PokerStars.com European Poker Tour - EPT - at PokerListings.com

Benny Spindler is Number One at EPT London

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Given what we've seen of Benny Spindler's playing style we knew this heads-up match would be a fast-paced affair and it did not disappoint.

Spindler entered the match with a roughly 2 to 1 chip advantage and that really didn't change much leading up to the final hand, a massive preflop all-in confrontation.

Spindler raised his button to 225k and O'Dwyer fired right back with a three-bet to 725,000. Spindler, never one to turn tail in the face of aggression, four-bet to 1,725,000.

O'Dwyer gave it some thought before moving all-in, getting a very quick call from the German.

Spindler: A♣ K♦

O'Dwyer: K♠ J♣

The flop was a disaster for the American, falling A♦ 8♦ 7♣. A jack on the turn gave O'Dwyer a glimmer of hope but the river brought the 6♦ and made Spindler's victory official.

Benny Spindler wins EPT London and receives £750,000 while Steve O'Dwyer takes £465,000 for runner-up.

Click here for a full rundown of everyone who cashed in this event.

And with that final hand we're done in London. Check back soon for our winner story with quotes from the champ himself.

Things are just getting started on PokerListings.com's Euro tour because we're going straight from here to the World Series of Poker Europe in Cannes. Keep an eye on our WSOPE 2011 Live Coverage page for all the action straight from the French Riviera!

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Spindler vs. O'Dwyer for the Title

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

And just like that we're heads-up. Sometimes in tournament poker you look away for a moment and when you look back, everything's changed.

In this case it's Andre Klebanov and Jose Manuel Pastor on the rail while Benny Spindler and Steve O'Dwyer go heads-up for the 2011 EPT London main event title.

Spindler enters the duel with an almost 2 to 1 chip lead over his American opponent and as we’ve seen before when Spindler gets his hands on chips he doesn’t waste time putting them to work.

These two are playing for a first place prize of £750,000. The runner-up will receive £465,000.

Read on for the heads-up chip counts and the details on the last two eliminations.

The players have gone on a break before getting down to business.

Chip Counts

Benny Spindler – 13,490,000

Steve O’Dwyer – 7,145,000

Klebanov KO’d in 3rd (£265,000)

Andre Klebanov has been eliminated by Steve O’Dwyer, paving the way for our heads-up finale.

Klebanov opened A♠ Q♦ and O’Dwyer moved in with A♦ 5♣. Klebanov snapped him off but watched the board run out J♥ 8♥ 6♥ 7♥ 4♣, giving O’Dwyer a straight and sending Klebanov home in third.

Pastor Eliminated in 4th (£200,000)

To say Benny Spindler is running well today would be an understatement. He’s the dominant chip leader going into heads-up for this main event title and he got some of those chips when he eliminated Juan Manuel Pastor in fourth place.

Pastor opened and Spindler three-bet before Pastor moved in for roughly 2.2 million. Spindler snapped with pocket aces which, surprise surprise, were ahead of Pastor’s pocket nines.

The board changed nothing and Juan Manuel Pastor is out in fourth.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Final Table Down to Four

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're two players lighter since last checking in with the eliminations of Kevin Iacofano and Mattias Bergstrom.

Benny Spindler has not only maintained his chip lead, but has actually extended it even further, thanks in part to eliminating Iacofano. Spindler is within sight of the 10 million chip mark now.

Read on for the updated chip counts and breakdowns of those two bustications.

New Counts

Benny Spindler - 10,000,000

Steve O'Dwyer - 5,800,000

Andre Klebanov - 3,800,000

Juan Manuel Pastor - 2,200,000

Bergstrom Out in 5th (£155,000)

Steve O'Dwyer had just doubled up, flopping top pair on a 9-4-2 board and getting it in against Andre Klebanov's pocket fives, which gave him more than enough chips to eliminate Mattias Bergstrom shortly after.

The hand began with an opening raise from Benny Spindler and a three-bet shove from Bergstrom. O'Dwyer picked up pocket tens and made the call.

Spindler got out of the way and we saw O'Dwyer's tens were well ahead of Bergstrom's T-J suited.

The tens stood up and the young Swedish pro is out in fifth.

Iacofano Eliminated in 6th (£120,000)

Kevin Iacofano was crippled in a big preflop all-in confrontation with Mattias Bergstrom, setting the stage for his elimination.

Bergstrom was all-in but ahead with A-Q against Iacofano's A-6 and it held up to put Iacofano on life support.

Shortly after, it was Iacofano all-in with Q-T against Benny Spindler's 7-8 suited. Spindler flopped a straight and Iacofano was unable to go runner-runner.

This was Iacofano's second final-table appearance on the EPT.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Adeniya Out (7th), Spindler Dominating

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The playdown from 24 to the final table yesterday might as well have been called the Benny Spindler Show. The young German was crushing.

And it looks like that show was renewed because he's absolutely dominating today's final table.

The latest casualty in Spindler's ongoing assault was London local Martin Adeniya, out in 7th place for £86,350.

Spindler had just taken down a massive pot, catching Swedish pro Mattias Bergstrom making a big move. Bergstrom check-raised a K-9-8 flop with two spades and Spindler proceeded to call him down on the the 3♦ turn and the A♠ river.

Spindler had A-9 while Bergstrom was on complete air with 4-5.

Spindler, now armed with even more ammo, continued to apply pressure preflop until a few hands later Martins Adeniya picked up a hand and made a stand.

Mattias Bergstrom opened and Spindler called on the button. Adeniya was in the big blind and put in a third bet. Bergstrom folded but Spindler moved all-in, getting a relatively quick call from Adeniya.

Adeniya: A♠ K♣

Spindler: Two black tens

The board improved neither hand and Martins Adeniya was bust. Spindler, meanwhile, took control of almost half the chips in play.

Here are the updated chip counts after that elimination.

Seat 2: Andre Klebanov - 3,775,000 Seat 3: Stephen O'Dwyer - 2,080,000 Seat 4: Juan Manuel Pastor - 2,130,000 Seat 5: Benny Spindler - 9,615,000 Seat 6: Kevin Iacofano - 1,830,000 Seat 8: Mattias Bergstrom - 1,305,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Cards in the Air, Benes out in 8th

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

It was a little behind schedule but the cards are now in the air at the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London final table and we're already one player lighter.

Miroslav Benes coasted into the final table on fumes and despite making a valiant effort to get himself back in this tournament, he is now bust. His final hand began with a raise from Benny Spindler and continued with Benes moving all-in for 560,000.

Spindler called with K-Q and was flipping against pocket eights. A king on the flop put Spindler out in front and by the time the turn and river were dealt the pair of kings was best.

Miroslav Benes is out in 8th and takes £64,000.

Martins Adeniya

4736000

Benny Spindler 3700000

Mattias Bergstrom

3620000

Andre Klebanov

2730000

Kevin Iafocano

2685000

Juan Manuel Pastor

1915000

Stephen O'Dwyer

1250000

Seven players remain with the next one out receiving £86,350.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Final Table Set!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're down to the final eight players at the 2011 EPT London main event and Martins Adeniya is the chip leader!

We covered all the action leading up to the nine-handed final table in the last update, save the final elimination, so scroll down the page if you're interested in that.

Adria Balaguer hit the rail in ninth, thanks to a massive cooler. It was an T-7-7 flop with Balaguer holding A-7 and Martins Adeniya holding pocket tens.

The money went in and after Balaguer failed to go perfect-perfect he was forced to get up and go, £45,000 richer.

And so with that bustication we call it quits for the night. Check out the end of day chip counts below and join us tomorrow as we play down to a champion!

Martins Adeniya

4736000

Mattias Bergstrom

3620000

Benny Spindler

3435000

Andre Klebanov

2730000

Kevin Iafocano

2685000

Juan Manuel Pastor

1915000

Stephen O'Dwyer

1250000

Miroslav Benes

370000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Dinner Time for Final Nine

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We've reached the final nine players and, because the TV crew insists on it, the players have gone on a 45-minute break.

Benny Spindler is currently sitting in the number one spot, followed closely by Martins Adeniya.

Read on for the full final table chip counts and highlights from the last two levels.

Seat 1: Miroslav Benes, 1,220,000 Seat 2: Adria Balaguer, 1,810,000 Seat 3: Andre Klebanov, 2,745,000 Seat 4: Stephen O'Dwyer, 1,385,000 Seat 5: Juan Manuel Pastor, 2,155,000 Seat 6: Benny Spindler, 3,380,000 Seat 7: Kevin Iafocano, 1,425,000 Seat 8: Martins Adeniya, 3,290,000 Seat 9: Mattias Bergstrom, 3,325,000

Down and Out in London

Jeremey Kottler was the final player eliminated while we still had two tables, and it was a classic race that ended up with the American on the rail with tenth-place money.

He shoved pocket sevens and got called by Benny Spindler with K-Q. A queen hit the turn and Kottler was gone, £45,000 richer.

2010 Irish Open champion James Mitchell busted 11th place, thanks to three-bet shoving pocket treys and getting snapped off by Kevin Iacafano’s pocket queens. Mitchell takes £35,000 for his 11th place finish.

In another Benny Spindler-special, Hugo Loureiro has been knocked out in 12th place. Loureiro was severely shortstacked and shipped A♥ 5♥. Spindler’s 8♥ 9♥ was good enough to take a shot and by the time all the cards were out Spindler’s hand was best.

Spindler turned an open-ender and rivered the straight to bust Loureiro.

Benny Spindler’s rampage was just getting started when he busted Benjamin Jenkins in 13th. It was on the last hand before break when Jenkins shoved J-Q and ran into pocket jacks from Spindler.

The jacks held and Jenkins was out for £27,000.

Russia’s Anatoly Gurtovoy went out shortly before courtesy of a bad beat laid on him by Adria Balageur. Aces for Gurtovoy couldn’t stand up against pocket queens and the Russian was out in 14th for £27,000.

Sometimes things just don’t go your way. No one’s feeling that sentiment more than Pascal Hartmann who apparently has had aces cracked three times today.

The final time resulted in his elimination and it was at the hands of soon-to-be-busted Anatoly Gurtovoy.

Hartmann received £22,000 for finishing 15th.

Ioannis Beris went out in 16th after getting crippled with pocket eights against Pascal Hartmann’s A-Q all-in preflop. We’re not sure on his final hand but he was running on fumes after shipping most of his stack to Hartmann.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Down to 18 in Main Event

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

One level is down on Day 5 here in London and so far six players have found themselves relieved of their chips.

Swedish pro Mattias Bergstrom is still in the lead and has managed to add more than 1 million to his stack. American Steve O’Dwyer has also seen things go his way so far and is now sitting in second position with over 2.1 million.

With 18 players left everyone still in this thing is guaranteed at least £19,000, but if they can outlast two more players that number jumps to £22,000.

86 players have already been paid in this event so click through here to see a full rundown of the results so far.

Keep reading for the highlights from the last level and the full EPT London Level 23 chip counts.

The Eliminati

Six players have been eliminated so far, all receiving the same £19,000 payout.

19. Basile Yaiche - France - £19,000 20. Fowzi Baroukh - United Kingdom - £19,000 21. Aadam Daya - Canada - £19,000 22. Justas Semaska - Lithuania - £19,000 23. Per Hildebrand - Sweden - £19,000 24. Sebastian Blom - Sweden - £19,000

Repeat for Barbosa?

Joao Barbosa is the only former EPT winner still alive in this event, and thanks to an early double today his hopes of becoming the first player to win two EPT main events.

Barbosa opened and was three-bet by Pascal Hartmann. Barbosa shipped it in with A-K and was snapped off by Hartmann’s pocket aces.

A king on the flop and another on the river was enough to give Barbosa the checkmark and another shot at the repeat.

Bling Blang Blom

Sebastian Blom was the first player eliminated as play got underway this afternoon, getting what few chips he had into the middle early in the first level.

There was a raise from Hugo Loureiro and a call from Ioannis Beris before Blom shoved from the big blind. Both players called and Loureiro check-shoved the K♦ K♠ 3♥ flop. Beris snap-called.

Blom: T♣ 3♦

Beris: K♥ J♠

Loureiro: 7♥ 7♦

Beris’ trip kings held up to scoop the lot and send Blom on his way in 24th place.

Full Field Chip Counts

Mattias Bergstrom

2898000

Stephen O'Dwyer

2158000

Martins Adeniya

1684000

Benny Spindler

1615000

Jeremy Kottler

1453000

Andre Klebanov

1319000

Kevin Iacofano

1166000

Ben Jenkins

1091000

Juan Manuel Pastor

1050000

Pascal Hartmann

918000

James Mitchell

917000

Miroslav Benes

795000

Anatoly Gurtovoy

482000

Ioannis Beris

406000

Andries Swart

378000

Joao Barbosa

365000

Hugo Loureiro

353000

Adria Balaguer

168700

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: The Penultimate Day Begins

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The cards are in the air once again at the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London main event as the final 24 players fight for a spot at tomorrow's final table.

As action gets underway it's Swedish pro Mattias Bergstrom out in front, but only by the narrowest of margins. Click here for the full chip counts or check them out at the bottom of this update.

Each of the final 24 is guaranteed £19,000 for making it this far, and since we'll be calling a halt to play when we reach eight players, the most anyone is going to walk away with today is £45,000 for ninth and tenth places.

The final table is where the money really gets serious, starting at £64,000 and ramping all the way up to the £750,000 first-place prize.

Notables still in this with a shot include 2009 PCA third-place finisher Benny Spindler, up and coming French online player Basile Yaiche, 2010 Irish Open champion James Mitchell and EPT Warsaw winner Joao Barbosa.

We'll be keeping you up to date with snapshot summaries of the tournament every few hours so stick with us as we play down to the final table.

Official EPT London Day 5 Chip Counts

Mattias Bergstrom

1838000

Adria Balaguer

1828000

Pascal Hartmann

1800000

Jeremy Kottler

1693000

Benny Spindler

1421000

Andre Klebanov

1337000

Kevin Iacofano

1112000

Basile Yaiche

1105000

Juan Manuel Pastor

960000

Anatoly Gurtovoy

873000

James Mitchell

869000

Stephen O'Dwyer

792000

Martins Adeniya

764000

Ben Jenkins

760000

Joao Barbosa

601000

Hugo Loureiro

564000

Justas Semaska

488000

Per Hildebrand

398000

Miroslav Benes

377000

Aadam Daya

372000

Ioannis Beris

311000

Andries Swart

254000

Fowzi Baroukh

133000

Sebastian Blom

59000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Day 4 Done, 24 Remain

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Day 4 at the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London main event is over and Mattias Bergstrom is leading the way to the £750,000 first-place prize.

24 players remain, all of whom will return tomorrow to play down to the final table. Everyone who's made it this far is guaranteed £19,000 but the real money is waiting for those who make it to the top eight.

Both players we featured today in our news section have made it through so click through here to learn a bit more about Sebasitan Blom, and here to get to know Martins Adeniya.

Also still in is 2009 PCA third-place finisher Benny Spindler, up and coming French online player Basile Yaiche, 2010 Irish Open champion James Mitchell and EPT winner Joao Barbosa.

On the way to the final 24 we had to say goodbye to a few big names as well, including Brit Laurance Houghton, Humberto Brenes, Roberto Romanello, John Gale, Marvin Rettenmaier, Ana Marquez, Jamie Rosen and Barney Boatman.

Click here for the results so far which will be posted soon.

Action resumes tomorrow at noon when we'll play down the final eight. Join us then but for now check out the official end of day chip counts.

Mattias Bergstrom

1838000

Adria Balaguer

1828000

Pascal Hartmann

1800000

Jeremy Kottler

1693000

Benny Spindler

1421000

Andre Klebanov

1337000

Kevin Iacofano

1112000

Basile Yaiche

1105000

Juan Manuel Pastor

960000

Anatoly Gurtovoy

873000

James Mitchell

869000

Stephen O'Dwyer

792000

Martins Adeniya

764000

Ben Jenkins

760000

Joao Barbosa

601000

Hugo Loureiro

564000

Justas Semaska

488000

Per Hildebrand

398000

Miroslav Benes

377000

Aadam Daya

372000

Ioannis Beris

311000

Andries Swart

254000

Fowzi Baroukh

133000

Sebastian Blom

59000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: 40 Players Left, Iacafono New Leader

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We’re nearing the end of the second level of the day here at the EPT London main event and just 40 players are still in it with a shot at the £750,000 first-place prize.

In addition to losing 22 players already this afternoon we have a brand new chip leader in American Kevin Iacofano. He’s followed closely by the UK’s Neil Pearce.

Click here for updated chip counts.

The plan for today calls for play to continue until just 24 players remain, all of whom will return tomorrow with a shot at making Thursday’s final table.

Right now keep reading for a look at the leaderboard and highlights from the afternoon thus far.

