March 2009 Archives

After two weeks of delayed Sunday Million tournaments for Daylight Savings Time sufferers, the ever-popular Sunday tournament was back on a regular time schedule for the March 22nd edition. With spring having been declared official only two days prior, a new season awaited many thousands of players.

With the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) only days away and players looking to hone their skills in preparation of it, the Sunday Million welcomed a total of 7,906 players to the virtual felt to compete for a prize pool that became $1,581,200, gently putting the $1.5 million guarantee to a quiet shame.

The massive crowd of players quickly thinned, and when the money bubble approached, Bushman kindly went out in 1171st place on that bubble to allow dirkdiggler9 to cash for $316.24 and numerous others to follow. And with that, the field dwindled further to move toward the final nine players and the last table of the tourney.

At that point, it was bakaunko who pushed all-in with his short stack of 3,204,476 preflop holding pocket threes. bbs99 called from the small blind with pocket jacks, and it looked like the final table bubble would burst. But the flop came 6d-3h-5c to give bakaunko the advantage with trips. The 2c on the turn allowed that to hold, but the Jh on the river gave bbs99 the better set, leaving bakaunko ousted in tenth place with $7,906.00 for the bubble spot.

With that, the final nine players were established as follows:

Seat 1: Liqqa (6,120,206 in chips)
Seat 2: reef2287 (7,994,226 in chips)
Seat 3: ckingusc (14,669,864 in chips)
Seat 4: *xen (10,831,038 in chips)
Seat 5: Rabbiej (4,577,660 in chips)
Seat 6: 1GENERAL_TAO (6,775,126 in chips)
Seat 7: bbs99 (16,753,871 in chips)
Seat 8: tpreston (4,310,041 in chips)
Seat 9: bigsexyKN (7,027,968 in chips)

With bbs99 in the chip lead from the start of the action, Zachary "ckingusc" King was not far behind and looking to add another title to his already impressive resume. Many will remember him for his 2008 WCOOP main event win only a few months ago. To remind yourself of that brilliant win, watch our WCOOP main event highlight show right here...

Though action began rather slowly, bigsexyKN had no complaints as he doubled through bbs99 to stay alive. But eliminations would come soon.

With tpreston sitting on one of the shorter stacks, the move was inevitable. After reef2287 started the hand with a preflop raise, tpreston reraised all-in with Ad-Kc, but reef2287 called with pocket kings. The board came an uneventful Jc-Td-7d-3c-9h, and tpreston accepted $11,068.40 for the ninth place finish.

Rabbiej wasn't afraid to move some chips around and soon doubled through bigsexyKN to climb to over 9 million chips. But soon after, looking at a raise from *xen, Rabbiej reraised all-in with As-Jc. There wasn't much hesitation on the part of *xen to call with pocket kings, and the 3c-7s-8h flop came down in support of that. The 2h on the turn was good for the pair as well, and the Ks on the river just solidified the outcome that gave Rabbiej an eighth place finish and $18,183,80 to go with it.

Next at risk was bigsexyKN, who started the hand with a raise. When ckingusc came in for a reraise, bigsexyKN pushed all-in for more than 9 million chips with Ad-Kc. ckingusc called with Ah-Jd but caught the key card on the flop of Jc-Qs-3h. The 6d on the turn and 8h on the river made it hold, and bigsexyKN was out with a seventh place finish worth $27,671.00.

The next significant hand began with *xen making an all-in move preflop but 1GENERAL_TAO calling all-in for his last 8,925,126 with pocket jacks. *xen turned over Kc-Qd, and the race was on. That was until the flop came Td-Ts-Qh. With an uneventful 4h on the turn and 3c on the river, *xen won the pot with the higher two pair, and 1GENERAL_TAO was forced out in sixth place with a $40,320.60 consolation prize.

The tournament life of Liqqa was the next to be on the line with the short-stacked player all-in preflop holding Jh-8c in the small blind. But reef2287 was there with the call and Ad-8h, the dominating hand. The board ran out Qd-Kc-8d-As-6c, and that was all it took to eliminate Liqqa in fifth place, which was worth $56,132.60.

Despite reef2287's elimination of Liqqa, reef2287 was unable to gain much momentum and finally pushed all-in preflop with 9c-2s from the small blind. But ckingusc wouldn't let that go and made the call with pocket eights from the big blind. The board brought nothing for the short stack when it produced Js-4d-3d-7s-As to eliminate reef2287 in fourth place with $71,944.60.

Three-handed play began and continued for some time, and with ckingusc uninterested in any chop talk, the trio played it out. Finally, after an initial raise by ckingusc, bbs99 raised it up, but ckingusc did the same. bbs99 responded with an all-in move with pocket deuces, and ckingusc called with Js-8s. The board gave ckingusc the advantage on the flop when it came 9d-3d-Jc, and the Ks turn and 4s river finished the hand, leaving bbs99 out in third place with $88,547.20 for the effort.

Heads-up action started with the following counts:

Seat 3: ckingusc (48,778,949 in chips)
Seat 4: *xen (30,281,051 in chips)

As ckingusc extended the chip lead, it was up to *xen to look for a spot and make a serious move to reverse the trend. That happened when *xen pushed all-in preflop with Ah-Kd versus the pocket fours of ckingusc. The board came Ac-5h-9d-8c-9h, giving the double-up to *xen, along with the chip lead.

The heads-up battle soon verged on epic, as *xen kept the chip lead for some time but ckingusc never gave up or got involved without the goods. ckingusc took a 12 million-chip pot to tighten the difference between the two at one point, but *xen continued to chip away at the 2008 WCOOP champion.

Eventually, ckingusc found his spot. The hand started with a raise from *xen, a reraise from ckingusc, and all-in move by *xen, and an all-in call from ckingusc with pocket eights, which were up against the Ks-Th of *xen. The board brought 6s-Ts-Qd-Kh-8s to give ckingusc the double-up and the 2-to-1 chip lead.

It only took a few hands for *xen to feel the need to push, and he did it preflop with pocket nines. It just so happened that ckingusc woke up with pocket jacks on the same hand and had *xen dominated. The board reduced the short stacks' outs as it came 2c-7h-Ks-8s, and the Jc only served to seal the deal and give *xen a second place finish. A solid payout of $130,607.12 was the reward.

With that, Zachary "ckingusc" King, became the latest Sunday Million champion, with a $193,697.00 prize to show for it. More importantly, King added a Sunday Million title to his solid list of online poker accomplishments, which included the impressive 2008 WCOOP main event victory in September of 2008, which was worth $1,265,432 and much respect in the poker community. With this Sunday Million title and nearly $200,000 to add to his resume, the young poker pro can be proud of this victory. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 03/22/09:

1st place: ckingusc ($193,697.00)
2nd place: *xen ($130,607.12)
3rd place: bbs99 ($88,547.20)
4th place: reef2287 ($71,944.60)
5th place: Liqqa ($56,132.60)
6th place: 1GENERAL_TAO ($40,320.60)
7th place: bigsexyKN ($27,671.00)
8th place: Rabbiej ($18,183.80)
9th place: tpreston ($11,068.40)

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

Just two more weeks until the flood gates of tournament action are unleashed when the inaugural Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) kicks off for players of all bankroll sizes. Starting April 2nd and lasting until the main event April 12th, players will be able to compete in three buy-in levels of action that won't kill your virtual wallet to be a part of. Be sure to check here at the PokerStarsBlog for all the final table recaps as we crown three champions a night!

As for tonight's action at the $215 buy-in Sunday Warm-up 4,353 easily crushed the $750,000 guarantee again and ramped up the first prize to $112,307,40 and assured five figure paydays to eight different players.

Here's how we arrived at the final nine:

A nice run by Team PokerStars Pro Noah "Exclusive" Boeken (199th place winning $957.66) ended on an open button push with Ah-9s and lara15fiona awaited in the big blind with Ad-Qs. lara15fiona would promptly flop broadway and sent the Dutch pro out of the tournament. With three tables left, not to mention several hours later, lara15fiona would still be using Boeken's chips on a run towards the final table but ultimately finishing a respectable 23rd place ($1,828.26).

Joining lara on this late table run was none other than James "mig.com" Mackey who's 2007 WCOOP main event final table netted him almost $600,000 for third place (report found here) and winning Event #14 ($1,050 NLHE) the same year for another $580,212.50, read about that win here.

Another player who is familiar to late play in big online tournaments, grebnrets86, was sitting near the top of the leaderboard with two tables left, just two weeks ago claimed the runner-up prize in the Sunday Warm-up ($76,014.00).

mig.com would knock out mppowerm in 11th after turning a set of nines against mppowerm's A8o to leap from mid pack to near the top in chip counts. After dishing out some chips and taking them back via steals, mig.com would send ronnyr3 home as the bubble boy when mig.com turned up Ad-Th to ronnyr3's Kh-Qd and neither connected on the Js-Jc-6d-9c-6c board and Mackey's Ace high produced our final table.

Seat 1: don_beppe (2612658 in chips)
Seat 2: Buton77 (12005148 in chips)
Seat 3: Ar Schaflme (4502712 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (3781982 in chips)
Seat 5: dj_ponytale (2621644 in chips)
Seat 6: DeacNutt (1684826 in chips)
Seat 7: p5an (2705570 in chips)
Seat 8: mig.com (8973176 in chips)
Seat 9: Quagmire (4642284 in chips)

Buton77 wasted no time to expandhis lead as the fifth hand at the final table he would be responsible for its first knock-out. With blinds at 80,000/160,000 ante 16,000 and folded around to don_beppe in middle position, he would open shove for his 2.5 million chips with pocket eights (8c-8d) and receive a snap call by Buton77 on his direct left. Buton77 turned up a slightly better pocket pair of aces (Ah-Ac) which would hold on the 3c-Ks-2s-3s-As board. don_beppe would have to settle for ninth place and the $7,051.86 that came with it.

Fifteen hands would go by before DeacNutt and Ar Schaflme would actually produce cards in the middle of the board. Post flop play went by quickly however with DeacNutt taking down the 849,424 chip pot with a 640,000 chip flop bet.

At the break the chip counts stood as shown below with Buton77 stack dwarfing the field and mig.com sitting in second:

Seat 2: Buton77 (15256806 in chips)
Seat 3: Ar Schaflme (2877000 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (5068982 in chips)
Seat 5: dj_ponytale (1923744 in chips)
Seat 6: DeacNutt (2673438 in chips)
Seat 7: p5an (2164570 in chips)
Seat 8: mig.com (8440176 in chips)
Seat 9: Quagmire (5125284 in chips)

Mackey would claim his first final table victim in the form of p5an. Folded around to p5an sitting on the button with the short stack and pocket sevens (7c-7h) a push seemed to be an easy decision. Unfortunately, that 460,000 pre-flop pot would not be sliding his way as mig.com woke up with pocket kings (Kh-Kd). The kings proved to be enough on the 4c-3h-Tc-2h-4h board with mig.com being the benefactor of the 3.8 million chip pot increasing his total to nearly nine million. For eighth place p5an got a five figure send off in the form of $10,882.50 added to his PokerStars account.

Six hands later, the other big gun at the table, grebnrets86 would get his hands deep into the battle for that $112K first prize as he tangled with Ar Schaflme pre-flop. Folded around to Ar Schaflme in the cutoff he would shove his remaining 2.8 million into the middle and got a customer in the form of a re-raise from grebnrets86 on the button. The blinds got the message to sit this one out. Ad-Td for grebnrets86, a dominated As-7h for Ar Schaflme, and there was no drama once again as grenbnrets86 would flop two pair and river the nut flush on the Tc-Qd-Ah-Kd-9d board for the 6.1 million chip pot sending Ar Schaflme home in seventh place ($17,412.00).

You know how people compare the live game with the speed of the online game? Well, the next bust out happen quicker then I could type out the amount won by Ar Schaflme! The very next hand grebnrets86 sended another player out of his seat. Opening from the cutoff for 478,987 grebnrets86 would push DeacNutt's in the big blind into making a decision for his chips. The decision was clear that Ah-Jc was the hand to double-up or go home with as DeacNutt shoved his nearly two million chips into the middle. grebnrets86 would make the call with pocket ducks (2h-2d) and the race was on for DeacNutt's tournament life. Only this race lasted slightly longer then a bad TV sitcom pilot, as grebnrets86 would flop a set of twos and river a boat on the 2s-9h-5h-6d-9c board leaving DeacNutt with nothing left to hold but the $26,118.00 he received in sixth place.

Eight hands later would be the biggest hand of the tournament to this point as the two heavyweights would collide for all of their chips pre-flop. mig.com would start the betting by raising to 510,000 with the blinds at 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000. grebnrets86 would counter with a re-raise from the small blind to 1.6 million. To which Mackey had an answer of "all-in", and grebnrets86 took a look at his cards and responded likewise.

grebnrets86: [Td-Ts]
mig.com: [5h-5s]

Well behind, Mackey still had 177K chip in his stack but wouldn't need them, as the pretty looking five of diamonds hit the 5d-Js-9h flop. 8d on the turn opened up straight possibilities as well as the other two tens, but Ad came instead and grebnrets86 couldn't improve on his runner-up finish this evening and had to settle for a $34,824.00 bad beat story in fifth place. Mackey's stack would take over the chip lead as a result of the 22.1 million chip pot.

dj_ponytale tried to dance with the seemingly bulletproof Mackey next as he would shove as 1.9 million chips in from the cutoff and getting a call from Mackey on the button. This time it was mig.com's turn to dominate as his Ah-9c was ahead of dj_ponytale's Ad-6d. The Kh-Qd-4d flop heavily favored dj_ponytale as he got some light with the nut flush draw. 9s on the turn changed nothing, and the As on the river stopped the music for dj_ponytale in fourth place for $43,530.00, perhaps enough for a new turntable.

Buton77 would snag a five million chip pot off mig.com to pull the race closer two hands later. Quagmire stayed out of their way until he faced a push holding Ks-Jc from Mackey into his big blind. mig.com only held Jh-9d and with the 8s-Ad-As-4s-5h board, 7.5 million chips and a new life headed into Quagmire's stack. But, with the blinds moving up to 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000 moves would need to be made to hang on to those chips. Buton77 raised to 615,000 into Quagmire's big blind and with a little more force in his stack he would shove over the top for 6.2 million total with just 2d-9d hoping to increase his stack even more. Buton77 had the cards to make the call and did while exposing pocket sevens. A deuce would hit the flop but the 2h-6c-Jc-3d-Th board showed Buton77's sevens were the victor. $52,236.00 was Quagmire's to keep in third place as heads-up play was about to begin.

Buton77 (23,569,374 in chips)
mig.com (19,960,626 in chips)

Fairly even stacks as both players would begin their joust for the $112K first prize with the blinds still at 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000.

The first minor shot came with mig.com taking down a 3.75 million chip pot when they both agreed to finally see a flop of 6s-7c-8s after the two traded pre-flop raises and mig.com's 2.25 million chip bet took it down. Buton77 would counter back while taking his own 4.55 million chip pot a few hands later when his 2.7 million chip bet on a flop of Qs-3d-Qh was not called and he regained his small chip lead.

"Along as there are outs, you still have a chance to win" might be tad overstated and bland to read. But when there's a $30K difference in prize money on the line, a roller coaster of emotions going from elation to defeat and back to happy-land again might require a strong heart watching those outs produce on the board.

The final hand started out innocently enough as Buton77 raised to 600,000 from the button and got a call from Mackey to see a 8h-As-Th flop. mig.com checked as Buton77 followed thru with a bet of 815,000. Then the fireworks started, mig.com check-raised to 2.5 million, Buton77 countered with a three-bet to six million, and mig.com made it four bets for nearly twenty million. Definitely, a nut check holding just middle pair with $30K on the line and Ts-6s, but Buton77 would make the correct call and mig.com showed the semi-bluff of 9d-7h. An open ended straight draw for Mackey would fill on the 6d turn but still gave Buton77 outs to a boat.

You see where this going?

River: Td

Tens full boat for Buton77 and at the end of the roller coaster, the $112,307.40 for this week's Sunday Warm-up Champion! Mackey added yet another huge tournament score in second place banking $78,354.00 as the runner-up.

Be sure to check PokerStars.TV tomorrow as the hole cards of the final table will be exposed to all with great commentary.

Sunday Warm-up Results (03-22-09)
1. Buton77 $112,307.40
2. mig.com $78,354.00
3. Quagmire $52,236.00
4. dj_ponytale $43,530.00
5. grebnrets86 $34,824.00
6. DeacNutt $26,118.00
7. Ar Schaflme $17,412.00
8. p5an $10,882.50
9. don_beppe $7,051.86

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here's your daily update of the action from PokerStars' very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

Prior to the final team selection tournament, there were still six members of the All Star Challengers team that had not secured a match in the All Star Week line-up. With only five spots left to fill, at least one person was going to miss out.

As it turned out, two of those six were finally able to break through. Dutch Supernova Elite busto_soon rode comfortably into third place and selected Isabelle Mercier as his single opponent for the series. The result delighted his legions of railbird fans who had been eagerly awaiting this chance to cheer. 1ofaKind420, a 2008 Yearly TLB Top 50 player, made harder work of qualifying but did enough to take the fifth spot for the day. He will take on Lee Nelson in Sunday's 16:00 ET Stud Hi/Lo match.

The day's other qualifiers are already firmly entrenched in the All Star Week schedule and will be challenging for the team MVP award. The first man to choose from Sunday's games was Pole kAmIkAdZeE. His fourth match for the week will be the potentially crucial final match of the series against Greg Raymer.

Second choice went to the red-hot Supernova Elite 'psimalive', who made it three in a row today - a unique feat during the week's tournaments. He exercised his option on the 12:00 ET match with Vicky Coren. It was another four-time winner that took the remaining match in the schedule. Sumpas will take on Chad Brown in the penultimate match of All Star Week.

Battle commences for real tomorrow, and you can follow all the action here on the blog. The full schedule of matches is as follows:

Monday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Vicky Coren Vs Sumpas
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Lee Nelson Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 3 [STUD] 16:00 Chad Brown Vs Bookie1978
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Isabelle Mercier Vs PKerBL
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Dennis Phillips Vs bluffblocker

Tuesday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Katja Thater Vs oblowski512
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Marcin Horecki Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 3 [PLO8] 16:00 Noah Boeken Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Alex Kravchenko Vs VOLCANO360
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 JC Alvarado Vs 666 INRI

Wednesday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 ElkY Vs VOLCANO360
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Victor Ramdin Vs Aryamehr
Match 3 [PLO] 16:00 William Thorson Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Vanessa Rousso Vs PKerBL
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Chris Moneymaker Vs bluffblocker

Thursday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 ElkY Vs PKerBL
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Vanessa Rousso Vs Sumpas
Match 3 [LHE] 16:00 Ylon Schwartz Vs Aryamehr
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Alex Kravchenko Vs oblowski512
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Chris Moneymaker Vs Gunslinger3

Friday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Katja Thater Vs GoMukYaSelf
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Andre Akkari Vs bluffblocker
Match 3 [5CD-limit] 16:00 Barry Greenstein Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Humberto Brenes Vs psimalive
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Daniel Negreanu Vs lordhuttyx

Saturday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Victor Ramdin Vs psimalive
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Steve Paul-Ambrose Vs Sumpas
Match 3 [O8] 16:00 Greg Raymer Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Humberto Brenes Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Joe Hachem Vs 666 INRI

Sunday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Vicky Coren Vs psimalive
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Isabelle Mercier Vs busto_soon
Match 3 [STUD8] 16:00 Lee Nelson Vs 1ofaKind420
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Chad Brown Vs Sumpas
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Greg Raymer Vs kAmIkAdZeEe

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here's your daily update of the action from PokerStars' very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

In contrast to the fresh faces produced by Friday's team selection tournament, all five of Saturday's winners were already booked into the All Star Week schedule.

The first match selection fell to Canuck (a name we've been hearing a lot this week), who stuck to his previous form and chose the day's non-NLHE option. He will take on Greg Raymer in an intriguing Limit Omaha Hi/Lo contest. After going zero from four in the early stages of team selection, American Supernova Elite psimalive has produced two wins in two days. He used his second choice on the 14:00 ET match with Team PS Pro captain Victor Ramdin.

kAmIkAdZeEe returned to the winner's circle on Saturday, after three days outside the top five players. His third match of All Star Week will be against Humberto Brenes at 18:00 ET. The result puts him firmly back in the race for the team MVP title.

Also gaining a third spot in the All Star Week itinerary was 2008 WCOOP Main Event final tableist Sumpas. The Swede will come up against 2006 PCA champion Steve Paul-Ambrose.

The prospect of a clash with Joe Hachem awaited the final member of the top five. The honour fell to a Supernova Elite hailing from Germany, 666 INRI. Joe is one of only a handful of players with lifetime live tournament winnings in excess of $10,000,000, so 666 INRI has an intimidating task ahead of him. With just five matches remaining after this game, it could be a crucial clash.

There are now ten players with two or more matches on the All Star Week card - all of whom will be in with a chance of securing the MVP award. The 1-Stamp PokerStars Passport will hinge on who has the talent and the nerve to claim victory in their respective matches.

The fans are currently backing the Pros to win by 996 votes to 699. The Challengers will be determined to prove a lot of people wrong!

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here's your daily update of the action, this time from PokerStars' very own Host Scotty.

by Host Scotty

There were sighs of relief from several members of the All Star Challengers team on Day 5 of team selection, as we saw three new names appear on the All Star Week schedule.
After multiple near misses, lordhuttyx, GoMukYaSelf and psimalive all secured a first match in next week's series.

lordhuttyx squeezed in this time around with the lowest stack, and found himself with a tricky match against Daniel Negreanu in the 20:00 ET slot. GoMukYaSelf has had a tough run in the daily selection tournaments and will be delighted to finally gain a berth in the All Star Week. He held second place when discussions began and decided to take on Friday's opening match against WSOP Razz bracelet winner Katja Thater.

psimalive got to choose right after GoMukYaSelf and selected Team PokerStars Pro's most colorful character as his opponent - Humberto Brenes. Costa Rica's Godfather of Poker has been quite a handful in his appearances in the Weekly TLB challenge matches. He'll be a tricky obstacle to overcome in the 18:00 ET Match 4.

The remaining qualifiers for the day both secured their third matches in All Star Week. Supernova Elite bluffblocker finished this selection tournament with the chiplead and chose to take on a man he has already encountered numerous times at the PokerStars tables - Andre Akkari.

Completing the quintet of Challengers for Friday was Canuck. He kept up his run of taking the non-NLHE option by agreeing to face Barry Greenstein at Limit 5-Card Draw. He will also be seen in the PLO and PLO8 matches of All Star Week.

In qualifying for a third time, bluffblocker and Canuck moved into a three-way tie for the Challengers MVP award with PKerBL. There are five other team members that have two games apiece that will be looking to improve in the last two days of team selection over the weekend.

Come back to the blog to find out which of the Challengers is rising to the occasion, or follow the action for yourself at 16:00 ET on the PokerStars software. The team selection tournaments can be found under the Events > Special tab, alongside the supporter tourneys and the All Star Week matches themselves.

by Brad Willis and Change100

In the late hours of Day 2, Tournament Director Mike Ward began joking with 20 year-old Norwegian Karl Hevroy. Ward called the young online poker player "Houdini." At first, it was an inside joke between the two men. Tonight, it has a lot more meaning.

Hevroy is, in fact, the LAPT's master of escape. No matter how dire the situation, no matter how deep the hole, no matter how sure the lock, Hevroy managed to get free. The result? One very impressive feat of magic, $283,500, and an LAPT title.

Three hundred twenty-seven players started this event three days ago. The top 36 walked away with cash, but the big money was handed out tonight at the final table.

Nine people from around the world made it to this ultimate felt. Here's how they stacked up going into final table action (you can learn more about the players at our LAPT Punta del Este final table profiles report).

Seat 1: Andre Ventura 103,000
Seat 2: Oliver Rowe 412,000
Seat 3: Bolivar Palacios 167,000
Seat 4: Waldemar Cago 263,000
Seat 5: Karl Hevroy 1,079,000
Seat 6: Magno Aragao 153,000
Seat 7: Angel Guillen 572,000
Seat 8: Alejandro De Arruabarrena 397,000
Seat 9: Ron Wasiel 134,000

Andre Ventura was the comeback story of the tournament. At the end of Day 2, Ventura got pocket sixes in against queens and was crippled to 13,000 chips--less than one big blind. Within an hour, Ventura had doubled up a few times and made the final table.

On the very first hand of the final table, Angel Guillén came in for a raise. Ventura pushed all in with pocket queens and got got called by Guillén's A-7. Ventura doubled up and looked to go deep. It took a minor cooler to bust him.

After Ventura opened for 41,000, Oliver Rowe reraised to 101,000, Ventura moved all in for 153,000 total and Rowe quickly called. It wasn't pretty: Ventura's Jh-Jd against Rowe's Qs-Qd. Ventura's chorus of railbirds started chanting "Jota! Jota! Jota!" imploring for a jack on the flop for their man.

The flop, though, came down 9h-5h-2s. The "jota" chorus turned into the "corazon" choir when the Kh appeared on the turn, Ventura picking up a flush draw, but he couldn't get there, the 3d landing on the river to eliminate him in 9th place.

Magno Aragao was without a doubt one of the most affectionate poker players we have ever seen. When someone won, when someone lost, when someone looked like they just might need it, Aragao offered a giant, warm, manly hug. In our time as poker reporters, we have only one person offer so many hugs. That top spot was once held by Gentleman John Gale at the 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Mr. Gale, you have some competition in the Department of Affection.

Eventually, there came a time when Aragao needed a hug. Under-the-gun and with only 30,000 remaining, Magno Aragao dribbled his remaining chips into the middle and got two callers in Oliver Rowe and big blind Karl Hevroy. The flop came down Ts-7c-5c. Hevroy checked, Rowe bet 40,000 and Hevroy folded. With no more action to be had, the cards were turned up. Aragao held Qd-Qc to Rowe's Jc-Td.

The room buzzed as Aragao's pocket queens were revealed. Were we going to witness yet another amazing comeback? The turn was the 8h. Now Aragao was really sweating, as Rowe could win with a ten, a jack or a nine. And the river... was the 9h, making him a jack-high straight.

The always-affectionate Aragao hugged his opponent before heading out to collect his $26,640 in winnings.

It had only been a couple of days since we saw Bolivar Palacios take seventh place in the LAPT Mexico event. Today, he came here looking to better that performance. He was in pretty good shape to do that after a couple of timely double-ups in the early going. His Panamanian Rat Pack of poker players cheered him with as much gusto as any other group in the room. Finally, Palacios picked up a big hand and got his chips in with two black queens. He was racing against Alejandro De Arruabarrena's As-Ks.

All looked well on the early part of the board. The first four cards came out 5d-4h-4s-7c. Then that ugly Kd fell on the river and Palacios was out in seventh place...again. He earned $37,740.

If you're the kind to root for an underdog, Waldemar Cogo was your man today. Short-stacked for his entire time here, he managed to turn one big blind into a couple of money jumps. Every time it looked like he was out, the cards brought him back in. Ultimately, he used the last of his nine lives. With the action folded to the small blind, Oliver Rowe completed, Cogo moved all in and Rowe made the call. It was the Ks-7h for Rowe, dominating Cogo's Kh-3s. The board ran out Kc-5s-2d-Jd-4s and Cogo headed out the door in sixth place. He won $48,840.

With Cogo gone, most of the stacks at the table were pretty big. We expected things to go slowly. They did not.

The next big hand was the kind that could make a player give up the game forever. On a flop of Js-9s-3h Oliver Rowe led out for 50,000 from the small blind and Karl Hevroy called.

The Kd came on the turn and Rowe considered for several minutes before settling on a bet of 115,000. Hevroy moved in and Rowe quickly called, showing 3d-3c for bottom set to Hevroy's Kc-Qh. The young Norwegian who entered the final table as the dominant chip leader was now drawing to only four outs that would save his tournament life.

What happened next was the stuff of tin foil hats. The Th landed on the river. Hevroy made a king-high straight and claimed the rest of Rowe's stack. Rowe's face told the story.

With Rowe out of the way, short-stacked Ron Wasiel finally gave up the ghost. He got the rest of his chips in on a flop of Td-Ts-9s and Karl Hevroy made the call. Wasiel was in a tough spot, his Js-9c up against Hevroy's pocket jacks. The 8c on the turn gave him some outs to a chop should a seven or a queen appear, but the 3c hit the river, giving the hand to Hevroy and sending Wasiel to the rail in fourth place.

We all started to learn our lesson on the next hand. The lesson?

Don't ever count out Karl Hevroy when he's behind.

Angel Guillen opened from the button for 64,000. Hevroy bumped it to 210,000 from the big blind and Guillen quickly moved all in. Hevroy made the call.

Guillen had his opponent dominated, holding the Ac-Jh to Hevroy's As-Tc. But remember what we told you...

The flop came down Qd-Ts-6c, pairing up Hevroy. The crowd roared in a mixture of celebration and total disbelief. The turn was the 6h, the river was the 7d, and just like that, Hevroy had claimed another victim.

And so we went to heads-up play. How long would you expect it to take when Hevroy had a nearly 6-1 chip lead on Alejandro De Arruabarrena?

Answer: One hand.

Alejandro De Arruabarrena completed the small blind and Karl Hevroy checked his option. The flop came down 9c-9d-8s. Hevroy checked over to De Arruabarrena, who bet 70,000. Hevroy called. The turn brought the 4h and another check from Hevroy. De Arruabarrena fired another 100,000, Hevroy moved all in and De Arruabarrena called.

It was all over as soon as the cards were turned up. Hevroy had flopped the nut full house with 8h-9h. De Arruabarrena was drawing dead, holding the Qd-Js. No river card was necessary, but for posterity's sake, we'll let you know it was the 4c.

Hevroy leapt from his chair and embraced his friends on the rail. It's probably the most emotion we've ever seen from a Scandinavian poker player.

De Arruabarrena was gracious and shook the young man's hand, wearing the same bewildered look that so many opponents have shown after playing a hand with this one-man wrecking crew.

Afterward, Hevroy could barely speak. Just a few days ago, he was having trouble withdrawing money from his online account. He borrowed $4,000 from a friend to buy in. Now, he is $283,500 richer.

"I'm so happy, I don't feel like I know anything. It's so sick," Hevroy said.

If there's any way to sum it up, it was this final quote from the man with the trophy.

"I had a few moments where I was in danger," he said,"and then I luckboxed my way out of it."

Congratulations to Karl Hevroy on his knockout win.

For a look back at our coverage from the day, check out any of the links below.

Final table player profiles Level 19 live updates continued
Level 20 live updates
Level 21 live updates
Level 22 live updates
Level 23 live updates

Of course, we hope you take the time to go over to PokerStars.tv and check out all the great video blogs there. If the Spanish or Portuguese word is more your style, please head over to the coverage on the PokerStars Spanish blog and PokerStars Brazilian blog

For a complete look at the winners in this event, see our LAPT Punta del Este payouts page.

The next stop on the Latin America Poker Tour will be our final of the second season. Join us in just a few weeks as we cover the finale in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

All photography Joe Giron/IMPDI

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 23 (15,000/30,000/3,000) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 9:12pm

9:12pm-- Karl Hevroy wins the LAPT Punta del Este ($283,500), Alejandro De Arruabarrena eliminated in 2nd place ($155,420)

I think the entire room agrees. It's good to be Karl Hevroy. And we all want to run as well as he does.

Heads-up play took exactly one hand. Alejandro De Arruabarrena completed the small blind and Karl Hevroy checked his option. The flop came down 9c-9d-8s. Hevroy checked over to De Arruabarrena, who bet 70,000. Hevroy called. The turn brought the 4h and another check from Hevroy. De Arruabarrena fired another 100,000, Hevroy moved all in and De Arruabarrena called.

It was all over as soon as the cards were turned up. Hevroy had flopped the nut full house with 8h-9h. De Arruabarrena was drawing dead, holding the Qd-Js. No river card was necessary, but for posterity's sake, we'll let you know it was the 4c.

Hevroy leapt from his chair and embraced his friends on the rail. It's probably the most emotion we've ever seen from a Scandinavian poker player. De Arruabarrena was gracious and shook the young man's hand, wearing the same bewildered look that so many opponents have shown after playing a hand with this one-man wrecking ball.

Congratulations to Karl Hevroy, our newest LAPT champion. We'll have a full wrap-up of all the final table action shortly.

9:06pm--Back in action

Heads-up play has just started. Blinds will go up in a matter of minutes.

8:59pm--Time to go

The players are coming back from dinner. While we wait, check out what our chip leader had to say before play started today.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Karl Hevroy - Final Tablist on PokerStars.tv

7:48pm--Updated heads-up chip counts

Karl Hevroy -- 2,927,000
Alejandro De Arruabarrena --543,000

7:41pm--Dinner break

Before we get to the heads-up match, the players are going for a bite of dinner. We'll be back at 9:00pm local time.

7:32pm-- Angel Guillen eliminated in 3rd place ($99,120)

Don't ever count out Karl Hevroy when he's behind.

Angel Guillen opened from the button for 64,000. Hevroy bumped it to 210,000 from the big blind and Guillen quickly moved all in. Hevroy made the call.

Guillen had his opponent dominated, holding the Ac-Jh to Hevroy's As-Tc. But remember what we told you...

The flop came down Qd-Ts-6c, pairing up Hevroy. The crowd roared in a mixture of celebration and total disbelief. The turn was the 6h, the river was the 7d, and just like that, Hevroy had claimed another victim.

"Luckbox," Hevroy said, patting his chest and looking back at the crowd.

With that, we're now on a 75-minute dinner break. We'll be back just before 9 p.m. local time (EDT+1).

7:22pm-- Ron Wasiel eliminated in 4th place ($82,160)

Ron Wasiel got the rest of his chips in on a flop of Td-Ts-9s and Karl Hevroy made the call. Wasiel was in a tough spot, his Js-9c up against Hevroy's pocket jacks. The 8c on the turn gave him some outs to a chop should a seven or a queen appear, but the 3c hit the river, giving the hand to Hevroy and sending Wasiel to the rail in fourth place.

Here's an interview with Wasiel from a little earlier.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Ronald Wasiel Final Tablist on PokerStars.tv

7:06pm-- Oh, the humanity... Oliver Rowe drowns on the river, finishes fifth ($59,960)

It was the kind of hand that could make a player give up the game forever. On a flop of Js-9s-3h Oliver Rowe led out for 50,000 from the small blind and Karl Hevroy called.

The Kd came on the turn and Rowe considered for several minutes before settling on a bet of 115,000. Hevroy moved in and Rowe quickly called, showing 3d-3c for bottom set to Hevroy's Kc-Qh. The young Norwegian who entered the final table as the dominant chip leader was now drawing to only four outs that would save his tournament life.

And in a stroke of luck that made us all want to break out our tin foil hats, the Th landed on the river. Hevroy made a king-high straight and claimed the rest of Rowe's stack.

Wow. I mean, just... wow.

"Just like your queen from last night!" exclaimed a railbird as Hevroy circled the table in a daze.

"This is worse," he replied.

Hevroy is still stacking up his massive lake of chips, but our estimate puts his chip count close to the 2 million mark.

Here is an interview we did with Rowe...back when we all still believed in justice.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Oliver Rowe Final Day on PokerStars.tv

6:57pm--Anyone want to see a flop?

In the 22 minutes that have ticked off the clock since returning from break, we've seen precious few flops. A pre-flop raise has been typically met with a reraise from the blinds and then a fold from the opening bettor. While Karl Hevroy and Angel Guillen still control most of the chips in play, Ron Wasiel's stack has been whittled down quite a bit by the blinds and antes.

6:30pm--On break

Players are on a short break before coming back to 15,000/30,000/3,000 blinds. Updated chip counts are:

Seat 2: Oliver Rowe 613,000
Seat 5: Karl Hevroy 1,052,000
Seat 7: Angel Guillen 760,000
Seat 8: Alejandro De Arruabarrena 450,000
Seat 9: Ron Wasiel 295,000

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 21 (12,000/24,000/2,000) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 5:51pm

6:11pm--A moving look at the final table

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Final Table Intro on PokerStars.tv

6:01pm--Hevroy takes a chunk out of Guillén

Karl Hevroy raised from the small blind and Guillén called out of the big (it's becoming a bit of a common thing these days). The flop fell Kh-Jh-7d and 90,000 came out of Hevroy's stack. Guillén called. The Qc on the turn slowed both players down. They checked and saw the Jd on the river. Now, Hevroy bet 170,000. Guillén seemed to be considering a raise, but eventually just called to see Hevroy's A-J.

5:51pm-- Waldemar Cogo eliminated in sixth place ($48,840)

Waldemar Cogo has used the last of his nine lives. With the action folded to the small blind, Oliver Rowe completed, Cogo moved all in and Rowe made the call. It was the Ks-7h for Rowe, dominating Cogo's Kh-3s. The board ran out Kc-5s-2d-Jd-4s and Cogo headed out the door in sixth place.

5:39pm--Cogo can't, won't, and don't stop

Waldemar Cogo just keeps doubling up. He doesn't have a lot of chips, but as long as he keeps winning, he's not going anywhere. Just a couple of hands after doubling through Angel Guillén once, Cogo did it again.

Cogo went all in for his final few chips from the button and got the call Guillén in the big blind.

Cogo: Kh-Jc
Guillén: 5c-Td

The board ran out Ah-Th-Kc-3s-2d and the Little Cogo (his nickname, not one we gave him) is still here.

5:30pm--Bolivar Palacios eliminated seventh place ($37,740)

It;s only been a couple of days since we saw Bolivar Palacios take seventh place in the LAPT Mexico event. Today, he came here looking to better that performance. He was in pretty good shape to do that after a couple of timely double-ups in the early going. Finally, he picked up a big hand and got his chips in with two black queens. He was racing against Alejandro De Arruabarrena's As-Ks.

All looked well on the early part of the board. The first four cards came out 5d-4h-4s-7c. Then that ugly Kd fell on the river and Palacios was out in seventh place...again.

5:23pm--Moving up

The remaining seven players are now on 12,000/24,000/2,000 blinds.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 21 (10,000/20,000/2,000) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 5:11pm

5:20pm--Half-million pot in battle of the blinds

After play folded around to the blind, Karl Hevroy raised to 60,000 out of the small blinid and Angel Guillén called in the big. The flop showed Qd-2d-6h. Hevroy bet out 80,000 and Guillén called. The turn brought the 3c. Hevroy didn't slow down and put out a bet of 150,000. Guillén, again, called. The river was the 9d. Hevroy finally backed off and checked. Guillén checked, too.

Wanna guess their hands?

Hevroy had 8-5 to Guillén's 8-6 and Guillén raked a pot worth more than half a million chips.

5:11pm-- Magno Aragao eliminated in 8th place ($26,640)

Under-the-gun and with only 30,000 remaining, Magno Aragao dribbled his remaining chips into the middle and got two callers in Oliver Rowe and big blind Karl Hevroy.

The flop came down Ts-7c-5c. Hevroy checked, Rowe bet 40,000 and Hevroy folded. With no more action to be had, the cards were turned up.

Aragao Qd-Qc
Rowe Jc-Td.

The room buzzed as Aragao's pocket queens were revealed. Were we going to witness yet another amazing comeback?

The turn was the 8h. Now Aragao was really sweating, as Rowe could win with a ten, a jack or a nine. And the river... was the 9h, making him a jack-high straight.

The always-affectionate Aragao hugged (hugged!) his opponent before heading out to collect his $26,640 in winnings.

5:07pm--Waldemar Cogo stays alive again

With only enough chips to pay his big blind, Cogo had no choice in the matter. When play folded to Oliver Rowe on the button, he pushed all-in to drive small blind Bolivia Palacios out of the pot. After Palacios folded, Cogo realized he was ahead.

Oliver Rowe -- Qs-6c

Waldemar Cogo -- Ad-3c

The board ran out Ks-5-s-5c-9c-Kh and Cogo lived to see another hand.

5:02pm-- Now that's a pot

After a thus-far subdued level of play, Angel Guillen and Oliver Rowe finally obliged us with a bit of action. Guillen opened for 42,000 and Rowe made the call. Guillen led out for 51,000 on the Ts-8s-5d flop and was met with a raise from Rowe to 151,000. Not content to give it up, Guillen three bet to 451,000. Apparently it was enough for Rowe, who mucked his hand.

4:43pm-- Another double for Wasiel

Ron Wasiel just earned another double-up courtesy of Magno Aragao. The action played out almost exactly the same as last time, Wasiel moving in for 104,000 from early position and Aragao making the call from the big blind. This time, though, Aragao had the best hand with 5c-5d, racing with Wasiel's Ad-Qc. The board ran out As-7d-2s- Qs-2c, Wasiel making aces up to double his stack and then some to 246,000. Aragao was left crippled with less than a big blind.

4:31pm-- Guillen playing back at Palacios

Bolivar Palacios opened for 60,000 and Angel Guillen made the call. The flop came down 8s-5s-4h. Palacios led at it for 80,000 only to have Guillen almost immediately move in. Looking a bit frustrated and taking off his sunglasses, Palacios reluctantly folded and gave up the pot to Guillen, who currently sits in second place in the chip count.

4:20pm-- Ron Wasiel doubles through Magno Aragao

Extremely short-stacked, Ron Wasiel moved in for his remaining 62,000 and with the action folded around to Magno Aragao in the big blind, he made the call. Wasiel showed the Ad-7d while Aragao turned up the 3c-5c. The Qs-9d-4s flop was safe for Wasiel, but the 6h on the turn gave him pause, Aragao making an open-ended straight draw. A deuce, three, five, or seven could do it for Aragao, but the river fell the As and Wasiel earned a reprieve with a double-up to just over 150,000.

4:16pm-- Updated chip counts

Here's how our remaining eight players stack up as of the first break:

Seat 2: Oliver Rowe 539,000
Seat 3: Bolivar Palacios 313,000
Seat 4: Waldemar Cogo 78,000
Seat 5: Karl Hevroy 1,237,000
Seat 6: Magno Aragao 174,000
Seat 7: Angel Guillen 542,000
Seat 8: Alejandro De Arruabarrena 333,000
Seat 9: Ron Wasiel 64,000

4:12pm--New level

After the break we'll be at 10,000/20,000/2,000 blinds.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 20 (8,000/16,000/1,000) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 4:00pm

4:00--SIETE!!!!!!!!!

Play folded around the the blinds and Bolivar Palacios almost immediately announced "All-in." The only thing faster was Waldemar Cogo's call

Cogo: Ad-Ts

Palacios: Ah-7h

"Lucky siete!" Palacios' crowd yell from the rail. "Vamos siete! Siete! Siete! Siete!"

From this side of the room, but to the guys waving a Panamanian flag scarf, it seemed sure to come. The flop came Kh-2d-3d, but it didn't quiet down the Panamanian Rat Pack.

"SIETE!: they screamed

And there it was. The 7c.

Palacios jumped in the air and landed with both feet flat on the ground, mouth agape, and his arms flexed (think King Kong if Fay Wray had just offered him special favors).

Palacios got a key double up and Cogo is now on the short stack.

We're on a 15 minute break.

3:33 pm-- Hevroy hits the turn

On a flop of Kh-7d-4h, Waldemar Cogo checked over to Karl Hevroy, who bet 52,000. Cago came along with a call and both players checked the 8c on the turn. The river fell the Ad and was met with checks again. Cogo had middle pair on the flop with 9h-7h, but Hevroy caught up on the turn with Ts-8d. Hevroy dragged the pot, adding to his already-formidable chip lead.

3:27pm-- Bolivar Palacios not letting up on the gas

Thus far, Bolivar Palacios has been playing quite aggressively despite his short stack, opening more than his fair share of pots. After open-shoving from early position, and Alejandro De Arruabarrena pondered a call, Palacios taunted, "This game is made for men... I'm not afraid of you!" De Arruabarrena must have believed him, as he gave up his hand and ceded another pot to the Panamanian.

3:09pm-- Andre Ventura eliminated in 9th place ($21,000)

Andre Ventura opened for 41,000, Oliver Rowe reraised to 101,000, Ventura moved all in for 153,000 total and Rowe quickly called. It was a bit of a cooler-- Ventura's Jh-Jd against Rowe's Qs-Qd. Ventura's chorus of railbirds started chanting "Jota! Jota! Jota!" imploring for a jack on the flop for their man.

The flop, though, came down 9h-5h-2s. The "jota" chorus turned into the "corazon" choir when the Kh appeared on the turn, Ventura picking up a flush draw, but he couldn't get there, the 3d landing on the river to eliminate him in 9th place.

3:00pm--Blinds up!

After finishing off the last half of Level 19, we're now in for one hour of 8,000/16,000/1,000 blinds.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 19 (6,000/12,000/1,000) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 2:55pm

2:55pm--Magno Aragao forcing the action

Magno Aragao is not going to be content to sit back and get blinded out today. Two hands ago, he pushed all-in pre-flop and got the blinds and antes. On the next hand, Bolivar Palacios raised to 30,000. Aragao wasted no time before pushing all-in again. Palacios took a long time to fold, but eventually put his cards in the muck. Palacios told Aragao, "I'll see your hand later." While Palacios may see the cards on TV at some point, he's going to have to wonder today. Aragao didn't show his hand before raking in the chips.

2:43pm--New LAPT record

This is the first time in its two season history that the LAPT has had a prize pool of more than $1 million.

2:40pm--Hey, Mom! I'm on the TV!

If you've ever hung around the 441 production crew (the same folks who do the fantastic work for the ESPN WSOP broadcasts, you know the TV stage is pretty spectactular. It's no different here. The guys behind the cameras are top pros. They're here today to make stars of the nine men left in the tournament.

2:34pm-- Andre Ventura doubles through Angel Guillen

Angel Guillen kicked off the action with a raise to 29,000, Andre Ventura moved all in for 102,000 and Guillen made the call. It was Qc-Qs for Ventura against Guillen's As-7h. The flop came down Qh-5s-2d, Ventura letting out a deafening roar as he flopped top set. The 4h on the turn gave him a bit of a sweat as Guillen picked up a gutshot wheel draw, but the 6c on the river game Ventura a much-needed double up on the first hand of the final table.

