Back in the day, you could walk into auto repair shop, look at the wall calendar, and not only see a photo of a scantily clad woman, but also what day it was. It was very handy. These days, the kids are all using smartphones and other hand-dandy widgets to look at women and the day of the month.

That all said, if you could find a wall calendar and looked at it today, you would see we are less than two months away from the deadline to make it to Supernova Elite in the PokerStars VIP Club. We're expecting a fairly good flood of players in the coming weeks. For now, though, we have two more well-known players who have made into the ranks of the Elite.

The first is Brent Wheeler, 23, the man known on PokerStars as bdubs3737. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Wheeler now lives in Tucson, AZ with fellow PokerStars player Bill Ivey. On the first day of the year, he made it his mission to make it to Supernova Elite and actually led the pack for the first several weeks. However, once he got busy with the World Series of Poker, he slowed down and spent the next few months grinding his way to a million VPPs.

Though it took him a little extra time to get there, he's spent it well and in eclectic fashion.

"I love to travel and to try new things, especially foreign foods," he said. "I've recently taken up painting in acrylics and skateboarding. I'm terrible at both so far."

No matter how good he is at those pursuits, he seems good at the poker thing. He's currently trying to bang out a $75,000 win in a matter of a couple of weeks. We wish him the best of luck.

Just about the same time Wheeler made it to Supernova Elite, another driven 23-year-old crossed the finish line. The man known as teacuppoker on PokerStars is a California guy who recently graduated with a business degree. What happened next is a story best told by the man himself.

"I moved to Las Vegas after graduation for a several months and made some very poor investment decisions away from the tables in stocks," he said. "At the same time I hit the worst poker slump of my life and decided to walk away from the game and attempt to pursue a job in trading or business related. After several months of studying up for several jobs and no successes in a rough job market, I started playing some low stakes SNG's on pokerstars again at $11 or $22. That was probably no more than a week or two before New Year 2009."

And so there he was, riding it out in the low stakes and trying to gain a foothold. That was all less than 12 months ago. The next thing he knew, he had worked his way back up to the bigger stakes SNGs, final tabled a big SCOOP event, and had Supernova Elite in sight.

Obviously, he made it, and in well enough time to set some goals for the future.

"I would like to maintain Supernova Elite in 2010 which means continuing to play a decent amount of SNGs," he said. "I would also like to spend alot more time playing the 8-game mix for the remainder of this year and next year. Finally, I'd like to work on my live tournament game a lot in 2010 and hopefully have some successes."

We're going to guess if he can make it from $11 SNGs to Supernova Elite in a matter of months, he can do just about anything he wants in 2010.

Congratulations to both men, and good luck to everybody who's still trying to make it to Elite.

Among the WSOP November Nine are three PokerStars players with their eye on poker's most coveted bracelet. When they sit down Saturday afternoon to resume the WSOP Main Event, Eric Buchman, Joe Cada, and Kevin Schaffel will be fighting to sit atop the poker globe for the next year.

Buchman's adult life has been focused solely around poker. He learned to play when he was a kid. Eventually, he ended up going to a casino with this brother and, in his words, "stumbled upon the poker room." He went to college at SUNY Albany and got a bachelor's degree in business, but to date, he's made all his money by playing poker. Before he even sat down to play in the WSOP Main Event, he'd won nearly $900,000 in live tournaments alone. Now he sits second in chips at the Main Event final table with 34,800,000 and is guaranteed no less than $1.2 million just for showing up in Vegas this weekend.

Joe Cada started playing poker at his high school lunch table. Competitive by nature, Cada soon realized he was pretty good at the game and started playing for real money as soon as he could. After a stint working at a restaurant and a couple of years in community college, Cada followed his true calling.

"Poker was the avenue I decided to stay on," he said.

To date, Cada has less than $30,000 in live winnings (understandable since he just turned 21 this year), but untold amounts of cashes online. He sits in the middle of the pack at the final table with a stack of more than 13 million. If he wins, he will become the youngest-ever WSOP Main Event winner (a record currently held by Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate).

Kevin Schaffel is the old man of the PokerStars players at the table. When he graduated from Florida State in 1979, his fellow PokerStars players weren't even born. He spent the next 30 years heading up his family's direct mail and printing business.

He started playing poker at a friend's house when he was eleven years old. From there, he played in home games and casinos until he finally made it big enough to play in the 2004 WSOP (he finished 42nd for $60,000). His big successes, however, have come in the last year. After making the final table of the WSOP Main Event, Schaffel went out and played the WPT Legends of Poker, made the final table, and placed second for $471,000. He just recently went deep at the EPT event in London where he finished 19th for a nice payday.

Schaffel goes into the WSOP final table with 12,390,000 in chips.

Here's how the three PokerStars platers stack up against the other six players at the final table (you can always keep up with the stacks on our WSOP Chip Counts page).

Darvin Moon (USA) 58,930,000
Eric Buchman (USA) PokerStars player 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter (USA) 29,88,5000
Jeff Shulman (USA) 19,580,000
Joe Cada (USA) PokerStars player 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel (USA) PokerStars qualifier 12,390,000
Phil Ivey (USA) 9,765,000
Antoine Saout (France) 9,500,000
James Akenhead (UK) 6,800,000

They'll be fighting for the following prizes.

1. $8,546,435
2. $5,182,601
3. $3,479,485
4. $2,502,787
5. $1,953,395
6. $1,587,133
7. $1,404,002
8. $1,300,228
9. $1,263,602

Schaffel and Buchman recently met on the felt again in London on the European Poker Tour. They had a chance to sit down and talk away from the action. Here's what they had to say.

The PokerStars Blog will once again be in Las Vegas to cover the final table from beginning to end. Join us for live coverage beginning Saturday just after noon Vegas time.

As of this time yesterday, you knew the EPT had been to Kyiv, Barcelona, London and Warsaw, and you knew it had planned stops in Vilamoura, Prague, and the Bahamas. The first half of the schedule was pretty exciting on its own, so there were no complaints there.

Now, we've seen the second half of the line-up, and we could write a thousand words about it. Instead, we'll just offer this picture.

Indeed, folks. You're looking at the Alps and the newest stop on the European Poker Tour.

In the schedule released this morning, the EPT has announced a brand new event: EPT Snowfest. This looks to be more than just a poker tournament. It's going to be a ski vacation in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria's Alpine Palace will host the €3,500 Main Event March 21st - 26th, 2010.

That is just one of six tour stops announced in the final Season 6 schedule. In addition to EPT Snowfest, the European Poker Tour is headed back to all the places you have come to expect.