Ana Marquez Eliminated

Recent Team PokerStars Pro addition Ana Marquez as been eliminated. Her last hand began with one limper and a shove from Marquez for around 140k. It folded to Hugo Loureiro who called with pocket tens which were ahead of Marquez’s A-8.

The board ran out with no help to the Marquez and she was done.

Rettenmaier Relegated to Rail

Things were looking up for Germany’s Marvin Rettenmaier when he scored a much needed double-up earlier this level. He called all-in when Andries Swart four-bet him preflop and saw he was in good shape with A-8 against A-2.

After that hand Rettenmaier was up to almost 500k, but it wouldn’t last long.

Not long after, he picked up A-K and was more than happy to get it all-in preflop. The only problem was that his Basile Yaiche was holding pocket aces. The bullets proved to be Rettenmaier’s undoing and he’s out.

The Eliminati

Among those busted this afternoon were a few notable names

Leaderboard

Kevin Iacofano

1090000

Neil Pearce

1025000

Andre Klebanov

965000

Sandor Demjan

950000

Martins Adeniya

900000

James Mitchell

865000

Adria Balaguer

800000

Benny Spindler

755000

Sam MacDonald

720000

Mattias Bergstrom

660000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London Day 4: Quest for the Final Three Tables

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

62 players remain at the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London main event and by the time we're done for the day just three tables of eight will be left.

As you may have read yesterday, 2010 Irish Open champion James Mitchell is in the lead and he's the only player with more than 1 million chips. He's followed by Sam Macdonald who's on 860,000.

Click here for the full start of day chip counts.

Plenty of big names are still in with a shot, including Benny Spindler, Martins Adeniya, Basile Yaiche, Jamie Rosen, Sebastian Blom, Scott Shelley, Roberto Romanello, Laurence Houghton, Marvin Rettenmaier, Steve O’Dwyer, Ana Marquez, Humberto Brenes and Barney Boatman.

Only time will tell which of these poker pros, if any, will survive the day but when the chips go in the bags tonight we'll have a much clearer picture of who we might see at Thursday's final table.

Stick with us as we play even further into the money at this year's EPT London main event.

Here are the top ten counts to start the day.

James Mitchell

1071500

Sam Macdonald

860000

Martins Adeniya

786800

Basile Yaiche

756500

Matthijs Remie

732500

Benjamin Jenkins

721000

Adria Balaguer

710000

Sandor Demjan

691000

Neil Pearce

690500

Kevin Iacofano

623500

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Day 3 a Wrap, 62 Remain

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Despite the short duration it was a contentious afternoon in London that saw a handful of players fight tooth and nail for a chip lead that proved slippery.

62 in total will advance to Day 4.

Benny Spindler, who began the day in the number one spot, succeeded in building his stack and managed to hold on to the lead until the third level. Spindler finished in 12th position with 570,000.

France's Basile Yaiche was a contender, and held the top leaderboard entry for a short time, but finished fourth with 756,500.

When all was said and done the lead belonged to Brit James Mitchell who finished with 1,070,100, the only player to break the one million mark.

Mitchell has a number of tournament scores on his record highlighted by a win at the 2010 Irish Open for over $800,000.

The day began with 159 players doing their best to make it into the top 104, the money spots. The payouts began at £7,500, and ramp up all the way to the £750,000 waiting for first.

Everyone who made it through today is guaranteed at least £11,000.

Among those who cashed but couldn't secure a seat for tomorrow were the great Doyle Brunson, Bryn Kenney, Jeff Sarwer and Brian Hastings.

We'll be back in action tomorrow at noon when we'll be playing down to the final 24. Join us for more updates then but for now check out the leaderboard and click through here for the full end of day chip counts.

James Mitchell

1071500

Sam Macdonald

860000

Martins Adeniya

786800

Basile Yaiche

756500

Matthijs Remie

732500

Benjamin Jenkins

721000

Adria Balaguer

710000

Sandor Demjan

691000

Neil Pearce

690500

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London Day 3: Bubble = Burst

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The bubble has burst here at EPT London and players are hitting the rail at ludicrous speed.

We reached the money roughly half an hour ago, when Steve Warburton busted with A-K against aces in 105th place, and already the board tells us just 81 players remain.

Benny Spindler is threatening to go wire to wire, having finished his Day 1 heat and Day 2 as chip leader. He’s managed to increase his stack to over 670,000. Spindler had a third-place finish at the 2009 PCA for $1.1 million and a runner-up in the High Roller event at last season’s EPT Grand Final in Madrid for $469,000.

The payouts began at £7,500 and increase to £9,000 when we hit 80th place.

The plan calls for one more level before calling a halt to the action. Keep reading for the current leaderboard and highlights from the last level.

Leaderboard

Benny Spindler

Germany

672,000

Sandor Demjan

Hungary

600,000

Matthijs Remie

Netherlands

550,000

Basile Yaiche

France

545,000

Jamie Rosen

USA

520,000

Sam Macdonald

500,000

Phil Shaw

494,000

Paul Vas Nunes

474,000

Neil Pearce

465,000

Jonathan Layani

France

420,000

Sarwer Not Fast Enough

If Jeff Sarwer were a little better at winning races he’d still be in this event. Shortly after the bubble broke, the chess prodigy three-bet shoved A-K for his last 70k against Andre Klebenov who turned up with pocket nines.

Sarwer got absolutely no help from the board and he’s out with a min-cash to show for his time here in London.

Mizzi Misses Money

Sorel Mizzi came within sight of the money in this event but fell just a few spots short, dispatched by Brit Laurence Houghton in a big preflop confrontation.

Mizzi opened, Houghton three-bet and Mizzi four-bet shoved for close to 140k. Houghton snapped him off with Kings and saw he was in a dominant position against pocket jacks. The board ran out with no change to the situation and Mizzi is out just off the cash.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London Day 3: The Money Awaits

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

PokerListings.com, and the 159 players left in this event, are back in action today at the Hilton Metropole for Day 3 of the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London main event.

Benny Spindler is still in the lead with 469,800, over 60,000 more than his closest competition American Jamie Rosen.

104 players are getting paid in this event which means before long players will actually have something to show for their time here in London when they get eliminated.

PokerListings.com is particularly interested in Doyle Brunson, who's here playing his first-ever EPT event and made it through to Day 3 with over 200k.

Brunson has a shot at poker's Triple Crown, having already won a WPT and ten WSOP bracelets. But as much as we're interested in him winning for the story it would make, we're even more interested in the 100 to 1 bet we made earlier in the event on Texas Dolly taking this thing down.

No word yet on how long we'll be playing today. Some say until the money. Others say another five levels. You'll known when we do.

For now check out the leaderboard and click through here for the full start of day chip counts.

Benny Spindler

469,800

Jamie Rosen

405,000

Basile Yaiche

403,600

Martins Adeniya

395,000

Jonathan Layani

363,000

Matthijs Remie

353,500

Sandor Demjan

350,500

Andre Klebanov

349,900

Steven Kelly

346,200

Hugo Loureiro

327,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Day 2 (and the chips) in the Bag

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Day 2 is in the books here at the 2011 EPT London main event and Germany’s Benny Spindler is leading the charge to the £750,000 first-place prize.

The young German began the day in number two position and things only got better from there. Spindler finished the day with 479,800, well out in front of Jamie Rosen who’s on 405k.

Today began with 417 players and by the time the final pot was pushed just 159 were left with chips on the felt in front of them.

With 104 players getting paid we’ll definitely reach the money tomorrow, although a few more players will have to leave empty-handed before we do.

Among those with the best shot of not only securing a spot in the cash but making a truly deep run are Jamie Rosen, Martin Adeniya, Marvin Rettenmaier, Andrew Chen, Doyle Brunson and Andrew Feldman.

Keep reading for the leaderboard and a few highlights. Action resumes tomorrow as we play into the money.

Leaderboard

Here are the top ten chip counts at the end of Day 2. Check back for the full counts soon.

Benny Spindler

469,800

Jamie Rosen

405,000

Basile Yaiche

403,600

Martins Adeniya

395,000

Jonathan Layani

363,000

Matthijs Remie

353,500

Sandor Demjan

350,500

Andre Klebanov

349,900

Steven Kelly

346,200

Hugo Loureiro

327,000

Brunson Still Strong

Doyle Brunson is here in London playing his first EPT event and so far things are going well for the Godfather of poker.

Brunson was his usual laid-back but genial self at the table today and managed to finish with over 200,000.

Hachem Halted

2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem came close to making it through to Day 3 but things fell apart near the end of the day’s very last level.

Knocked down to a paltry 1,000 after running pocket tens into kings on the preceding hand, Hachem had no trouble shipping it in blind.

He was called in three spots with, two of whom were Brynn Kenney and Roberto Romanello. The flop came down 5-5-2 and Kenney bet 7k. Romanello raised to 20k and Kenney dumped his hand.

Pocket kings for Romanello looked strong as Hachem turned over his hand to reveal K-8. The cowboys held up and Hachem was out.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London Day 2: 198 Players and One Level Left

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're into the fourth level here on Day 2 of the PokerStars.com EPT London main event and things have changed considerably since we last checked in.

For one, the field has been nearly cut in half since we kicked things off at noon and unfortunately we had to say goodbye to some fan favorites to make that happen.

But for each player whose stack was lost, another's was commensurately increased.

With just one more level left after this one we won’t be making the money today, but anyone who makes it through to Day 3 will be within spitting distance of the cash.

Read on for highlights, plus the leaderboard, and check back in a few hours for the daily wrap-up and official chip counts.

Leaderboard

Matthijs Remie – 395000 Marvin Rettenmaier – 315000 Sandor Demjan – 285000 Martins Adeniya – 250000 Lukasz Golczyk – 211600 Juan Manuel Pastor – 190000 Ben Jenkins – 186000 Benny Spindler – 170000 Rajesh Vohra – 156600 Mustapha Kanit – 152200

The Eliminati

Many have lost their tournament lives and we memorialize them in live update form right here.

Tennis legend Boris Becker was on his last 25k and picked up A-Q, three-bet shoving and getting called by Carlos Lopez who held A-K. Big slick did the trick and the German hit the bricks.

Defending champion David Vamplew is no longer defending, thanks to busting near the end of the last level. He’ll have to make the 900,000 quid he pocketed here one year last a little longer.

2011 WSOP bracelet Fabrice Soulier shipped in the last of his stack on a K-J-2 flop with pocket sixes but ran face-first into pocket aces. Neither the turn nor the river could extricate him from that predicament.

Also out this afternoon are Vanessa Rousso, Vicky Coren, Noah Boeken, Justin Bonomo, Victor Ramdin, Scott Seiver, Rupert Elder, JP Kelly and Dan Shak.

Demjan a Loose Cannon

Sandor Demjan, who we’re told is some sort of tycoon from Hungary, is conducting a poker seminar on how to amass chips in a most unorthodox way.

Basically playing every single hand, regardless of how trashy, Demjan has proved to be a thorn in the sides of his more straight-laced tablemates.

Demjan is currently closing in on the 300k mark, good for a spot in the top five, but it’s anyone’s guess how long he’ll be able to keep it together.

We spoke with Raj Vohra (click through here for that story) at the last break and he told us that Demjan had been opening every hand but somehow managing to get the best of him, flopping big hands and hitting miracle cards to take down big pots.

Vohra intimated that while he would be targeting Demjan, he would do so very cautiously.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Day 2 For You

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're back on the tournament floor, along with the 417 players who survived their Day 1 heats, for Day 2 of the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London main event!

Not surprisingly, nothing has changed since we wrapped for the night just 14 hours ago. Lukasz Golczyk is still the chip leader, and the only player over 200k, and German Benny Spindler is still sitting in second position.

The plan today calls for five 75-minute levels which means play will wrap at a very civilized 8pm, or 20:00 as they say on this side of the pond.

This Day 2 field has some serious talent and by the end of the day today we'll have a much clearer picture of who has a shot at going truly deep here in London.

Cards are now in the air so stick with us as we cut this field down to size.

Lukasz Golczyk - 211,600 Benny Spindler - 160,800 Rajesh Vohra - 156,600 Mustapha Kanit - 152,200 Umberto Vitagliano - 143,600 Steven Warburton - 142,300 Raul Paez - 136,500 Lev Marymsky - 133,800 Martins Adeniya - 132,500 Sorel Mizzi - 129,100

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London Day 1B: Done and Dusted

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The second and final Day 1 heat at this year's EPT London main event is over and Germany's Benny Spindler finished in the number one spot. He'll be returning in second position after Day 1A chip leader Lukasz Golczyk.

Those two monster stacks will be doing their best to extend their lead over the 415 other players who also made it through to Day 2. And with £750,000 waiting for the eventual winner they'll have plenty of motivation.

Plenty of big names are right there with the leaders including Sorel Mizzi in 10th position, Justin Bonomo in 11th and UK old-schooler John Gale in 17th.

For a more comprehensive rundown of the day's action click through to our Day 1B EPT London recap.

Keep reading for a look at the leaderboard and click here for the full Day 2 start of day counts.

EPT London Day 1B: Hitting the Halfway Mark

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're almost halway through the eight levels we'll be playing here on Day 1B of the 2011 EPT London main event and action has been breakneck from hand one.

411 players in total have registered today, meaning this year's EPT London will boast a total field of 691. The official prize pool numbers have yet to be calculated but it's going to be in the neighborhood of £3,351,350. That's factoring in the 3% taken out of the prize pool to pay tournament staff and other event expenses.

The list of notable names in on the action today is long and includes such giants of the poker world as Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Daniel Negreanu, former world champions Joe Hachem, Joe Cada and Jon Duhamel and many more vie for a seat on Day 2.

To give you an idea of the caliber of this field, consider one particularly tough table. Right now Steve O’Dwyer, David Williams, Luca Pagano, Eddy Sabat and Freddy Deeb all share the same small patch of felt.

We’ve got four more levels to play before we’ll be done for the day. Keep reading for the highlights and leaderboard as we hit the halfway mark.

Leaderboard

Joe Hachem

Australia

60,000

Bill Chen

USA

57,000

Johannes Strassmann

Germany

56,000

Boris Becker

Germany

56,000

David Williams

United States

46,000

Matthias De Meulder

Belgium

40,000

Kevin Williams

United Kingdom

40,000

Liv Boeree

United Kingdom

33,000

Vicky Coren

United Kingdom

30,000

Viktor Blom

Sweden

30,000

Not Daniel’s Day

Media darling Daniel Negreanu made a serious misstep, making a big bluff into the nuts on the river and kissing the vast majority of his stack goodbye in the process.

It was on a board of J-T-9-7-6 with Negreanu turning A-J into a bluff. His plan went haywire for one big reason: His opponent had flopped the nuts with K-Q.

After that hand Daniel was down to just over 3,000.

Big Fold From Williams

American pro David Williams just passed what looked like a big hand, safeguarding his 40,000 stack from potential ruin.

It began with Williams opening and calling a three-bet from Jose Passos, also called by Jan Petersen on the button. The flop came down 9♦ 8♠ 7♣ and Passos fired at it, called by Petersen but check-raised by Williams.

Just Petersen called and another nine hit the turn and both players checked. A third nine on the river brought a check from Williams and a 12k bet from Petersen. Williams eventually folded, without being treated to his opponent’s holdings.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Day 1B a Ticking Time Bomb

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Welcome back! We're on the floor (actually the third floor) of the Hilton Metropole for the second Day 1 heat at the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London main event and the atmosphere is electric.

The room is packed, which is heartening for both staff and players since yesterday's numbers were less than stellar. While 280 in total played yesterday, we've already got 387 registered for today. And with registration still open for a couple levels we expect that number to get even bigger.

The pros are here in force and just a quick walk though the tournament room reveals faces like Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Ramzi Jelassi, Barry Shulman, Sam Stein, Justin Bonomo and many many more.

We've also heard about the day's first elimination, Brazilian PokerStars qualifier Rodrigo Garrido Portaleoni. No word on how he managed to dust off his 30k starting stack in less than half a level.

Just like yesterday we're going to be checking in periodically throughout the day with broad action snapshots of the tournament. We'll be focusing on poker news and blog posts in the meantime so keep an eye out for a special piece on Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson, with quotes from poker greats Doyle Brunson and Barry Greenstein.

As the tournament gets into the money and beyond we'll ramp up the live coverage.

Click through here for the official end of day counts from Day 1A.

So sit back, relax, and get ready for poker action like only the EPT can provide.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London: Day 1A in the Books

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Time has run out on Day 1A of the PokerStars EPT London Main Event and by the looks of it roughly 163 players have made it through. That's all that remains of the 280 that registered to play.

We're still waiting for the official chip counts to be tabulated but by the looks of things Lev Marymsky of the Ukraine is sitting in the number one spot with around 150,000.

He's followed closely by players like Mustapha Kanit, Raul Paez and Nick Binger who all cracked the 100k mark before the chips went in the bags for the night.

