With more players heading to the rope line which has advanced down the room thoughout the day, all signs pointed towards the end of day 1a. It’s not far off but with less than an hour of play left there was still time for catastrophe and the loss of all hope. For some anyway.

One player enjoying this closing level of the day is Trond Eidsvig, winner of the Rookie of the Year award at the Scandinavian Poker Awards last night. He may be thinner than the cards he holds and wearing a woollen hat despite the 22 degree air conditioning but he’s quickly closing in on the chip lead – playing not only with the cockiness of youth, but the cockiness of youth on a winning streak. Next to him is a player who is a few generations ahead of Trond – Thor Hansen – a hero of the yonger player. But the young man’s 50k dwarfs the 10k of Hansen.

Daniel Negreanu on the other hand has gradually seen the momentum rug pulled from beneath him. He tangled in a three way pot with Flemming Hilt and Thomas Christiansen that would leave him staring elimination in the face.

Christiansen raised from early position, 600 pre-flop. Hilt on the button called as did Daniel in the big blind. On a flop of K-5-J Christiansen made it 2,500 and Hilt pushed in for 12k total. Daniel tank called before Christiansen also moved in.

“I’m definitely in third place now” said Daniel and wasn’t wrong. Hilt showed K-J for two pair whilst Daniel K-Q for just one. Christiansen meanwhile showed pocket fives. The turn was a nine, leaving an inside straight possibility for Daniel

“A ten would be pretty sick now” said Daniel for karma insurance – just in case it did come. But it didn’t. The fives were good and Daniel was down to less than 8k.

Meanwhile Englishman Julian Thew has been eliminated. A simple pre-flop scrap between kings and tens. Julian held the tens and is out in level eight.

That punctuated the last hands of Daniel Negreanu. On a 4-6-4 flop he bet 2,500 watching as fellow Team PokerStars pro Noah Boeken ruined everything by pushing all-in, covering what Daniel had left.

“I got four fours” he said. “No, just kidding...” he tabled Q-5 instead, beaten by Noah’s pocket eights. Tem PokerStars down another one.

And to cap off a string of eliminations everyone’s favourite Dane Gus Hansen is also out – his pocket nines to A-K. The ace on the turn did it for Gus who can now digest any food properly.

30 minutes left to play...