2:30pm-- And... we're off

Our fearless tournament directors have introduced our nine final table players to the audience in both English and Spanish and play is now underway.

2:15pm--Final table about to begin

With 29 minutes left in Level 19, the final table players are taking their seats. We will begin shortly.

The final table of the Latin American Poker Tour event in Punta del Este is scheduled to begin in about an hour. Nine people out of the original starting field of 327 remain and will be competing for the $283,500 first prize. The PokerStars Blog will have live coverage beginning at 2pm local time.

Here is a little bit about the final table players.

Seat 1: Andre Ventura (Brazil) 103,000 -- You may look at Andre Ventura's chip stack and wonder if he's at all happy with being the shortest stack at the table. Consider this: just an hour before play broke for the night, he only had 13,000 chips--not even enough to pay the blinds. After getting crippled with pocket sixes against pocket queens,

Ventura battled back to make the final table. The 28 year-old hedge fund manager is a married man, but after not having a vacation in two years decided to come to Punta with his buddies. He's been playing online since 2004, but this is his first live event.

Seat 2: Oliver Rowe (Canada) 412,000 -- If you look at Oliver Rowe the right way, you might think he's a South America revolutionary.

With a bit of scruff on his face and a particular kind of cap, he could pass pretty well. In fact, the online poker pro is from Vancouver, Canada. S

oft-spoken and hard to read, Rowe came out of Day 1 with the chip lead and powered through Day 2 to make the final table.

Though he's played the World Series Main Event and a tournament on at APPT, this is his first big live cash. Rowe qualified for this event through a PokerStars Steps tournament.

Seat 3: Bolivar Palacios (Panama) 167,000 -- Bolivar Palacios, born and still living in Santiago de Veraguas, Panamá was an industrial engineer for 5 months until he received a check for $300 and deposited it online. Since that deposit, he has cashed for $350,000 in lifetime winnings online. Now a professional poker player for a year, he has two final tables under his belt. He took seventh place in the LAPT Mexico event and now is ready to play his second. He think he is a better online tourney player than live tournament player, but he seems to be proving his theory wrong so far this week.

He is a member of the "rat pack of Panama" along with his best friends, Jose Severino, Victor Lemos and Jose Miguel de la Guardia.

Seat 4: Waldemar Cogo (Brazil) 263,000 -- Waldemar Cogo hails from Ponta Porã in Mato Grosso.

Retired and living strong at 64 years old, he's living the high light afteer a career seeling auto parts. Cogo only started playing online poker a couple of months ago. This is his first live tournament ever.

Cogo carries himself quietly and plays with a general calm that is an example to anybody who plays.

Even when doubling up just before the final table, Cogo barely raised his voice.

Married with three daughters, Cogo is known in his home town as "Coguinho"...short for "Little Cogo."

Seat 5: Karl Hevroy (Norway) 1,079,000 -- Karl Hevroy had a problem with his buy-in. He couldn't withdraw enough money from his account in time to buy into the event. Fortunately, the 20-year-old politics student had some friends to call on. Hevroy had met a bunch of Peruvians buddies at EPT Copenhagen and decided to come visit. The friends were headed to Uruguay for the LAPT, so he joined them. It turned out to be a good decision. He's the chip leader in this event with nearly double the chips of his closest competitor. Hailing from Bergen, Norway, Henvroy is a long way from home, but already showing he has adapted well to warmer climes.

Seat 6: Magno Aragão (Brazil) 153,000 -- Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Magno Aragão was chip leader on Level 3, but ended up losing most of his chips before the end of Day 1.

At 42 years old--married with three kids--he chalked up his Day 1 losses to fatigue. After making it to Day 2, he hoped to make the money. He did more than that.

After spending the entire day on the short stack, he "climbed the ladder step by step" and made the final table.

The aluminum company owner also likes to drive rally cars in his spare time.

Seat 7: Angel Guillén (Mexico) 572,000 -- Angel Guillen hopes to be the first Mexican to win the coveted title of LAPT champion. The opportunity is source of pride not only for him, but for Mexico in general.

Guillén represents the PokerStars-sponsored Team Mexico. Guillén has been playing poker professionally more than two years.

His day job consists of live cash games, and on Sunday he likes to sit back and relax while cashing in the Sunday 500. Having recently placed 51st in the PCA, Guillén is still hungry for a live tournament victory and hopes Friday will be that day.

Seat 8: Alejandro De Arruabarrena (Argentina) 397,000 -- Alejandro De Arruabarrena is looking at an ideal situation for any sport: beautiful weather and homefield advantage. De Arruabarrena has been playing poker for the past four years in Uruguay, and he's done well. He's won five tournaments in Uruguay. His most recent victory was in December. When he's not tearing up the Uruguayan poker scene, this father of two returns to his day job of importing computers and electronics. De Arruabarrena recently discovered the joy of online poker. He joined PokerStars under the name of 'Alex6818' and has been spending his Sundays on the virtual felt. De Arruabarrena feels confident about Friday, and expects to improve his homegame record to 6-0.

Seat 9: Ron Wasiel (USA) 134,000 -- Normally a $10 rebuy tournament player on Pokerstars, Wasiel is about to embark on his biggest poker performance ever. The union painter from the south Chicago, Illinois suburbs is playing on only his second big live event ever. He played one event on the APPT in Macau, but didn't manage to cash. Now, he's made it all the way to the final table. The return on his investment looks to be a good one. He got into this event through a PokerStars $10 3x chance qualifier. Now he stands to make a minimum of $21,000. No matter how he paints it, it's a good showing. "Hey, I made it," he said as he walked off the stage on Day 2. "I didn't expect to be here tomorrow." You are, sir. You are.

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here's your daily update of the action from PokerStars' very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

The fourth day of All Star Challengers team selection was one for repeat winners - with four of the five qualifiers for the day already lined up to play an All Star Week match.

The most prolific among the four is Australian 'PKerBL', who has now secured three matches in the All Star Week line-up. The former Sunday Million champion (May 11, 20008) eliminated 'lordhuttyx' into sixth place to gain the chiplead and first choice of opponent for Day 4 of All Star Week. His confidence is clearly high, as he selected ElkY for his next opponent. His teammates breathed a sigh of relief.

Second option fell to the only debutant in the All Star Week schedule 'Gunslinger3'. It may be his first appearance in this promotion, but 'Gunslinger3' is no greenhorn. In addition to a Sunday Million win, he has several WSOP final tables under his belt and more than $1m in live tournament winnings. His 20:00 ET Match 5 meeting with Chris Moneymaker appears to be one of the highlights of the series so far.

Next in the chip count pecking order was 'oblowski512', a winner from Day 2's selection tournament. He is one of the two wildcard qualifiers in the team, and he is quickly showing he is among equals in the All Star Challengers team. He has added a game with Alex Kravchenko to his earlier date with Katja Thater.

'Sumpas', the only Scandinavian on the team, took the fourth spot and chose Vanessa Rousso from the two remaining Pros. 'Sumpas' is also lined up to play Vicky Coren in the opening match of All Star Week.

The final pairing for the day sees 'Aryamehr' take on Ylon Schwartz at Limit Hold'em. It was clear from the discussion of the players that no-one really liked the look of this game, so there will be great relief if 'Aryamehr' can score an upset.

After four days of play the race for the MVP title is wide open. 'PKerBL' has a slender lead, but there are seven others all tied on points behind him.

So far eleven of the twenty Challengers have locked up at least one berth in the All Star Week line-up. There are still fifteen open spots available - you can find out who will fill them here on the PokerStars blog.

Latin American poker players are an emotional bunch. It's almost impossible to spend more than a few minutes inside of the tournament room here at the Mantra Resort & Casino without witnessing a wild outburst, hearing a palm slam against the felt in frustration or seeing a fist pumped into the air in victory. While poker phrases like "so sick," "pair the board," and "one time!" are so overused these days they have become cringe-worthy, these words somehow seem all the more dramatic when bellowed en espanol. Even as I type this, some poor man in the next room is shouting "SEIS! SEIS! OH MY GAAAD! SO SEEEEK!" at the top of his lungs after suffering a brutal river suckout.

Welcome to the Latin American Poker Tour, where the sun shines, the breezes are warm, the beef is plentiful and grown men can sound like psychiatric patients when the cards don't fall their way.

64 players returned to action today, 36 would earn prize money and nine would make the televised final table. With a second-chance event running in the main ballroom, the remaining field moved to a smaller adjacent room adorned with camera-friendly lighting and ringed with red curtains. Alberto Font and Oliver Rowe came into Day 2 as the chip leaders, with 135,000 and 136,000 respectively, though only one of them would reach the final table.

Alex Brenes' Day 2 started and ended on the TV featured table. The tournament's third-shortest stack coming into play today, Brenes moved all in for 22,600 from under-the-gun and Magno Aragao made the call from the button. It was a race situation with Th-Ts for Brenes and the Ad-Jd for Aragao. The flop was Kh-Qs-7d, Brenes still leading, but the Td on the turn made Aragao an ace-high straight. It also gave Brenes a set and some hope of survival if the board paired on the river, but it blanked out with the 2h and Brenes exited stage left. Brenes finished in second place in Season 1's installment of this event, but a final table repeat for him just wasn't in the cards.

Brazilian pro Christian Kruel had been playing a tight, calculated game the entire tournament and seemed a shoo-in to go deep, but he would hit the rail well before the money. Kruel ultimately got his chips in the middle with a monster draw, holding Ah-Qh vs. his opponent's pocket kings on a Js-Th-8h flop. The turn and river blanked out for him, however and his tournament came to an end.

It took four hours of play for us to hit the money bubble, which was burst by Alberto Araujo. Down to less than three big blinds and with the action folded to him, Araujo moved all in from the small blind. It was up to Oliver Rowe in the big blind.

"You have the odds, you have to call!" quipped Araujo, who was already out of his seat in eager anticipation.

Rowe couldn't have liked the 3d-6c he saw, but nevertheless was compelled to call. Araujo turned up Kd-Qs.

The flop, though, came down Jd-7c-3s, pairing up Rowe. The Ad came on the turn, giving Araujo outs with a king, a queen or a ten, but the river was another three, and Rowe took it down with trips, leaving Araujo as Punta del Este's bubble boy.

Once our remaining 36 players were in the money, the chips really started flying. We lost ten players in the space of an hour, including three who busted on the same hand and ended up splitting the $2,780 difference between 28th and 27th place three ways.

With three tables remaining, a trio of players began taking control of the action and collecting most of the chips. Ron Wasiel, a house painter from suburban Chicago, started flopping two pair like it was nothing. First he cracked Gabriel Loyo's pocket kings with A-Q when the flop came down A-Q-5 to send him to the rail. Only minutes later, Ricardo Goncalves moved his short stack in from the button with A-6 and Wasiel called from the big blind with K-6, the flop coming down K-6-9.

Oliver Rowe took the chip lead early in the day when he opened from UTG for 20,000 only to be met with an all-in reraise to 115,000 from Alberto Font. With 165,000 behind, Rowe made the call for most of his chips and saw his A-K hold up against Font's 9s-7s to vault him over the 300,000 chip mark. He ended the day with 412,000, good for third in chips.

The story of the late evening, though was Karl Hevroy, aka the one-man Norwegian wrecking ball. He of the perfectly messy blonde hair knocked out Walter Arakaki in 20th place when his A-Q flopped trips against pocket fives. Minutes later he did away with 19th place finisher Hernan Reyes, his 7h-7c flopping a set against Reyes' Kh-Ts. 17th place finisher Adolfo Vaeza also hit the rail courtesy of Hevroy, as did Octavio Bernardini (12th), and Alejandro Bonnanato (11th).

On the final table bubble, Hevroy's Houdini-esque powers would give all of us a relatively early night. On the very first deal of hand-for-hand play, Rommer Prado pushed for 120,000 with Ad-Jd and Hevroy made the call with Qs-Jh.

"How can you call with that?" asked Prado in Spanish as the board ran out Tc-Ts-2h-7d-Qd. The room exploded and our final table players celebrated around Prado's grief.

Our final nine will return at 2 p.m. local time (EDT+1) tomorrow to crown a new LAPT champion. Here's how their chip counts stack up:

Seat 1: Andre Ventura 103,000
Seat 2: Oliver Rowe 412,000
Seat 3: Bolivar Palacios 167,000
Seat 4: Waldemar Cago 263,000
Seat 5: Karl Hevroy 1,079,000
Seat 6: Magno Aragao 153,000
Seat 7: Angel Guillen 572,000
Seat 8: Alejandro De Arruabarrena 397,000
Seat 9: Ron Wasiel 134,000

If you missed any of our live coverage today, click on any of the links below to relive all the action.

One room to one table
Level 12 live updates
Level 13 live updates
Level 14 live updates
Level 15 live updates
Level 16 live updates
Level 17 live updates
Level 18 live updates
Level 19 live updates

Or, if you'd rather read all the gory details in one of South America's native tongues, check out the PokerStars Spanish Blog or the PokerStars Brazilian Blog. And for more details on who finished where, click on the LAPT Punta del Este prizes page.

All photography © Joe Giron, IMPDI

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 19 (6,000/12,000/1,000) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 11:45pm

11:45pm--Final table to begin at 2pm Friday

Join us here for a live coverage of the final table Friday at 2pm. We'll be back with a full wrap-up in just a bit.

11:30pm--Final table chip counts

Karl Hevroy 1,079,000
Angel Guillén -- 572,000
Oliver Rowe -- 412,000
Alejandro De Arruaballena -- 397,000
Waldermar Cogo -- 263,000
Bolivar Palacios -- 167,000
Magno Aragao 153,000
Ron Wasiel -- 134,000
Andre Ventura -- 103,000

11:15pm--Rommer Prado eliminated 10th place ($18,320)

The final table of nine is set, Rommer Prado was just beat in a dirty, dirty way. He pushed all in for nearly 120,000. Karl Hevoy called with Q-J. Prado asked in Spanish, "How can you call with that?" The board ran out Tc-Ts-2h-7d-Qd. The room exploded and our final table players celebrated around Prado's grief. Prado finishes 10th for $18,320.

11:00pm-- Alejandro Bonanata eliminated in 11th place ($18,320)

Making his last stand with Kd-Th, Alejandro Bonanata moved all in from middle position only to run smack into Karl Hevroy's pocket aces. Though the Ks-Js-8d flop paired him up, the Ah on the turn made Hevroy a set, leaving him drawing only to a queen. The river came the 2s, though and Bonanata's tournament came to an end. He'll go home with $18,320 as well as the autographed fossil he earned yesterday by knocking out Greg Raymer.

10:45pm--Octavio Bernardini eliminated in 12th place ($18,320)

As it looks right now, there's no stopping Karl Hevroy, who just added even more to his massive stack by taking out Octavio Bernardini. Their money went in a flop of Qc-Ts-7s, each having hit a piece of it-- Bernardini with Ah-Td for middle pair and Hevroy the Ac-Qd for top pair. There was no help for Bernardini when a deuce hit the turn and an eight the river, leaving him to hit the rail.

10:30pm-- Blinds up!

The blinds have climbed up once more, with our final twelve playing 6,000/12,000 with a 1,000 ante.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 18 (5,000/10,000/1,000) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 10:38pm

10:38pm--Mario Salvagno out in 13th ($15,540)

You might have noticed a trend here. People are saying all-in more than they're saying fold. This time, it was our early Day 2 chip leader Mario Salvagno. He got Ac-Qc all-in pre-flop against Oliver Rowe's pocket aces. The board came Qd-Jd-3s-Kc-8d and Salvagno was gone.

10:34pm--Lisandro Gallo eliminated 14th place ($15,540)

Lisandro Gallo spent most of his day beating up on people, but in the end, he couldn't outrun a pair of eights with his K-J all-in pre-flop. He's out in 14th place for $15,540.

10:27pm--Oscar Hilarro Quijada eliminated in 15th place ($15,540)

Moments after doubling up against Karl Hevoy, Octavio Bernardini put Oscar Hilarro Quijad out of the event, his Qh-Jh beating K-2 all-in preflop. The board ran out Qs-5c-3h-8d-Qd and Quijada was eliminated.

10:20pm--Andre Ventura crippled, doubles -- Magno Aragao loves his lady

Moments ago, Andre Venture got all in with pocket sixes against Waldemar Cogo's queens and was left with barely enough to pay the blinds after failing to suck out. On the next hand, he doubled up against Cogo with Ac-9c against Ah-8d.

On the outer table Magno Aragao got all-in with K-Q versus against Karl Hevoy's black jacks. Aragao paired both his king and queen to double up.

9:57pm--Felipe Ivar eliminated 16th place ($12,760)

Brazil's Felipe Ivar just got Ac-9c all in against pocket tens. Though he flopped a nine and turned a club draw, he couldn't get there on the river and was eliminated in 16th place for $12,760. 

9:44pm--Adolfo Vaeza eliminated 17th place ($12,760)

Adolfo Vaeza just got it all-in pre-flop with chip leader Karl Hevroy. At this point in the tournament, you could call this one a cooler. Vaeza held Ac-Qd to Hevroy's Ad-Kd. Hevroy made his king on the flop and that was that.

9:40pm--Antes up

We're now playing 5,000/10,000/1,000 blinds with 17 players remaining. We will play until we reach the final table of nine.

While we get rolling here, here's what some of the people here thinks goes into making a good poker tournament.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: What makes a great tournament on PokerStars.tv

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 17 (4,000/8,000/500) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 9:04pm

9:30pm--Level ends

Dinner must be digesting slowly. That level ended with no more significant action. A color up is pending, followed by the blinds going up.

9:07pm--A word with Oliver

Oliver Rowe has been near the top of the leaderboard. Here's what he had to say to our video blog team.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Oliver Rowe Day 2 on PokerStars.tv

9:05--Ready to go

We're back from dinner and ready to go with the final 17 players. There are 19 minutes left in the 4,000/8,000/500 level.

7:40--Dinner time

After a bit of a break for the redraw, it's time for dinner. Back at 9:00pm.

7:34pm--Karl Hevroy, a long way from home

Norwegian Karl Hevroy came a long way from his home poker game to play here. Here's how he feels about the event so far.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Karl Hevroy on PokerStars.tv

7:24pm-- Hernan Reyes (19th), Simon Castro (18th) eliminated

Play went hand-for-hand with a pay jump imminent and once again, we managed to eliminate multiple players at multiple tables on the same hand.

Over on the TV featured table, Hernan Reyes moved all in for 42,000 and received a caller in Norway's Karl Hevroy. It was a race situation, Reyes' Kh-Ts against Hevroy's 7h-7c, but the flop was a disaster for Reyes, Hevroy hitting a set of sevens when it came down Ad-Ks-7s. Reyes was drawing dead on the 4c turn and was already on his way to the payout desk before the meaningless Jh hit the river.

Meanwhile, on one of the two remaining outer tables, Simon Castro made his last stand with Q-J only to run into Ron Wasiel's K-K. Castro couldn't improve on the T-8-6-3-6 board and he, too was eliminated.

Splitting the difference between 19th and 18th place money, both players will take home $11,380 for their efforts.

7:13pm--Walter Arakaki eliminated in 20th place ($10,000)

In a huge battle of the blinds at the feature table, Walter Arakaki got his stack in with a pair of fives against Karl Hevroy's Ac-Qd. The flop was a soul-crusher: Ah-Jd-Ad. The turn and river revealed no fives and Arakaki was gone. Meanwhile, Henvroy is stacking chips in relief. He is now among the top two or three remaining stacks.

Nineteen players remain. We are now playing hand for hand.

7:05pm-- Ricardo Goncalves Neto eliminated in 21st place ($10,000)

If we've learned anything today it's not to try and cross Ron Waisel-- he will flop two pair on you. This time Waisel's victim was Ricardo Goncalves Neto, who moved all in with As-6s from the button. Waisel called from the big blind with Kd-6d and Neto looked practically giddy, having his opponent dominated. Not so fast there, amigo.

The flop came down Ks-9h-6c, Waisel making kings up. The turn and river blanked out with the 2h and the Jd and Neto was knocked out in 21st place.

6:57pm--Bad time to bluff--Tiago Boita eliminated in 22nd place ($10,000)

Tiago Boita may have missed a few of the earlier eliminations when Lisandro Gallo acted as a one-man wrecking crew. So, when Gallo came in for a raise, Boita probably didn't think much about bluffing all in with K-4. Gallo called in a shot with Jd-Jc. Boita seemed confident, telling his friends to watch, because the king was coming.

And sure enough, there it was, right in the door. He cheered and then groaned when he saw the next card. The jack have Gallo his set and the virtual lock on the hand. Boita finished in 22nd place for $10,000.

6:51pm-- Vialaret Ezequiel eliminated in 23rd place ($10,000)

Vialaret Ezequiel moved all in from under-the-gun for his case 29,500 and Waldemar Cogo called from the big blind. Ezequiel turned over his 9c-3d with a shrug that said "Hey, I have less than four big blinds, what could I do?" while Cogo revealed Qh-Tc. A ten hit the flop and another hit the river, sending Ezequiel over to the payout desk to collect his $10,000 in prize money.

6:35pm--New blinds and food in sight

Tournament Director Mike Ward has just announced the decision to move the dinner break up by one level. That means, we play one more hour before heading for grub. Twenty-three players remain.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 16 (3,000/6,000/500) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 6:20pm

6:20pm-- Gabriel Loyo eliminated in 24th place ($10,000)

Ron Wasiel opened the action with a raise to 15,000 and Gabriel Loyo popped it to 45,000, leaving himself only 31,000 behind. Wasiel set him all in and Loyo snap-called. Though Wasiel's Ah-Qs trailed Loyo's pocket kings, the house painter from Illinois hit a blessed flop, clapping his hands together as the first three came down Ad-Qh-5s. Loyo got a bit of a sweat when the Td hit the turn, giving him more outs with the four remaining jacks in the deck but the river came the 8c and Loyo exited with handshakes around the table, in 24th place.

6:05pm--Local boy does good, Cesar Sanguinetti eliminated in 25th place ($10,000)

It was ugly. There is simply no other way to put it. Oliver Rowe raised to 16,000 and Uruguay's Cesar Sanguinetti moved all-in for 38,500 more. Rowe thought for just a moment before calling with his pocket sevens. Sanguinetti held pocket kings. The seven on the turn drew a wry smile from the Uruguayan. He didn't catch his two outs on the river and is out in 25th place for $10,000.

5:38pm-- Geoff Swan (28th), Helio Chreem (27th) and Alberto Font (26th) simultaneously eliminated

Just as we hit the first post-bubble money jump, three players on three different tables were all eliminated on what was essentially the same hand.

Oliver Rowe opened for 16,000 from UTG and with the action folded to Alberto Font in the cutoff, he moved all in for about 115,000. Rowe had about 165,000 behind and must have picked up on something from his opponent, as he made a massive call for the majority of his stack. Font sheepishly turned up 9s-7s, well behind Rowe's As-Kc. The board ran out Ah-Jh-6c-7h-Tc and Rowe became our dominant chip leader, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 in chips.

One table over, Tiago Boita moved all in from UTG and Geoff Swan called from the small blind. It was Kc-Qc for Boita, and Ah-Jc for Swan, the flop coming down 7c-7d-6c. Swan still held the lead and he made top two pair when the Jh hit the turn, but the Qh spiked on the river, giving the hand to Boita and sending him to the rail.

If that wasn't enough action, on our third outer table, Helio Chreem moved all in from under-the-gun with A-5 only to get a quick call from the man on his immediate left, Ricardo Goncalves Neto. Neto showed pocket jacks and they held up.

The three men will split the difference in prize money three ways.

5:25pm--Ibuki Fukui and Mauricio Zeman bust in same hand ($7,220)

Ibuki Fukui moved all-in under the gun for around 35,000. Play folded around to Maurcio Zeman in the small blind. He called all-in for 10,000. Alberto Font was in the big blind and had both players covered. He thought for a couple of minutes before deciding, "There's too much money in the pot." He called the 35,000 and turned over pocket deuces. Fukui held A-Q. Zeman turned over A-9. The board ran out babies, including a deuce to lock up the pot for Font. Zeman finished in 30th position. Fukui placed 29th.

Here's an interview with Fukui from a bit earlier in the day.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Ibuki Fukui on PokerStars.tv

5:11pm--Players returning from break

Players are on their way back from their break. Play will resume shortly.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 15 (2,000/4,000/400) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 5:01pm

5:01pm--Alex Fitzgerald and Edson Esquio eliminated back to back ($7,220)

Lisandro Gallo may get us to a final table before dinner. He knocked out both Alex Fitzgerald and Edson Esquio back to back in the lat hands before the break.

Alex Fitzgerald was short and in need of a double-up. Folded to him in the cut-off, he got it in with Jd-8d. Unfortunately for him, Lisandro Gallo woke up with big slick. The board blanked out and Fitzgeral exited in 32nd place.

Here's what Fitzgerald had to say a little bit earlier.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Alexander Fitzgerlad Day 2 on PokerStars.tv

Just a minute later, Esquio bluffed all-in on a QQ3 board with K-J. Gallo called him with pocket sevens. Esquio missed and went out in 31st place.

Players are now on a 15-minute break.

4:50pm-- Jose Rosenkrantz eliminated in 33rd place ($7,220)

Over on the TV featured table, Jose Rosenkrantz made his move with Qc-Jd and was called by an opponent with Ac-Jh. The flop gave Rosenkrantz a gutshot straight draw, coming down Ts-8d-2h and he picked up even more outs with the Ks on the turn, but the river blanked out, the 3c falling to eliminate the WPT champion in 33rd place.

4:48pm--Rodrigo Acerbi Lasmar eliminated in 34th place ($7,220)

Rodrigo Acerbi Lasmar made his last stand with Qh-9d and found himself dominated by Simon Castro's Qd-Jd. Though Lasmar flopped a nine, Castro rivered a jack and sent him to the rail in 34th place.

4:45pm--Ron Wasiel still alive

We mentioned a few minutes ago that PokerStars qualifier Ron Wasiel managed to survive his all-in. The painter from south of Chicago spoke to our video blog team just a bit ago and had this to say.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Ronald Wasiel Day 2 on PokerStars.tv

4:39pm--Let's go spend $7,220!

With the prize money not jumping for a bit, players are starting to drop off like canaries in gas-filled mine. We'll update with recent eliminations in just a bit.

4:30pm--Clemenceau Merheb Calixto eliminated 36th place ($7,220)

Clemenceau Merheb Calixto was looking to triple up with pocket threes all-in against Ron Wasiel's Ad-Qh and Lisandro Gallo's Ac-Jc. He was doing fine on the Td-5d-Ts-2d board. And then the river paired the five to counterfeit him and send him out in 36th place.

4:20pm-- Alberto Araujo Jr. bursts the bubble

Down to less than three big blinds and with the action folded to him, Alberto Araujo moved all in from the small blind. It was up to Oliver Rowe in the big blind.

"You have the odds, you have to call!" quipped Araujo, who was out of his seat in eager anticipation.

Rowe couldn't have liked the 3d-6c he saw, but nevertheless was compelled to call. Araujo turned up Kd-Qs.

The flop, though, came down Jd-7c-3s, pairing up Rowe. The Ad came on the turn, giving Araujo outs with a king, a queen or a ten, but the river was another three, and Rowe took it down with trips, leaving Araujo as Punta del Este's bubble boy.

Our 36 remaining players are all in the money and guaranteed at least $7,220 for their efforts here in Uruguay.

4:15pm--Man down!

Short-stacked Gustav Schuldt Langner needed a double-up. He shoved with Qd-5h and got called by a pair of queens. Langner couldn't catch up. With his exit and one on the outer table, we're now on the bubble.

4:06pm-- Spada! Spada! Spada!

Octavio Bernadini put his last hopes on the As-Qs, getting all in before the flop but found himself up against Lisandro Pablo Gallo's Ac-Ah. With the tournament stuck at 39 players remaining for the last half a level, a crowd swarmed the table to watch Bernadini's fate play out. The flop came down a sweat-tastic 7s-5d-2s.

"Spada! Spada! Spada!" cried Bernadini, while Gallo countered with "Roja! Roja! Roja!" praying for a red card. Bernadini, though would be the one to get his wish, the 4s falling on the turn.

A booming "YES!" pierced the clatter of chips as Bernadini survived the hand, and high-fived one of his tablemates as he made his flush. Gallo could only shake his head in frustration. And we remain... at 39 players.

3:48pm--Head up, move'em out, blinds up

The 39 remaining players have moved up to 2,000/4,000/400 blinds.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 14 (1,500/3,000/300) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 3:42pm

3:42pm--"I don't not want to risk losing with a pair of aces."

Bolivar Palacios was facing a raise to 10,000 from Andre Ventura. Palacios was still stack checks from a previous hand and casually re-raised to 25,000. Venture started counting in his head, with his fingers, and in a whisper. Eventually, he pushed out 75,000 chips. Palacios was facing a 60,000 raise on his re-raise.

That's when Ventura said it.

"I don't not want to risk losing with a pair of aces."

Do you ever believe a guy when he says that? Palacios simply couldn't figure it out. After nearly five minutes of thought, he mucked. Ventura flashed one ace and folded.

3:40pm--As you might expect...

Play has slowed down a little bit as we approach. Players are craning their necks to check out the action on the other tables. The bubble will come, but it may not be for a while.

3:35pm--Song for the departed

You can't win'em all. Paulo Santiago started the day with us, but is no more. Here's what he had to say a little bit earlier.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Paulo Santiago on PokerStars.tv

3:18pm--Leonardo Emperador eliminated in the battle of Venezuela

With twelve big blinds remaining in his stack and the action folded to him on the button, Leonardo Emperador moved all in for his remaining 36,000 and got a caller in fellow Venezuelan Hernan Reyes. Emperador's Js-Jh was in great shape against Reyes' Ad-2d, but the Ah-6s-4s flop swung the lead around to Reyes. The turn was the Ts, Emperador picking up a flush draw, but the 7d on the river sealed his elimination, only three spots off the money.

3:15pm--Chip monkey at work

Our resident chip monkey Alex Villegas has been hard at work and compiled a full chip count from the beginning of this level. You can find it on the LAPT Punta del Este Chip Counts page.

3:06pm-- Cruel timing for Kruel

Christian Kruel just got his money in with Ah-Qh versus pocket kings. You might expect that when the flop looked like Th-8h-Js. The turn and river blanked on him and he's gone. Thirty-nine players remain.

2:52pm-- Two more down

They're dropping like... you know, as we rapidly approach the bubble. In the opening minutes of this level, we lost Ernesto Eduardo Panno when his 3c-6c couldn't outrun Angel Guillen's Kd-Qc and only a few minutes later witnessed Eduardo Canto's shove from the small blind with Kd-4s, only to run into Oliver Rowe's Ah-Th. Though Canto flopped a four, Rowe turned an ace and he hit the rail only a precious few spots from the money.

39 players remain, 36 get paid.

2:45pm--Back in action

After a short break to collect their thoughts and hit the head, the players are back at their tables and ready to play.

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here's your daily update of the action from PokerStars' very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

We're almost half way through the All Star Week selection matches, and the schedule is really starting to take shape.

After the relatively quick selection tournament of Tuesday night, Wednesday's match was a real battle. It took over two hours to play from a full compliment of twenty down to the required five.

It was American 'bluffblocker' that finally burst the All Star bubble by eliminating 'Bookie1978'. The elimination gave him the chiplead and therefore the first choice of opponent for the third day of All Star Week.

After a short deliberation he selected Match 5, the 20:00 ET clash with Chris Moneymaker. It was a brave choice, as Chris has won five of his eight heads-up matches against the Weekly TLB winners. This will be 'bluffblocker's second match of All Star Week after he secured a meeting with Dennis Phillips on Day 1.

The second choice went to another repeat winner when 'Canuck' chose to take on William Thorson in the PLO match. Yesterday, he negotiated a trade that will see him playing Noah Boeken at PLO8 on Day 2.

No-one can doubt his ability in either version of Omaha. 'Canuck' was the winner of the very first WCOOP Omaha tournament back in 2002. It was only the second ever WCOOP tournament and the win was worth $14,231.25. He gained his invitation to All Star Challengers qualification by final-tabling the $300 rebuy PLO WCOOP tournament in 2008. In the intervening years he has cashed a number of times in Omaha disciplines. The Pros have their hands full with this one.

The third choice went to 'Aryamehr', a former Sunday Million champion, who will be making his first appearance in an All Star match. 'Aryamehr' chose to take on the captain of the Pros, Victor Ramdin.

Victor earned the captaincy by winning the Team PS Pro 2008 Championship Game back in December. The tournament used the prestigious 8-Game format pioneered by the WSOP and featured all of the members of Team PS Pro. Victor battled for a long time in a heads-up clash with Daniel Negreanu before taking the title. He also had a good run in the WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up High-Roller event in 2008 - cashing for $100,000.

Another $100,000 winner in that heads-up tournament was Vanessa Rousso; the opponent for 'PKerBL' in Match 4. Vanessa is coming off the back of a phenomenal run at the NBC Natonal Heads Up Championship, so she's the form player for the Pros. 'PKerBL' will be hoping to be the lady-killer of the Challengers team, as he is also lined up to play Isabelle Mercier on Day 1.

The last player to be chosen as an opponent, perhaps unsurprisingly, was Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier - a PokerStars legend. The first ever Supernova Elite, a former PCA champion, a WPT winner and the star of WCOOP 2008. His magical year included $320,000 for winning the aformentioned WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up High-Roller tournament.

His opponent for the first of his two All Star Week matches will be 'VOLCANO360', another previous All Star Week winner. 'VOLCANO360' won the Sunday Million on February 3 last year, so he'll be no pushover, but you'd have be a brave man to bet against ElkY.

At the time of writing the fans tournaments show 771 players backing the Pros to win the All Star Week, with just 536 putting their FPPs behind the Challengers. So there's no question mark over which team will be the underdogs come next Monday.

If you think the masses have got it wrong, you only have another week to register your support.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 13 (1,200/2,400/300) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 2:25pm

2:25pm--Break time

The remaining 45 players are headed to a 15-minute break. While you're waiting, check out this Day 2 preview from the PokerStars Video Blog team.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Day 2 Intro on PokerStars.tv

2:22pm-- A monster pot to send us to break

Tournament Director Mike Ward's announcement that "Maximilian is all in for 49,500" sent us scurrying to the feature table to catch the action in what would be a monster pot. With the board reading Jd-9h-2h-7s, Maximilian Heinzelmann made a significant all in overbet with the 4h-5h and got a call from Alejandro De Arruaballena, who held Kh-Js. The 5c couldn't do it for the young German and he hit the rail just as the final seconds of the level ticked down. De Arruaballena lost the first five minutes of the break stacking up his massive lake of chips but something tells us he wasn't too upset about it.

2:20pm--The turn giveth...

And the river taketh right the heck away. Just ask Marcelo Costa. He got all in with K-T against Vialaret Ezequiel's K-Q. Bad news, to be sure, especially after the A-6-9 flop. But there it was, glorious and spectacular--a ten on the turn. But what? Yep, that's a queen on the river. It cost Costa the rest of his chips and leaves him short of the money by about ten spots. We'll let you figure out which player is which by looking at the two photos below.

 
2:08pm-- Cowboys save Neto

Marcelo Costa opened from the hijack seat and a short-stacked Ricardo Goncalves Neto moved all in from the cutoff. Costa called the small balance and saw the bad news-- his Ad-Qh was up against Neto's Kc-Kd. The board ran out 9h-9s-2c-9c-7s and nines full did it for Neto, doubling his stack to 33,000.

2:00pm--Salvagno gives some more back

Chip leader Mario Salvagno just lost a race for a 60,000 chip pot. He got it all-in pre-flop with a pair of sixes against Tiago Boita's Ad-Qd. The board ran out to an ace on the river. Salvagno is still in good shape, but the 30,000 hit obviously didn't feel very good.

1:50pm--Andre Ventura eliminates Juan Jose Perez

Rodrigo Acerbi Lasmar came in for a raise and got a call from Andre Ventura. Juan Jose Perez squeezed all-in from the small blind. Lasmar mucked fairly quickly, but Ventura made the call with Ah-Qh. Perez turned over A-J. The board was irrelevant, except for Lasmar who grumbled. He'd folded a pair of threes which would've flopped a set. Ventura was left to spend the next five minutes stacking chips.

1:46pm-- Rowe KO's Neto

With the action folded to him in the small blind, Francisco Neto moved in for his remaining 18,600 and Day 1 chip leader Oliver Rowe made the call from the big blind. Neto needed some help, his Ah-Th dominated by Rowe's Ac-Jd, but couldn't improve on the Kc-6d-6s-4h 9h board, sending him to the rail.

1:37pm-- Try not to hit the boom...

Growing short-stacked, Walter Arakaki moved all in from the button and Juan Jose Perez quickly called from the big blind. Perez's Ac-Kc dominated Arakaki's As-Td, but fortunes were reversed when the flop came down Th-6d-2h. Arakaki went wild, leaping from his seat and unleashing a torrent of Spanish as ESPN's crack sound operators moved their boom mikes up and away to avoid smacking him in the head as he celebrated. The turn was the 7s, the river was the 4c and Arakaki doubled up, leaving Perez with 36,000 in chips.

As Arakaki celebrated, one table over Samo Muhia committed his last 9,400 chips with 3c-5s and couoldn't outrun Clemenceau Merheb Calixto's Ac-Ts and made a quiet exit.

1:30pm--New level, new blinds

We lost ten players in Level 11. We now have 54 players in the field playing at 1,200/2,400/300 blinds.

Updates from the LAPT event in Punta del Este Level 11 (1,000/2,000/300) will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 1:22pm

1:22pm-- Alberto Font takes out Pablo Zarnicki

We caught up with this hand on the flop, the board reading Js-7c-2s. Pablo Zarnicki put out a nearly pot-sized bet and Alberto Font made the call. Zarnicki couldn't move all in fast enough when the Ah hit the turn and Font snap-called, revealing a set of deuces. Zarnicki, bluffing with Ks-Qc, was drawing only to the four remaining tens in the deck and couldn't get there on the river, his lake of tumbled chip stacks pushed across the table to Font.

1:15pm--It was always a race...

When you have a pocket pair against overcards, it's easy to accept you're in a race pre-flop. However, once the cards come down and you see the flop and turn, it's a little harder to accept you're still racing. Poor Alexandre Reichardt De Souza started this day with just a little more than 20,000 chips and needed a good race to double up. He found it with pocket sevens versis Juan Jose Perez's K-Q. When the flop and turn brought 4d-5d-Th-5h, the man with the sevens started to look pretty happy. If not for that pesky Ks on the river, everything would've been fine. Instead, De Souza is gone.

1:11 pm-- Alberto Araujo doubles through Mario Salvagno

Mario Salvagno opened from UTG for 6,000, Alberto Araujo moved all in for 14,700 and Salvagno called the 8,700 balance. Araujo's Ac-Kc dominated Salvagno's Ah-3h and with the board running out Jc-6d-4s-7c-Ad, he doubled through our current chip leader. Salvagno, though still likely has that title-- his stack is still well over the 170,000 mark.

12:59 pm-- Alex Brenes eliminated

Over on the TV featured table, a short-stacked Alex Brenes moved all in for 22,600 from under-the-gun and Magno Aragao made the call from the button. It was a race situation with Th-Ts for Brenes and the Ad-Jd for Aragao. The flop was Kh-Qs-7d, Brenes still leading, but the Td on the turn made Aragao an ace-high straight. It also gave Brenes a set of tens and some hope if the board paired on the river, but it was the 2h and Brenes exited stage left.

57 players remain in the field.

12:56pm-- There's no Judice here

With the action folded to him on the button, Bjorn Ivan Johansen open-raised, Renato Judice moved all in from the big blind for just over 20,000 and Johansen made the call, turning up Kc-9c to Judice's Jd-Th. The flop came down Ks-7h-2s, pairing up Johansen. The turn gave Judice some hope when the Qs fell, giving him and open-ended straight draw, but the river blanked out withthe 4d and Judice hit the rail.

12:44pm-- Mario Salvagno= your new chip leader

On a flop of Qh-Th-3h, Sebastian Stratta got the rest of his chips in the middle and got a call from Mario Salvagno. Salvagno held Ah-Ts for middle pair and an ace-high flush draw while Stratta revealed As-Qs. The turn was the Jc, but the 6h made Salvagno's flush, eliminating Stratta and vaulting him into the chip lead.

12:40pm-- Rosamelia Ferreira, our last woman standing, is eliminated

Rosamelia Ferreira came into Day 2 with only 15,500 in chips and when Ernesto Panno moved in ahead of her, the Kc-Js looked like a decent enough hand to make her last stand with. Unfortunately, Panno turned up the worst hand possible for her-- Kd-Kh. The board ran out Jh-8c-4s-7c-6d and Ferreira hit the rail after graciously shaking her executioner's hand.

12:35pm--Down to seven tables

With the loss of our 64th place finisher, Table 8 has broken and we're down to seven tables in play.

12:29pm--Like Helvetica?

Alberto Font started the day second in chips. Yesterday, we described him as a hard-to-read Font. Today, Brazil's Tiago Boita seems to think he's got a read on his man. Boita came in for a raise to 3,600 from the cutoff. The button folded and Font re-raised to 15,000 from the small blind. Boita barely though before pushing in 40,000 more. Font raised an eyebrow,

"You're happy?" Font said.

"I'm happy with this," Boita said, waving his hand over the chips already in the pot.

Font pondered his move for a minute or so before folding.

Boita flashed Ad-Qh. Font shook his head. Though Font didn't say a word, his face was as clear as Helvetica. It said, "You're pushing on me with that?"

Boita shrugged and raked his chips.

12:23pm--Let's find us a final table

After a short delay for players to sign their TV release forms and such, TD Mike Ward just announced, "Shuffle up and deal."

12:00pm -- Play about to begin

The final 64 players are taking their seats and unbagging their chips. We expect play to begin shortly.

When we began the Latin American Poker Tour event in Punte del Este yesterday, the 327 starting players were scattered over three rooms. Today, with 64 players remaining, we've moved to one room. By the time the day ends, we'll only need one table.

When we last left our fearless poker players, those 64 left the room behind chip leader Oliver Rowe. Just one step and 1,000 chips behind him was second place Alberto Font.

When we begin the day here in a few minutes, players will be coming back to 1,200/2,400/300 blinds. To replace the flowing prose from yesterday, we're going to give you run-and-gun coverage as we head toward the money bubble. The top 36 will get paid. The final nine will get one more day in the tournament.

Today also begins feature table coverage by the ESPN crew in the room. The TV lights are on and the featured table is ready for its players.

Play begins in just a few minutes.

A wise man once said, when a room is packed to the rafters, it's good to have an escalator.* Fortunately, the Mantra Resort and Casino has several.

The buy-in for the second season in Punta del Este went up this year to $3,700. Most folks here expected the field to be significantly smaller than last year. Suffice it to say, the crowd of 327 players was a pleasant surprise for everybody. We can't say it enough: even in a tough economy, the LAPT seems to be recession-proof. The players who made it through the day are playing for their share of a $1.1 million prize pool.

Fortunately for everybody involved, the tournament organizers had room for everybody. It took putting a few tables up the escalator in the main casino, but everybody who wanted a seat got one. That was when the carnage began. People screamed. Chairs flew in the air and landed on tables. Somebody cooked a lot of steak. Somewhere, a feral dog barked. It was yet another day on the Latin American Poker Tour.

Today's field was packed with some of the biggest names on the tour: Andre Akkari, Humberto Brenes, Dennis Phillips, Greg Raymer, J. C. Alvarado, Victor Ramdin, Fabian Ortiz, Leo Fernandez, Veronica Dabul, Christian De Leon, Maria 'maridu' Mayrinck, Gualter Salles, and Max and Maria Stern.

To give you some idea of how crazy the day was...none of the people listed above have any chips.

Only 36 people will walk away with money. At this point, the most likely person to see a decent chunk of that money is Canada's Oliver Rowe. The PokerStars qualifier made a late surge tonight to 136,000, good for the chip lead going into Day 2. The twenty-six year old from Vancouver plays poker for a living. His recent live tournament experience includes the World Series Main Event and a stop on the APPT.

Spain's Alberto Font went on a huge tear after the dinner break tonight and finished just behind Rowe with 135,000. To date, Font's biggest cashes come from a 441st place finish at the World Series and a final table in a side event at the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Now, he's among the top ten in chips.

PokerStars qualifier Ron Wasiel spent a good portion of the night near the top of the leaderboard.The painter from the 'burbs of Chicago is only playing his second big live event of his life. Normally a $10 re-buy player on PokerStars, Wasiel qualified for this event through a $10 3x chance event on PokerStars.

For a look at some selected stacks from the field, be sure to see our LAPT Punta del Este chip counts page. Once we have the official counts from the tournament staff, we'll post them in the same place.

To get a look at what the final 36 players will get paid, see the LAPT Punta del Este prizes and winners page.

If you've failed to notice by this point, we've been posting a ton of great videos from the PokerStars Video Blog team. You can go back and take a look at those at PokerStars.tv.

Finally, if you'd like to look back at all the coverage from the day (and we really hope you do), click on any of the links below.

In the meantime, we're headed to bed where we plan to dream of steak and a day where no chairs take flight. We'll be back here at noon local time on Thursday.

Monte Carlo in South America
Three days in the sunshine
There was a party?
A star-studded field in the Southern Hemisphere
Our kingdom for a cattle prod
Your turn, honey
Day 1 thrugh a lens
Speed in a can
The fall and rise of Victor Ramdin
The Back 40
Multiple accounting
Phillips down (speed kills?)
A million in play
A long way from Uppsala
Song of the serial satellite winner
Farewell to the FossilMan
Steak in the air
Ramdin speaks
Where we stand
The quiet man
Painting the town yellow
Ramdin, Akkari eliminated in one-two punch
Hard to read Font
The Silent Assassin

All photography © Joe Giron/IMPDI

*We actually have no record of any wise men ever saying this. We feel pretty confident somebody said it at some point, and chances are he was pretty smart.

