High roller events on the European Poker Tour are some of the most expensive side events in the world. The Million Pound Showdown at EPT London this week was the richest we've seen on these shores. It cost £20,000 to enter, somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 and the Million Pound part referred to the guaranteed prize pool. As it happens, the 86 players soared past that generous guarantee and when they convened yesterday, they knew they were playing for a first prize of £516,000.

Step forward Jason Mercier for it is yours.

Jason Mercier

Mercier's victory here completed a remarkable few months for the young American professional. Last April, he rose to prominence as a PokerStars qualifier in San Remo where he took down €869,000 first prize. He made a World Series final table, and then he was back around the felt of the EPT last month, finishing sixth for another huge chunk. He took the short flight to London, bought into this huge event and bludgeoned his way to this final table. He'll now take another half a million pounds back to Florida.

It was a measure of the quality of the field beaten by Mercier that between the final three players - Mercier joined by John Juanda and Michael Watson - there was a triple crown won in the past year. As mentioned, Mercier is the reigning EPT San Remo champion. Watson won the $15,000 WPT Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas in the summer. And just last weekend John Juanda took down the WSOP Europe event to add to his other bracelets and titles.

The final table line-up

Add to that the multiple bracelet winner Scotty Nguyen, the online sensation Isaac Haxton, the huge cash player David Benyamine and the Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier, and we were looking at a table of the very highest quality. (For the record, the Million Dollar Man Dennis Phillips, chip leader at next month's WSOP main event final table, bubbled. It was a tough field; I'm sure you get the point.)

Isabelle Mercier has honed her game on the EPT, finishing two of the final table at the first Monte Carlo Grand Final, then making sixth spot in Deauville on season two. She's had several cashes at the World Series, including a final table in 2006, and few were surprised to see her back around the final table felt, even if she perished first today - ninth place - for £51,000.

Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier

The Team PokerStars Pro was the first casualty of Watson's early mad rush. The two Canadians were short-stacked early, but Watson was catapulted up the ladder when he took Mercier's chips with A-K against her A-J, and then he also accounted for Benyamine, who couldn't get his characteristically aggressive style going with a short stack all day. Watson gleefully heard Benyamine call when the PokerStars player found aces. Benyamine's K-J never caught up.

David Benyamine

Watson wasn't done, and having knocked out the final European in Benjamine, he then accounted for the only other player from outside north America. That was the Japanese high roller Masaaki Kagawa, who got busy once they went down to seven. But he was eventually ensnared by Watson's A-K, especially cruel since the Japanese had A-Q. There was no outdraw and Watson had taken them down to six.

Up next for the guillotine was Haxton, whose tournament strategy, cultivated on the online tables of PokerStars, is pretty much faultless. He made no mistake in shoving pre-flop with pocket eights; no mistake, that is, except running into Juanda's aces. Again, there was no outdraw and Haxton took home another massive payday as well as another bold entry on his resume.

Isaac Haxton talked to the video blog team about the final...

Watch High Roller London 08: Isaac Haxton on PokerStars.tv

Until that point, Peter Jetton had been a fairly quiet presence at the final table, despite having the largest stack at the start of play and having held onto it as all the others shared it out. He doubled up the short stack of Nguyen, then we played through more than 90 minutes with five players. But Nguyen, in a buoyant mood throughout the final table, was finally sharing his monologue with the post-match interview crew after Juanda's K-9 outdrew his A-10.

Scotty Nguyen

Jetton was jettisoned soon after when he clashed with the ever-growing stack in front of Mercier. They got cute with one another pre-flop, before subtlety made way and they got all their chips in. Mercier had lowly pocket deuces, Jetton an A-J. But the ducks made a set on the flop and there's no way back.

Peter Jetten

Three handed was an intriguing battle between these form horses. Watson doubled up a couple of times but could never overtake either of his opponents, who exchanged the lead between them. Watson was obdurate but eventually succumbed with A-7 to Juanda's A-K. That left Juanda with a two-to-one chip lead, but it soon vanished in a crucial pot, the first of heads up, when Mercier called Juanda's all in with Q-J versus A-2. Mercier admitted that he thought Juanda could outplay him heads up, especially with the chips, so was prepared to get them in with a 60-40 shot.

They were good tactics as he rivered a jack to double up and then he did it again after a short heads-up duel. This time he took K-Q against A-J and flopped a broadway straight. A remarkably modest Mercier claimed he had sucked out on Juanda twice heads up. But his results of recent months reveal a real talent.

John Juanda

So to Juanda, who nearly completed an historic double here. He had endured a 22-hour final table in the WSOPE last weekend, triumphing well into tomorrow. He came up one short here, but London has been good to him.

Hat's off, though, to Mercier. And to another terrific double-header on the EPT. Budapest is next, and London will still be here this time next year.

Ta-ta.

Take a look back at the action from the day with any of the following links:

The showdown continues
£1 Million Showdown updates – No 7
Final table update 1
EPT £1 Million showdown player profiles
Final table update 2
Final table update 3
Final table update 4
Final table update 5
Final table update 6

Take a look back at the full list of winners here. You can also read all about it in numerous exotic tongues. There's German, Italian, Dutch and even Swedish!

And don't forget PokerStars.tv to keep you entertained for as long as you need entertaining. EPT Live will be back in December for the EPT Prague, full details of which can be found on the EPT website.

12.10am: Jason Mercier of the United States, wins the EPT £1 Million Showdown, earning £516,000 for first place.
Following a Juanda raise Jason Mercier moved all-in for a total of 1,210,000, the third time in about 15 minutes. John Juanda talked out loud about it, saying that he couldn't fold again and made a long slow call showing As-Jc. Mercier turned over Kc-Qd and it was all left to the dealer. The flop was a beauty for Mercier, Th-9s-Js for a flopped straight, delivered by the poker gods. The 5s on the turn ended it and no one really cared about the river. Jason Mercier wins the EPT £1 Million Showdown.

12.09am: John Juanda, USA, eliminated in second place, earning £327,000.

12.03am: First flop of Tuesday
We see a limped flop of Jd-9d-Ks. Juanda checks and Mercier made it 33,000, getting called. Both check the 7h on the turn and 3s river. Juanda shows a nine, good for the pot.

11.57pm: Latest chip counts
Jason Mercier - 1,173,000
John Juanda - 548,000

11.47pm: Flopping hands
The hand started with a Juanda bet and a Mercier call for a flop of Jh-6s-Jd. Mercier checked the flop and Juanda bet out 55,000. Mercier called for a turn card 7d which both players checked. Now to the river card, a 5h. Mercier raised, 75,000. By now it was a 285,000 pot. It took him a while but Juanda called. Cue Mercier’s J-6. He’d flopped the full house for another big pot.

11.40pm: Chip counts after the first all-in
Jason Mercier - 1,084,000
John Juanda - 637,000

11.38pm: First hand, all-in
We don’t have to wait for the first all-in of the heads-up match. On the first hand John Juanda moves all-in. Mercier smiles, pulls a few faces and calls, showing Q-J. Juanda had A-2 which puts him ahead. All they can do is wait for the board. The flop came th-8h-7c, giving Mercier more outs with a queen, jack or nine giving him the pot. The turn misses but the river brings a jack, doubling up Mercier.