Here's the remainder of the schedule.

January 20th - 25th: EPT Deauville
February 16th - 21st: EPT Copenhagen
March 2nd-7th -- EPT Germany
March 21st - 26th -- EPT Snowfest
April 15th - 21st -- EPT San Remo
April 25th -30th -- EPT Monte Carlo

For a complete look at the full EPT schedule, check out the EPT tournaments page.

In the meantime, we hope you'll join us as we report from the newest stop on the EPT in Vilamoura, Portugal Nov 17-22.

See, there are a lot of people who get a chance to submit casting videos for the show, and that means it takes a lot of creativity to stand out and get noticed. That means the folks Negreanu will end up playing are pretty darned dedicated to the idea of beating Negreanu at his own game.

As we take a look at the week's best internet video offerings, ChristianJS's auditon tape was the first one that caught our eye.

That's the man right there, a veteran of ten years of poker and the war in Iraq.

What you have below is no handicam home movie. ChristianJS and his team put together a short film you might recognize.

Speaking of that hit show, we've just been handed a behind-the-scenes look from the good folks over at PokerStars.tv.

In the video below, see Negreanu fall in love, Barry Greenstein comment on Kid Poker's abilities, and Vanessa Rousso in a headband.

While we're talking about PokerStars.tv, we might as well get back to that old chestnut known as The Online Poker Show.

Once again, we've got the great highlights show from the PokerStars Sunday Million.

Want to see somebody win $180,000. Then have a look at this.

Finally, we're just days away from the final table of the World Series of Poker and ESPN's Inside Deal is getting ready for it. In the video below, you get to see Chad Brown with a pretty lady (who is not Vanessa Rousso...)

That should keep you busy at work for a while. Tell you're boss we said we're sorry.

Witness the latest event on the tour...the aptly-named and nearly-vowel-free CSPT Brno.

This weekend, PokerStars qualifier and Czech local Martin Hruby (not a lot of vowels there either...) played the role of hometown boy done good and took down the event for CZK 380,257 ($21,000). Kruby was one of six qualifiers in the 131-player field.

After nine years in the poker world, Hruby is starting to make quite a name for himself. Until this championship win, his best finish was a second place in a WCOOP $1,050 event.

Here's how the rest of the final table looked.

1st-- Martin Hrubý
2nd--Jiří Halouzka
3rd--Elmar Muller
4th--Miroslav Ratkovský
5th--Luboš Krupák
6th--Andrej Bartovic
7th--Petr Dohnal
8th--Josef Šamánek

Next up on the CSPT, CSPT Bratislava at Ceasars Poker Club at the Golden Vegas casino in Bratislava December 10-13.

For full details, see the PokerStars CSPT home page.

"It doesn't take that long to drive across our entire country!" said one Brit.

That's a long way of describing how cozy the United Kingdom can be. It's also a way of introducing PokerStars' newest cozy poker tour.

This morning, PokerStars announced Season 1 of the UK & Ireland Poker Tour, henceforth known as the UKIPT.

Starting next month, the UKIPT will be running events all around both countries, with stops in Galway, Nottingham, London and several other great locales over eleven months of play.

The UKIPT has already announced some pretty nice guarantees for some pretty affordable buy-ins. Manchester, Coventry and Nottingham all have a guaranteed prize pool of £100,000 for the £500 buy-ins. Irish events with a €1,000 + €100 buy-in (Killarney and Dublin) will have a €250,000 guarantee. Every event's winner will also get a buy-in to the London Grand Final.

Satellites for the UKIPT Galway event are running now. Learn all you need to know over at the PokerStars UKIPT homepage.

It's always interesting to see how people approach the final table after spending half a day to get to the final nine of the world's biggest weekly tournament. Some people never say a word. Other folks are ready to chop it nine-handed.

That brings us to the six-way...yes, six-way...chop in the Sunday Million.

Our Jen Newell stayed up late last night to watch the final table players work out a big ol' deal. When it was all said and done, she gave us the final report of siola winning more than $187,000 for making it to the top of the choppers.

A bit earlier in the night, the loser of one of our favorite prop bets in the world turned into the winner of the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up. Daniel "DCal Zonezone" Didech once lost a prop with a buddy that required him to dress up like this at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

That still makes us giggle.

Anyway, our Martin Harris stayed up to watch Didech take down the Warm-Up and filed this 11-01-09 Sunday Warm-Up final table report.

If you'd like to see who got the big cookies in this weekend's tournaments, check out our full listing of the 11-01-09 PokerStars Sunday tournament results.

Next week, we'll be bringing you this report from Las Vegas where we'll be covering the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker.

Good luck at the tables this week!

While you're researching how the year moved along so quickly, we'll give you a rundown of the November 1st Sunday Million. The crowd was a solid one, as 7,962 players came to the tables to compete in the most exciting of Sunday events, and the final registration number brought the prize pool to $1,592,400. As the day pushed on, the last 1,170 players in the tournament found themselves in that deep pool, cashing out for a minimum of $318.48.

But it was when the event reached the final two tables that the railbirds lined up to see which player would take home nearly $240K to go with the prestigious Sunday Million title. After being stuck at 16 players for quite awhile, action finally sped up and Disgracer1 exited in 12th and vias 28 in 11th just moments apart. And very soon after, a hand unfolded that involved siola and Phatigue going to see a [Qd] [8h] [6c] flop. Betting led to the [2c] turn, at which point, raising and reraising led to Phatigue calling all-in for his last 999,408 with [8c] [7c]. But the middle pair and flush draw were up against the pocket aces of siola, and the [Ks] on the river allowed them to hold up. Phatigue was eliminated in tenth place with $8,519.35 and final table bubble position.

Play was then set to begin at the final table amidst Level 35 with 150,000/300,000 blinds and a 40,000 ante, and the player lineup was as follows:

Seat 1: Lounatic0815 (19,321,372 in chips)
Seat 2: RickoT (4,957,241 in chips)
Seat 3: TEACH604 (6,342,562 in chips)
Seat 4: sandman201 (3,334,102 in chips)
Seat 5: monkeyboxes (6,392,036 in chips)
Seat 6: siola (23,947,867 in chips)
Seat 7: wader (3,815,664 in chips)
Seat 8: mizarkshzark (4,221,284 in chips)
Seat 9: spitznspots (7,287,872 in chips)

siola and Lounatic0815 held a commanding lead over the rest of the table, and the burden was going to be on those seven players to make some moves. However, small-ball poker was the order of the first few rounds, as flops were a rarity and everyone seemed to be waiting for just the right moment.