Alex Fitzgerald had a rough go of it at the EPT Dortmund. On an A-J-5-A-4 board, he flopped top pair and turned trips, value betting his A-Q beautifully on each street and getting called down each time. The only problem was, his opponent turned up 4-4 on the river and dealt the 21-year old Seattle native a crushing blow. Even worse than that, he got his money in with A-A against 9-7 only to watch the board run out Q-J-T-9-7, eliminating him from the tournament. So it's fair to say that Fitzgerald doesn't exactly harbor loving memories of the Motherland.

Only a few days later, he was on a plane to Montevideo, hoping to turn things around here in Uruguay.

Fitzgerald, known online as "Assassinato," has been traveling the world almost nonstop for the last couple of years after quitting his day job at age 18 to play full-time. In Season 1 of the LAPT, he missed the final table in Rio de Janiero by only two spots, finishing 11th. What he lacks in live finishes he's more than made up for online, regularly crushing high buy-in tournaments on PokerStars. Fitzgerald finished fifth in the Sunday Million last September for a $54,000 score, won the Nightly Hundred Grand in December, and has final tabled the $109 Rebuy at least three times.

A picture of quiet strength at the table, Fitzgerald has been steadily amassing a stack all day, carefully choosing his spots and applying pressure the moment he senses weakness. Faced with a middle position limper and a call from the small blind, Fitzgerald checked his option and saw a flop of Ah-6h-4s. The small blind checked, Fitzgerald rapped the table, and the middle position player quickly tossed out a 3,000 bet. Maybe too quickly. It was enough to chase away the small blind, but after a moment's consideration, Fitzgerald slid out one of his stacks of yellow chips, making a raise to 20,000. His opponent couldn't fold quickly enough and Fitzgerald picked up the pot, increasing his already-formidable stack to over 50,000.

Fitzgerald ultimately hopes to retire from poker and pursue a career as a writer. But perhaps a victory here might change his mind.

If he would take off his shiny shades, Alberto Font might be easier to read. Maybe he knows this, because it's rare to see him without them.

We first spotted the Spaniard this year at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when he final tabled a side event and picked up nearly $35,000. Before that, his biggest live finish was $27,020 for a 441st finish at the 2007 World Series.

Tonight, the ever-quiet player is making some noise without saying a word. At this late hour, Font has taken his stack to the 140,000 range. That's good for the chip lead with a level and half to go.

With 90 minutes left to play tonight, a few more than 80 of the original 327 players remain. There is no chance of making the money (top 36) tonight, but we stand a good chance of only having seven tables left at the end of the night.

Some of the bigger names left in action tonight include Alex Brenes, Jose Rosenkrantz, and Christian Kruel.

We're now out in search of anyone who may be creeping up on Font's stack. Back in just a bit.

Things looked dire for Victor Ramdin. With the blinds up to 500-1000 with a 100 ante, Ramdin had only 4,900 left-- barely enough to survive two orbits. With the action folded around, the button moved all in, having Ramdin well-covered. The small blind folded and Ramdin peeked at his cards. The As-4c looked good to him and he slid his stack into the middle, cringing when his opponent turned up pocket nines.

The flop was Qd-Js-5c. Most players would be out of their chair and gathering their things at that point. But this is Victor Ramdin, folks.

The turn? The 4h. The river? The Ad. And just like that, the jovial, Bronx-based pro had life again with 12,200 in chips. Unfortunately, his reprieve wouldn't last for long.

A short time later, Ramdin moved in with pocket aces and was called by an opponent with pocket eights. Safe flop, safe turn... but an eight on the river sent him off to the bar. Or the craps pit.

Almost immediately afterward, Andre Akkari was crippled in similar fashion. All in with Q-Q against 5-5, Akkari's opponent spiked a set on the river to chop out most of the Brazilian's stack. Though Akkari was able to double up against Alex Brenes on a subsequent hand, he met his end on the very next deal, getting his money in with K-9 against A-8. An ace hit the flop, the king on the turn gave him a ray of hope, but the eight on the river sealed his elimination.

And with that, Andre Akkari wins the (very unofficial...in fact completely fabricated) Team PokerStars Pro last-longer.

We'll concede Jim Croce's point. The south side of Chicago might very well be the baddest part of town, but go a little farther down Illinois' I-55 and you best beware of a man named Ron Wasiel.

You might be a little bit like we are tonight and wondering where in the world Mr. Wasiel came from. He's barely Google-able. He seems to have come from nowhere to climb the the top of the leader board in Day 1 action and it seems nothing can hold him back. On an all undercard board, his opponent has jacks, but Wasiel has queens. On a board reading AQ246 with two clubs, Wasiel makes what appears to be an exceptionally thin value bet (or, perhaps more likely, a bluff) at the pot for 5,000 and gets called. He turns over pocket eights. His opponent taps the table and concedes the eights are good.

Who is this man behind the dark Terminator glasses.

Turns out, Wasiel is a union painter from Illinois. This event in Punta is only his second major event. He went to Macau for the APPT but walked away without a cash. Still, it gave him a taste for the big live events. "It was fun," he said. "It was an experience. I had Vanessa Rousso at my table. How often does a guy get to travel like this?"

Now, the man is amassing yellow 1,000 denomination chips like his paint buckets depend on it. At latest count, Wasiel had moved his stack north of 135,000. That's not bad when you consider the chip average is around 30,000 right now.

You will typically find Wasiel on PokerStars playing $10 rebuy tournaments. He qualified for this event through a $10 3x chance event. With a firm hold on the chip lead, he could easily go back to his room and play a PokerStars tourney and still be near the top of the leaderboard on Day 2.

We're going to guess he won't do that. It takes a lot to be humble when you have more than four times the chip average, but that's how Wasiel is carrying himself tonight.

"There's some good players here," he said. "Some really good players."

Alex Brenes is no stranger to this venue. Back in Season 1, Brenes had the LAPT Punta del Este title in sight, but came up just short of a victory, finishing second to Spain's Jose Miguel Espinar. Yesterday, he played his second career final table here at the Mantra Resort and finished eighth, albeit in a tournament that originated 5,000 miles north of here in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Though Brenes made a bit of a late arrival here this afternoon, having indulged in a bit of celebration following his elimination last night, his tardiness has not deterred his progress in this event, where he is still alive and kicking.

Much like his gregarious older brother Humberto, Alex plays a tight-aggressive style (though he's a far quieter presence at the table than the "Chark"). Ergo, when he moved all in over the top of an early position player's 2,075 opening raise and received a call, it wasn't too big of a surprise to see him turn over a premium hand. And premium it was-- Brenes was in perhaps the best pre-flop spot in Texas hold'em, his Kc-Kd up against Ks-Qd.

By our observations, Latin American players tend to be a boisterous and emotional bunch (the over/under on outburts of "VAMO!" is about 3.5 per level), but Brenes hardly batted an eye as the board safely ran out Jc-7h-4c-6h-2c, increasing his stack from a "push and pray" 6,975 to a far more workable 15,800. He certainly has his work cut out for him, as the always-dangerous Andre Akkari is now seated on his right.

If you've ever thrown a really big party, you know the feeling. You invite everybody, spend a of of time preparing, and then deal with the rush of people through the front door. People are eating, drinking, and rummaging through your drawers. One of your friends has shaved your cat and hidden it either in the pantry or clothes dryer. There comes a point at which you must stop and take notice of where you stand. Is there enough food left? Are you about to run out of tequila? What's that meowing sound coming from the bread box?

That's sort of where we are now. After eight hours of sheer madness (somebody threw a chair on a table at one point, if that tells you anything), things have finally settled into simple, controlled pandemonium that we have come to love so much. Finally, we're able to take stock of the room.

We started the day with 327 people who put up $3,700 to play in Uruguay's biggest poker event. Now playing for a prize pool that has eclipsed $1.1 million, 130 players remain after the dinner break. Only 36 of those players will walk away with money (see how much on our LAPT Punta del Este prizes and winners page). As we mentioned before the break, Ron Wasiel is our chip leader with 120,000 chips (check out a few other selected counts on our LAPT Punta del Este chip counts page). Among those dearly departed are Maria "maridu" Mayrinck, J.C. Alvarado, and Greg Raymer. All of them exited just before dinner.

It's unclear at this moment exactly how long we'll be in action tonight, but it's looking like we'll be running until a little past 1am, at which point Tournament Director Mike Ward hopes to be down between 54 and 63 players.

After that, it will be to bed, to sleep, and to dream about where that infernal meowing is coming from.

Scientists have determined that large amounts of red meat in a short period of time can cause a rapid onset of euphoria and nausea typically associated with illegal hallucinogenic drugs. As we and the assembled poker rumblers have just exited the hotel's House of Steak Orgy, assume that we will be coming down off this high for the next few minutes.

We promise we'll be back and straight-headed in a matter of moments. In the meantime, please enjoy the PokertStars Video Blog team's recent interview with team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Victor Ramdin Quick Catch Up on PokerStars.tv

Mere feet from the tournament room sits a giant hearth. A sweating man in a chef's hat maniacally throws giant logs into the flames. He stares at the fire until he feels it's right and then he throws giant slabs of red meat on the adjoining grill. It is, in a word, beautiful.

Play began here shortly after noon today. Now coming up on eight o'clock, the assembled poker players are being forced to play one more hour as dinner begins to cook. Normally, this would be no big deal. However the smell of bubbling beef fat hitting the hot coals hurts in a place only hungry poker players know. It is, in another word, torture.

We can't say for sure how this could affect the level of play over the next few minutes, but we feel sure it's not going to help anyone concentrate on pot odds, implied odds, reverse implied odds, or for that matter, how to even play the game of poker. These players know that when the clock hits zero, they can run, grab their seats, and get their meat on. For now, though, we must concentrate on the task at hand.

As we careen headlong toward the dinner break (...sirloin), it appears we have two players fighting for the chip lead. Our most recent counts put Ron Wasiel out in front with 110,000. Spain's Alberto Font is next on the list with 70,000 chips. Brazil's Magno Aragao is not far behind with 65,000 (...filet mignon). To put those stacks in perspective, the chip average currently sits somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 (...chorizo sausage...).

In all honesty, there may be no better smell than what is currently wafting through this room. We honestly thought we could go our entire careers without writing that sentence about a poker room, but, as they say, it is what it is.

You're going to have to excuse us for a bit. If we don't get out ahead of these poker players, there won't be any beef left for us. And that would be, in a final word, tragedy.

Greg Raymer showed all the signs of a man who was card-dead. With a ring of spectators watching his every move, Raymer folded hand after hand, giving a little eyebrow raise or shaking his head ever-so-slightly as he was dealt pair after pair of rags. Still, he chatted up his table and cracked jokes as he waited for a playable hand, his stack barely past the 10,000 he started with.

The hand started innocently enough. With the blinds at 300/600 with a 75 ante, there was an opening raise to 1,500. One caller. Then two. Then three-- all before the action came around to Raymer in the small blind.

"I know if I squeeze here, I'm gonna get at least two callers. Maybe even three," he speculated, before taking a look at his hole cards. What he saw was apparently enough, and Raymer announced that he was all-in for the 10,000 and change he had in front of him.

"I'll get into character" he quipped, donning his signature glasses and crossing his arms over his chest.

The initial raiser folded, as did his first caller but Alejandro Bonanata, the second caller behind him, moved his own stack into the middle. That got Johannes Korsar, the third caller, to muck his hand and the rail craned their collective necks as the two prepared to show down.

"I only looked at one" said Raymer, revealing the As. Bonanata showed Jd-Js and Raymer reached for his second card, turning up the Qc.

"I feel good about this one... I think I'm going to win it" said Raymer as the dealer burned and turned.

The flop came down Ac-9s-2s. The turn was the 4h and it looked like FossilMan would at last earn his double-up.

Until the Jh cruelly hit the river. Holy two-outers, Batman.

Gracious as ever, Raymer asked for the proper spelling of his opponent's name and proceeded to sign the shiny gray fossil he had been using as his card protector and handed it across the table as a parting gift as he made his exit.

With the dinner break approaching, we're down to 154 players.

Melina Villegas offered to eat a wax candle holder a couple of nights ago.

"I'll do it for $3,700," she said.

The thing was bigger than a grapefruit. It hardly seemed healthy. So, I undercut her and offered to do it for $1,000 (she was painfully unaware that I have eaten a lot of wax for money in the past and would probably do it again for the right price).

Villegas has become a friend over the course of our time on the LAPT circuit (she also happens to be the older and much wiser sister of our chip counting monkey Alex Villegas). Her offer to eat the candle holder was largely in jest. Even though she wasn't going to shell out the $3,700 buy-in to play today, she was a lock to win a seat in one of the super satellites. We say that because she's done it at the last three LAPT events. She shows up, plays a satellite, and gets her seat. It's just what she does.

And that's what she did this time.

The PokerStars Video Blog team caught up with Villegas a little bit ago and got a report on her early Day 1 action. As far as we could see, it didn't involve eating wax.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Melina Villegas Day 1 on PokerStars.tv

It's about 20 degrees Fahrenheit at the moment in Uppsala, Sweden, the town 40 miles north of Stockholm that Johannes Korsar calls home. With the forecast looking grim and gray, Korsar and a friend decided to take a holiday in Buenos Aires to escape the frozen Nordic winter. After two weeks in the Argentinian sun, the two decided to hop on a 30-minute flight to Punta del Este to compete on the LAPT. Though Korsar's pal ended up having to skip the tournament (apparently Swedish ATM cards have a bit of trouble working here) the blonde 22-year old is currently near the top of the leaderboard and is seated at one of the room's toughest tables, which boasts a lineup including Greg Raymer and Veronica Dabul. As you may recall, back in 2007 Korsar made a splashy debut on the international tournament circuit, finishing fifth in the inaugural WSOP-Europe Main Event, taking home over $386,000.

Korsar had already doubled his stack to just over 20,000 when he was dealt pocket nines and hit top set on a 9h-5s-4h flop after the pot had been raised and reraised pre-flop. Korsar made a crafty check, allowing his opponent to bet 5,500. Korsar moved all in for 13,500 and was quickly called. His opponent's Jh-Jd went down in flames when the turn and river blanked out and Korsar doubled up to over 45,000.

"Gosh, there's NO action at this table!" quipped Greg Raymer with a laugh as Korsar stacked up his chips.

After some careful scrutiny, we have determined the math in South America is the same as the rest of the world. With that in mind, we have just figured out how much we're playing for here in Punta del Este.

With 327 players in the field, we're looking at a $1,110,200 prize pool.

A few minutes ago, Tournament Director Mike Ward announced he'll be paying out 36 spots. Bottom money is $7,220. First prize will walk away with a very nice $283,500.

For a full breakdown of prizes, see our LAPT Punta del Este prizes and winners page.

Of our 327 starters, 238 remain after four and a half levels of play. Already we've witnessed the departures of Humberto Brenes, Martha Herrera, and Jim "MrBigQueso" Collopy, who is currently enjoying a sandwich in the atrium outside the tournament room and recounting his bad beat story to a few friends.

Unfortunately, Dennis Phillips has also just hit the rail, courtesy of an unlucky flop. Phillips got his chips all in on an A-Q-J flop, his two pair queens and jacks in dire shape against his Henry Merchan's A-Q. The turn was a nine, the river a deuce, and everyone's favorite Cardinals fan was left with no more than his precious can of Speed Unlimited. Don't forget, kids-- speed kills. Merchan is at or close to the top of the leaderboard with over 60,000 in his stack, much of it acquired when he knocked out Leo Fernandez earlier in the afternoon.

Most of the top female players in this event, though, are still alive and kicking. Melina Villegas is sitting on 12,000 chips at the moment, while Maria Stern is hanging on with 6,500 chips at a nearby table. Veronica Dabul has a healthy stack of 15,500 and the new addition of Greg Raymer at her table, while behind her, Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck is cruising along with 17,000.

And Victor Ramdin, previously atop the "deathwatch" list is still cooking. "I've got 11,000 and just folded A-Q" he told us after mucking his hand to a reraise.

Listen, we're not the kind of people to just throw out wild accusations. In the world of online poker, calling someone a multi-accounter is the equivalent of calling someone a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. That said, there is something very fishy going on around here.

There's this cat named Lerner who we keeping seeing more often than we should. The first time we saw him, he had a few days of beard growth on his face. Then he showed up clean shaven. Even more odd, we keep seeing him at different tables.

Again, we're not making any accusations, but there are some shenanigans going on. We're currently looking for a duck to weigh against this Lerner guy. If he ends up weighing the same as our quacking friend, we're going to start building a fire.

Just sayin'.

Our video blog team has been working to get to the bottom of the situation. Judge for yourself.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: The brothers Lerner on PokerStars.tv

If you've spent any time in farming country, you know the Back 40. Those acres on the back part of the property make for a long walk. The Back 40 here at the Mantra Resort and Casino takes us out the door, through the Wine Bar, up an escalator, through the casino, into the VIP room and over a velvet rope. There sit several overflow tables that simply could not fit in the main tournament room.

If you're observant, you'll notice something. Though some quirk of randomness, it seems as though most of the Costa Rican field has been seated in the Back 40.

Melina Villegas, she of the serial live satellite qualifying, is up on her knees and overlooking her domain. Nearby is Jose Rosenkrantz. Ten feet behind her is Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes. Off in the corner is the always lovely Maria Strern. It's as if somebody took the LAPT San Jose event and moved it a few thousand miles south to Uruguay.

In other news, we just saw a huge pot develop against three big names here in Punta. We picked up the action on af Kh-Ts-Qh-9c board. Martha Herrera moved all in for her final 1,525. Team PokerStars Pro made the call. Veronica Dabul sat on the button and after a minute or so of thought, raised 3,000 more. Again, Raymer made the call. When the river came the 9s, Raymer barely thought before pushing all-in for a little more than 5,000. Dabul tanked hard. It seemed fairly clear she had a jack, but she couldn't be sure that Raymer didn't slowplay an A-J or boat up on the river. After nearly five minutes, Dabul tossed in the call.

"If you have the ace-jack, you're good," Raymer said and rolled over J-8. Dabul smiled and turned over J-T. Herrera made it official and turned over a jack of her own. After a pot that took nearly ten minutes, the three players chopped it up and moved on.

Finally, in the Bad Beat of the Day story, PokerStars-sponsored player Leo Fernandez managed to get his opponent all-in on a QQ2 flop. Fernandez held pocket deuces to his opponent's K-Q. All seemed peachy until the board went runner-runner sevens. We'll only say this: we're glad we weren't anywhere near Fernandez's chair when the river it.

We're going into the second break of the day. We'll be coming back to Level 5 and 150/300/25 blinds.

It's not exactly the cheeriest term, but for those of us in the poker media, the word "deathwatch" is our shorthand for "lost most of his stack, about to bust." After taking a walk around the tournament room, we noticed that Victor Ramdin's starting stack of 10,000 had all but evaporated, leaving him with only a small collection of black 100-denomination chips, totaling just over 1,000.

Victor Ramdin was officially on deathwatch. Members of the media, this reporter included, kept a close eye on his table, hoping to catch either his final hand, or a much-needed double-up.

"If Victor had 150,000 chips right now, he'd be on deathwatch" joked one tournament official, noting Ramdin's aggressive, swingy style of play.

"Yeah, I've seen him do this a million times" added a fellow journalist. "He'll lose 90% of his stack in the first few levels and in the blink of an eye, he'll have it all back."

Only a few moments ago, we caught Ramdin power-walking out the door. Fearing he'd busted, we hurried over to his table to see if we could piece together what had happened.

There were 9,700 chips in front of his empty chair. Ramdin had just tripled up, and could finally afford to miss a few hands and grab a bathroom break.

Guess we can cross him off that list.

It's always a pleasure to chat with Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck. One of Latin American poker's great success stories, Maridu used to... well... do our job as a writer for PokerStars' Brazilian blog before she started cashing major events left and right, leading to her present status as a PokerStars sponsored player. The Rio de Janiero native now makes her home in Austin, Texas where she lives with her boyfriend Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet and U.K. transplant Steven "stevie444" Chidwick. Her hair streaked blonde from the sun and a luscious caramel leather Balenciaga bag slung across the back of her chair, Maridu is presently sharing a table with Team PokerStars Pro Dennis Phillips, whom, according to her, was apparently quite adamant about keeping his table energized.

Phillips, perhaps a bit weary from the 6,000+ mile flight to Uruguay, was jonesing for some Red Bull and sought the assistance of a waiter at one of the Mantra Resort's restaurants in the hopes of procuring some of the fizzy, sugary energy drink. The restaurant didn't have any Red Bull, but did have a few servings on hand of its Uruguayan equivalent, called...no joke... "Speed Unlimited." Phillips requested ten cans, one for each player at his table. Apparently, his order was enough to buy the entire restaurant out of their Speed supply, and the waiter hurried into town by taxi to purchase enough to keep Phillips & Co. sufficiently awake and alert

.

Both Phillips and Mayrinck are still hovering near their starting stacks. From what we can tell, LAPT Vina del Mar champion Fabian Ortiz is the room's current chip leader, with 26,000 in his stack. For a look at how the rest of the field is stacking up, check out the LAPT Punta del Este chip counts, which were just updated at the start of Level 3.

We like to think we're giving you a pretty clear picture of what's going on here at the Punte del Este stop on the LAPT. We passed carpal tunnel a long time ago and have moved into a state of arthritic bliss. Still, there is something to be said for video. While we'll concede it killed the radio star, we're not ready to say it's done us in yet.

Regardless, the PokerStars Video Blog team is hard at work today and brings us this introduction to Day 1.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Day 1 Intro on PokerStars.tv

For nearly ten hours yesterday, Josh Prager sat in the audience of the LAPT Mexico final table and called out, "Way to go, Helen!" No matter how tedious the night, no matter how slow play went, Prager held his seat and cheered on his wife.

Anymore, there isn't a prototypical picture of a poker player. The old grizzled gambler has given way to fresh faces around the world. Helen Prager is one of these beautiful new exceptions. A glowing three months pregnant, she was the picture of poise and beauty yesterday as she came runner-up at the LAPT Mexico final table. All the while, husband Josh sat on the rail.

On any other day, the roles might have been reversed. Josh is the pro poker player. His most notable result came in 2007 when he made the final table of the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

Today, husband and wife sat down in the same tournament. In a room packed with hundred of people, the pair ended up just a few feet away from each other.

Their time together in the tournament was short. After her stellar performance yesterday, Helen has made an early exit. With one final table under her belt, she is leaving this event for her hubby.

"I don't know what happened today," she said with a smile.

After playing ten hours of intense poker on Tuesday, Helen can be forgiven her early exit. Josh is still playing for the Prager family name. We wish him the best of luck today and Helen a much-deserved break from the table.

Let's just state the obvious here: People really like them some poker. Nowhere is that more clear today than in Punta del Este where more than 320 poker players have shown up for the second stop in this fine city.

Even in the face of the best planning money can buy, the Mantra Resort and Casino poker area is as packed to the gills. The tables spent an hour playing eleven-handed. The main room and overflow area couldn't make room for a small dog, let alone another poker player. Several tables are still playing out in the back 40 (how we've come to think of the casino poker room--up the escalator and in the main casino). The world economy may be stumbling over itself on a daily basis, but if this event is any indication, the LAPT is recession-proof.

The smart money says this field will be cut in half by the dinner break, but for right now, navigating through this crowd requires an electric cattle prod (or, if you prefer, several polite utterances of "excuse me").

The room did open up a bit ago, but we're not at all happy about why. The always imposing Vincenzo Giannelli made an early exit in this event. While that certainly will cut down on the fun factor, it does free up a little space in the room. If you've not had the pleasure of meeting Giannelli, he stands at least 6'5" and takes up his fair share of space in a place of this size. However, as his personality is as big as his frame, we'd just as soon have kept him around for a while.

Players are getting ready to go on their first break of the day. We plan to spend the time shopping at the Crowd Control Warehouse.

Over 300 players have packed themselves into our tournament room here at the Mantra Resort and with space at a premium, play has begun eleven-handed and will continue in this fashion until the field has been sufficiently thinned. A cadre of Team PokerStars Pros, past LAPT winners and the premiere poker players in Latin America have made their way to the sunny shores of Punta del Este in pursuit of an LAPT title.

In the field we have husbands and wives, brothers, and even a set of identical twins. Helen Prager, fresh off her runner-up finish at last night's (delayed) final table of the LAPT Mexico, is playing only one table away from her husband Josh, whom poker fans will remember from his final table finish at the 2007 EPT Monte Carlo. Josh came in 16th at the LAPT's Season 2 stop in San Jose, Costa Rica and is looking to improve on that finish here in Uruguay.

Max and Maria Stern, the Costa Rican husband and wife duo, are also playing today. Max currently has a seat in the main ballroom while his wife is shuffling chips upstairs in our overflow room in the casino, one table away from their home country's premiere poker superstar, the ever-gregarious Humberto Brenes. Brenes' brother Alex, who finished eighth at last night's LAPT Mexico final table, wandered in about halfway through the first level to take his seat at Table 13. Word on the street is that he engaged in a bit of "celebration" last night after his final table appearance.

Three of Latin America's top female players are clustered close together. Argentina's Veronica Dabul and LAPT Mexico sixth-place finisher Martha Herrera are seated together, while only a few tables away, Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck has Team PokerStars Pro Dennis Phillips to contend with at her table.

Identical twins Aaron and Derek Lerner have made the lengthy trek from their native Montreal to play in this event after winning their entries via satellites on PokerStars. The two first appeared on our radar at the 2007 WSOP, when both of them made deep runs in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event, becoming the first twins to cash in the same WSOP event.

The duo of Rory Cox and Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari rounds out another "table of death" in our tournament room. Cox, as you'll remember, won the LAPT Mexico last night after a four-hour heads-up battle with Helen Prager.

Some more familiar faces on the LAPT playing today include LAPT Vina del Mar champion Fabian Ortiz, Vina del Mar runner-up Vincenzo Giannelli, Leo Fernandez, Felipe Ramos, Melina Villegas, Jesus Bertoli, Jose Perez, Christian Kruel, Paul "X-22" Magriel, Christian de Leon, and Jaime Ateneloff. Team PokerStars Pro, of course, is well represented with the likes of Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin, and J.C. Alvarado joining the aforementioned Team Pros in the field.

As the LAPT Mexico final table crept toward Rory Cox's victory last night, we heard tales of a party going on. We struggled with our inner demons. We could either continue our duties live blogging the final table or slip off to one of PokerStars signature welcome parties. We chose to stay alongside the final table instead of indulging in the free beer and food.

Yeah, we're not sure what's wrong with us either.

Fortunately, our crack video blog team was on the case. We can always count on them to find the free booze.

We'll watch the video below with you and see what we missed.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Welcome Party on PokerStars.tv

If the breeze wasn't an issue, we would just pick up the tables here at the Mantra Resort and Casino and play this tournament outside. The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and the temperatures are perfect for kicking back for a few hands of poker. Alas, we're going to play this one inside as normal.

Fortunately, we still get to watch this thing under the shining sun's face. The Uruguayan flag hangs around the tournament room as we begin to kick off the Punta del Este stop of the the Latin America Poker Tour's second season. That blue and white striped flag is decorated with a yellow sunshine. In the middle of that star is a smiling face. It's not quite as good as playing cards by the pool, but it will do. After all, everyone is here to work.

Here in just a few minutes, more than 250 people will come into this room and sit down for three days of poker. Last season, Jose Miguel Espinar defeated a record field of 351 players to win the top prize of $241,735. By Friday night, we will have a new champion.

Keep it here. Unless we get drawn outside by the real sun, we'll be here until the end.

While we wait for the event to begin, take a look at the video blog below.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este s2: A taste of things to come on PokerStars.tv

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here's your daily update of the action from PokerStars' very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

Wildcard 'oblowski512' had the chip lead when the tourney reached five players and initially chose to play against Marcin Horecki. However the team's sole-Pole, and repeat winner from Monday, 'kAmIkAdZeEe' asked that he get the opportunity to play against his compatriot. 'oblowski512' showed his team spirit and duly stepped aside, allowing for the mouth-watering prospect of an all Polish 14:00 match on Day 2 of All Star Week.

The switch means that 'oblowski512' will now kick of the day's matches in a NLHE clash with Katja Thater.

A further act of team spirit took place when '666 INRI' agreed to switch his initial choice of taking on Noah Boeken at PLO8 in Match 3. 'Canuck', a former PLO8 WCOOP champion, was anxious to play his specialist game and asked if '666 INRI' would swap. He duly agreed and will now combat Team PokerStars Pro's newest face JC Alvarado in Match 5.

Amidst all the changing 'VOLCANO360' got the fourth choice and agreed to play Match 4 against fearsome Russian Alex Kravchenko. It looks unlikely that he'll be able to fit the match in between classes though, so it's possible he'll be switching later in the week.

We'll keep you updated with the latest results and changes as the week
progresses.

"You'll like it," someone told us as we prepared to come to Uruguay. "It's very European."

We weren't sure what to make of the recommendation. When we last crossed the border into South America into Chile, we found an arid fishing community that looked like California--rolling green vineyards, desert mountains, and a pleasant, humble little community in Vina del Mar. It was fantastic, but not all that European.

Punta del Este, Uruguay is a different place. It's on the other side of the continent and could just as well be on the other side of the world.

The oceanside drive from Montevideo to Punta has rolling green hills speckled with cows. It's reminds an American boy of the Midwest. Pine forests line the roads like I-55 in the middle of Mississippi. Uruguay is beef country. Gone is Vina del Mar's ceviche menu. Here, it's steak. Pick a cut, they'll cook it. The menu is beef and sausage as far as the eye can see.

Punta is the elite's playground on the Atlantic Coast. It sits an hour and half away from the relative hustle and bustle of Montevideo. And just as Punta is a quiet enclave on the coast, the Mantra Resort and Casino is cloistered away in the Punta hills. Set away from the main business district, the Mantra sits on a low rise on Punta del Este's northern border.

It does remind a traveler a bit of the Monte Carlo coast. Here we find a certain reserved and ubiquitous glitz that we find in Monaco. The prices are big, the money old, and the taste for the good life everywhere. We may not have seen Bentleys on the streets, but we're willing to accept that we have found South America's destination for those of the big wallet.

Elsewhere on the property, the hotel hallways have pictures of Che Guevara alongside photos of Richard Nixon. And the bathrooms have bidets. Draw your own conclusions, but we find this to be a very interesting place.

Of course, we're here for more than the South American equivalent of Monte Carlo. We're even here for more than the beef and solitude. We've come to town for the second to last stop of the Latin American Poker Tour's second season. Last season, Jose Miguel Espinar defeated a record field of 351 players to win the top prize of $241,735. Now, an entirely new crowd is here in search of a new title.

More than 120 players won their Uruguay seats after qualifying on PokerStars. They are now at this exclusive resort with such notable Team PokerStars Pros as Andre Akkari, Humberto Brenes, Dennis Phillips, Greg Raymer, and Victor Ramdin.

Tonight, the players will head down to the beach for one of PokerStars' signature welcome parties. Then, after they have fully digested the beef and beer, they will return to the Mantra Casino for Day 1 of the LAPT Punta del Este event.

We will join them for all of it and report the news accordingly. The live portion of our blogging will resume at noon local time (Eastern Time plus one hour) on Wednesday and continue until Friday when we crown the champion.

Join us here for all the action. The way we see it, if you can't make it here for the beef, we can at least tell you what it tastes like. That's just the kind of people we are.

by Brad Willis and Change100

If you don't know the story of LAPT Mexico by now, it's hardly worth re-telling in its entirety. Suffice to say, this is almost certainly the first time we have ever arrived at a champion in such a fashion.

And what fashion would that be?

Well, Day 1 of the LAPT Mexico event was played live in Mexico. It was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. So, what was essentially Day 2 of the event played out online at PokerStars. Once play reached a final table, the final nine players traveled more than 5,000 miles south of where they started the event to play down to a champion. In short, we'll likely never see anything like this again.

To say there was a disparity in chip counts would be a bit of an understatement. At the end of the online portion of this event, American Rory Cox went on an amazing tear and somehow managed to pick up nearly half the chips in play.

Seat 1: Rory Cox (USA) 1,074,500
Seat 2: Victor Ramdin (USA) 104,000
Seat 3: Pavel Naydenov (USA) 80,000
Seat 4: Helen Prager (USA) 326,500
Seat 5: Leonardo Emperador (Venezuela) 284,000
Seat 6: Steven Thompson (Costa Rica) 135,500
Seat 7: Bolivar Palacios (Panama) 128,500
Seat 8: Martha Herrera (Mexico) 88,000
Seat 9: Alex Brenes (Costa Rica) 154,500

While Cox's chip lead was frightening, he still had eight other people who weren't just going to roll over for him. In the early going, Cox used his stack to push people around. Eventually, Steven Thompson flopped a set against Cox' overpair for the first level double-up. Cox rolled with the minor loss and moved on.

Before the event began, Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin figured he had a couple of rounds in him before he started pushing with any two cards. He made it through the first hour before doing just that.

Victor Ramdin moved all in from the cutoff and Helen Prager quickly made the call from the small blind.

"Do I get a lifeline?" Ramdin laughed as he turned up his hole cards. He held Jd-6d to Prager's As-7s.

As Ramdin revealed his hand, several players on the other side of the table confessed to folding a jack.

"Thanks for the information, guys" quipped Ramdin dryly.

The flop was Td-7h-4h. As the Kc landed on the turn, the good-natured Ramdin stood up from his chair, resigned to his fate. The river was the Kd, eliminating him in 9th place. After shaking hands around the table, the Team PokerStars Pro took a seat in the audience to watch the rest of the action play out.

With Ramdin gone, play went on for another full hour before the blinds started eating deeply into the stacks.

Running low, Alex Brenes open-shoved from under the gun for his remaining 100,000, Pavel Naydenov moved all in behind him from middle position, and the rest of the table folded. Naydenov had Brenes slightly covered as the cards went on their backs. Naydenov held As-Qh to Brenes' 9s-9d

The flop ended the drama fairly quickly, Ad-Kc-2c, pairing Naydenov's ace.

"Nueve, Alex, nueve!" called Brenes' brother, Humberto, begging for a nine.

The turn, though, came the 7h, and the river the 4s, sending Brenes to the rail in 8th place.

Despite the increasing blinds, the players held firm to their seats.It would take nearly an hour before we saw the next elimination. That's when Steven Thompson open-raised on the button, Bolivar Palacios moved all in from the small blind for 60,500, Martha Herrera folded the big blind and Thompson made the call. Thompson held Ad-5d to Palacios' Kh-Qs

The flop favored Thompson (as you can see in the photo below), coming down 9h-6s-3c, and the Ac on the turn left Palacios drawing dead.

The now-meaningless Ks hit the river and Palacios hit the rail in 7th place, collecting $2,000.

Martha Herrera had a harder time getting here than the other players. After Day 1 in Mexico, Herrera managed to break her leg. She arrived here in a leg cast and with her eye set on the title. It was not to be.

Rory Cox raised to 36,000 and got calls from Pavel Naydenov and Steven Thompson. Herrera was in the big blind and moved all in for an additional 29,000. She got called in all three places.

All the players checked the Ts-Ad-4d flop and Th turn. On the Ks river, Naydenov bet out 50,000 and got a call from Thompson. Naydenov turned up Q-T for the turned trips. That was good enough to beat Thompson, not to mention Herrera who held Ac-Kh.

Thompson was crippled as the players went on a 15 minute break. On the first hand back from the break, Thompson got his remaining 22,000 in the middle and got three callers in Rory Cox, Pavel Naydenov, and Helen Prager.

The flop came down Kd-7h-6h. Naydenov and Prager checked, while Cox put out a bet. A few groans came out of the audience as Naydenov and Prager gave up their hands. Cox held 6d-8d to Thompson's 9h-Td

Cox had paired his six, but Thompson could double up with an eight, a nine or a ten. The turn fell the 7c, pairing the board and giving him even more outs with the three remaining kings, but the river was a blank, the 2h, and Cox raked in the pot, sending Thompson to the rail in 5th place.

With the action folded to him in the small blind, Leonardo Emperador moved all in for 149,500 and Rory Cox snap-called from the big blind. Emperador knew he was in trouble with his Ks-8c. Cox held Qs-Qh.

"Ocho, ocho, ka!" cried LAPT Vina del Mar runner-up Vincenzo Gianelli from the audience, calling for an 8-8-K flop for his friend.

Unfortunately for Emperador, it came down Td-5h-3s, leaving him drawing to the three remaining kings in the deck.

"Ka! Ka!" called Gianelli as the dealer burned and turned... the Ad.

"KA! KA!" he shouted again to the poker gods, or anyone who would listen.

The river, though, was the Ah, and Emperador hit the rail, collecting $5,000 for his efforts today. It's also worth noting that he arrived at this final table with only ten big blinds and was able to parlay that short stack into a 4th place finish.

Minutes laters, on a flop of 5s-8s-4d, Rory Cox bet out and Pavel Naydenov raised to 75,000. Cox almost immediately raised all-in. Naydenov called after a moment and showed Ks-3s. Cox held 4h-5h. Naydenov picked up some more outs with the 3h on the turn. He missed all the kings, threes, and spades left in the deck on the 2c turn. He finished in 3rd place.

And so we were left with two. Rory Cox had come into the day with such a large chip lead, it didn't seem like he could be beaten. Helen Prager came in with a reasonable stack, but what seemed to insurmountable odds. By the time they got heads up, Cox had Prager by 5 to 1.

It seemed like it would be all over in a matter of minutes. Instead, Prager managed two double-ups within just a few minutes. Her first came courtesy of getting in with second pair, an overcard to the board and a gutshot straight draw against Cox's top pair. She made her gutshot. Moments later, she turned the nuts against Cox's top pair. He got it in with a flush draw against her nut straight. Cox missed on the river and suddenly, the opponents were nearly even in chips.

After the dinner break, the pair settled in for two more full hours of heads-up play. At one point, Cox got it all in with pocket sevens versus Prager's K-T. Prager flopped her ten and Cox fell way behind in chips.

But he battled back and back and back. Ultimately, he regained the chip lead.

Rory Cox opened from the button for 72,000, Helen Prager moved all in for 972,000 from the big blind and Cox made the call.

Prager Kh-7d

Cox As-Ts

Cox let out a whoop and pumped his fist as the flop came down Ac-Jh-8c, leaving Prager drawing only to running cards.

With her husband's arm around her, she watched the 5s land on the turn, a resigned look on her face as she realized she was drawing dead.

The river was the Js and Cox extended his hand to Prager for a sportsman-like shake, congratulating her on a good game.

When it was over, Cox looked at Prager and said, "You made me go bald!"

Later he admitted Prager had him on his heels for a bit. "She played the perfect style against me--very aggressive."

At 26 years old, Cox plays professionally from his home base in San Francisco, California. Before going pro, Cox worked as a counselor for special needs children. While much of his money comes from playing online, he says he has played some big live events.

"But not with much success," he said.

Now, he can add a major title to his resume. It may have taken three months and thousands of miles of travel but Rory Cox is now the LAPT Mexico champion.

Watch LAPT Punta del Este S2: Mexico Winner - Rory Cox on PokerStars.tv

For a complete look back at all the action from the day, check out any of the links below.

4,000/8,000 Level
5,000/10,000 Level
6,000/12,000 Level
8,000/16,000 Level
10,000/20,000 Level
12,000/24,000 Level
15,000/30,000 Level

Here's a rundown of the LAPT Mexico final table prizes.

Thanks for joining us today. Join us here Wedneday at noon for Day 1 of the LAPT Punta del Este event

All photography © Joe Giron/IMPDI

Updates from the postponed LAPT Mexico final table 15,000/30,000/3,000 level will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 11:35pm

11:35pm - Rory Cox wins the LAPT Mexico ($15,000), Helen Prager eliminated in 2nd place ($11,000)

Rory Cox opened from the button for 72,000, Helen Prager moved all in for 972,000 from the big blind and Cox made the call.

Prager Kh-7d

Cox As-Ts

Cox let out a whoop and pumped his fist as the flop came down Ac-Jh-8c, leaving Prager drawing only to running cards.

With her husband's arm around her, she watched the 5s land on the turn, a resigned look on her face as she realized she was drawing dead.

The river was the Js and Cox extended his hand to Prager for a sportsman-like shake, congratulating her on a good game.

For her runner-up finish, Prager earns $11,000 while Cox takes home $15,000 and the prestige of an LAPT title.

Stay tuned for a full wrap-up.

11:28pm--Happy birthday to Mike Ward

We're pretty familiar with Tournament Director Mike Ward, but it wasn't until just a few minutes ago that we learned that today is his birthday. It appears we won't be able to buy him a drink until his day is over. So, we'll take this opportunity to wish our favorite TD a happy....32 minutes.

11:15pm--Cox charges ahead

With both players in for the 30,000 minimum, the flop came down Ks-9s-4d. Prager checked, Cox bet 47,000, and Prager called. The 6c hit the turn and Prager check-called a 79,000 bet from Cox. The river was the Kc and Prager checked a third time, leaving Cox to fire a third barrel for 137,000. Prager, though gave up her hand and conceded the pot to Cox, who has now taken a slight chip lead.

11:10pm--Cox uses his PokerStars Blog One Time Chip

On a flop of 4c-8h-Js, Rory Cox moved all-in and Helen Prager called with 8s-3h.

"Hold just one time," Cox begged as he turned over his Kc-8c.

After thinking for a moment, Cox felt sure Prager would suck out. "Just give her the three of clubs," he said. At least then he would have the redraw to the flush.

The turn was the 9c.

"That's a good card for me," Cox said with a sigh.

The river was the Ts. Cox let out a l little "Whoop!"

With that, the stacks are nearly dead even again.

10:58pm-- Helen Prager seizes the chip lead with coinflip gone good

Rory Cox opened for 72,000, Helen Prager reraised all in for 959,000, and looking a bit exasperated, Cox made the call.

Prager Kh-Tc

Cox 7c-7d

"I'd rather play it out but she moves all in so much!" said Cox as the dealer counted down their stacks and pulled in the amount of his call.

Again, Prager's husband Josh ran to her side from his seat in the audience. She folded her hands, covering her face as she waited for the board to reveal her fate.

The flop came down Ts-5c-2d, pairing Prager's ten. Still looking concerned, she leaned back against her husband, who now wore a mile-wide smile.

There would be no two outer for Cox, as the turn fell the Ad and the river the 6c. Prager doubled her stack to 1.9 million, while Cox was left with approximately 700,000.

10:42pm--Level up, blinds up

We've now moved up to 15,000/30,000/3,000 blinds.

Updates from the postponed LAPT Mexico final table 12,000/24,000/2,000 level will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 10:40pm

10:40pm-- Prager regains some ground

After Rory Cox picked up a few small pots off her, Helen Prager's chip count dipped below the the 1 million mark, but she was able to reclaim some of those lost checks on this most recent hand.

Cox opened for 53,000 on the button and Prager called. The flop came down Kc-5h-3s and both players checked. The turn was the 3d and Prager led out for 80,000. After quite a long think, Cox decided to raise to 176,000, prompting a three-bet shove from Prager. Cox quickly mucked and Prager raked in the pot.

10:28pm - Tick and tock like peanut butter and chocolate

As Rory Cox slowly picks away at Helen Prager's stack, we're left with little to report but the weather, which, by the way, is quite nice.

10:24pm - Updated chip counts

Rory Cox 1,600,000
Helen Prager 940,000

10:04pm--And now, for a showdown

Both players limped in and saw a flop of 8h-7d-2s. Prager led out for 25,000 and Cox called. The turn came the 9c and Prager bet another 80,000, Cox coming along with a call. The river paired the board with the 9h and Prager fired a third barrel for 120,000 and Cox made the call.

Prager turned up 2h-7s for a flopped two pair, but Cox caught up on the turn with his 8c-Ts for the better two pair with nines and eights to win the pot.

9:59pm-- Prager playing pre-flop poker

Thus far in our heads-up match we've seen about ten hands, only one resulting in a flop. Most pots have been taken down with a single pre-flop raise while Prager has already moved all in three times over the top of Cox's opening bet. Cox folded each time. Both players are still nearly dead even in chip count.

9:44pm--Play begins

Rory Cox and Helen Prager are now playing heads up for the championship. On the very first hand, Cox picked up pocket eights, but couldn't get any action.

9:30pm--Heads up play about to begin

The players are making their way back from dinner. After starting the heads-up match with a 5-1 advantage, Cox now finds himself nearly dead even with Helen Prager. He has her outchipped by 3,000 chips. Keep in mind, there are about 2.6 million chips in play.

Updates from the postponed LAPT Mexico final table 10,000/20,000/2,000 level will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 8:18pm

8:18--Prager does it again

Helen Prager is not going to be content to just let Rory Cox take this one. She has just doubled through Cox again.

On a flop of 6s-Kh-4c, Prager bet out 50,000 and got a call from Cox. The turn was the 7c. This time, Prager bet 80,000. Cox moved all-in and Prager snap-called with the nuts--5h-8h. Cox had Kc-2c for top pair with the flush draw. The river was the Jd and Prager doubled up again.

The players are now on a break until 9:30pm.

8:10pm-- Helen Prager doubles through Rory Cox

With a 5-1 chip lead on Helen Prager to start their heads-up match, Rory Cox's victory here today seemed all but sealed up.

Not so fast, amigo.

Both Cox and Prager limped in and saw a 6d-5c-4d flop. Cox checked, and Prager moved in for 312,000. Cox made the call and Prager folded her hands and bowed her head in prayer to the poker gods as the hands were turned up.

Prager 5c-8c

Cox Qc-6s

Prager's husband Josh popped out of his seat in the audience and stood behind her, massaging her shoulders as she awaited her fate.

"You have so many outs, honey!" he said.