11.34pm: The heads up chip counts
John Juanda - 1,185,000
Jason Mercier - 536,000

11.31pm: Michael Watson, Canada, eliminated in third place, earning £241,000.
Michael Watson moves all-in for 365,000. Taking everyone by surprise John Juanda calls, and with good reason, turning over A-K to Watson’s A-7. The board doesn’t bring the much needed seven for Watson, who busts out in third. Play goes to heads up.

11.26pm: Checking to the river
Juanda takes down a tentatively played pot, checked from flop to river on a board of Td-Ad-3c-Jd-Ah. Juanda shows K-T for aces with a ten kicker, enough to beat Mercier who passes.

11.22pm: The blinds are up to 10,000-20,000 with a 2,000 ante. Chip counts three handed:

John Juanda, 646,000
Jason Mercier, 610,000
Michael Watson, 465,000

11.20pm: Mercier limping
Jason Mercier limps from the small blind, allowing him and John Juanda to see a flop of 6h-4s-4d. They check it all the way to the end, past a jack on the turn and a three on the river. And that's the last level of the day.

11.17pm: Watson again
Michael Watson calls Jason Mercier's pre-flop raise and then bets out on a board of 7h-Jh-9h. Mercier folds.

11.10pm: Watson on the charge
John Juanda bets from the button, and Michael Watson moves all in for 348,000, which is another 299,000 to Juanda. The American is not usually one to tank unnecessarily, so it seems like he has a real decision to make. He talks a little about his hand, strongly suggesting it's a medium ace. Watson remains impassive as Juanda continues his monologue. Eventually he fold and shows A-6. Watson does not oblige.

11.05pm: Techincal difficulties
John Juanda is having trouble with his hole cam, although he's reliably less concerned than the television crew. Three handed chip counts are:

Jason Mercier, 712,000
John Juanda, 707,000
Michael Watson 302,000

11pm: Mercier v Juanda II
John Juanda raises 46,000 and Jason Mercier makes it another 75,000. Juanda folds, not prepared to play for his whole stack at this point.

10.55pm: Watson doubles up
Michael Watson moves in pre-flop with Q-10 and Mercier calls from the small blind with A-8. A queen flops and that's enough. Watson doubles his short stack, although Mercier remains the chip leader.

10.52pm: Mercier v Juanda
With Michael Watson the very very short stack, he must be delighted to see Mercier and Juanda play a pot against one another. Mercier raises from the small blind, Juanda calls from the big and the flop comes 4h-2h-Qd. Check, check. Turnis the 10h and Mercier bets 65,00, Juanda calls. The river is the 3s, check, check and Mercier takes it down.

10.45pm: Form players remain
These three players have each had huge results in the past year. Indeed, they've won the triple crown between them. Michael Watson picked up the WPT Bellagio Cup, Jason Mercier won EPT San Remo, and John Juanda took the WSOPE event last week.

Chip counts three handed:
John Juanda: 813,000
Jason Mercier: 744,000
Michael Watson: 164,000

Peter Jetten, Canada, eliminated in fourth place, earning £189,000
10.40pm: Juanda flexing his muscles; Mercier and Jetten go head-to-head
The bullying chip-leader moves all in pre-flop a couple of times and picks up the blinds and antes. When Juanda gets out the way, Peter Jetten makes a standard buton raise, but Jason Mercier moves all in. And Jetten calls! Mercier doesn't look happy as he has to flip over pocket deuces. Jetten has A-J and flops an ace, but there's also a two on board. Eventually it runs out Qh-2c-Ad Ad-Kc which is a house for Mercier.

10.36pm: Michael Watson all in
The short-stacked Canadian moves all in pre-flop and picks up blinds and antes. That will do.

10.32pm: The two Js
John Juanda raises it to 49,000 pre-flop and Jetten calls from the big blind. The flop is Jh-Kd-10s, which they check, as they do the As turn. The river is the 2d and Juanda bets 30,000. Jetten folds to extend his chip lead.

10.30pm: Mercier bullies Jetten pre-flop
Peter Jetten raises to 52,000 pre-flop and Jason Mercier bumps it up to 140,000 from the small blind. Jetten opts to fold and Mercier adds that chunk to his stack.

10.25pm: Scotty Nguyen, USA, eliminated in fifth place, earning £157,500
John Juanda opens under the gun and Nguyen re-raises all in from the small blind. It's about 84,000 more. Jason Mercier is itching to call in the small blind but agonisingly folds. Juanda, of course, calls and he has K-9h. Nguyen is ahead with Ac-10s but there are two hearts on the flop and another on the river to make a flush. Nguyen is gone.

10.15pm: Nguyen forced to fold
Jason Mercier, under the gun, raises Scotty Nguyen's big blind. Of course he has to get through all the others first which he duly does and then Nguyen instructs Mercier to add his blind to Mercier's chip stack.

10pm: Players are on a 15 minute break
Players will return at 10.15pm with the following stacks:
John Juanda - 598,000
Peter Jetten - 480,000
Jason Mercier - 329,000
Michael Watson - 210,000
Scotty Nguyen - 104,000

The final table of the £1 Million Showdown event at EPT London is underway. Blinds are 5,000-10,000 with a 1,000 ante. Full details of the payout structure can be found here and you can follow all the action on EPT Live.

10pm: Players take a break
That's the end of the level and there's a 15 minute break in action. Play will resume with the following chip counts:

John Juanda - 598,000
Peter Jetten - 480,000
Jason Mercier - 329,000
Michael Watson - 210,000
Scotty Nguyen - 104,000

9.55pm: Blind on blind
Jason Mercier raises John Juanda's big blind from the small. Juanda's resistance only lasts as far as the ten high flop and Juanda lets it go. The next hand, Scotty Nguyen raises 27,000, gets no customers, and flips pocket aces.

Jason Mercier

9.44pm: Bet, re-raise, fold
Michael Watson bets 32,000 pre-flop. The action is folded to John Juanda who re-raises to 96,000 and Watson makes a quick exit.

9.37pm: The sharp end
Jetten and Juanda are now neck and neck. Chip counts can be found HERE.

9.36pm: Watson's raise is enough
Michael Watson raises to 32,000, Jason Mercier calls from the small blind, John Juanda does the same form the big. The flop comes 5d-7s-Qh. Mercier and Juanda check before Watson puts together a raise of 64,000 and adds it to the pot. Mercier and Juanda muck.

PokerStars player Michael Watson

9.31pm: Asking the question
Scotty Nguyen raised from small blind and Jason Mercier then re-raised from big blind putting Nguyen all in, forcing him to fold.

9.28pm: Isaac Haxton talks to the video blog team

Watch High Roller 08: Isaac Haxton on PokerStars.tv

9.22pm: The all-in defence
Juanda makes it 36,000 pre-flop which is called by Jetten for a flop of 3s-Ts-7c. Juanda bets again, 54,000 in total before Jetten raises all-in making it 235,000 for Juanda to call. He’s having none of it though and mucks his hand.

