a day that wasn’t going their way. Dario fell before dinner, ElkY shortly afterwards. Neither beat Barny Boatman to the rail, however. The Hendon Mobster was out among the first when his top pair flush draw was left floundering on the river.

Of the PokerStars crowd qualifier Rupinder Bedi was in good spirits and could have been classed as ‘most likely to succeed', having just come from winning over $400k online. Playing his first EPT his initial anxiety gave way first to confidence and then to disappointment as he crashed out, two pairs, aces and queens, against a set of nines.

A familiar face from EPT London was PokerStars Qualifier Phidias Georgiou, back to cross his London watermark where he narrowly missed out on the final table. Wearing his emotions on his sleeve and across his face the Cypriot played with flair, his tired looking face belying his confident approach as he attempted to pick up where he left off at The Vic.

They may not have exited the tournament but both Noah Boeken and Brandon Schaeffer experienced those perilous moments that precede defeat being all-in a few times - but both came through nicely. First Brandon was down to a modest 6.5k before doubling through Andy Black, using this new momentum to climb away from danger on what had been a difficult table.

Former ‘Magic’ player and Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken performed his own tricks to stagger away from 2k to 30k in about the time it takes to book a flight home. In true Boeken style he put a lot of it down to good fortune.

“It’s tough when you make the nuts” he’d said with a grin after doubling up with pocket nines on a flop of 9-5-5. The chips were headed back his way and he finished the day above average.

It wrapped up day 1a – 48 players likely to sleep well. We do it all again tomorrow as day1b gets comfortable in Industry Hall, starting at 2pm.

And if you're just tuning in, here's what you may have missed:

Set to begin

The usual suspects

The whole truth and nothing but the truth

Phidias in a fog

Leading the field

More than a close Schaef

Slow/fast journey into the night

Into the last level of the day with two modes of play, both of which sway between speedy all or nothing poker - of double up or die - contrasted with the slower paced journey into the night, the warming sense of well being when you sit behind a stack healthy enough to breathe by itself on day two.

Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken could be said to have taken both paths, but as the half hour remaining mark came along he looked happy to take the latter approach. It had been an unsteady day.

“I was going good but I lost chips in a few pots.” He said. “I lost 15k on a hand where I thought he was bluffing. Then I went down to 5k, then 2k.”

Then the turnaround, almost breaking the sound barrier, going from 2k to 30k in about an hour.

“I doubled up, then doubled up then doubled up again. I hit some flops and it was easy. I had nines, the flop came 9-5-5. It’s not hard to win!”

At the close of play it’s a lot easier to sign off on your bagged-up chips when they’re worth counting.

***

On the table next to him is Phidias Georgiou. He’s spent much of this evening with his head low to the table, tiredness dulling his face and his forehead in his hand in a kind of ‘ice cream headache’ position. He was standing now though. Johnny Lodden has re-raised him on a board of K-3-Q-5-8., making a call a decision for all his chips. He does call, outdoing Lodden with his A-K to Lodden’s J-T. Phidias threw his cards face up on the table, following it with a curt “yes!”

He’s not going back to bridges just yet.

If Brandon Schaeffer does actually win his second EPT here he might look back to one hand in particular which breathed life back into his tournament after it looked destined for a post-dinner, pre-desert exit.

He’s in the far corner of the cardroom on a table with relatively little give. Andy Black sits on his left, Pascal Perrault is opposite, so too Johann Storakers. In terms of Black and Schaeffer one has the chips and is raising everything, the other is left looking for a Hail Mary play – it’s Brandon with the raw end of the deal – a little over 6,500 and the looming prospect of a slow walk back to the hotel.

Then that hand came up.

Moving all-in Brandon found Andy Black, who’s pleasure it was to have the button, re-raising and effectively isolating Brandon from the seat three player who took the Black move as a polite invitation to leave the hand.

Brandon showed his J-T of clubs with Andy ahead with pocket kings. The flop brought a jack and a club. Brandon would still need help. He got it – a club in the turn, another on the river to flush the kings back from whence they came, doubling up the American. Stirring stuff.

“You get it in bad and suck out!” said Brandon afterwards - that was his trick, he said. “Andy Black had been playing every hand and I thought my J-T move was in a good spot. But he had kings! (pause for brief laughter). The turn was great though (second slight pause for laughter).” Then, “Yeah!”

It marked a turning point for Brandon. Doubling up seemed to agree with him and a string of pre-flop bets followed, each uncontested, the momentum turning his way and taking his stack passed the 20k mark.

As we enter level 6 the blinds now have a 25 ante attached. In terms of a chip leader Irish eyes are certainly smiling on Johnny Lodden, who has just under 50k, but it’s Henric Strath of Sweden well ahead with over 80k. Notable others include...

Henric Strath – Sweden – 80,000
Jon Conroy – Ireland -- 4,800
Daniel Dodet – France -- 8,000
Thierry van den Berg – Holland -- PokerStars Qualifier -- 16,100
Johnny Lodden – Norway -- 47,000
Noah Boeken – Holland – Team PokerStars Pro -- 21,000
Paul Testud – France -- 7,500
Marcel Baran – Germany -- 20,000
Stig Top-Rasmussen – Denmark -- 40,000
Chris Hamman – USA - PokerStars Qualifier – 19,000
Arutjunov Aleksandr – Estonia -- PokerStars Qualifier – 32,000
Zlatan Musa – Denmark -- PokerStars Qualifier – 9,000
Ville Mattila – Finland -- PokerStars Qualifier – 5,000
Reijo Manninen – Finland -- PokerStars Qualifier – 10,000
Jonathan Nagy – Spain -- PokerStars Qualifier – 8,500
Brandon Schaeffer – USA -- PokerStars Player – 6,500
Pascal Perrault – France -- 16,000
Johann Storakers – Sweden -- 18,000
Andy Black – Ireland -- 23,000
Dave Colclough – Wales -- 22,000
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – France -- Team PokerStars Pro – 8,200
Phidias Georgiou – Cyprus -- PokerStars Qualifier – 25,000
Martin Wendt – Denmark -- 16,000
Jan Sjavik – Norway -- 10,100

Tournament update:

Rupinder Bedi fell short of his quest to barnstorm his first EPT event. The PokerStars.com double shootout winner is out. There’s good company on the rail thought with Erik Seidel, Henning Granstad, Rob Hollink and Ian Woodley among those on the outside looking in.

If you followed the progress of the EPT London last month you might remember the heroic adventure of Cypriot Phidias Georgiou, the civil engineer and PokerStars qualifier who narrowly missed out on a final table finish at The Vic.

Phidias Georgiou

Phidias is a rugged looking man who has swapped his open shirt and stubble of London for a superman shirt. A more relaxed approach perhaps. Or maybe not...

“I’m telling you, I’m going back to civil engineering! This is too stressful! Back to bridges, back to bridges...”

He’s out of his chair but it’s clear from the size and colour of his stack that it’s not all tension and misery. He’s up to 35k with an average close to 18k.

“I was playing the best poker of my life in London” he says, hoping to pick up where he left off. We’ll wait and see.”

The confidence is there. It may just be a matter of cards.

***

There’s little doubt among railbirds that the make-or-break table in these early stages is table three, a vicious looking scrap that features Rob Hollink, Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand Grospellier, Andy Black, PokerStars Qualifier Thierry van den Berg and Marcel Baran.

It’s difficult to tell which player the crowds are craning their neck to see but Andy Black does have a knack of grabbing the attention, which he does here by ordering a bag of food, brought to him by a friend. It features among other things sliced cheese and roughly half of the fruit sold in a small supermarket. But if anyone knows the importance of a healthy body and mind it’s Black, and it’s showing -his stack looks good.