And... boom! The 7h on the turn made Prager an eight-high straight. She gasped in joy and perhaps disbelief, her husband beaming with pride behind her. The Ah landed on the river and Prager scored a much-needed double-up as the clock ticked down toward the dinner break.

7:51pm-- Heads-up chip counts

As we begin heads-up play, here's how our final two stand:

Rory Cox 1,969,000
Helen Prager 405,000

7:47pm--Pavel Naydenov eliminated 3rd place ($7,500)

Now they're going like flies.

On a flop of 5s-8s-4d, Rory Cox bet out and Pavel Naydenov raised to 75,000. Cox almost immediately raised all-in. Naydenov called after a moment and showed Ks-3s. Cox held 4h-5h. Naydenov picked up some more outs with the 3h on the turn. He missed all the kings, threes, and spades left in the deck on the 2c turn. We're now heads-up between Helen Prager and Rory Cox.

7:34pm-- Leonardo Emperador eliminated in 4th place ($5,000)

With the action folded to him in the small blind, Leonardo Emperador moved all in for 149,500 and Rory Cox snap-called from the big blind.

Emperador Ks-8c

Cox Qs-Qh

"Ocho, ocho, ka!" cried LAPT Vina del Mar runner-up Vincenzo Gianelli from the audience, calling for an 8-8-K flop for his friend.

Unfortunately for Emperador, it came down Td-5h-3s, leaving him drawing to the three remaining kings in the deck.

"Ka! Ka!" called Gianelli as the dealer burned and turned... the Ad.

"KA! KA!" he shouted again to the poker gods, or anyone who would listen.

The river, though, was the Ah, and Emperador hit the rail, collecting $5,000 for his efforts today. It's also worth noting that he arrived at this final table with only ten big blinds and was able to parlay that short stack into a 4th place finish.

7:25pm--Updated chip counts

Seat 1: Rory Cox (USA) 1,300,000
Seat 3: Pavel Naydenov (USA) 600,000
Seat 4: Helen Prager (USA) 250,000
Seat 5: Leonardo Emperador (Venezuela) 120,000

7:19pm - Steven Thompson eliminated in 5th place ($3,000)

On the first hand back from the break, Steven Thompson got his remaining 22,000 in the middle and got three callers in Rory Cox, Pavel Naydenov, and Helen Prager.

The flop came down Kd-7h-6h. Naydenov and Prager checked, while Rory put out a bet. A few groans came out of the audience as Naydenov and Prager gave up their hands.

Cox 6d-8d

Thompson 9h-Td

Cox had paired his six, but Thompson could double up with an eight, a nine or a ten. The turn fell the 7c, pairing the board and giving him even more outs with the three remaining kings, but the river was a blank, the 2h, and Cox raked in the pot, sending Thompson to the rail in 5th place.

7:15pm--Players back from break

With five players remaining, we're back in action.

Updates from the postponed LAPT Mexico final table 8,000/16,000/1,500 level will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 6:35pm

6:53pm--Herrera limps out with head high ($3,000)

A four-way pot has just sent Mexico's Martha Herrera out on her crutches.

It began when Rory Cox raised to 36,000 and got calls from Pavel Naydenov and Steven Thompson. Herrera, from the big blind, moved all in for an additional 29,000. She got called in all three places.

All the players checked the Ts-Ad-4d flop and Th turn. On the Ks river, Naydenov bet out 50,000 and got a call from Thompson. Naydenov turned up Q-T for the turned trips. That was good enough to beat Thompson, not to mention Herrera who held Ac-Kh.

Players are now on a 15-minute break.

6:35pm-- Pavel Naydenov doubles through Rory Cox

In the first few levels of this final table, Rory Cox seemed unstoppable, rolling over his short-stacked opponents with pressure poker and all-in moves. He may still be our dominant chip leader, but Pavel Naydenov just gained some significant ground on Cox via this double-up hand.

Naydenov opened for 41,000 from UTG, Steven Thompson flat-called from middle position and with the action folded to Cox in the big blind, he put the squeeze on and moved all in. Pavel called all in 210,500 and Thompson gave up his hand.

Naydenov 6h-6d

Thompson 5s-5c

The board ran out As-Th-3s-9h-8c, Naydenov doubling up to over 400,000 and for the first time at this final table, Cox found himself below a million in chips.

Just over ten minutes remain in this level.

6:21pm-- Largest pot of the day ends in a chop

Pavel Naydenov moved all in for 138,500 from the button and Helen Prager quietly declared "call" from the small blind. Prager's husband Josh looked on with rapt interest from the front row of the audience as their cards were turned over.

Prager Ad-4d

Naydenov Ac-6c

Though Naydenov had Prager's hand dominated, the Kh-Tc-3h flop left them with a good shot at a chopped pot. The 8s fell on the turn, upping that percentage even more.

Josh Prager cried for a chop as the dealer burned and turned and got his wish when the 7s hit the river. Prager and Naydenov split the pot, easily the largest of the final table thus far.

6:16pm--An autograph upon leaving

Here's a fine photo from our man Joe Giron.

Upon leaving in eighth place, Alex Brenes signed Martha Herrera's cast.

6:09pm-- Palacios' reprieve is all-too temporary as he exits in 7th place ($2,000)

Steven Thompson open-raised on the button, Bolivar Palacios moved all in from the small blind for 60,500, Martha Herrera folded the big blind and Thompson made the call.

Thompson Ad-5d

Palacios Kh-Qs

The flop favored Thompson (as you can see in the photo below), coming down 9h-6s-3c, and the Ac on the turn left Palacios drawing dead.

The now-meaningless Ks hit the river and Palacios hit the rail in 7th place, collecting $2,000.

6:03pm--Cox saves Bolivar Palacios

With only 22,500 in his stack, Palacios moved all-in under the gun. Rory Cox isolated with a big raise from middle position and everybody else folded. Palacios held Kh-9c. Cox held a curious Qh-Tc. The board ran out 4d-6d-4c-Ad-3d and Palacios doubled up. Steven Thompson remarked, "You should't have raised. I could've called the extra 6,000." Thompson left us with the impression that if Cox hadn't isolated, we would be down to six players. Instead, seven players are still in action.

5:58pm-- Herrera victorious in battle of the sixes, triples up

Martha Herrera moved all in for 46,000, Helen Prager made the call from the small blind, and Leonardo Emperador came along as well from the big blind. The flop was 8c-5s-3c and both Prager and Emperador checked. The 4c landed on the turn and was met with checks from our two remaining active players, as was the 5c on the river. Prager and Herrera turned over their hands revealing...

Herrera 6c-6s

Prager 6h-6d

Despite having the same hand, Herrera had rivered a flush with her sixes. Emperador mucked.

"So sick!" cried an audience member as Herrera raked in the pot, tripling her stack to over 150,000.

5:52pm-- New level, new blinds, same players

We're going into our fourth level of the day. Seven players remain.

Updates from the postponed LAPT Mexico final table 6,000/12,000/1,000 level will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 5:47pm

5:47pm-- Steven Thompson doubles through Bolivar Palacios

Steven Thompson opened for 39,000, Bolivar Palacios moved all in behind him and Thompson made the call. Palacios had him covered, but just barely.

Thompson Qd-Jd

Palacios Js-Jc

Palacios had his back to the table and his head bowed as the flop came down Qh-7s-2s, Thompson seizing the lead with a pair of queens. The Qs on the turn made Thompson trips, but gave Palacios a sweat as he picked up a flush draw. However, the 9c on the river gave the hand to Thompson, leaving Palacios with only 23,000 (less than two big blinds) remaining in his stack.

5:23pm-- Emperador chipping up

Leonardo Emperador raised to 29,000 from the cutoff and Martha Herrera called from the big blind. The flop came down Jh-Th-Ts. Herrera led out for 35,000, and after a bit of a think, Emperador moved all in for 87,000 total. Now it was Herrera's turn to tank, and she ultimately mucked her hand, declining to call the additional 52,000 and leaving Emperador to pick up the pot.

5:02pm-- Alex Brenes eliminated in 8th place ($1,500)

Alex Brenes open-shoved from UTG for his remaining 100,000, Pavel Naydenov moved all in behind him from middle position, and the rest of the table folded. Naydenov had Brenes slightly covered as the cards went on their backs...

Naydenov As-Qh

Brenes 9s-9d

It was a classic race situation as we went to the flop, which came down Ad-Kc-2c, pairing Naydenov's ace.

"Nueve, Alex, nueve!" called Brenes' brother, Humberto, begging for a nine.

The turn, though, came the 7h, and the river the 4s, sending Brenes to the rail in 8th place.

4:51pm--Updated chip counts

Seat 1: Rory Cox (USA) 1,200,000
Seat 3: Pavel Naydenov (USA) 110,000
Seat 4: Helen Prager (USA) 410,000
Seat 5: Leonardo Emperador (Venezuela) 200,000
Seat 6: Steven Thompson (Costa Rica) 127,000
Seat 7: Bolivar Palacios (Panama) 120,000
Seat 8: Martha Herrera (Mexico) 130,000
Seat 9: Alex Brenes (Costa Rica) 145,000

4:50pm--Players returning from break

With eight players remaining, we're coming back to 6,000/12,000/1,000 blinds.

Updates from the postponed LAPT Mexico final table 5,000/10,000/1,000 level will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 4:30pm

4:30pm--Level ends with eight players remaining

After two hours of play, only Victor Ramdin has found the rail. Everyone else is still in action. We're on a 15-minute break.

4:24pm-- Martha Herrera doubles through Bolivar Palacios

With the action folded to Bolivar Palacios in the small blind, he put in a raise to 32,000, only to be met with an all-in reraise for an additional 82,000 from Martha Herrera. Palacios made the call, Herrera's tournament life on the line.

Palacios 5s-6c

Herrera Ac-3c

The board ran out Ks-Jh-3h-Kh-8d and Herrera survived, making two pair kings and threes.

4:10pm--Thompson may be crippled, but he's still breathing

Crippled, Stephen Thompson moved all-in for 30,000 and got a call from Leonardo Emperador. Emperador called to see Thompson's Ah-6h. Emperador held Jh-Tc.

"Steven's tournament life is on the line," tournament director Mike Ward announced.

"Once again!" Thompson exclaimed. "I'm the only one putting action the table!"

The flop came Ac-9c-2h.

"There's the ace," Thomson exhaled.

The 2d on the turn gave Thompson the hand. Then ten on the river meant nothing except a bullet Thompson never had to dodge.

3:55pm-- Bolivar Palacios cripples Steven Thompson

Stephen Thompson made it 35,000 to go and Bolivar Palacios made the call. The flop came down Qc-9c-4c. Palacios moved all in for 92,000 and got a quick call from Thompson.

Thompson Ac-Jh
Palacios As-Ad

It was Thompson with the nut flush draw and Palacios with the made pair of aces as the dealer burned and turned the 8d, giving Thompson even more outs with a straight draw. He now needed a ten or a club, but the Qs landed on the river, Bolivar's aces holding up to double his stack. Thompson was left crippled, with less than 40,000.

3:48pm - Martha Herrera doubles through Leonardo Emperador

Martha Herrera was handicapped in more ways than one coming into this final table, not only with the second-shortest stack, but with a broken right leg, which sits propped up on a white upholstered cube next to her chair in the eight seat.

Leonardo Emperador made it 21,000 to go pre-flop and Herrera moved all in for 50,500. Alex Brenes went into the tank for a bit before deciding to fold, and Emperador made the call.

Emperador Ah-8d

Herrera Ac-Ks

Herrera kept her significant lead on the Td-4c-2h flop. The 4h on the turn paired the board and the river was the 5d, Herrera doubling up to over 100,000 on the hand.

3:32pm-- Victor Ramdin eliminated in 9th place ($1,000)

Victor Ramidin moved all in from the cutoff and Helen Prager quickly made the call from the small blind.

"Do I get a lifeline?" he laughed as he turned up his hole cards.

Ramdin Jd-6d

Prager As-7s

As Ramdin revealed his hand, several players on the other side of the table confessed to folding a jack.

"Thanks for the information, guys" quipped Ramdin dryly.

The flop was Td-7h-4h. As the Kc landed on the turn, the good-natured Ramdin stood up from his chair, resigned to his fate. The river was the Kd, eliminating him in 9th place. After shaking hands around the table, the Team PokerStars Pro took a seat in the audience to watch the rest of the action play out.

3:30pm--Blinds up

We're now up to 5,000/10,000/1,000.

Updates from the postponed LAPT Mexico final table 4,000/8,000/500 level will be posted here and come courtesy of live bloggers Brad Willis and Change100.

Click refresh to see the latest updates.

Last update 3:23pm

3:23pm--Chip count update

Seat 1: Rory Cox (USA) 1,100,000
Seat 2: Victor Ramdin (USA) 70,000
Seat 3: Pavel Naydenov (USA) 120,000
Seat 4: Helen Prager (USA) 350,000
Seat 5: Leonardo Emperador (Venezuela) 160,000
Seat 6: Steven Thompson (Costa Rica) 190,000
Seat 7: Bolivar Palacios (Panama) 160,000
Seat 8: Martha Herrera (Mexico) 60,000
Seat 9: Alex Brenes (Costa Rica) 110,000

3:18pm-- But what was the other card?

Victor Ramdin moved all in for 44,000 and the action was folded to Alex Brenes in the big blind.

"I don't mind a call. I like the action!" laughed Ramdin as Brenes mulled his decision.

Brenes ultimately folded and Ramdin flashed a six as he raked in the pot.

3:15pm--Clean up on aisle 8!

We're not going to call any names, but somebody spilled a bottle of Coke that say between Alex Brenes and Martha Herrera. The folks from the Mantra Hotel and Casino were Johnny-on-the-spot with a mop. The ESPN crew is finishing up with some paper towels. If that's the worse mess of the week, we'll all do just fine.

3:08pm-- Steven Thompson doubles through Rory Cox

Steven Thompson raised to 25,000 from under-the-gun, Rory Cox reraised to 75,000 and Thompson made the call. The flop came down 8h-5c-4c. Thompson immediately moved all in for his remaining 57,000 and Cox just as quickly called.

Thompson 5h-5s
Cox 9h-9s

The turn fell the Jh and the river the 6h, Thompson earning a double-up to 264,000 with his set of fives.

2:58pm-- More for Rory

In this latest episode of the Rory Cox Show, Alex Brenes put in an opening raise to 22,000 from the cutoff, only to have Cox, sitting on the button, ask him for a count. Brenes let him know he had about 100,000 behind, prompting Cox to move all in. Both blinds folded and after a long think, Brenes also elected to fold. Score another one for Rory!

2:49pm -- Cox, Cox, Cox

In a continuation of the last update, the name Cox keeps coming up. In the latest hand, Rory Cox raised to 19,000, Leonardo Emperador called, and Alex Brenes called from big blind. The flop came 4d-J-c-2d. Brenes checked, Cox continued for 38,000 and Emperador called. Both players checked the deuce on the turn. When another deuce fell on the river, Cox bet 40,000 and got a fold from Emperador.

2:43pm - Cox puts the pressure on

Rory Cox, who has the rest of the table outchipped by nearly three to one, is already weilding his monster stack like a sledgehammer. Cox opened for 19,000 and with the action folded to the final table's second-largest stack Helen Prager, she put in a reraise to 40,000. With the action back on Cox, he moved all in for his entire million-plus stack, forcing Prager to give up her hand and wait for a better spot.

2:39pm--Hobbled

Martha Herrera only has one foot on the ground right now. The lady from Mexico who won a single table satellite among friends to get into the event in the first place managed to break her leg between the event and now. Her right leg is currently propped up on a white table. The ESPN crew is doing its best not to whack the cast with their big cameras.

2:26pm--Postponed no more

After a three month break and 5,000 trip to the south, the LAPT Mexico final table is underway.

2:18pm--Is this a misprint?!!!

Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin just stood next to the final table in disbelief. "Is this a misprint?" he asked. He was looking at Rory Cox's 1,074,500 chip count.

Nobody else has more than 330,000 chips. You might see how Ramdin would be concerned.

Ramdin was, of course, joking. When this event ended online at PokerStars, Cox had run over the final two tables and absolutely eviscerated everybody. His chip count is for real. Now it's time to see what he does with it.

2:13pm--Players taking their seats

The players are taking their seats. We expect play to begin within the next 20 minutes or so.

1:30pm--Action scheduled to begin at 2:00pm

Action for the postponed LAPT Mexico final table is scheduled to begin in just about half an hour. Click on our prizes page to see what the players will win.

Here is who will be in action.

Seat 1: Rory Cox (USA) 1,074,500
Seat 2: Victor Ramdin (USA) 104,000
Seat 3: Pavel Naydenov (USA) 80,000
Seat 4: Helen Prager (USA) 326,500
Seat 5: Leonardo Emperador (Venezuela) 284,000
Seat 6: Steven Thompson (Costa Rica) 135,500
Seat 7: Bolivar Palacios (Panama) 128,500
Seat 8: Martha Herrera (Mexico) 88,000
Seat 9: Alex Brenes (Costa Rica) 154,500

Join us here for live blog action when play begins.

While we ready ourselves to live blog the LAPT Mexico final table and kick off the LAPT Punta del Este event here in Uruguay, we thought you might enjoy some fantastic coverage of Sunday's big PokerStars events.

PokerStars.tv is back with two brand new episoides of The Online Poker Show.

We never want to spoil the action for you, so we won't tell you who won this weekend. If you'd like to read ahead, feel free to check out either of our two final table reports below.

Sunday Million 3-15-09 final table report

Sunday Warm-Up 3-15-09 final table report

If you'd like to go in fresh, just click on any of the two videos below and see how the big winners did it.

Watch Online Poker Show P1: Sunday Million - Mar 15, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

Watch Online Poker Show P2: Sunday WarmUp - Mar 15, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

PokerStars All Star week is almost upon us and we're just starting to learn who will make up the All Star Team and face off against Team PokerStars Pro.

All Star Week will run from March 23 to 29, when PokerStars will be hosting a series of heads up matches between a brand new All Star team and Team PokerStars Pro.

The All Star team is made up of people who have won a 2008 Sunday Million event, final tabled WCOOP tournaments, finished high on the Tournament Leader Board, or made it to Supernova Elite. PokerStars also offered up to two wildcards from people who won through a special $11 All Star Week qualifying tournament.

Each day this week. starting last night, the 20 members of the All Star team play a mini-tournament, with the top five finishers each day getting to play Team Pro in the heads-up fixtures exactly one week later.

Last night. PokerStars player 'Sumpas' had the chip lead when five were left, and he got first choice of which Team Pro to play - and picked Vicky Coren in the opening match of the competition at 12:00 ET next Monday.

The next choice went to second-placed finisher 'bluffblocker who picked Dennis Phillips in the 20:00 ET slot. 'KAmIkAdZeEe' took his time deliberating before finally settling on playing Lee Nelson at 14:00 ET. 'PKerBL' was in a hurry to get off to work, and just before he signed out he chose to take on Isabelle Mercier in the 18:00 ET match.

By default 'Bookie1978' filled in the final match for the Monday of All Star Week, the unenviable match against Chad Brown in Seven Card Stud. 'Bookie1978' admitted he has very little Stud experience. The team will have the option to discuss the line-up and possibly make tactical changes. It may be that 'Bookie1978' chooses to let another member of the team play in his place.

For full information on the promotion, be sure to check out the PokerStars All Star Week page.

You might have heard about PokerStars Macau. You may think you know everything about it. Well, now, there is a brand new room in a brand new place and it bears some attention this morning.

This weekend, PokerStars will host the grand opening of PokerStars Macau at the Gran Lisboa. The room on the second floor of the famous hotel in Macau will be the biggest poker room in continental Asia. PokerStars Macau will hold 22 tables for tourney action and 24-hour cash games.

PokerStars Macau at the Grand Lisboa will also host the largest regular weekly poker tournaments in Asia, the premiere "Macau Poker Cup" series every other month, and the annual Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau Poker Festival. Freerolls will be available every week, as well as exciting events for poker players of all skill levels - from amateur to professional. Players can register or qualify online for all events, or live within the poker room.

The opening on the weekend of 19-22 March will celebrate the return of the "Macau Poker Cup" and its signature HKD 10,000 buy-in "Red Dragon" event. For the first time ever, the Red Dragon will have a guaranteed minimum prize pool of HKD 500,000. Numerous other events will be held during the Macau Poker Cup, including a HKD 1,000 buy-in charity event the proceeds of which will be donated to Caritas Macau.

To find out more about PokerStars Macau at the Grand Lisboa, visit it's website at www.pokerstarsmacau.com.

Though you may not have realized it yet, we're in Uruguay. We'll tell you more about this fine country in just a bit, but for now, we have a bit of news on our hands.

A few months back you might have seen that the LAPT event in Mexico had to be postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. Now, three months later and more than 5,000 miles away, the final table will finally play out. What's more, it's going to finish up with some pretty big names, not the least of which is Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin.

Beginning tomorrow at 2pm local time (that's ET + 1 hour), the final nine players from LAPT Mexico will sit down under the television lights and play for the title.

If you follow the LAPT at all, many of these names are going to be familiar to you.

Rory Cox (USA) 1,074,464
Helen Prager (USA) 326,235
Leonardo Emperador (Venezuela) 283,309
Alex Brenes (Costa Rica) 154,465
Steven Thompson (Costa Rica) 135,006
Bolivar Palacios (Panama) 128,260
Victor Ramdin (USA) 103,576
Martha Herrera (Mexico) 87,600
Pavel Naydenov (USA) 79,585

In truth, we came all this way to watch the LAPT Punta del Este event play out starting on Wednesday, but since we're here we figured, "Hey, why not live blog the Mexico final table!" And, so we will.

As for this beautiful place in South America, we're still getting acclimated to the summer temperatures, rolling hills, and colorful gardens. We're also trying to shake off about 23 hours worth of travel. Once we get a feel for the place, we'll introduce you properly.

In the meantime, plan to join us here at 2pm Tuesday for the Mexico final table.

German ShootingStar Sandra Naujoks showed just how much you can win with PokerStars when she took down EPT Dortmund last week - her home event - for €917,000. This week, hundreds more players will gather to chase another big prize, this time across the globe at the PokerStars LAPT event in Punta del Este, Uruguay (you can catch all the action right here).

Yet while PokerStars' live tournaments continue to push the poker boundaries, our online Sunday majors remain the staple of every serious player's diet.

Many will be happy they feasted at our tables this weekend, none more so than Iceman1278 who topped exactly 8,000 others to win the Sunday Million and take home just under $200,000.

Also celebrating a great result is icallseat3, who scooped the Sunday Warm-Up, pocketing $111,249.60.

Congratulations to everyone who finished in the money this weekend.

It was one week after Americans adjusted to Daylight Savings Time, the adjusting of the time to allow for one extra hour of daylight in the evenings through the spring and summer months. Most have adjusted well. But just in case some had not, PokerStars pushed the starting time up an extra hour to accommodate them. That allowed the players out of the gate at 5:30pm Eastern Time and made for another late night/early morning tournament.

When it got underway and registration closed, there were 8,001 runners in the event, which allowed the prize pool to sail past the $1.5 million guarantee to a sizable $1,600,200 number. And as the first hours of the tournament went by, the money bubble edged closer. Ultimately, it was Turbo_JC who left the event on the money bubble in 1171st place, making way for Haligon to cash for $320.04 in 1170th place. And on the remaining players went, looking for a shot at the final table.

As the time closed in on 3am ET, the players at the final two tables were faced with some tough decisions. Money jumps were getting serious, and the coveted spot at a Sunday Million final table was in sight. Finally, though, Table 868 produced the last elimination before reseating. It was SpotLIGHT19, the short stack at that table, who pushed all-in preflop with Qs-Tc, but Iceman1278 called with pocket sixes. The board ran out Jd-7d-2d-Ah-7h, and SpotLIGHT19 exited in tenth place on the final table bubble, which was worth $8,001.00.

That left the final nine to compete for the big money, starting with chips and a seating arrangement as follows:

Seat 1: kendog39 (2,967,891 in chips)
Seat 2: JLande (6,975,660 in chips)
Seat 3: pokerbrat13 (5,343,928 in chips)
Seat 4: TheCronic420 (9,472,220 in chips)
Seat 5: Brendan42 (2,953,483 in chips)
Seat 6: Iceman1278 (13,610,483 in chips)
Seat 7: vietcong01 (13,521,196 in chips)
Seat 8: WhatArunAA (7,955,854 in chips)
Seat 9: bayleesmom (17,209,285 in chips)

Only a few hands in, a player was out. Two players - bayleesmom and kendog39 - who went to see a flop of Jc-9h-8s, at which point kendog39 pushed all-in for his last 1,287,891 chips. bayleesmom called with pocket aces, and kendog39 showed only pocket fours. The turn brought Kh and the river Tc to end kendog39's run at a title. The ninth place finish was good for $11,201.40.

Some changes took place in chip rankings over the next few rounds of play, as TheCronic420 doubled through vietcong01 and Brendan42 doubled through JLande.

Eventually, one of the shorter stacks made a move. pokerbrat13 pushed all-in preflop for little more than 3 million chips, and Iceman1278 reraised all-in to isolate. It worked, and Iceman showed his pocket aces to the Jc-Td of pokerbrat13. The board came Ts-As-4c-6d-3c, and the set of aces won, sending pokerbrat13 out in eighth place with $18,402.30.

JLande had been unable to gather much momentum throughout the final table and finally made the final push for just less than 5 million chips with Ac-4s, but Brendan42 woke up with pocket jacks in the big blind and called. The board didn't bring enough to save JLande when it ran out 6h-7c-9d-Ts-4d, and JLande was ousted in seventh place with $28,003.50 for the effort.

The next significant hand came rather quickly but didn't heat up until after the flop. It was vietcong01 who raised preflop from early position and Iceman1278 who called from the big blind to see the 9c-3s-5d dealt. vietcong01 led out with a bet, but when Iceman1278 raised, vietcong01 called all-in. Iceman1278 showed Jc-3d for bottom pair, and vietcong01 turned over Ac-Jd for ace high. The 8d on the turn and 4h on the turn changed nothing, and vietcong01 was out in sixth place with $40,805.10.

And then play slowed. Railbirds likely napped while the five remaining players hesitated to get too involved in any one pot. It took awhile, but Brendan42 finally doubled through WhatArunAA, and then challenged bayleesmom to a duel that ended in a chopped pot. bayleesmom then doubled through Iceman1278 to stay alive.

WhatArunAA wasn't able to come back to life and put it all on the line preflop with Ac-6d from the big blind. Brendan42 was there with pocket jacks and the call, and the board blanked for WhatArunAA with 3s-9s-Qc-2h-Kh. That left WhatArunAA with a nice run and fifth place finish, which was good for a $56,807.10 cash.

It was bayleesmom to make another double-up attempt, doing it with an all-in preflop move holding Ac-Td. But TheCronic420 was there with none other than pocket jacks, and the two watched the board come down 3s-6c-4c-8c-Qh. bayleesmom was finished in fourth place with $72,809.10.

The final three players paused the game in order to look at chip-chop numbers, but TheCronic420 with a substantial lead over the other two didn't like the $147,746.16 offered. Asking for $180K and not getting it, play resumed with no deal in place.

Not long after, Brendan42 pushed all-in preflop with pocket fours, but TheCronic420 called with - you guessed it - pocket jacks. And the board liked it so much that it added to the winning hand by producing 8h-Td-3c-Jh-Th to give TheCronic420 the full house. That left Brendan42 eliminated in third place with $89,611.20.

Heads-up play began with the following counts:

Seat 4: TheCronic420 (56,024,849 in chips)
Seat 6: Iceman1278 (23,985,151 in chips)

Iceman1278 launched into aggressive mode with several all-in moves, putting the pressure on TheCronic420, who was unable to call most of the time. Iceman1278 chipped up slowly, finally taking over the chip lead briefly, though TheCronic420 was able to take it back. But the pressure of the shorter stack remained on, leading to an all-in move for Iceman1278 with Ac-5h versus the Ah-Qs of TheCronic420, but a 5 appeared on the flop for the double-up and catapult into the chip lead.

But TheCronic420 was not done, taking the lead back a short time later. Chip stacks stayed nearly even for quite awhile after, but Iceman1278 ultimately took a lead that TheCronic420 couldn't overcome. The final hand saw quite an interesting play-out, as it started with a cheap flop of 3c-Kd-7c. Both checked to see the Kh on the turn. TheCronic420 bet at it, but Iceman1278 check-raised, and TheCronic420 called. The 6h on the river saw Iceman1278 betting first and TheCronic420 pushing all-in for 15,449,816 with 9c-7s for a pair. But Iceman1278 gladly called holding Kc-6d for the full house and the win. TheCronic420 finished in second with $132,176.52.

Iceman1278 won the 3/15 edition of the Sunday Million, and with the title of champion came $196,024.50 as a reward. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 03/15/09:

1st place: Iceman1278 ($196,024.50)
2nd place: TheCronic420 ($132,176.52)
3rd place: Brendan42 ($89,611.20)
4th place: bayleesmom ($72,809.10)
5th place: WhatArunAA ($56,807.10)
6th place: vietcong01 ($40,805.10)
7th place: JLande ($28,003.50)
8th place: pokerbrat13 ($18,402.30)
9th place: kendog39 ($11,201.40)

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

The Daylight Savings Time edition of the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up drew an impressive 4,312 entrants, once again blowing through the $750K guarantee to build a prize pool of $862,400. Add that to the $1.6 million prize pool for the Sunday Million, and PokerStars had nearly $2.5 million in two major tournaments this week. It took all afternoon, but shortly after the tournament moved past the eight-hour mark, the final table was set.

It was just a few hands into the final table when mad.afurable pushed his stack into the middle, with shabbyglass and bechis both calling. The live players checked down the board of 7s-10s-6h-Jc-9s, at which time bechis showed Ah-8h for the Jack-high straight. Shabbyglass mucks, and mad.ufarable becomes the first casualty of the final table, picking up $6,985.44 for his 9th-place finish.

A big three-way all in confrontation greeted the players coming back from their first break. Sebure moved all in from the hijack with As-Qd, only to find action from big stacked bechis in the cutoff and MJOS in the small blind. Bechis had the slight edge preflop with 4h-4c, but when the board ran out Js-2h-Ks-9s-6d, it was MJOS who held the winning hand with Ah-Kh, good for the pot and the triple up. Sebure picked up $10,780 for 8th place.

Not only did schokonugget run into a major cooler when his pocket kings ran headlong into bechis' pocket aces, but the board added insult to injury as it came down 2c-4h-As, flopping a set for bechis and leaving schokonugget needing to draw perfect to stay alive. He was drawing dead on the 10d turn, and when the 8d was the irrelevant river card, schokonugget was done in 7th place ($17,248). KAMUK000 also fell to pocket rockets, this time in the hole for icallseat3, who raised preflop with aces from early position. KAMUK000 was the lone caller, and the two went heads-up to the Qh-2s-7s flop. Icallseat3 led out at the flop, and KAMUK000 moved all in over the top with Ks-5s for the naked flush draw. No spade on the 7d turn or the 10d river, and KAMUK000 was done in 6th place ($25,872).

Icallseat3 continued his run when he won a big coin flip against shabbyglass to send shabbyglass packing in 5th place ($34,496). After shabbyglass raised preflop with 8c-8h from early position, icallseat3 moved all in over the top with As-Qs. The flop swung the pendulum to icallseat3 as it came down 3c-Ac-9c, but shabbyglass had plenty of club outs to stay alive. The 7s on the turn was no help, and the 6s on the river sealed the deal as icallseat3 extended his chip lead.

Pocket eights worked out significantly better for bechis when his 8h-8c moved all in preflop. He found action from MJOS with Jd-Jc, and was drawing thin preflop, but when the flop landed Qs-Qc-8d, bechis had flopped a full house and it was MJOS who was looking for help. The turn and river did not oblige, as they ran out 4d-Ad, and MJOS was done in 4th place ($43,120).

Three-handed play lasted almost as long as the rest of the final table, as the three survivors feinted and jabbed and avoided big confrontations. Finally, it all came down to a coin flip as shaaarrrp moved all in preflop with 4s-4h. Icallseat3 called from the big blind with Ad-Jd, and the flop came down 6c-8c-9d. Icallseat3 picked up more outs when the turn brought the Qd, and he only needed a diamond, ace or a jack on the river to move one step closer to payday. The river brought the Ac, and Shaaarrrp was done in 3rd place ($51,744) as heads up play began.

After the marathon of three-handed play, it took only three hands of heads-up action for icallseat3 to end the tournament. Starting heads-up play with a massive chip lead, icallseat3 wasted no time calling bechis' preflop all in. Bechis tabled Ah-5h, and was looking for help against icallseat3's pocket tens. The flop brought some help in the form of a five, coming down 8d-Qh-5d. The turn was a useless 2h, and bechis needed a five or and ace on the river to stay alive. The river brought the Jc instead, and bechis was done in 2nd place for $77,616.

Icallseat3 put on a great display of solid poker at the final table, finishing off his last two opponents within four hands of each other on his way to a Sunday Warm-Up victory and the $111,249.60 top prize. Congrats to icallseat3 and all our final table players!

Two years ago at the Victoria Casino in London, Vicky Coren triumphed on home soil to become the first woman to win an EPT main event. Coren remained alone until about an hour ago at Hohensyburg Casino, Dortmund, when Sandra Naujoks, a PokerStars.de ShootingStar, joined her in the exclusive club, winning €917,000 and the latest EPT championship.

Naujoks, 27, took the lot after a tense heads up finale against countryman Holger Kanisch. An all-in with aces over jacks gave Naujoks the momentum and despite a battling comeback from Kanisch, Naujoks never looked like letting go.

With their chips in the middle pre-flop for the last time, and the stacks close to even, Kanisch was ahead, A-Q over Naujoks' A-9. An ace landed on the flop changing nothing but the crucial nine hit the turn making Naujoks the champion.

Holger Kanisch

A modest Naujoks seemed awkward winning thanks to a well-timed dash of luck, but Kanisch, who had also played the tournament of his life, picking up €533,000, was as gracious in defeat as Naujoks was humble in victory. She lifted the winner's trophy to rapturous applause.

Sandra Naujoks

"It was sick. I don't really know what I feel," she told the EPT host Kara Scott moments after the last hand. "I'm exhausted." She added later: "I can't believe it. It's such a great feeling to win my home EPT."

It's been a week to remember for the Germans and the final table here did nothing but live up to local expectation. Marc Gork finished third, completing a German one-two-three and giving the home-town railbirds something to cheer about in what has been the largest EPT event of the year outside of the PCA.

It had been a final table loaded with possibility. The Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson fell short of a first title on his third final table. He finished in seventh place for €116,500. Luca Pagano made a record-breaking tenth cash en route to the final but also came up short, finishing in an exhausted sixth place for €153,000.

Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson

Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano

As well as Johan Storakers, an EPT veteran who recorded his best finish, collecting €237,000 for fourth place, there was also the matter of a certain Mike McDonald.

The 19-year-old, who famously became the youngest ever EPT winner in this very room 12 months ago, spent periods this afternoon dominating the table, a succession of all-in moves refilling the tanks after a coin-flip went awry against Kanisch, costing him his earlier momentum.

Mike McDonald

But hope for an historic second title was quashed by Naujoks who came alive after the dinner break and jumped into the lead. While McDonald exited in fifth place for €197,000, she survived a few knocks and eliminated Gork to go heads up.

Gork was the oddball of the final, even more so than Cengizcan Ulusu from Turkey, whose exit in eighth place followed a dramatic coin flip (we're talking literally here) that convinced him to call Mike McDonald's pocket kings with his own K-2, with statistically obvious consequences that will be talked about for years.

A self-confessed amateur, Gork, a literature student, read poetry for much of the final, ignoring the others in a bid to maintain his own concentration. It worked, albeit to the confusion of those on the rail, securing him third place and €307,000 to spend on whatever a student might need.

Tribute to the popularity of the game in Germany more than a third of the field called this their home EPT with German players picking up more than €2.1million of the €3.3 million prize pool. Sebastian Ruthenberg in Barcelona, Moritz Kranich in Deauville and now Sandra Naujoks, not to mention German winners of past seasons Thang Duc Nguyen and Michael Schultze, have proven that German poker is here to stay.

The result of the EPT Dortmund final table:

1st - Sandra Naujoks, Germany, ShootingStar, €917,000
2nd - Holger Kanisch, Germany, €533,000
3rd - Marc Gork, Germany, €307,000
4th - Johan Storakers, Sweden, €237,000
5th - Mike McDonald, Canada, €197,000
6th - Luca Pagano, Italy, Team PokerStars Pro, €153,000
7th - William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro, €116,500
8th - Cengizcan Ulusu, Turkey, €83,500

For a detailed look at how it got this way click on the links below:

Final table about to begin
Level 24 updates (continued)
Level 25 updates
Level 26 updates
Level 27 updates
Level 28 updates
Level 29 updates
Level 30 updates

Trying to imagine how the Germans feel? Count the exclamation marks on the German blog, or the tear drops of the Swedes. The Dutch stopped crying days ago, but their version of today's events can be found on the Dutch blog in all its glory.

As ever, today's photos were provided by the keen eye and expensive looking equipment of Neil Stoddart. You can also look back on any or all of the week's video blogs, as well as the extensive EPT archive, at PokerStars.tv.

All that's left is for us to say congratulations to Sandra Naujoks on what is unlikely to be her last tournament victory.

"The ShootingStars are a great team. We have so many good tournament players. My bet is that together we will win two bracelets at the World Series and I hope I win one."

She also said this:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Final Table Winner on PokerStars.tv

Them's fighting words.

Next stop San Remo for what could prove an even bigger EPT jamboree, with a beach. See you there.

Live updates from level 30 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the final table.

Blinds: 50,000-100,000 (ante: 10,000)

The final hand: Sandra Naujoks takes this one down. Naujoks makes it 300,000 to get it going, then Holger Kanisch makes it 1,000,000. Naujoks moves all in but is distraught when she hears an insta-call from Kanisch. She's right to be worried: Kanisch has A-Q and Naujoks has a dominated A-9. The flop helps nobody, but the turn is a miracle nine and Naujoks only needs to dodge a queen on the river to be the champion. The river is the 8d and that gives Naujoks the title.

A full tournament wrap is on its way.

Sandra Naujoks, PokerStars.de ShootingStar, wins EPT Dortmund, earning €917,000

10.40pm: Holger Kanisch, Germany, out in second, earning €533,000

10.30pm: Small ball
This heads up battle has now slowed right down again, with the stacks levelled right out. It could be the prelude to an explosion, but it might also stay like this for a couple of hours yet.

10.20pm: Swings
Holger Kanisch has got right up to about level with Sandra Naujoks now, the result of consecutive hands. In the first, Naujoks raised to 250,000 pre-flop and Kanisch got her off it with an 800,000 re-raise. The next hand got to the flop -- 5h-10d-6d -- which was checked and then Naujoks check-called 120,000. The river is the 4s and after Naujoks checked, Kanisch bet 500,000, which was enough to get Naujoks to give up.

10.12pm: Double up
Holger Kanisch doubles up. They get it all in pre-flop and Kanisch has it good with As-7s against Naujoks' Kc-4c. The flop has a seven on it, effectively removing Naujoks' four as an out, but then she picks up a straight draw on the turn. Still, she misses all her outs on the river and Kanisch fights on.

Kanisch: 2,540,000
Naujoks: 4,100,000

10.05pm: Dizzy heights
We have now reached level 30, where the big blind is a mighty 100,000. Revised prediction: this will be the final level.

Chip counts:
Holger Kanisch: 1,330,000
Sandra Naujoks: 5,310,000

Live updates from level 29 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the final table.

Blinds: 40,000-80,000 (ante: 10,000)

10.05pm: Slow
Sandra Naujoks has a massive chip lead heads up, but isn't prepared to give it up lightly. She's sticking to her plan and allowing Kanisch the small pots. The blinds are now going up.

9.56pm: Cooler
Jacks are pretty good heads up; aces are better. Kanisch had the former of those, Naujoks had the latter, and they held off until the seven high flop before all the money inevitably found its way into the middle. The turn and river were blanks and the aces were good. Naujoks now assumes the chip lead with about 5,060,000 and Kanisch has 1,580,000.

9.55pm: Video killed the blog star
Marc Gork was our third placed finisher, and he spoke with our video blog team:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Marc Gork Final Table on PokerStars.tv

Johan Storakers was our fourth-placed finisher. And gosh darn if he didn't talk to them there video bloggers too:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Johan Storakers Final Table on PokerStars.tv

9.50pm: Pre-flop
Sandra Naujoks has raised twice pre-flop and Holger Kanisch's has reraised on both occasions. Both times the three-bet was good.

9.40pm: A slow start
It's been a testy start to this heads up battle, with Kanisch happy to call Naujoks down without getting too cute. The first time they get all the way to the river and Kanisch's third pair nines is good. But the second time, they both check a flop of 2s-8c-6c and Kanisch check-calls the As turn. Naujoks' bet was 100,000. The river is the 3h and Kanisch checks again, Naujoks bets 200,000. Kanisch calls, but Naujoks' A-4 is good. That brings the counts close to even.

9.20pm: Battle begins
On a flop of 6d-8d-4h Naujoks bet 80,000 before Kanisch raised to 250,000. Naujoks called for a Th turn. Another 250,000 this time from Naujoks, enough to force the pass from Kanisch.

9.15pm: Marc Gork, Germany, out in third, earning €307,000
Something had to give and it was Marc Gork. He's just become our third-placed finisher after he went through the same coin-flip routine of Ulusu earlier, with similar catastrophic results. Holger Kanisch made it 160,000 pre-flop and Sandra Naujoks called from the small blind. Gork was clearly pondering whether to fold, call or shove and so decided to flip that coin. It obviously came down on the side of "shove", which he did for his last 900,000. Kanisch called, Naujoks didn't. They flipped. Kanisch had 7-7, Gork had Kd-10h and the flop came 2c-Qd-5c-Jd-5h. Gork is gone.

9.05pm: Tens to sixes
Gork bet 185,000 pre-flop which Naujoks raised to 500,000 total. Gork then re-raised all-in. Naujoks called showing pocket tens to Gork's pocket sixes. The board ran out 9s-5s-Jc-8d-2h. Naujoks doubles up.

9.01pm: Squeeze
Naujoks made it 200,000 which Gork called. Then Kanisch re-raised all-in and both opponents pass.

9pm: Getting close
Sandra Naujoks and Marc Golk have certainly become friends here in Dortmund.

8.50pm: Another level
On we go. Up go the blinds. Prediction: This will be the last level of this tournament*.

*PokerStars blog offers no guarantees as to the accuracy of predictions. May cause hypertension.

Live updates from level 28 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the final table.

Blinds: 30,000-60,000 (ante: 5,000)

8.52pm: Level comes to a close
Kanisch makes it 150,000 pre-flop which Gork calls. The flop comes 5h-Tc-5s. Gork checks and Kanisch bet 160,000. The turn came Qs which both checked for 9d on the river. Gork checked before Kanisch bet 250,000, good to take it down as the level ends.

8.50pm: Three-way nothing
Holger Kanisch makes it 150,000 pre-flop from under-the-gun/button. Both the blinds call. The flop is Qh-Js-Kc and all three players check. The turn is the 2c and all three players check. The river is the Ad and once Naujoks bets, Gork raises, Naujoks shoves and Gork calls, we all know that they're both about to show 10s. Which they do. Chop chop.

8.35pm: By the book
Curious or furious about that damn book Marc Gork has been reading? Here's his take on the whole deal...in German.

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Final Table Interview mit Marc Gork (Deutsch) on PokerStars.tv

8.30pm: Silent but deadly
Sandra Naujoks made it 200,000 and Kanisch called for a 4c-Ks-Kh flop. Both checked for a 3d turn and when an ace hit the river Kanisch made it another 300,000 to go. Naujoks thought for a while and eventually called. But she mucked pretty fast when Kanisch showed Kc-Qh to win the hand.

8.20pm: the Gork and Naujoks show
Naujoks, made it 205,000 from the small blind and Marc Gork pushed all-in from the big. A tense few minutes followed before Naujoks passed.

A minute later it's the same process, a bet by Naujoks followed by an all-in shove by Gork, only this time Naujoks called showing Jh-Th to Gork's Ks-Js. The jack hit the all club flop, a king on the turn to double up Gork, who is now the new chip leader.

8.10pm: Breather. Back
The remaining three players took a bit of a break after losing Storakers. But now they're back.

7.55pm: The final table hunt
That is the name of the new video blog from our crack team in Dortmund. Here it is:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: The Final Table Hunt on PokerStars.tv

7.50pm: Three Germans
The headline says it all. Whoever takes this one down, Germany will be crowning its third champion of the season.

7.45pm: Johan Storakers, Sweden, out in fourth, earning €237,000
This is the mother of all heaters for Sandra Naujoks. She has now knocked out Johan Storakers in another pot worth more than two million. They got it all in pre-flop and they both had the goods. Storakers had A-Q, Naujoks had A-K and the better hand stood up. Naujoks has been all in on something like nine hands out of ten since the dinner break and has won every one. She has millions and millions.

Sandra Naujoks consoles Johan Storakers after knocking him out

7.40pm: Mike McDonald, Canada, out in fifth, earning €197,000
Sandra Naujoks' amazing post-dinner rush continues and it has accounted for the defending champion Mike McDonald. Holger Kanisch got this one started by raising to 130,000 from under-the-gun. Mike McDonald pushed all in over the top for about 500,000+. Naujoks then re-raised all in and she had McDonald covered. Kanisch got out the way and the hands were: Kd-Jh for McDonald, 10d-10h for Najouks. The board was dry and the pocket pair stood up. Naujoks now has 2,700,000 and is the dominant chip leader. McDonald is dust, and we're still seeking a first two-time champ.

Mike "Timex" McDonald

7.35pm: What you reading for?
Marc Gork, reading a book at the table right now, made it 160,000 pre-flop. Naujoks called. On the flop of T-Q-J Gork made it 175,000 before Naujoks moved all-in. Now Gork put the book down, but only to spend several minutes looking thoughtful before folding.