That moment looked right for RickoT when he looked down at [Ad] [Jh] preflop, but TEACH604 called easily with pocket queens from the small blind. The board was uneventful on the [7s] [5h] [3c] flop and [4s] turn, and the [Js] on the river was too little too late for RickoT, who was eliminated in ninth place with $12,341.11.

sandman201 was having a rough go of the final table, though a double-up through siola gave the player new life. But players steadily chipped away at sandman201, eventually prompting him to push all-in preflop with pocket jacks. It just so happened that spitznspots was able to call with pocket kings. The board blanked with [7s] [4d] [3h] [9s] [5d], and sandman201 was off with $18,312.61, presumably to get some sleep.

The absolute short stack, mizarkshzark, took an opportunity to double through Lounatic0815 twice to stay alive and once more through siola, but the same couldn't be said for wader. Moving all-in with pocket kings looked like a good move, especially when spintznspots called and showed pocket queens. But the board was dramatic as it came [Qh] [9s] [9h] [9d] [Ad] to give both players full houses but spitznspots the better one. wader took the worst of it and left in seventh place with $31,848.01.

The tournament was then paused when the six remaining players decided to look at chip-chop numbers. But just as quickly as the proposed payouts were given, talks began to fall apart as several players felt they deserved more of the chop than others were willing to give. However, alternate amounts were thrown around (during which time many of us were still trying to grasp that November had arrived), and when all was said and done, the 30-minute break actually led to a deal. With $30,000 set aside for the eventual winner, the payout numbers were as follows:

Seat 1: Lounatic0815 (20,187,520 in chips) = $160,000.00
Seat 3: TEACH604 (10,327,303 in chips) = $96,000.00
Seat 5: monkeyboxes (3,162,036 in chips) = $60,000.00
Seat 6: siola (19,450,391 in chips) = $157,860.54
Seat 8: mizarkshzark (10,990,272 in chips) = $100,000.00
Seat 9: spitznspots (15,502,478 in chips) = $121,318.48

Four hands later, the very short-stacked monkeyboxes chose the all-in move with [Ah] [Jh], and spitznspots called from the big blind with [Kd] [Qd]. The flop of [9s] [Ks] [Qs] gave spitznspots two pair, but monkeyboxes picked up the straight draw. But the [Qh] on the turn was a full house for spitznspots, and the [6s] on the river was the last card of the hand, knocking monkeyboxes out in sixth place with $60,000.

It took only two more hands for another player to be at risk, and it happened when TEACH604 shoved all-in for 8,277,303 in response to mizarkshzark's initial raise. The call was made by mizarkshzark holding pocket tens, and TEACH604 turned over [Ad] [Kd]. The board produced [2s] [3c] [Qd] [Jc] [6h], and that was enough to send TEACH604 out of the tournament in fifth place with $96,000.

Another two hands later, Lounatic0815 found himself with just a few chips less than the leader, and with pocket eights, Lounatic0815 moved all-in. spitznspots was said leader and called with [As] [Th], and the two watched the flop come [Qc] [2h] [7h], which was harmless. But the [Ts] on the turn gave the advantage to spitznspots, and the [5h] on the river sealed the deal. Lounatic0815 was eliminated in fourth place with the previously agreed-upon amount of $160,000.

It was then that siola made a run for it, and the following double-up took siola to a solid second place on the board:

Chips changed hands quickly from there, and mizarkshzark took the lead briefly after doubling through spitznspots but lost it again to nearly even up the three remaining players. But siola with the biggest stack decided to play the preflop raising game with mizarkshzark, and when siola pushed all-in, mizarkshzark called for his tournament life with pocket tens. siola showed [Qh] [Jd], and the board immediately brought a hand for siola with a [Jh] [7h] [6d] flop. The [7d] turn and [3d] river ended the run for mizarkshzark, who left in third place with $100,000.

Heads-up then began with siola holding more than a 2-to-1 chip advantage over spitznspots:

Seat 6: siola (55705381 in chips)
Seat 9: spitznspots (23914619 in chips)

Several chopped pots kept the action going, but it was spitznspots who played fairly patient poker and slowly chipped up into the lead. The two exchanged that lead many times over the 30-minute heads-up session, but it was a key hand near the end that gave siola the advantage. It was all done with preflop raising, and 30.2 million was in the pot when siola pushed all-in and spitznspots folded. That gave siola a significant chip lead once again.

Two hands after, spitznspots moved all-in with [Ad] [3c], but siola happened to have [As] [Qc] and made the call. The board came [7c] [Ks] [5s] [Kh] [Ac], and spitznspots was forced to accept second place and $121,318.48.

That left siola as the last player standing and the latest Sunday Million winner. For the accomplishment, $187,860.54 was awarded.

Sunday Million Results for 11/01/09:

1st place: siola ($187,860.54)*
2nd place: spitznspots ($121,318.48)*
3rd place: mizarkshzark ($100,000.00)*
4th place: Lounatic0815 ($160,000.00)*
5th place: TEACH604 ($96,000.00)*
6th place: monkeyboxes ($60,000.00)*
7th place: wader ($31,848.01)
8th place: sandman201 ($18,312.61)
9th place: RickoT ($12,341.11)

*Numbers based on a six-way chop agreement

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

After a little over a hour-and-a-half, 3,000 players remained, with clickys the leader at nearly 75,000. About 45 minutes later, 2,000 were left, and katallo had stormed in front with 134,198. At the 3 hr., 15 min. mark, 1,000 players still had chips, at which point daphishermen had the most with 221,354.

The cash bubble burst at around the four-hour mark, meaning the 675 remaining players were all going to be enjoying some sort of profit for their efforts. At that point, magicdave2 was atop the leaderboard with 328,009, followed by Maskus (299,371) and katallo (258,147). A little over an hour later, 200 remained, with moneymike7 quickly closing in on the one-million chip mark. After six-plus hours of play, 100 players were left, and ssirC was in front with more than 1.4 million. Team PokerStars pro Victor Ramdin would be one of the next ones out, finishing in 98th place.

About the time Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton was throwing the first pitch of Game 4 to Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees -- approximately seven-and-half-hours into the tourney -- there were just 32 players left gathered around four tables, with kregme1 the leader with about 4.2 million, trailed by KvicKiller (3.26 million) and CMOT_Donkey (3.11 million).