9.16pm: Two powerless kings
Scotty Nguyen bets 42,000 pre-flop. When the action gets to John Juanda he asks how much the raise is and then how much Nguyen has behind. Regardless he folds his hand, much to the disappointment of Nguyen who shows pocket kings to the crowd.

9.09pm: Scotty pushes in, Jetten does the same
Scotty Nguyen moves all-in, “Seventy-five, baby!” Jetten double checks the 75 and announces himself all-in. Nguyen shows Kd-Qc whilst Jetten tables pocket fives. The board brings little on the flop to cause a stir but the king on the turn proves good for Nguyen who doubles up.

9.03pm: Mercier all-in
Jason Mercier check raises John Juanda all-in on a flop of 9h-3d-Tc. Juanda bets 40,000 after Mercier checks the board but is then asked to find about another 300,000 and lets it go.

The final table of the £1 Million Showdown event at EPT London is underway. Blinds are 5,000-10,000 with a 1,000 ante. Full details of the payout structure can be found here and you can follow all the action on EPT Live.

Click REFRESH to see the lastest up-to-the-minute updates

9pm: Blinds up
The blinds have increased and now stand at 6,000-12,000 with a running ante of 1,000.

8.55pm: Jetten and Watson go to war
Michael Watson raises again from the button and he ends up getting involved with Peter Jetten. There's betting and calling all the way on a flop of Kh-8c-Ad, then a turn of 4d, then a river of 5h. Jettson bets 65,000 on the end, Watson thinks for about five minutes then folds.

Peter Jetten

8.44pm: Watson takes a decent chunk out of Juanda
John Juanda raises pre-flop to 28,000 and Michael Watson flat calls on the button. They see a flop of As-2s-10h and Juanda bets 42,000 after asking Watson for a count. Watson calls. The turn is Kc and both check, then Juanda check-folds the 5d river after Watson bets 80,000.

8.40pm: Nguyen takes blinds
Scoty Nguyen only has one move and it's all in. He slides his short stack in and takes the blinds and antes.

8.38pm: Jetten pinches small pot from Watson
Michael Watson and Peter Jetten see a flop of 2h-2s-8s and Watson bets 36,000. Jetten calls. The turn is 5d and they both check. THe river is 7d which they both check again and Jetten shows down 10-10 to take it down.

8.32pm: Isabelle Mercier talks to the video bloggers
The Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier was delighted to reach her first EPT final table since the Deauville event on season two. Here she talks about her high rollers experience with the video blog team:

Watch EPT London 08: High Rollers- Isabelle Mercier on PokerStars.tv

8.30pm: Scotty Nguyen doubles up through Petter Jetten
Nguyen moves all in from the button and immediately implores John Juanda and Petter Jetten to call from the blinds. Juanda doesn't oblige but Jetten does and has 7-8 off suit. Nguyen has J-J and is way ahead. The flop comes 10s-3s-6d which gives an inside straight draw. The turn is a 7d, which gives two pair possibilities. The river is the Ks to snuff them out and Nguyen doubles up.

8.22pm: Scotty moves all-in, but then doesn’t, pushing his stack to the line before stopping just short, much to the merriment of a few people, not least Nguyen.

Scotty Nguyen

8.20pm: Isaac Haxton, USA, eliminated in sixth place, earning £103,000
Isaac Haxton puts in a standard raise and John Juanda reraises. Haxton has a long, long think but eventually shoves all in and Juanda insta-calls. No wonder: it's aces for JJ and Haxton is dominated with 8-8. They're even the same suits. There's an ace on the flop and the miracle running eights do not appear. Haxton is out in sixth.

8pm: Play resumes on the final table with six players remaining.

6.45pm: That's the dinner break and we'll be back in an hour. The chip counts are:

John Juanda, USA, 435,000
Michael Watson, Canada, 348,000
Peter Jetten, Canada, 318,000
Jason Mercier, USA, 304,000
Isaac Haxton, USA, 241,000
Scotty Nguyen, USA, 75,000

6.42pm: Masaaki Kagawa, Japan, eliminated in seventh place for £86,000
Kagawa opens from early position and Watson moves another 72,000 in. Kagawa is essentially playing for his stack but reraises all in. Watson has to call and has A-K versus the Japanese's A-Q. The miracle flush or queen does not come and he is out. Watson has knocked out each of the three players to go so far, leaving a table entirely comprised of north Americans. Watson is up to 349,000.

Masaaki Kagawa

6.40pm: Michael Watson puts his newly-acquired chips to work, making it 20,000 pre-flop to pick up blinds and antes.

6.34pm: David Benyamine, France, eliminated in eighth place, earning £59,000

David Benyamine

6.32pm Michael Watson moves his short stack in pre-flop, attacking the other short stack in front of David Benyamine. Watson has found aces, Benyamine has K-J and calls. Benyamine picks up a double belly buster on the turn but it doesn't come - and, in fact, Watson has Benyamine covered so the Frenchman is out.

6.28pm: Kagawa moves all in and Michael Watson calls. The Japanese has Q-9 but the Canadian has 9-9. The flop favours the all in player, though, as it comes with a queen on it, leaving only the case nine to bail out Watson. It doesn't come, Kagawa doubles up and Watson is now short.

6.25pm: David Benyamine moves all in for a total of 50,000. It's folded to John Juanda who announces that he has 10 high but thinks he might have to call. "No, I can't call."

6.23pm: Michale Watson pinches Masaaki Kagawa's big blind with a cheeky raise from the small blind. The Japanes isn't keen to mix it up and away the blind go.

6.20pm: The Japanese player Masaaki Kagawa raises to 25,000 out of a stack of 100,000 and Isaac Haxton moves all in over the top for another 218,000. Kagawa miraculously lays it down.

6.15pm: Isaac Haxton takes down blinds and antes with a pre-flop reraise.

6.10pm: Chip counts:

John Juanda - 453,000
Peter Jetten - 348,000
Jason Mercier - 240,000
Isaac Haxton - 190,000
Michael Watson - 177,000
Scotty Nguyen - 137,000
Masaaki Kagawa - 107,000
David Benyamine - 69,000

6.05pm: Jason Mercier raises to about 20,000 pre-flop and John Juanda calls. The flop is 3s-5s-4s and both players check. The river is the 8h and that's enough for Juanda to bet 30,000. Mercier calls. The river is the 7c and Juanda bets 30,000, which screams value bet. Mercier is seriously tempted but folds.

Jason Mercier

6pm: Jason Mercier and Scotty Nguyen see a flop from the blinds and they run it all the way through, with Nguyen picking it up with third pair 10s on the end.

5.57pm:Now Masaaki Kagawa moves all in pre-flop, for 104,000. Isaac Haxton has a decision for about half his chips but eventually keeps them for another day.

5.50pm: Scotty Nguyen makes it 72,000 pre-flop, which is pretty much all in for the multiple World Series winner. It's good enough to take the blinds and prompt a typical Scotty Nguyen monologue that may or may not make a lot of sense.

5.45pm: First hand back and David Benyamine again makes up the blind only to see Scotty Nguyen push. "I can't believe I didn't push my hand," said Benyamine. "You push, I call baby," said Scotty. Neither is lying, Benyamine shows K-10s and Nguyen shows A-K off.