7.31pm: Naujoks continues the charge
After taking the first couple of hands, and now she's just taken the third and fourth too. McDonald raised to 140,000, Naujoks moved all in over the top, for 500-odd more. McDonald folds. She shows pocket fives. The next hand, she is all in again and again it gets through. She now has close to one million.

7.30pm: New level
The blinds creep ever upward and there's a lot of all in poker to come during the next few levels.

Live updates from level 27 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the final table.

Blinds: 25,000-50,000 (ante: 5,000)

7.25pm: Naujoks back to the action
Sandra Naujoks came back from the dinner break and moved all in on the first hand. It worked and she picked up the blinds and antes. The second hand back, she did exactly the same thing and again she got it through. There are only two minutes left on this level and we're entering our 28th hour of play.

7pm: Getting to like this place
Mike McDonald is no stranger to Dortmund. The defending champion spoke to the video blog team earlier today...

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Mike McDonald Final Table on PokerStars.tv

6.20pm: Break
We're taking a dinner break of one hour. The prizewinners page has the latest payout details, the chip counts page has the latest counts for the five remaining players.

See you in an hour.

6.16pm: Luca Pagano, Italy, out in sixth place, earning €153,000
Pagano is done. He had been short-stacked for a while, had moved up to about 800,000 through a series of all in pre-flop shoves, but has now busted in sixth. He moved in again from the button and Marc Gork called from the small blind. They had similar stacks, but Gork just had Pagano covered. They showed their hands: pocket sevens for Pagano, A-9 for Gork. A race. The flop came 10s-Kd-4s, but the turn was the killer, the 9h. A seven did not appear on the river and the Team PokerStars Pro was knocked out.

Luca Pagano

6.10pm: Closed for business
There's a pattern developing of all-in moves. Luca PAgano did it, no takers, then McDonald did the same, no takers.

6pm: Pagano pounces
Luca Pagano moves all-in. It's folded round to Mike McDonald who doesn't immediately pass. Instead he counts Pagano's stack. That's all though. He mucks.

5.55pm: A flop!
McDonald all in, folded all round. Pagano all in, folded all round. McDonald all in, folded all round. Etc., etc., etc. But then, wow, all kinds of nothing breaks out. Sandra Najouks calls pre-flop, Pagano folds, then the two blinds -- Kanisch and Gork -- go to the flop. It comes 5d-8d-8c and it's checked all round. Then the turn is 8s and Kanisch bets 99,000 and everyone folds. That's that.

5.40pm: All in again
Sandra Naujoks is the latest to move all-in, giving McDonald a rest. Only Luca Pagano ponders a call but after a few minutes the Tema PokerStars Pro folds.

5.35pm: McDonald blitz
Mike McDonald is bossing this table now, even though he still doesn't necessarily have the biggest stack. He's realised that all in every single hand is the way to go and is doing precisely that, winning blinds and antes over and over again. He adds about 10 percent to his stack every time he does it, and even more when someone else tries to get involved.

5.21pm: Gork needs whoppa but McDonald gets supersized
Mike McDonald moves all-in with Ac-Qd for 326,000 and is called by Marc Gork holding 8s-7s. Both players stand to watch the flop, 8d-4d-Ah. McDonald is ahead and the turn card Jd gives the Canadian a flush draw which he makes on the Ad river.

5.20pm: New level
The blinds are up.

Live updates from level 26 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the final table.

Blinds: 20,000-40,000 (ante: 4,000)

5.17pm: As the level ends
Naujoks tries an all-in move and gets no contest. Then in the next hand Kanisch takes the blinds and ante with a simple pre-flop raise.

5.15pm: New/old chip leader
Johan Storakers is our new/old chip leader, regaining the top spot in a hand against Holger Kanisch. There's no action pre-flop and the two of them see a flop of 6-6-3. They both check and the turn is a queen and Kanisch bets 140,000. Storakers raises 210,000 more and Kanisch folds.

5.10pm: Naujoking
Naujoks move all in for 468,000. the only player showing any interest in calling is Gork, but he passes.

5.03pm: Gorky lark
Gork makes it 115,000 pre-flop which is immediately raised by Kanisch to 330,000 which gets an "argh" from Gork. After Gork chews on a banana for a few moments he mucks.

5pm: Through two million
Holger Kanisch is the first player through the two million mark, although it's mighty tight at the top. Johan Storakers has 1,800,000; Gork has 1,200,000. Sandra Naujoks and Luca Pagano have just more than 600,000, with Mike McDonald on something like 330,000.

4.45pm: Pagano changes his mind
Luca Pagano raises from under-the-gun to 110,000 and it seems as though it's going to get through until Sandra Naujoks reraises all in from the big blind.

Sandra Naujoks

It's about 526,000 in total. Pagano thinks, counts his chips, then says: "I think I might have to call." Then, however, he thinks and counts some more and then says. "You know what? I changed my mind." He folds.

4.50pm: So much promise
A couple of hands that show potential but then fizzle out. Luca Pagano moved all-in but got no takers, then a raise by Marc Gork was answered by a re-raise from Kanisch before Gork folded.

4.40pm: William Thorson, out in seventh, winning €116,500
The Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson will have to wait for his first EPT title. He lost a major pot to Holger Kanisch earlier and has been looking to pick his spot to double up. He shoved from the button and was looked up by Johan Storakers in the small blind. Storakers had Kc-Jd and Thorson had 8s-9h. The flop gave plenty of help to Thorson -- 7c-9s-10c, but the Ks on the turn gave the lead back to Storakers and Thorson missed his out to a straight on the river. That was the 4s. Thorson is bitterly disappointed and making his way to the rail.

William Thorson

4.35pm: Kanisch all-in
McDonald raises 105,000 pre-flop which Kanisch re-raises to 320,000 total. McDonald asks him "how much you got back?" covering the German. He then announces re-raise all-in which Kanisch calls showing Ac-Ks to McDonald's pocket tens. The flop comes Qs-Kc-Js, giving the local boy a pair but leaving McDonald with an open ended straight draw. Nothing on the turn and river to change that - 7s, 6s, and Kanisch doubles through. McDonald down to 491,000.

4.30pm: Thorson shoving
William Thorson now only has one move with a stack of less than 400,000. He's done it twice -- the all-in pre-flop shove, of course -- and he's taken it down both times.

4.20pm: Thorson takes big hit
The hopes of William Thorson have just been crippled by Holger Kanisch. All in with Qc-8s he was called by Thorson with As-Kc. All looked good for the Team PokerStars Pro on the 2d-5h-Ts flop but the 8d on the turn swung the momentum back to the German. A blank 6c on the river doubled up Kanisch and left Thorson with a little less than 400,000.

4.10pm: Break
The tournament players are on their first 15 minute break of the day. They will return to the following stacks:

Holger Kanisch 504,000
William Thorson 900,000
Johan Storåkers 1,014,000
Mike McDonald 1,389,000
Sandra Naujoks 632,000
Luca Pagano 846,000
Marc Gork 1,344000

Players listed by seat order

Live updates from level 25 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the final table.

Blinds: 15,000-30,000 (ante: 3,000)

3.58pm: Break time
Players go on a 15 minute break at the end of level 25.

3.55pm: Before the break
Thorson makes a pre-flop bet of 99,000. McDonald then raises to 300,000 before the action returns to the Swede. He thinks for several minutes but then folds as the level comes to comes to a close.

3.50pm: Naujoks getting involved
It's a relatively quiet passage of play, with few flops and little action. Mike McDonald recently made it 80,000 to play and Sandra Naujoks reraised to 230,000. That was enough and McDonald folded. Naujoks stacked up about 650,000 total. The approximate counts at the moment are:

Holger Kanisch 489,000
William Thorson 1,057,000
Johan Storåkers 1,050,000
Mike McDonald 1,163,000
Sandra Naujoks 638,000
Luca Pagano 852,000
Marc Gork 1,380,000

3.45pm: Blinds backed up
You may have noticed the blinds are not following the standard structure. This is because the blinds were pegged back a level at the start of play, making the level 25 blinds currently 15,000-30,000 with a 3,000 ante.

3.40pm: Gork and Pagano at it
the action is folded to Luca Pagano on the button who makes it 95,000. Marc Gork in the small blind raises to 200,000. With no one else involved it was back to Pagano who put a stack of blue chips on stand by while he thought things through. He glanced over at Gork, only to see Gork staring back with a certain degree of cheek. Pagano called for a flop of 7s-9s-5s. Gork immediately moved all-in without touching his chips. More thinking but Pagano passed.

3.30pm: Thorson loves blinds
William Thorson takes down two small pots back to back. The first is when he's in the big blind and Holger Kanisch makes it up from the small, then both players check the Kd-Jc-Ad-7c-Kc board all the way, before Thorson bets on the end. Kanisch folds. The next hand, it's folded all the way to Thorson's small blind before he puts in a raise and pinches Johan Storåkers' 40,000.

Incidentally, all incidences of this letter: 'å' on PokerStarsblog.com come courtesy of PokerStarsblog.nu, where there's loads of that kind of thing. (And some squealing whenever a Swede wins a pot.)

3.22pm: Cengizcan Ulusu, Turkey, finishes eighth for €83,500
A three way all-in makes for the biggest hand of the day so far. Ulusu, who had been crippled in the McDonald hand, moved in with Jh-9h, being met there by Marc Gork with pocket jacks and Johan Storakers with pocket sixes. The flop was good for Gork, Js-Qs-3s, but crucially one of Storakers's sixes was a spade, making Gork sweat. He needn't have worried. The 4d and 2d did nothing to change things and Ulusu becomes the eighth place finisher.

3.17pm: Well, it's unconventional; let's say that
This is a bonkers hand. William Thorson limped from under-the-gun plus two, and Cengizcan Ulusu raised to 150,000. Mike McDonald had seen enough and shoved all in for 572,000. Thorson folded, but Ulusu then went through one of the most extraordinary routines seen at an EPT final table. The Turk seemed desperate to call, but then maybe thought better of it, but then decided to let the Gods determine his fate. He reached into his inside pocket and found a coin, tossed it, then announced: "Call." What did he have? Well, he had Kd-2d. McDonald had pocket kings. The flop brought a two, but the miracle outdraw did not come and McDonald doubled up. "He quite literally lost a coin flip," said Stephen Bartley. McDonald doubles, Ulusu is crippled.

3.07pm: Storakers strikes
Johan Storakers consolidated his chip lead by three-betting William Thorson pre-flop and getting his countryman to lay it down. The latest approximate chip counts going into this level are:

Holger Kanisch 664, 000
William Thorson 1, 026, 000
Cengizcan Ulusu 644, 000
Johan Storåkers 1, 498, 000
Mike McDonald 629, 000
Sandra Naujoks 624, 000
Luca Pagano 1, 069, 000
Marc Gork 475, 000

3pm: First all-in
A bet of 85,000 by Pagano, raised by Kanisch who moves all-in for 510,000. Pagano thinks for a second but mucks.

2.55pm: Blinds up
Naujoks raises 50,000 pre-flop, good for the blinds and antes.

Live updates from level 24 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the feature table.

Blinds: 15,000-30,000 (ante: 3,000)

2.55pm: Thorson's
William Thorson has just taken the first sizeable pot of the final table so far. It was a battle of the blinds, with Holger Kanisch making up Thorson's 30,000 big blind. Thorson checked. The flop came Qc-Jh-9d and both players checked. The turn was the 4c and Kanisch bets 25,000. Thorson bumped it up to 75,000, and Kanisch called. The river was the Ac and Kanisch checked again. Thorson bet 105,000, which was half the pot, and Kanisch called. Thorson showed 9-4 for bottom two, and Kanisch mucked.

2.50pm: Luca's loot
Mike McDonald bet 22,000 pre-flop. Luca Pagano re-raised to 220,000, enough to take the pot.

2.40pm: Early action
McDonald and Naujoks see a flop. Ac-Th-9d both check but when McDonald checks the 7s turn Naujoks makes it 40,000, enough for the Canadian to pass.

2.30pm: Cards in the air
On the very stroke of half an hour late, play gets underway. Luca Pagano raises to 140,000 pre-flop and takes the blinds and antes. We still have about 20 minutes of level 24 to play.

The players are gathering, the cameras are flashing, the EPT trophy shines and the television stage is ready. Eight players remain in the EPT Dortmund and all that stands between them and an EPT title are seven others intent on ruining each other's day. This should make for a thrilling final with records to be broken and €917,000 up for grabs, and you can watch every hand on eptlive, with coverage about to get started.

Let's meet the players...

Seat 1: Holger Kanisch, 26, Koblenz, Germany - 661,000

Holger Kanisch is an economic science student at the University of Wuppertal but admits to spending much of his time playing online poker, $50 to $200 sit and goes, under the username 'Tonding'. He has also played a number of major live tournaments, including the 2007 WSOP main event and the APPT Macau, for which he qualified on PokerStars. Kanisch has no special plans for the final table except to finish as deep as possible, noting that the player he fears most is William Thorson. "He has position on me and is a very good and aggressive player."

Seat 2: William Thorson, 25, Gothenberg, Sweden - Team PokerStars Pro - 829,000

Thorson is one of the most popular players on the EPT. With his fearless attitude, he can terrify everyone at the table while still wearing a huge grin on his face. Thorson has had some major EPT achievements. Eliminated in sixth place at last year's EPT San Remo, he was the final table bubble boy at last year's PCA and finished third at EPT3 Dublin. Thorson career highlights also include his memorable 13th place finish in the 2006 WSOP for $907,000, and in 2007 he made the final table in the $5k limit hold'em event, winning $136,493. Online Thorson plays under the name 'William', focusing on Omaha cash games, but prefers tournaments when playing live.

Seat 3: Cengizcan Ulusu, 38, Erfurt, Germany - 537,000

Cengizcan Ulusu has been professional poker player for more than 20 years. However, he only started playing Texas Hold'em a year or so ago. Ulusu, who bought himself into the event, says EPT Dortmund is certainly his biggest tournament result to date.

Seat 4: Johan Storakers, 37, Stockholm, Sweden - 1,615,000

Johan Storakers is something of a veteran on the international poker circuit with a tournament resume dating back to 1996. The "Swedish Striker" has had more than a dozen final table appearances in World Series, WPT and other big buy-in events but, despite many appearances, has yet to go deep at an EPT main event, although he did come third in a €300 side event at EPT4 Barcelona. Storakers's biggest came in the 2008 Aruba Classic where he earned $486,000 for second place and took his live tournament winnings to over $2.5 million.

Seat 5: Mike McDonald, 19, Waterloo, Canada - 746,000

McDonald makes his second EPT final table today, having won this tournament last season, earning €933,600, and becoming, at 18-years-old, the youngest-ever EPT champion. Should McDonald win today he will become the tour's first double winner.
That success was his fifth major cash in a five-week period and the biggest of his career. The former maths student - known as 'Timex' online - also finished 14th at EPT4 Prague for €20,200.

Seat 6: Sandra Naujoks, 27, Dessau, East Germany - ShootingStar - 586,000

Naujoks initially studied German and history to become a high school teacher before pursuing careers as a graphic designer and model. She first started playing poker with friends in a home game before going on to try online no-limit hold 'em tournaments playing as "The Black Mamba". She began playing major live tournaments in 2008 and recorded an immediate success when she won the European Championship at the Casinos Austria Poker Tour, beating the Team PokerStars Pro Alexander Kravchenko heads up. Naujoks has been a member of the prestigious PokerStars.de ShootingStar team since the PCA in January but the Dortmund final table is her first EPT success.

Seat 7: Luca Pagano, 31, Treviso, Italy - Team PokerStars Pro - 1,115,000

Already the record-holder for the most EPT cashes, Pagano added his tenth in-the-money finish here in Germany, bringing his total EPT earnings to more that €500,000. His most recent major EPT result was the Grand Final in Monte Carlo last year where he came sixth, earning €337,000. The former computer programming student began his poker career using play money on PokerStars but soon progressed to real money and turned a modest deposit into a monster online bankroll. He is also hugely successful in live events and was voted EPT Player of the Year last September.

Seat 8: Marc Gork, 21, Chemnitz, Germany - 540,000

Gork is a German language and literature student who has been playing poker for four years, claiming, however, that he is "not even half a pro". This festival in Dortmund has now hosted the best two results of his career: firstly, the final table in the main event and previously the €300 satellite to win his seat. Prior to arriving here his biggest achievement was 14th place in a PokerStars Sunday second chance tournament. He said: "This is my first EPT and getting this far is really like a dream. But it's definitely made me want to play more events so I hope to come to San Remo as well."

Four years is a long time in poker. If we cast our minds back to season one of the EPT, we can probably remember the sight of a spiky-haired young Swede and a suave young Italian making quiet yet confident progress through fields of about 200 players, anteing something like €2,000 a pop. There was some raw, rude talent in each of those young frames -- and about fifteen pots of hair gel on top of them.

These days, EPT fields regularly top 600, the buy-in is up to about €5,000 and any wetness behind those two pairs of ears is just the gel. William Thorson and Luca Pagano might still be only 26 and 31, respectively, but they are veterans of the EPT, with a huge string of impressive results behind them. They are proudly decked in the livery of Team PokerStars Pro and an EPT really isn't an EPT without either of them. They are seasoned campaigners, fearsomely talented, and part of the furniture.

William Thorson, left, and Luca Pagano

It has been a genuine delight, then, that this week in Dortmund, we have been treated to the maximum exposure of both of them. Both Pagano and Thorson have battled all the way through this monstrous field and will take their place around the familiar beige baize of an EPT final table. It's the third time for Thorson, the fourth time for Pagano, but the first time they have been there together. And neither is going to need reminding that they haven't yet gone all the way to the title.

This week, though, has been the time to break records. And doesn't a young Canadian named Mike McDonald just know it. He became the youngest-ever EPT champion when he took down last year's Dortmund renewal at the preposterously young age of 18.

Mike McDonald

This year, he is back to defend his title, and defend it to the death. At the preposterously young age of 19, McDonald is now at his second EPT final table, and in with a very real shout of becoming the tour's first double winner.

Those are only three of our finalists, and the other five are really not to be overlooked either. This week in the Ruhr region has also been the time for the PokerStars ShootingStars team to shine. That hand-picked band of the best players from the German-speaking countries has already recorded a number of high-profile results, most notably Sebastian Ruthenberg's victory in Barcelona this year.

And the last nine players here ended up featuring the two most-recent additions to the team: Sandra Naujoks and Florian Langmann, the former added to the teamsheet ahead of the PCA in January, and the latter earning his stripes on the opening day of this tournament. Although Langmann would ultimately perish in ninth, missing out on the final table, he has already taken a huge step towards paying back the supporters. Naujoks takes her place on her first EPT final.

Sandra Naujoks

Also joining them on the final table is Marc Gork, a young German who has been among the most distinctive presences here in Dortmund, not only for his happy-go-lucky table manner, but also for his unique stylings.

Marc Gork

He has been mixing it up in the vocal jousting for most of the day, but has also featured in more of his fair share of photographs, owing to a pair of headphones that he clamps over his eyes, and a book of poetry that he reads between hands. Poetry. Poker. It's another first.

No one knew a great deal about the Turkish player Cengizcan Ulusu at the start of today, except for the fact that he started yesterday with only 9,000 chips, which he built up to more than 300,000.

Cengizcan Ulusu

In truth, no one still knows a great deal about Ulusu except for the fact that he has been sitting under the studio lights of the featured table all day and never once looked out of place, flustered, or anything but utterly comfortable among the sharks. He also now has close to a million in chips and would surprise no one if he could really upset the form book.

Holger Kanisch was our overnight chip leader, and he has taken a roller-coaster ride through the day, but stays in with a shot at the title.

Holger Kanisch

Kanisch has, however, yielded the chip lead today to a man named Johan Storakers. The Swedish stalwart of the European scene has enjoyed his best run at an EPT here in Dortmund, and he seems to have been enjoying every minute. He was sitting for a long time beside Andreas Hoivold and the pair of them were laughing right up until the point that Storakers knocked Hoivold out, nines holding up against A-K. That started Storakers on a roll that takes him to tomorrow's final table with more than a million chips.

Johan Storakers

Storakers has ample experience of tournaments in all countries across the globe, and will fancy his chances.

All of which nine million words is a rather long winded way of saying that this is one awesome final table lined up for tomorrow in Casino Hohensyburg. How we got there is best discovered by clicking on any of these links below, where it's pretty much a blow-by-blow account.

The teddy bears' picnic
EPT Live
Clash of the titans
All in, English style
Out, out and ... out
Shipping lanes
Langmann's long game
Italian sandwich
Luca doubles, Kellett back, Gork up
Level 20 updates
Level 21 updates
Level 22 updates
Level 23 updates
Level 24 updates

If you've survived all this English and not understood a word of it, then here's what you're probably looking for: coverage in German, Dutch or Swedish. And head over to PokerStars.tv for video blogs, archive footage, and enough poker in pictures to fill your brain and have it trickling out your ears.

All static photography comes courtesy of Neil Stoddart. And we'll be back tomorrow, along with EPT Live, for all the action from the final table. The prizewinners to date can be found on the prizewinners page, and the full final table chip counts are on the chip count page.

Bis morgen, meine freunde.

Live updates from level 24 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the feature table.

Blinds: 15,000-30,000 (ante: 3,000)

12.50am: Final eight in place
Florian Langmann decided enough was enough and pushed all-in for 170,000 with 3d-4d. Pagano called with Ac-9s for a flop of Qd-9h-4h. Pagano led with the nines. The turn came 6h changing nothing. Langmann needed a three or four but the ace hit the river, busting Langmann in ninth and leaving eight players to contend tomorrow's final.

12.40am: Gork pushes in
Marc Gork moves all-in for 252,000 with pocket sevens and is called by Ulusu with A-J. The board runs Kh-3h-Kd-9h-Td and the German doubles up.

12.35am: Inter Team Pro combat
Luca Pagano announces "raise", and puts 105,000 in the middle. It's folded to William Thorson. He re-raises to 270,000. The others back out of the 447,000 pot and it's back on Pagano. He asks how much Thorson has, 391,000, before climbing into the tank. Pagano passes though.

12.30am: Storakers dominating
Johan Storakers makes it 100,000 pre-flop. It's folded to Ulusi who counts out the call and pushes it across the line. The flop comes Qs-Js-8c. Both check for a 3d turn card. Again it's check-check. The river comes a Ts. Storakers makes it 125,000 which leaves Ulusu thinking for a while before he passes.

12.25am: Close to the felt
Florian Langmann is the short stack now with 191,000.

12.15am: Battle of the blinds
Mike McDonald makes it 80,000 from the small blind and Sandra Naujoks calls from the big making it a 187,000 pot. The flop comes 9c-Qs-Ah. McDonald bets again, 90,000 this time before Naujoks announces raise, 300,000 in total. McDonald leaves it at that and passes.

12.10am: The blinds keep on going
Play continues into level 24

Live updates from level 23 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the feature table.

Blinds: 10,000-20,000 (ante: 2,000)

12.05am: The chip leaders
Johan Storakers is the current chip leader on 1,239,000, followed by Luca Pagano on
1,036,000 and Mike McDonald on 952,000.

12am: Langmann almost finds a hand
Florian Langmann makes it 48,000 pre-flop. William Thorson re-raises to 170,000 from the small blind. Back on Langmann the ShootingStar takes his time but eventually folds.

11.50pm: The seat draw

Seat 1: Holger Kranisch - 865,000
Seat 2: William Thorson - 532,000
Seat 3: Cengizcan Ulusu - 833,000
Seat 4: Johan Storåkers - 1,243,000
Seat 5: Michael McDonald - 956,000
Seat 6: Sandra Naujoks - 493,000
Seat 7: Luca Pagano - 1,040,000
Seat 8: Marc Gork - 335,000
Seat 9: Florian Langmann - 307,000

11.45pm: We're back
And we're underway again.

11.30pm: Short break
There's a short break in the action while the last nine players are wired up for the TV table and chips are moved into place. Play should resume in ten minutes or so.

11.25pm: The last table
Waldemar Kopyl moved all-in with Jc-3d. Next to him was Holger Kanisch who called with As-6d. It was showdown time close to the TV bubble. The board came 2h-6c-2s-5s-8c. Kopyl was up from his chair shaking the hands of his table mates. He leaves in tenth place, leaving the last nine to play until one more player is eliminated.

11.20pm: Thorson on film
Still plugging away successfully is Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson. He spoke to the video blog team earlier today...

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with William Thorson Day 3 on PokerStars.tv

11.15pm: Mind games...
With just two more players to bust before the final it's hardly surprising things are a little more cagey now. The only hand of note in the last quarter of an hour involved Marc Gort and Sandra Naujoks. Gort began by asking everyone at the table if any of them had aces and betting pre-flop. Naujoks called for a flop of A-Q-2. Naujoks checked and Gort asked her if she had aces. No, came the reply to which Gort said he would raise then. Naujoks folded. Gort showed his aces.

11pm: Confusion on table two
Sandra Naujoks just doubled up, but not without a degree of drama. The hand began with McDonald betting 200,000 from the small blind. Assuming that she was covered by that Naujoks said "call" and was about to turn over her cards when Johan Storakers urged "No, no, no, no!" McDonalds bet didn't cover Naujoks, who would have 20,000 left.

So, she called instead for a flop of 6s-Jh-7h. Being a good sport, McDonald bet a measly looking 20,000, allowing Naujoks to call and giving Thomas Kremser a chuckle. Naujoks showed A-T to McDonalds Q-6. He was ahead on teh flop but not when an ace hit the turn, doubling up the ShootingStar.

10.50pm: Thorson, son of Thor
The Swedish Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson just put his tournament on the line in a pot against Matthias Kurschner on the feature table. Pah! Was it ever really on the line? Of course not. Sure, all his chips were in the middle on a board of T-6-5-K but Kurschner insta-mucked the minute Thorson shoved. It was a strange old hand. There was 122,000 in the middle pre-flop, then a check from Thorson on the flop, followed by a call of Kurschner's 100,000 bet. Then that turn came - the king - and Thorson check-raised all in, after Kurschner bet 140,000. Kurschner only had about 230,000 behind when he made the instant fold, either a sign that he had been caught bluffing with air or a certain knowledge that Thorson had him beat. Either way, Thorson is now up to more than 700,000.

10.45pm: Champ change
Marc Gork made it 35,000 pre-flop. Next to act was Florian Langmann who made it 100,000 before Mike McDonald re-raised to 200,000. Gork folded but Langmann thunk it over. A bad call would leave him with little. He passed to live another day. McDonald up to around 850,000.

10.40pm: New level
Dadda-dad-da-da-dad-dadda-dad-da-da-da! That's the sound of the level ending and the new one beginning. Sing it.

Live updates from level 22 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates here, or head on over to EPT Live for live action from the feature table.

Blinds: 8,000-16,000 (ante: 2,000)

10.25pm: By the hand of Storakers
Mykola Chornyi moved all-in with A-Q and was called by Johan Storakers with pocket jacks for a pot worth several hundred thousand to the winner. The board ran out K-7-6-8-3, changing nothing and sending Chornyi to the rail in 12th place.

10.15pm: McDonald outdrawn
Our lone Ukrainian representative, Mykola Chornyi, has just pulled off a double up against Mike McDonald. McDonald raised from the button, Chornyi three-bet all in from the big blind and McDonald called. It was A-K for the Canadian, A-2 for the Ukrainian, and the flop had both a king and a deuce on it. However, there was a massive cheer from Chornyi's friends on the rail when the river brought another deuce and McDonald lost a chunk.

10.05pm: Hoivold hounded out
Andreas Hoivold, the EPT Dortmund champion from season three, will not be returning to the winners' enclosure. The bare facts are that he got it all in pre-flop against Johan Storakers in a classic race situation. Storakers had 9-9, Hoivold had ace king and the board was dry. But the way the hand played out is worth noting, especially for the carefree and friendly manner of the elimination. Florian Langmann raised to 38,000 under-the-gun, and Storakers called. Hoivold then shoved for 160,000 more and Langmann joined all else in folding.

Then things got amusing. Hoivold and Storakers are friends as well as table-mates, and they had dinner together an hour ago. Hoivold was grinning away as Storakers faced a tough decision for pretty much 80 percent of his stack too, and Hoivold cheekily asked: "What do you have?" Storakers then called for a ruling and Thomas Kremser came over. It was all a bit bizarre as no one knew why the tournament director had been called, until Storakers revealed: "Well, he asked me what I have and I just want to know if I can tell him?" fearing a penalty if he revealed his hand, as is the case in some tournaments.

Kremser said: "You shouldn't. You can ask the audience or you can phone a friend, but you can't tell him your hand." This was all beautifully light-hearted, and Storakers then went round the table, pointing at McDonald, Naujoks, Gork and Langmann saying: "You would call, you would call," etc., etc.

In the end, Storakers also decided he was the kind of guy who would call and did just that. Langmann said he had folded pocket sixes, earning a high five from Gork, and then that the hand could actually play out. Hoivold is gone, Storakers stays on and we are down to 12.

9.50pm: Down to 13
The previous hand had damaged Jelinek's hopes and he moved in for 156,000. Luca Pagano went to his stack and made the call before the action was folded around to Matthias Kürschner. Kürschner, known as "Kürschner" on PokerStars, thought about the call for a while before passing. Pagano turned over Ah-Ac to Jelinek's Kc-7s. The flop brought some hope, Kh-Th-5h, but the Team PokerStars Pro held the only heart in play. The turn card 5s changed nothing but while the 7h on the river gave the Englishman two pairs it made a flush for Pagano. Jelinek out in 14th place.

9.45pm: "Cenghiz" on the rampage
Jelinek bet early and was called by Cengizcan Ulusu and William Thorson in the big blind for a flop of Ad-7s-2d. All three checked the flop for a turn card 6s. Now Thorson made it 50,000 which the others called for a Js on the river. Thorson and Jelinek checked by Ulusu bet 125,000. After pausing for a while both Thorson and Jelinek called. Ulusu showed Ks-8s for the winning flush. Thorson mucked and Jelinek showed pocket jacks for a rivered set.

9.40pm: Kellett culled
Richard Kellett's terrific run is over. He lost a major pot to his fellow short-stack Johan Storakers in the last level, and then shoved from the big blind after Sandra Naujoks raised from the button. She insta-called and had Ad-Qd; Kellett was behind with Ac-5c. A queen on the non-club flop all but sealed it, and Kellett heads home.

Kellett's vanquisher Sandra Naujoks, spoke to the video blog team earlier today...

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Sandra Naujoks Day 3 on PokerStars.tv

9.30pm: Fourteen left
Players have taken a 15 minute break and 15 (players, as opposed to minutes) will be coming back to see who will occupy the eight spots around tomorrow's final table. A full chip count is underway and that will appear on the chip counts page as soon as it is known.

Live updates from level 21 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates. This post will track the action in level 21.

Blinds: 6,000-12,000 (ante: 1,000)

9.20pm: Break time
Players are taking a 15 minute break. Seconds before the bell Johan Storakers doubled up through Richard Kellett, pocket kings against pocket queens in a pre-flop all-in.

9.15pm: Pagano TV
Luca Pagano is a reporter's dream: he not only gives good copy with his on-table exploits, but he's always almost impossibly approachable when you encounter him away from the game, and willing to give interviews at pretty much any time. Here, for instance, is the latest offering from Pagano, in conversation with the video bloggers earlier today:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Luca Pagano Day 3 on PokerStars.tv

9.10pm: Champ vs. Champ
Mike McDonald opened the betting at 31,000. It was folded back to Andreas Hoivold who pushed all-in for roughly 150,000. Mike McDonald thought it over for a few seconds but opted to pass.

Andreas Hoivold and Mike McDonald

9pm: Hoivold on the slide
Andreas Hoivold has an awful lot of heart. Problem is, he doesn't have quite so many chips to back it up these days. He raised to 28,000 from the cut off and Mike McDonald reraised from the button to 75,000. Marc Gork, in the big blind, dwelled but then announced that he was all in for about 480,000. Both others folded. Undeterred, Hoivold raised to 28,000 the very next hand, but this time Mykola Chornyi moved all in from the big blind. He only had about 105,000 more, and that was few enough for Hoivold to call with Ks-10s.

Mykola Chornyi

Chornyi had A-Jo and when the board bricked, Hoivold lost another chunk and is now the short stack.

8.45pm: Now Naujoks
Sandra Naujoks just survived two all-in moves. The first with A-6 was called by Marc Gork with A-2, with the result a split pot. The second went uncontested.

Sandra Naujoks

8.40pm: We're a Johan down
One of our two Swedish Johans is now out. It's the younger of the two -- Percivall -- who was ousted, running headlong into Mike McDonald. The hand played out as follows: Robert Kellett raised to 32,000 from early position and Percivall moved in for 110,000, two to Kellett's left. Mike McDonald called on the button, and everyone else got out of the way, including Kellett, who showed K-Q. That was a wise fold; he would have been dominated both ways. McDonald showed Q-Q and Percivall had a suited A-K, but the queens stood up to finish Percivall's participation. The only Johan left is Johan Storakers.

8.30pm: Key hand for Thorson
William Thorson just doubled up. The Team PokerStars pro re-raised all-in after a bet by Matthias Kürschner. The German (who came third in the Sunday Million last weekend for $130,000 under the name "Kürschner") called with A-Q but Thorson was ahead with Q-8. An eight on the river gave Thorson a full house and a stack of about 850,000.

8.15pm: Back from dinner
Players are reconvening and are about to resume level 21 after the dinner break. Not that some of them ever spent that much time apart. William Thorson, Andreas Hoivold, Steve Jelinek, Mike McDonald and Johan Storakers all broke bread together around the same table.

7.10pm: Redraw, then dinner
Two tables remain. Players are re-drawing for seats before departing for an hour long dinner break. Play is due to restart at 8.15pm.

7.05pm: Rugini all-in
Emanuele Rugini moved all in for roughly 100,000 pre-flop. Langmann passed but Richard Kellett called showing Qh-Th. Rugini, who had spent Kellett's thinking time away from teh table, returned to show Kh-Jc. The flop sapped his lead though, bringing a queen that held strong for Kellett and sent Rugini out in 17th place.

7pm: Level up
The claxon just sounded that signals the end of the level. We now go into level 21 with 17 players. The featured table, currently available on EPT Live is really special. William Thorson, Luca Pagano, Mike McDonald and Sandra Naujoks are all there.

Live updates from level 20 of EPT Dortmund are brought to you by Stephen Bartley and Howard Swains. Click refresh to see the latest updates. This post will track the action in level 20.

Blinds: 5,000-10,000 (ante: 1,000)

6.55pm: Pointless but vaguely interesting fact of the day
The last seven players eliminated have all been from Germany. If a German player falls next then the 17th to 24th pay bracket, worth €17,000 per player, will be entirely Deutsch.

6.50pm: Another one gone
Jan Collado-Fernandez is out. He moved in with A-2 for 103,000 pre-flop and was called by Florian Langmann with K-Q. He spiked a queen on the river to bust Collado-Fernandez. 17 left.

6.40pm: Long day for Langmann
On a flop of As-8d-4h Matthias Kürschner checked to Florian Langmann who bet 40,000. Richard Kellett, covering the lower half of his face with his collar, mucks, leaving the action on Kürschner who calls using two towers of reds. The turn comes 9d. Kürschner immediately announces all-in which produces a long groan from Langmann. It's 156,000 for the German to call, an option he eventually decline.

6.25pm: Your Timex is up
Mike McDonald's back-to-back championship charge remains on track after the young Canadian just eliminated Amir Sarughieh. The German player raised all in pre-flop from early position and McDonald, one to his left, also moved all in. Everyone else got out of the way and it was an Ac-10c for Sarughieh and As-Kc for McDonald. Although Sarughieh picked up a straight draw on the turn, it never came and he left us. McDonald is now up to 600,000+

6.20pm: Hold on to your Storakers
On a flop of 9-8-9 Marc Gork bet 25,000 from the button. Johan Storakers immediately pushed all-in from the big blind for 100,000. A slight pause followed before Gork called showing A-4, trailing Storakers's K-8. It stayed that way the Swede doubles up.

Johan Storakers

6.10pm: Still 19 left.
A stand off between William Thorson and Steve Jelinek, and a bunch of chips goes to the Englishman. The action came pre-flop, Jelinek re-raising to 100,000 after Thorson had originally made it 45,000. Thorson mucked. It was a similar story on table three where Marc Gork raised to 23,000 in the cut off before Waldemar Kopyl bumbed things up to 55,000. Gork thought before folding Kh-Qh face up.

6.05pm: Doubling up
Amir Sarughieh has just doubled up his stack of around 105,000, and again it is the overnight chip leader Holger Kanisch who has lost out. Kanisch raised from the button, Sarughieh reraised from the big blind and Kanisch called and showed 10c-10h. The all-in player had Ks-Qs and the flop was friendly: 2s-4h-8s. The turn completed the flush - Js, and the ten on the river was immaterial. Kanisch is at his lowest point since yesterday afternoon -- about 360,000 -- while Sarughieh breathes again.

5.55pm: Back to the action
Florian Langmann and William Thorson, neck and neck in chips, just tangled in a pot. There was betting and calling all the way to the river on a board of Ks-6s-As-Jh-9h when Langmann bet 85,000 on the end. Thorson thought for a while but passed, adding a couple of hundred to Langmann's stack.

5.45pm: Break time over
Players will be returning from their break at approximately 5.45pm local time.

5.30pm: Marc Gork runs hot
The German player -- more specific! -- the German player, Marc Gork, has just eliminated the German player -- more specific! -- the Germany player, Moritz Kranich. They got it all in pre-flop: Q-J for Kranich, 4-4 for Gork and after a four flopped, Kranich was drawing thin. Kranich will not become the first double-EPT winner, but it's another fine run from this youngster.

One player who is still on for that record is Mike McDonald, the defending EPT Dortmund champion. He spoke to our video blog team ahead of today's action:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Michael McDonald Day 3 on PokerStars.tv

Luca Pagano did his tournament hopes no harm, just doubling up his stack. The Team PokerStars Pro pushed with pocket tens, up against T-9, hitting the case ten on the flop.

Richard Kellett wins a pot against Gregor Waltemann, sending the German out. Since losing a chunk of chips earlier today Kellett has shown a stiff upper lip, climbing back into contention with some well timed moves, his pocket nines this time getting the better of Waltemann's 8d-7d.

Marc Gork in some ways breaks the mould of the average poker player. The German has been reading a book of poetry, the works of Heinrich Heine, since day one, a fine print door stop of a book that gives him the air of a quiet intellectual. He just let out the mother of woohoo's when he caught a ten that ultimately sent Nasr al Nasr to the rail.

Marc Gork

Nasr had shoved with Ad-8d which Gork called with Kd-Td. Gork joked he didn't want to see any straight flushes and all was friendly and quiet until the river card Ts sent a surge of adrenaline through Gork, big enough to power his leap from his chair.

Still going strong is PokerStars qualifier Steve Jelinek, who spoke earlier to the video blog team...

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Steve Jelinek Day 3 on PokerStars.tv

Jacek Ladny is out, quashing any hope Poland had of a first EPT winner. William Thorson saw him safely to the rail, his pocket tens bettering Ladny's Ah-Js on a Qh-4d-5c-8d-3d board.

Ladny's elimination was sandwiched by those of Alessandro Meoni (A-10 v the A-K of Cengizcan Ulusu on the EPT Live featured table) and Umberto Vitagliono. It's been another fine showing from the Italians here in Dortmund, and although a few of them have already fallen today, the Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano remains.

We're now down to three eight-handed tables, meaning 24 players are left. There are 15 minutes left in this level and then we will be in the first break of the day. That pause will allow us to conduct a full chip count and catch our breath.

Florian Langmann's shooting star continues to blaze in Dortmund. He just took down a huge pot -- something in the region of 120,000 -- and eliminated Umberto Vitagliano in the process.

The pre-flop action was unclear, as was the betting through a flop, turn and river that ended up giving Umberto's 6c-7c a straight on a 8-10-J-9-x board, but a bigger straight to Langmann, who had pocket queens. Earlier this week, Langmann was named as the newest recruit to the PokerStars ShootingStars team, the elite band of players from German-speaking nations.

He's proving once again the wisdom of that recruitment process as he makes another deep run in an EPT.

Richard Kellett may have had some chips shipped his way earlier but the shipping is going both ways in the first level. With a board already showing Js-As-8s-9s Kellett made it 60,000 which Holger Kanisch called for a 5h river card. Hood up, his head rested on his hand and a sleepy expression on his face, Kellett made it another 60,000 to go.

Kanisch wasted no time in announcing all-in, dominating the Englishman chip wise, making it a do or die decision for Kellett. It was either a hero fold or a hero mistake Kellett laid down the Qs. Kanisch didn't show.

Kellett didn't take too long in getting his chips back in, picking up the blinds and antes with an unanswered all-in.

Over on table three Andreas Hoivold opened a pot, betting 14,000 and getting two callers, one of whom, Martin Hansen, made it 31,500 on the flop of 8h-Ts-9d. While Hoivold backed down the other caller Johan Percivall pushed all-in, which Hansen called showing Td-9c. Percivall was ahead though, showing Qs-Jc for the straight. No change on the turn or river and the Swede doubled up.

The Dortmund adventure of Than Minh Pham is over, a victim of the most powerful combination of chip leader, table position, and a genuine hand. Holger Kanisch raised to 16,000 from the button, Marc Gork folded his small blind, but Pham moved all in from the big.

Kanisch snap called and showed Ah-Kh, which was dominant against Pham's Ks-10h. An ace flopped and there were no runner-runner miracles, which sent Pham to the rail...

Than Minh Pham

...where he'll now find Marco Noll. Noll actually had a decent hand when he got involved in a pre-flop raising battle with Cengizcan Ulusu. Unfortunately for Noll it wasn't quite as good a hand as Ulusu. Noll had A-K, the Turkish player had Q-Q and when a queen came on the turn, Noll was done.

Check the prizewinners page for the latest eliminations, which we are doing our best to track.

As we do that, kick back and relax with a video blog:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Introduction in Day 3. on PokerStars.tv

Naturally it didn't take long for the all-ins to begin. One of three remaining champions Andreas Hoivold holding As-Qh called the all-in of Jan Collado-Fernandez who showed Ad-3d. Not a great start for the Norwegian - the board was studded with diamonds, running Td-6d-Kc-Jd-7s, costing Hoivold more than 70,000.

Englishman Richard Kellett is another asking the question. He shoved for nearly 130,000, his stack lined up colour coded on the table as he stood behind his table. The Englishman has a few supporters on the rail ready to cheer him on as Gregor Waltemann, slouched sideways in his chair, pondering the age old poker question, "do I call?"

"I call." That answered that then. Kellett turned over pocket threes while Waltemann showed Ad-Qd.

The flop couldn't have been kinder to Kellet, landing 6c-3s-6d.

"That's what I'm talking about!" in the language of a northern Englishman. "Ship it!" he added. Everyone knew what he meant.

Falko Bertheau was next, moving all in with peanuts, holding Ks-Qs. Waltemann called him with 9c-5h, doubling up Bertheau when a queen hit the flop.

Holger Kanisch is fulfilling his brief as chip leader by getting involved in numerous pots and attempting to apply the pressure on to his lesser-equipped adversaries. Problem being, he's sitting only a couple of seats away from the player in second place, Marc Gork, who doesn't seem inclined to go anywhere fast.

The two just got involved in a pot against Marc Gork where they saw a flop of 9c-3h-Qh and Kanisch bet 26,000. Call. The 3d turned and after Kanisch checked, Gork bet 37,000 and Kanisch then folded. Kanisch still leads, but Gork is breathing down his neck.

Nasr El Nasr is also on that table, and he just picked up some chips from Richard Kellett after the young Englishman made it 15,000 to play from the button. Nasr moved in, Kellett folded, and that was that. A similar attempt on the next hand by Kellett was more successful, however, and this time the 15,000 pinched the blinds and antes.

Action has started on all four tables, and the kind of action we see at this stage frequently doesn't bear much resemblance to that which has gone before. Constantin Meyer, the short stack with only 42,000 at the start of the day, moved all in from the button after it was folded to him and Alessandro Meoni made a mandatory, if reluctant, call from the big blind.

Meyer had 6d-9s and was actually dominating Meoni's 6s-8h. The flop was totally dry -- Jc-7d-3s-2c-2s -- and Meyer doubled up.

That hand took place on the featured table, which you can watch on the live webcast currently on EPT Live.

The table also has Mike McDonald and Luca Pagano around it. Enjoy.

Casino Hohensyburg lurks about 20 minutes outside of Dortmund city centre, along a narrow country road, past fields, cottages, bed and breakfast hotels, and then a church on a wooded hillside. The building itself is something of a modern, angular, glass-heavy construction, but its location is uniquely rural for an EPT. It's a charming spot.

Through the first couple of days of a tournament of this size, it's difficult sometimes to see the trees for the wood. The flurry of activity and vast numbers of players, supporters, casino staff, reporters, tournament officials, etc., takes on a collective life of its own. It's easy to forget that poker is actually an extremely solitary pursuit, where it is every man for himself, attempting to chop through all other contenders until you stand alone, axe in hand, at the centre of a clearing.

Today we return to find a small copse amid the larger forest. More than 600 players have fallen and only 35 now remain. At the end of this crucial day, we will be left with an exclusive row of eight of the sturdiest timbers, who will return tomorrow to contest the top prizes of the final table. That makes today an exercise more in artful pruning than wanton hacking, where it's vital also to keep an eye on the hatchets aimed at your own trunk.

Enough, though, of this woody thicket. Today's business concerns the very serious business of playing down to a final table. Everyone is in the money already, but the real cash will kick in as we progress through afternoon, evening and into the night.

Among the players returning today are the Team PokerStars Pro duo of Luca Pagano and William Thorson. The first of those has now cashed more times on the European Poker Tour than any other player. The latter has never cashed without later going on to make the final table. Proud records both.