The few levels since we checked in last were relatively civilized but we did see some action of note.

Keep reading for the highlights and click here for the official end of day chip counts. We'll be back in business bright and early at noon tomorrow as the second Day 1 heat plays out. Join us then or regret it forever.

Tonight's Top Ten List

Lukasz Golczyk 211600 Poland Mustapha Kanit 152200 Italy Umberto Vitagliano 143600 Italy Raul Paez 136500 Spain Lev Marymsky 133800 Ukraine Sandor Demjan 121100 Hungary Scott Shelley 119100 UK Konstantinos Nanos 111600 Germany Nick Binger 111500 USA

Great Scott (Shelley)

Things improved drastically for Brit Scott Shelley after being moved to a new table. To hear one of his tablemates describe it, Shelley “hadn’t lost a hand since getting there.”

The hand that drew us, and a crowd of curious gawkers, was a massive three-way all-in with Shelley holding top set against middle set and a flush draw.

The best hand held up and Shelley knocks out two players.

Xuan Gone

Canadian Xuan Liu was knocked down early and, despite putting up a valiant fight, succumbed to bustication shortly before the clock ran out.

Liu was on just over 10k and shipped it in with Q-4 when it folded to her in the small blind. The big blind called with pocket sixes and managed to turn a set to put the final nail in Liu’s tournament coffin.

Marquez Runs Good, Reaps Benefits

New addition to Team PokerStars Pro Anna Marquez found herself in a bad spot all-in with pocket kings on a Q-T-9 flop. She was up against Q-T but watched the board run our A-J to give her the straight and a massive double-up.

She’ll finish the day with close to 100k.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 1A Halfway Done at EPT London

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We’re just a few minutes into the fifth level of this Day 1 heat and the landscape of this tournament is starting to take shape.

280 players registered today, and 250 remain. That total is significantly smaller than we expected but, since tomorrow’s Day 1 heat falls on a Saturday, we’re thinking it’s going to be a madhouse for Day 1B.

Last year 848 players in total played, with 339 of those registering on Day 1A.

While today’s field is on the small side, it’s large on talent. Big names from America are here, including Doyle Brunson and Barry Greenstein, as well as the usual rabble of online crushers from around the world.

Also in attendance are a number of November Niners, including Phil Collins, Sam Holden and Matt Giannetti.

A full accounting of the notable names in attendance would be ludicrous but chances are, if you know who they are they’re going to be playing.

While it is still early, a few players have succeeded in putting some distance between themselves and the field. Ireland’s Dermot Blain appears to be at the top of the heat with more than double the 30k starting stack. He’s followed closely by recent Team PokerStars Online addition Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen, Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern and UK legend Chris Moorman.

The plan for today calls for a total of eight levels with no dinner break, which means we’ll be bagging and tagging at a very civilized 9pm.

Read on for the highlights de jour.

DevilFish Caught, Released Outside of Tournament Ropes

David “Devil Fish” Ulliott is out of this tournament. We didn’t see how it happened but we were lucky enough to overhear an interview he did moments ago with a Swedish media outlet.

According to Devilfish there was a particularly unpredictable player at his table who had made a habit of raising 20,000 whenever someone put chips in the pot, and then showing down air.

So when Devilfish flopped the nut flush draw with overcards he wasted no time getting it in against his hyper-spewy opponent.

But this time his opponent didn’t have air. He had two pair. Ulliott missed his flush and that, as they say, was that.

De Melo on De Rise

Olympic gold medalist and Team PokerStars Sports Star Fatima Moreira De Melo is having a outstanding day so far and has already increased her stack to over 40,000.

Most of that came thanks to flopped set over set against Charlie Combes.

It was a four-way flop that fell 8♦ 3♣ 2♣. De Melo called a bet on the flop, raised on the turn and value-bet the river and showed pocket eights against her opponent's pocket treys to rake a pot of close to 20k.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT London Starts Now!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're just minutes into Day 1A at the PokerStars.com EPT London main event here at the Hilton Metropole on Edgeware Road and already we're seeing a plethora of noteworthy poker pros, the most noteworthy being one Doyle Brunson.

We've discovered that this is actually Brunson's first ever EPT. While that seems hard to fathom, even for us, we've been assured it is in fact the truth. Brunson is looking spry, with a smile on his face, and he's wasting no time splashing around in a few early pots.

Also representing the old guard of American live pros is Barry Greenstein, seated just a few tables from his friend Texas Dolly.

Right now the board's reading 257 players, but we're confident that number will get considerably bigger by the time the registration period ends. And remember, this is just one of two Day 1 flights. Many players, especially recreational ones who may actually have a job to go to, will show up tomorrow for Day 1B.

In the meantime we're going to do a little investigative work to find out exactly what we're working with here in London.

Just so you know, we've slightly tweaked our coverage approach. No longer will we be doing minute-by-minute live updates but rather shipping you three summaries as the day progressing, including a wrap-up post at the end of the night.

As the tournament gets deeper into the money we'll ratchet up the frequency and intensity but in the meantime we're going to focus on talking to players and putting together some quality news content. After all, no on has ever won an EPT main event on Day 1A. Not even Phil Ivey.

So check back periodically for broad snapshots of this tournament as we begin the long and arduous journey towards a new EPT London champion.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Ivan Freitez Wins EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

This year’s EPT Grand Final is over and Ivan Freitez is champion! They say momentum is a big factor in winning majors and it’s doubtful we’ve ever seen a better example than Freitez’s victory tonight.

He came into four-handed play as the dominant chip leader and even though he didn’t always get it in with the best hand, it was apparent to everyone that there was no stopping Ivan Freitez.

Ivan Freitez takes €1.5 millions and his very first major title. Torsten Brinkmann takes second and over $1 million.

Torsten Brinkmann Runners-Up for €900,000

He put up a fight but in the end Ivan Freitez’s run-good was just too powerful. The final hand started with Ivan Freitez opening with 9Ts and Torsten Brinkmann shipping with big slick.

A nine on the flop was all it took to put Freitez in the lead and after the turn and river bricked it was all over.

Tamas Lendvai Finshes 3rd for €550,000

Continuing the trend of super-run-good, Ivan Freitez has put a bad beat on Tamas Lendvai to send him out in 3rd place.

All-in pre-flop with pocket nines to Freitez’s A-9, Lendvai was looking good for the double. An ace on the flop changed all that, leaving Lendvai drawing to just one out to survive.

The case nine didn’t make an appearance and Lendvai was forced to ship he stack across the table.

Danilyuk Busts 4th, takes €400,000

Andrey Danilyuk open-shoved from the button and Freitez re-shoved from the small blind, forcing a heads-up all-in confrontation.

When the cards were on their backs we saw A-9 for Freitez racing Danilyuk’s pocket treys. The pair stayed best all the way to river, when an ace hit the felt and shipped yet another massive pot to the eventual champion.

Andrey Danilyuk takes €400,000 for his 4th place finish.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Final Four at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Two more players have been eliminated since we checked in last, leaving us with the final four and marking the beginning of an approximately four-hour break.

In case you haven't been informed, the remainder of this final table will be streamed live, with hole cards and a two-hour delay.

In the meantime we've got a party to go to. PokerStars has rented out a club in Madrid for the EPT Awards and will be hosting media and players alike for the next few hours.

But, getting back to the final table report, both Eugene Yanayt and Juan Maceiras have been eliminated. Ivan Freitez dispatched with Yanayt, getting it in good with nines to Yanayt's fives. The nines held and Yanayt was out in 6th for €250,000.

Shortly after, Juan Maceiras three-bet shoved for 1.9 million over an opening raise from Torsten Brinkmann. Brinkmann snapped him off with AK and it held up against Juan's QJs. Juan Maceiras is out in 5th for €315,000

Thanks in part to his elimination of Eugene Yanayt, Ivan Freitez is now the overwhelming chip leader with about 40% of the chips in play. Check out the counts below and join us in a few hours for the conclusion of this year's EPT Grand Final

Ivan Freitez 7720000 Torsten Brinkmann 6750000 Tamas Lendvai 3790000 Andrey Danilyuk 2460000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Freitez Leads Final 6 - EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Today's final table got off to a late start due to the seemingly inevitable technical difficulties associated with live streaming but the players made up for it by getting straight down to business.

We've already lost two players and, obviously, they were the two name players.

Andrew Li, who holds the speed record for earning SuperNova Elite on PokerStars, was the short stack and the first to bust. He three-bet shoved A-Q from the small blind after Eugene Yanayt opened and got a call from pocket treys.

Yanayt didn't hit an ace or a queen but the board double-paired and counterfeited Li's pair. Andrew Li took €130,000 for his eighth-place finish.

Next out was Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes, who had a shot at winning poker's Triple Crown, having already won a WSOP bracelet and a WPT major. That dream evaporated when he open-shoved 7-8 from the small blind and got called by Eugene Yanayt with pocket tens.

Gomes turned an eight but couldn't get there on the river. He's out in 7th for €185,000.

Check out the current chip counts below and check back for more highlights in a bit.

Ivan Freitez 5500000 Eugene Yanayt 5000000 Torsten Brinkmann 3500000 Tamas Lendvai 2860000 Juan Maceiras 2200000 Andrey Danilyuk 1880000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Final Table Counts and Profiles - EPT Grand Final

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're moments away from the commencement of the final table here at the PokerStars.com Grand Final and we've got the chip counts and profiles for you right here.

(If you're wondering how it went down last night we've got the full story right here on our EPT Day 4 live coverage page)

Final Table Chip Counts

Ivan Freitez Venezuela 5995000 Juan Maceiras Spain 3150000 Andrey Danilyuk Russia 2645000 Eugene Yanayt USA 2420000 Torsten Brinkmann Germany 1875000 Alex Gomes Brazil 1670000 Tamas Lendvai Hungary 1655000 Andrew Li USA 1210000

Big ups to Mad Harper and the EPT staff for supplying us with these profiles!

Seat 1: Eugene “oogee” Yanayt, 27, Santa Monica, California, USA – PokerStars SuperNova Elite – 2,420,000

Yanayt is one of the top Triple Draw cash games players in the world, regularly competing against high-stakes players such as Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey and Matt “hoss_tbf” Hawrilenko. Yanayt’s family hail from Russia and he grew up in Moscow until he was nine when he moved to Boston with his mother.

Yanayt majored in Computer Science at University in Los Angeles (where he now lives) but has been playing poker for around nine years. As a SuperNova Elite, Yanayt was given a package to this year’s PCA and bought his way in to the 2010 PCA with FPPs, but he doesn’t play many tournaments and still has virtually no live tournament results apart from a 414th place cash in the WSOP Main Event in 2006 for £30,000.

On Day 3, Yanayt, who is a FIDE ranked chess master, went from 64,000 to a 2,374,000 chip lead, thanks to three big hands against Allen Bari, EPT Berlin champion Ben Wilinofsky and Ole-Kristian Nergard.

Seat 2: Tamas Lendvai, 39, Budapest, Hungary – 1,655,000

Last July Tamas Lendvai beat a 505-player field at IPT Venice to win €235,000, propelling him well on his way to topping the Italian Poker Tour tournament leader board. That victory was one of five cashes the Hungarian has made on the IPT. His achievements last year, live and online, also convinced Lendvai to become “three-quarters pro,” as he puts it, spending much of his other time running his own security company.

Lendvai started playing five years ago, dabbling in small live tournaments in Hungary after becoming enthralled with the game on TV. It’s become a profitable passion as he’s since racked up $566,464 in live winnings and another quarter-million at PokerStars under the screen name ‘tomicars’.

On the chance of winning the EPT Grand Final title and €1,500,000, Lendvai said: “It’s the most prestigious event in the world, more so than the World Series now, it’s packed with the best players. My first goal was to make the final table, we’ll see what happens after that.”

The Hungarian, a regular feature at PokerStars tournaments around the world, has achieved his first goal. Live TV will reveal how much further he can go – he’s a very real threat at this final table.

Seat 3: Juan Maceiras, 26, La Coruña, Galicia, Spain– Team PokerStars Pro – 3,150,000

Former law student Maceiras took up poker while studying international business in St Louis, Missouri. After building his bankroll in local tournaments in Spain, he started to compete in bigger buy-in events and in 2007 got his first break when he came ninth at EPT Barcelona, earning €64,800. Just a few months later, he bettered that finish with a sixth place at EPT Warsaw, worth 344,641 Polish zloty (approx $148,000).

In addition to those big scores, Macerias has also cashed at EPT San Remo and EPT Prague; came third in the €2,000 event at last season’s EPT Grand Final, and was runner-up in the Estrellas Poker Tour inaugural event in Alicante, for €44,000.

He has also clocked up impressive results online, including PokerStars’ Wednesday Quarter Million in January 2009, and the Main Event of the first-ever Iberian Championship of Online Poker in February 2011.

When Maceiras turned pro, he was following in the footsteps of his sister Maria - a former Spanish poker champion - and his father Juan Antonio “Vietcong01” Barros, who has won both the PokerStars Sunday Million and the PokerStars Warm-up.

Seat 4: Andrey Danilyuk, 25, Moscow, Russia – PokerStars qualifier - 2,645,000

Danilyuk has played numerous EPTs (he thinks around 20) but making the final table of this season’s Grand Final is his best result to date. Last year Danilyuk played in Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko’s World Cup of Poker team and he is being railed in Madrid by a large group of Russian players.

Danilyuk, who also runs an online food-and-drink retail business, has been playing poker around six years, both live and online. Online his biggest cash has been for around €20,000.

He says he steers clear of big buy-in events. He came 51st at last season’s EPT Grand Final, for €31,000, but his biggest live cash to date was 201st at last summer’s World Series Main Event, where he earned $48,847.

Seat 5: Andrew Li, 25, Arlington, Virginia, USA – PokerStars SuperNova Elite – 1,120,000

Li has been playing poker since 2004 and professionally since 2008, after he graduated from the University of Virginia where he studied Biology and Psychology. Li primarily plays sit and goes on PokerStars under the handle "azntracker" and plays between 30 and 40 tables at once.

This year he broke the record for reaching SuperNova Elite in the quickest time. It took him just two months, breaking the previous speed record by nearly three weeks. He only decided to come and play Madrid the day before the tournament started as his room mate (Pariesh "Dana Gordon" Jain) was making the trip.

He’s now banking his biggest win by far - wherever he finishes in the final. After this year's WSOP he is planning to relocate to Sydney, Australia so he can carry on his online career. Away from the tables Li likes to travel and participate in many outdoor action-adventure pursuits.

Seat 6: Ivan Freitez, 46, Caracas, Venezuela – 5,995,000

Freitez has played numerous EPTs and already cashed twice this season – 16th at EPT Copenhagen in February, for Danish Kroner 105,000 (nearly $20,000) and 55th at EPT Snowfest, for €6,400. His best result to date was winning a $1,000 no-limit tournament at the Venetian last July, for $108,170. Although the father-of-three describes himself as a professional poker player, Freitez runs his own transport business. Today is a double celebration for Freitez – today is his youngest son Ivan’s fifth birthday and it’s his wedding anniversary tomorrow for the final table.

Seat 7: Torsten Brinkmann, 27, Osnabrück, Germany – 1,875,000

Economics student Brinkmann has been playing poker since 2006 and is a regular in heads-up cash games, as well as the Sunday tournaments on PokerStars. He also plays live in his home casino in Osnabrück.

His best online result was runner-up in a $215 WCOOP event, for $193.620, in 2009, losing heads-up to Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ElkY Grospellier. His best live finish was first place at the €1,000 Twente Classics Enschede, for €33,480.

This is his third EPT. He cashed last season at EPT Berlin in 88th place for €12,000. Brinkmann is being railed in Madrid by his girlfriend Natalie Hof, one of the last six contestants left in the German poker talent show “Das PokerStars.de Ass” which is airing now in Germany.

Seat 8: Alex Gomes, 28, Curitiba, Brazil - Team PokerStars Pro – 1,670,000

Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes is in a unique position to become only the third ever winner of poker’s “Triple Crown.” The 28-year-old Brazilian already has a WPT victory under his belt (Bellagio Cup, 2009, $1,187,670) and a WSOP bracelet ($2,000 No Limit, 2008, $ 770,540); now he needs an EPT title to become only the third member of poker’s most exclusive club.

Only four years ago Alex was fully set on a career as a lawyer. He played poker at home with friends but was committed to his career and was already a partner in a corporate law firm. However, once he started playing online poker he was soon winning big money, including first place in the Wednesday Hundred Fifty Grand for $65,333.

Eventually he turned pro – a decision which brought rapid rewards. First he took down the $2k NLHE event at the 2008 WSOP, for $770,540; then he joined Team PokerStars Pro and only weeks later came fourth at the first LAPT event in Punta del Este, in Uruguay.