Play continued, and at the eight-and-a-half hour mark they were down to just ten. Finally a short-stacked caprizas pushed all in with [Ac][Jh] and got called by KvicKiller who held [Ad][6s]. A six flopped, no jack came to save caprizas, and the final table was set:

Seat 1: akia86 -- 1,975,425
Seat 2: Brughtality -- 2,888,005
Seat 3: CMOT_Donkey -- 2,052,970
Seat 4: Loverat -- 11,384,587
Seat 5: KvicKiller -- 8,104,073
Seat 6: DCal Zone -- 5,417,791
Seat 7: kregme1 -- 683,794
Seat 8: SebbyGl -- 2,578,014
Seat 9: oli4ever -- 12,385,341

You might notice Team PokerStars Pro Joep "Pappe_Ruk" van den Bijgaart chiming in there in the chat box. In fact, the Dutch pro was actually slated to help out over with the Sunday Million tonight, so Chris "Money800" Moneymaker stepped in to take over hosting duties. As the Phils and Yanks moved into the fifth inning of their game tied 2-2, our final nine players took up their positions around their own field of green.

It would take a while for the first player to strike out (so to speak). With the blinds at 100,000/200,000 (20,000 antes), akia86 open-shoved all in for nearly 1.8 million, and CMOT_Donkey called for 1,355,515. The table folded around, and akia86 turned over [8d][8c] to CMOT_Donkey's [Ad][Ac]. All was well for CMOT_Donkey through the flop -- [6s][Qc][7s] -- and turn -- [9h]. But the [8h] cruelly fell on the river, giving akia86 the two-outer and CMOT_Donkey slid home in ninth.

A little while later, SebbyGl was the beneficiary of some fortunate timing by getting dealt pocket aces on the same hand oli4ever picked up two kings. The aces held, and SebbyGl was suddenly challenging Loverat and DCal Zone for the chip lead. Meanwhile, oli4ever, now one of the short stacks, was sounding a little like a disgruntled Cubs fan in the chatbox:

oli4ever: nh sebby
oli4ever: nice setup stars

The remaining eight players were already beginning to make some noises about chopping, but before all could agree to pause the tourney, three more would fall in quick succession.

First KvicKiller open-raised all in from the small blind for 2,720,919, and got called by DCal Zone in the big blind. KvicKiller showed [8c][9s] and DCal Zone [Ac][3c]. The board came [Kd][2d][Ah][As][Qh], and KvicKiller had been picked off in eighth.

oli4ever's tourney ended soon thereafter when he similarly open-shoved from the SB with his last 2,168,729, and akia86 called from the big blind. oli4ever showed [Qs][9h] and akia86 [Ah][9d]. The flop came [3h][As][Kc], and oli4ever was in sad shape. The [Jh] turn brought him straight possibilities, but the river [7h] was a swing-and-a-miss for oli4ever who hit the rail in seventh.

Just four hands later, with the blinds now up to 125,000/250,000 (ante 25,000), a similar sequence was followed when the table folded to kregme1 who pushed all in for 1,048,352 from the small blind, and SebbyGl made the call. kregme1 showed the mighty [2d][4d] and SebbyGl [Qd][8d]. The community cards came [8c][Ts][9d][5c][2c], and kregme1, having been caught stealing, was eliminated in sixth.

The remaining players continued to talk about chopping, although not everyone was willing and the game continued. Then came a hand in with Loverat opened with a raise to 750,000 from UTG, then DCal Zone, sitting to Loverat's left, reraised to 1.75 million. It folded back around to Loverat who made the call. The flop came [9h][9c][Kc]. Loverat checked, and DCal Zone shoved all in with his huge 12 million-plus chip stack. Loverat called with his remaining 4,880,806, turning over [Ac][6c] for a flush draw. An ace would work for Loverat, too, as DCal Zone showed [Th][Tc]. But the turn was the [9s] and the river the [4d]. Tens full for DCal Zone meant Loverat was hitting the showers in fifth.

DCal Zone would quickly be back in action, raising to 800,000 from under the gun. It folded to Brughtality in the big blind who reraised all in for 3,783,010, and DCal Zone called, turning over [As][9c] to Brughtality's [3h][3c]. The flop came [Kh][2h][Jd], and Brughtality's treys were still good. But the turn was the [Ad], leaving Brughtality just two outs. The river was the [6d], and like that ball Phillies slugger Chase Utley was smacking over the right-field wall in the seventh inning to cut the Yankees lead to 4-3, Brughtality was out of there in fourth.

The remaining trio did finally get that discussion of a possible deal going, and with Moneymaker's help the numbers for a chip-chop were presented. At that point DCal Zone held the lead with 24,762,974, akia86 was second with 18,930,276, and SebbyGl was the short stack with just 3,776,750. However no agreement could be reached, and the cards were soon back in the air.

A few hands later, SebbyGl had chipped up a bit before limping in from the small blind, then akia86 checked from the BB. The flop came [Ts][9c][Tc]. SebbyGl checked, akia86 bet 400,000, SebbyGl check-raised to 915,125, akia86 reraised all in and SebbyGl called for 6,218,375 total. SebbyGl showed [Th][5h] for trip tens, and akia86 [Qc][5c] for the flush draw. The [6c] came on the turn, completing akia86's flush, and after the [3h] fell on the river, SebbyGl had grounded out in third.

After that hand, the remaining two players were nearly even in chips, with DCal Zone at 24,762,974 and akia86 having 22,707,026. The 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champ again ran the numbers according to the stack sizes, which came out to $125,387.13 for DCal Zone and $124,159.86 for akia86. akia86 said that sounded good, but DCal Zone said he wanted $128,000.

akia86: whats wrong with you? :)
akia86: its just about 3k
DCal Zone: 128 or play
akia86: k fine

The new calculations meant $128,000 for DCal Zone, $121,546.99 for akia86, with $10,000 left on the table for the eventual winner. So, after nearly ten hours of poker, the tournament was resumed.

The pair battled gamely, and after 80 hands of heads-up -- much like the Yanks and Phillies, tied at 4-4 as their game headed into the ninth -- DCal Zone and akia86 were similarly still even in chips. Then on Hand No. 103 of heads-up play, some ten-and-a-half hours after the first hands of the tournament had been dealt, a winner was finally decided.

A couple of nice-sized pots had allowed DCal Zone to chip up to 30,149,943, while akia86 had slipped to 17,320,057. With blinds a whopping 250,000/500,000 (ante 50,000), akia86 opened from the small blind/button with a raise to 1,204,823. DCal Zone reraised to 3.3 million, prompting an all-in shove from akia86. DCal Zone made the call, showing [8s][8d] to akia86's [As][6d]. The board went [Td][7c][Kd][Ts][Jh], and as the Yankees were scoring the go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth, the Sunday Warm-Up had reached its conclusion.