Luca Pagano

William Thorson

We also have three former champions playing today: Andreas Hoivold and Mike McDonald both won in Dortmund on the previous two occasions we have visited here. Moritz Kranich, on the other hand, won in Deauville at the beginning of this year and is clearly a wonderful new talent in the form of his life.

Moritz Kranich

All of them are looking up at the German trio of Holger Kanisch, Marc Gork and Sandra Naujoks, the ShootingStar bidding to become only the second female EPT champion. Those three are a few pips higher than Steve Jelinek, the PokerStars qualifier from the United Kingdom, bidding to add another title to the EPT's most decorated nation.

Holger Kanisch

All in all, this is going to be a fine day in the forest. And if you can't make it down to the woods today, we'll bring you all the big surprises here.

by Adam "STUDstood" Roberts

Most of the tournaments we see today are the "conventional" type, i.e. single buy-in events, with no rebuys. Although I have had success in this type of structure, I believe that for most people there is much more value in the following types of events:

To close this discussion, although tournaments are a lot of fun, and in rare cases can have life changing monetary profitability, the reality is that because of short term luck, most likely you will just lose your buy in, regardless of how well you play. I think that this high variance makes it much harder to succeed, so I try and look for some additional edge.

Remember, in a cash game, you can take breaks when the cards are not going your way, when you are tired, when the game is not that potentially profitable because there are too many good players in it, etc. You can't do any of that in tournaments.

On the flip side, though, following good habits both on and off the tables may enable you to become a successful and profitable tournament player, too.

In the meantime, you can find me in the $10/$20 and $30/$60 limit games in our Stud section, as well as in our weekend $215 buy-in tournaments for Stud games. Please check the starting times of each of those events under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or thoughts at adamr@pokerstars.com. See you at the tables!

It started 11 hours ago. I remember something about fog in the trees but everything else since is just a blur. Such was the pace of eliminations today that in that relatively short time the hopes of 216 players were wiped away, a ruthless period of pain and suffering that left only 35 to return tomorrow for a day predicted to be no less forgiving on the nerves.

Back in season three, Dortmund's first EPT was won by a crazy-haired and chatty Norwegian by the name of Andreas Hoivold, who took home €672,000. The following year an 18-year-old with gap teeth and the quirky handle "Timex" crushed a tough field to become the youngest ever EPT winner and €933,600 richer. Flash forward to now and both seem in the mood for another pop, returning tomorrow with chips, chairs and EPT history on their minds.

Andreas Hoivold

A second title is not just within the reach of Hoivold (223,000 overnight) and McDonald (336,500). Also in the mix is the recent Deauville winner Moritz Kranich. He sat with a stack the size of a wedding cake for most of the day, amassed almost unnoticed, and finished on around 200,000.

Moritz Kranich

It was so nearly four champions up for the double. Down to 36 players, the EPT Warsaw winner Joao Barbosa moved all-in with A-2, called by an opponent with K-5. The five hit the board causing Barbosa to wince slightly before leaving with a simple handshake, not being the kind to mourn publicly.

Nevertheless, having been down to 35,000 before rallying well, Barbosa records his sixth cash in season five alone, beating the previous record set by Trond Eidsvig last year and bringing his combined EPT winnings to $552,067.

Not to be forgotten are the current chip leaders.

Chip leader Holger Kanisch

Holger Kanisch ended on top with 526,500 after multiple skirmishes. Behind him are the likes of Marc Gork (441,000), Sandra Naujoks (410,000) and Steve Jelinek, the latter's day starting with only 20,000 but ending with 347,000.

Steve Jelinek

Who else has something to shout about? Well, Luca Pagano.

Luca Pagano

The Team PokerStars Pro inked in his tenth career EPT cash, ending the day on 175,000, and could easily make it a fourth final table if he carries the momentum into tomorrow. One man in his way will be fellow Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson. One of the chip leaders coming into the day, Thorson continued his relentless assault, watching others crash and burn but coming through safely himself, despite a day alongside Max Pescatori and later Pagano. Just as he did yesterday, Thorson moved all-in on the last hand, adding a few thousand more to his closing stack of 192,500.

William Thorson

In their wake lies the likes of Pescatori, the Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko, Malte Strothmann, Petter Petersson, Oscar Silow, Jan Heitmann, Julian Thew and George Danzer among others. We will remember them.

So to tomorrow. Not only will the last 35 play down to a last eight but it will all be performed in front of the EPT Live cameras, allowing you to watch the day's events from the comfort of your own home/office, in your pyjamas if you want - although clear that with the boss first.

For a warm up, to get up to speed or just to re-live happy memories, click on any or all of the links below for the events of the day:

From out of the fog
Seat open
Sharkey by name, sharky by nature
ShootingStars shot
Flops and flaps
Break time
Photo finish
Vintage Pagano
Percivall holding his own
A tale of two champions
Chips for dinner
No place for the feint-hearted
Pressure begins to show
On a tear
The Beach Boys walk into a bar: "Get a round..."
Boom and bust
Pop goes the bubble
Movers and shakers
All the fours
Easy game

Step through the looking glass and catch up on the action in Swedish, German and Dutch and as always videos with glorious sound are available at PokerStars.tv, as will the EPT Live broadcast, beamed live once play gets underway. The full counts are now available on the chip count page. You can also catch up on what prizes have already been won on the updated prizes page.

Play begins at 3pm and ends with a final eight. Will it include a former champion? Or maybe more than one? Will William Thorson or Luca Pagano close in on that first EPT title? Only tomorrow will tell. Join us then.

Easy game, this. Luca Pagano just built his stack up to about 150,000 again, courtesy of a second pair of pocket aces within the hour. This time he managed to persuade Than Minh Pham to match his shove on an eight-high flop. Pham had pocket nines and Pagano's bullets held.

The full, official chip count has now been added to the chip count page and the list of latest eliminations is also available on the prizewinners page.

There are about 35 minutes left until the end of the day. Come on, stick it out with us.

There are four former EPT champions among the 44 remaining players: Joao Barbosa, Moritz Kranich, Mike McDonald and Andreas Hoivold. That's remarkable enough, but add to that the fact that the latter two previously won in Dortmund, while the former pair previously won on this season, and you've got something that is, er, well, it's a coincidence, isn't it. Yes.

Anyway, the monstrous stacks as we approach the final level of the day, belong to Holger Kanisch (450,000 approx), William Thorson (350,000 approx), Than Minh Pham (295,000), Martin Bjerring Hansen (280,000) and Nasr El Nasr (250,000). A full count is currently underway, which will be with you shortly.

Luca Pagano remains afloat and has just doubled up to slightly more than 100,000. Aces help, against pocket sevens.

We're now entering the final level of the day.

Players are falling at regular intervals now, with the names of the latest prizewinners appearing on the prizewinners page. Where else would they be?

In other tournament news, the remaining players are now being compressed into one tiny corner of the tournament room, while a side event takes over one side of the space, and the television stage the other.

The two previous EPT Dortmund winners are still in the mix: Andreas Hoivold (210,000) is now sitting next to the British PokerStars qualifier Steve Jelinek (125,000) and the new ShootingStar Florian Langmann (160,000).

Florian Langmann

Mike McDonald, meanwhile, has just been moved to the left of one of the undisputed tournament leaders, Martin Bjerring Hansen, who has about 320,000.

Mike McDonald

Also on that table is the Turkish player Cengizcan Ulusu, who is one of today's success stories. He started the day with only 9,200 in chips but is now up to about 300,000 and is also one of our leaders.

The same applies, of course, to the Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson, who has slipped down a touch but is still looking strong with about 250,000. Thorson was sitting for a long time beside Max Pescatori today, and the video blog team caught up with them when they were both still in the mix:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with William Thorson and Max Pescatori Day 2 (English) on PokerStars.tv

It's poker's equivalent of labour, albeit without the intense pain, goo and a baby at the end. But the bubble, which can last minutes or hours, has burst after a relatively painless ten minutes, producing a healthy but sad bubble boy in Toby Newton.

Newton, from Holland, moved in for 11,300 with pocket sixes and was called by Claudio Cecchi with A-4. The board came A-2-T-J-8 sending Newton out for nothing.

The bubble bursts on Toby Newton

Aside from the fact that it means the remaining 64 players will each receive financial compensation for their efforts this week there are a couple of records worth noting.

For Joao Barbosa this is a sixth cash in season five alone, an incredible records which of course includes a win in Warsaw. Not only that it means a tenth career EPT cash for Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano, a staggering record of consistency that few will ever top.

***

One player who didn't make it quite as far as this was PokerStars qualifier Matthew Sharkey, who spoke to the video blog team earlier today...

Watch EP Dortmund S5: Interview with Matthew Sharkey Day 2 (English) on PokerStars.tv

The 72 remaining players are now aligned in two rows of tables, behind each a rail not half a yard away, making it a densely packed piece of casino real estate, with the two rows separated by a passageway two feet wide.

Maybe people are mistaking it for the yellow brick road or perhaps the last exit till Brooklyn. Maybe it's been confused with the path to enlightenment or the way to San Jose. But whatever it is right now it's the busiest thoroughfare in Europe.

This is the deal when you close in on the money. The mass of media outlets, each with an eye on the next EPT bubble boy, leaves little space to move or air to breath. Instead you must find yourself a spot and dig in for the duration.

Cornered at the far end of the room this meant hanging around the table featuring Sebastian Zink, Rolf Slotboom and Joao Barbosa.

"You build well" said Maximilian Bassil, breaking the calm.

Was he talking to Rolf Slotboom, whose stack had been assembled as a tall thin tower on top of a spiralling base? Or was it the fact that EPT Warsaw winner Joao Barbosa had somehow turned 35,000 into a new improved block worth 160,000?

Joao Barbosa

Barbosa is no slouch when it comes to building a stack, as anyone who saw his performance in Poland will testify. His power surge to three figures came on just two hands...

In the first Barbosa held K-6 off suit on the button and raised, getting calls from the blinds. On a K-8-7 flop the blinds checked before Barbosa made it 8,500. The small blind mucked but the big blind was still keen, raising to 27,000 before Barbosa moved all-in for a little more than 50,000, good to dissuade his opponent from any more nonsense.

A hand against Sebastian Zink followed. Up to 100,000 Barbosa made it 6,500 from under-the-gun and Zink called from the cut off. The flop came Kc-Jh-2h which both players checked before the 4c appeared on the turn. Now Barbosa bet 7,500 which was called for a 7h on the river. Another 17,000 from Barbosa, this time forcing Zink into the tank for five or six minutes. He called but then mucked when Barbosa showed Ac-Js.

Sebastian Zink

That took Barbosa to 140,000 which a few hands later is up to 160,000. Another candidate for a second EPT win.

Looking on with envy perhaps from behind his mirrored visor covered eyes was Dutchman Rolf Slotboom. As alluded to earlier Slotboom's ability to win chips is visibly demonstrated by his flair for ornamental chip towers. But today, his once mighty Empire State building has been reduced to a stubby Javits Center, struggling for altitude.

"On with the bag again?" asks one player, referring to Slotbooms' habit of collecting his things and putting his bag over his shoulder preparing to leave.

Rolf Slotboom

This had been coming for some time. Short stacked Slotboom tends to move his stack closer to the line, as if readying troops for an assault over the top, keeping them on the firing step ready at a moment's notice. It came soon enough, a Slotboom shove which, despite long pauses of consideration, went uncalled. Then another, bag on, chips front, eyes to the door. But for a second time no takers. Into level 15, four players from the bubble. Slotboom remains in his seat.

There's no doubt where the action table was today. And, indeed, where it remains.

Railbirds have been sneaking under the barrier to get a better view of the table featuring Luca Pagano, William Thorson, Max Pescatori and Almira Skriptschenko all day, but now they have been banished it seemed a good time to fill them in on what they were missing. Here's how a round played out in that exalted company.

William Thorson

For context: William Thorson has been at or close to the chip lead seemingly for the entire tournament so far. He is table captain and then some, with about 170,000 in chips. Both Luca Pagano and Max Pescatori built their stacks up to rival Thorson's shortly before the dinner break, but each have slid back some and Pagano, in particular, suffered a wretched few orbits just after the break, losing 60,000 in one cooler of a hand to Matthias Bruder.

Luca Pagano

Pagano had A-J, Bruder had A-9 and after two nines came on the flop, Pagano ended up doubling up the German player when a jack came on the turn and the money raced into the middle.

So, at the start of this orbit, it was actually Bruder closest to Thorson, and the full line-up looking like this:

Seat one - Vlado Sevo - 64,000
Seat two - Luca Pagano - 80,000
Seat three - Almira Skriptschenko - 60,000
Seat four - Falko Bertheau - 50,000
Seat five - Matthias Bruder - 115,000
Seat six - William Thorson - 170,000
Seat seven - Max Pescatori - 42,000
Seat eight - Amir Sarughieh - 98,000

(Blinds were 1,200 - 2,400)

Hand one: From two off the button, Thorson makes it 6,000, his usual style of keeping the pot small while maintaining unhinged aggression. Amir Sarughieh was having none of it this time, though, and bumped it up 20,000 more. Thorson seemed interested, but ultimately folded, showing A-Jo and declaring: "I think you had a big hand that time."

Hand two: Luca Pagano is on the button, and by the time the action reaches him only Matthias Bruder has entered the pot, with a suspicious limp from under-the-gun. Pagano raises 10,000 and, after the blinds fold, Bruder asks: "You want some of your money back?" referring to the big hand earlier. Pagano takes out his earphones and asks for the question to be repeated, before replying: "Just a little bit." "Raise," announces Bruder and slides in another stack of reds. Pagano goes into the tank for a long time, but eventually lets it go, inadvertantly showing Kd-Qd. "You were 60-40," Bruder says. "I had ace-jack." (Pagano later confessed that he didn't necessarily believe this claim, and was worried about the far more dominant A-Q or A-K.)

Hand three: Amir Sarughieh makes it 8,200 to go from mid position and that's good enough for the blinds and antes.

Hand four: William Thorson (big) and Matthias Bruder (small) get involved in a battle of the blinds, in an unraised pot. They check the board all the way to the river, with Qd-2c-2s-9s-4c showing and Bruder's 8-4 is massive. Thorson mucks.

Hand five: It's folded to Bruder on the button and he makes it 5,700 to go. Thorson folds and Pescatori lets it go too. "Take it," says the Pirate.

Hand six: Pescatori enters a pot: limping from the small blind after everyone else has folded. Sarughieh wants none of that and bumps it up to 20,000. That's good enough.

Hand seven: William Thorson makes it 5,000 from the cut off and everyone folds.

Hand eight: Bruder continues getting busy, raising to 6,200, targeting Pagano's big blind. Scenting that his nemesis again has his number, Pagano lets it go.

On balance, it was a pretty slow orbit for such a chaotic table, with Matthias Bruder taking the best of it. Pagano is still breathing, only not so easily as before, while Thorson continues to bide his time and size them all up.

Update: Moments after that orbit, Pagano ended up losing a pot to Almira Skriptschenko after her A-Q, under-the-gun was good against his lesser offering in the big blind.

Almira Skriptschenko

Then Max Pescatori was knocked out by Amir Sarughieh in something of an outdraw. Sarughieh had Ah-5x, which was well behind Pescatori's Ac-As. But the entire flop was hearts and the fifth came on the river to give the flush to the German.

To use nothing but poker-speak: Richard Kellett is ripping this one up. The PokerStars qualifier from the United Kingdom picked up aces four times within the first level -- three of those in a row -- and has used that spectacular good fortune as a springboard to the current chip lead.

Tournament officials recently introduced the gold chip, worth 5,000, and Kellett took a whole stack of them, worth 100,000 alone. When you add that to the eight stacks of red, worth 20,000 apiece, you have the man closest to 300,000, who is peering down on all below him.

Richard Kellett

Before it got quite so spectacular for Kellett, he talked about his tournament so far to the video blog team:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Richard Kellett Day 2 (English) on PokerStars.tv

Rudolf Zintel has had his playing privileges revoked. Zintel tabled pocket kings, ahead of his opponent's A-K. But crucially the ace was a club and with four on the board by the river Zintel was gone.

That's the fate Andreas Gülünay was dealt thanks to Clyde Tjauw Foe. Despite a crafty play with 8-4 which made two pairs on the flop, Foe had made a flush on the turn. Sympathy is never enough when you're out. "What a flop..." said Foe, but Gülünay looked too pained to hear it.

On the joy side of the debate Riccardo Mazzinelli of Italy just became the latest player to thump a table with glee, his set of nines good against Iliodoros Kamatakis's top two pair.
Shortly afterward Mike McDonald began to show signs of being mortal.

On a flop of Qd-6s-2s Kamatakis checked from the small blind before McDonald made it 8,500 from the big. The two had been side by side for much of the day and had grown accustomed to this short term rivalry. With the action back on Kamatakis he announced all-in, leaving McDonald with a decision to make.

But in keeping with the way he'd dealt with these situations all day McDonald didn't take long to call, showing pocket eights which now trailed to Kamatakis's Qc-Th.

The turn came a 5s...

"Red! Red! Red!" This was powerful yelling by Kamatakis. "Red! Red! Red!

The river, the king of hearts...

"Yes!"

The result didn't cripple McDonald as much as take the wind from his sails. His once mighty stack, which had peaked at something close to 160,000 this afternoon, is now down to roughly 70,000. Work to do for the Canadian as we reach level 14.

The plan today is to play nine levels or down to 32 players, and with 87 remaining at the end of today's level five, it seems likely we'll be going the distance. Soon-ish, we'll be entering the hand-to-hand passage of play that announces the approach of the cash bubble. One more time: while the final 64 players will all go home in profit, the player out in 65th will get zilch. Bad beat.

Petter Peterson, who made the final table in Copenhagen last month, is one of the recent fallers. And our qualifier from Michigan, Matthew Sharkey, has also been eliminated. The Dutch player Daan Slutter is another one now on the rail, after his A-K and flopped royal flush draw, couldn't beat A-J, which straightened out. The winner of that pot, which was for more than 200,000, was the Danish player Martin Bjerring Hansen, and he is now back near the chip lead.

Luca Pagano has slipped back, losing about 60,000 in two key hands. Mike McDonald also took a hit and is down to about 70,000 -- details to follow.

Players have just returned from their dinner break, where some of them took on some sustenance, some of them took on some nicotine, some of them took a brief walk and some of them -- William Thorson and Max Pescatori, for example -- merely transferred their intense on-table rivalry to a different location. The PokerStars players' lounge and a game of soccer on the Wii, to be precise. (Note Luca Pagano on the substitutes' bench.)

While they did that, the chip counters busied themselves bringing us up to date with the latest tournament standings from the 99 players remaining. Those counts can be found on the chip count page, and you'll notice that it's no surprise that Thorson was looking so composed during the break. He was the first through 200,000 and is still heading the pack.

Mike McDonald is leading those breathing down Thorson's neck, while Pagano is also right up there. And although Pescatori has slipped back a little, the three tablemates and the defending champion are still all very healthy at this stage.

Pagano stacks like this...

...Pescatori like that

For all the talk of Mike McDonald on course for a second Dortmund title it's worth remembering that Andreas Hoivold is in exactly the same position. The Norwegian, who won here in its inaugural year, pushed all-in on a hand against Jan Collado-Fernandez.

With the board reading 7d-Ks-Td-8c Collado-Fernandez made it 12,500. Vedat Akdemir, also in the hand at this stage, spent several minutes thinking about the call but eventually passed leaving it up to Hoivold to keep Collado-Fernandez in check. He did with the all-in shove. Collado-Fernandez had looked comfortable with the decisions on everyone else, but now, with the price of calling being everything he had, he spent seven minutes debating in his head, eventually passing, much to the irritation of Hoivold who showed his As-Jd.

Andreas Hoivold

"I had A-9 of diamonds," admitted Collado-Fernandez.

Two tables along fellow former Dortmund champ McDonald is brandishing a killer stack.
Iliodoros Kamatakis announces all-in with A-3 from the small blind.

"Did you even look?" asked McDonald before taking the briefest glances at his own cards and calling from the big blind with A-7. A three on the flop bailed out Kamatakis.
A similar result is what George Danzer was hoping for when he and Tobias Pickhard started building a pot. With the board already showing 7h-Kh-Ks-Jh Pickhard moved all-in. Danzer asked for a count. The call would leave him with less than 10,000 if things didn't go his way.

"It's going to be close," he said, smiling. Then adding: "I need some information from you now," in a kind of menacing way that, were it not for the grin, would lead you to think he was about to torture Pickhard.

"Ace-three, maybe the ace of hearts?" he asked, getting the silent treatment in reply. "Am I right?" Still nothing.

"I don't see you having this," said Danzer. "I call." The German turned over pocket tens.

Pickhard did have it, turning over Kc-9c.

"Oh my God!" said Danzer. The Qc on the river changed nothing. Danzer mucked, close to the felt now in level 12.

The chip count released at the most recent break showed some of poker's leading lights rising to the top of the charts: Thorson, McDonald, Pescatori, Pagano, et al.

But fear not -- never fear -- for the band of lesser-known PokerStars qualifiers. Today, a young Swedish representative named Johan Percivall is flying the flag for the internet generation. Percivall, from Stockholm, qualified for this tournament via the steps system, coming in at the $7.50 step one level. Now he is up past the 100,000 mark and looking good to make a charge on the money.

Johan Percivall

This is only Percivall's second live tournament, but he also cashed at the Aussie Millions in January, which was his first appearance in the bricks and mortar environment. He was down to around 3,000 yesterday, but cracked aces with queens and then doubled up today with kings against nines.

Scandinavia + PokerStars qualifiers has often equalled major scores on the EPT, and Percivall is could be the latest to come out on the right side of that equation.

Luca Pagano's progress through this tournament has been something of a throwback to the early seasons of the European Poker Tour. Back then, it was pretty much a certainty that the Italian would be hanging round the tournament room for long enough to secure yet another cash and we used to leave off talking to Pagano until the late stages because he was such a lock to still be involved.

Not too much has changed -- Pagano's season four culminated in an appearance around the final table of the Grand Final in Monte Carlo, a run that earned him the popular nomination as the EPT Player of the Year -- but he has slightly tinkered with his style. He plays notably looser these days, a necessary adaptation to cope with a much more aggressive general standard, but a move that has also coincided with the super-volatile Dario Minieri's appearance alongside Pagano on Team PokerStars Pro. Coincidence, obviously. (Ahem.)

Luca Pagano

That said, the performance here in Dortmund seems to have been vintage Pagano. He has been a fixture on some of the tournament's toughest tables, slogging out much of day 1b alongside Julian Thew, Marcel Luske and Nico Behling, for example. But he kept his head both down and yet comfortably above water, and watched all of them depart while he progressed steadily onward.

Now, during the third level of day two, Pagano has hit his high water mark. He has something like 120,000, the result firstly of hitting a straight to better Oskar Silow's flopped set, and then chipping up and up and up to take him into six figures.

The tournament officials rewarded Pagano by breaking the table and sending him to sit on inarguably among the toughest group to date. It features William Thorson and Max Pescatori, among others, sitting behind a combined total of about 700,000 chips. The average among the remaining 120 players is 55,000, so they are punching way above their weight.

Pagano's stats page shows nine EPT cashes to his name already -- a record, of course -- and he sits third on the all-time EPT leaderboard. Stand by, database updaters for another entry.

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Luca Pagano Day 1b (English) on PokerStars.tv

More from Mike McDonald, who just bludgeoned Dren Ukella's day to a close. Looking for a break, Ukella needed his pocket sevens to hold up against the Canadian's Qc-Jh, but was up against a queen on the flop and a bucket load of McDonald momentum.

Yesterday we mentioned William Dean's practice of taking photos of players playing pots against him, often snapping the moment an opponent folded to his raise. Well, Ivo Donev has his own shtick - taking a photo of the board after he busts out.

Ivo Donev (taken yesterday)

The dealer graciously allowed Donev to do this after his final hand of the tournament. He moved in with pocket kings and found a caller in World Cup of Poker winner Malte Strothmann who showed pocket sixes. Despite playing his "one time" chip Strothmann's six hit the flop.

"I had to call" said the sympathetic German.

Smile for the camera, Donev gone.

The remaining 147 players have just taken their first break of the day. Two levels done, 107 players busted, business as usual.

Flying highest is the Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson, who has 161,000 at the break, and is hardly under threat by the new blinds and antes of level 11 -- 600-1,200 (100). Also among the chip leaders is Mike McDonald, and that particular phrase was often typed round about this time last year when the young Canadian went all the way to final table, then the title, making him the youngest-ever EPT champion.

Jan Heitmann's spectacular rise has also continued. After taking that hit earlier with kings against the aces of Matthew Sharkey, it's been one-way traffic in the right direction for the personable German, and he now has something like 80,000. On the final hand before the break, he made a straight with 8-3. On the first hand back after it, he flopped a full house with pocket aces. A good player can play any two cards, and Heitmann is proving precisely that.

Tournament staff conducted a full official chip count of the break and the fruits of their furious tallying will be available for all to see momentarily on the chip counts page.

Meanwhile, the team of video bloggers have emerged blinking into the sunlight from their editing suite, clutching the following for your delectation:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Introduction in to Day 2 (English) on PokerStars.tv

More dramatics from various directions. Max Pescatori, complete with a bandana in the colours of his native Italy, just sent another player to the rail, little mercy shown as he stacks up 90,000 worth of chips.

A burst of anticipation must have ripped through the veins of Marius Targowski when he moved all-in on a flop of Q-8-8. Tobias Reinkemeier had come with him this far but was now visibly uncomfortable with the decision he had to make. Little did he know it was about to get worse. He called, turning over his once proud aces, only for Targowski to turn over Q-8. "Nice flop" he admitted, with casual understatement.

Max Pescatori

There are several dangerous looking tables, one of which features George Danzer, Sebastian Zink, Rolf Slotboom and Joao Barbosa. Of the lot Barbosa, the Warsaw champion, was about to make changes to his current circumstances.

Ukranian Miykola Chornyi made it 2,600 from under-the-gun which Martin Nielsen called on the button. The action went through Slotboom on the small blind to Barbosa on the big. He slid his stack of nearly 22,000 into the middle, rested his folded arms on the edge of the table and waited.

Contrary to what has been heard from others in the tournament room today Barbosa has none of the vocals of some players. While this hand plays out at least two players stood from their tables shouting "Ja! Ja! Ja!" in temporary victory. Barbosa's thing is to do the opposite, remaining calm and composed from start to finish.

Joao Barbosa

Chornyi took a few minutes to make his decision but announced "fold", not mucking his cards but holding on to them for an unofficial showdown later. Nielsen took half the time to make his mind up, announcing "call" and effectively putting himself all-in. Barbosa turned over his Ad-Kc, ahead of Nielsen's Kh-Qd. The board ran blank, sending the chips to the Portuguese. Barbosa looked to shake hands but Nielsen was gone too soon.

100 players eliminated in two levels.

William Thorson is our likely chip leader here in Dortmund after he took down a pot of about 95,000 with aces holding up against ace-king. He now has about 140,000, which has probably taken him past the overnight leader Marco Noll. There is still, of course, an awful lot of play in this tournament, and Thorson is always one to make the most of it. Prepare for swings.

William Thorson

There have been numerous big hands going up against one another in the opening couple of levels, and we're already down to 170 players as a result of this carnage. Sebastian Ruthenburg got his final nine big blinds all in pre-flop from the small blind, only to run into the big blind's pocket jacks. The man affectionately known as "Luckbox" almost pulled off his old trick when two aces flopped, but the jack turned and the EPT Barcelona champion made his way to the rail.

There he will have found his fellow ShootingStar Johannes Strassmann, who couldn't get pocket tens to stand up against an A-K. Jan Heitmann, however, has staged a bit of a recovery from the kings versus aces accident against Matthew Sharkey, and he now has more than 50,000.

Jan Heitmann

Dortmund doesn't necessarily make it onto many travel itineraries. Various other attractions of central Europe usually steal the limelight from this part of the Ruhr region, perhaps cruelly as anyone who has taken a wander through the forests and over the hills outside of Casino Hohensyburg will attest.

But one American traveller has made this part of Germany his first stopping point in Europe, and he seems mighty glad he did. The 21-year-old PokerStars qualifier Matthew Sharkey navigated his way through day 1a with 19,600 chips. And within the first orbit of day two, he has doubled that, finding aces at the same time that Jan Heitmann found kings.

Matthew Sharkey

That is a dream start to any day, let alone when you're playing your first-ever live tournament with a buy-in of more than $200, and when you've flown half-way across the world to do so. That, though, wasn't the half of it. Sharkey's plane from Michigan -- where he is studying at a community college in Flint -- was cancelled, necessitating a four-hour drive to Chicago for a replacement to get here on time.

The commitment paid off, however, and Sharkey is enjoying everything about his experience here. During the opening day, he chipped up to a high of about 34,000, before "trying to pull a little squeeze" sometime close to the end that didn't quite come off. Still, he had enough chips to be able to enjoy his day off, which he spent exploring downtown Dortmund, sampling some local food, buying a jersey of the local soccer team, Borussia, and hanging out with his father, Blaise, who flew over from Arkansas to support him from the rail.

All of this exploration and entertainment cost Sharkey about $150, which was his total investment into a couple of step two qualification tournaments on PokerStars. After making a fairly trouble-free passage through to step six, he chose to contest a Dortmund qualifier as the tournament coincided with spring break from college.

Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick, the qualifier extraordinaire, was one of the sharks circling in that final sit and go, but this time it was the Sharkey from the United States who lived up to his name and won the seat. Long may he continue to occupy it.

Stay tuned for a video blog with Sharkey. That is in the editing suite as I type.

You might already have imagined what this post is about. Level nine, the first of day two, is a flurry of activity with the pulse of "seat open!" cries from all corners of the room. There's no way to write this any other way from the many times it's been done before, so here goes...

Frenchman Nicolas Levi fell first, leaving hat in hand when his last 7,500 was sucked up. He'd have company on the rail.

Elsewhere Achim Reiß felt horror and glory in the space of about two seconds. Calling an all-in with a pair of sevens he was up against Samuel Lehtonon's A-K. A king and a seven hit the flop, giving Reiß a set but when the king hit the river he ignored his own full house and instead thought Lehtonon's set of kings was good. "Nein!" he cried, only to be told the in comic fashion that the news was good. His relief was juxtaposed by Lehtonen's silent and unacknowledged departure.

Vincent Wagner has doubled up through Yfiem Spivack, while a few tables along Cengizcan Ulusu did the same though Norbert Hofmann. As that hand played out Jonas Klausen was seen gathering his belongings and heading for the door. He was joined there by Davidi Kitai and ShootingStar Sebastian Ruthenberg and soon by Johannes Strassmann...

Strassmann called Vlado Sevo's all-in, himself narrowly covered by Sevo, with pocket tens. Sevo showed A-K. The board ran out J-Q-A-3-T. The ten on the end was no good for Strassmann, making a straight for Sevo. After pausing for a confirmation count, Strassmann wished the others good luck and headed for the rail.

That was the first 15 minutes wrapped up. More would follow.

A three way all-in developed, featuring at least two players with a tendency to shout. Husam Salameh had shown pocket sevens, Kemal Sönmez A-K. The board ran out J-7-K-T-4. The flop had hit both, Sönmez in the stomach to be precise. "No!" cried Sönmez. "Yes! Cried Salameh. You know the rest.

But where there is bad luck and elimination, there is a flip side of good luck and success. Right now it seems Richard Kellett has the monopoly control on that. A few moments ago he took out another player, admitting to having had aces four times in level nine along - three of them in succession. Kellett may be the luckiest man alive right now.

A fog has descended over Casino Hohensyburg this morning. Blanking the view over the Ruhr district out on the casino terrace, it has settled amid the trees making the surrounding forest seem like a sinister place where demons might appear from at night or where card players, too distraught to handle the pain of elimination, head towards, never to be seen again.

Let's not get too cute about things, but there's none of that fog in the tournament room today, just the crystal clear facts of an EPT day two. That means things like this...

From the original 667 players 252 remain. Of those, 60 are in some way powered by PokerStars ripped fuel, be they German ShootingStars or from the ranks of qualifiers who found their way here for a bargain satellite price. Then of course there are the three remaining Team PokerStars Pros William Thorson, Luca Pagano and Alex Kravchenko.

Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson

Of all the paths this tournament might weave a few routes dangle mouth watering outcomes for the history book geeks. Canadian Mike McDonald could potentially be a first double EPT winner. Last year's champ finished with a flourish last night, placing himself among the leaders with 67,900. Victory here would make it back to back Dortmund titles for the 19-year-old and would probably sway him towards German citizenship. Interestingly the Dortmund winner from season three, Andreas Hoivold, is still in contention.

Mike McDonald

William Thorson, who finished in typical fashion on day 1a, brings 84,500 to the table today and could be on for a third EPT final if his Thor-like domination continues for a second day. Luca Pagano is on course for a record tenth EPT cash.

German hopes for a home grown winner stand as strong as Ruhr steel, with Marco Noll the combined chip leader on 104,700, closely followed by countrymen Peter Bueermann (80,500), Robert Zipf (72,300) and Jan Collado-Fernandez (71,100) among a host of others.

Chip leader - Marco Noll

Yes there's something for everyone at Casino Hohensyburg. The finishing touches to the TV stage are being made ahead of the EPT Live broadcast that begins tomorrow, while the rest of the room is taken up by players unbagging chips, strapping themselves in and bracing themselves for another day at the office.

Find a complete run down of the standings on the chips count page and details of just what's at stake on the prizes page.

We're about to start. Tell me a better way to spend a Thursday.

There was a brilliant sideshow going on today in Casino Hohensyburg. While the cabaret of singers, dancers, gymnasts and burlesque performers took their well-earned occasional break, 358 poker players anted up €5,000 and squeezed in eight levels of an EPT event.

And in those brief moments when the lights were up and the room was not throbbing to the beat of Abba's "The Winner Takes It All", those poker players were taking their first steps towards determining exactly who would be that blessed individual vaunted by Benny, Bjorn, Frida and Agneta.

At final count, there are still 140 of today's players in with a chance after a characteristically remorseless cull of this day 1b field. As ever, there was a scant regard for reputation among the throngs: one of the first players to hit the rail, for instance, was the reigning EPT Prague champion Salvatore Bonavena, and by the time we took dinner he had been joined on the sidelines by the esteemed likes of Dario Minieri, Peter Eastgate, Jesper Hougaard and Clonie Gowan.

Clonie Gowan

Although they made it to the buffet, Bertrand Grospellier, Noah Boeken, Stephen Chidwick, Danny Ryan and Ramzi Jelassi didn't make it to curtain-down. And as night turned into early morning, Katja Thater, Frederic Hostrup, Marcel Luske and Jonas Molander also drifted off into the darkness. The Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano was the only one from that familiar band to make it through the day.

Luca Pagano

The frontrunners tonight seem to include the World Series bracelet winner Max Pescatori and last year's sensational EPT Dortmund champion Mike McDonald. The young Canadian scooped a huge pot late in the day to rocket past 60,000.

Mike McDonald

Even that is about 30,000 short of a man named named Marco Noll, who might be our chip leader with around 90,000.

Marco Noll

Similar names for the future such as Jan Radow, Ville Haavisto and Peter Bueermann are also right up there and challenging. Our chip count page shows the approximate counts for some notable players taken in the dying moments of today. The full official count will appear there overnight, as and when it is provided by tournament staff.

It's also been a great day all round for Florian Langmann. The young German first came to prominence when he finished runner up to Joseph Mouawad at EPT London on season four. And today he was formerly welcomed onto the team of PokerStars ShootingStars, which includes only the finest talents from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Florian Langmann

Langmann also bagged up close to 40,000 chips, and will join his new team-mates George Danzer, Jan Heitmann, Sandra Naujoks, Sebastian Ruthenberg and Johannes Strassmann in tomorrow's draw.

Sandra Naujoks

All of those six will look to play a major part as the survivors from two tiers converge tomorrow, for a day when we might even play down through the money bubble. Another eight levels are planned for Thursday in the Ruhr region, and I dare say the dancing girls might even make a return.

Join us at 2pm local time as the action hots up. And by all means take a look back on today's action by clicking any of these neat, underlined headlines.

Once more into the wood
Deja vu all over again
The views in brief
Best men and bridesmaids
In the frame
Italiano und Deutsch
Man overboard
All is well
Auf video
All change please
Eastgate shown the door
Kyllonen misses the show
It's been grand
Outs and ins
Everything's changing
Yelp! Whimper. Silence

There's also German action in Swedish, German action in Dutch and German action in German courtesy of our various language-speaking bloggers. And moving pictures are always available at PokerStars.tv.

All static images come from the lens of Neil Stoddart, including this one, which isn't of the casino, but is the rather beautiful Bodelschwingh Castle instead.

Gutte nacht.

Italian pro Max Pescatori is in the ascendancy, taking another tense pot. The flop was on the board, 2d-Ac-Jc. A bet of 2,600 was raised by the Italian who then went into a state of immovable concentration. Was he trying not to give anything away, or was he intent on following an important football match on a screen the size of a stamp? Who could tell? All I can say is that his face didn't give much away when he stacked up his new chips.

Max Pescatori

As the clock ticked to zero on level seven Pescatori disappeared from his seat. Instead he was stood in the wings with a few friends crowding round the screen. As followers of European soccer will know tonight was an important Champions League date, and Pescatori's AS Roma, the same team beloved by Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri, was in action against Arsenal for a quarter final place. But as Pescatori's fortunes increased at the table, Roma's declined on the field, elimination for them, progression but with a heavy heart for Pescatori.

Noah Boeken's hopes have gone up in smoke. He moved in with Q-6, called by A-8 which survived the 9-3-4-K-3 board. At the same table PokerStars ShootingStar Jan Heitmann's day keeps on getting better, taking another pot when he made a straight with A-T on a A-J-K-3-Q board, much to the irritation of his opponent who lightening-mucked.

Elsewhere William Dean's attempt to photograph his way to a title has ended. He's out in level eight. As are the likes of Marcel Luske, Stephen Chidwick, Noah Boeken, Frederic Hostrup and Katja Thater.

One day soon a scientist of sound (audiologist?) will produce an aural catalogue of the sounds commonly heard at a major poker tournament. Although a zoologist might be better suited to some of the research work -- it's a jungle out there -- there's definitely some patterns to be determined in many common situations.

For instance, there's often a distinct bellow that accompanies a huge, tournament-saving double up, just like there's an special kind of whinney that attends a particularly brutal outdraw. The silence of a tournament dream destroyed is especially deafening, and there's also something of a stifled, embarrassed yelp when someone has hit a miracle winner to stay alive.

Moments ago, the tournament room at Casino Hohensyburg was treated to sound No 414b, catalogued as "an outrageous plosive bellow defining the vanquishing of a Team PokerStars Pro by virtue of a rivered four-outer (pots of 50,000-plus, Eastern European, sub-variant)". The source this evening was the Ukrainian player Sergiy Baranov, who just sent Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier packing in a real blood-curdler.

All the money went in on the turn, with the two players looking at these four cards: Jh-10s-4s-As. ElkY tabled 4s-6s for the flush, which was better at that stage than Baranov's Jd-Js. The Ukranian had outs and the entire room was soon resounding when one of those hit: another ace to give him the full house.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier

They counted the chips and Baranov had ElkY covered. Just. ElkY departed with barely a whimper, as Baranov asked reporters also to note his online screen-name -- "myrza zhban" -- so that, in his own words, ElkY can see it and: "Realise that he knows me. We play together a lot online and I respect him."

Baranov now has about 50,000. ElkY's day is done.

(Note: Some of the details of this post have been updated from how it originally appeared to correct errors in the description of the hand.)

***

William Dean's tournament life might not have had the shot of adrenaline it needed but the Californian will know it could have been a lot worse. On a three way pre-flop all-in Dean's pocket nines were beaten by pocket queens but held firm against the A-Q of the third player. The result, after some impressive math by the dealer who sent the chips to their new homes, was only a minor change to Dean's fortunes just moments before his table became the next to break.

***

Latest: Noah Boeken is also now out. Details to come.

How's this for a line up. Michael Keiner, Danny Ryan, Michael Schultze, Mike McDonald, Katja Thater and Roland Specht. In that order.

Schultze, a winner in season four in Warsaw, extended his stay at his home tournament, doubling up through Michael Keiner when he moved all-in with A-Q against Keiner's A-T. It keeps one of the more intriguing line ups alive a little longer.

But only for a matter of minutes. Danny Ryan would be the next to depart. In his own words "he got it in with the best of it" which was fairly accurate, given that he'd called an all-in with his own A-Q against 8-6. Ryan was covered and out when an eight hit. He joins Albert Iverson on the rail after his tumble down the chip charts.

Danny Ryan

There have been other movements. Marcel Luske, Julian Thew and Luca Pagano were once table mates before their set up was dismantled, scattering each of them across the room, and Jan Heitmann now shares a table with Noah Boeken. William Dean, the bearded photographer mentioned earlier in the day is still playing in level seven, seated with Davidi Kitai and Christophe Gross.

Jonas Molander is out, making a crying call after he'd been set all in, from a check-raise, on a board of Ad-Qc-Js. Molander had A-J but clearly already thought he was behind and hoping to redraw to the full house. His opponent had K-10 for the flopped nut straight and none of Molander's outs came. He departs.

Better news for Julian Thew, who doubled up with kings against jacks. He now has a fighting stack of close to 20,000. Thew, however, has found himself on something of a nightmare of a table, also featuring Luca Pagano, Marcel Luske and Eric Larchveque.

Julian Thew

Luca Pagano

Somewhat belatedly, the full official list of players has been released, and there were 664 over two days, representing 43 nationalities. The mathematicians are working on figuring out the pay structure, including the all important first prize, and we''ll bring news of that to you when it is known.

In the meantime, the chip counts page has recently been updated showing some approximate stacks from some notable players. Peruse it at your leisure.

Francesco Cirianni said "raise", the dealer confirmed "raise." Francesco Cirianni said "all-in", the dealer confirmed "all-in". Francesco Cirianni has always been an expressive sort of player, evident during his Prague campaign where he finished fifth for €166,000. Now his sense of drama remains - this is his make or break moment.

Or not. One opponent thought about it for a few moments as the Italian sat, palms flat on the table, awaiting his fate. Instead he passed and Cirianni lives a little longer.

Not so for Pavel Blatny. The Slovakian chess grand master, who switched to poker a little more than a year ago, just crashed out. On a flop of 5h-Jd-2d he called all-in behind a large bet, holding Qc-Jh. His opponent had him pipped though, showing Ks-Jc and the king held.

Jens Kyllonen, our most recent EPT champion, will not be going back to back. He just departed the tournament arena behind Ah-9d after his early position all in (about 3,200) was snapped off by the Ac-Kc of the player in the big blind.

That player shook his head ruefully as he peeked at his cards and almost apologetically uttered the word "Call". The board ran out king high and Kyllonen was gone. "It's been a real pleasure to meet you," said Kyllonen's immediate neighbour. It seems he'd been a popular player today.

Jens Kyllonen

We're now taking a 15 minute break while the feathered cabaret/aviary returns to the stage and the house singer belts out a rendition of Abba's "The Winner Takes It All". The word surreal is much overused in common conversation, but as I type this, five dancing "angels" with tangerine-coloured wings have just taken the stage and are grinning their way through a jaunty kind of number most beloved of keyboard players in Spanish seaside resort hotels.

The Dundee United majorettes

Just when you thought you'd seen it all.

Among the usual cerebral chatter over dinner this evening ("Is a courgette just a cucumber you can cook?") was the question of whether Peter Eastgate was still in the tournament or out. Ten minutes before the break, when one of the dinner guests had conducted a chip count, he was in and sitting with about 5,000 in chips. But about five minutes before the break, when one of our number was reclining in the player lounge, Eastgate was also sighted there, looking for all the world as though he had been vanquished.

We had to wait until the Eastgate's half of the draw returned from their supper until we could be absolutely sure, but after 20 minutes has passed and Eastgate's former chair was still vacant, we drew a line through his name and became convinced that we were a world champion down.

Peter Eastgate

Also now out is Ramzi Jelassi, the ebullient Swede who ran ace-king headlong into pocket kings for a 40,000 chip pot. There are some sizeable swings going on here today, which we will do our best to get on top of and reflect on the chip count page. If yesterday is any indication, we'll be taking a 15 minute break at the end of this level, the dancing girls will come back to twirl provocatively on some chairs for a few minutes, and then we'll have three more one-hour levels until the end of play.

There may be noble causes, fights worth fighting, but when it comes to the dealer at Noah Boeken's table his cause would alway sbe a losing one, however admirable the attempt. Trying to maintain order the dealer reminded players again and again of the English only policy at the table, but it was no use - seven of the nine players hailed from Holland. Hopeless.

Jorryt van Hoof

Oh well. In the meantime Boeken is scrapping away, picking up a few thousand against Jorryt van Hoof who has been kept in suspended massage for some time now. In a three way hand the 5s-3c-7h-7s-Jh board had been checked to the river before Boeken bet 1,500, good to take it down.

Wrestling for chips - Katja Thater and Noah Boeken

Directly behind him sits fellow Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater whose multi-national table features two former EPT winners in Mike McDonald and Michael Schultze. Thater is slightly above the 14,000 average, as are the two champs as the second half of the field breaks for dinner.

Tonight's choices at the casino buffet were chicken with ratatouille, veal and pasta or something else. It was all good. As we now work off our post-prandial lethargy with a trip around the 15 remaining tables in the tournament area, here are some video blogs for you to enjoy from earlier in the day.

Jan Heitmann, magician, ShootingStar and all round nice guy, was first up...

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Jan Heitmann Day 1b (English) on PokerStars.tv

... before Eric Larcheveque gave his support to EPT Dortmund, which finds him in his element in a bricks and mortar casino:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Eric Larcheveque Day 1b (English) on PokerStars.tv

In other tournament news, Clonie Gowan just took her leave, busted a few minutes before her side of the tournament went on its break. She borrowed a mobile phone charger from one of the reporters here on media row, but was over shortly after to pick up her phone again. "I guess I'll charge it in the hotel," she said.