As Black tucks in Thierry van den Berg gets a massage. A tense table requires some intense relaxation and van den Berg is locked in.

After a few levels the shape of things hasn’t changed much. The only differences are that Rob Hollink has gone and ElkY’s stack has lost some of its distinguishing features. Gone of the brown chips (5k) and most of the blue ones (1k). All that’s left is a rag-tag handful of reds and greens.




But it’s how you use it that counts.

First he moved all-in with A-3, doubling up when an ace hit the turn. The only analogy to describe the cameras and railbirds around the table is the vulture one, closing in on the wounded supernova elite. I suppose that included me. His double up did help but it was not long before he was looking for a hand to move in with.

Just minutes before the dinner break he found it, pushing for 2,800. Thierry van den Berg, himself flying the flag for PokerStars as a qualifier, made the call with K-Q. ElkY was ahead with A-J which stood the test of flop turn and river. ElkY doubles up again and as the bell goes he faces a dinner break much easier to digest.

Experiencing his first EPT PokerStars Qualifier Rupinder Bedi looks strangely calm at the first break. No sign of the nerves that often rattle anyone new to the live tournament arena.

Rupinder is here as the result of winning an $11 double shootout on PokerStars.com and whilst his stack hasn’t yet taken off these early levels have done no end of good to his confidence – something he puts down to a ridiculous bluff early on.

Rupinder Bedi

“Yeah, a ridiculous bluff” he laughs. “Actually it made me feel better! I’ve just been playing my own game since then. I went down to 12k and now I’m back up to where I started.”

The 27-year-old from Leicester has been playing poker for five years both online and at his local casino, but after a few minutes talking it appeared Rupinder was no stranger to tournament success. What was his biggest win? I asked. Only in passing did he mention his recent $450k online tournament win. Feel free to volunteer this kind of information Rupinder...

“I’m a modest kind of guy!”

Either way, The father of three is all set now to match that with a live result.

“I’ve seen aces once and I’m enjoying the experience. I’ve seen a few players I recognise too. I’m feeling calmer now!”


Tournament update:

Barny Boatman was out of the tournament in the first level, losing out with top pair and a flush draw when the turn and river left him empty handed.

Also out is Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri. He’s suffered all day before performing a do-or-die move shortly after the break. All-in for just short of 2k he ran into Jan Sjavik who called with the edge, out-doing the young Italian with A-Q to his A-T. A queen on the flop put end to any hope of a Minieri revival.

In a slight break from tradition the 91 players of day 1a begin with 15,000 chips with blinds in this first level at 25/50. So who’s here?

Noah Boeken - Holland - Team PokerStars
Two final tables in season one of the EPT, including the Copenhagen title. Whilst he’s in the record of becoming the first player to win two EPTs is always a possibility.

Dario Minieri in action

Dario Minieri - Italy - Team PokerStars
Technically the new boy of Team PokerStars, Dario is known as one of the most aggressive and dangerous European players. Eliminated at the hands of Dario means you’ll likely have a story to tell.

Pascal Perrault - France
Pascal won in Vienna back in season one and has been a consistent performer in European events since then.

Johnny Lodden - Norway
A master of the internet game, the type of player who is the source of legend. Still looking for his first big live poker win the EPT is a likely place for that to happen.


Andy Black

Andy Black - Ireland
Finished fifth in the WSOP main event in 2005 and, with two more final table appearances in the WSOP this year not to mention his seventh place in the EPT Grand Final last season, is one of the top tournament players in the world.

Marcel Baran – Germany
The young German professional finished third in the EPT London last month picking up $379,387. He’s looking to go at least one better here in Ireland.


Brandon Schaeffer

Brandon Schaefer - USA
Whenever he enters an EPT things usually happen. He’s won one, come second in another. Candidate for ‘Player most likely to win a second EPT.’


Dave Colclough

David Colclough - Wales
The Welshman is a former European Player of the Year, and has made six WSOP final tables. He also won the fourth leg of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour earlier this year.

Barny Boatman - England
One of the most popular players on the circuit Barny cashed in the H.O.R.S.E. event at the WSOP Europe in London and has a long list of titles to his resume.


Martin Wendt

Martin Wendt - Denmark
Another fixture on the EPT, with four cashes. Easy to pick out in a crowd thanks to his shaved head and almost trademark huge headphones.

Jan Sjavik - Norway
Jan seemed almost unstoppable in the EPT season three, finishing third in London (behind eventual winner Vicky Coren) and memorably tenth in Copenhagen when he recovered from chip and a chair syndrome. He also has 11 WSOP cashes since 2000.


Erik Seidel

Erik Seidel - USA
One of the most accomplished players in the world with eight WSOP bracelets to his name. He famously appears in the movie Rounders, where his defeat to Johnny Chan in the WSOP in 1988 is shown (repeatedly).


Rob Hollink

Rob Hollink - Holland
Winner of the EPT Grand Final in season one as well as a bundle of tournaments around the world. He still pursues an elusive WSOP bracelet but trying has been profitable - 17 WSOP cashes to date.


'ElkY'

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – France – Team PokerStars
The former gamer spent several years living in South Korea as a professional ‘Starcraft’ player before switching to online poker. After success in that he turned to live poker – the highlight so far being his second place finish in a gut-wrenching final at the EPT Copenhagen last January against Magnus Petersen.

Light southwesterly winds

Dublin woke up to glorious sunshine this morning and breakfast brought the late night revellers to their senses. Then lunch came, met by grey cloud and a drop in temperature sending the revellers back to bed again. Still, putting trust in the eager housekeeping services of Dublin’s hotel industry most players seem to be on time for the start of this, the next leg of the PokerStars European Poker Tour.

In true EPT fashion day one will be split over two days, the first flight underway this afternoon before their brothers and sisters in arms try their luck same time same place tomorrow.



And where is that place? Industries Hall, part of the vast Royal Dublin Society (Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Atha Cliath) – 40 acres of exhibition halls, stables, show grounds and a conspicuous stadium towards the back– former home of Shamrock Rovers Football Club who were apparently good and apparently bad during their six season tenure.



Now the RDS is reserved for an eclectic mix of luminaries. Among those who have graced these cobbles over the years range from King George IV (hence the Royal title) back in 1820, to the more modern royals of Bruce Springsteen and Britney Spears.

That’s the history lesson done. It leaves us with crowds of players gathering around the tables as formalities are completed – a mixture of old and new faces adorn Industries Hall, among them Team PokerStars pros Luca Pagano, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Noah Boeken and Dario Minieri.

They seem ready. We should be underway shortly.

Dublin – home to James Joyce and Bono (among others) and for the next five days the EPT Dublin, the fourth leg of this year’s tour which moves on from Baden, Austria, where Englishman Julian Thew took the honours two weeks ago.

Whilst Joyce coloured the literary world with his pen and Bono brought anthems and big sunglasses to the rock stage, the EPT players arriving for a pre-tournament soiree had their own beautiful day in mind – one that takes shape at some point on Saturday evening if all goes to plan, accompanied by a large check and a ticket to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo later next year.

That would be for tomorrow, but tonight it was to the heart of downtown Dublin - The Gravity Bar - a lavish party type place perched above the Guinness storehouse and boasting fine drink and an even finer view – a 360 panorama of the Dublin skyline or in our case the twinkling lights of a city braced for the opening days of what is now officially Autumn (Fall to those on the western side of the Atlantic) where the sunlight hours grow short and people turn indoors for entertainment.