Gomes, who came 33rd at last season’s EPT Grand Final, earning €35,000, is a keen sportsman and plays soccer regularly, as well as supporting his local team, Curitiba FC. He plays online as 'Allingomes'.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Final Table Set at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The final table has been decided and Ivan Freitez is numero uno in the chip counts. He had to get lucky to do it, as you'll discover if you continue reading, but that doesn't change the fact that he'll be carrying the biggest stack into tomorrow's finale.

Despite most of the big names going bust in the last two days we've still got some interesting storylines at this final table.

Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes has a chance to join a very exclusive club, having already won both a WSOP bracelet and a WPT main event. Gomes has over $3.1 million in earnings, putting him out in front of tomorrow's competition in terms of experience.

That said, Andrew Li also has a sick amount of hands under his belt, although the vast majority of them came online. Li, who plays as "azntracker" on PokerStars, holds the record for earning SuperNova Elite status in the shortest time ever. Click here to check out that backstory. Li is our pick to take this thing down, even though he'll be entering the final table as the short stack.

Another player of note who we didn't know much about before today is Eugene Yanayt. A Russian-born American who ranks among the best Triple Draw players in the world, Yanayt is definitely someone to watch tomorrow afternoon. Click here to learn more about Eugene Yanayt.

Tomorrow we've got a bit of a strange schedule. The final table will be starting at two, but we'll be taking a break at some point in the evening to head over to the EPT awards. After that the final table players will be sequestered, and the action will be filmed and streamed on a two-hour delay, with hole cards.

We'll be providing live coverage but since we'll be forced to watch it on the live stream along with the rest of the world we suggest you do the same.

For now check out the final table chip counts, and a rundown of the eliminations since we checked in last.

Final Table Chip Counts

Domantas Klimciauskas was the first player out since we checked in last, busting 16th for a cool €50,000. He got it in bad with Q-J against big stack Eugene Yanayt’s A-Q and got zero help from the board.

Next out was Shiraz Soltaninassab, and thank god because it took us about ten minutes to figure out the spelling of his name every time we had to write it down. He was short and must have been happy to pick up A-J, until he got called by Andrew Li with A-Q.

Dag Palovic

The board ran with no help to the all-in Soltaninassab and a queen on the river made it official. He took €50,000 as well.

One of the few name pros went out next, Dag Palovic. We don’t like to make judgments here, but a rousing round of applause did go up from the media room when Palovic went bust.

Dag got it in on a flip with AK against queens and was unable to hit. He was the first player to receive €60,000.

Out in 13th was Ankush Mandavia, another casualty of getting it in bad and failing to suck out. Ankush’s A4s was behind against A-J. Ankush managed to flop a four but by the time the river was dealt the board had counterfeited his hand and forced the dealer to push the pot to his opponent.

Simon Higgins managed to make it all the way to 12th place, cashing for a very respectable €70,000. He got it in with A-Q against A-K and watched the board run out with help to neither hand.

Out in 11th was someone we thought had a seat at the final table locked up. Pedro Pellicer held the chip lead but went from hero to zero in a few short hands. He called a four-bet shove from Ivan Freitez with pocket tens to Freitez’s A-4. An ace on the flop shipped the swollen pot across the table and Pellicer was left with less than 1 million.

He got that in with A-T but ran into A-J from Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes. The best hand held up and Pellicer was out, €70k richer.

10th place honors, and €95,000, went to Alessandro Limblici who was super short going into his last hand. He shoved K-5 from the small blind and got called by Torsten Brinkmann in the big who held A5s. An ace on the flop gave Brinkmann the check mark and relegated Limblici to the rail.

Thomas Pettersson was the short stack when the final nine players redrew for seats at the pre-TV final table and, as expected, turned out to be our final table bubble boy.

Pettersson picked up big slick and got it in against Juan Maceiras’s pocket queens. A queen on the flop put Pettersson way behind and despite picking up a gutshot broadway draw on the turn he just couldn’t get there. Pettersson was out in 9th for €95k.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

16 Remain at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We’re a couple hours into Day 4 here at the EPT Grand Final and we’ve already cut the field down to the final 16 players. By the end of the night only eight will remain so the fight for the final table is far from over.

Eugene Yanayt is still leading but he’s got a lot less breathing room than he did when we began the day. Keep reading for the new chip counts and the notable highlights from the day so far.

Chip Counts

Eugene Yanayt

USA

2700000

Juan Maceiras

Spain

2555000

Andrey Danilyuk

Russia

2270000

Torsten Brinkmann

Germany

2200000

Simon Higgins

2136000

Andrew Li

USA

1533000

Ivan Freitez

Venezuela

1348000

Alex Gomes

Brazil

1139000

Tamas Lendvai

Hungary

1000000

Ankush Mandavia

USA

760000

Pedro Pellicer

Spain

708000

Thomas Pettersson

Sweden

700000

Alessandro Limblici

Italy

670000

Shiraz Soltaninassab

Belgium

628000

Dag Palovic

Slovakia

302000

The Eliminati

Day 3 was frustrating for poker fans and media alike as we watched all our top pro prospects go bust, one after another.

Sadly that trend continued today.

The first out was Ole-Kristian Nergard, who was among the chip leaders for much of Day 3. It folded to him on the button and he shipped it in with TT. The small blind woke up with queens and they held up to bust the Norwegian.

Next on the chopping block was the biggest name left in this field, Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin.

Ramdin got it in with AQ against pocket sixes and couldn’t hit. He’s out in 23rd for €40,000.

Raemon Sluiter hit the rail right behind Ramdin, and he got unlucky to go out. Sluiter got it in with kings against A-K and saw a bullet in the window. That’s when an ace is the first card on the flop for all you non-poker-slang people.

Moments later Georges Yazbeck went broke against Torsten Brinkmann, getting it in on a queen high board and getting out-kicked with Q-J to Brinkmann’s K-Q.

Hugo Lemaire, the last remaining Frenchman was next out, shipping his last 220k in when it folded to him in the small blind. A-8 for Lemaire was outflopped by Tamas Lendvai who called in the big blind with KJ.

Jose Nadal from Mexico was eliminated shortly after, getting it in with AK on a J-5-7 flop against pocket eights. Neither an ace nor a king made an appearance and he was out for €40,000.

Gerardo Godinez and Litterio Pirrota were the next two eliminations in 18th and 17th respectively but we’re not sure on the details. What we do know is that they both pocketed €40,000 for their finish.

With 16 players left it was time for a redraw to the new seats you see below.

Table 1

1 Shiraz Soltaninassab, Belgium 2 Alex Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro 3 Simon Higgins, United Kingdom, PokerStars qualifier 4 Dag Palovic, Slovakia, Team PokerStars Pro 5 Ivan Freitez, Venezuela 6 Juan Maceiras, Spain, Team PokerStars Pro 7 Andrew Li, USA 8 Pedro Pellicer, Spain, PokerStars player

Table 2

1 Alessandro Limblici, Italy 2 Torsten Brinkmann, Germany 3 Ankush Mandavia, USA, PokerStars player 4 Andrey Danilyuk, Russia, PokerStars qualifier 5 Domantas Klimciauskas, Lithuania 6 Eugene Yanayt, USA, PokerStars player 7 Tamas Lendvai, Hungary 8 Thomas Pettersson, Sweden

Blinds are 12k/24k with a 2k ante.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

March for the Final Table - EPT Grand Final

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

It's the penultimate day here at the EPT Grand Final and by the time we're done tonight, we'll have our final table of eight players.

Right now 24 players are left, all jockeying for one of those televised seats and a shot at the massive first place prize. Many have already fallen and a full accounting of those casualities can be found right here on the EPT Grand Final results page.

If you're wondering how we got to this point, check out the coverage from yesterday. If you're only interested in the future, check out the leaderboard below and check in later today for highlights of all the action.

Eugene Yanayt 2374000 Torsten Brinkmann 1959000 Simon Higgins 1705000 Juan Maceiras 1308000 Ivan Freitez 1279000 Pedro Pellicer 1216000 Domantas Klimciauskas 1198000 Gerardo Godinez 1009000 Ankush Mandavia 910000 Andrey Danilyuk 806000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Three Tables Left at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

At the beginning of this Day 3 we set out to hack the field down to the final 24 and we’ve just succeeded in reaching that mark.

Day 2 ended with the money bubble, meaning everyone who returned today was guaranteed a piece of the money pie. The only question was, how big would their slice be?

For the 80 players who busted it was a nice little payday, but for the 24 who remain the chance for life-changing money still exists.

If it interests you, click here for the rundown of everyone who cashed here today.

While we did lose plenty of big name players, luckily for us a healthy contingent remains in action, keeping our hopes for a star-studded final table alive.

Since we checked in last we lost Melanie Weisner, Eugene Katchalov, Markus Ristola, Ben Wilinofsky, Leo Fernandez, Surinder Sunar and Allen Bari.

Still in, representing the pro camp, are Alex Gomes, Victor Ramdin, Dag Palovic and Andrew Li.

Eugene Yanayt will begin tomorrow as the dominant chip leader, followed by Torsten Brinkmann, who held the chip lead for much of the afternoon.

We’ll be back in action tomorrow at noon as we cut the field down to the final table of eight. Check out the leaderboard below or click here for the full EPT Grand Final chip counts.

Final 50 at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The plan for today called for playing down to the final 24 and we’re on track to hit that mark in record time. We’re already down to the final 50, and the pace shows no signs of slowing.

Torsten Brinkmann is the man at the top of the heap at the moment, with just shy of 1.2 million, but he’s got plenty of competition above the 1 million mark.

We’ve got the leaderboard for you below, plus highlights from the last few levels. Keep reading if you know what’s good for you.

Leaderboard

Torsten Brinkmann 1190000 Simon Higgins 1170000 Domantas Klimciauskas 1020000 Hugo Lemaire 840000 Ole-Kristian Nergard 750000 Josef Bachar 740000 Ivan Freitez 680000 Ben Wilinofsky 600000 Ankush Mandavia 574000 Joao Studart 550000

They Came, They Saw, They Were Conquered

We had a hell of a bubble yesterday and as a result many players coasted in Day 3 on nothing but fumes. They were all happy to get their gamble on as soon as they sat down and, not surprisingly, it didn’t work out so well for many of them.

Dan Heimiller is a super interesting guy to talk to. Just google his name and look at his personal website to find out what we’re talking about. Unfortunately personality doesn’t guarantee success in tournament poker.

Heimiller three-bet shoved with K-6 and got called by K-Q. He was unable to suck out.

Ole-Kristian Nergard

Canadian female up-and-comer Xuan Liu also went bust early, securing her second EPT cash in as many weeks. She final-tabled EPT San Remo but will have to satisfy herself with just a bit better than a min-cash.

She squeeze-shoved with sevens for about 20 big blinds and ran into pocket aces. Game over man.

Swede David Sonelin was among the chip leaders in this event for much of the early stages but he went bust in the first level of the day, and he did it with typical Swedish gusto.

He five-bet shoved with 97s and ran into pocket tens. GG.

High-stakes Canadian player Will Molson busted, losing most of his stack with JJ v QQ. He tried to make a run with what little chips he had left but was unable to make a comeback.

WSOP Main Event final tablist Ivan Demidov is also out, running a pocket pair into a flopped flush.

WPT winner McLean Karr was eliminated courtesy of a massive three-way all-in that left Torsten Brinkmann with the chip lead.

A-K for Brinkmann, pocket tens for Karr and pocket jacks for Kristoffer Thorsson was how it went down, with a king on the river made Brinkmann’s big slick best.

Re-Forrested

It was touch and go for American super-gambler Ted Forrest earlier but he’s turned things around and is now on over 250,000.

Forrest doubled up Carlos Mora with sevens against aces, but managed a double-up moments later to get himself back on his feet. Not long after that he busted Tyler Cornell when Cornell tried to get tricky with 54s. Forrest had aces and snapped him off pre-flop.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 3 Begins at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

104 players have made it into the money, and to Day 3, here at the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final. While Day 2 saw many players tightening up to guarantee a spot in the cash, Surinder Sunar we're looking at you, today we should be treated to the exact opposite.

There's not a whole lot of difference in payouts unless you make it to the final three tables, and you can bet everyone still in the room has their sights set on that and beyond.

As you'll see from the chip counts below we've got more than a few familiar faces in the crowd, and we've got our fingers crossed that at least a few of them make it to the final table.

We're making Melanie Weisner our official PL.com Pick to take this thing down. We already knew she had skills but watching her play in this event has cemented that concept for us.

We've got the leaderboard for you below, and the full EPT Grand Final Chip Counts right here. By the end of the day we should be down close to the final 24.

Blinds are 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante.

Ole Kristian Nergard 726,000 Kristoffer Thorsson 701,500 Daniel Weinman 676,000 Hugo Lemaire 658,000 Melanie Weisner 543,500 William Reynolds 541,500 Jose Nadal 533,500 Ben Wilinofsky 533,000 Simon Higgins 517,500 Victor Ramdin 494,500

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 2 Complete at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

It took some work but the bubble has finally burst here in Madrid, signaling the end of Day 2 and guaranteeing a payday for the remaining 104 players.

Going from 299 to 104 in a single day is no easy task, and we have the European gambling spirit to thank for that feat. Many a player went bust today but, luckily for us, many of those who survived are big names sure to give us something to write about as this event continues towards the final table tomorrow.

Finishing the evening with top honors is Ole Kristian Nergard, who managed to stack 726,000 by day's end. He's followed by Sweden's Kristoffer Thorsson and American Daniel Weinman with 701,500 and 676,000 repsectively.

With serious coin on the line even for a min-cash no one was willing to go out easily on the bubble, meaning it dragged on and on with many players clinging to absurdly short stacks. Sam Chartier bagged just over three big blinds, and Fatima Moreira de Melo just four.

To give you an idea how crazy it got, Surinder Sunar actually folded two kings face-up to avoid risking elimination. He was shown two queens but his caution did secure him a place in the money.

Between the extreme ends of the spectrum are a multitude of big names. Melanie Weisner, William Reynolds and Ben Wilinofsky are all in the top ten, and Victor Ramdin, Alex Gomes and McLean Karr are just a few spots behind.

We've got the leaderboard for you below, and the full EPT Grand Final Chip Counts right here.

Pedal to the Metal - EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We’re trucking right along here on Day 2 of this EPT Grand Final and, as you’ll soon find out, there’s been no shortage of action.

Season 7 EPT Berlin winner Ben Wilinofsky was in the lead for much of the last few levels, with over 400k, but he’s suffered calamity since and is now second to Melanie Weisner who’s on over 300,000.

Keep reading for a look at the full leaderboard, as well as highlights from the last few levels.

The Quick and the Dead

Poker tournaments rely on a cruel system in order to build big prizes. Many must fail so that a few can prosper.

Here’s a look at some of those failures.

Arnaud Mattern lasted just one hand today, arriving only to ship his small stack in with pocket treys. He got a call from A-T and watched the board double-pair, counterfeiting his hand and sending him to a early exit.

Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Ruben Visser started the day with a similarly short stack and got it in with jacks against K-Q. The turn paired his opponent and sent the Dutchman on his way.

The Shark himself, Humberto Brenes, is now swimming on the rail after losing a race of his own. AJs against pocket tens failed to get there.

And lastly, and certainly most sadly, Liv Boeree has been eliminated, meaning that when we continue to post pictures of her in the coverage it’s going to be a bit creepy.

She was short but managed to get it in good with AJ to A-7. A seven on the flop was her undoing.

The Story of Tureniec

Michael Tureniec has had a dramatic day so far, his stack dipping big time before shooting back up this past level.

The biggest hit came in the form of a lost 70,000 chip pot against Ivan Freitez. It was a scary 9♥ 6♥ 7♠ 6♠ board that Freitez check-raised, getting a call from Tureniec. They both checked the even-scarier 5♥ river and Tureniec saw his opponent turn over A-6 for trips.

Tureniec appeared unhappy, perhaps chastising himself for a missed opportunity to make a big move.

It didn’t take him long to get back into the swing of things, however, doubling up through Jesus Cortes Lizano and bumping his stack back up to 150,000.

Tureniec then busted Artem Litvinov to take his stack above 200k.

Mel – Wies – Ner

Melanie Wiesner is one of these players that seems destined for big things. She's had significant success online, she's respected by the best young players in the world, and she's already racked up $200,000 in live winnings during her short career.

She's putting on a clinic here in Madrid and looks to be the chip leader as we approach the dinner break. She's very active and with only a few exceptions, her table-mates seem to be getting the message and giving her a wide berth.

Weisner is squarely among the US pros most affected by Black Friday, but she does have the luxury of spending a lot of time abroad playing live.

Leaderboard

Melanie Weisner 315000 Ben Wilinofsky 290000 Jean Noel Thorel 290000 Allen Bari 290000 David Sonelin 275900 Ole Kristian Nergard 260000 Juan Maceiras 260000 Brian England 238300 Ivan Demidov 230000 Dean Lyall 230000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 2 Incoming at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're moments away from the beginning of Day 2 here at the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final, tucked safely away from the harmful UV rays of a beautiful Spanish spring day in the Casino Gran Madrid.