Peter Jetten - 380,000
John Juanda - 377,000
Jason Mercier - 203,000
Isaac Haxton - 194,000
Scotty Nguyen - 186,000
Michael Watson - 181,000
Masaaki Kagawa - 123,000
David Benyamine - 77,000

Seat 1: Peter Jetten, 23, Toronto, Canada – 347,000 chips
Only minutes before the bubble, a stunning hand against John Juanda turned Peter’s fortunes around in the EPT London £1 Million Showdown. He got dealt aces in the small blind, was raised by Scotty Nguyen, re-raised by Juanda and moved all-in. Nguyen folded but Juanda had Q-Q and called the bet to double up the young Canadian pro.

Known as “Apathy” online, Jetten – a former camp counsellor and bartender - has been playing full time for around three years and is a coach at the leggopoker.com training site. $10/$20 NL and $25/$50 NL cash games are Jetten's bread and butter, but also frequents higher stakes in both NLHE and PLO.

Seat 2: Michael Watson, 24, Canada - 104,000 chips

Known around the vibrant online poker community as “SirWatts”, Michael Watson has had a formidable rise to the top of the game. He cashed five times at the World Series of 2007, and was then the captain of the Canada team in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker in Barcelona (where one of his charges was the Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu). Then he translated excellent online form to a huge scoop at the Bellagio Cup around about World Series 2008 time. He was among the chip leaders in the Main Event at the Rio but busted before the money, freeing SirWatts to joust to the $15,000 WPT event down the road and win the first prize of $ 1,673,770.

Seat 3: Isaac Haxton, 23, New York, USA - 293,000 chips

A graduate of Brown University, Haxton is a Boston native who now lives in Syracuse, New York. He began playing poker at home games during high school and then played full time online during his college vacations, earning $40,000 the first summer and $100,000 the next. His first live cash was also his biggest to date – runner-up at the 2007 PCA for $861,789. He has had eight WSOP cashes in the last two years and a total of $1,203,980 live tournament earnings.

Seat 4: Isabelle ‘No Mercy’ Mercier, Quebec, Canada – Team PokerStars Pro - 86,000 chips

Canadian player Isabelle Mercier graduated from the University of Montreal and began practising law soon after. Keen on travel however, she moved to France and into a job at the famous Aviation Club De France in Paris, ending up as poker room manager. Isabelle’s first major success was in a WPT invitational tournament in 2004, where she took first place in the Ladies Night Out event. In 2005, she narrowly missed making the final table at the EPT1 Grand Final in Monte Carlo, taking away $31,811 for 10th place. A month later, Isabelle earned another $56,616 for a 28th place finish at the $25,000 WPT Championship event. She’s also made several cashes at the WSOP including a fifth place finish for $175,404 at the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 2006.

Seat 5: David Benyamine, 36, Nevada, USA - 175,000 chips

Originally from France, father-of-one Benyamine now lives in Henderson, Nevada and is engaged to fellow pro, Erica Shoenberg. Benyamine's first career was as a professional tennis player but he had to give up the sport because of a back injury. He was also one of France’s top ten billiards players. Benyamine is now known as one of the best high-stakes cash game players in the world and a regular in the “Big Game”, which is legendary for having some of the highest stakes in the world. Only two days ago Benyamine came 12th in the EPT London main event for £35,981. He has two WPT titles and won his first WSOP Bracelet in the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi/Low Split this summer, as well as two other final tables at the series.

Seat 6: Scotty Nguyen, 45, Las Vegas, USA - 68,000 chips

Scotty Nguyen is arguably the biggest tournament player in the field having earned a total of $9.7 million in live tournaments. He has five WSOP Bracelets including those won in the 1998 main event and the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E this year. In 2006 he won a WPT title in Tunica for $969,000 becoming one of only five people to win both the main event of the World Series of Poker and a WPT title. Originally from Vietnam, Nguyen moved to the States with his family aged just 13.

Seat 7: Jason Mercier, 21, Florida, USA - 204,000 chips

Mercier first came to people's attention at the PokerStars.com EPT Season 4 event in San Remo last April. It was only his second live event (he’d qualified online with PokerStars) but, despite facing one of the toughest final tables in EPT history, secured a stunning victory worth €869,000. His opposition included Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri, William Thorson and Eric Koskas. He followed this up with three WSOP cashes in the summer, then three weeks ago he came sixth at EPT Barcelona for €227,800 . Last week he took eight place at the WSOP Europe Pot Limit Omaha event for another £26,800. Outside of poker, Mercier – who had studied to be a maths teacher before discovering online poker - is a huge basketball fan.

Seat 8: Masaaki Kagawa, 45, Japan – 142,000

Masaaki Kagawa is a high-stakes poker player from Japan who has played at several EPTs to date. As poker is still in its early days in Japan, Kagawa plays mainly in South Korea where there is a bigger market. He is a member of the Japanese Players Union which hosts lots of freeroll poker tournaments, He cashed at EPT3 Dortmund - 32nd place for €6,950; his live earnings to date amount to $267,031.

Seat 9: John Juanda, 37, Las Vegas - 302,000 chips

Juanda is another phenomenal tournament player at today’s final table with four WSOP Bracelets to his name including the 2008 WSOP Europe main event title which he won last week for $1.5 million. His victory came at the end of a record-breaking final table which lasted more than 19 hours. Juanda has won three “Best All Around Player” awards and, so far, his total tournament winnings amount to over $8 million.

5.40pm: Peter Jetten bets form the button and gets a call from Issac Haxton in the blinds. The see a flop of 5d-Ad-9h, which Isaac raises, making it 22,000 to go. Jetten called. The turn brings a jack and Haxton bets again, 60,000 this time. Jetten called. The river brought another jack which both players checked. “How’s eight-high looking?” asked Haxton optimistically. Not that good. Jetten turned over A-Q to take the pot.

5.30pm: John Juanda, fresh from victory at the WSOPE, is now chip leader here. He has spent approximately 13 minutes away from a poker table in the past seven days.

John Juanda

5.25pm: David Benyamine makes up the big blind but Scotty Nguyen is having none of that and moves all in. Benyamine fakes to call, but lets it go. Then Michael Watson gets a walk in the big blind.

5.20pm: Peter Jetten is pushed out of one by John Juanda. The young Canadian raises it to about 30,000 pre-flop and Juanda comes over the top all in for about 277,000 more. Fold, please, says Jetten.

5.15pm: It's quietened down a little with very few flops being seen. Scotty Nguyen gets one through, showing A-K, then Isaac Haxton also picks up the blinds.

4.58pm: Isabelle Mercier, Team PokerStars Pro, Canada, eliminated in ninth place, earning £51,000 Isabelle Mercier moves all in pre-flop and Michael Watson moves in over the top. They're the two short stacks but Watson just has his fellow Canadian covered in both chips and cards. Mercier has A-J, Watson has A-K and although she picks up an inside straight draw on the turn, it misses and Mercier is out.

Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier

4.50pm: Michael Watson has been left second shortest by Nguyen's double up. So the Canadian shoves all in pre-flop and picks up the blinds and antes.