The Irish capital is tailor made for good company. Whoever you are, wherever you come from Dublin holds the monopoly on making you feel welcome. Here it’s literally possible to bottle hospitality and export it around the world – it’s called Guinness, an Irish stout beer and trusted ice-breaker which most sampled tonight purely to take the chill from the bones.

Cliche of course – the Emerald Isle of passion, music and the black stuff (Guinness’s alter ego) - but it could explain the popularity of this EPT leg, which traditionally captures the attention of Irishmen and Englishman from across the Sea. Last year one such traveller took honours after a thrilling performance going by the name Roland de Wolfe. Ahead of a field of hundreds Roland took the plaudits, becoming the first player ever to bag both a WPT and EPT title in the process.

Whether any more records will be set this year it’s unclear, but we’ll find out starting tomorrow at the Royal Dublin Society. Join us for the start at 2pm (9am ET).

For the second straight week, all of the big PokerStars Sunday tournament played to a champion without the encouragement of a deal. Every first place player won the full first prize, including SlippyJacks who pocketed an amazing $240,633.15 in the monthly $530 Sunday Million.

Here are the final table results for all the big Sunday events.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-up Final Table Results

1. Terkenfan89 (Norway) $79,539.48
2. VBOOS (United Kingdom) $40,134.60
3. jordankickz (United States) $28,540.16
4. Shinomori (Sweden) $23,107.80
5. ZooterFitz (United States) $18,121.38
6. lol_zzz123 (Sweden) $13,661.98
7. Brian Strahl (United States) $9,607.98
8. cwp394 (United States) $5,959.38
9. Do4Love (Finland) $3,567.52

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand Final Table Results

1. MSBoss (United Kingdom) $17,984.01
2. Riddick54 (Germany) $8,992.01
3. Arctic Dave (United States) $6,294.41
4. jotwatso (United States) $4,496.01
5. DSCKE RULES (Canada) $2,697.61
6. DareDawg 78 (United States) $1,798.41
7. Holmesy1978 (United Kingdom) $1,438.73
8. gotladyluck (Canada) $1,168.97
9. jdog42 (United States) $899.21

PokerStars High Stakes Showdown Results

1. $tinger 88 (United States) $25,000.00
2. GigaBet (United States) $15,000.00

PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results

1. SlippyJacks (United States) $240,633.15
2. blanconegro (United States) $122,344.75
3. forcewithme9 (United States) $80,996.15
4. PerPer (Denmark) $66,733.50
5. yeamanyeaman (United States) $53,648.50
6. LuckyLady519 (United States) $40,563.50
7. domingo32 (Italy) $28,525.30
8. MrKorvOla (Sweden) $18,057.30
9. Hasn82 (Denmark) $10,468.00

When the Asia Pacific Poker Tour came to life earlier this year, it advertised events in Manila, Seoul, and Sydney. All along, however, there were mysterious references to another event that had still not yet been confirmed. Now we know what organizers were talking about.

Today, the APPT announced it is throwing two major events in Macau, China at the end of November. Between November 22-27, the PokerStars-sponsored APPT will hold a $2,500 buy-in main event and a $15,000 High Rollers event at the Grand Waldo Hotel & Casino in Macau.

Since 1999, Macau has been transforming itself into the Far East's gambling capital. Now, it's on its way to becoming one of the poker capitals of the East. PokerStars is walking in step with the APPT and offering tons of satellites to the brand new event in Macau. In fact, in celebration of today's announcement, PokerStars is holding a 10-seat guaranteed $215 satellite to the $2,5000 Macau main event. The event kicks off at 22:33 ET under the Tourney/Special tabs in the PokerStars tournament lobby.

APPT President Jeffrey Haas said, "The APPT Macau will be a landmark moment for poker in Asia and globally, as it will be the first government-sanctioned real-money poker tournament played in the People's Republic of China's Special Administrative Region of Macau."

For full information on the newest APPT event, visit the APPT Macau home page. To see how you can win your way to China, check out PokerStars APPT satellites page.

Players from the United States once again made a strong showing across all the Sunday tournaments. Norway, however, played home to the biggest winner of the week. Norway's Macknot won more than $187,000 in this week's Sunday Million. Congratulations to everyone who picked up big scored this weekend. Final table results for all of PokerStars big Sunday events are below.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Results

1. ohaver (United States) $86,288.76
2. rekopman64 (United States) $43,540.20
3. ITSDAROC (United States) $30,961.92
4. Tarjei82 (Norway) $25,068.60
5. CrushU66 (Canada) $19,659.06
6. ocrowe (Canada) $14,821.26
7. wernse (Germany) $10,423.26
8. booboobibi (Australia) $6,465.06
9. essay (United Kingdom) $3,870.24

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand Results

1. WickKed813 (United States) $17,699.01
2. Oktah77 (Germany) $8,849.51
3. thanbai0910 (United States) $6,194.66
4. Mini_Helmuth (United States) $4,424.76
5. Zoli30 (Hungary) $2,654.86
6. barlishor (Romania) $1,769.91
7. bumblebee101 (Germany) $1,415.93
8. JChapman (United Kingdom) $1,150.44
9. xBILY TALENT (Canada) $884.96


PokerStars Sunday Million Results

1. Macknot (Norway) $187,630.24
2. weeminer (United States) $97,729.52
3. Ghost4476 (United States) $70,328.72
4. Dabe8Gavis (United States) $54,801.60
5. Keano7 (United Kingdom) $41,884.08
6. juice54 (United States) $30,010.40
7. Cardinal7 (United States) $21,529.20
8. kev_unlimit (Hong Kong) $13,048.00
9. Ivey $00 (Germany) $8,089.76

Two great names--great if only for how very cool they are and how much money they won--ended up at the top of the leaderboards this week. My personal favorite "ChadNFreude" won the Sunday Hundred Grand this week. "Pairofnothin" won the Sunday Million for more than $140,000. Finally, "Kennethmedh" (which I am sure means something quite cool in Swedish) took down the Sunday Warm-Up for more than $57,000. Congratulations to all the big money winners from the weekend--cool names or not.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and three-way deal

1. Kennethmedh (Sweden) $57,054.93
2. n1stunnor (United States) $46,737.43
3. the wa®den (United States) $60,000.02
4. daobvious (United States) $24,093.80
5. walrus_poker (Australia) $19,093.20
6. Slaktaren007 (Sweden) $14,501.74
7. Poker Tuck (Netherlands) $10,410.34
8. blai528 (United States) $6,546.24
9. power2prut (United States) $3,818.64


PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand Final Table Results

1. ChadNFreude (United States) $18,411.01
2. krc1337 (Poland) $9,205.51
3. Joympi (Germany) $6,443.86
4. blackmadness (Canada) $4,602.76
5. Michaja2006 (Netherlands) $2,761.66
6. deaky (United Kingdom) $1,841.11
7. wasylaa (Poland) $1,472.89
8. !!BADlady (United States) $1,196.72
9. Huizuh (Netherlands) $920.56

PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results

1. Pairofnothin (United States) $140,448.84
2. ClubbedBoat (United States) $138,000.00
3. McNAbb2 (Canada) $68,625.48
4. twin peaks07 (Belgium) $53,474.40
5. LukeFromB13 (United States) $40,869.72
6. Ralfinator (United States) $29,283.60
7. Crawfdad (United States) $21,007.80
8. canalman (United Kingdom) $12,732.00
9. Binde (Sweden) $7,893.84

Being a poker player and running a blog can sometimes be a hard gig. You run the risk of giving too much of yourself and your game away. Regardless, there are hundreds upon hundreds of people who spend part of their day playing cards and part of their day writing about the game or whatever else strikes them.