Check out PokerStars.TV for a weekly wrap-up show covering all of the Sunday Majors, including commentary and hole cards. Even better than reading boxscores in the morning paper!

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up Results (11-01-09)
(*denotes two-way chop)

1. DCal Zone (Chicago) -- $138,000.00*
2. akia86 (Wiesbaden) -- $121,546.99*
3. SebbyGl (Leipzig) -- $78,325.51
4. Brughtality (Saint Paul) -- $53,641.11
5. Loverat (Stockport) -- $40,349.51
6. kregme1 (Frederiksvaerk) -- $30,855.51
7. oli4ever (Amsterdam) -- $21,361.51
8. KvicKiller (Slany) -- $11,867.51
9. CMOT_Donkey (Amersfoort) -- $7,595.21

In truth, I don't know which airline Thomas Partridge and James Keys took en route to Tallinn this week. What I do know is that they could probably hire a private jet to take them home. When this tournament reached its climax after about five-and-a-half hours play today, it was Partridge and Keys heads up for the title, and the winner's cheque of €76,750.

Partridge, a 24-year-old player from Teign Valley in Devon, clinched it after a brief battle against his friend. His king-high flush in spades, versus Keys' two pair, sealed the deal, forcing Keys to settle for €48,505. Partridge, meanwhile, is the first champion of what is very likely to become a fixture on the poker calendar. He is also off to the PCA in the Bahamas as the winner of a bonus package put up by PokerStars. Job done.

"I haven't played many live tournaments," Partridge said. "But our friend qualified and encouraged us to come along as well. I'm very pleased with the way it went. Now I'm going to try to improve my game before going to the Bahamas."

We began day three with 17 players and all eyeing the top prize. Natasha Ellis, another Briton, was the first out the door, when her pocket eights couldn't beat Q-J, and that started a rush of eliminations that took us to our final table of nine in double-quick time. Among those to fall short were Andrius Tapinas, Lithuania's finest, and the local hope Imre Leibold. But the pace had been frantic and the action brutal; few were spared the bloodshed.

Going into the final, the leader was Michael Fardan, from Denmark, who had personally accounted for at least five of the early eliminations. He had Keys out-chipped by a small handful, with Partridge breathing down their necks. And although we were at a final, the pace didn't slacken one bit. Finland's Antti Kärkkäinen, Johan Nilsson, of Sweden, Jerry Wong, of Holland, and another Finn, Petri Heinanen, were sent packing.

Then it got really ugly. Fardan and Keys were still huge in chips when they got involved in a monster pot. The board had all kinds of possibilities - two fives, an ace and a king - and Keys showed A-K when Fardan called his huge river bet. Muck, and Keys finished Fardan off with pocket tens soon after.

He wasn't even done. Claus Bek Nielsen must have loved finding pocket kings four-handed, and slyly managed to get all of his chips in the middle, called by the dominant Keys. But he was dominant in more ways than one: he also had pocket aces in a vicious cooler.

Nielsen departed, leaving the Norwegian Kenneth Danielsen to do battle with the Brits.

That didn't last long. He struggled gamely, and pushed Keys off a few pots, but then along came another cooler: A-10 versus A-K. Keys was in unstoppable form as Danielsen became our final Nordic representative to depart.

Throughout all this, Partridge had been playing it steady. He was taking down anything that was on offer while avoiding the major confrontations, and with Keys on his left - and picking up all these monsters - it was an exercise primarily in damage limitation. Heads up was a different story, though. Keys won the first small pot, but after that every pot was big and they all went to Partridge. In chunks of 200,000-odd each, he reeled in the two-to-one deficit and took the lead.

The winning pot was the kind that so often wins major tournaments: it was the first time two big hands went up against each other and all of the chips went in. Partridge's flush faded Keys' full house outs and the two shook hands with customary British understatement and politeness. Even their railbirds didn't know whether to cheer: they really didn't mind who won. "I don't want to look too happy because my friend lost," said Partridge.

But soon champagne was in both of their mitts, and our new champion was crowned.

Read all the action from today on our level-by-level updates. And Swedish might look like utter nonsense, but there's enough of it at our Swedish blog to make you think someone must understand it.

Introduction to the final day
Level 16&17 updates
Level 18&19 updates
Level 20 updates

There's more from the video blog team at PokerStars.tv. And thanks once again, and for the whole week, to Rene Velli, who has provided some excellent photographs.

The next major event we'll be covering at PokerStars blog will be the World Series final table from Las Vegas. Does EasyJet fly to Nevada?

Good night.

Blinds: 8,000-16,000 (2,000 ante)

Thomas Partridge wins €76,750 plus $15,000 package to PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
A full wrap of the day to come. Check out the prizewinners page to see who won what.

8.40pm: Game over
Thomas Partridge wins!
James Keys, UK, PokerStars qualifier, out in second winning €48,505
It's all over. There was minimal pre-flop action and Thomas Partridge led out 50,000 on a flop of [3s][qs][2c]. Keys called. The turn came [9s] and then it all kicked off. Partridge bet 120,000, Keys moved all in and Partridge snap-called. He had [ks][5s] for the flush and Keys had turned two pair with his [9h][2h]. Keys had full house outs but the [3h] on the river was not one of them.

8.30pm: One way traffic
Thomas Partridge has been dominating this heads up battle so far and he has just taken another decent pot to put him up to about 2,400,000.

There was 40,000 each in the pot pre-flop, then the cards came: [5s][7c][6s]. Partridge checked, Keys bet 50,000, Partridge made it 175,000 and Keys called. The turn came [10s] and Partridge led out for 175,000. Keys let it go.

8.25pm: Approximate chips
It's now:
Thomas Partridge: 2,100,000
Kames Keys: 900,000 approx

8.20pm: New chip leader
Thomas Partridge has now taken the chip lead when he bet 200,000 on the river, with the board showing [7h][8d][ad][ah][kd]. Partridge had [7d][4d] for the flush and Keys mucked.

8.15pm: Keys being hauled in
Partridge has now taken another big pot in this heads up battle. There was some small action on the flop of [6s][8c][3h] but it was when the [9s] turn came that more money flew in. Partridge checked, Keys bet 105,000 and Partridge called. The river was [3s] and Partridge checked again. Keys bet 280,000 and Partridge called, showing [7h][8s] to take it.