299 players are right here with us, all of them looking to survive the day and advance one step closer to the €1.5 million waiting for whoever takes this whole thing down.

While the leaderboard isn't devoid of familiar faces, with Swedish pro David Sonelin leading and players like recent EPT winner Ben Wilinofsky and WSOP main event runner-up Ivan Demidov trailing, the really big names are all a little further down the list.

Liv Boeree, Ted Forrest, McLean Karr, Victor Ramdin, Jason Mercier and many more are hovering in the middle of the pack.

Check out the leaderboard below or click here for the full EPT Grand Final Day 2 Chip Counts here.

We'll be providing summary coverage every few hours this afternoon so check back to see who's in and who's out.

David Sonelin 275900 Brian England 238300 Ben Wilinofsky 233400 Alex Gomes 225900 Lucien Cohen 201500 Ole Kristian Nergard 198200 Mattias Bergstrom 198000 Ivan Demidov 197800 Jean Noel Thorel 180300 Surinder Sunar 179200

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 1b Done, Day 2 Next Up at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Despite more players turning out for the second Day 1 heat than the first at this year's EPT Grand Final, David Sonelin still leads the field going into Day 2.

In fact, the top five spots on the leaderboard still belong to the same five Day 1A players that led this event 24 hours ago.

All told 686 players coughed up the €10k buy-in to create a total prize pool of €6,860,000, and a very respectable €1,500,000 first place prize.

On Day 1A we spent most of our time railing Tom Dwan, hoping that this would be the tournament he'd make our dreams come true. He busted. On the second Day 1 flight we treated Viktor Blom the same way. He also failed to make it through to Day 2.

By tomorrow we're hoping we'll have gotten over it, and found the strength to carry on updating the progress of all the other players we're told are still in.

We'll be back at it tomorrow but for now check out the leaderboard below, and the full EPT Grand Final Day 2 Chip Counts here.

Dinner Break Looms at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're just into Level 6 and the blinds are up to 200/400 with a 50 ante. Right around 315 players remain. That's down from the 384 who bought in today.

The official numbers have also arrived, and even though they're down from last year they are certainly nothing to scoff at.

686 players entered, creating a total prize pool of €6,860,000 and a first place prize of €1.5 million. 104 places in all will be paid and we'll have all the details up right here in just a few minutes.

For now read on for the highlights of the last two levels. For later, check back at the end of the night for chip counts and recap.

Busticacions Del Dia

We’ve lost a few more players since checked in last, and we were sad to see some of them go.

Vicky Coren was one of them, sent packing by Joe Hachem who got her all-in holding a flush draw to Coren’s aces. The draw came in and Coren headed out.

Johnny Lodden wasn’t officially out when we saw him last, but he was on his last legs. He thought he was value-betting A-Q on a queen high board but ended up running into a straight. He’ll need a miracle to get himself back in this.

Kid Poker Spanked

Negreanu submitted by arm-bar.

Daniel Negreanu was one of the marquee names in today’s field but he’s now on the rail, which might be fine with him since it gives him unlimited time for interviews and fan adulation.

We got the info second-hand but it sounds like he ran top pair into a set for the last of his stack.

Callisto 5 Alive!

Melanie Weisner, who plays online as Callisto 5, is steady grinding and is now sitting on close to 50,000.

She’s been building her stack without many big confrontations that we’ve seen, which is always the best way to do it.

Weisner’s live record isn’t exactly massive, she’s racked up almost $200,000 in winnings since her start less than two years ago, but people who know what they’re talking about have marked her as a future star.

Blom Stays Loose

Viktor Blom hasn’t tightened up, not that anyone expected him to. A moment ago he called a raise in position and was joined by the big blind.

The flop came down A♥ 8♠ 2♠ and Blom called his opponent’s 2k cbet. The turn was the 5♣ and Blom’s opponent fired 5k, getting called again.

The river went check-check and Blom’s opponent tabled queens. Blom turned over 2♥ 3♥ for the rivered two-pair and scooped the pot.

He’s now on over 60,000.

Leaderboard

Bradley McFarland 75000 Victor Ramdin 71000 James Bord 66000 Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom 62000 Andre Akkari 60000 Raymond Wu 57000 Kevin Stani 55000 Xuan Liu 50000 John Eames 45000 Johannes Strassmann 43000 Vanessa Rousso 42000

Nationalities on the Pie

EPT Media knows that the way to a poker fan's heart is through his stomach, which is why they choose the tastiest of charts to present their date: the pie chart.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Too Hot to Handle - EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The first break of this Day 1B is over and players are back in their seats to wage war once more. By the looks of things we've got a bigger field today than we had on the first Day 1 flight, meaning that all-important prize pool might be a bit bigger than originally predicted.

And, as we often see, many of the big-name pros who made it to Madrid waited to play today. The most prominent among them includes Viktor Blom, Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Vanessa Rousso, ElkY Grospellier to name just a few.

And we've seen no shortage of action in the first few levels, as you'll discover if you make the wise choice and continue reading.

Blom Drops Bomb

Viktor Blom must have the bluffiest table image in this event, and seeing as how he's sitting in a room with hundreds of the best players in the world that's saying a lot.

Table image notwithstanding he's still managed to pull off a few moves. Most recently Blom opened and double-barreled into two players, winning the pot on the turn and showing 5-6 for two undercards to the board.

Whereas yesterday our attention was consumed by Tom Dwan, today we'll be focused on Isildur1.

Tough Tables

There’s a shockingly high number of tough tables in the room but, still, some stand out as being even sharkier than average.

One such table has David Williams, Noah Schwartz, Jeff Sarwer and Andre Akkari sitting one next to another. Another is home to JC Tran, McLean Karr and Luca Pagano.

Rousso on the Rise

Vanessa Rousso is off to a great start and has already built her stack up to 60,000. The latest infusion of chips came when she fired 25,000 on the river of a Q♦ Q♥ J♥ 3♣ 7♣ board, with about 20,000 in the pot.

The bet was enough to put her opponent all-in but after a lot of thought he folded KK face-up. Rousso let just the hint of a smug smile flicker across her face as she raked the pot.

Leaderboard

John Eames 45000 Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom 45000 Neil Channing 41000 Martin Jacobson 40000 Daniel Negreanu 34150 Marcel Luske 33000 Victoria Coren 33000 Ivan Demidov 32000 Eugene Katchalov 31500 Dario Minieri 30000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 1B Set to Go - EPT Grand Final

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

With the first Day 1 flight done here at the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final, the next step in the plan calls for the second half of the field to convene today to battle it out for the remaining spots on Day 2.

If you've been following along you'll know that David Sonelin finished yesterday at the top of the heap, but there will be plenty of hungry sharks looking to do him one better this afternoon.

Click here to check out the official end of day counts from yesterday.

Yesterday 302 players showed up which means today's turnout will have to be huge to best the 848 entries we had last year in Monte Carlo.

We know Daniel Negreanu is playing today, and Joe Hachem, but only time will tell what other poker superstars will be taking a shot. Well, only time and PokerListings.com.

Stick with us as we bring you one step closer to a champion.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 1A Complete at EPT Grand Final Madrid

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

302 players bought in for the first of two Day 1 heats here in Madrid, putting us on track for a healthy field but indicating that we'll likely not come close to the 848 that played one year ago when this event was held in Monte Carlo.

For much of the day the leaderboard looked like a who's who of former EPT champions, but in the end it was Sweden's David Sonelin that finished with top honors.

Sonelin is on a bit of a heater, having final tabled the previous EPT main event in San Remo just one week ago.

PL.com's hopes were pinned on Tom Dwan but like so many of our dreams, that one was dashed as the online phenom failed to make it through the day.

Fortunately Dwan wasn't the only big name playing today, and many of the others fared far better.

We'll have the full chip counts up for you when they arrive, but for now take a look at the tentative leaderboard. Join us tomorrow for Day 1B

David Sonelin - 275,000

Brian England - 240,000

Ben Wilinofsky - 235,000

Alex Gomes - 225,000

Lucien Cohen - 200,000

Garbar Geir Haukson - 175,000

Allen Bari - 175,000

Hugo Lemaire - 170,000

Nicolas Verkaik - 160,000

Daniel Weinman - 160,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Dinner Time in Madrid - EPT Grand Final

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The dinner bell is ringing and throngs of ravenous rounders are presently jockeying for position in the dining room.

Since we checked in last the top of the charts have become dominated by Swedes, just like Abba in the mid-seventies. David Sonelin, who is coming off his final table finish in San Remo just one week ago, and Michael Tureniec are the only two players with over 100k.

The next section of the leaderboard may not be Swedish, but it is full of familiar names. Ben Wilinofsky, recent EPT Berlin winner, is closing in on the 90k mark and Anton Wigg, former EPT Copenhagen winner, is sitting with 65,000.

Trailing those jet-setters are notables like Arnaud Mattern, Vanessa Selbst and Will Molson.

Faring less well this level was 2009 world champion Joe Cada, who went bust, and Tom Dwan, who saw his stack halved by Rupert Elder. Liv Boeree's stack took a bit of a hit but she's still on 52,000.

We'll be updating this page periodically but don't get too stressed, it's only Day 1A.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Boeree Up, Moneymaker Down and Out - EPT Grand Final

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

PokerStars Team Pro, and former EPT San Remo winner, Liv Boeree has jumped out to an early lead and is now sitting with almost 80,000 thanks to two massive hands.

Not taking anything away from Boeree but both hands basically played themselves.

In the first she got involved in a three-way pot that was checked around on the flop. Boeree turned top set and busted the unfortunate player who had flopped a set.

Her next infusion of chips came when she eliminated French pro Michel Abecassis with aces over kings all-in pre.

Chris Moneymaker, meanwhile, is faring about as badly as he can. He's out of the tournament. Not much to the story really. He had lost chips previous to his final hand, and had no trouble getting it in on the turn of a queen-high board holding pocket kings.

Too bad for him his opponent had flopped a set.

Other players of note with chips include Arnaud Mattern who's on 60,000, Michael Tureniec with 50,000, Will Molson with 45,000, Jason Mercier with 44,000 and Leo Margets with 42,000.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Level 3 Underway - durrrr Pulling Focus

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're into the third level of the day here in Madrid and despite a multitude of big names in the field, our attention belongs to just one man, Mr. Tom Dwan.

durrrr has his hands full with former world champion Joe Cada on his left and veteran American rounder Casey Kastle on his right. Not surprisingly, neither opponent is enough of a force to slow Dwan down. More surprisingly, Dwan has had little to no success so far.

The last hand we saw was a three-way pot that went check-check-check on the 9♦ 6♦ 9♣ flop. Dwan fired at the 4♣ turn and got called by both Joe Cada and the third player in the hand.

Dwan fired again on the J♣ turn, pushing Cada out of the hand but getting a quick call from the last remaining opponent. Dwan was shown K♣ J♣ for the flush draw that had paired up on the river, and quickly flashed 7-3 as the pot was pushed.

Dwan's now on around 25k.

While durrrr is on a slight downswing, former EPT Prague champion Arnaud Mattern has already doubled up and more. Mattern flopped a flush after calling a three-bet with 7♣ 8♣.

The Frenchman flopped a flush and managed to get his whole stack in the middle against A♣ K♥. The board bricked out and Mattern is now on close to 70k.

As we all know that while players may build a stack on Day 1, it doesn't mean a whole lot in the big scheme of things.

We're back to the floor, check back in a few.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Grand Final Madrid Starts Right Now!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

PokerListings.com is in Madrid and ready to get down to business at the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final. Slow starts caused by Madrid Friday nights notwithstanding, we're going to be on the scene to bring you live coverage of this event from start to finish.

As the more observant among you may have noticed we are not in Monte Carlo, whrere the Grand Final has been held since its first incarnation. No, we are in Spain, where the Euro goes ten times farther and the women are just a little more approachable.

With the poker world still buzzing from Black Friday it's going to be interesting to see how this event unfolds.

Have American pros been jumping on planes, fleeing their native soil for a taste of the freedom that the rest of the world still enjoys?

Will they be cash-poor, their money tied up online making it impossible to get the buy-in and expenses together for this trip?

Well, PokerListings.com is here to find out. Stick with us as we discover the answers to those questions and more, and beam it all to you via the magic of the interwebs.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT San Remo Day 6 – Respect Your Elder: Rupert Elder Wins

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Englishman Rupert Elder held off a late charge by Xuan Liu to win EPT San Remo and €930,000.

Xuan Liu very nearly became the second consecutive woman to win EPT San Remo but finally crashed out in third place.

The final table began at a slow pace with over two hours needed to eliminate Roberto Spada in eighth and then Costantino Russo in seventh.

From there action picked up as Massimiliano Manigrasso (sixth) and Francesco de Vivo (fifth) were eliminated in quick succession.

As of yet, no Italian has ever won the only EPT event staged in the country.

The real game started when the final table became four-handed. Rupert Elder, Max Heinzelmann, Xuan Liu and Team PokerStars Pro Max Lykov all brought their A-games and the competition was fierce.

Finally Liu landed the knockout blow against Lykov when she happened to flop a set of tens against his pocket kings.

At that point Liu took over the chip but then had her own share of bad luck when her A-J was beaten by Heinzelmann’s A-7.

Liu’s elimination led to an epic heads-up competition between Elder and Heinzelmann. For half an hour they traded the lead back and forth before Elder was finally able to win the most pivotal hand of the tournament.

Elder flopped bottom set but Heinzelmann flopped the nut straight. All the money went into the middle on the turn and Heinzelmann was one card away from the EPT San Remo title.

Instead Elder spiked a full house to win the hand and several hands later he busted Heinzelmann from the event with A-5 vs. Q-5. Elder outlasted a field of 987 players to take down the San Remo title.

On the bright side Heinzelmann did earn €600,000 for his efforts in Italy.

Here’s a look at the complete final table payouts:

1. Rupert Elder – €930,0002. Max Heinzelmann – €600,0003. Xuan Liu – €360,0004. Max Lykov – €290,0005. Francesco de Vivo – €220,000 6. Massimiliano Manigrasso – €170,000 7. Costantino Russo – €125,000 8. Roberto Spada – €81,950

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT San Remo Day 5 – Elder Headlines, Cada Falls Short

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Former world champion Joe Cada nearly made the final table of EPT San Remo but bombed out in 13th place while Englishman Rupert Elder took over.

Cada got short-stacked towards the end of the day and eventually made his move with K♥ 9♥ and ran smack into Max Heinzelmann’s pocket jacks.

The 2009 WSOP Main Event winner actually flopped a flush but never hit as Heinzelmann dodged more than one bullet on the turn and the river.

Cada picked up €35,000 for his 13th place finish, which is his second since winning the big one in 2009.

Although Cada’s departure meant a serious dearth of big name players at the final table, there is one Team PokerStars Pro in his place.

Russian Max Lykov is in seventh place heading into the final table with 1.4 million chips.

Meanwhile Rupert Elder is the man to beat with a massive 8 million chip stack. Heinzelmann, in part thanks to Cada, is close behind with 7.8 million.

The rest of the players at the final table are not exactly household names but impressed many with their strong play over the last few days. Italian Roberto Spada (4.7 million chips) and Canadian Xuan Liu (1.7 million chips) were particularly good.

The final table will begin tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. local time.

Here’s a look at the final eight chip stacks heading into tomorrow’s finale:

1. Rupert Elder – 8 million 2. Max Heinzelmann – 7.8 million 3. Roberto Spada – 4.7 million 4. Costantino Russo – 2.5 million 5. Massimiliano Manigrasso – 2 million 6. Xuan Liu – 1.7 million 7. Max Lykov – 1.4 million 8. Francesco De Vivo – 1 million

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT San Remo Day 4 – Yunis Leads, Cada Lurks

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Chilean Nicolas Yunis grabbed the chip lead on Day 4 of EPT San Remo while former world champion Joe Cada made it into the top five chip counts.

With only 24 players left, Cada is already assured of his second cash since the 2010 WSOP Main Event but he’s also got a great shot at making his first final table since winning the big dance in 2010.

Yunis is the man to beat, however, with 2.2 million chips. His closest rival is Englishman Rupert Elder who built up a stack of 1.8 million.

Yunis brought his A-game on Day 4 but he also benefited from being at one of the shortest tables of the day. Yunis played the bully to perfection as he vacuumed in chip after chip.

Russian Team PokerStars Pro Max Lykov is also in the mix with 1.7 million in chips. Players will reconvene tomorrow, as the final 24 will be transformed into the last eight.

Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts at the end of Day 4:

1. Nicolas Yunis – 2.2 million2. Rupert Elder – 1.8 million3. Luigi Pignatoro – 1.7 million4. Max Lykov – 1.7 million5. Joe Cada – 1.6 million6. Nicola Grieco – 1.6 million7. Andrew Teng – 1.6 million8. Massimiliano Manigrasso – 1.5 million 9. Diego Bolzoni – 1.5 million 10. Max Heinzelmann – 1.4 million

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT San Remo Day 3 – This is Spada!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Italian Roberto Spada grabbed a slim chip lead as the bubble burst on Day 3 of EPT San Remo.

After five quick levels on Day 3 Spada had amassed 1.44 million although Nicolas Yunis and Team PokerStars Pro Max Lykov are not far behind with 1.41 million.

The money bubble burst in the first level of the day and EPT Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity was one of the unfortunate players to bust without a taste of the money.

As soon as the bubble burst there was a flood of eliminations including Vanessa Selbst, Ruben Visser and Roberto Romanello.

By the time the day finally came to a close there were only 60 remaining players.

Several big name players remain in the hunt for glory at EPT San Remo including Joe Cada, Fabrice Soulier and Xuan Liu.

Here’s a look of the top 10 chip leaders at the end of Day 3:

1. Roberto Spada – 1,441,0002. Nicolas Yunis – 1,416,0003. Max Lykov – 1,410,0004. Paolo Rigano – 1,324,0005. Ludovic Lacay – 962,0006. Diego Bolzoni – 922,0007. Giuseppe Caciolo – 912,0008. David Alexandre Lichentin Rubitin – 829,0009. Nicolino Di Carlo – 735,00010. Dario Nittolo – 730,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT San Remo Day 2 – Manousos Takes Control

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Georgios Manousos made a last minute surge to take control of the overall chip lead at EPT San Remo on Day 2.

Manousos finished with 573,0000 chips, which was enough to leave the other remaining 163 looking up to the Greek poker player.

Germano Martucci picked up 545,0000 chips to take second place while Kevin Vandersmissen finished in third with 534,000.

Despite the number of relatively unknown players in the top three, there are some established players still in the running to win EPT San Remo including Carter Phillips, Victor Ramdin, Vanessa Selbst, Joe Cada, Barry Greenstein and Sebastian Ruthenberg.

San Remo continues to be one of the most well-attended event on the European Poker Tour and this year’s event started with nearly 1,000 runners.

Here are the top 10 chip leaders at the end of Day 2:

1. Georgios Manousos – 573,0002. Germano Martucci – 545,0003. Kevin Vandersmissen – 535,0004. Carter Phillips – 496,0005. Paolo Rigano – 466,000 6. Nicolas Yunis – 454,000 7. Fabrice Soulier – 441,000 8. Gerasimo Deres – 430,000 9. Xuan Liu – 430,000 10. Joe Cada – 421,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT San Remo - Day 2 Chip Counts and Seat Draw

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Another day is down on the Italian Riviera at the PokerStars.com EPT San Remo main event and 460 players have made it through to Day 2.

987 players in total turned up for this thing, building a mammoth €4,786,950 prize pool. €930,000 is waiting for the eventual winner.

Ruben Visser is at the top of the heap right now with over 250,000 and defending EPT Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity is right behind him with 233,400.

Plenty of other big names are sitting in the top half of the counts including Victor Ramdin, Vanessa Selbst, Carter Phillips, Ramzi Jelassi, Roberto Romanello, Ted Forrest, Andrew Teng, Terrence Chan, Ludovic Lacay, Barry Greenstein, Casy Kastle, Jani Sointula, Antony Lellouche, Michel Abecassis, Nic Levi, Johannes Strassman, Fabrice Soulier.

Names of note in the bottom half of the counts include Pieter de Korver, Antoine Saout, Tristan Clemencon, Vitaly Lunkin, Andy Black, David Sands, Alex Gomes, Emil Patel and Ivan Demidov.

Check out the top ten below and Click here for the full EPT San Remo Day 2 Chip Counts.

Player Name Country Chip Count Ruben Visser Netherlands 251,500 Nicolas Chouity Lebanon 233,400 Stefano Alberto Servalli Italy 202,400 Jean Laurent Comparetto France 192,000 Victor Ramdin USA 190,500 Diego Bolzoni Italy 188,700 Leonid Bilokur Russia 187,900 Juri Pietroboni Italy 184,600 Yuriy Nesterenko Mongolia 179,000 Aleksey Zharko Ukraine 178,400

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT San Remo: Day 1A Chip Counts

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The PokerStars EPT San Remo main event is always big and this year looks to be no different. Some 438 players turned up for Day 1A and that number shrank to 211 by the end of play.

Leonid Bilokur, a Russian, leads but this early in the game that doesn't even guarantee him a spot in the money.

Sprinkled among the sea of Italians were a few familiar faces, and some of them even made it through the day. Swede Ramzi Jelassi cracked the top ten but that's pretty much it for pros in the upper reaches of the chip counts.

A little farther down the list we've got Ludovic Lacay with 85,200, Casey Kastle with 80,600 and Jani Sointula with 78,600.

Almira Skripchenko and Nicolas Levi are just a bit worse off with 65,500 and 62,400, respectively, and Fabrice Soulier is sitting with 60,500.

Other players of note who made it through the day include Cristiano Blanco, Antoine Saout, Tristan Clemencon, Vitaly Lunkin and David Sands.

Check out the top ten chip counts below or Click here for the full EPT San Remo Day 1A Chip Counts.

Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Player Name Country Chip Count Leonid Bilokur Russia 187,900 Aleksey Zharko Ukraine 178,400 Fabrizio Cataldi Uruguay 163,900 Ivan Kudriavtcev Russia 163,100 Alessio Pianta Italy 157,500 Stephen Leonard Australia 147,800 Arnaldo Petino Italy 147,200 Kimmo Kurko Finland 145,500 Ramzi Jelassi Sweden 143,400 Andras Nemeth Hungary 142,100

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Berlin - Canuck Wilinofsky Wins €825,000

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The PokerStars.com EPT Berlin main event is over and Canada's Ben Wilinofsky has taken top honors.

€825,000 and an EPT title now belong to the 22-year-old Wilinofsky who, before this event, had never even cashed in a live tournament.

The only story-line at this final table was Wilinofsky's absolute dominance. Beginning the day as chip leader Wilinofsky managed to bust the next biggest stack, Maximilian Heinzelmann, and proceeded to go an a rampage wire-to-wire victory.

Check out the final table payouts below or Click here for the Full EPT Berlin results.

1 Ben Wilinofsky €825,000 2 Maximilian Heinzelmann €500,000 3 Vadzim Kursevich €300,000 4 Martin Jacobson €230,000 5 Armin Mette €180,000 6 Darren Kramer €140,000 7 Joep van den Bijgaart €100,000 8 Jonas Gutteck €66,000 9 Daniel Pidun €45,000 10 Cuello Jorge Mariano €45,000

Photo Credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Berlin Final Table Chip Counts and Profiles

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The PokerStars.com EPT Berlin main event has reached the home stretch and a Canadian is leading the charge!

Ben Wiliofskny is looking to bring yet another EPT title home to Canada but there are seven other players, from five other countries, who may have other ideas.

We've got the chip counts for our final table players below, plus quick-hitting profiles that will help you get to know them a bit better, courtesy of Mad Harper of the EPT.

Click here to check out the full EPT Berlin Results!

Ben Wilinofsky

5225000

Maximilian Heinzelmann

4970000

Vadzim Kursevich

4345000

Darren Kramer

2235000

Armin Mette

2125000

Martin Jacobson

2085000

Joep van den Bijgaart

1060000

Jonas Gutteck

1025000

Seat 1: Max Heinzelmann, 20, Heubach, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany - 4,970,000

Heinzelmann is a familiar sight on the European Poker Tour and reckons he has played around 20 events. His best result to date was 41st at EPT London in Season 6 for £12,800 and he has also final tabled two side events – runner-up in the EPT San Remo €300 Turbo last season and sixth in the EPT Vilamoura €1,000 NL event in September.

He’s been playing poker for around two years – a friend sent him a few dollars to deposit and, after a few false starts, he’s been doing well ever since. He used to play Sit and Go Heads-Up tourneys but now plays a range of events, anything up to $1,000 or $100 rebuys. He won the PokerStars Sunday 500 a few years ago for $91,000 as well as the $100 Daily rebuy tourney for $86,000. His online winnings now total more than $450,000.

He said: “I’m feeling pretty good about my game at the moment. I’ve played well so far and I hope it’s going to continue!”Seat 2: Martin Jacobson, 23, Sweden, PokerStars qualifier - 2,085,000

PokerStars qualifier Martin Jacobson is having a phenomenal EPT Season 7 and has already had two runner-up finishes - at EPT Vilamoura in September for €297,985 and EPT Deauville in January for €560,000. Overall Jacobson has won more than $2 million at live tournaments but has only ever won a single live event – a A$600 satellite in Adelaide, Australia.

Martin Jacobsen is at his third EPT final table.

In addition to his big EPT hits this season, Jacobson also finished third at EPT Budapest in Season 5, was runner-up at WPT Venice last year and came fourth in the World Series $1,500 side event last summer. A month ago he came third in the Nordic Masters of Poker, Stockholm. Jacobson is currently leading the EPT Online Qualifier of the Year race.Seat 3: Vadzim Kursevich, 24, Minsk, Belarus - 4,345,000

Vadzim Kursevich is a professional poker player from Belarus. He has been playing for four years and his normal game preference is live Pot Limit Omaha ring games. He takes breaks from these games to play live MMTs and big online series like the upcoming SCOOP on PokerStars.

His biggest cash to date is for $65,000 after winning a tournament in the Ukraine. Kursevich became best friends with Team PokerStars Pro Vadim Markushevski after they met at university and the two travelled here together. He is looking forward to his friend commentating on him tomorrow on EPT Live. Away from poker Kursevich likes to unwind by watching ice hockey and singing karaoke.Seat 4: Darren Kramer, 27, Cape Town, South Africa - 2,235,000

Darren Kramer might not be that well-known in Europe but he has a bunch of results from South Africa and Swaziland and is currently ranked third in Africa’s All Time Money list. His wins include the 2008 PokerNews Cup for $ 140,575 and the All Africa Poker Tournament in Swaziland for $ 134,710. He’s been playing poker around seven years, the last five years as a pro, and is friends with the British posse that includes Sam Trickett and James Akenhead. He plans to spend a month in Europe - playing Berlin, San Remo and the EPT Grand Final and hanging out in London. Last October he won one of the nightly £300 Turbos at EPT London. He said: “I only play Omaha cash games online but live events are just awesome. You get to see the place, meet people. It’s a good vibe.”Seat 5: Armin Mette, 25, Heidelberg, Germany - 2,125,000

Economics student Mette is celebrating his biggest ever live cash here in Berlin, which is also his first EPT. He took up poker around five years but has only played a few live tournaments – in Vienna, Bratislava and also LAPT Rio a few years ago.

Online, he favours multi table tournaments, winning a big event last year and also coming second in a SCOOP event. When EPT Berlin was down to 24 players, Mette’s friend David and girlfriend Bettina decided to jump in a car and drive 600 km to support him. He said: “I explained to them I could bust but they came anyway.”Seat 6: Joep van den Bijgaart, 24, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Team PokerStars Pro - 1,060,000

Van den Bijgaart

Van den Bijgaart – known as Pappe_ruk online - studied Facilities Management at college but soon switched to playing poker. He is now considered one of the biggest up-and-coming poker talents in Holland and this year alone has played more than half a million hands online.

He’s a regular in PokerStars’s major tournaments and won $69,234 for runner-up place in the PokerStars Sunday 500 in January 2009. His best live result was in November that year when he came third in a Master Classics side event.

He also came 39th at EPT London this season and 34th at EPT Deauville in Season 5 as well as as finishing seventh in a World Series of Poker $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout.Seat 7: Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky, 22, London, Ontario, Canada – PokerStars qualifier - 5,225,000

Up until EPT Berlin, talented internet pro Ben Wilinofsky from Canada had never had a live cash before. At the end of Day 2, he wrote on facebook “RIP legendary Hendon Mob page” in reference to his totally blank page on the Mob’s database.

Now he's storming Day 4 of EPT Berlin and goes into the final as chip leader with 5,225,000. Online, Wilinofsky has made more than a million dollars including winning the PokerStars Super Tuesday event last November and the PokerStars daily $100 rebuy event six times in the last two years – those events alone amounting to more than $300,000.Seat 8: Jonas Gutteck, 30, Berlin, Germany - 1,025,000

Economics student Gutteck has been playing poker for three years. It’s only a hobby but his results so far have been impressive. Berlin is his fourth EPT and third cash; last season he finished 21st here for €23,500 and in Prague this season he came 70th for €8,000.

Gutteck likes traveling with his girlfriend Silke and she is railing him here at Spielbank Berlin. Jonas also has a lot of good friends in the German poker community, so it’s likely a lot of big names such as Nasr El Nasr, Philipp Gruissem, Tobias Reinkemeier and Sebastian Ruthenberg will be supporting him for tomorrow’s final.

Photo Credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

24 Remain in EPT Berlin Main Event - Counts and and Results

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Just 24 of the 773 players at the PokerStars EPT Berlin main event remain and Daniel-Gai Pidun is the lead!

As you may have read yesterday, Day 2 ended with the money bubble breaking. Everyone who returned today was guaranteed a piece of the piece. The only question was how much.

Among those that went broke today were George Danzer, Cornel Cimpan, Ben Roberts, Roberto Romanello, Joao Barbosa, Peter Eastgate, Sebastian Ruthenberg and Vladimir Geshkenbein.

Click here for the full EPT Berlin Results.

Tomorrow will see the field further reduced to the final eight and it will be those players that get the lion's share of this prize pool.

Check out the leaderboard below or Click here for the full EPT Berlin Chip Counts.

Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Daniel-Gai Pidun Germany 2,429,000 Maximilian Heinzelmann Germany 2,140,000 Ben Wilinofsky Canada 2,046,000 Kristijonas Andrulis Lithuania 1,650,000 Joep van den Bijgaart Netherlands 1,454,000 Henrique Pinho Portugal 1,282,000 Armin Mette Germany 1,230,000 Robin Ylitalo Sweden 1,221,000 Cuello Jorge Mariano Spain 1,060,000 Darren Kramer South Africa 1,004,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Berlin - Fabrice Soulier Leads Day 2

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Day 2 is done at the PokerStars.com EPT Berlin main event and the fabulous Frenchman Fabrice Soulier is in the lead!

The evening ended with the money bubble breaking, meaning the 119 remaining players are all in the money. Soulier is the only player with more than 1 million chips so you can bet he's plannning on a deep run starting tomorrow.

But, as today also demonstrated, having the chip lead at the start of the day doesn't guarantee your survival. Sander Berndsen learned that this afternoon as he went from hero to zero, busting before the payouts began.

We've got the top ten chip counts below, or Click here for the EPT Berlin Day 3 Starting Chip Counts.

Remember, €825,000 is waiting for the eventual champion!

Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Fabrice Soulier France 1,079,400 Alessandro Laubinger Germany 742,400 Giuseppe Pantaleo Germany 578,500 Thorsten Sch Germany 541,000 Martin Jacobson Sweden 539,400 Henrique Pinho Portugal 518,100 Mario Adinolfi Italy 456,000 Darin Kramer South Africa 446,500 Alexis Morlet France 383,400 Tristan Clemencon France 379,400

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Berlin - Day 2 Counts and Seats

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The PokerStars EPT Berlin Main Event has made it through the two Day 1 heats, clearing out the riff-raff and making way for the serious poker to come!

A very respectable 773 players bought in, creating a juicy €3,865,000 prize pool. €825,000 is on the table for first and 353 players are left with a shot at it.

Sander Berndsen is leading the front line but he's got some stiff competition on his tail. Recent EPT Snowfest winner Vladimir Geshkenbein is up there, along with red-hot Roberto Romanello.

McLean Karr has almost 150,000 and former EPT winner Sebastian Ruthenberg has almost 130k.

Check out the top ten below or Click here for the full EPT Berlin Day 2 Chip Counts and Seating Charts.

Sander Berndsen Netherlands 242,900 Oleg Elkin Russia 210,000 Cristian Dragomir Romania 205,500 Jochanan Robert Flink Sweden 203,400 Alek Samardzic Croatia 200,200 Mayu Roca Uribe Colombia 190,000 Maximilian Heinzelmann Germany 186,400 Aurelien Guiglini France 182,600 Vladimir Geshkenbein Russia 181,500 Ben Wilinofsky Canada 180,500

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Berlin - Official Day 1A Chip Counts

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Day 1A of the PokerStars.com EPT Berlin main event is over and Cristian Dragomir is in the lead!

315 people turned out for this Day 1 heat and by day's end just 151 were left standing. Well over 900 players entered this event last year, when Kevin MacPhee took it down, so we're going to have to see some serious interest on Day 1B to match that.