This year, the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker drew 1,337 player/writers from around the world. The final table showed just how international the game and blogs are. The nine final table players came from eight different countries.



Eighty-one players won everything from duffel bags, to iPods, to xBoxes. The final table players won some big prizes, including Portugal's LParreira, who beat out everybody and will be joining us for the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas in January.

On a personal note, thank you to all the players who came out, had fun, and played with respect for your fellow bloggers. It was a good time all around and we had a great final table.

Here are the final table players and what they walked away with. Congratulations to all.

2007 World Blogger Championship of Online Poker Final Table Results

1. LParreira (Portugal) -- $12,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure package
2. mathwise (Canada) -- 50" Plasma TV
3. lborba (Brazil) -- 24" computer monitor, a Canon Rebel digital SLR camera, and a Sony Camcorder
4. ulan-ude (United States) -- poker table, a deluxe 500-piece clay chip set, Sunday Million ticket
5. Abellyus (France) -- Eight $215 Sunday Million tickets
6. NileFever (United Kingdom) -- $1,050 and $530 Sunday Million tickets
7. stakaman1962 (Greece) -- $1,050 Sunday Million ticket
8. BoreN =P (Norway) -- Canon Rebel Digital SLR Camera
9. fourflushers (United States)- Luxury Poker Chip Set

PokerStars released a new version of its software on Thursday. Though the changes are subtle, they stand to offer you even more flexibility when playing.

The biggest change that stands to affect the most users is the ability to re-size PokerStars' lobbies. If you'd like a bigger look at PokerStars' main lobby, you can now just click your mouse on the edge of the lobby and drag it out to the size you want. The same thing goes for the tournament lobbies. The new feature is especially great for checking out tournament payouts. Rather than opening a new window to see some of the deeper payout places, you can now make the lobby bigger and use a scroll bar next to the prize pool section of the lobby. Click on the images below for more detail.





PokerStars also released a "Language" section at the top of the main lobby. Now, users can pick from 13 different languages when enjoying PokerStars, now including Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Hungarian. You can, again, click on the image below to see the language options in detail.



So, if you have not yet logged into PokerStars this week, be looking for these changes.

Enjoy!

PokerStars has just introduced a brand new way for you to win your seat to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for as little as $7.50. The new PCA Steps tournaments offer any bankroll a chance to play in a multi-million poker event in the Bahamas in 2008.

The PCA Steps satellites are a six-step process. Step 1 is a $7.50 or 500 Frequent Player Point SNG that can win you a seat in a Step 2 event. Step 2 moves you on to Step 3 and so on. Or, if you prefer, you can buy in at any level you want, all the way up to Step 6, a two-table tournament that awards three prize packages to the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

You can find the new satellites under Events/PCA/Sit&Go Satellites in your PokerStars software.

Good luck!

Julian Thew, EPT Baden winner
There are poker players, there are popular poker players, and then there is Julian Thew.

Talk to anyone on the international poker scene for any length of time and you'll never hear a bad word said about the player from Nottingham, England. There are likely to be a few tales of crazy bets with fresh air, turned flushes, horrific outdraws and one-outers on the river. But by general assent, Thew is one of the good guys.

And now he's the good guy who also done good: Thew is the EPT Baden champion, beating 281 other players to the title and earning €670,800. He said in his pre-match interview that he wanted to pay off his mortgage by the time he was 40. He was $20,000 short and had two weeks until the big day.

Consider it paid. And how about another house? Or a car?

The day started in typical fashion in this picturesque little spa town in the Austrian mountains. We supped coffee, ate luxurious pastries, sampled sauerkraut und wurst as these eight eyed a fortune:

Vladimir Poleshchuk - Russia - 624,000
Julian Thew - England - 610,000
Denes Kalo - Hungary - 468,000
Manfred Hammer - Germany - 369,000
Anton Allemann - Switzerland - 254,000
Thierry van den Berg - Holland - PokerStars player - 227,000
Thomas Fuller - USA - 190,000
Ted Lawson - USA - 81,000

But the players had hardly had a chance to wipe the ketchup from their chops before two were on their way out of the tournament arena.

Both were skewered by Vladimir Poleshchuk, of Russia, the player with a name and unforgiving table manner to prompt a thousand "Impaler" references crackling round the media room.

On the very first hand, Anton Allemann, the Swiss player who had stayed near the chip lead for two days, was busted with ace-king on a king-high flop. Vladimir also had a king but the decisive card was the nine that had also appeared: matching the nine in Poleshchuk's hand. Auf Wiedersehen, Anton.

The very next hand and Vladimir was at it again. This time, Ted Lawson, the WSOP bracelet holder from the United States, was on his way. Lawson had king-queen of clubs, but Vladimir had found ace-nine of hearts and the flop was all red and heart-shaped. Lawson was despatched, €83,600 richer for his EPT debut.

At this point Vladimir looked unassailable, both in terms of cards and obvious headlines being produced by the journalists. In the second regard, only Manfred Hammer came close: there were plenty of "Hammertime!" shouts heard around Baden, as well as speculation as to Manfred's middle name. Anything beginning with "C" -- for MC Hammer -- would have been too perfect.

No one ever found out, more's the pity, because Hammer was next to be beaten out of the tournament and again it was Vladimir who did the damage. Manfred had 5-5, all in pre-flop, but Vladimir's ace-queen matched an ace on the flop and while Hammer was our sixth placed finisher, Vladimir broke through the million mark.

By this point, the three quietest players at the table were Thomas Fuller, from the United States, Denes Kalo, from Hungary, and Thierry van den Berg, the PokerStars qualifier from Holland.

But while better things beckoned for the first two -- Fuller, in particular, beginning a charge forward with some aggressive moves and an outdraw of J-J with 7-7 -- van den Berg slid out the door.

Thierry had certainly kept his table chatter up for the opening exchanges, but had been frustratingly card dead and ended up pushing in behind jack-nine. Fuller, who now had enough to back his ace-ten, made the call and sent the final PokerStars qualifier to the rail, €132,900 richer.

When we went four-handed, the action slowed dramatically and the stacks started to level out. Vladimir, Julian and then Thomas all took the chip lead, but never by too much, until a monster hand occurred between the Englishman and the American.

It started as a three-way pot, with only Denes sitting out after Thomas raised in early position. The flop came Kc-6c-Qh and got a little tricky: Thew checked, Vladimir checked, but Thomas slid in a half-pot bet. Thew thought for a moment but ended up raising, which got rid of Vladimir. However Thomas was going nowhere but all in, and Julian called.

We expected big hands and we weren't far wrong. Thomas had pocket sixes and had flopped bottom set. Julian had queen-eight of clubs, for middle pair and the flush draw. They wished each other good luck and the turn was revealed.

Ace. Of. Clubs.

That was the key card for Thew as he filled his flush. Thomas had re-draw outs for the full house, but none came and the young American, whose friend had predicted he'd finish fourth, was felted and out soon after.

Fuller fulfilled that friend's prophesy when he moved in with ace-six and ran into Denes Kalo's pocket sevens. Fuller was gone, with a reputation greatly enhanced by his play here. Thew, although his nemesis at the table, had also become his friend when they shared a table in Barcelona last month, and here around the final table. Thew was among many who acknowledged that Thomas had not made a mistake the whole day.

Still, Julian, Denes and Vladimir had a job to do. No room for regrets or recriminations.