8.05pm: And another
Partridge has taken another one, in what was almost a carbon copy of the last hand. Keys limped and Partridge made it 100,000 more, which Keys called. The flop came [8c][7h][qd] and Partridge bet 100,000, which Keys called. The turn was [3c] and Partridge announced he was all in. Keys let it go.

8pm: Partridge takes one
After James Keys took the first small pot of heads up play, Thomas Partridge took the second, and it was worth a bit more. Partridge made up the big blind and Keys bet about 80,000. Called. The flop came [ah][5s][5h] and Keys check-called a 90,000 bet from Partridge. The turn was [9h] and Keys check-folded when Partridge moved all in.

7.55pm: Heads up
The two Britons from the final table have made it to heads up. Here's what they have at the moment:

James Keys: 2,300,000
Thomas Partridge: 784,000

Blinds:
Level 18: 4,000-8,000 (1,000 ante).
Level 19: 6,000-12,000 (1,000 ante)

7.40pm: Another cooler
Kenneth Danielsen, Norway, PokerStars qualifier, out in third winning €30,085
James Keys has played excellently all week in Tallinn, but even he would admit that he's found some great cards when it mattered late on here. He's now accounted for Kenneth Danielsen, who shoved with [ac][10c] and Keys found [ad][ks]. The board came [as][jd][jc][5s][3s] which was not the miracle ten.

Keys accounts for another one and will now go heads up against his friend and countryman Thomas Partridge.

7.30pm: Strength
James Keys just took some away from the short stack Kenneth Danielsen. It was a peculiar one: the board was [6h][5d][8c] and Danielsen bet 60,000, which Keys called. The turn was [4d] and both players checked, and then it grew strange on the river of [7c]. The board was now showing a straight, and Danielsen bet 140,000. Keys moved all in, which comfortably covered Danielsen, since he only had about 300,000 behind. He folded, to fight another day.

7.20pm: Counts
The approximate three handed counts are as follows:

James Keys: 1,900,000
Thomas Partridge: 850,000
Kenneth Danielsen: 450,000

7.15pm: Ouch
Claus Bek Nielsen, Denmark, out in fourth, winning €17,805
Aces against kings four handed is always going to result in something nasty. They went through the motions -- the raise, the re-raise, the all in, the call -- and it was Claus Bek Nielsen whose [kh][ks] had run headlong into James Keys' [ah][ad]. This one played itself and the board ran out dry. Nielsen is out in fourth and Keys is now runaway chip leader with about 1.9m.

7.10pm: Without further ado...
Michael Fardan, Denmark, out in fifth, winning €14,121
He wasn't going to hang around before getting his chips in, and any ace would do. It was [ac][6c] but James Keys had pocket tens. Another one flopped and Fardan was done.

7.05pm: Biggest pot of the tournament
The two biggest stacks going to the final table were Michael Fardan and James Keys and they have just tangled in a whopper. Fardan opened on the button 30,000 and Keys reraised from the big blind, making it another 42,000. Fardan called. The flop came [5s][ac][3d] and Keys check-called Fardan's bet of 130,000. The turn was [5d], which both of them checked, and the river was [kd]. Keys paused and then bet 180,000. Fardan paused, but then called 180,000 and was shown [as][ks]. He mucked and is down to his last 60,000 or so.

Keys, meanwhile, is up to 1,200,000 after a pot worth more than 700,000.

6.45pm: Partridge accounts for another
Petri Heinanen, Finland, out in sixth, winning €11,665
Petri Heinanen's day is done. Thomas Partridge, and his chip lead, made a late position raise to about 35,000 and was then obliged to put in the extra when Heinanen shoved for about 90,000. Heinanen had [kh][kd] and that was pretty good against Partridge's [ah][10s]. But an ace came on the turn and that was it for Heinanen.

6.35pm: Chips
Here are the six-handed chip counts:

Claus Bek Nielsen - 531,000
Kenneth Danielsen - 395,000
Michael Fardan - 630,000
Thomas Partridge - 717,000
James Keys - 706,000
Petri Heinanen - 102,000

6.33pm: Heinanen doubles
It was the last hand of the level and Heinanen wins it to survive into the next. He had [qc][jd] and he got it all in against Michael Fardan's [ah][5d]. He turned a queen to double up to 102,000, which is still the short stack. But it's a stack at least. A five minute break now.

6.30pm: Heinanen gives it back
Just after doubling up, Petri Heinanen has given most of it away. He and Kenneth Danielsen see a flop of [3d][kh][6d] and Danielsen bets 42,000; Heinanen moves all in and Danielsen calls. Danielsen has [ac][kc], which has Heinanen's [ks][qh] outkicked. There's nothing important on turn or river and Danielsen doubles up. He had about 200,000 before the hand and double that at the end.

6.25pm: Petri dishes out the double up
Petri Heinanen re-raised all in from the small blind after Michael Fardan had opened from mid position. Fardan called, but this time was behind with his [ad][9c] as Heinanen had [as][qs]. The flop gave chop possibilities when it came [7c][js][jh], but the turn [4h] and the river [ks] changed nothing.

6.20pm: Video introduction

Here's how our video blogger introduced today's final table:

6.10pm: Wong out
Jerry Wong, Holland, out in seventh, winning €9,823
He had no choice but to get his last 20,000 in on the button, and both the blinds called. The flop came [6s][qh][4d][3d][qd] and Wong's [jc][5c] was no good. Nielsen's [ac][5s] took it. We lose Wong in two tortuous hands for him.

6.05pm: Nielsen doubles through Wong
Ace cracking time. In a battle of the blinds, Claus Bek Nielsen and Jerry Wong have seen four cards -- [5d][8c][10c][jd] -- when Wong check-raises all in. Nielsen calls and shows [js][8d]; Wong has [ah][as], which are on the verge of being cracked. The river is [2h] and that's enough to send Nielsen past 500,000 and peg Wong back to his last 20,000.

6pm: Down to seven
Johan Nilsson, Sweden, out in eigth, winning €8,288
This one was interesting. Michael Fardan opened for 21,000 and Thomas Partridge, to his left, called. Johan Nilsson moved all in from the big blind, another 140,000, and Fardan counted out the call. The action wasn't done, though. Partridge now moved all in for about 400,000, a damaging amount even for the chip leader to call. Fardan got out the way, and patted himself on the back when the hands were shown:

Nisson: [9d][9s]
Partridge: [ah][as]

The flop came with four spades on it, which gave Partridge the nut flush. Not that he needed it. Nilsson is out, Partridge is our new leader.