While Cristian Dragomir finished the day in the number one spot, a few other familiar faces have chips to work with.

McLean Karr, who just took down the High Roller event at the WPT in Vienna is in the top ten with 145,800. French notables Michel Abecassis and Fabrice Soulier are up there, and Canadian EPT fixture Jeff Sarwer is sitting around 40th.

Arnaud Mattern is still in it with a shot, albeit a small one, with 17,400, and American Casey Kastle has just a bit more breathing room with 20,500.

Check out the top ten counts below or click here for the full EPT Berlin Day 1A chip counts.

Photo Credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Cristian Dragomir Romania 205,500 Mayu Roca Uribe Colombia 190,000 Maximilian Heinzelmann Germany 186,400 Vegard Haland Vestvik Norway 178,100 Martin Jacobson Sweden 177,000 Nedzib Suman Sweden 154,700 Antonio Buonanno Italy 153,100 Frank Br Germany 147,600 McLean Karr USA 145,800 Mathias Kuerschner Germany 140,500

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Vladimir Geshkenbein Wins EPT Snowfest!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The 2011 PokerStars EPT Snowfest is over and Vladimir Geshkenbein is champion! The Russian defeated start of day chip leader Kevin Vandersmissen to take his second major title and the €390,000!

Geshkenbein first gained notoriety when he defeated living legend Johnny Chan in an APPT High Roller event in Macau, pocketing $266,000.

Here are the final table results.

1st Vladimir Geshkenbein €390,000 2nd Kevin Vandersmissen €260,000 3rd Koen de Visscher €147,000 4th Giacomo Maisto €100,000 5th Cristian Dragomir €81,000 6th Philip Meulyzer €65,000 7th Denis Murphy €49,000 8th Morten Mortensen €35,000

Click here for the full EPT Snowfest results and payouts.

Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Snowfest - Vandersmissen Leads Final Table

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

A final table is set in Austria at the PokerStars.com EPT Snowfest main event and Kevin Vandersmissen is at the helm.

Seven other players will be looking to topple Vandersmissen's imposing stack, and to lay claim to the €390,000 waiting for first place.

We've got the final table chip counts below. Click here for the updated results.

Keep reading to get to know the final table players. The bios come to us courtesy of Mad Harper at PokerStars.com.

The Leaderboard

Kevin Vandersmissen 4512000 Cristian Dragomir 2293000 Philip Meulyzer 1758000 Vladimir Geshkenbein 1678000 Koen De Visscher 1543000 Denis Murphy 997000 Giacomo Maisto 986000 Morten Mortenesen 740000

Seat 1: Kevin Vandersmissen, 22, Sint Pieters-Leeuw, near Brussels, Belgium – 4,512,000

Former construction worker Vandersmissen has been playing poker for 2.5 years, the last year as a full-time pro. He specializes in online NLHE cash games but is also keen to learn Pot Limit Omaha so he can play more events during this summer’s World Series. His aim is to win a WSOP bracelet.

His best result to date was €150,000 in a €3k tourney in Barcelona last December and since turning pro, he has won over $440,000. Vandersmissen is good friends with Belgian Team PokerStars Pros Matthias and Christophe De Meulder along with the other two Belgian finalists.

He aims to be the first Belgian to win an EPT but doesn’t know what he’d do with the prize money as, he says, he already has everything he wants! “The money is just a bankroll boost” he said.Seat 2: Giacomo Maisto, 39, Caserta, near Napoli, Italy – 986,000

Maisto took up poker – the Italian five-card version - some 15 years ago but switched to Texas Hold’em five years ago. Although sponsored, poker is not his full-time occupation; he runs a string of businesses including a call centre. He only played one EPT last season - in Prague – but didn’t cash until this year.

He won the DKK 15,000 event at EPT Copenhagen in February for approximately €48,000 and also had deep runs at EPT Vilamoura and EPT Vienna. He is being cheered on at Snowfest by a group of friends that includes serial EPT casher Nicolo Calia. Maisto’s wife Antonietta is supporting him from home where she is looking after the couple’s two young sons.Seat 3: Vladimir Geshkenbein, 22, Russia – 1,678,000

Cristian Dragomir

As entries into the poker world go, beating ten-time WSOP winner Johnny Chan heads up at a PokerStars APPT high roller is hard to top. Vladimir Geshkenbein, who was barely out of his teens when he won that $266,705 in 2009, has also proved to be a mercurial talent here at Snowfest.

Breaking through Day 1 as overall chip leader, the Russian has been an aggressive and constant threat at every table he’s been on. Geshkenbein can usually be found playing $25/$50 cash games and has scored $417,740 in live winnings. He was born in Russia, grew up in Switzerland and now lives in Malta.Seat 4. Philip "meuli4" Meulyzer, 27, Antwerp, Belgium - 1,758,000

Meulyzer started playing poker in 2004 when he discovered the game with friends and thought it would be cool to smoke big cigars and drink whisky while playing the game! He soon discovered online poker, kicking off in small stakes cash games. Philip is now a full time pro specializing in $2/$4 cash and occasionally $3/$6 and $5/$10.

He also enjoys playing the Sunday online tourneys. Besides poker, he loves movies and is a keen soccer fan. He's an admin on PokerInfo.be and a prolific poster on PokerClub.be. He says Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis is one of the players who inspired him to get good at poker.Seat 5: Denis Murphy, 30, Cork, Ireland – PokerStars qualifier - 991,000

Murphy has been playing poker for four years, the last two of those as a full-time pro. His game of choice is online 6-max cash games, either 400NL or sometimes 600NL. His best live result was fourth place out of a 3289-strong starting field in a WSOP 2010 $1,000 tournament.

He won $162,568 for that achievement. Murphy, who won his seat to Snowfest in a $22 rebuy on PokerStars, has reached the final via a very up-and-down Day 4. He was planning on leaving Hinterglemm tomorrow but those plans will have to be shelved for now.Seat 6: Morten Mortensen, 21, Copenhagen, Denmark – 780,000

Mortensen started playing poker almost three years ago. In 2010 he reached a handful of final tables, his biggest cash being for $67,000. He played his first EPT in Copenhagen in Febrary, busting late on day 2. He plans to play a lot more EPTs in future, probably Berlin and San Remo, and also this summer’s World Series. “It’s always a problem with the tax in Denmark, but Vegas is a good experience for me as a poker player,” he said. Despite all of these trips his bread and butter are online tournaments, where he has already achieved numerous five figure cashes.Seat 7. Cristian Dragomir, 32, Bucharest, Romania – PokerStars qualifier - 2,293,000

When Cristian Dragomir first took up poker seven years ago, he thought – mistakenly - he was the only full-time player in Romania. Actually there were about 30 Romanian pros at the time but very little live poker action. In 2007, Dragomir enjoyed his first taste of fame when his team came second in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker. He said: ”That was a turning point for Romanian poker because it was on TV. People still talk to me about it as if it was yesterday.”

The team stayed very close and included Cristian Tardea who Dragomir reluctantly busted here in tenth place. In 2008, Dragomir gained fame again when he was involved in a notorious hand at the WSOP Main Event against Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth raised with AK and Dragomir called with 10-4, hitting a 9-10-7 flop. Hellmuth proceeded to call Dragomir an "idiot" and "the worst player in history" and earned himself a penalty, later overturned. Dragomir eventually finished in 29th place – his best result to date. He has played eight EPTs so far but this is his first cash. His wife Madalina is supporting him from home with the couple’s young son Sasha.Seat 8. Koen De Visscher, 25, Wilsele, Belgium – 1,543,000

De Visscher started playing poker on holiday in April 2006 and has been playing regularly ever since. He kicked off in €5 home games with friends but after a year started playing online. He's now a full time player and has focused on tournaments for the last year.

One of his other hobbies is traveling which he can combine perfectly with poker. If he wins the tournament, he will consider buying an apartment but his main goal is just to keep playing. He lives with his girlfriend in Wilsele near Leuven.

*Photo Credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Seat 1: Kevin Vandersmissen, 22, Sint Pieters-Leeuw, near Brussels, Belgium – 4,512,000 Former construction worker Vandersmissen has been playing poker for 2.5 years, the last year as a full-time pro. He specializes in online NLHE cash games but is also keen to learn Pot Limit Omaha so he can play more events during this summer’s World Series. His aim is to win a WSOP bracelet. His best result to date was €150,000 in a €3k tourney in Barcelona last December and since turning pro, he has won over $440,000. Vandersmissen is good friends with Belgian Team PokerStars Pros Matthias and Christophe De Meulder along with the other two Belgian finalists. He aims to be the first Belgian to win an EPT but doesn’t know what he’d do with the prize money as, he says, he already has everything he wants! “The money is just a bankroll boost” he said.

Seat 2: Giacomo Maisto, 39, Caserta, near Napoli, Italy – 986,000 Maisto took up poker – the Italian five-card version - some 15 years ago but switched to Texas Hold’em five years ago. Although sponsored, poker is not his full-time occupation; he runs a string of businesses including a call centre. He only played one EPT last season - in Prague – but didn’t cash until this year. He won the DKK 15,000 event at EPT Copenhagen in February for approximately €48,000 and also had deep runs at EPT Vilamoura and EPT Vienna. He is being cheered on at Snowfest by a group of friends that includes serial EPT casher Nicolo Calia. Maisto’s wife Antonietta is supporting him from home where she is looking after the couple’s two young sons.

Seat 3: Vladimir Geshkenbein, 22, Russia – 1,678,000 As entries into the poker world go, beating ten-time WSOP winner Johnny Chan heads up at a PokerStars APPT high roller is hard to top. Vladimir Geshkenbein, who was barely out of his teens when he won that $266,705 in 2009, has also proved to be a mercurial talent here at Snowfest. Breaking through Day 1 as overall chip leader, the Russian has been an aggressive and constant threat at every table he’s been on. Geshkenbein can usually be found playing $25/$50 cash games and has scored $417,740 in live winnings. He was born in Russia, grew up in Switzerland and now lives in Malta.

Seat 4. Philip "meuli4" Meulyzer, 27, Antwerp, Belgium - 1,758,000 Meulyzer started playing poker in 2004 when he discovered the game with friends and thought it would be cool to smoke big cigars and drink whisky while playing the game! He soon discovered online poker, kicking off in small stakes cash games. Philip is now a full time pro specializing in $2/$4 cash and occasionally $3/$6 and $5/$10. He also enjoys playing the Sunday online tourneys. Besides poker, he loves movies and is a keen soccer fan. He's an admin on PokerInfo.be and a prolific poster on PokerClub.be. He says Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis is one of the players who inspired him to get good at poker.

Seat 5: Denis Murphy, 30, Cork, Ireland – PokerStars qualifier - 991,000 Murphy has been playing poker for four years, the last two of those as a full-time pro. His game of choice is online 6-max cash games, either 400NL or sometimes 600NL. His best live result was fourth place out of a 3289-strong starting field in a WSOP 2010 $1,000 tournament. He won $162,568 for that achievement. Murphy, who won his seat to Snowfest in a $22 rebuy on PokerStars, has reached the final via a very up-and-down Day 4. He was planning on leaving Hinterglemm tomorrow but those plans will have to be shelved for now.

Seat 6: Morten Mortensen, 21, Copenhagen, Denmark – 780,000 Mortensen started playing poker almost three years ago. In 2010 he reached a handful of final tables, his biggest cash being for $67,000. He played his first EPT in Copenhagen in Febrary, busting late on day 2. He plans to play a lot more EPTs in future, probably Berlin and San Remo, and also this summer’s World Series. “It’s always a problem with the tax in Denmark, but Vegas is a good experience for me as a poker player,” he said. Despite all of these trips his bread and butter are online tournaments, where he has already achieved numerous five figure cashes.

Seat 7. Cristian Dragomir, 32, Bucharest, Romania – PokerStars qualifier - 2,293,000 When Cristian Dragomir first took up poker seven years ago, he thought – mistakenly - he was the only full-time player in Romania. Actually there were about 30 Romanian pros at the time but very little live poker action. In 2007, Dragomir enjoyed his first taste of fame when his team came second in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker. He said: ”That was a turning point for Romanian poker because it was on TV. People still talk to me about it as if it was yesterday.” The team stayed very close and included Cristian Tardea who Dragomir reluctantly busted here in tenth place. In 2008, Dragomir gained fame again when he was involved in a notorious hand at the WSOP Main Event against Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth raised with AK and Dragomir called with 10-4, hitting a 9-10-7 flop. Hellmuth proceeded to call Dragomir an "idiot" and "the worst player in history" and earned himself a penalty, later overturned. Dragomir eventually finished in 29th place – his best result to date. He has played eight EPTs so far but this is his first cash. His wife Madalina is supporting him from home with the couple’s young son Sasha.

Seat 8. Koen De Visscher, 25, Wilsele, Belgium – 1,543,000 De Visscher started playing poker on holiday in April 2006 and has been playing regularly ever since. He kicked off in €5 home games with friends but after a year started playing online. He's now a full time player and has focused on tournaments for the last year. One of his other hobbies is traveling which he can combine perfectly with poker. If he wins the tournament, he will consider buying an apartment but his main goal is just to keep playing. He lives with his girlfriend in Wilsele near Leuven.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Snowfest - Day 4 Chip Counts

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

24 players made it through to Day 4 of the PokerStars.com EPT Snowfest main event, meaning we're that much closer to the first place prize of €390,000!

As is often the case with lower buy-in events like this, the final few tables aren't exactly brimming with star power. Right now Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko is the lone name in the field, sitting in 16th place right now.

Italian Giacomo Maisto is in the lead but we've got the full start of day counts for you below.

Plenty of people have already cashed in this event, including Michael Tureniec and Luca Pagano.

*Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Click here for a list of the results so far.

Giacomo Maisto Italy 1,548,000 Iulian Ruxandescu Romania 1,281,000 Cristian Tardea Romania 983,000 Hans Erlandsson Sweden 930,000 Cristian Dragomir Romania 895,000 Vladimir Geshkenbein Russia 889,000 Kevin Vandersmissen Belgium 803,000 Koen De Visscher Belgium 768,000 Philip Meulyzer Belgium 762,000 Morten Mortensen Denmark 674,000 Bastian Fischer Germany 614,000 Andreas Wiese Germany 574,000 Manilo Iemina Italy 541,000 Thomas Kunter Austria 417,000 Martins Adeniya UK 402,000 Alex Kravchenko Russia 379,000 Gabriele Lepore Italy 377,000 Pierre Neuville Belgium 335,000 Karen Sarkisyan Russia 306,000 Alessandro Speranza Italy 269,000 Denis Murphy Ireland 240,000 Christian Fabri Italy 234,000 Berhard Perner Austria 207,000 Wim Bos Netherlands 133,000

Partnership Will Allow for Both Companies to Share Resources and Leverage Opportunities

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Snowfest - Day 3 Starting Chip Counts

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Day 2 at the PokerStars.com EPT Snowfest main event has concluded with 81 players securing a seat on Day 3.

PokerListings.com is still in denial about not actually being at Snowfest but we've sucked it up to bring you the end of day chip counts and this brief update.

Philip Meulyzer is tops among the remaining crop of players, a Belgian who will be taking 623,500 into Day 3. With 72 getting paid in this event the money bubble will break early tomorrow. Everyone is chasing the €390,000 first place prize.

Check out the top ten chip counts, or Click here to see the complete EPT Snowfest Day 3 Chip Counts.

Philip Meulyzer

Belgium

623,500

Giacomo Maisto

Italy

517,500

Cristian Tardea

Romania

411,000

Alessandro Speranza

Italy

374,900

Wim Bos

Netherlands

372,300

Koen De Visscher

Belgium

352,500

Luca Pagano

Italy

351,400

Hans Erlandsson

Sweden

344,900

Simon Ravnsbaek

Denmark

341,800

Philip Meulyzer

623500

Belgium

Giacomo Maisto

517500

Italy

Cristian Tardea

411000

Romania

Alessandro Speranza

374900

Italy

Wim Bos

372300

Netherlands

Koen De Visscher

352500

Belgium

Luca Pagano

351400

Italy

Hans Erlandsson

344900

Sweden

Simon Ravnsbaek

341800

Denmark

Day 2 saw an alarming number of pros go broke, including Liv Boeree, Johannes Strassmann, Max Lykov, Joao Nunes, Nuno Coelho and Michael Keiner.

Two former EPT champions are still alive. Sebastian Ruthenberg and Michael Tureniec. The latter actually won the most recent EPT, in Copenhagen, and has a chance to make history with back to back victories.

Luca Pagano is also still in it, and is a virtual lock to make the money tomorrow and extend his record for most cashes on the EPT (18).

Check back with us this time tomorrow to see who's got a chance at the final table and the really big money.

*Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Snowfest - Combined Day 2 Chip Counts

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The second Day 1 heat is done in Hinterglemm, Austria and another funny-sounding European type is sitting at the top of the leaderboard.