4.47pm: It's folded around to David Benyamine in the small blind and Benyamine shoves a huge stack into the middle, putting Scotty Nguyen all in. "It's 80 percent I'm gonna call you, baby," says Scotty. "Yeah, I call." Nguyen has A-9, Benyamine has A-7 and there's no drama through all five streets and Nguyen is on 139,000, doubling up early.

4.45pm: John Juanda puts in the first raise and she makes it 19,000, betting into the big blind of Isabelle Mercier. Mercier folds.

4.40pm: And we're off again. The tournament officials have rolled the blinds back to 3,000-6,000 with a 1,000 running ante. And we're off.

4.30pm: Slightly behind time, we're now making the final preparations for final table action. It's an exceptionally north American-oriented table, with three from the United States and three from Canada. David Benyamine, from France, and Masaaki Kagawa, from Japan, will attempt to break the monopoly.

3.30pm: The final table chip counts and seat allocations are as follows:

Seat 1 - Peter Jetten - Canada - 347,000
Seat 2 - Michael Watson - Canada - 104,000
Seat 3 - Isaac Haxton - PokerStars player - USA - 293,000
Seat 4 - Isabelle Mercier - Team PokerStars Pro - Canada - 86,000
Seat 5 - David Benyamine - France - 175,000
Seat 6 - Scotty Nguyen - USA - 68,000
Seat 7 - Jason Mercier - USA - 204,000
Seat 8 - Masaaki Kagawa - Japan - 142,000
Seat 9 - John Juanda - USA - 302,000

The EPT £1 Million Showdown coverage continues here. Yesterday 86 players started, each paying a £20,000 buy-in. Now just 14 remain. Play will resume with blinds now 2,000-4,000 with a running ante of 400. We'll play on until we reach a final table and then pause before the action switches to the TV table. Click refresh to see the latest details.

3.20pm: Dennis Phillips bubbles the £1 Million Showdown
The Million Dollar Man won't be winning a quick million quid before his Vegas showdown. He gets his short stack all in with Qs-9s versus Isaac Haxton's As-4h and it misses everyone. We'll have full chip counts, profiles and build up here momentarily. The final table will begin in about 30 minutes.

3.10pm: On the other table, a huge pot plays out between three competitors. Scotty Nguyen raises from under the gun for 18,000. John Juanda, on the button, makes it 30,000 more and that prompts Peter Jetten to move all in from the small blind for another 106,000. Nguyen folds, Juanda thinks about it and then calls. Juanda has Q-Q but Jetten has aces. The flop is all spades, jack high, and Nguyen squeals in agony, claiming he folded jacks. As it is, they see turn and river and the aces hold and Jetten doubles up.

3.00pm: Isaac Haxton is all in with pocket threes and we see them because Davind Benyamine calls with A-10. The race is on and it's Haxton staring elimination in the face. This time, though, he's left to punch the air in celebration rather than dismay and stays very much alive.

2.55pm: Alex Roumeliotis, whose play had been dictated by the pressures of a short stack, found a hand to move in with and was called by the impressive John Juanda. Roumeliotis had pocket eights to Juanda’s A-J. When the ace hit the flop it was all over for Roumeliotis who busts out two from the money. With ten left play goes hand-for-hand.

2.45pm: John Juanda bets out pre-flop, a standard raise of 16,500 under-the gun. Christopher Jetten has none of that, moves all in and takes the blinds.

Juanda then tries a similar move against Masaaki Kagawa on a flop of Js-8h-4h. Kagawa made it 22,000 sending the action back round to Juanda. After a few beats he moved all-in, as if he was stamping out cheekiness and Kagawa backed out.

2.25pm: Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer and Dario Minieri are now railbirding the event. Raymer was speaking to Scotty Nguyen.

“How come I didn’t hear you before I saw you today?”

“After the last couple of pots my tongue is tied!”

2.20pm: The blinds go up as we enter level 13. They’re now 3,000/6,000 with a running ante of 500.

2.15pm: Tournament officials have announced that we will go to hand to hand at ten players. When we reach nine, after the bubble bursts, play will transfer to the feature table for a nine-handed final.

2.05pm: Ghassan Bitar moves all-in with A-5 and is called by PokerStars player Isaac Haxton with pocket sixes. The board comes 2s-Jd-Js-3h-2d eliminating the Ghanayan in 12th place.

2pm: Andrew Feldman is out 13th place finisher, moving in under the gun for 39,400 with Kc-Ts, called by John Juanda with As-Th. The board ran out 6h-Qd-Ks-4c-Ac to bust Feldman. Juanda now has 211,000.

1.50pm: Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier has her game face on, even more so than yesterday. In two pots, one after the other, she re-raised Scotty Nguyen on her right to add more than 25,000 to her stack.

1.40pm: Masaaki Kagawa doesn’t say much at the table, mainly due to the fact he speaks little English, but his actions have been louder than words. So when he plays a pot the calm just adds to the tension. So with a board of 6c-Qc-Ah-Th already dealt and the man from Japan staring at John Juanda and vice versa, it was worth hanging around.

Kagawa bet 14,000 on the turn. Juanda counted out the call from his stack, placed it to one side and then worked on assembling a raise. When it was placed across the line it amounted to a raise of 20,500 extra. Taking a minute Kagawa went to his chips and looked over at his opponent as he made the call.

The river card 5h. Kagawa checked this time but there was no let up from Juanda, a bigger raise of 43,000 now. This time it was good. No noise from Kagawa, hardly a reaction either. On to the next hand.

1.30pm: Jani Sointula’s exit was hardly surprising and was probably the most likely elimination we’ll see all day. Play has slowed now as we approach the money, and of course, the final table.

1.17pm: The first faller of the day is Jani Sointula. Hardly surprising as he had a little more than a big blind remaining. He shoved with A-3 from the cut off and was called by Andre Feldman in the big blind holding A-5. He hit his five on the flop and we're down to 13 players.

1.15pm: All the players are in their seats and play resumes in level 12.

If you were up late last night in London, kept the computer on during Sunday night football or the Championship game back in the States, or just logged in this morning to check out the latest news, you’ll know that the biggest buy-in tournament on the EPT, the EPT £1 Million Showdown, creaked towards a final table last night at the Victoria Casino in London.

Watch EPT London 08: £1,000,000 Show Down on PokerStars.tv

As Michael Martin had bestowed upon him all the honours of becoming the EPT London champion, before being ushered towards a bar for some light refreshments to celebrate; three tables were slogging away a few feet along, 21 players. Now that figure stands at just 14.

What’s all the fuss? This is the first event of its kind, at least for the European Poker Tour, a £20,000 buy-in ($35,000) deep stack marathon. Then there’s the money – a first prize of more than £500,000.

The plan was to play down to a final table in just one day, like one of those extreme sports found on three figure TV channels late at night, and they nearly made it. But despite the protests of some players, famous for having little use for a 24 hour clock, officials drew the line at 14, calling time at 2.30am.

That’s good for us because if the standard of play is as good as yesterday you won’t want to miss a beat.

So who’s left?

For starters Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier. “No Mercy” played solid poker for 12 hours yesterday and found a little mercy for herself right when she needed it, catching a break when all-in with A-Q against A-K. The queen bailed her out, leaving her with close to 100,000 and an expression on her face that said she didn’t intend to waste it.

Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier

David Benyamine leads going into today, a stack of 295,900 making him chip leader. Just two days ago the Frenchman finished 12th in the EPT London main event and this stands as a good way to make amends. Then there’s Jason Mercier, third in chips, who since winning the EPT San Remo seems to crop up at the top of chip count lists everywhere.

Million Dollar Man Dennis Phillips

Others include WSOP H.O.R.S.E. champion Scotty Nguyen and recent WSOP Europe winner John Juanda, building on an incredible run of form this week. PokerStars players Michael Watson and Isaac Haxton are not far behind, and Million Dollar Man Dennis Phillips also eased his way into the last day yesterday.

It could have been even better for Team PokerStars. Daniel Negreanu busted when down to two tables and it was the same fate for Barry Greenstein.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu

But you still won’t need much back ground info on the candidates for the final, all of whom have track records that glitter with credentials.

David Benyamine, France, 295,900
Alexander Roumeliotis, Sweden, 229,400
Jason Mercier, USA, 161,200
Scotty Nguyen, USA, 159,100
Masaaki Kagawa, Japan, 159,000
John Juanda, USA, 138,900
Michael Watson, Canada, PokerStars player, 118,000
Christopher Jetten, Canada, 105,100
Isabelle Mercier, Canada, Team PokerStars Pro, 99,200
Isaac Haxton, USA, PokerStars player, 83,200
Dennis Phillips, USA, Million Dollar Man, 73,200
Ghassan Bitar, Ghana, 58,700
Andrew Feldman, UK, 33,000
Jani Sointula, Finland, 6,500

We’ll have the official word on each of them when we reach the final, before that it’s all about the poker.
Right now a security guard stands over a one foot high pile of £50 notes, wearing a tunic of lapels and polished buttons, looking suspicious, under orders only to release the cash to the winner later tonight.

There’s only one way to find out who that will be. Let battle begin.

The high roller event coverage continues here. This afternoon 86 players started, each paying a £20,000 buy-in. Blinds are now 1,500/3,000 with a running ante of 300. The updates will continue through the night until the order to halt for the night is given. Click refresh to see the latest details.

3am: It was a long day but some would say shorter than expected. After 11 levels of play and from a starting field of 86, just 14 of them remain, including Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier. There are others of course, guaranteeing that the final table tomorrow, when we get there, will be chock full of the names and faces normally found scattered across the covers of magazines.

Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier

It starts at 1pm tomorrow afternoon, or later today depending on which side of the meridian you are when you read this. We’ll have full coverage on the blog from start to finish and don’t forget you can follow every hand of the action on EPT Live.

Join us then for all the introductions and ceremony.

2.35am: The chip counts for the last 14 players are as follows...

David Benyamine, France, 295,900
Alexander Roumeliotis, Sweden, 229,400
Jason Mercier, USA, 161,200
Scotty Nguyen, USA, 159,100
Masaaki Kagawa, Japan, 159,000
John Juanda, USA, 138,900
Michael Watson, Canada, PokerStars player, 118,000
Christopher Jetten, Canada, 105,100
Isabelle Mercier, Canada, Team PokerStars Pro, 99,200
Isaac Haxton, USA, PokerStars player, 83,200
Dennis Phillips, USA, Million Dollar Man, 73,200
Ghassan Bitar, Ghana, 58,700
Andrew Feldman, UK, 33,000
Jani Sointula, Finland, 6,500

2.20am: After 11 full levels play ends with 14 players remaining. A long day comes to an end ahead of another long one tomorrow.

2.10am: Jani Sointula moves all-in. John Juanda took it his time but called with pocket queens, to Sointula’s A-6. A queen hit the flop and despite a gutshot straight draw on the turn Sointula was crippled, left with just 6,500.

2am: Team PokerStars Pro find some welcome luck, doubling up when all in with A-Q. Alex Roumeliotis called with A-K but the board showed mercy to No Mercy, falling as it did 8s-3h-9c-Tc-Js, giving her the straight.

1.55am: Sami Kelopura was next to move in with Ah-9c, 34,800 total so it was only a matter of time. He was called though by Christopher Jettern holding K-J. It waited until the river but the king came to send the Finn out in 15th place.

1.45am: Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is no more. He moved in on an ace-high flop with A-2 only to be called by Scotty Nguyen.

1.30am: Three bust outs in quick succession. Praz Bansi is first crippled, moving all in with pocket aces, getting called by Jani Sointula with A-Q who catches queens on the flop and river. Bansi couldn’t believe it but remained calm. A few expletives from the rail just about summed it up. He moved in next hand with his last 12,000 and was promptly eliminated by John Juanda.

Elsewhere Steve Zolotow was dealt the same fate, all in with pocket fives and called by David Benyamine who had looked down to find pocket queens.

1.10am: Back from the break and Jani Sointula moves all-in, using two arms to bang his chips in, almost immediately pulling them back when he gets no callers and picks up the blinds – a welcome few grand.

Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein is out. I’m afraid I arrived too late to discover how it happened, just to say I saw him sign a copy of his book and hand it to a grateful Alexander Roumeliotis. 20 left.

Englishman Nathan Lee effectively doubles up, all-in with K-J and hitting two pair on the flop. His opponent Steven Silverman didn’t and was narrowly covered by Lee. 19 left.

1am: There are 21 players remaining in the high roller event. tournament officials have declared that if they reach 14 players in this level play will stop, if not one more will be played.

The high roller event coverage continues here. This afternoon 86 players started, each paying a £20,000 buy-in. They’ll play until just nine remain tonight, returning for the final tomorrow afternoon. Blinds are now 800/1,600 with a running ante of 200. We'll be bringing updates here alongside our EPT London coverage. Click refresh to see the latest details.

12.55am: Players pause for a short break.

12.40am: More players are busting as the blinds begin to nip at ankles. Joel Nordkvist found that to be the case also. He bet on a flop of 4h-3c-7c only to be re-raised by Jason Mercier, the EPT San Remo winner making it 55,000 to go. This effectively made it an all-in or fold decision for Nordkvist who took his time over it but finally placed his chips in the middle. Mercier called showing pocket eights to Nordkvist’s Jh-7h for a pair. Nothing on the turn or river changed that and we’d lost one more.

12.25am: Ylon Schwartz is out, now enjoying a beer from the sidelines after what might be his last high-octane trial run before his World Series appearance next month.

Million Dollar Man Ylon Schwartz

12am: For a full run down of approximate chip counts at this stage visit the chip count page HERE.

11.40pm: Three tables remain in the high roller event. Organisers are hoping to get to the low teens before calling it a night.

Recent eliminations include Dave Ulliott, Juha Helppi and Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari. Meanwhile John Juanda now sits alongside David Benyamine, and Praz Bansi arrives on Scotty Nguyen and Ylon Schwartz’s table.

11.25pm: A pre-flop raise of 4,800 by Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu in middle position which both Dave Ulliott in the hi-jack and Alex Roumeliotis in the cut off called. The flop came 7c-6d-Ad which Negreanu checked and Ulliott bet at, 7,500 total. Roumeliotis called but Negreanu got out, leaving them both to play heads up at the turn, a 6c.