Luca Pagano's presence in an EPT is like a signal that all is well in the world. No disturbance in the force, no glitch in the matrix, no tear in the space time continuum, just the comforting presence of one of the tour's most consistent cash finishers. You can hark back through much of our EPT coverage since its first season and find something about the Italian - easy to write about for being a decent bloke, and a formidable player to boot.

Luca Pagano

So it's hardly surprising that the latest news from the Pagano camp is of steady progress with an up and a down after a couple of hands against German player Christophe Gross.

On a board of 5d-4s-Js Gross made it 500 which Pagano called for a 6h on the turn. Gross then made it 1,150. Pagano, sitting dead still throughout the hand, shirt open at the neck to reveal a gold chain, made the call. A 9s on the river prompted Gross to move all-in for a little more than 4,000.

Pagano had him covered. The call would leave him with more than 7,000 but he didn't like the situation, and instead he mucked his hand. But revenge was not long in coming for Pagano.

On a board of As-5c-Js-Qs a few hands later the Italian swooped in from the big blind, calling Gross's bet of 1,025 for a 4s on the river. The fourth spade made Gross roll his eyes, irked by Pagano's decision to lead the betting this time having done so himself on every street.

Christophe Gross

It was 1,100 to the German. Gross thought. Gross decided. Gross called. Pagano showed him the flush; Ks-Qc. Gross was beaten and showed his pocket queens out of frustration more than anything. The chips were back with Pagano. Marcel Luske sitting opposite mentioned Pagano had the nuts...

"I'm not playing anything else" he joked.

Table one has been a brutal place to be today. At least six players have departed from around that particular slab of baize, the most recent of whom was Dario Minieri. He arrived with a short stack but chipped up to near his starting stack again before an accident with pocket nines spelled the end. Frederic Hostrup had aces and that was that for the Team PokerStars Pro.

Hostrup has more than 25,000 now, but he's by no means the table captain. That accolade belongs to Alessandro Meoni, another of the growing band of Italian players, who is probably the tournament chip leader at the moment, with more than 55,000. There are still a great many players in the mix so he might not necessarily be alone out front. But that's where I'd put my money at the moment.

As was the case yesterday, a two-tiered dinner break is about to start. We're aiming for the first sitting, and our culinary report will be with you shortly. (As, incidentally, will be a chip count.)

And so the drip, drip of eliminations begin. Salvatore Bonavena has just seen his latest chance of becoming the first two-time EPT champion evaporate into the Dortmund ether. No one seemed to see the hand, but everyone noticed the EPT Prague champion standing at the rail, looking for a progress report on his former final-table adversary-turned-good-friend Francesco Cipriani, who remains in the field.

There's a familiar, and hugely popular, early leader here. The home favourite George Danzer looks like he's the first to get close to the 30,000 mark.

George Danzer

The scarf-wearers scarf wearer is his usual dashing presence on home turf and is attracting both chips and attention from the supporters.

Speaking of attention, Dario Minieri has just moved onto the same table as his countrymen Andrea Benelli and Daniele Mazzia, which means the chants of "Vamos!" have escalated ten-fold among the already enthusiastic Italian railbirds. Minieri won a sizeable pot the minute he sat down, flopping top two pair against an opponent's top pair and flush draw.

Minieri turned the full house (kings and jacks) and beat the irrelevant flush when that appeared on the river. They're approaching the end of level three. Here's a visual peek at day 1b in Dortmund:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Introduction into Day 1b.(English) on PokerStars.tv

Dario Minieri has taken his seat in the far reaches of the tournament room, his face partially covered by his Roma scarf with his stack in good shape going into level two.

Next to him is William Dean, a spitting image of Kevin Smith's creation Silent Bob who cuts a distinguished jib at this table thanks mainly to a thick bushy beard, hair down to his neck and a cigarette hanging from his mouth which every now and again he sucks hard on, counting down the 45 minutes until he can smoke. It's a table image unique to Dean.

William Dean

The Californian usually splits his time between the press side and the business side of the rail having played several EPTs and worked for one of the many organisations covering the tour. This one though is the event he intends to change that.

That's where that looks comes in.

"I'm trying to develop a table image" he said after spending an hour hunkered down with his hood up, eyes hardly visible.

There was something else to this image which became clear in a pot he played against Eric Kostas. Dean called from the cut off for a flop of 4h-4c-Qc. Kostas bet 375 before Dean raised it to 825. The action was folded back to the Frenchman who took a minute to go through the situation.

But as he thought things through Dean leaned back in his chair, slowly raising the camera he had on a strap around his neck, before pointing it at Kostas. Kostas thought, Dean waited, snapping a picture of Kostas as he folded, narrowly avoiding contravening the "no flash during the hand" rule. Dean flashed his eyebrows, a little surprised before lowering the camera before anyone had noticed.

"I've turned off the flash" Dean said later, worried about the rule book, but asking if this had been done before. I didn't think so. "I don't want them to create a new rule because of me."

He did the same thing a few hands later, framing a potential caller in his view finder, but holding off when he passed. So far no one at his table knows what to say, although Minieri watches, slightly amused. Instead they stare as if members of a lost tribe getting their first glimpse of a westerner with a camera - a first look at life from the other side of the player/press divide.

The view on Dean's left - Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri

It's working. After spending ten minutes untangling the headphone wires of his iPod he takes another pot, pushing a player off his hand with a timely re-raise, Dario Minieri grinning as he watched joking with Dean that his A-K was good.

Regardless, despite fears of a Minieri confrontation things are going well for the American. Whether he returns to the press side of the rail depends on just how well.

Among the PokerStars blog staple posts is the one about the former winners. We could write that again today in Dortmund if we wanted: Perrault, Thew, ElkY, McDonald, Bonavena, Boeken and Martin are providing the grist for that particular mill.

But why should they hog the limelight, just because they've each won one of Europe's biggest tournaments? What about the runners up? No one remembers who came second, is the familiar lament. But screw that, today we remember them -- mainly because there are a host of them aiming to go one better today in Dortmund. And if we throw open our arms to players finishing in the top four, we can embrace even more.

So, today we'll also be keeping our eyes on Nico Behling (runner up in Warsaw, season five), Florian Langmann (second in London, season four), Antony Lellouche (second in San Remo, season four) and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier who was a bridesmaid in Copenhagen on season three before he was a PCA champion.

Luca Pagano

Additional former members of the EPT bridal party are Dario Minieri (twice a third place finisher), Benny Spindler (third, PCA 2009), Luca Pagano (third, Barcelona, season one), Davidi Kitai (third, Barcelona season five), and Andrea Benelli (fourth, Deauville, season five). And they're just the ones we can think of without the help of Wikipedia.

What price one better in Dortmund?

The opening level and everything is fresh - the players, the drinks, the reporters. The view from media row out across the tournament room always looks similar, but it's never quite the same. And it's always worth taking a couple of minutes to survey the landscaper.

So what's out there among the 350 registered starters today?

"I get the strange feeling that I've seen this before," said the EPT's foremost French reporter, Benjamin Gallen, staring at a stage full of scantily-clad cabaret dancers, testing the full flexibility of the narrow slivers of lycra stretched over only the most essential areas of their athletic frames*.

Yep, day 1b just started with a flurry of feathers, can-can and burlesque. It was remarkably similar to what we saw the day before, but no less eye-popping.

"In England, we call this deja vu," observed my PokerStars blog colleague, Stephen Bartley.
"Ah," nodded Gallen. "I'm not sure what it's called in France."

The view from the front row

And with that moment of anglo-gallic aridity, the formalities were announced and day 1b began. And we've seen all this before as well. There are somewhere in the region of 300 players packed around 30-plus tables in the main function suite of Casino Hohensyburg. They've each parted with €5,000 (or its equivalent in PokerStars satellite winner's chips) and now they're all eyeing the EPT Dortmund season five crown, and the prize of close to a million euros.

Blinds, as ever, begin at 25-50 and the starting stacks are 10,000. The plan is to play eight one-hour levels, by which point we will almost certainly have lost more than half of those who began.

As ever, the field is packed with stars from the European and world game: Bertrand Grospellier and Dario Minieri are back from the world heads up tournament in Vegas; Luca Pagano, Noah Boeken and Katja Thater also wear the livery of Team PokerStars Pro. Oh, anyone heard of this kid Peter Eastgate? He's here too.

The former EPT winners Salvatore Bonavena, Julian Thew, Pascal Perrault and Michael Martin are also in attendance. And representing that most fearless and fearsome environment of the high-stakes online tables are, among others, Joe "ender555" Ebanks, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick and Danny "THE_D_RY" Ryan.

Yep, we've seen it all before. But it doesn't get any less thrilling. Stay with us.

Benjamin Gallen, right, and Stephen Bartley

* That's the dancers' frames, not Gallen's.

Last night Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson bludgeoned his way to the chip lead, a spectacular exhibition of the Swede's blatant fearlessness which set today's high water mark at around 84,000. Even in the midst of the last hand, when others were eyeing the door after a long day, Thorson was re-raising with rags, squeezing every last ounce from level eight - it seemed the only thing missing was a roar.

That was yesterday, today anything could happen. Boiled down, the job for the 300 players this afternoon is simple - get to day two.

The cast will be strong. Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri and Bertrand Grospellier assume starring roles, ably supported by co-stars Pagano, Luske, Thater and Boeken. Others will assume lucrative recurring roles, while some will be forced to settle for brief cameos. Whatever their story we'll detail it here, accompanied by video blogs and all the fine detail you've come to expect.

Players are arriving ahead of the estimated 2pm start.

It takes 25 minutes to get here by taxi at car chase speeds, the weather colours the sky with European gray and there's a queue to get in. But this place just happens to be the centre of the poker universe this week - what possible reason is there to leave?

And they'll be dancers. There'll be back today.

Maybe it was the late start or maybe the rising temperature in the tournament room while the rain lashed down outside, but there was something about day 1a that made it feel like a long one. No one could put their finger on it but the 121 players from the 306 who started this morning have certainly earned their day off. Tuesday has become Wednesday. Here's how the day panned out.

There were highs and lows on and off the table - William Thorson's progress through the chip list (high), Marcin Horecki's elimination (low), showgirls dancing with leg kicks (high), the sinking of Barny Boatman (low), renditions of La Vie en Rose and Big Spender (high). You get the point.

Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson

As a level eight funk settled over the tournament room several players emerged looking pleased with themselves. Their number included Holger Kanisch, Jan Collado-Fernandez and Martin Hansen as well as Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson, who skipped past a number of potential pitfalls on his way to Dortmund (reaching the airport 22 minutes before his flight departed for example) to end the day on 84,450. That puts him at the top of the chip charts, narrowly ahead of second place Kanisch on 69,000.

Holger Kanisch

As you'd expect from a field of 300-plus there were spells of utter carnage. Arnaud Mattern went in half an hour, Ben Kang followed a little later, so too Thang Nguyen. The beer buying Casey Kastle and Michael Tureniec soon joined them as did Ivan Demidov. Stig Top Rasmussen too, but not without controversy. The Dane was eliminated after a clock calling fiasco left his stack in the hands of Petter Petersson. Mental note: when you call the clock make sure a floor person arrives and starts counting.

Ivan Demidov

EPTs are never short on local celebrities wanting to give this poker thing a go - today's notable being TV presenter Florian Silbereisen. Better known for his Volksmusic programme (picture the oompa-oompa type shenanigans of Bavarian beer drinkers), Silbereisen made some progress early on but was oompa'd out by level three.

TV's Florian Silbereisen

To be fair Silbereisen's day was not made easy by the table draw that seated him between Thorson and Jorn Walthaus, a final table finisher in Deauville earlier this season, who looked to be on course for a solid finish before losing all of his chips in a swan dive against Jan Collado-Fernandez.

PokerStars ShootingStar Sebastian Ruthenberg will be back on day two despite a turbulent day - at one point tripling up in part through Barny Boatman, before suffering a minor collapse, closing out day 1a with the same 10,000 he started with. Team Pro Alex Kravchenko did a similar survival job, leaving tonight with 22,500 while Andreas Hoivold, winner here two years ago, finished with 44,000.

But while there is joy for some there is bowel creaking pain for others, now harbouring that familiar feeling - that things could have been much different. Barny Boatman could easily have bagged up a good stack tonight but instead of rues the day from the rail. There are others like him but that's the price you pay when you take your seat... as well as the five grand of course.

Anyway, that's day 1a- day 1b is just a few hours away, where the likes of Eastgate, Minieri, Luske, Thater, Grospellier and some dancing girls, among a shed load of others, will prove that the show must go on - literally. If the down time till then seems like an unbearable dry spell you can check out events from today in detail at any of the links below...

A day in the forest
Showtime
Tough table
Apocalypse then
Eine Kleiner Oompa music
Nuggets
Up, down and out
Kang and co
Hooray Horecki
A few morsels
The best/worst seat in the house
Floor!
Wrang running the show
Winners and non-winners
Chat
Kravchenko's charge
High Fibre diet

As always there's more than one way to say all this. See exactly what the locals see on the German blog and feast on all the craziness Scandinavia has to offer on the Swedish blog. Or you could go Dutch.

PokerStars.tv has all the moving pictures you could ever want with interviews and the like from throughout the day. Like this one...

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Bjorn Duncker Day 1a (English) on PokerStars.tv

You can also get a glimpse of the unofficial leaderboard on the chip count page.

Goodnight from Dortmund.

While the live action in Dortmund, Germany winds down for the day, we have something to keep you busy until action begins again tomorrow.

PokerStars.tv is back with another couple of episoides of The Online Poker Show.

What? You've not heard of it yet?

Well, you're missing out. For the past few weeks, PokerStars.tv has been doing some fantastic video recaps of the big Sunday events.

We won't spoil the action for you. If you want to read the action, we have the reports below. Otherwise, scroll on down for two brand new episodes of The Online Poker Show.

3-9-09 Sunday Million final table report

3-9-09 Sunday Warm-Up final table report

Watch Online Poker Show P1: Sunday Million - Mar 8, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

Watch Online Poker Show P2: Sunday WarmUp - Mar 8, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

We're getting near the end of day 1a and slightly more than 130 players remain. Like my unmentionable regions after a few days of this sauerkraut and meat diet, things are starting to get a little looser about now.

The shouts of all in are increasingly frequent as the short stacks attempt the time-honoured double up or go home manouevre. The big stacks can pick them off else bully anyone attempting simply to hold on through to the end.

Two forces are the most dominant at the moment: the Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson, who now sits with about 77,000. He is marginally ahead of Holger Kanisch, who has 73,300. We're conducting a sweep of the room to get all the approximate counts for the end of the day wrap. That too will be with you shortly.

Alexander Kravchenko has been making his characteristic steady, silent, ominous progress through day 1a and has recently hit his high water mark for the day, something in the region of 25,000. He got it all in pre-flop with A-Q against an opponent's K-K and it was something of a roller coaster before it was done.

A queen flopped, giving Kravchenko another couple of outs, on a board that also contained a 10. A king turned, giving a set to his opponent but an inside straight draw to the Team PokerStars Pro. And then a jack rivered which completed the Broadway. And now Kravchenko is gunning again.

Alexander Kravchenko

Also making headway here is William Reynolds, the American player we first encountered on the EPT in Copenhagen last month. Reynolds was flying there and looked set to mark his EPT debut with a cash, but he suddenly vanished and went home empty handed. Undeterred, Reynolds is back - and back among the chips. He has in the region of 30,000 at the moment, which is a pretty good foundation if he's looking to take some cash back to Sioux City, Iowa.

William Reynolds

It's always a delight to see PokerStars qualifiers enjoying their first major tournament on the EPT. Apart from the fact that they get the full PokerStars hospitality treatment in a country they might never have visited before, they also get to experience the terrific structure of the European Poker Tour, which is a far cry from most of the small tournaments in local clubs.

Matthew Wood described the experience to the video blog team:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Matthew Wood Day 1a (English) on PokerStars.tv

At the other end of the EPT experience spectrum* is Rolf Slotboom, who has been coming to these things since season one. Slotboom used to be one of us - a reporter hunched over a laptop - before he decided to put his knowledge to better use around the tables. Still, Slotboom might be a seasoned veteran, but he's not averse to a bit of video blog treatment either:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Rolph Slotboom Day 1a(English) on PokerStars.tv

*If I ever set up a prog-rock band, that's what I'm calling it.

From one point of view the story is of ShootingStar Sebastian Ruthenberg tripling up to keep his tournament alive. From another point of view the story is one of Barny Boatman losing a load of chips as Ruthenberg tripled up.

A huge crowd gathered for the hand, the Barcelona winner all-in with pocket tens while the other two players, one being Boatman, fought for each street before showdown. Boatman had got involved with pocket queens but the flop had brought a third ten, giving Ruthenberg the pot, to the soundtrack of "Die luck box" from the local rail.

Sebastian Ruthenberg

"It seems I can only win the small hands", Boatman said later, thumbing at his chips.

Two tables down from this battle front, two former champions occupy table seven. Andreas Hoivold, who won the first ever EPT Dortmund back in season three, is in seat one, with the recent Warsaw winner Joao Barbosa in seat six. Barbosa just moved close to the 20,000 mark after calling an A-J all-in with his own A-Q, all with queen-friendly results.

Not running so well is Marcin Horecki. The Team PokerStars Pro just busted after moving in with his last 4,000 with Td-8d, only to be called with Ad-9d. That sealed it for the Pole.

He may be gone but Marcin Horecki looked cool while he was here

Stop press: Barny Boatman is out.

It took two hands. On the first Boatman had showed a big bluff holding 8d-9d, taking down the pot.

"Next hand he thinks I'm at it" said Barny in the post-mortem.

On a flop of 9h-6d-6h Boatman had moved in holding A-6 off-suit, only to be called by the same player as before, this time holding Kh-Jh. Boatman's trips were only good if they dodged a heart, a heart which duly came on the turn as the bell went for the end of level six. Boatman was covered but only just - the difference just one green chip worth 25.

"I didn't want one chip" said Boatman before hot footing it for the door.

***

While Ruthenberg counts his lucky (shooting) stars countryman Johannes Strassmann spoke to the video bloggers about his current run of form...

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Interview with Johannes Strassman Day 1a (English) on PokerStars.tv

"Good luck in Dortmund. Let me know if there are any Danish players you need help with."

This was a message I received at the start of the day from Simon Langeland, our PokerStars blogger from Denmark, following the tournament from his home in Copenhagen. And I was grateful for the offer sometime during the last level when a then-unknown player was seen scooping a sizeable pot to bring his overall stack to something like 50,000. I asked his name, he said it was Jannick Wrang and that he's from Denmark. "Do you know Jannick Wrang?" was the message I sent to our man in Copenhagen.

Jannick Wrang

"Sure," came the reply. "He's a good friend of mine actually." That'll work, I thought. And so we got some biographical information about our chip leader.

Wrang is a 26-year-old economics student at the University of Copenhagen, making a healthy living these days from poker. He won the Danish equivalent of something like $60,000 at a side event at a recent poker festival in Denmark's capital, but he's mainly a pot-limit Omaha cash-game specialist.

In the words of Langeland: "He has played a lot of big tournaments around the world - but still needs his first major win." In the words of me: "The $60,000 win in Copenhagen isn't considered 'major'?" I guess not.

Wrang donated five percent of that win to the charity set up by the world champion and fellow Dane Peter Eastgate. That's called "Friends of Eastgate" and is going great guns in its early days.

As, incidentally, is Wrang. He now sits with something like 55,000 chips. Something to wire back to Copenhagen immediately.

Tough tables sometimes form thanks to the randomness of the seat draw, while others evolve out of the remains of broken tables, slowly forming into something hideous you imagined living in the closet at night. Few rival the line up in Copenhagen that pitted Gus Hansen, Bertrand Grospellier and Annette Obrestad together but another monster has formed in Dortmund, featuring Alex Kravchenko, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Steve Jelinek and Barny Boatman.

On a flop of 3d-2s-7c Ruthenberg and Boatman are still at it, Ruthenberg making it 450 before Boatman bumped it up to 1,500 total. The Barcelona winner thought about it but mucked...

"I had a seven. Not enough?" asked Ruthenberg.

"I didn't think you had anything" replied Boatman.

"Is that a yes?" Both players were grinning now.

"I didn't think you had anything."

Elsewhere the conversation is a little more one-sided. And loud.

The commotion centred on Stig Top Rasmussen, who in a former life was a pro handball player, standing by his seat. Nothing unusual about that necessarily, but he was yelling. I went over to have a look.

God knows I tried, but the school boy German I took with me collapsed while trying to keep up with Rasmussen, who speaks fluent German thanks to several years on the German handball circuit. I got the gen from the German press instead.

"Objection your honor" - Stig Top Rasmussen argues his case to Tournament Director Thomas Kremser

The board had been dealt Q-2-7-2-8 with action on every street. The problem started when Rasmussen moved all-in with T-9 on the river. Petter Petersson went into the tank, long enough for Rasmussen to call the clock. This was the important bit. Rather than calling the floor, the dealer simply accepted the clock had been called. A minute passed, then another, and another before Petersson called, showing Q-J to win the hand. But Rasmussen demanded Petersson's hand be declared dead since several minutes had elapsed beyond the permitted one.

The dependable Thomas Kremser was called over to untangle the mess, eventually declaring that the situation would stand. Rasmussen pleaded with Kremser, then with the ominously quiet players at his table, before leaving the tournament area.

At the start of this afternoon, the EPT's most successful Cypriot, Phidias Georgiou, had the best seat in the house. He was in seat two of table two, which just so happened to be at the very edge of the tournament room and right beside the stage. That meant he was in touching distance of the troupe of cavorting lovelies who bounced around it for a while dressed in clothes apparently produced during the great fabric famine of 2008. They weren't wearing very much, is what I'm saying, as front-row Georgiou could best attest.

Those heady moments, however, turned out to be Georgiou's highlights of the day. His seat was vacated sometime during level two, which could only mean one of those miserable days at the office. It was soon filled by the familiar figure of Thang Duc Nguyen, the German player who won an EPT title in Baden in season three. But the seat of doom soon spelled an end for Nguyen too. He was out before the second cabaret of the day started.

Thang Duc Nguyen

That cabaret, incidentally, featured similarly few articles of clothing, a few chairs, a booming microphone and a fair old pair of gills on the woman clutching it. Imagine what you will from those scant details, and the more raunchy of you will have it right.

They gave way for can-can dancers which, as you probably know, means a lot of frills on big bushy skirts, but a reliably frequent view beneath them. Ah, I don't know why I'm even writing this, when I could just show you this:

The dancers have now departed and its poker all the way until the small hours. The familiar EPT face of Casey Kastle has recently bought his table a round of drinks to oil their passage into the night. That, if you're wondering, looks like this:

The second half of the field left for dinner a few moments ago, but not before the odd big hand slanted the landscape a little.

The slanting came from William Thorson's table where the Team PokerStars Pro now sits surrounded by the likes of Jorn Walthaus and new arrival Joao Barbosa. But neither Walthaus or Barbosa have stopped the Swede from heading for dinner 35 grand to the good.

William Thorson

Thorson's windfall came when he found pocket kings which he then used to bet with, then re-raised with and then call Ben Kang's all-in with against pocket queens. The jack high board saw to it that whatever choice Thorson makes for dinner, it will taste good.

Jorn Walthaus

Jorn Walthaus is himself making headway, up to around 30,000 by virtue of a glittering run of hands. Then Ben Kang kicked the can, finishing his plummet from brilliant to bust when he ran A-K into a set of jacks on an A-J-7 flop.

Guten appetite.

Marcin Horecki was down to about 3,000 chips within the first couple of levels, but he has now vaulted up to around 25,000. He was all in on a flop of Jc-8s-2s holding Js3s for top pair and a flush draw. He wasn't ahead at that point, however, because his opponent had K-K. Running threes on turn and river, however, were good for the outdraw.

Marcin Horecki

A few hands later, and Horecki took a chunk from Andrew Chen. Horecki raised from the cut-off and Chen called in the big blind. The flop was A-K-10 and Horecki bet. Chen called that too. The turn was a six. Bet, call. And the river was a 5. Bet, call. Horecki showed pocket sixes for the turned set. Chen mucked.

The former downhill ski champion from Poland is now on the climb.

There's a two-tier dinner break currently going on. That means half the field are now chowing down a choice between chili con carne, pork in mushroom sauce or ham and sauerkraut, while the other half play on. And once the sated return, the starving can go and eat their fill. I recommend the pork.

We recently updated the chip count page, with the latest approximate counts of some notable players. The giant German Benjamin Kang is at the top of the tree at the moment, but there is a long, long way to go. And, just as I write that, our Dutch blogger Steven Smith has just been catching up with some of his countrymen and has discovered that Steven Van Zadelhoff has more than 45,000. That's the chip lead, pure and simple.

"I've just been on the biggest heater of my life," Van Zadelhoff explained. "I've played about 90 percent of the hands so far, but that's only because they've been the nuts or the near nuts all the time."

Registration is now closed for the day, and 306 players parted with €5,000 to join the action. We're expecting at least that number again tomorrow, which is a whole lot of players and a whole lot of dosh.

Three tables, three stories of varying fortune - control, frustration and elimination, all conveniently displayed in one short spell by a cast featuring Ivan Demidov, Peter Hedlund and Florian Silbereisen.

To watch Demidov play is to witness a baffling display of what looks like laziness, or at best exhaustion. The Russian has a habit of crossing his arms and leaning his forehead on the table between pots, lifting his head to reveal tired eyes and bed head. I saw him sleep through his big blind and then come out raising on his small, chasing away potential opponents and picking up chips before resuming his sleeping position.

Ivan Demidov

On the next table is a player usually found in a more hyper active state. Peter Hedlund, who only two weeks ago came second to Jens Kyllonen in EPT Copenhagen, has assumed his usual position three feet away from the table. He's looking for a route through a dry spell and almost weeps when a player leaves his table, mourning this loss of a potential goldmine. "Bring him back!" he pleads to Thomas Kremser to no avail, the table carries on without him.

That leaves the concluding chapter of this tale which details Florian Silbereisen's elimination. The TV man moved all-in for 4,500 and with action folded around it looked like he'd get a useful walk. Instead Jorn Walthaus called, flipping over two red aces to Silbereisen's pocket jacks. The flop A-Q-T left Silbereisen looking for a king but he'll probably still be looking for it in his sleep tonight.

A few nuggets of information from the tournament floor.

Firstly, the PokerStars ShootingStar Benjamin Kang has made a great start here on home soil. He found kings against jacks and the better hand stood up after they got it all in pre-flop. Kang has more than 20,000 and is attracting significant attention from the rail-birds.

Ben Kang

As does an as-yet unknown player on the table formerly occupied by Michael Tureniec. The Swede, who was runner up in London and also made the final table at the Aussie Millions in January, was one of the very early fallers here, also running jacks into kings. That hand played slightly strangely: there were five limpers to Tureniec in the small blind, and he made it 900 with the jacks. Three of the limpers got out the way, and then the player in the cut off made it 3,100. Tureniec ruled out the possibility of a big pocket pair based on the limp, and so moved all in. But that read was wrong: the player flipped those kings and that was that.

Barny Boatman, who also made the final table in Melbourne in January, is faring slightly better. He swung by during the recent break to reveal that he was up to 15,000. Boatman has shown some decent form lately, and most folk would be delighted to see him go deep in an EPT.

Before the whistle blew on level one the brutality of poker was driven home with all its naked force on Moritz Kranich's table. With the board reading 5-A-A-K board and a player all in, the potential caller mulled the lonely choice - fold, taking your loss like a man, or hero call and at least crash out in a spectacular blaze of glory. It turned out this guy was the hero type. He called showing A-J, a hand that left him trailing to the all-in player's pocket fives. That was until the river came a jack for a cruel reversal of fortunes.

Elsewhere Joao Barbosa continues to accumulate chips, most of the time anyway. The Portuguese EPT champion is taking on a champ of a different sort in the form of WPT winner Rehne Pedersen - the Dane emerging the richer of the two after one hand went to the river.

William Thorson's table has a few familiar faces for any poker or traditional Bavarian music fan. Alongside the Team PokerStars Pro sit Paul Testud, Deauville final tablist Jorn Walthaus and German TV presenter Florian Silbereisen.

Florian Silbereisen

Silbereisen is attracting the crowds right now. He has a colourful background - an accordion player at age seven, an accomplished television presenter, his show featuring the latest German Volksmusic, and also a world record holder, a title he claimed live on television last year when he kissed 36 women inside of a minute.

Regardless of that, Casanova just had his first taste of EPT fisticuffs, calling on a board of Qc-Jd-Th-Qd-Kd only to be shown A-K by his opponent. Silbereisen showed a nine, and funnily enough said "nein" at the same time. Good, but not good enough.

It's probably worth warning any readers who intend to stick with us this week that your two writers here in Dortmund once learned German at school. By "school", I mean high school, and by "learned" I mean sat for a few hours in a classroom with a blank face while someone spoke German to them.

We're a long, long way from fluent -- we're a long, long way from vaguely competent if the truth be known -- but if you happen to notice the arbitrary deployment of some German-sounding words, that's the reason. The excuses are in early. Please forgive us.

Wie komme ich am besten zum Bahnhof, bitte?

See, sometimes it's just impossible to resist.

That said, our expertise in the language does not mean we're above sniggering childishly at names that sound odd to our shamelessly anglo-centric ears. And in a bid to get over that slight hurdle, consider this something of a name-dump to get it out of the system. All the following have taken their seats around the poker tables of Dortmund today; just imagine getting a couple of these on a triple word score.

Zink, Zipf, Gitz, Brux, Kokki, Koch, Epp, Hitz, Makki, Fritz, Nitsche, Quaß, Groot, Dessewffy, Weenink, Kwiek, Schweinstetter, Baffa.

There, that's done now. I promise we won't do it again.

I will, however, point this out: film buffs might also enjoy a possible apocalypse brewing here in Dortmund. Today's field also includes Messrs Coppola, Kurtz and Wagner, which is surely enough to get any napalm fans breathing in deeply. Getting all of those on the same table could be too much to resist.

Anyway, enough of this nonsense. Here's a video blog:

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Introductio Into Day 1a (English) on PokerStars.tv

Finding your way to an EPT final table is no easy task, but the players over on table 25 today in Dortmund would be a good bunch to ask if you were looking to pick up the habit. There you'll find the Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki, who made his first final table in London earlier this season, alongside the young Canadian player Andrew Chen, who was the irresistible force among the final eight in Prague in December, and also the American player Christian Harder, known online as "charder", who made the final table at the PCA last year, and followed it up with an eighth-placed finish here in Germany a month later.

Marcin Horecki

It's a tough table, but the early indications are that each of these players are showing east other a good deal of respect -- at least until the blinds and antes get to a level that make them worth pilfering. Within the first couple of orbits, Harder made it 150 from one off the button, but then folded when Chen bumped it up to around 700 from the small blind. Then Harder reraised an early position bettor, and that too was good enough.

This is likely to be a table worth watching among what amounts to a sea of talent. Within immediate view from our press table at the side of the tournament arena, for instance, are the British player Roberto Romanello, and the fearsome Russian Alexander Kravchenko. Next to Romanello is one of the best-known German players, the PokerStars ShootingStar Johannes Strassman, and opposite Kravchenko sits the hardy perennial Barny Boatman.

Johannes Strassmann

The World Cup of Poker winner Malte Strothmann is also easy to pick out of the crowd. For reasons best known to him, but with the whiff of prop bet about it, he is sporting a red nose today.

Malte Strothmann

Not just a that of someone with a nasty cold, but a red nose like a clown might wear (or a Comic Relief supporter, for British readers). We'll get the skinny on that from an always approachable Strothmann later today.

Dancing girls bedecked in giant pink and white feathers made their first appearance on the EPT today. Not playing, just here to inject a little high kicking pomp and ceremony into day 1a to an audience of poker players riffling and waiting. They cheered them on to the stage and cheered them off again and after singer Sabine Neibersch got the same treatment after belting out a pretty good rendition of La Vie en Rose it was time to get down to business.

That business is poker. Eight levels of Texas hold'em - each level 60 minutes long, with breaks every two, meaning survivors can expect to hit the room service speed dial button some time after 1am.

Shoehorned between the stage and the rail are today's contenders; a couple of hundred poker players with a few Poker idols scattered among them.

Team PokerStars Pro is ably represented by the faces of Kravchenko, Thorson and Horecki, while they're flanked by sponsored folk with the names Demidov, Spindler, Kranich and Strassmann.

Copenhagen's runner up Peter Hedlund plays today, as does Barny Boatman and former winners Joao Barbosa (already up to 16,000), Arnaud Mattern, Andreas Hoivold and Thang Nguyen. More will make themselves known before long, the shrieks of victory and defeat will soon strike.

The EPT has been to Monte Carlo, it's been to London, Barcelona, Copenhagen and many more. We have played tournaments at the heart of the bustling metropolis, and done the same beside the beaches and the sea. But among all these glamourous locations, there is something unique about Casino Hohensyburg, on the outskirts of Dortmund, Germany. This may be the industrial heartland of Europe, but out of the window I can see trees. For one week only on a nine-month tour, the EPT has come to the countryside. And I like it.

So, it seems, do the poker players of the world. As we await the start of day 1a, there is a long, long line of people snaking through the lobby in front of the registration desk. For those whose name is already on the list, and their wallets lighter to the tune of €5,000, these anxious moments are an exercise in killing time and finding focus. Some players are wandering around the forest, some are gathered in small groups beneath plumes of smoke. Others are already sitting nervously around the tables in the main tournament room, signing television waiver forms, exchanging tales of qualification, plans for the opening levels -- and no doubt a few fears.

That is the scene before us now: thirty poker tables and a bristle of anticipation. Within a few minutes, they will all be filled with players sitting behind stacks of 10,000 chips. As usual, we will be playing one-hour levels with blinds starting at 25-50. The plan is to play through the end of level eight and then come back tomorrow to do it all again.

Early indications suggest that we may get more than 600 players. This, and the full amount of money they are playing for, will be decided some time tomorrow. As ever, this will be the place for the latest news, chip-counts, photographs and video blogs. Stay tuned - we will start very soon.

It takes a special kind of poker nerd to be able to reel off the winners from all five seasons of the European Poker Tour. But there are some people who can do it, and they can often even name the runner up, the venue, other notable incidents and give a rough estimation of the prize pool. Some people like that kind of thing. Don't condemn us them.

Among this weird small gathering of weirdos experts, there are several notable conversational set-pieces, detailing strange anomalies of the EPT. It's mystifying, for instance, that no player has ever won two EPT events, despite a handful of near-misses (Teltscher and Schaefer are the names to conjure with here), and it's surprising too that one country often dominates a single season, with its representatives winning more than their fair share of tournaments within the 12 months.

The UK and Holland shared season one: Vaswani and Shipley alongside Boeken and Hollink. Gavatin and Iremark offered a Swedish flavour to the season two tournament results page, before season three became a Coren/De Wolfe versus Glenne/Hoivold anglo-Norwegian battle. The American triumvirate of Peters, Mercier and Vance, edged season four for the United States (ahead of the Canadians Chorny//McDonald and the French duo Grospellier and Mattern).

And if all that is true, which it is, then season five has belonged to the Germans. Sebastian Ruthenburg bludgeoned Barcelona, and Moritz Kranich destroyed Deauville. And now here we are in Dortmund, entering the lions' den, where there are more PokerStars players waiting to join the fray than at any other European poker tournament, the vast majority of whom are locals.

Watch EPT Dortmund S5: Promo (English) on PokerStars.tv

On the eve of the tournament (now), latest figures suggest that there are 143 qualifiers here in Germany who won their seats on a PokerStars satellite. Half that number again comprise a band of players who have made their way here after exchanging PokerStars dollars for their tournament entry and/or accommodation. That's 215 in total, and registration remains open for last-minute additions. There's as high a chance as ever before that Germany could crown its third winner of the season.

We'll find out if that proves to be the case over the coming five days in Casino Hohensyburg. Day 1a of the tournament kicks off tomorrow, a €5,000 affair, capped at 700 runners. Although it would be hugely remarkable for us to reach that number, there's a very good chance that we could get past 500. And that would mean another monstrous prize-pool, soaring far past a million euros, and another remarkable (and remarkably rich) champion.

From Team PokerStars Pro, Dortmund welcomes Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, Katja Thater, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano, Alexander Kravchenko and William Thorson. And the chances are, that if any of them can outlast all the PokerStars qualifiers here, they will be new winner of an EPT event.

Play begins at 2pm local time.

Einmal!

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso has just done something no other person has done before.

Rousso went to the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship in Las Vegas and faced, without question, the toughest path to the finals as any player ever. After beating the likes of Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and ElkY, Rousso made it deeper in the 64-player person field than any woman ever has.

Rousso's blitz through poker's legends gained her even more respect. Her seat at the final table put her in the history books. Though she couldn't take down the championship, she still proved her place in the poker world. For her efforts, she will take home $250,000.

Full results from the Team PokerStars Pro players are below. Congrats to all of them for their big finishes.

2. Vanessa Rousso -- $ 250,000
4. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier -- $125,000
5. Daniel Negreanu -- $ 75,000

This was one of those weekends that we needed a 24-hour cable news network instead of just a blog. Between the performances of Team PokerStars Pro and and the huge Sunday winners, there was more news than we even knew what to do with.

First off, huge congratulations to Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso for her runner-up finish at the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship in Las Vegas (we'll have more on that in just a bit). Also, big kudos to Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari and Lee Nelson for final table finishes in a couple PokerStars Sunday majors. Nelson took seventh place in the $215 rebuy event yesterday. Akkari placed ninth in the $109 rebuy.

We also can't let the morning go by without congratulating PokerStars player marky_crash for making two final tables on Sunday. He took fifth in the $215 Pot Limit Omaha H/L tournament and fourth in the $215 Mixed Hold'em event. Nice work, sir.

TheGoingRate picked up more than $130,000 for a first place finish in the Sunday Million. He beat out more than 8,100 players in the victory. You can find a full final table wrap-up here: Victory and $132,081.79 was TheGoingRate for the 3/8/09 Edition of the Sunday Million.

A little bit earlier in the night, PokerStars player viksha took down a $108,000 victory in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up. For full details on how it happened, see: viksha rolls over final table in Sunday Warm-up win

For a complete look at all the big results from this weekend, check out the 3-8-09 PokerStars Sunday tournament results page.

Good luck to everybody this week!

For United States players, it was a day with one less hour. Daylight Savings Time is something we do to give us more daylight in the evenings; by setting the clocks back simultaneously at 2am last night, we gave ourselves a little more darkness in the morning and an extra hour of light in the evening. This will continue until we adjust back in the fall.

Since PokerStars recognized that Americans literally lost an hour of time - most likely sleep time - the tournament staff kindly pushed the starting times all of the Sunday majors forward an hour. Therefore, the trusty Sunday Million was not starting at its usual 4:30 ET, but an hour later.

Even so, that didn't stop 8,118 players from waiting around and getting in on the $200 + $15 tournament action. The number of registrants knocked the $1.5 million guarantee out of the park, as the prize pool created was $1,623,600. That pile of virtual cash was reserved for the 1,170 finalists in the event, so when Finntroll76 busted in 1171st place, that player unfortunately received nada. But bosscracker, who finished in 1170th place, was presumably fine with receiving $324.72 for that feat.

As the final table approached, play was a bit erratic. Several players would be eliminated at once, and then the action would slow to a cautious crawl. It seemed to be a struggle to get past the twelve-player mark, but it finally happened after Timphan went out in 11th place, apestyles doubled up by catching a two-outer that sent the chat box into a frenzy, and several other players doubled to stay alive.

On Table 30, critically short-stacked lacman730 pushed all-in and was called by Kurschner and TheGoingRate. The two checked down the 2c-5d-8h flop and Kh turn, but a bet from TheGoingRate after the 3s on the river prompted Kurschner to fold. TheGoingRate flipped up Kd-7h for a pair of kings, which beat lacman730's Ad-8s hand. lacman730 became the final table bubble player, finishing with $8,118.00 in tenth place.

However, at the same time, Table 76 was hosting its own all-in situation. 1stAir pushed all-in, and Confused1 called all-in for his last 1,278,046 from the big blind with Td-4d. 1stAir showed Kh-6c, and the board ran out 8h-5c-As-Ah-2c. 1stAir had the best kicker to send Confused1 out in ninth place with $11,365.20 before the final tablists even had the chance to gather at one table.

The final eight players were then seated together with the following chip stacks:

Seat 1: steakstud (12,810,218 in chips)
Seat 3: kuzman89 (13,895,878 in chips)
Seat 4: apestyles (3,371,005 in chips)
Seat 5: George2Loose (9,643,436 in chips)
Seat 6: ferminaitor (6,382,976 in chips)
Seat 7: Kürschner (14,867,583 in chips)
Seat 8: 1stAir (8,676,112 in chips)
Seat 9: TheGoingRate (11,532,792 in chips)

The run of 1stAir wasn't going to last long, as apestyles doubled through him only a few hands into the final table. Finally, with just over 4 million chips left, 1stAir pushed all-in preflop with Jh-8h but found kuzman89 calling with a monster pocket pair of kings. The board came Ah-4c-4d-Qs-Td, and 1stAir was suddenly gone in eighth place with $18,671.40.

After the first break of the final table, it was George2Loose who pushed all-in preflop. Kurschner called and showed Ah-6h, which was one better than George2Loose's Ad-5d. The dealer gave them Qc-8h-Jd-3s-2d, and George2Loose was ousted in seventh place with $28,413.00.

One player who had battled a short stack from the final table bubble through several eliminations of other players finally moved again. ferminaitor decided to push all-in preflop and found Kurschner and TheGoingRate calling and steakstud checking the option. The Ad-Ks-Th flop brought checks all around, as did the 3d turn card. But when the Ac hit on the river, Kurschner bet 600,000 to get TheGoingRate and steakstud to fold. Kurschner showed Ah-Js for trips, and ferminaitor showed As-4d for the trips with a lower kicker. Kurschner received the side and main pots, while ferminaitor took home $41,401.80 for the sixth place finish.

Within a few minutes, it was apestyles all-in from the big blind. steakstud called after having made the initial raise and showed As-Kd, while apestyles was at risk with pocket deuces. The board came Jc-4c-9h-Jd-Ad, and steakstud rivered the best hand. apestyles was eliminated in fifth place with a $57,637.80 reward for the effort.

The remaining four players began discussing a deal, and the game was paused while the tournament host gave them the chip-chop numbers. After some discussion, those numbers were accepted, with the requisite $30,000 being set aside for the eventual winner, as follows:

Seat 1: steakstud (25,342,228 in chips) = $127,661.43
Seat 3: kuzman89 (14,710,985 in chips) = $105,097.14
Seat 7: Kürschner (27,836,495 in chips) = $132,955.39
Seat 9: TheGoingRate (13,290,292 in chips) = $102,081.79

Play resumed and seemed a bit cautious at first, but then the double-ups began. TheGoingRate and steakstud both got in on the action and doubled their chip stacks. Then the eliminations came in somewhat of a flurry.

kuzman89 pushed all-in preflop with Ac-Jc, and TheGoingRate made an all-in move to isolate with his pocket sevens, which worked. The race was on, and the board cooperated with the pocket pair when it came 8d-3h-4s-Qs-6d. That left kuzman89 with a fourth place finish and the $105,097.14 agreed to in the deal.

It was Kurschner who was next to tangle with TheGoingRate, as some preflop betting brought them to the Th-7h-Ks flop. More betting gave them the 4h on the turn, at which point TheGoingRate bet out, Kurschner check-raised, TheGoingRate reraised all-in, and Kurschner called for all of his chips. TheGoingRate showed 9h-8h for the turned flush, while Kurschner was the underdog with Kc-Td. The 2s on the river was a blank, sending Kurschner out in third place with $132,955.39.

Heads-up action began with the following counts:

Seat 1: steakstud (16,607,744 in chips)
Seat 9: TheGoingRate (64,572,256 in chips)

It only took six hands to determine the winner. steakstud had a difficult time gaining ground in the two-handed game, and that led to the final hand. It started with the two going to see a cheap 7d-Jh-Qc flop. Betting brought them to the Jd on the turn, at which point steakstud pushed all-in for his last 12,607,744. TheGoingRate check-called with Qd-4h for top two pair, and steakstud showed Ac-7s for a lower two pair. The 8h on the river changed nothing, and steakstud was finished in second place with $127,661.43.

That left TheGoingRate in the top position as the newest Sunday Million champion with a cash prize of $132,081.79 to show for it. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 03/08/09:

1st place: TheGoingRate ($132,081.79)*
2nd place: steakstud ($127,661.43)*
3rd place: Kurschner ($132,955.39)*
4th place: kuzman89 ($105,097.14)*
5th place: apestyles ($57,637.80)
6th place: ferminaitor ($41,401.80)
7th place: George2Loose ($28,413.00)
8th place: 1stAir ($18,671.40)
9th place: Confused1 ($11,365.20)

*based on four-way chop numbers

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

What better way to top off a weekend of online tournaments then the $750,000 guaranteed $215 Sunday Warm-up? With a first prize usually over $100,000 it gives a good excuse to go through 4,223 runners and nearly ten hours of intense poker it takes to reach that big prize.