But there was not much left in the day for Vladimir either and now Denes had turned assassinator-in-chief. The Hungarian had a king-jack when all of Vladimir's chips were in the middle, behind ace-queen. Denes had filled a straight by the river and ended it for Poleshchuk. He earned €225,000.

So, it was heads up - and it went on for a long time. The blinds reached 20,000-40,000, the highest ever reached in an EPT tournament.

As the action hotted up, Thew kept cool by means of his now-trademark table fan, and he was waving it casually in the air when Denes was making a power play: shoving all-in pre-flop. Thew hardly hesitated to make the call and showed his ace-eight. It was looking strong against Kalo's ace-five.

But Julian never counts chickens before they're hatched: he's put plenty of outdraws on folk far more brutal than a five popping up now. However, flop, then turn and then river were all blanks and Thew blinked, smiled, shook hands, smiled again, and began life as an EPT champion.

With a house all of his own.

EPT Baden final result:

1st - Julian Thew, England, €670,800 (+ €10,000 buy-in into EPT Grand Final)
2nd - Denes Kalo, Hungary, €375,000
3rd - Vladimir Poleshchuk, Russia, €225,000
4th - Thomas Fuller, USA, €160,820
5th - Thierry van den Berg, Holland, PokerStars qualifier, €132,900
6th - Manfred Hammer, Germany, €105,000
7th - Ted Lawson, USA, €83,600
8th - Anton Allemann, Switzerland, €60,000

9 - Gunnar Rabe - PokerStars qualifier - €38,600
10 - Sebastian Ruthenberg - PokerStars player - €38,600
11 - David Sonelin - Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - €30,000
12 - Michael Durrer - Germany - PokerStars qualifier - €30,000
13 - Age Spets - Norway - €25,700
14 - Hans Eskilsson - Sweden - €25,700
15 - Pascal Perrault - France - €19,300
16 - Peter Gould - England - €19,300
17 - Alexander Kravchenko - Russia - €12,860
18 - Hector Fuentes - Spain - €12,860
19 - Victor Goossens - Holland - €12,860
20 - Alan Smurfit - Ireland - €12,860
21 - Kalil Rahal - France - €12,860
22 - Andreas Hoivold - Norway - €12,860
23 - Jiri Vacek - Hungary - €12,860
24 - Daniel Mangas - Spain - €12,860

Julian Thew, England, wins EPT Baden, earning €670,800

Denes Kalo, Hungary, eliminated in second place, winning €375,000

10.15pm: We have a winner. Julian Thew has ace-eight against Denes Kalo's ace-five and they get it all in pre flop. Denes needs the five and it never materialised: Julian is the champion - and a very popular one at that.

10pm: The heads up battle has been cagey. Very, very cagey. Julian takes a pot, Denes takes a pot, with the stacks similar to how they started after half an hour of play. They've taken a short break for some air. We await the crowning of a champion.

9.15pm: We're heads up between Julian Thew, of England, and Denes Kalo, from Hungary.

They have:

Thew - 1,754,000
Kalo - 1,069,000

Here we go.

9.05pm: Vladimir Poleshchuk, Russia, eliminated in third place, winning €225,000
Denes raises pre-flop from the button and Vladimir comes over the top for his whole stack. Vladimir shows A-Q and is ahead of Denes's K-J, but it's outdraw time, as Denes fills a straight on the river. Down to two.

8.55pm: Thomas Fuller, USA, eliminated in fourth place, winning €160,800.
And just like that, Thomas is gone. He couldn't recover from the crippling blow suffered at the hands of Julian Thew and then moved in with A-6. Denes Kalo calls with 7-7 and hits another seven, ending the hopes of Fuller. Down to three.

The players request a two minute break as the blinds go up to 15,000-30,000, with a 3,000 ante. Thew has more than half the chips in play: 1.8 million. Vladimir is now back in second, with 571,000 and Denes has edged into third. He has 261,000. Thomas, who just lost that massive pot, is trailing with 137,000.

8.45pm: Huge pot. Vladimir raises 70,000 pre-flop and Thomas Fuller starts peering ominously at the Russian's stack. He calls, and then Julian Thew also gets involved. He calls. They see Kc-6c-Qh and Julian and Vladimir check. Thomas, who seems to be strong, fires just more than 100,000 into the 228,000 pot, giving Thew a tough decision. He announces a raise and bumps it up even further: the pot swells to 788,000. Vladimir gets out the way but Thomas moves in and Julian calls. Thomas has a set of sixes, Julian Q-8 of clubs for middle pair and the flush draw. It was already a massive, massive pot and when the ace of clubs came on the turn, it gave Thew the flush and sent him into a commanding chip lead. It's about 1.8 million and Fuller is felted.

8.41pm: Vladimir and Denes play a 150,000 pot: the flop came 10-9-J - check, check - then the turn brought another 10. Check check. The river was a king and Denes bet and took it.

8.40pm: Big pot brewed between the two chip leaders, but soon fizzled out. Thomas Fuller raised pre-flop and Julian Thew called. The flop came 4s-3d-10c and Julian bet it. Thomas folded.

Thomas Fuller is the tournament chip leader, with about 980,000. Thew is second with about 780,000. Vladimir and Denes are third and fourth, respectively.

8.32pm: Julian raises from the small blind and Vladimir calls from the big. The flop comes K-J-6 and both players check, as they do when the 8 comes on the turn. Julian then bets on the J river and sends Vladimir into the tank. The Russian thinks and thinks and then folds.

8.30pm: Julian Thew, who took a bit of a hit from Thomas Fuller a few pots before, raises from the button but is met with a re-raise all in from Vladimir in the small blind. Julian lays it down and loses 60,000.

8.20pm: Thomas Fuller takes down a sizeable pot, betting into a ten high flop, with both Julian and Vladimir still involved. They both pass and the American, who's impressed everyone on this final table, climbs up again.

8.02pm: Big pot - and a double up for Denes Kalo. The chip leader calls the Hungarian player's all in pre flop with pocket nines. Kalo has pocket jacks and there's nothing to worry about on the board. Kalo is back in the game with about 500,000.

8pm: Back from the dinner break, with the four remaining players sitting behind the following chips:

Julian Thew - 986,000
Thomas Fuller - 762,000
Vladimir Poleschuk - 744,000
Denes Kalo - 331,000

And they're playing for:

1st - €670,800
2nd - €375,000
3rd - €225,000
4th - €160,820

6.45pm: That's the dinner break. There are four left, and Julian Thew has edged into the chip lead, ahead of Thomas Fuller, then Vladimir Poleshchuk and Denes Kalo. Full counts to follow.

6.40pm: Julian Thew raises from the button and Thomas Fuller calls from the big blind. The flop comes 4-J-K and Thomas checks. Julian bets and takes it, showing A-K.

6.35pm: Thomas Fuller raises pre-flop and Vladimir calls. It's a lucky-looking flop: 7-7-7 and, after Vladimir checks, Thomas bets into a 200,000 pot. Vladimir then unleashes the check-raise, but it's only the minimum. Thomas Fuller moves all in. Wow. The pot goes up to 760,000, the biggest of the tournament so far. Vladimir folds, and slips right down the board. Thomas shows ace-king for a super-powerful move and he might now be in second place, behind Thew.

6.30pm: Denes Kalo raises to 58,000 from the small blind. Julian calls in the big blind and the flop brings J-Q-J. Both players check and see a scary ace on the turn, which prompts a check from Kalo. Julian tosses 30,000 into a pot of 124,000 and Kalo calls. Julian tables the queen, and scoops.

