If anyone without an Irish lilt to their voice had said the following, they would be justly condemned for some terrible regional stereotyping. But the words actually came from the mouth of John O'Shea yesterday, who is as proudly Irish as proudly Irish gets. "If you put five Irish guys...more

As we said earlier this week, players have a tendency to smarten up as they go deep in an event, particularly when there are television cameras on hand to record their every move. Today is no different and presumably the switchboard at the Prague Hilton came alive this morning with...more

At times it has felt like the first main event of the new season has been headlined by Finnish players from the start. On day one Aku Joentausta held the lead. Then heads were turned by the return of Ilari Sahamies to live tournament poker. Then a third contender...more

Terje Augdal won the €10,000 Heads Up Championships late last night bagging €126,700 beating Marc-Andre Ladouceur in a ten-hour epic. It was the final strenuous hurdle at the end of a tough draw which saw him beat, in order; Timothy Adams, Jussi Niemel, Team PokerStars Pro and WSOP Main Event...more

Ilari Sahamies cares not for the facets of everyday life. The Finn has worn the same non-descript grey tracksuit for most of the week. He's ambivalent towards TV cameras. He peppers any quotes to the press with unusable expletives. He forgets what the blinds are and goes home only...more

Terje Augdal is currently two-nil up against Marc-Andre Ladouceur in the final of the inaugural €10,000 Heads Up Championships and the third bout has just begun putting the Norwegian close to the €126,700 first place prize. Ladouceur will have to win the remaining three contests if he's to close out...more

It took a little more than six hours to reduce a field of 61 to 24, the final three tables of players who will return to Casino Barcelona tomorrow with an eye on reaching the first main event final table of the new season. There are few dull moments...more

With 26 players remaining it's worth taking a look at who is left - players you may or may not have already come across. Joni Jouhkimainen could be the player poised to use Barcelona as a springboard to greater success, according to the Finnish poker press. The Finns are...more

There's been a huge amount of side events here at EPT Barcelona and while the blue ribbon side events like the €10,000 High Roller, €50,000 Super High Roller and €10,000 Heads Up Championship get a lot of attention, many of the others fly under the radar. Dan Smith, as seems...more

EPT Barcelona, season nine, is becoming one of the best tournaments there has ever been on the tour. There have been some virtuoso displays by established stars, breakout performances from future heroes, and a dude named Duda leading them all at the end of a frantic third day. The Duda...more

We've said it before and I'll wager that we'll say it again, but this is truly a festival of poker. There are currently four or five tournament going on with the main event the Ferris wheel around which everything else rotates. Dotted around the room are other attractions, including the...more

It is easy to think that the pictures you can watch on EPT Live right now are equally simple to produce. In a way they are - but only as long as you have a team of highly skilled production staff who have been doing this for years. But it...more

John Juanda is the chip leader at the end of Day Two of EPT9 Barcelona - a day on which the players learnt they were competing for a first prize of more than a million euros. After counting heads for the best part of two days, administrators finally determined that...more

Welcome to the second installment of PokerStars Blog's new regular series: The Daily Strategy. Every day during season nine of the European Poker Tour, we will be quizzing Team PokerStars Pro for their advice on a specific element of major tournament strategy, aimed at introducing new players to key elements...more

If anyone is going to be a challenge for the European Poker Tour's new concierge service then it's going to be high-rolling, fast-talking, vegan-eating Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Were the EPT facilitators able to match up to the big man's requests? Find out by watching the video with Lynn...more

It is hard to imagine it could be hotter in Barcelona this week. During the daytime the heat and humidity keeps you indoors where the air conditioning, strong enough to frost the walls of a small cupboard, proves futile when taking on nearly 700 players in a tournament room, sitting...more

Poker is the proverbial hard way to make an easy living, but do you really know how hard? The perfect person to tell us was in today's field at EPT Barcelona - but I bet few of his table-mates know exactly who they were dealing with. Matt "Ch0ppy" Kay, from...more

It's the opening stages of the opening day of a major poker tournament and for a new player it is an unfamiliar world. It may also seem uneventful, boring even, as hundreds of players with the same starting stack play mostly small pots that will have very little impact on...more

The EPT entered its ninth year today in the city that has hosted all but a handful of the tour's most notable anniversaries. Day 1A of the latest main event kicked off under the auspices of Gran Casino Barcelona, as it has done every year since 2005. Plenty is the...more

Rafa Nadal needed help and Sergey Martynenko answered the call. Actually so did around 799 others but Martynenko did it best, making a 30 second video offering his advice ("Ask Daniel Negreanu") how to best learn this great game of ours. The video, quite frankly, is superb, combining humour...more

In this job sometimes you have to stand outside men's bathrooms. I'd caught up with Paul Williams at the break. Actually, just before the break. He was sneaking out a minute early to beat the rush for the bathroom. Then I got in his way, foiling that plan before...more