5.50pm: Player down
Antti Kärkkäinen, Finland, out in ninth, winning €6,753
We've lost our first one, and it was the birthday boy from Finland Antti Kärkkäinen. He got it all in pre-flop with [7h][7s] and Michael Fardan called with [ah][qd]. That particular hand has been very good to Fardan so far today, and so it continued. The flop came [8c][10h][kh] but it was the [js] on the turn that sealed it. Kärkkäinen, 29 today, now has time to celebrate it.

5.46pm: Must be nice
The first hand of the final table and Michael Fardan opens for 25,000. He has the biggest stack in town. It's folded around to Jerry Wong in the big blind, who folds and shows the mighty [7s][2s]. It's just as well he didn't try anything tricky: Fardan shows pocket kings.

On the next hand, Petri Heinanen opens for 25,000 and Johan Nilsson announces that he's all in on the button. Fold, fold, fold, etc.

5.45pm: Players are back
The nine finalists have returned to their seats and final table play is due to begin. Here's who they are:

Seat 1 : Johan Nilsson, 44, Stockholm, Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - 110,000
With a background in bridge - he was on the board of the biggest bridge club in Europe for 16 years - Nilsson has also played poker for the past four or five years, mainly as a hobby. He works at a bank in Stockholm and he's know by his friends in the bridge community as "the banker" ("bankmannen"). He has two children, aged 16 and 14, and lives with his fiance and her three children. This is only his third live tournament - he has cashed in two of them.

Seat 2 : Jerry Wong, 29, The Hague, Netherlands - 317,000
Wong has been playing poker for three years and calls himself a part time player. He's also a dealer at a local poker club in The Hague in Holland. If he places himself first or second in this tournament, it will be his biggest cash in a live tournament. Wong mostly plays online poker where he then prefers to play cash games. When he plays live, it is usually tournaments.

Seat 3: Claus Bek Nielsen, 31, Copenhagen, Denmark - PokerStars player - 287,000
Nielsen is a well-known figure in the European poker community as he often covers the PokerStars European Poker Tour for the largest online Danish poker news site. Claus's best result to date was a 10th place finish at EPT Warsaw in season four, where he was disappointed to bubble the final table. Nielsen also won a tournament in the Caribbean in January last year for $23,230.

Seat 4: Kenneth Danielsen, 24, Dröbak, Norway - 368,000
Danielsen has played poker for five years but says he only plays it when he has time. He spends the most of his time with his friends traveling around the world. He only play tournaments and mostly online. This is his biggest cash in a tournament so far.

Seat 5: Michael Fardan, 40, Copenhagen, Denmark - 695,000
Fardan is Danish but has been living in Vilnius, Lithuania for the last six years, working as an ex-pat for various companies. He describes himself as a "happy amateur" but for the past three months has been concentrating full time on poker. Like many Danish poker players, Fardan is also a backgammon player and is friends with many well-known figures in the Danish backgammon community such as Gus Hansen, Sander Lylloff and fellow Baltic Festival finalist Claus Bek Nielsen. Two weeks ago Michael became the Lithuanian Omaha Champion; he was the only non-Lithuanian in the tournament.

Seat 6: Thomas Partridge, 24, from Teign Valley, Devon, UK - 465,000
Partridge mainly plays cash games online but he competed at the World Series of Poker this summer, playing the main event and several side events. He cashed once in a $1,500 NHLE event for $6,604. He studied Politics at Warwick University.

Seat 7: James Keys, 24, from Nottingham, UK - 609,000
Keys is one of a group of British poker players who studied at university together, meet up at tournaments in the UK and all came to Tallinn together. Fellow finalist Thomas Partridge is also in the group, along with PokerStars qualifier Rupert Elder and Scott O'Reilly. Keys' best live result to date was his final table appearance at the 2007 WSOPE Main Event in London where he came ninth for £61,540. He also cashed again the following year for £25,340. He also won a deepstack tournament at Dusk Til Dawn in September for £29,981.

Seat 8: Antti Kärkkäinen, 29, Tampere, Finland - 117,000
Kärkkäinen has found a great way to celebrate his 29th birthday by making the final table at the inaugural PokerStars Baltic Festival. This isn't his best result though - he came second in the €1,000 hold 'em/Omaha in the Helsinki Freezeout 2009 in January this year for €37,300. He also has a string of results in other smaller tournaments in Helsinki. Kärkkäinen has been a professional poker player for four years but also still a multi-media student at the University of Technology in Tempere. He said: "I've been a student for nine years now actually. Poker has delayed it a bit."

Seat 9: Petri Heinanen, 33, Helsinki, Finland - 120,000
Originally from Tampere in Finland, Heinanen now lives in Helsinki. He spent 15 years as a professional footballer before injuries forced him out of the game - allowing him to turn to poker, which has been his main income for three years. This is his biggest live tournament cash but he has also has some deep finishes online. He normally plays pot limit Omaha cash games and no limit Texas hold 'em tournaments. Petri's identical twin brother Pasi also competed in the main event.

5.15pm: Here's your final table chip leader

Final table chips

Here's how they will line up at the final table:

Seat 1 - Johan Nilsson, Sweden, PokerStars qualifier, 110,000
Seat 2 - Jerry Wong, Netherlands, 317,000
Seat 3 - Claus Bek Nielsen, Denmark, PokerStars player, 287,000
Seat 4 - Kenneth Danielsen, Norway, PokerStars qualifier, 368,000
Seat 5 - Michael Fardan, Denmark, 695,000
Seat 6 - Thomas Partridge, UK, 465,000
Seat 7 - James Keys, UK, 609,000
Seat 8 - Antti Kärkkäinen, Finland, 117,000
Seat 9 - Petri Heinanen, Finland, 118,000

4.45pm: Dinner
Not unreasonably, they're taking a 45 minute break before the final table starts. That'll give us a chance to gather our thoughts, not to mention the biographies and chip counts.

Here's a quick video, which you can watch 17 times to while away the next 45 mins.

4.40pm: And...out! Final table time
Just like that, we're down to nine Again Michael Fardan was the player doing the assassinating as Matias Knaapinen's charge comes to an end. The short stack over night, he had double up at least twice, but was caught out when he pushed pre-flop with [ks][9s]. Fardan found [ad][qs] and the board ran [6d][10d][4s][10s][2h], which sent Knaapinen to the rail and Fardan to the final table. He'll be joined there by Keys, Partridge, Danielsen, Wong, Nielsen and Heinanen. Their starting final table stacks are being counted now.

4.35pm: Out! Out!
Within the first couple of hands of the restart, two players are all in, there are two calls, and two players are out. There's one on each table: Peeter Grunthal has [kh][jd] and he's in trouble against Claus Nielsen's [ac][ks]. The board gives him no help at all, and an ace rivers to give the pot to Nielsen and send Grunthal out.