Ulliott tapped the table, indicating a check. Roumeliotis then made it 8,000. Ulliott peeked at his cards one last time but it was no good. He mucked, down now to 37,000. For Roumeliotis though he races ahead, among the leaders on 130,000.

11.10pm: Million Dollar Man Ylon Schwartz has kept a low profile, but played a hand to the river with Scotty Nguyen. With the board reading 7c-2s-Js-9h Nguyen made it 4,700 from the big blind which Schwartz called in the cut off. The river was a king, a vital king it seems because both players had one. Two checks and a showdown later and the pot was split, king-queen each cause Ylon to let out a good natured “argh!”

Scotty Nguyen

11.05pm: PokerStars qualifier Johan van Till is another player to bust out.

11pm: Play resumes with blinds now 800/1,600 with a running ante of 200. Only 29 of the original 86 players remain.

The high roller event coverage continues here. This who's who of poker started with 86, each paying a £20,000 buy-in and they’ll play through to a last nine tonight, returning for the final tomorrow afternoon. Starting stacks of 20,000, blinds now 200/400 with a running ante of 50. We'll be bringing updates here alongside our EPT London coverage. Click refresh to see the latest details.

10.50pm: Players pause for ten minutes.

10.45pm: Daniel Negreanu’s once mighty position as chip leader has taken a dent, a hand against Alexander Roumeliotis where a set of jacks brought Negreanu back down to earth. In terms of a dose of first aid he didn’t do too badly a few hands later. On a flop of 4d-5s-5h Jason Mercier bet 5,100 which Negreanu called. By now the break had started and only the two players, and Barry Greenstein, were still around to see.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu

A 7c turn card and Mercier checked. Negreanu made it 7,000 to go on which Mercier wanted no part of. Negreanu flashed tow face cards before heading off on the break.

On the other table it was Max Pescatori putting his tournament life at risk a few hands before the break. With the board already showing Kh-2s-9c-As Pescatori made it 6,000, called by Jani Sointula. The river card, a 6c, and Pescatori moved all-in, 11,000 in total which Sointula called. 9d-4h for the Italian but Sointula had him beat with 9h-Ts.

10.30pm: No harm was done to Dan Heimiller’s stack when he bet all the way on a board of 6h-6d-5d-Qd-Kh that eventually saw his opponent bail out, leaving Heimiller 20,000 better off than he started with.

Meanwhile Michael Watson and Max Pescatori arrive at the table, their table breaking and sending John Juanda to join Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari’s table.

David Benyamine gets a few more chips to add to his growing stack on the next hand, betting on a 3s-5s-2d flop that ended anyone else’s plans in the hand.

10.20pm: It's the high roller event and they don't roll any higher than Barry Greenstein. Here's what the Team PokerStars Pro had to say:

Watch EPT London 08 Final Table: Barry Greenstein on PokerStars.tv

9.55pm: A run down of notable chip counts in the high roller event can be found HERE.

9.45pm: Million Dollar Man Ylon Schwartz and Kagawa Masaaki just faced off in a pot. On a flop of 2s-6c-6s Schwartz fired out 5,100 from the cut off. It was folded back to Masaaki in the hi-jack who called for a 6d on the turn. Both checked for a 8d on fifth street. A check-check and Masaaki turned over pocket twos. More than enough.

9.15pm: Recent eliminations include Neil Channing and Chris Ferguson as half of the field remain. One of the leaders is Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu.

Both he and Million Dollar Man Darus Suharto checked the flop of Jd-4s-7c. On the turn card 6s Negreanu, in the cut off, made it 5,800. Suharto thought about it for a while, an expression that suggested he was adding up numbers, and then re-raised, another 11,200 on top of Negreanu’s bet.

Million Dollar Man Darus Suharto

Negreanu now asked how much Suharto had then began talking quietly to himself and then at Suharto “I think I know what you’ve got.” Suharto smiles, what else can you do, as Negreanu called. The 9s on the river. Suharto checked a second before Negreanu slammed a stack of brown chips into the pot. Suharto called all-in, showing 8d-6d, but Negreanu had made his flush holding Js-Ts.

Darus Suharto out, Negreanu up to more than 145,000.

8.45pm: Play resumes in level seven, with blinds now400/800 with a running ante of 100.

The high roller event coverage continues here. This who's who of poker started with 86, each paying a £20,000 buy-in and they’ll play through to a last nine tonight, returning for the final tomorrow afternoon. Starting stacks of 20,000, blinds now 200/400 with a running ante of 50. We'll be bringing updates here alongside our EPT London coverage. Click refresh to see the latest details.

8pm: Play pauses for a 45 minute dinner break.

7.55pm: Michael Watson bet 1,750 pre-flop from under-the-gun-plus-one and the action folded to John Juanda in the cut off. Juanda put his mirrored shades on and made it 5,020 to go. The flop came Kd-4s-3h. Watson checked, leaving it to Juanda to work the momentum, 7,200 this time. Watson called. An 8c on the turn and again Watson checked. Juanda reviewed his hand again and took his shades off, tapping his hand indicating a check. To the river card, Jc. This time Watson bet out, 14,500, which swung the momentum his way. Juanda thought about it, or at least appeared to, waiting three or four minutes before passing. Watson up to roughly 40,000.

Michael Watson

7.45pm: Here's a little known fact, little known to anyone but readers of the PokerStars blog. Daniel Negreanu sits today in the high roller event alongside some of the established stars of poker, as well as a man from Canada named Darus Suharto, with whom he has shared a table before. Suharto, if you have been in a cave for the past two months, is one of the Million Dollar Men, the PokerStars Six or the November Nine, who will go to Las Vegas next month to play the World Series final table. But Suharto's journey to there also began on the same table as Daniel Negreanu at the World Series main event. He was just a mere PokerStars qualifier then hoping to make good. His dreams duly came true, while Negreanu perished early on that first day.

7.30pm: Sorel Mizzi has been eliminated, his assassin coming in the form of Johan von Till who held A-J to Mizzi’s all-in with A-7.

7.20pm: Per Ummer is hanging on despite coming out battered and bruised from a blinds war with Scotty Nguyen. With an ace on the flop the money went in, A-7 for Ummer to Nguyen’s A-5. Another cruel river card crushed all hope for Ummer. He was soon all in again with pocket sevens, called by Greg Raymer’s K-Q; a mercy double up for Ummer but he still floats around the danger zone.

7.10pm: There have been fireworks elsewhere. Team PokerStars Pro ElkY Grospellier moved all-in pre-flop with pocket queens and was called by Daniel Negreanu holding A-K. The ace on the river busted the PCA winner.

Team PokerStars Pro ElkY

Chris Moneymaker will join him on the rail. He got his chips in with the best possible hand pre-flop, showing aces, called by pocket kings that found a third on the river card.

7pm: The payouts for the high roller event have been made official...