6.25pm: Three way pot, with Vladimir calling from the button; Denes maing up the small blind and Julian checking the button. The flop comes Ks-Qd-9c and Vladimir makes a small bet. That prompts Denes to move all in and Vladimir quickly folds.

6.15pm: Thomas Fuller raises pre-flop and Vladimir calls. The board comes 6-7-8 rainbow and Thomas puts in a small bet that's an easy call for the Russian. They both check the jack turn, then Thomas fires again on the 9 river, obviously representing the 10 for a straight. Vladimir buys it, and folds. Thomas takes a 230,000 pot.

6pm: No sooner is that last update typed than Kalo moves all-in pre-flop against Thomas Fuller. Fuller folds.

5.50pm: Back from the break and a big pot developed between Julian Thew and Denes Kalo. A sizeable bet on the ragged flop picked it up for Thew. Kalo has been quiet today -- perhaps card dead, perhaps attempting just to edge up the payout scale. Only the television edit will show.

5.20pm: The players take a ten minute break. Chip counts:

Vladimir Poleshchuk - Russia - 984,000
Julian Thew - England - 880,000
Thomas Fuller - USA - 569,000
Denes Kalo - Hungary - 459,000

5.15pm: With all four remaining players sitting with no more than about 400,000 between first and fourth, the action is slow here in Baden. Julian Thew has pinched a couple of blinds and antes, but was also caught with his fingers in the till by Denes Kalo, who called a 50,000 river bet and Julian mucked.

4.45pm: The blinds are at 6,000-12,000 and the stacks are levelling out. Julian Thew just picked up a pot with A-Q, and then re-raised a Thomas Fuller pre-flop raise. Vladimir thought about it, but folded, but Thomas decided to call. The pot was about 250,000 at this point. The flop came Kd-6c-2h and Julian checked. Thomas checked behind and the turn was 9s. Julian bet out for 90,000 which sent Thomas deep into the tank. Thomas eventually folded, and Julian picked up that quarter-million to temporarily halt Thomas's move up the leaderboard.

4.30pm: Thierry van den Berg, Holland, PokerStars qualifier, eliminated in fifth place for €132,900.
Thomas Fuller continues his charge. He raises pre-flop and Thierry van den Berg moves his short stack all in over the top. Fuller calls quickly and shows A-10; Thierry has J-9s. The flop brings queen-eight-king, which is an inside straight draw for the PokerStars qualifier from Holland. But the turn and river are blanks and Thierry is out.

Four players remain:

Vladimir Poleshchuk - Russia - 1million
Julian Thew - England - 700,000
Thomas Fuller - USA - 670,000
Denes Kalo - Hungary - 470,000

4.25pm: Thierry van den Berg, the PokerStars qualifier from Holland, raises pre-flop and Thomas Fuller moves all in for the second hand in a row. He has Van den Berg covered and the Dutchman thinks then folds. Fuller is on the move.

4.20pm: It's tough to get precise chip counts at the moment, but Vladimir is still out front with around about 1 million. Julian Thew remains second with about 700,000.

4.15pm: Thomas Fuller is the next one all in against Vladimir, and he's not in good shape with 7-7 against J-J. That is, until a seven flops and the last remaining American doubles up, handing Vladimir his first hit. Fuller ends with a full house -- sevens full of tens -- and is up to about 250,000.

4.10pm: The chips have been flowing in one direction only today, and that is towards Vladimir Poleshchuk. He now has about 1.2 million in chips.

4pm: Manfred Hammer eliminated in sixth place, winning €105,000
Manfred Hammer finds all his chips in the pot with 5-5 and is called by Vladimir Poleshchuk with A-Q. The flop brings an ace immediately and Hammer never recovers. Hammer time is over. Down to five, with Poleshchuk, the Russian player, having accounted for all three of today's eliminations.

2.35pm: Predictably, it's slowed a little after those amazing early-day bust-outs. Just time to update the tournament situation: they're playing level 20 with blinds of 5,000-10,000 and a 500 running ante.

2.27pm: Ted Lawson, USA, eliminated in seventh place, winning €83,600
As we struggle to contain the urge to use the headline "Vlad the Impaler", Vladimir Poleshchuk earns his second scalp of the day, on the second hand. This time it's Ted Lawson who's all-in with king-queen of clubs. Poleshchuk has ace-nine of hearts and flops three hearts for the flush. Lawson out in seventh and we're down to six, without even completing an orbit of the table.

2.25pm: Anton Allemann, Switzerland, eliminated in eighth place, winning €60,000
An amazing start here in Baden, for everyone except Anton Allemann. The young Swiss player was all in with ace-king on a flop of king-nine-ten. Vladimir Poleshchuk called with king-nine for two pair and Anton was out - first hand of the day

2.15pm: Cards are in the air.

Welcome back to Baden, where we're all set for the final table of today's European Poker Tour (EPT) event. There were 282 players when we began on Sunday afternoon and now there are just eight homes in seven different countries to which the big money will be finding its way.

We have two Americans, a Russian, an Englishman, a Hungarian, a Swiss and a Dutchman currently seated around the trademark sandy baize of the EPT final table. They are, in seat order:

Seat 1: Thierry van den Berg, 35, Holland - 227,000 in chips PokerStars qualifier
Thierry, a former chef from Almere, is a regular PokerStars qualifier and won four EPT seats last year on PokerStars, as well as four World Series seats. He also qualified on PokerStars for EPT Dublin at the end of October. Thierry, who has a 6-year-old daughter, turned pro a year ago. He made the final table of the $5,000 NLHE Six Handed tournament at last summer’s World Series but has never cashed before in an EPT. He said: “I can play my own game today as I’ve finally got a good stack.”

Seat 2: Manfred Hammer, 55, Germany - 369,000
Manfred Hammer, 55, was born in Dinkelsbuehl, Germany but now lives in Bregenz in Austria. Married with three children and two grandchildren, he is the co-owner of a construction company. He says his business means he rarely has time to play poker and this is by far his biggest success. Prior to EPT Baden, his biggest tournament win was second place in an Austrian tournament last July.

Seat 3: Julian Thew, 39, England - 610,000
Father-of-two Julian has been a professional player for two years and is very popular on the European poker circuit. The former draughtsman from Nottingham is having a great year, having just won the Plymouth leg of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour. He said “I promised myself I’d pay off our mortgage before I turned 40 and that’s in two weeks time - I’m only $20,000 short at the moment. ” This is Julian’s third EPT final table and seventh EPT cash. His biggest EPT win to date was fourth in Copenhagen during season one for $30k.

Seat 4: Vladimir Poleshchuk, 42, Russia - 624,000
Vladimir, a 42-year-old father-of-two from Moscow, has been playing Texas hold’em for six years and turned pro after just a year. Vladimir says his biggest win in poker so far was winning a $1,000 tournament in Korona, Russia, for $40,000. He bought in to last year’s EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo but failed to cash. The former army officer said: “I feel pretty comfortable about my game, and confident about today’s final table. I’ve been playing well against some pretty strong players. And I’ve enjoyed being in Baden; it’s a beautiful town.” Vladimir is being supported here by his wife Elena.

Seat 5: Ted Lawson, 49, South Florida/Las Vegas, USA - 81,000
Despite Baden hosting his EPT debut, Ted Lawson, from South Florida, is well known on the international poker scene. The married father-of-three has ten World Series cashes including three final tables and a bracelet. He now features prominently in both the Cardplayer and Bluff magazine rankings and has made 12 final tables this year. Describing himself as a poker professional, Lawson runs 21st Century Holding, the NASDAQ-listed company he founded with his wife in 1983.