At the same time on the other table, Einar Olafsson moves all in from the small blind and is called by Michael Fardan in the big. Fardan has [kh][9h] and it's better than Olafsson's [jd][10d]. Although the Icelandic player picked up a flush draw on the [ad][ac][4c][7d] board, it missed when the [7h] rivered.

We are down to 10.

4.30pm: Chips
There's been a massive amount of to-ing and fro-ing in that last level. How it affected the chip counts can best be seen by looking at the chip count page. Sneak preview: James Keys is still the leader.

4.25pm: Back
There are 12 players remaining, and we're now playing level 18. Here's a video to keep you occupied before the action gets going properly again.

Blinds:
Level 16: 2,500-5,000 (500 ante).
Level 17: 3,000-6,000 (500 ante)

4.10pm: Level over
That's the end of that level. There's a chip count and a chip race now going on. The details will be on the chip count page.

4.10pm: Priit Plakk unstuck
The Estonian player Priit Plakk got it all in against James Keys, with the Brit comfortably covering the home hope. Keys had [9s][9h] and Plakk had [ah][qs] and they were racing. Plakk's chances got slimmer and slimmer as flop and turn came [10s][6s][6d][3d] and the [9c] on the river added insult to injury. Keys stacks up another 80,000-odd and Plakk is gone.

4.05pm: Another one out
Jerry Wong has just accounted for Patrik Kaltrud when the Norwegian was all in for his last 110,000 behind [ad][6d] and Wong called with [5h][5s]. The board gave no help - [qc][9h][3d][7s][8h] - and Kaltrud is out in 14th. We have about 10 minutes left in this level, with 13 players. The full counts are coming at the end of the level.

4pm: Tapinas done
And that's that for Tapinas. He moved all in for his last 25,000 with [8s][3c]. Peeter Grunthal called with [kh][2s] and that stayed good on a dry board. Andrius Tapinas is our 15th placed finisher.

3.55pm: Double up for Danielsen
It's been a terrible few minutes for Andrius Tapinas, who has now doubled up Kenneth Danielsen and is left as the tournament short stack. Tapinas flopped top-pair tens with his J-10, but Danielsen had pocket jacks, which stayed good. Tapinas is down to the felt, while Danielsen is something close to 300,000.

3.45pm: Worst hand wins
Andrius Tapinas has just doubled up Antti Karkkainen, all in pre-flop. Tapinas was in good shape with [ah][qd] against Karkkainen's [ad][jd] but a jack flopped and stayed ahead. That's a pot worth about 150,000. The full chip counts will be with us at the end of this level, in about 20 minutes time.

3.40pm: Action on both tables
Matias Knaapinen raised to 14,500 from the cut off and Einar Olafsson moved all in from the small blind. It was about 100,000 total and Knaapinen folded. On the other tables, James Keys, Claus Bec Nielsen and Petri Heinanen got all the way to the river on a double-paired board - queens and fours. Heinanen and Keys both had aces and they might have thought that was good, but Nielsen had pocket kings, which were good.

3.30pm: Kaltrud breathing again
Patrik Kaltrud is back with close to 100,000 after his pocket tens held up against Michael Fardan's [jc][qs]. There were three clubs on the board by the turn and so Fardan had a flush draw and two overcards by the time the river was dealt. But that was a harmless [2d] and Kaltrud doubled.

3.20pm: Another double up for Knaapinen
Matias Knaapinen is now stacking up about 200,000 chips after doubling through Einar Olafsson. Knaapinen was in the big blind and saw a flop with Olafsson and Michael Fardan. It came: [10s][3h][5c] and Knaapinen checked, then Olafsson bet 20,5000 and Fardan folded. Knaapinen moved all in, for another 58,000, and Olafsson called. The Icelandic player had [as][ks] and was behind Knaapinen's [10c][2c]. By the time the turn came [2d], the hand was over. And the [10h] on the river to fill the boat was just rubbing it in.

3.05pm: Level up
That was the last action of that level and we move seemlessly into the next. It's level 17, where the blinds are 3,000 - 6,000 and the ante 500. There are 15 players left.

3.05pm: Leibold departs in 16th
Imre Leibold had plenty of outs when he got it all in on a board of [10s][8d][7s][4d] with [as][8s]. He was up against a big hand and a bigger stack: Michael Fardan had [5s][6s], the straight, and had Leibold well covered. The river was [6c], which did not fill the flush and Leibold was out. The all in was about 145,000, which gets added to Fardan's stack, and puts him in the chip lead.

3pm: Tapinas muscle
Andrius Tapinas is throwing his weight around. He raised to 12,000 in the cut off and picked up both blinds as callers: Peeter Grunthal and Kenneth Danielsen. The flop came [kc][4h][8s] and Grunthal checked, but Danielsen bet 14,500. Tapinas re-raised to 39,000 and that was more than enough for both of the others.

2.45pm: Nielsen takes on Keys
Claus Nielsen raised to 12,500 from under-the-gun and picked up two callers: James Keys in mid position and Antti Karkkainen in the big blind. The flop came [as][qh][3d] and after Karkkainen checked, Nielsen put out the continuation bet of 21,000. Keys called by Karkkainen folded. The turn was [6d] and Nielsen remained aggressive, making it another 36,000. Keys folded.

On the other table, Matias Knaapinen was all in again, this time re-raising Michael Fadan's 12,000 opener. Fardan thought better of it and let it go.

2.30pm: Double up for Matias Knaapinen
The overnight short-stack Matias Knaapinen has doubled up. He moved in a couple of times and got no takers, and then Patrik Kaltrud finally took the bait. Kaltrud had [kh][qh] and Knaapinen [ac][3s] and the board bricked all the way, taking Knaapinen past 100,000.

2.25pm: Natasha Ellis out in 17th
Natasha Ellis didn't have much option but to shove with pocket eights. Johan Nilsson called with [qc][jc] and although the flop was blank: [7s][kd][3d], and killer [jh] came on the turn and Ellis was ousted in 17th. She earns €3,070 (47,892 EEK).

2.20pm: Double up
Peeter Grunthal earns the first double up of the day, when his pocket tens flop a set to better Antti Karkkainen. Grunthal earns some breathing space.

2.15pm: Play under way
Play gets under way with the 17 players on two tables. The first two three bets pick up pots on each table: Imre Leibold re-raising Patrik Kaltrund and Einar Olafsson re-raised by Michael Fardan. Good enough.