1st – £516,000
2nd – £327,000
3rd – £241,000
4th – £189,000
5th – £137,500
6th – £103,000
7th – £86,000
8th – £59,000
9th – £51,000

6.50pm: On what is one of the most fiersome looking tables ever concocted, seating as it does Juha Helppi, Philippe Rouas, Greg Raymer, Per Ummer, Scotty Nguyen, Jani Sointula and Chris Ferguson; Raymer takes down a pot against Rouas, taking his stack to close to 30,000. A pre-flop re-raise and a bet on the flop of 4c-8d-2d and Rouas had a decision to make. He took a while over it but folded.

6.30pm: The latest chip counts

Daniel Negreanu, 75,000
Sami Kelopuro, 55,000
Dennis Philips, 54,000
David Benyamine, 44,000
John Juanda, 42,000
Scotty Nguyen, 37,000
Max Pescatori, 36,000
Isabelle Mercier, 35,500
Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, 34,000
Jani "Hellraiser" Sointula, 33,500
Jason Mercier, 30,000
Andre Akkari, 25,000
Illari Sahamies, 25,000
Alex Roumelotis, 24,500
Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, 23,000
Juha Helppi, 21,500
Greg Ramer, 21,000
Soren Kongsgaard, 20,000
William Thorson, 19,000
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, 19,000
Chris Moneymaker, 18,000
Barry Greenstein, 15,000
Per Ummer, 13,000
Peter Eastgate, 12,000
Steve Zolotow, 12,000
Sorel Mizzi, 7,500
Chris Ferguson, 5,000

6.20pm: Jason Mercier tangled in a pot with Masaaki Kagawa, raising pre-flop from middle position and getting called for a flop of Td-8s-Jh. Mercier checked but was forced out of the hand by Kagawa’s raise of 4,500. The EPT San Remo winner is still above average though with 29,000.

Jason Mercier

Meanwhile a tense pot developed between recent WSOP Europe winner John Juanda and Liya Gerasimov. Things slowed down after the 3d-3h-2s flop. Gerasimov checked in the cut off leaving it to Juanda on the button to make it 5,200 to go. Eventually Gerasimov called for a turn card Qh. Gerasimov checked again but Juanda was still intent on big bets, making it 8,500 this time. There followed a five minute spell where Gerasimov re-arranged her chips but she opted not to go on.

6.00pm: Play resumes with blinds at 200/400 with a running ante of 50.

The high roller event coverage continues here. This who's who of poker started with 86, each paying a £20,000 buy-in and we’ll play through to a final table tonight. Starting stacks of 20,000, blinds now 150/300. We'll be bringing updates here alongside our EPT London coverage. Click refresh to see the latest details.

5.55pm: Players pause for a break with 61 players remaining.

5.40pm: Chris Moneymaker has swapped the seat he had between Isabelle Mercier and Sebastian Ruthenberg for one on a table with Barry Greenstein and Max Pescatori. Meanwhile the other Mercier in the field, Jason, has also switched and is alongside Million Dollar Man Ylon Schwartz, Dave Ulliott and Joe Hachem.

Joe Hachem

Having said that Hachem was not there for long. After a raise from Ulliott in the cut-off Hachem moved all-in. It was 2,800 more to call which after a period of reflection he did. Hachem was ahead with A-K to Ulliott’s A-7. “Sevens are always lucky” said Ulliott though and he wasn’t wrong. A seven hit the turn and with a “good luck fellas” Hachem was out.

Over on Moneymaker’s table a hand developed between himself, Barry Greenstein and Max Pescatori. On a flop of Jh-7s-6c Pescatori on the small blind checked, as did Moneymaker in the big blind. Greenstein, in the cut off, came out betting, 2K to go which Moneymaker called.

With an ace on the turn Moneymaker checked to his fellow Team PokerStars Pro with a 3,000 raise the result. Moneymaker ended it there, mucking his hand, down to 24,000.

5.15pm: The landscape has changes somewhat with two giants of the games eliminated. Phil Ivey paid off the massage therapist and joins Patrik Antonius in heading for the door.

David Benyamine will be here a little longer. He just moved all-in for 20,000 on a flop of 6s-Jh-4d with Million Dollar Man Dennis Phillips having the option to call. As the chip leader he could afford it, showing pocket tens to Benyamine’s pocket kings. Nothing to change things on the turn and river and the Frenchman doubled up.

5.05pm: Latest chip counts...

Dennis Philips, 68,000
Daniel Negreanu, 56,000
Greg Raymer, 36,000
Sami Kelopuro, 36,000
John Juanda, 31,000
Max Pescatori, 31,000
Jason Mercier, 30,000
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, 29,000
Peter Eastgate, 27,000
Scotty Nguyen, 26,500
David Benyamine, 26,000
Alexander Roumeloitis, 24,000
Isabelle Mercier, 23,000
Jani Sointula, 23,000
Juha Helppi, 22,000
Sören Kongsgaard, 21,000
William Thorson, 20,000
Dave "Devilfisk" Ulliot, 19,500
Sebastian Ruthenberg, 18,500
Barry Greenstein, 17,800
Illari Sahamies, 16,500
Andre Akkari, 16,300
Chris Moneymaker, 15,700
David "Chino" Rheem, 14,500
Chris Ferguson, 14,100
Sorel Mizzi, 12,500
Per Ummer, 10,200
Phil Ivey, 10,000
Steve Zolotow, 8,500
Patrik Antonius, 8,000
Joe Hachem, 3,500

4.50pm: The payouts are not yet official but the first prize is expected to be more than £500,000. That will be welcome news to Million Dollar Man Denis Phillips who has the chip lead with more than 70,000.

4.40pm: One player who will find that irrelevant though is Gus Hansen. TV cameras just showed him shaking hands and leaving the tournament area, out in level three.

Gus Hansen

4.20pm: Illari Sahamies just took a knock to his chances, calling the raises of Christopher Jetten on the flop, turn and river. 7h-3d-6c-Ks-Jd was the board. Jetten showed 3c-Kc to take the pot after Sahamies took several minutes to call.

Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri is sadly out, one of the early fallers. Meanwhile another Italian is heading in the opposite direction. Max Pescatori, who went deep in the EPT London yesterday, helped his cause no end in a pot against Sami Kelopuro.

Pescatori bet 800 pre-flop from early position and was called by Liya Gerasimov and raised by Kelopuro in the blinds, 3,150 in total. Pescatori looked again, asked how much and eventually called. Gerasimov mucked. The flop came 9d-Ts-7d which Kelopuro checked, leaving Pescatori to bet 3,500, an uncontested bet that sent Pescatori up to 33K.

Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker

Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker just doubled up. It started with a pre-flop raise from EPT Barcelona winner and PokerStars shooting star Sebastian Ruthenberg. He got two callers, one of which was Million Dollar Man Chino Rheem, before Chris Moneymaker moved all-in for 7,200. Only Ruthenberg called, showing pocket tens to Moneymaker’s A-Q. The board couldn’t have been friendlier to the former World Champion, Q-5-5-A-Q.

3.55pm: Play resumes in level three with 79 players of the original 85 remaining. Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano is at the blunt end of the chip counts, reduced to 3,000 after losing another pot after the break.

Daniel Negreanu takes down another pot, this time from Gus Hansen who folded to Negreanu’s raise on a 7h-5d-7d flop. With the same chuckle Negreanu showed his 6d-4d for a straight flush draw.