Seat 6: Thomas Fuller, 24, Boulder, Colorado, USA - 190,000
Former psychology student Thomas took up poker after watching the film Rounders and has been a professional player for over two years. He also played in EPT Barcelona last month but had a “bad beat”. He said: “Actually that’s been true of all my big tournaments– I’ve either played badly or taken brutal beats – apart from this one!

Seat 7: Denes Kalo, 31, Hungary : 468,000
Dénes Kaló was born and lives in Budapest, Hungary. He works as the sales manager of a broker company and has been playing poker for 3 years. His best poker result to date was coming second in the 2006 EPM Vienna. Outside of poker, Denes is a sailing enthusiast.

Seat 8: Anton Allemann, 24, Switzerland : 254,000
Anton is one of two psychology students sitting at today’s final table (the other is American Thomas Fuller). He took up poker 18 months ago after a mere glimpse of the payout structure at an EPT event showed how much money could be won. He started playing online but now likes both online and live events. He said: “My previous biggest win was a cash game in Vegas during the World Series – I made $40,000 in one night. I think I’m an aggressive player, but I can also be flexible and adapt to the table conditions”

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a final table.

After a quick, slow, quick, slow day in Baden, we finally shaved the field down from 40 to the eight players who'll duke it out tomorrow for the EPT Baden crown.

They are, in order of chip stacks:

Vladimir Poleshchuk - Russia - 624,000
Julian Thew - England - 610,000
Denes Kalo - Hungary - 468,000
Manfred Hammer - Germany - 369,000
Anton Allemann - Switzerland - 254,000
Thierry van den Berg - Holland - PokerStars qualifier - 227,000
Thomas Fuller - USA - 190,000
Ted Lawson - USA - 81,000

The 40 began falling in the very first hand, and taking the earliest bath was Hevad "RaiNKhan" Khan, the Team PokerStars pro from the United States. RaiNKhan took a nasty beat from Julian Thew at the end of yesterday, and shoved his short stack in when it was folded to him first thing today. Not a bad move most of the time, but Manfred Hammer -- whose name has spawned repeated "Hammer time!" shouts in the press room today -- found aces. That was that for RaiNKhan.

At the same time on the television table, Carlo di Renzo was running into Alan Smurfit's aces. The carnage had officially started.

In went the chips and out went the players. We lost PokerStars qualifiers Matt Tyler and Roman Yitzhaki, as well as well-known European pros Thor Hansen and Surindar Sunar. Soraya Homam, Harald Poeschl and Johann Fest also took the walk.

Then, no sooner had the bubble floated into view, than it was burst by Heimo Kraner, from Austria. We were in the money.

It didn't last long for Daniel Mangas, from Spain, who had his kings outdrawn by Thew's jacks. Thew went on a charge for the rest of the day, finding big cards when necessary, and playing the big stack with aplomb. He's second in chips going into tomorrow.

Among his victims was Pascal Perrault, the final remaining EPT champion after Andreas Hoivold was eliminated in 22nd. Also hitting the spas with a bundle of cash were Alexander Kravchenko, the World Series final table finisher, and David Sonelin and Michael Durrer, PokerStars qualifiers, who perished in 11th and 12th, respectively.

Many of their chips found their way into the stack of Vladimir Poleshchuk, from Russia. He'll take the chip lead into the final. His last victim of the day was the PokerStars player Sebastian Ruthenberg, who couldn't repeat his third place finish in Dortmund earlier this year. He went out in 10th.

When the final nine assembled around the not-really-final-table -- we play to eight on the EPT -- there were a couple of short stacks in front of Gunnar Rabe, from Sweden, and Ted Lawson, of the United States. Rabe was the first to find a hand -- pocket tens -- but they weren't good enough to beat Manfred Hammer's queen-ten, which turned a straight.

So it was over. The eight were decided and they're in line for a monster payout when proceedings begin again at 3 p.m. central European time.

We'll have a blow-by-blow account right here. Don't miss it.

Today's eliminations:

9 - Gunnar Rabe - PokerStars qualifier - €38,600
10 - Sebastian Ruthenberg - PokerStars player - €38,600
11 - David Sonelin - Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - €30,000
12 - Michael Durrer - Germany - PokerStars qualifier - €30,000
13 - Age Spets - Norway - €25,700
14 - Hans Eskilsson - Sweden - €25,700
15 - Pascal Perrault - France - €19,300
16 - Peter Gould - England - €19,300
17 - Alexander Kravchenko - Russia - €12,860
18 - Hector Fuentes - Spain - €12,860
19 - Victor Goossens - Holland - €12,860
20 - Alan Smurfit - Ireland - €12,860
21 - Kalil Rahal - France - €12,860
22 - Andreas Hoivold - Norway - €12,860
23 - Jiri Vacek - Hungary - €12,860
24 - Daniel Mangas - Spain - €12,860

The final table payouts:

1st - €670,800
2nd - €375,000
3rd - €225,000
4th - €160,820
5th - €132,900
6th - €105,000
7th - €83,600
8th - €60,000

Picture (c) Neil Stoddart

Gunnar Rabe, PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, has just burst the TV bubble. He knew he was up against it when the final nine sat down around the pseudo final table; his "chip-and-a-chair" good humour hinted at an inclination to get the chips in behind the first decent hand he found.

Gunnar Rabe, shortly before departing in ninth place
(c) Neil Stoddart

And pocket tens wasn't bad, especially when Manfred Hammer called with queen-ten. But the German player made a straight on the turn, and Rabe was gone.

The final eight are now bagging up and heading home for a good night's rest before the fireworks start afresh tomorrow.

And, just like that, they're down to nine. This time it's Sebastian Ruthenberg, the PokerStars player from Germany, who was on the receiving end.

He lost a huge pot to double up Anton Allemann and then pushed in with 6-6 the next hand. Thierry van den Berg, the PokerStars qualifier from Holland, found aces again and they held. Van Den Berg now has plenty; Ruthenberg has €38,600 for 10th place.

The final nine, who have been moved to one table, are:

Thierry van den Berg - Holland - PokerStars qualifier - 224,000
Manfred Hammer - Germany - 305,000
Gunnar Rabe - Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - 74,000
Julian Thew - England - 602,000
Vladimir Poleshchuk - Russia - 627,000
Ted Lawson - USA - 84,000
Thomas Fuller - USA - 113,000
Denes Kalo - Hungary - 447,000
Anton Allemann - Switzerland - 144,000

Michael Durrer, the PokerStars qualifier from Germany, has just taken two beats and then the miserable walk to the rail.

Michael Durrer - PokerStars qualifier takes €30,000

First, it was Gunnar Rabe, the PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, who doubled through the man from Dusseldorf with ace-ten versus king-queen. Then, when it was Durrer facing Denes Kalo's king-queen, a queen flopped to outdraw ace-jack.

Durrer takes €30,000 for 12th place, but Rabe has now recovered from holding just one blue chip worth 1,000 to sit more comfortably around about 100,000.

Durrer was preceded out of the tournament by Age Spets, from Norway. He was all in pre-flop against Sebastian Ruthenberg and Vladimir Poleshchuk. Poleshchuk bet on the river and Spets didn't show what he had. He merely mucked his hand and left the television table.

* * * * *

And it's all action on the television table -- which you can watch on the EPT Live feed by clicking HERE. David Sonelin, the PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, has just been eliminated by Poleshchuk.