In pre-final table action online and live tournament pro Eric "Rizen" Lynch made a fine run tonight finishing in 48th when his Ad-9d failed to get by the pocket eights of DomDal on the 3h-6c-Js-5c-3s board when the two threw in the chips preflop. JackOPoker scared his way to the top of the leaderboard with 32 remaining after getting pocket aces and kings back-to-back and having them hold which lined up his deep run. He would remain in the top three as we crushed down to the final two tables with miw700 and homner sitting atop the leaderboard as the big money sitting on the final table waited with nine more eliminations. Each player was assured $2,111.50 at this point and with the $108,953.40 first place prize within grasp after outlasting 4,205 players of the 4,223 that started, the players were looking for that chip boost to grab that six figure payday.

cwalsh6's smoking Yoda avatar failed to grasp the Jedi ways while his As-Qs didn't hit the Jc-3d-Kh-8d-8c board against grebnrets86's pocket sevens as he returned to Dagobah in 13th place. Previous chip leader JackOPoker slow played pocket aces in a blind versus blind battle against flex212derde and paid the price when flex's 2s-3s snagged a flush on the turn despite flopping a set of aces, shipping the very large 8.5 million chip pot flex's way when the river didn't pair the board and finishing in 12th place. odiesage's tournament would end as the final table bubble boy when his top pair-top kicker looked good enough to shove his remaining 1.23 million chips in, but homner flopped the nut straight ending odiesage's night in tenth place with $4,223.00

Here's how the players lined up in the final table race for the $100K+:

Seat 1: viksha (6090772 in chips)
Seat 2: cobusie (3187815 in chips)
Seat 3: flex212derde (7913194 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (4886844 in chips)
Seat 5: 00psiedaisy (2043583 in chips)
Seat 6: homner (6753308 in chips)
Seat 7: miw700 (6790073 in chips)
Seat 8: LunchTime645 (1796538 in chips)
Seat 9: Brughtality (2767873 in chips)

00psiedaisy would make the first significant move at the final table, flopping a set of tens after shoving preflop against homner who's pocket sixes rivered a useless set, taking in the four million chip pot and giving himself some breathing room with the blinds at 65,000/130,000 ante 13,000.

Brughtality would be the next to find some air as he lured homner into his chip net after flopping top two pair on the board of Qc-As-5d-9s-Qh. His all-in bet of 1.1 million chips was called by homner on the turn leaving him drawing dead and shipping the Minnesota Wild fan Brughtality the 4.3 million chip pot. homner would retrieve some of those chips back as Brughtality min-raised with blinds at 80,000/160,000 ante 16,000 from middle position and was called by viksha to his left, then three-bet by grebnret86 to 1.1 million chips. homner pushed his remaining 1.6 million into the middle getting rid of Brughtality and viksha, but grebnret86 had a math call to make and did with Kc-8h. homner's pocket nines were plenty for the 2c-3d-Td-5d-5h board and welcomed the 4.4 million chip pot to his stack.

The very next hand while folded around and sitting on the button, 00psiedaisy pushed his smallish stack of 2.6 million into the middle preflop with hopes to get the blinds. Unfortunately, miw7000 had a hand and the chips to make the call with As-Js. Holding 9d-4c while all-in makes for an "oopsie-daisy" part of poker and with the 3d-8d-Jc-Ad board on the turn he still had a shot of turning the that "oopsie" into a "great play". But, no flush fell with the 8h river and $6,841.26 was 00psiedaisy's in ninth place.

"All you can eat" a famous line from a poker pro could have been the choice words of LunchTime645 as he shoved his under a million chips stack into the middle preflop with Ah-Ts. viksha gave the action he wanted holding pocket eights on the button as the blinds took off for a snack elsewhere. The Jh-4d-Th flop firmly swung the percentages in LunchTime645's favor with middle pair. Queen of spades on the turn opened up the gutterball straight draw for viksha that would hit on the 9s river sending $10,557.50 to LunchTime645 in eighth place as viksha claimed the 2.3 million chip pot.

cobusie and homner would trade back-to-back all-in pots while remaining alive on the short end of the chip board. But, four hands later one of them would succumb to the rising blinds. Facing a raise to 500,000 button raise from grebnrets86, homner made his move with a three-bet to 1.2 million in the small blind leaving 1.4 million behind with the blinds at 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000. No bluff on the button here as grenbnrets86 shoved his covering stack into the middle with pocket aces and got the call from homner holding Ks-Jc. This one ended early, as by the turn on the 2h-8s-6s-9d-6h board homner's fate was sealed in seventh place ($16,892.00).

At the break here's how our remaining six looked:

Seat 1: viksha (7465088 in chips)
Seat 2: cobusie (3803444 in chips)
Seat 3: flex212derde (8675195 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (7747619 in chips)
Seat 7: miw700 (10235908 in chips)
Seat 9: Brughtality (4302746 in chips)

Brughtality would improve his position quickly get his 3.8 million chips into the middle preflop against miw700 and having his pocket queens hold against miw700's As-Js on the Tc-Kh-2c-4s-5d board winning the 8.4 million chip pot.

cobusie however did not fare as well on his attempt to move up. Four hands after the Brughtality double-up, cobusie tried to shove his 3.2 million into the middle preflop from the cutoff after Brughtality min raised to 500,000 and was called by viksha. The blinds and Brughtality gave up their donations but viksha called and turned up pocket jacks. Bad news for the pocket sixes of cobusie and instead of rooting for a six, he found himself rooting for a chop as the board read Td-9s-8s-Jc on the turn leaving the sevens and queens open for a chop of the 7.5 million chip pot. But, the 8h came up and cobusie went down in sixth place, earning $25,338.00 in the process.

viksha would then go on a chip tear winning five hands in a row (chopping one pot with grebnrets86). He would take those chips and build the first twenty million chip stack at the table. miw700 would fall to that huge stack, as his demise started in a hand against viksha with an eight million chip pot and the board reading 2h-6d-5c-Qs-4c and holding just 2.1 million behind. viksha bet enough to put miw700 all-in on the river and his two cards (which will be shown on PokerStars.tv's review show like this one from last week) were not good enough to call and viksha added to his chip leading stack without showing.

While on fumes with the blinds at 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000 miw700 made his move on the button, shoving his remaining 1.6 million into the middle preflop and getting a call by his nemesis viksha in the big blind. Ah-2d for miw700, dominated by the As-Tc of viksha, the 5d-9c-9s-3d-6h board would offer no help as $33,784.00 was deposited in miw700's account for his fifth place finish.

After trimming some chips off flex212derde in a nearly nine million chip pot, viksha would push his chip stack to 25 million and easily covered the table. Eight hands later the viksha express made no effort to slow down for flex212derde as he min-raised to 600,000 from the cutoff and flex212derde decided to try his luck again against the chip leader and shoved from the button for 3.4 million with As-Js. The blinds went away as viksha called with ducks and quack-quack-quack on the flop as he hit deuces full of fives leaving flex212derde with a need for miracle running aces, jacks, or fives. The turned Qc stopped all wishes and the $42,230.00 in fourth place money was flex212derde's to keep.

Now sitting on 32 million, viksha would push those chips and squeezed grebnrets86 and Brughtality while getting up to 37 million chips while grebnrets86 and Brughtality would trade a couple of all-ins between them but after the smoke cleared still hovered around the three million mark with blinds at a pre-flop push necessary 200,000/400,000 ante 40,000.

grebnrets86 would win the battle of the short stacks taking the majority of Brughtality's chips as Brughtality's button push with Kd-5d was met by grebnrets86's call in the big blind with Ks-Th. 6s-4h-9s-Kh-Jd later and Brughtality was left with enough to barely pay the big blind and ante. He would manage one double up on the very next hand, but two hands after that grebnrets86 claimed Brughtality's remaining scraps as the Jd-6h of grebnrets86 caught top pair on the flop of Js-4d-5d as Brughtality's Qd-2d had some life with a flush draw and an over card. The pair draw would go away on the 6s turn, and the pot would go to grebnrets86 on the queen of spades river. Brughtality's bankroll was immediately increased by $50,676.00 for his third place finish and maybe enough to afford season tickets at the Xcel Energy Center for the next hockey season.

Seat 1: viksha (36360842 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (5869158 in chips)

Seven to one chip deficit and nary a whisper of chop talks? Ok, we'll forgo the sarcasm as grebnrets86 had viksha's huge chip mountain to topple before discussing a deal.

The heads-up play went quickly as grebnrets86 would take the blinds on the first two hands, then give them back the next two. On the fifth hand of heads-up play viksha would finish off his final opponent. viksha would start the betting with a min-raise from the button with blinds at 200,000/400,000 ante 40,000. grebnrets86 would make the call to see a Tc-4d-Ks flop. Check from grebnrets86 got a min bet of 400,000 from viksha and a quick check-raise to two million from grebnrets86. The turn 4c elicited no responses as we moved on to the 3h river. viksha would check again, and sorely needing that 5.6 million in the middle, grebnrets86 would push his remaining 3.2 million hoping viksha did not have anything that could call his 6c-7c bluff. Pair of tens was enough for the dominating chip leader to make the call with Qh-Th as the remaining 12 million in tournament chips slid viksha's way along with the $108,953.40 he earned as this week's Sunday Warm-up champion!

For not giving up against the steamroller of viksha, grebnrets86's runner up check of $76,014.00 will help soothe any hard feelings after the loss.

Sunday Warm-up Results (03-08-09)

1. viksha $108,953.40
2. grebnrets86 $76,014.00
3. Brughtality $50,676.00
4. flex212derde $42,230.00
5. miw700 $33,784.00
6. cobusie $25,338.00
7. homner $16,892.00
8. LunchTime645 $10,557.50
9. 00psiedaisy $6,841.26

By Sunday's end, a member of Team PokerStars Pro could very well be the NBC Heads Up Poker Champion.

Daniel Negreanu, ElkY, and Vanessa Rousso have all made it to today's quarter finals. While all three have a shot at the title, only one of them can make it to the finals.

The first match will put Negreanu up against Rousso in the finals of the Clubs bracket. Rousso has already beat Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and Paul Wasicka and likely has had the toughest road to the quarter finals of anyone in the field. Negreanu will be her final challenge in the original bracket. Whoever wins will go on to play the winner of the Spades bracket.

And that is where it gets interesting.

The Spades bracket final will see Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier fighting against poker brat Phil Hellmuth. As you're aware, ElkY is no slouch heads up. He finished runner up in the last WCOOP high roller heads-up event and has tons of heads up experience otherwise. Hellmuth seems on a roll this year, however, and doesn't look to be an easy mark.

On the other side of the bracket, David Williams will play Sammy Farha and David Oppenheim will take on Huck Seed.

Whoever wins will have to win their next three matches. It all happens today in Las Vegas where a winner will be crowned this evening.

Good luck to Negreanu, ElkY, and Rousso.

If you had a chalk bracket going into day 1 of the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship, find a bird cage to line, because it's pretty much worthless today. Well, not entirely. Several matches went the way the experts predicted, but the last year's champion and runner-up (and favorites to go deep this year) both went out in during round 1. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Andy Bloch will spending the rest of the weekend doing something else.

Several members of Team PokerStars made it through to the second round and now have their chance to take the national heads-up title.

Vanessa Rousso defeated poker legend Doyle Brunson in the first round and will now have another huge hill to climb. She now goes up against Phil Ivey.

After beating Chris Moneymaker in round 1, Daniel Negreanu will now have to face another member of Team PokerStars Pro. Round 2 in the clubs bracket will pit Negreanu against Dario Minieri. If that's not a TV table, I don't know what is.

In the spades bracket, ElkY and Barry Greenstein will have a chance to move onto the third round. Both men beat PokerStars qualifiers in the first round. Now ElkY with face Ilari Sahamies. Greenstein will go up against the formidable Tom Dwan.

Good luck to the remaining members of Team Pokerstars Pro in Round 2.

The full list of match-ups is below.

Hearts bracket

Eli Elezra v. Erick Lindgren
David Williams v. Scott Fischman
John Phan v. Jerry Yang
Sam Farha v. Peter Eastgate

Diamonds bracket

Kenny Tran v. Jen Harman
Phil Laak v. David Oppenheim
Gus Hansen v. Huck Seed
Glen Chorny v. Brad Garrett

Clubs bracket

Don Cheadle v. Paul Wasicka
Phil Ivey v. Vanessa Rousso
Scotty Nguyen v. Ted Forrest
Daniel Negreanu v. Dario Minieri

Spades bracket

Gabe Kaplan v. John Juanda
Ilari Sahamies v. Bertrand Grospellier
Jeffrey Ishbia v. Phil Hellmuth
Tom Dwan v. Barry Greenstein

Photo credit: Stephanie Moore -- NBC Sports

In less than six hours, the 2009 NBC Heads Up Poker Championship begins and now we know who will face each other in the first round.

As we mentioned yesterday, a host of Team PokerStars Pros, one Friend of PokerStars and a PokerStars NBC Heads Up Qualifier are in Las Vegas for the $20,000 buy-in 64-player heads-up event.

Last night, the players went to the draw party at Pure and learned who they will play today. The first round only sees one match-up that pits a Team PokerStars Pro versus another. In the Clubs bracket, Daniel Negreanu will play Chris Moneymaker. The winner of that match will go on to face the winner of the match between Dario Minieri and Mike Matusow. Elsewhere in the Clubs bracket, Vanessa Rousso will sit down across the small felt from the godfather of poker, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson,

The Clubs bracket will also see a repeat of a match-up from 2008. Last year Friend of PokerStars Orel Hershiser defeated Ted Forrest in round one before going on to make it to the quarter finals and a $75,000 win. Finally in the Clubs bracket, Hevad Khan will have a shot against Prince of Poker Scotty Nguyen. Khan was a late add to the field of 64 after Ivan Demidov could not make it Vegas.

PokerStars qualifier Blandino Gines already has his work cut out for him. He drew Barry Greenstein in the first round of the Spades bracket. The Spades bracket will also see 2005 World Series Champion Joe Hachem go up against John Juanda and Gavin Griffin play Tom Dwan. Finally, we know ElkY is playing a man named Fred Collins. Collins qualified on PokerStars but we are not yet 100% sure he showed up in Vegas. More to come on this as the event progresses.

The Diamonds division rounds out the field and puts 2004 World Series champion Greg Raymer up against Jennifer Harman and Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown against 2008 EPT Grand Final champion Glen Chorny.

The full brackets are below. Good luck to everybody today.

Clubs Bracket

Don Cheadle vs. David Pham
Paul Wasicka vs. Nicholas Joy
Jennifer Tilly vs. Phil Ivey
Doyle Brunson vs. Vanessa Rousso
Hevad Khan vs. Scotty Nguyen
Ted Forrest vs. Orel Hershiser
Daniel Negreanu vs. Chris Moneymaker
Mike Matusow vs. Dario Minieri

Hearts Bracket

Johnny Chan vs. Eli Elezra
Erick Lindgren vs. Howard Lederer
JC Tran vs. David Williams
Jamie Gold vs. Scott Fischman
Erik Seidel vs. John Phan
Jerry Yang vs. Clonie Gowen
Allen Cunningham vs. Sam Farha
Andy Bloch vs. Peter Eastgate

Spades Bracket

Gabe Kaplan vs. Chris Ferguson
John Juanda vs. Joe Hachem
Ilari Sahamies vs. Gavin Smith
Fred Collins vs. Bertrand Grospellier
Jeffrey Ishbia vs. Leon Yanovski
Mike Sexton vs. Phil Hellmuth
Gavin Griffin vs. Tom Dwan
Barry Greenstein vs. Blandino Gines

Diamonds Bracket

Kenny Tran vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Greg Raymer vs. Jennifer Harman
Kenny Yeh vs. Phil Laak
Vanessa Selbst vs. Layne Flack
David Benyamine vs. Gus Hansen
Huck Seed vs. Jonathan Little
Chad Brown vs. Glen Chorny
Annie Duke vs. Brad Garrett

by Adam "STUDstood" Roberts

Poker tournaments have certainly come a long way since a handful of players showed up in the late '60s to compete in the fledgling WSOP. Play has increased exponentially since I popped onto the scene in the early '90s. Today, not only has the WSOP added many more events, but there are comparable tournaments in various other casinos around the world and online.

The television boom we have witnessed this decade has also helped promote poker tournaments. But there was poker on TV before this decade. As a teenager, I remember watching the Wide World of Sports, a show which had a penchant for televising odd events, which poker certainly was considered at that time. I remember watching a poker show because Gabe Kaplan was playing, and Welcome Back, Kotter was one of my favorite adolescent TV shows

My own tournament experiences have been positive. In only 25 or so events which I entered between 1992-2002, I made six final tables, placing 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 7th and 8th, all in Stud High and Stud Hi/Lo events. I have also had some smaller cashes in other live and online events.

What I remember most vividly about those WSOP finishes was that after each one, reporters came over to me and asked me "what I did" to place so high. Although I really wanted to give them some "pearls of wisdom," I could not. That's because I did not believe I did anything in particular, strategywise, other than play good, solid poker. I think those reporters were disappointed because they truly expected me to give them some hidden secret.

There aren't very many successful cash game and tournament players, even at the higher limits. So that is why these scribes were hoping to find out "my secrets." There are many players who will tell you that they apply different strategies in cash games (whether high or lower limits) than in tournaments. Personally, I do not. The only time I may vary my play, and err on the tighter side, is when I am "on the bubble" which means I am one spot away, or very close to, cashing.

On the flip side, I was never one who just "looked to cash." Yes, there is a sense of accomplishment when you have competed for many hours with very little break time, and now will be getting your money back plus a profit, small as that may be. Many players are very happy with that, and, there were times when I was as well, especially when I was short stacked on the bubble. It is a "mental victory" to cash, regardless of the buy-in and circumstances, so I do not want to discount that.

But the reality is that unless you are playing in a huge buy-in tournament, an event which has a large number of entries, or a rebuy event (which may have less entries but a high prize pool because of the re-buys), the big money is in the first three or so places. That is your primary goal in tournaments - to reach the big money.

These days, there are some tournaments which pay more spots, which make the prize payouts a bit more equitable for everybody. Personally, I have always favored paying less spots, but having more "bling" for the players who last.

To delve a bit more into my own tournament strategy, I just play the same as I would in cash games, whether those cash games have higher or lower ante ratios. I feel that is actually the "secret" to my success.

I say that because I noticed very quickly that many other tournament players change their strategy to try and adapt to what they felt was correct tournament play. I use that to my advantage. Some of those players use a strategy where they "gamble it up" early to try and get a large amount of chips and then try to coast, or to keep putting pressure on the shorter stacks.

Some famous players, like John Bonetti and Barbara Enright, have had lots of success with this brand of tournament play. But it's not right for me.

You tend to also witness more of their type of play in rebuy events, even from tighter players. Many players in those type of events feel that even if they go broke they can still rebuy as much as they want, so it "doesn't matter" if they go broke multiple times. I strongly disagree with that strategy, and will discuss this topic more in upcoming blogs.
Mostly, though, you will find players in tournaments (rebuy or standard) who tend to play tighter, for fear of getting knocked out and losing their buy-in. Although I do not agree with that strategy either, I understand it more than the other one.

Although I do appreciate erring in the direction of caution in tournaments, I have found
that these types of players may cash a bit more often, but rarely win or even place high enough in these events to make that strategy optimum. One example of someone I respect and who has employed that type of tournament strategy is Mike Sexton, though Mike has admitted to opening his game up recently, with much success.

Again, as we have discussed in previous blogs, the key is to find out what works for you.

Although you may think that changing your game to play tournaments is the right way to go, it may not be, mainly because you are not playing your natural style. I think that players who mainly compete in cash games, and play fewer tournaments, would often be best suited sticking close to their normal ring game strategy, as it will keep them comfortable and confident.

Then of course, there are the tournament "specialists", who will compete year-round in tournaments and only sometimes (if ever) play in cash games. I will cover these types of players next week.

Until next time, you can find me in the $10/$20 and $30/$60 limit games in our Stud section, as well as in our weekend $215 buy-in tournaments for Stud games. Please check the starting times of each of those events under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or thoughts at adamr@pokerstars.com. See you at the tables!

At 19 years old, Blandino Gines had just come to America. He picked grapes for a living in California. He moved to Alaska and canned salmon. He taught himself to weld and moved to Seattle for another job.

Now, he is unemployed, a victim of layoffs and the tough economy. By the end of this weekend, Gines will have faced off against the best poker players in the world for a chance at half a million bucks in the NBC Heads Up Championship.

Blines qualified for his seat through a series of freerolls on PokerStars. When it was over, he was happy to have won the $1,000 travel money. He wasn't exactly clear on the implications of his success.

"I didn't think it was real when they first called me," Gines said. "I thought I just won $1,000. I didn't know that they were going to send me to Vegas to play in NBC Heads-Up. This is unbelievable. I am still in shock."

Originally from the Philippines, the father of three now spends a lot of time playing poker.

"I fell in love with the game," he said. "It's challenging. Later I learned some skills, then I started to play online and won some tournaments. I now have my chance to play in this tournament. I'm so excited."

In early February, Gines entered PokerStars' National Heads-Up Poker Championship promotion and survived 590,000 players through three rounds to win his seat. Gines first started playing poker two and a half years ago after watching poker on TV. He immediately created an account on PokerStars, and has been playing online ever since.

"I can't believe I might have the chance to play against Daniel Negreanu and Greg Raymer," Gines said.

He has that chance. The $20,000 buy-in will host Team PokerStars Pros Barry Greenstein, Gavin Griffin, Bertrand Grospellier, Joe Hachem, Dario Minieri, Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, and Vanessa Rousso. Friend of PokerStars Orel Hershiser will also be among the runners.

Tonight, the Team Pros, Hershiser, and Gines will attend the draw party at the Pure nightclub and learn who they will face in the first round on Friday.

Keep it here for all the news on how they do.

Maybe you've turned on the TV and watched Greg Raymer play and thought, "Well, I might be able to beat him if I really try." Or maybe you sat down to play WCOOP and mused, "If I get sat with ElkY, I'm going to show him what I can do."

Well, now is your chance to show Team PokerStars Pro what you have in your personal poker arsenal.

PokerStars just announced its first All Star Week. From March 23 to 29, PokerStars will be hosting a series of heads up matches between a brand new All Star team and Team PokerStars Pro. There's cash and pride on the line.

The All Star team will be made up of people who have won a 2008 Sunday Million event, final tabled WCOOP tournaments, finished high on the Tournament Leader Board, or made it to Supernova Elite. PokerStars will also be offering wildcards from a list of people who win special $11 All Star Week qualifying tournaments. For more on how you can qualify, see the PokerStars All Star Week qualifying page.

There's cash on the line in the amount of $1,000 per match. Each team could win up to $20,000 during the week.

PokerStars will also be hosting a series of All Star Week Fan tournaments for only 100 Frequent Player Points. You pick the team you think will win the heads-up challenge. Every time one of the teams win, $1,000 will be added to the respective Fan tournament prize pool. You can't enter both, so pick the right team today.

For full information on the promotion, be sure to check out the PokerStars All Star Week page.

Bored of hold'em yet? Well, of course, you aren't. But how about some variety?

There are so few places you can get variety in your life. Restaurants rarely change their menus. The TV networks are all the same thing. If you're married, you best have kissed goodbye the concept of variety a long time ago. Trust me on this one.

Fortunately, PokerStars has once again stepped up to offer us that proverbial spice of life that we so lack in other life arenas.

You might have noticed the games popping up at PokerStars in recent months. Among the crowd favorites is Badugi. Now I could go on and on about the game and probably destroy any chance you ever have at winning. Or, I could let the experts do it.

Fortunately for both of us, the fine folks over at PokerStars.tv have already hooked us up with some tips from the pros on the game. Check it out below.

Watch Badugi on PokerStars.tv

Now, Badugi should be enough variety to get you through the dark night, but if not, and you have a little gamble in you, then check out the Deuce to 7 instructional video below.

Watch Deuce to 7 on PokerStars.tv

Finally, if you are one of those people who needs constant variety all the time, then PokerStars has the table for you. The 8-Game Mixed tables are a constantly moving rotation of some of the most fun games at PokerStars. Based on the variety alone, my wife prefers I don't play, lest I start getting ideas.

You might have also noticed, PokerStars opened up a nosebleed version of this game at the $400/$800 level.

For more on how to play the 8-Game Mixed tables operate, see the video below.

Watch 8 Game Mix on PokerStars.tv

See? Variety?

Hold'em isn't going anywhere and you can play the above games for less than a dollar per blind or, frankly, as big as you want. You can find them all under OTHER GAMES in the PokerStars Lobby.

I, in deference to my wife, will return to hold'em.

I do not pretend to understand what makes Ylon Schwartz tick, and anyone who claims to get him can just take a spot over in line #3 at the Liar Store. Some people have called him "spooky." Others say "peculiar." I think it's safe to just call him "good" and leave it at that.

It's hard to know exactly when Schwartz is having some fun with you and when he's completely serious. That's likely what makes his poker game so good. For instance, recently when asked about his new Team Pokerstars Pro signing, Schwartz quipped, "When I'm too lazy to get up and look in the mirror, I can just log on to PokerStars and look at my face in the lobby. Then I say 'Goodnight, Ylon' and go to sleep."

No matter whether he's joking off the table, his time at the table is almost exclusively unspoiled by silliness. Take for instance his performance in the Sunday majors at PokerStars. In just one day this weekend, he made the final table of three of the biggest tournaments at PokerStars. Schwartz placed eighth in the $215 Mixed Hold'em event and $215 HORSE tourney . Schwartz then picked up a ninth place finish in the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance tournament.

By way of explanation, Schwartz said, "My friends and I are opening a wine bar and the bar needs money. I had to add a li'l' extra seasoning to my game this Sunday in the hopes of a good score to hopefully quell my buddies' economical blues."

And then he added, "Also, I ran quite well."

One thing is clear about Schwartz: he can play across a variety of disciplines. "All poker games are the same," he said. "People get confused by the different names and proposed strategies for each individual form. But a few key factors should be constants."

At this point, it would be easy to believe Schwartz is back to having a little fun, but it's clear he is serious and knows what he's talking about, even if it may be above the head of some of the people listening.

"Time, pressure, inertia, switching gears, and memory apply to all games. Mastery of these key factors will give anyone good chances to make deep runs," he said. "In the more exotic games where groups of cards are stacked, one must learn to blend waves of information into a single cohesive stream. Thus many ideas form a clear path to controlling chaos and weighing the table down to slowly enhance one's stack."

If at any point during that you said, "Um....yeah," you should know that Schwartz closed it in a way you might understand.

"And, of course," he finished with a smile. "You must run well."

Congrats, Ylon, on your recent finishes. And here's to you getting that wine bar open sooner than later.

For what it's worth, I like something in a dry red.

Earlier today, we showed you how the top players won the biggest tournaments online (and if you missed it, be sure to go back and check out the 3-1-09 Online Poker Show). Now, here's some advice from Team PokerStars Pro Steve Paul-Ambrose on how to make it happen for yourself.

By Steve Paul-Ambrose

There's an undeniable appeal to the prospect of turning $200 into $200,000, and in the poker world the quickest way to do that is to win the Pokerstars Sunday Million.

Unfortunately, it's not quite that easy. The tournament draws over 7,000 players every
week. In this article, I'm going to look at a few strategies and adjustments to make when playing large field tournaments, particularly one like the Sunday Million. I'll start out with a few general observations, and then move on to strategic adjustments during each phase of the tournament.

One of the most important things to remember going in is this: no matter how well you play, you cannot win (or even go deep) a 7,000 person tournament without getting lucky. That may sound somewhat discouraging, but realizing it is important both to playing well and to staying sane during your rough patches. Secondly, too many people look to pass on edges and survive their way forward in the tournament. But when there are 7,000 other players, you need to be accumulating chips, not just surviving. There are a couple exceptions to the following which I'll touch on later, but first and foremost your goal in the tournament needs to be to maximize the number of chips you make every hand (remember that very often folding and winning 0 chips is better than any other options for the hand.) A final minor point is that the structure of the tournament has little bearing on your general strategy. Structure determines if and when you get to the different stages of a tournament, but it should very rarely dictate how you play a hand.

Early Stage Play

Early stage play in the Sunday Million has three important characteristics: deep stacks, no antes and nine handed tables. In most cases, it is largely correct to assume you're playing a cash game as tournament payout implications are smallest at this point. The one exception is at a very weak table, you may want to try to avoid playing for all your chips with a small edge, but I feel most people lose more looking for spots like this than they gain correctly identifying them. Remember, accumulating chips is your number one goal. If you bust early making a correct play, that's a perfectly good result for the tournament.

Because of the lack of antes and full tables, generally correct play tends to be fairly straightforward tight aggressive play, loosening up in position. A side benefit of playing in this way is you are likely to be viewed as tight and players may be slow to adjust when the antes come in and you start to ramp up the aggression. You should also be looking to develop reads and looking to play pots with the weaker players, particularly in position. Most of the value during this stage comes from exploiting people who are playing too loose and in such a large field there are generally lots of these types of players. Unfortunately, often these players won't last long, so you need to put yourself in as good a position as possible to be the one that gets their chips, before someone else does.

Mid Stage Play

During this phase, antes come into play and stacks begin to get shorter. Antes promote more aggressive play, as pots are now bigger and there is a larger incentive to steal the blinds. Also, as stacks get shorter, preflop play becomes begins to dominate. As a result, you should get more aggressive, particularly with preflop raises and reraises. Reads continue to be important, especially knowing who is too weak from the blinds, who is capable of reraising or four-betting without a big hand, etc. While describing strategic adjustments in all table conditions is far beyond the scope of this article, I will offer some advice. First, the focus begins to shift from exploiting the looser players to exploiting those playing too tight. Though loose (more specifically loose/passive) players will likely still be targets, their play is made less incorrect by the larger antes. Also, picking out and reraising more often the players who are adjusting to the antes and opening more pots becomes imperative to a winning strategy. Most importantly, remember that there is no one "best" strategy during this, or any, stage of a tournament. Different players and tables require different approaches so be willing to adapt.

As the bubble approaches, your play should likely change, although moreso to adapt to others than because of the money bubble. While you should be less willing to call off your chips preflop, remember that the first payout level tends to be between one and two buyins, whereas first is somewhere in the area of 1000 buyins. Again the key is adjusting to your table, attacking those who care too much about making the money, and picking good spots against other "attackers."

Once the bubble bursts there's often a long stage where stacks are quite short relative to the blinds and play is almost entirely preflop. Correct play becomes largely a math problem, and one in which your instincts will prove to be wrong more often than not. The best advice I can give here is to do your own work away from the table. There are lots of tools available, but most of it can be done with Excel, or with a great free program called Pokerstove. Working out correct ranges to move in or folding preflop will drastically increase your edge in almost all tournaments, particularly ones with quicker structures like the PokerStars Sunday Million.

Late Stage Play

As the final table begins to approach, the most important change is that you will often be playing at less than full tables. Again this will require an increase in aggression, and since you'll be playing more pots with more marginal hands, reads become even more important. Being able to adjust to those who are looking to make the final table as opposed to those looking to win is essential. Ideally you should be able to look at each person (or avatar) at the table and have a good idea of where your edge against that player will come from, whether it's by playing tight and value betting them, attacking their blinds more than normal, reraising more than normal or in the case of a great player just avoiding them. In reality it never quite works out this well and we operate with incomplete information, but recognizing that this is the goal will help keep you focused.

Most importantly, recognize that making the final table in and of itself is meaningless. Your goal should be to maximize the money you expect to make, so don't be afraid to make a play you believe is correct. Remember that there is a huge luck element deep in tournaments and try to play your best. Having gotten 10th in the Sunday Million, as well as bubbling a couple WPT and WSOP events (and countless online tournaments), I know it sucks to make it that deep and bust, but most of the money is in the top three spots, so don't let yourself blind out just trying to make the final table.

Most of what I've written in this article can be summed up in a few key points:

1. Preflop play is extremely important in tournaments. Do work off the table to be prepared for this.
2. Reads are extremely important in all stages of a tournament, but especially deep and around the bubbles.
3. Winning a tournament takes a huge amount of luck, so try to ignore results while playing your best and having fun.

There is nothing to say you have to stay up all night on Sundays to see the best in online action at PokerStars. PokerStars.tv has started taking care of that for you. If you have not yet started watching The Online Poker Show, now is your chance.

Below you'll have a chance to see both the Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-Up highlight shows. Because we don't want to spoil it for you, we won't tell you how it turned out. If you want to go back and see any of our wrap-up action after you watch, you can do so at the following links.

3-1-09 Sunday Million final table report

3-1-09 Sunday Warm-Up final table report

Now, if you're ready for the shows, you can find them both below.

Enjoy!

Watch Online Poker Show P1: Sunday Million - Mar 1, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

Watch Online Poker Show P2: Sunday WarmUp - Mar 1, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

If you went to bed early last night, you might have missed it. What started as a plan for Team PokerStars Pros Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu to play some big heads up games suddenly turned into a full high stakes cash game table.

You might already know about PokerStars' 8-game mixed tables that offer a rotation of Hold'em, Omaha H/L, Razz, Stud, Stud H/L, NL Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw

PokerStars offers this mix at limits as low as .20/.40, but the new $400/$800 game is what have people talking.

Last night, Greenstein, Negreanu, and Gavin Griffin were joined by such names as psykokwak, RAYNEE, jmonnett, Amke, groth91, tiffaniejoy for the nosebleed game. Some players had stacks of more than $120,000 sitting on the table in the early morning hours.

Obviously, these are the kinds of games that we'll want to be watching going forward. We expect the game to become a weekly affair. If plans don't change, the game will be going off next Sunday, March 8 at 21:00 EST.

In the meantime, if you want to try out the mix for yourself, you can find it in the PokerStars lobby under OTHER GAMES -- MIXED GAMES -- 8-GAME.

It will take quite an imagination to wrap your head around this one, but, frankly, it took a lot of imagination to get to this point anyway. So, stick with us here.

Imagine that every citizen of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles wanted to play poker. Not an easy proposition, we understand, but nothing this big ever is. And yet, that is sort of what PokerStars has managed to accomplish.

A few days back, PokerStars signed up its 20 millionth account. That is the equivalent of every one of those New Yorkers, Chicagoans, and Los Angelenos having an account on PokerStars.

The name behind the big number is "piposko." Hailing from Slovakia, piposko signed up for the milestone account on February 21. As a hat tip to the Slovakian, PokerStars slid a $215 tourney ticket into the brand new account.

So, piposko, welcome to the family!

It's a big one, but we think you'll like it here.

Ylon Schwartz may not say a lot, but when he does, it's best to listen. On Sunday, one of the newest Team PokerStars Pros made three final tables in the PokerStars Sunday majors.

Schwartz placed eighth in the $215 Mixed Hold'em event and $215 HORSE event. Schwartz then picked up a ninth place finish in the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance event. As you likely already know, Schwartz finished third at the final table of the 2008 World Series and recently joined Team Pro.

Schwartz was not the only member of Team PokerStars Pro to find his way to the final table yesterday. Alex Gomes made the $215 HORSE final table with Schwartz. Gomes managed a second place finish for nearly $8,000.

The biggest work of the day fell to the people who played in the monster Sunday Warm-up and Sunday Million.

The Warm-up drew nearly 4,500 players. Less than eleven hours after they all sat down, frtk breezed through a quick final table for a $114,508.80 win. See how he did it at our Sunday Warm-Up final table report.

A few hours later, the Sunday Million worked its way to the final table. Nearly 8,700 people signed up to play, but only StefanProdan could pull out the win. Check out the recap at our Sunday Million final table report.

For a complete rundown of all the big final tables, check out the 3-1-09 PokerStars Sunday tournament results.

Congrats to all this week's winners.

The first day of March brought its first Sunday Million and a total of 8,664 players to the online poker tables on PokerStars. It was set to be another stellar payday for a portion of those players, as the $1.5 million guarantee was smashed to smithereens in lieu of a $1,732,800 prize pool.

As the field thinned toward the money bubble, it was during the hand-for-hand play that the "boom" was heard when MR.REDZ became the 1261st place finisher, sadly leaving after hours of play with nothing but memories. But that left room for antidotum to cash for $346.56 in 1260th place and quite a few others to move up the money ladder.

Finally, the nine-hour mark came and went with 17 players, and the table then seemed stuck with 16 left. But eventually, after more then thirty minutes, the group forged ahead to the final table bubble, where PhenomPoker made another in a series of preflop all-in raises. This time, wywrotX decided to reraise all-in to isolate, which worked. PhenomPoker showed Ah-Js, but wywrotX turned over the pocket kings, and though a king came on the flop of 8c-Ks-Qh, it also gave PhenomPoker the straight draw. But the Qd on the turn and 2c on the river pushed PhenomPoker out in tenth place with $8,664.00.

The final table was then set as follows, with Bob Vitis maintaining a chip lead that had been his for hours:

Seat 1: IRENE666 (7,673,697 in chips)
Seat 2: Vincent Eley (3,081,820 in chips)
Seat 3: StefanProdan (9,465,052 in chips)
Seat 4: jbrown04 (10,857,952 in chips)
Seat 5: Princess480 (9,237,726 in chips)
Seat 6: wywrotX (15,860,950 in chips)
Seat 7: G6Dragon (5,704,071 in chips)
Seat 8: Bob Vitis (17,009,023 in chips)
Seat 9: WlkRambo (7,749,709 in chips)

Play sped up as the final table got underway, Vincent Eley as the clear short stack, he pushed all-in with his last 2,321,820 from the button and found a caller in jbrown04 from the big blind. Vincent Eley showed Ad-4d, but jbrown04 had the better Ac-8h hand. The board brought no four and not enough diamonds with Qc-5d-Tc-2h-As, and that eliminated Vincent Eley in ninth place with a $12,129.60 for making the final nine.

Within moments, G6Dragon found an opportunity to move with his relatively short stack. It was after IRENE666 made the initial raise that G6Dragon came over the top from the big blind with the all-in move holding Ad-Td. But IRENE666 called with Ac-Qh, and when the board produced 9c-4s-7c-2h-Js, that left G6Dragon out in eighth place with $19,927.20.

It looked for a bit like IRENE666 would be the next to go, after seeing her chip stack reduced to just over one million when jbrown04 doubled through IRENE666. But the at-risk one doubled through Bob Vitis and then through jbrown04 to sit with over seven million and let go of the panic.

Meanwhile, it was Princess480 in danger, after having lost some chips when WlkRambo doubled through. Princess480 finally pushed preflop for 1,676,034 chips holding Jh-Ts, and StefanProdan called from the big blind with Kc-Td. The virtual dealer gave nothing to Princess480 except Tc-2h-As-5c-7d, which made for a seventh place finish and $30,324.00 prize.

Suggestions of deal talks quickly fell through when several players weren't interested. After play resumed after the regularly scheduled break, IRENE666 lost a little ground and sought another double-up, making that all-in move preflop with Kd-Qs. But it was nemesis jbrown04 who called with pocket fours, and it was off to the races. IRENE666 saw a bit of hope on the 8s-Jc-7d flop and a straight draw with the Ad on the turn, but the 3h gave the pot to jbrown04. IRENE666 was ousted in sixth place with $43,320.00 for the effort.

Caution became the word of the game at that point, with no desperate stacks, no deals in the making, and everyone eyeing the first place prize of $209,842.08. It was too significant to ignore, and play slowed tremendously.

Finally, after StefanProdan came in for a preflop raise, WlkRambo reraised all-in with pocket sixes, but StefanProdan called quickly with pocket jacks. The board came an uneventful 2s-Tc-4c-8c-3s, sending WlkRambo out in fifth place with $60,648.00.

Discussions resumed with four left, which led to a pause in the action to get chip-chop numbers and consider a deal. But alas, the two shorter stacked players were not happy with the proposed deal amounts, and another ten minutes or so of talks resulted in a minor adjustment, hesitation, and eventually a deal. The chip counts and deal amounts were as follows, with $30,000 extra set aside for the winner.

Seat 3: StefanProdan (28,510,154 in chips) = $138,296.06
Seat 4: jbrown04 (37,166,120 in chips) = $152,046.89
Seat 6: wywrotX (8,252,933 in chips) = $100,000.00
Seat 8: Bob Vitis (12,710,793 in chips) = $104,868.73

With that, action resumed, and it took only minutes for wywrotX to push all-in with Qd-2d. jbrown04 was there with Ac-Qh and the call, which led to both players seeing the 6s-4s-7c-Jd-Tc come on the board. Nothing hit either player, and wrwrotX and his worse hand were out of the tournament in fourth place, which was worth a deal-made amount of $100,000.00.

The next short stack was up in the very next hand. After jbrown04 began the action with an all-in move, Bob Vitis called all-in with Kd-Qd, but jbrown04 showed Ac-8c. The flop produced a pair for Bob Vitis but flush draw for jbrown04 with 7c-Qc-3d, and the Tc on the turn made that flush. The 2h on the river was irrelevant and officially eliminated Bob Vitis in third place with $104,868.73.

Heads-up began promptly with the following counts:

Seat 3: StefanProdan (30,390,154 in chips)
Seat 4: jbrown04 (56,249,846 in chips)

StefanProdan made some headway with one significant double-up through his opponent on a 6h-4d-2s-8c-9h board. StefanProdan pushed all-in on the river with 9-8 and the two pair, and jbrown04 called with only a pair of eights, allowing StefanProdan to take the pot worth nearly 60 million chips, which also gave him the chip lead. He built on that and continued to put jbrown04 to the test.

More than eleven hours from the start of the tournament, the final hand came down. jbrown04 actually started it with a raise to 2.35 million chips, which prompted StefanProdan to reraise all-in. jbrown04 called all-in for his last 12,599,692 chips with Kc-Js, and StefanProdan needed some improvement on his 9d-8d. It didn't come on the 6c-2h-4h flop, nor on the 4s turn, but the 9h on the river was the card to end it all. jbrown04 was eliminated in second place, which was good for the agreed-upon amount of $152,046.89.

StefanProdan became the latest Sunday Million champion, along with which he was awarded a total of $168,296.06 in prize money. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 03/01/09:
Results based on five way deal

1. StefanProdan (United States) $168,296.06
2. jbrown04 (United States) $152,046.89
3. Bob Vitis (Canada) $104,868.73 .
4. wywrotX (Canada) $100,000.00
5. lkRambo (United Kingdom) $60,648.00
6. IRENE666 (Austria)  $43,320.00
7. Princess480 (United States) $30,324.00
8. G6Dragon (United States) $19,927.20
9. Vincent Eley (United Kingdom) $12,129.60

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

It's become almost routine for the Sunday Warm-Up to blow through the guaranteed $750,000 prize pool, but the $894,600.00 prize pool this week's 4,473 entrants created was definitely worth remarking on. Also worth mention is that this was one of the shortest final tables I've seen at the Sunday Warm-Up, as eventual champ frtk took control from the opening hand and ran roughshod over the competition on his way to a $114,508 payday.

Lephiloufou came into the table as one of the shorter stacks, so when he picked up Ac-Kc in late position, calling frtk's preflop raise was a no-brainer. Frtk raised enough to put lephiloufou all in, and showed pocket nines to lephiloufou's big slick. The 4d-2d-3s-Qh-Jd board came out clubless, and lephiloufou lost an early coin flip to bust in 9th place ($6,977.88).

Frtk played the part of wrecking ball early, sending papijuno to the rail in 8th place for $10,735.20. Papijuno went all in preflop with Jd-7d on a bold move, but frtk woke up in the small blind with Ah-Qc and made the easy call. The board of 8s-6s-3s-6h-5h missed both players by a mile, but frtk's Ace-high was enough to send papijuno home and take a huge chip lead early into the final table.

After the first break of the final table, the action came back quick, as Carelo open-shoved from the cutoff with Kh-Jc. He got action from and217, who re-raised to isolate with 9d-9c. No other callers, and the flop looked good for Carelo, as it came down 6s-Jd-8c. The Qs on the turn gave and217 additional outs, and the 10s on the river sealed the deal as and217 went runner-runner for the straight. Carelo headed to the rail in 7th place with $17,892.00 for his troubles.

Almost before we could blink, the field thinned even further, as frtk bulldozed through the next three competitors to leave the field three-handed and take an even more monstrous chip lead. First, UnhOoked moved all in over the top of SpotLIGHT19's preflop raise with Ac-Js. Frtk was the only caller, and his 10c-10s held up on the 2d-6s-Kh-4h-Qh board to bust UnhOoked in 6th place ($26,838.00). Tilkk was frtk's next victim, finishing in 5th place for $35,784.00. After a preflop raised from frtk, tilkk moved all in over the top with Kd-Qh. Frtk called with 4h-4d, and once again the pair won the coin flip, this time on a board of 3c-8c-9s-7d-3d.

Frtk rode roughshod over another opponent when he raised preflop with Ad-2c and got action from SpotLIGHT19, who three-bet all in with As-7d. SpotLIGHT19 picked up a pair of sevens on the 4h-Qc-7h flop, but the cards were all falling frtk's way tonight as the turn and river ran out 5d-3c to give him runner-runner wheel and give SpotLIGHT19 4th place and $44,730.00.

Three-handed play lasted almost long enough for me to write up the 6th and 5th-place bustouts, but not quite. It was no surprise that frtk took out the 3rd-place finisher, from the beginning of the final table it seemed that the only question was who would he eliminate and in what order. And217 was that next victim, finishing in 3rd place when frtk made the hero call that worked out for him. Frtk raised preflop from the small blind, and217 defended his big blind and dippedydawg got out of the way. Frtk led out on the 4h-3d-4d flop, and went into the tank after and217 moved all in over the top. Frtk finally made the call, showing Ah-Qc. It turned out to be the right call, as and217 tabled Qh-10d. No help on the 3c turn or the Jh river for and217, so he was done in 3rd place ($53,318.16).

Despite being a massive chip underdog (no pun intended), dippedydawg was determined to make a go of it in heads-up play. He jousted back and forth with frtk for several hands before all the money went in for the last time. For the first time at this final table, the pocket pair lost a coin flip as dippedydawg got all his money n preflop with 7c-7h to frtk's Qc-Js. Perhaps that was because it was one of the few times frtk didn't hold the pocket pair in the coin flip, because he was fated to win every coin toss tonight, making trips on the Ac-Qd-Qs-6d-10s board to bust dippedydawg in 2nd place (80,066.70) and claiming the $114,508.80 top prize all for himself. There was no deal made, mostly because frtk busted all his opposition too quickly for them to cut a deal!

Congratulations to frtk on a dominating final table performance, and congrats to all 675 players who cashed in the Sunday Warm-up!