Michael "SirWatts" Watson already had a sizeable following in the world of poker before he flew to Las Vegas from his native Canada this summer. Last year, he came to the attention of most of us at the PokerStars blog when he skippered the Canada team in the World Cup of Poker, with Daniel Negreanu among others under captaincy.

By that point, he already had four World Series cashes and an ever-growing profile. He is also a prolific blog writer, detailing his exploits as one of the most successful online players around, and he is a member of some of the many discussion forums where the big players exchange strategy and tales from the tables.

Then he was a PokerStars qualifier for the main event of the World Series, rising high in the early chip counts. And then, as if it wasn't all enough, he nipped to the Bellagio after busting at the Rio, entered the main event of the WPT Bellagio Cup for $15,000 and walked off with first prize. That, if you really want to know, was worth $1,673,770.

All of this is to say that Watson is also here in London, having bought in to this EPT event through PokerStars. Few would be surprised to see him prosper once again.

The first time we wrote about PokerStars qualifier Phidias Georgiou on the PokerStars blog was almost exactly a year ago. Phidias was playing in his first EPT in London and finding things were going well. Back then he was described as being straight from central casting for a WW2 film, an obvious choice for the gruff but effective company sergeant.

PokerStars qualifier Phidias Georgiou

It turned out to be a good week for the Cypriot who went on to record his first EPT cash, collecting $53,113 for 11th place. Then he went to the World Series in Vegas and cashed in the main event. Still, he's not satisfied despite these excellent results, and he's qualified again for EPTs since, including this one, to go ever further.