All the money went in on the turn when and ace hit. Sonelin had made top pair, with a five kicker, but the Russian had filled a straight with his king-jack and catapulted into the chip lead. He has more than 600,000 now.

So, those eliminations in full:

11 - David Sonelin - Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - €30,000
12 - Michael Durrer - Germany - PokerStars qualifier - €30,000
13 - Age Spets - Norway - €25,700
14 - Hans Eskilsson - Sweden - €25,700
15 - Pascal Perrault - France - €19,300
16 - Peter Gould - England - €19,300
17 - Alexander Kravchenko - Russia - €12,860
18 - Hector Fuentes - Spain - €12,860
19 - Victor Goossens - Holland - €12,860
20 - Alan Smurfit - Ireland - €12,860
21 - Kalil Rahal - France - €12,860
22 - Andreas Hoivold - Norway - €12,860
23 - Jiri Vacek - Hungary - €12,860
24 - Daniel Mangas - Spain - €12,860

We play down to eight tonight. That's two more and we're done.

When you're hot, you're hot and Julian Thew is somewhere near to the sun at the moment.

Julian Thew - an hour or so before his rush to the chip lead

He just busted Pascal Perrault in a battle of the blinds that got a little ugly courtesy of a pair of pocket aces (Thew's) to Pascal's ace-queen. They did the usual shilly-shallying, raise-reraise pre flop and then flipped. There were no miracles for Perrault and Julian vaulted into the chip lead.

A few hands later and he was at it again. Thomas Fuller, from the United States, raised to 20,000 from early position. From my railbird's perch I'd seen his pocket jacks. Julian asked how much he had behind, and Thomas counted out around 80,000. Julian bumped it up to 100,000, effectively putting Fuller all in, and after a couple of minutes' speech-play, the young American folded.

Ted Lawson led the other players in their guessing as to what Thomas had and he eventually showed them the hooks. Julian tapped the table in appreciation of the laydown and flashed pocket queens.

Julian is leading by some distance now: he's on more than 575,000, with Denes Kalo on about 380,000 and the PokerStars player Sebastian Ruthenberg on about 370,000. The short stacks are Age Spets and Thomas Fuller.

Meanwhile, Hans Eskilsson is out. The former soccer professional from Sweden pushed in with king-four and ran into David Sonelin's ace-queen. The PokerStars qualifier from Sweden continues to prosper under the studio lights.

Sure enough, they've started to fall. We're now down to two tables of eight, meaning 16 players in total. Five have gone since the last update and there's a redraw underway.

They were:

17 - Alexander Kravchenko - Russia - €12,860
Ran into Pascal Perrault's aces.

18 - Hector Fuentes - Spain - €12,860
Lost with king-queen to Denes Kalo, whose jack-ten made two pair

19 - Victor Goossens - Holland - €12,860
Lost a chunk with queens against Vladimir Poleshchuk's aces. Then lost rest with ace-seven against Thierry van den Berg's K-J. Van den Berg rivered a flush.

20 - Alan Smurfit - Ireland - €12,860
Kings couldn't hold up against Julian Thew's ace-jack; ace on the flop.

21 - Kalil Rahal - France - €12,860
Queens against kings, all in pre-flop.

A reminder of the payouts:

1st - €670,800
2nd - €375,000
3rd - €225,000
4th - €160,820
5th - €132,900
6th - €105,000
7th - €83,600
8th - €60,000

9th-10th €38,600
11th-12th - €30,000
13th-14th - €25,700
15th-16th - €19,300

And the players chasing:

Thierry van den Berg - Holland - PokerStars qualifier - 230,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg - Germany - PokerStars player - 212,000
David Sonelin - Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - 202,000
Peter Gould - England - 114,000
Manfred Hammer - Germany - 101,000
Age Spets - Norway - 65,000
Vladimir Poleshchuk - Russia - 230,000
Hans Eskilsson - Sweden - 57,000

Anton Allemann - Switzerland - 160,000
Julian Thew - England - 320,000
Pascal Perrault - France - 193,000
Denes Kalo - Hungary - 435,000
Ted Lawson - USA - 150,000
Michael Durrer - Germany - PokerStars qualifier - 75,500
Gunnar Rabe - Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - 120,000
Thomas Fuller - USA - 120,000

PokerStars is running a special $11 rebuy satellite for EPT Dublin on October 10. You can find all the satellite details in the PokerStars lobby under 'Tournaments/EPT'.

As part of our support for the Simon Poker Day charity tournament (run annually by Irish poker joker Padraig Parkinson), PokerStars is donating $2 for every buy-in, rebuy, and add-on.

All details about Simon Poker Day, can be found by clicking HERE. The tournament raised €50,000 for the Dublin homeless last year.

Please note: tournament only open to British and Irish players.

It's been very slow going since the dinner break, with all 21 players who sampled the fine cuisine here still remaining in the tournament.

David Sonelin, the PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, is still out front, and has now been moved to the featured table. For anyone unaware, you can watch that table on a live webcast by clicking HERE.

The complete list of remaining players is as follows:

Featured table:

Age Spets (Norway)
Vladimir Poleshchuk (Russia)
Hans Eskilsson (Sweden)
Thierry van den Berg (Holland) - PokerStars qualifier
David Sonelin (Sweden) - PokerStars qualifier
Peter Gould (England)
Victor Goossens (Holland)

Table 1:

Denes Kalo (Hungary)
Alan Smurfit (Ireland)
Kalil Rahal (France)
Manfred Hammer (Germany)
Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) - PokerStars player
Julian Thew (England)
Gunnar Rabe (Sweden) - PokerStars qualifier

Table 2:

Anton Allemann (Switzerland)
Hector Fuentes (Spain)
Pascal Perrault (France)
Ted Lawson (USA)
Michael Durrer (Germany) - PokerStars qualifier
Alexander Kravchenko (Russia)
Thomas Fuller (USA)

While we wait for the inevitable fireworks to spark that will result in the field thinning to the required eight by the end of the day, why not enjoy some day three photography, courtesyof Neil Stoddart, PokerStars' photographer for the EPT.

Sebastian Ruthenberg, left, and Julian Thew discuss who should have called Gunnar Rabe's all in. Thew called with ace-ten and lost to Rabe's ace-jack


Pascal Perrault: the last remaining former EPT champion in the field


Age Spets, through a looking glass (or something)


Barry Greenstein drops into the EPT Live commentary booth. Follow the link at the top of the page to watch the live webcast


Hans Eskilsson: former football player in the money


It's all happening in there

Today's dinner - which will be served momentarily - is likely to taste a little sweeter for PokerStars qualifier Thierry van den Berg after a big double up in the past ten minutes.

A pre-flop raising battle broke out between the Dutch player and Peter Gould, of England. Thierry raised under-the-gun-plus-one, Peter re-raised from one off the button, Thierry moved all in and Peter was pot-committed. The final re-re-raise was about 30,000 more into a pot of around 90,000.

Thierry van den Berg rubs his hands at the prospect of a double up

Peter knew he was behind as he tabled A-K. Thierry, who spent much of yesterday lamenting the absence of pocket aces from his hand, uttered: "For once in my life," before flipping over those bullets. Good time to get them.

The flop, though, was scary for Thierry. It brought a queen and a ten, meaning "any old jack" would do it for Peter, as he repeated through turn and river. It didn't come, though, and Thierry doubled through to around 100,000.


The board keeps Thierry's hopes alive

Scratching the felt on the same table is Jiri Vacek, who lost near enough all his stack with A-2h against Victor Goossens' pocket fives. In fact, Vacek thought he was out, but tablemate Age Spets called him back suggesting he may have had