It looks like the pros opted to hit the slopes on Day 1A and play poker today. We've even got a few familiar faces with spots near the top of the Day 2 pile.

Click here to check out the full Day 2 chip counts. This includes both Day 1 heats.

Michael Tureniec was the story of the day, fresh as he is off a recent EPT win in Copenhagen not three weeks ago. Although the Swede did not finish at the very top, that honor goes to Vladimir Geshkenbein, a Russian, Tureniec has more than enough to make a run at back-to-back titles.

Other names of note in today's field were Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and former EPT winners Liv Boeree and Kevin MacPhee. ElkY was delayed by a late flight and was blinded off for much of the day.

He couldn't get back on his feet and was eliminated earlier this evening.

Dario Minieri, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Laex Veldhuis and Sandra Naujoks rounded out the Team PokerStars crew.

268 players in all made it through Day 1 period of this event and they'll all be playing together tomorrow.

Check out the chip counts and hit us back tomorrow for developments.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Snowfest - Day 1A Chip Counts

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Despite the deceptively snow-centric name of this event, EPT Snowfest is really all about the poker.

Today 180 players pulled themselves off the slopes and out of the hot tubs to get down to business and, as we've seen in years past, the big-name contingent was small.

This is a €3,500 main event, small by today's live standards. Add to that a remote location in the mountains of Austria and it's not surprising that a few of the Team PokerStars big-wigs gave it a pass.

102 made it through the Day 1 heat with Martins Adeniya in the number one spot with 182,500. Here's the top ten.

Martins Adeniya 182,500 Wim Bos 130,200 Dragomir Cristian 123,200 Virgilio Di Cicco 122,100 Simon Ravnsbaek 120,500 Peter Sturzel 113,000 Riku Koivurinne 111,000 Thibaud Zeien 102,600 Ismael Colin Bojang 102,200 Domantas Klimciauskas 101,500

Click here for the full Day 1A Snowfest Chip Counts.

Tomorrow the second half of the field will take to the felt, most likely nursing bruises from their time on the slopes today. We'll hit you back tomorrow at end of play with the new counts and a quick-hitting recap of the action.

*Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Snowfest Begins - Day 1A

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The PokerStars.com EPT has landed in Austria and Day 1 of the much-anticipated Snowfest is underway. To our great sadness we are not there in person, just in spirit.

As a matter of fact, Snowfest is the only stop on the EPT that PokerListings.com has never attended. Some say it's because we get enough snow in our native Canada, others say our bosses refuse to fund a week long ski trip in the name of live tounament coverage. We'll let you decide which is more likely.

Our absence notwithstanding, we'll be culling the internet, and our extensive network of European informants, to bring you a daily recap of all the action.

Check back each day for the essentials as far as chip counts, big eliminations and the eventual playdown to a champion.

*Photo credit: Neil Stoddart for PokerStars Blog

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

The Chouit Taste Of Victory! Chouity Is EPT GF Champ!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

A fast final has come to a close and the man most predicted would win the tournament based on his crushing chip stack has done it.

Nicolas Chouity has won the EPT Grand Final!

This is what happened.

Chouity's Bullets Shoot Down Klinger! (Klinger 2nd; Chouity 1st)

Josef Klinger started the day unfancied to win based on his small amount of chips but he kept scrapping away, rode some luck along the way and found himself heads-up for the trophy.

It seemed as though the hand of destiny was firmly planted on Chouity's shoulder today though.

He has won almost every big pot he has played and he had such an amazingly dominant position in the chip counts, he was able to collect lots of uncontested pots throughout the day.

The last hand was typical, Klinger finding eights, pretty much a monster in thei heads-up position, but Chouity had no trouble taking him on for all his chips pre-flop...as he held aces.

Incredible match-up, both players got their chips into the middle and Klinger needed to spike a snowman to keep his slim hopes of glory alive.

The board was dealt out..9♥ T♠ K♦ 4♠....Q♣!

No eights, the aces took it and Chouity won yet another key hand.

It's a huge score for Klinger, he wins €1,000,000 for second place but for Nicolas Chouity, it's €1,700,000 for 1st as well as the glory and acclaim that comes with winning the biggest EPT tournament of the season!

He high-fived the rail, a huge smile plastered across his face as he took in all the applause and cheering from his enthusiastic fans.

Well done Chouity, he wielded his big stack superbly, levering his way to the title and he should enjoy all the attention and plaudits that will come his way for the immediate future.

We'll have winner shots and an interview with the winner shortly but for now congratulations to everyone at Monte Carlo and indeed across the whole EPT tour this season, who have contributed to make it such an enjoyable success.

Thanks for following our coverage - it wouldn't be the same without you - but for now it's goodbye from PokerListings in Monte Carlo.

Don't forget to hit us up later for our interview with the winner, Nicolas Chouity.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Karma, Karma, Karma, Chamele-OUT! (Karmazinas - 3rd)

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Since the players resumed after their dinner break, it has been one way traffic. The man who's been crushing?

None other than the chip leader Nicolas Chouity. Since late on yesterday, Chouity has held a dominant chip lead and he has been running good and playing well today.

In the few hands we've played since dinner, he has re-raised, shoved and generally bullied his way through Karmazinas and Klinger and moments ago we became heads-up as a result of his antics.

Karmazinas Feels The Power (3rd)

PokerListings spied Karmazinas returning from dinner in the "Tony G" mobile, the Lithuanian perhaps picking up a tip or two from his wily compatriot.

Whatever it was though, it didn't quite work although he was unfortunate at the outcome of this hand.

When Chouity shipped all-in from the small blind, Karmazinas called pretty quickly with A♦ 7♠ and when Chouity flipped up A♣ 6♦, he had a great shot to double up to over 5.5 million.

The flop was innocuous but a six spiked on the turn to give the unstoppable Chouity a lead he never relinquished.

So Karmazinas unlucky there, but he played great poker to get through to the final three and collects €700,000 for third spot.

Heads up then, Nicolas Chouity has a big chip lead over Josef Klinger. Who will be crowned the champ!

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Back From Dinner; 3-handed For Glory!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're back from the break and the three men remaining are still in there fighting for the title.

It is Nicolas Chouity who is top of the tree right now with a dominant chip stack dwarfing the other two players, but as we've seen anything can happen.

Let's see how the game pans out over the next level.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Chen Chomped (5th); Costa Crushed (4th)

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Andrew Chen has had some close shaves in the past and again, his razor scraped the face of glory but never quite cut through to the top prize.

Hi demise happened thusly:

King Klinger! (Chen - 5th)

He was down to 2 million, which sounds like a lot but in reality is only just over 10 big blinds, so he shipped it into the middle to steal the blinds with 9♣ 7♣, running slap bang into Klinger's kings.

There was a small sweat for Klinger on the J♠ J♥ T♠ board but the turn and river blanked in the form of 5♦ 9♥ and Chen disappeared to the rail to speak to his friend Mike McDonald and collect his €400,000 payment for 5th place.

We're sure his time will come.

We were 4-handed now and one interesting aspect of this is that Herve Costa has folded his way into the top 4, having played only 3 hands at the final so far.

But then...he sprang into action!

The Costa Of Success (4th)

Shipping his giant 820k stack into the middle, he utterly failed to intimidate Chouity and his 17 million stack who made the call.

A♠ 9♥ for Costa; K♦ Q♥ for Chouity.

A good shot for the Frenchman to double but Chouity and his increasingly boisterous rail cheering loudly behind him weren't bothered.

And why should they be? Especially when the flop fell K-K-6!!!

Chouity had it wrapped up already and when the turn and river weren't running aces, Costa was out in 4th spot, collecting €500,000. He's done very well to ladder this far up the rankings for a huge payday. Well played sir!

One more key pot played out just before dinner - Dominykas Karmazinas shipping it pre with fives, only for Chouity to take a shot with the relatively weak-looking king-deuce.

For once he wasn't able to run good as a delighted looking Karmazinas won a well-merited double up to 3 mill.

And with that came dinner. We'll be back in an hour and a half for the resumption three-handed. Join us then as we continue the path to EPT glory.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Klinger Doubles With Uber Draw; Plauski Busts (6th)

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Josef Klinger raised it up under-the-gun and Nicolas Chouity made the call. We had a flop!

The flop fell T♥ 5♥ 3♣ and Klinger checked, only for the chip leader to fire out 375k.

Now Klinger sprung into action, check-raising allin for an additional 1.985 million chips. Chouity looked unhappy but eventually said "I have to call, I call."

Chouity: K♥ J♥

Klinger: A♥ 4♥.

Wow, two overs and a flush draw for Chouity but a massive nut flush draw and gutshot for Josef Klinger!

Klingerwas a big 80% favorite for the hand, but Chouity had outs and the turn was a shocking J♣ to turn the tables and leave a distraught-looking Klinger staring elimination square in the face.

Needing a deuce, heart or ace to salvage his tournament, a hushed audience watched the dealer deal the river card.

A♣!

Wow, incredible scenes here in Monte Carlo. The crowd go wild, Klinger goes wild, and a pot of 4.5 million, potentially worth hundreds of thousands of euros goes his way.

Amazing stuff.

Aleh Gets Plau-ed, Ski(6th)

Aleh Plauski was very short with just 680k and shipped in his mini-stack, only for Chouity to reship allin and isolate him.

Plauski showed up with K♥ T♣, which was behind, though live, against Chouity's A♣ Q♦ board.

Plauski has been saved many times by the river when all-in, but this time there was to be no salvation - the board peeling off 7♠ 5♣ 2♠ 9♣ Q♣.

Chouity takes another scalp and Plauski gets himself busted in 6th place for €300,000.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Sevens Set Up Double For Costa

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The situation is borderline ridiculous out there at the moment.

Chouity's enormo-stack means no-one else has even the smallest amount of wiggle-room and right now it's fold city as desperation laddering occurs.

Chouity raises every so often and picks up the blinds - just padding his stack on what looks like a rampant march to victory.

Then suddenly action!

Josef Klinger raised to 275k and Costa - who has been incredibly tight - shoves for 900k.

Klinger tanks for a while although realistically there can't have been many hands he could fold here and eventually he does call. This is what we saw:

Q♠ J♠: Klinger

7♣ 7♦: Costa

FLIP!

The flop comes A-K-9-7-Q.

A turned set seals the deal for Costa, the French contingent of supporters give some boisterous cheers and the last Frenchman in contention shakes his fist in pure ecstacy at that double-through.

And even before we could draw breath...another big hand!

Josef Klings On

The now shortstacked Klinger pitched his last one million into the middle and the tight-as-a-drum Aleh Plauski re-shipped allin.

The smart money suggested Plauski would be ahead and indeed he was showing an absolutely dominant pair of tens versus the T♠ 9♠ of Klinger.

Klinger was done and dusted there really, very hard for him to outdraw Plauski...and then...

The dealer dealt out a A♥ 9♣ 9♦ board to a chorus of "ooooohhhhhs" and "wooooooooows." Amazing catch!

The board ran out with no changes and an incredibly relieved Klinger's trip nines won the day.

We remain six-handed!

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Back For Hairabedian exit (7th)

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Forced to sit out for much of the last hour and a half, it wasn't long after the players resumed play that super short-stacked Roger Hairabedian was forced to get his chips into the middle.

He looked reluctant with just 311k, but when Chouity raised his big blind, with most of his stack in the middle already, he tanked awhile, making a quick joke before putting the rest in.

Hairbedian Succumbs (7th)

His tournament on the line, Hairbedian showed down J♠ 3♠ but was dominated by Chouity's A♣ 3♦.

A flop of A♥ A♠ 5♦ looked fairly conclusive but when the Q♠ turned, suddenly Hairbedian had outs to get back into it!

If he could hit a spade he would win a whopping 700k pot at 60k 120k!

But no...the Q♥ came to complete Chouity's full house and mean his stack just continues growing, his lead continues growing and his chances of winning...well u know the drill.

Meanwhile Roger Hairabedian leaves us in 7th spot, collecting €200,000 - no small win. He may regret never taking a shot to get a good stack going though.

They continue 6-handed,

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Lights Out - Curtain City.

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Just to keep you guys in the loop, there has been a temporary loss of power here at the casino, resulting in the game being temporarily placed on hold.

We'll be back as soon as possible, but for now just hang tight.

To re-cap the situation we are facing in the tournament right now, the Lebanese Nicolas Chouity has extended his overnight chip lead and now has over 50% of the chips in play seven-handed.

There are a number of shortstacks with the blinds at 50k/100k, but Roger Hairabedian is most in danger, having let his midget stack dwindle down to a negligable amount.

He will simply HAVE to make a move soon if he isn't just to be totally swallowed up by the blinds.

We'll be back with coverage of the tournament as soon as it resumes, which will hopefully not be too far away.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Stepping Up To The Plate

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

It's a very one-sided final table right now.

Because the pay jumps are so huge and the lower-tier players are all bunched together there are lots of nervous laughs at the table and some very cagey play.

Moments ago Karmazinas elected to go for it though, raising it up pre-flop, only for Chouity to three-bet him to 525k.

Moments later Karmazinas shoved all-in and Chouity tanked a while, electing whether to call the additional 1.4 million. He knew because of the tournament position that Karmazinas would definitely have a big hand but eventually called with ace-jack.

Karmazinas showed up with A♦ K♣ though, dominating the chip leader and looking good for the 4 million chip pot.

We could tell you the board but in reality there was nothing surprising about it...no jacks and no kings meant Karmazinas' ace high was marginally better than Chouity so he jumps into second place for 4 million.

The Leaderboard

Here's how that hand and recent events have affected the chip lead. Come on Roger, make a move!

Nicolas Chouity 12,850,000 Dominykas Karmazinas 4,000,000 Andrew Chen 2,870,000 Josef Klinger 2,515,000 Aleh Plauski 1,420,000 Josef Klinger 1,090,000 Roger Hairabedian 790,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

First Blood! - Guerfi Gone (8th)

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The players are on a break right now following the end of the first level but just before the break started, we saw a big bustout!

It was from an unexpected source too. Here's how it happened.

Guerfi Drowns In Cold River (8th)

Mesbah Guerfi came into the day in second place with the potential to win the tournament or at least finish high up the leaderboard with a massive payday.

Instead he finds himself the first man on the rail, courtesy of the following hand.

Having raised it up to 215,000, Guerfi saw his nemesis Nicolas Chouity make the call.

The flop fell 8♣ 4♠ 3♠ and the action went check, check.

The turn was the 4♦ and Guerfi bet out 310k, Chouity making the call.

The river came the K♦ and now Guerfi cut a big stack of chips from his piles and led out for 785k - much of his stack.

Chouity shrugged and announced "All-in" - Guerfi insta-calling with ace-king for two pair.

However a punch in the air from Guerfi and shout of "yes!" came as he had a slow-played pair of eights that had made a full house!

That was all she wrote for Guerfi who busts in eighth spot for €140,000 - a great payday but one that could have been so much more.

The players broke up at that point but will resume on level 29 - 50k/100k shortly.

Chouity is now a massive chip leader with 14 million and we think Andrew Chen with 2.8 million is in second. Can anyone stop Chouity?

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

I'm Still Standing

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The first hour has surprisingly seen no bustouts just yet. Risers include Aleh Plauski, whose cautiously played top pair with king-jack drew a stabbing steal attempt from Chouity.

No dice and Plauski added a few chips to his stack.

Josef Klinger has also risen too, at one point tangling with Mesbah Guerfi, when he raised to 185k pre-flop, bet the 9-8-8 flop, was called and then shoved the 9 turn, at which point Guerfi threw his hand away.

Guerfi then has been the biggest loser in the early stages, down a million chips as a result of both that hand and this following hand.

The Bully

The hand saw Plauski open to 220k, only for Mesbah Guerfi to make it 650k.

As the second biggest stack, he was probably silently praying that chip-leader Guerfi wouldn't stick his nose into the pot, so imagine his joy when Guerfi moved all-in covering him.

He looked understandably glum - as if he wanted to go have a cry and tell his parents that the big boy was bullying him.

Plauski couldn't call and after playing around with his chips for a bit, Guerfi also threw his hand away - Chouity's aggression saw him extend his lead at the top as he swept up the pot and added it to his multitudinous banks of chips.

Here's how they stand at present.

The Leaderboard

Nicolas Chouity 10,595,000 Andrew Chen 3,810,000 Mesbah Guerfi 2,535,000 Dominykas Karmazinas 2,145,000 Aleh Plauski 2,140,000 Josef Klinger 1,905,000 Herve Costa 1,415,000 Roger Hairabedian 955,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Monte Carlo: Final Table

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're closing in on the start of the final table here of PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo and what a spectacle we have in store for you.

Yesterday saw many of the marquee names bounced out on the trampoline of tournament variance, but there are eight men still bouncing, hoping to double back-flip their way to the EPT Grand Final title and of course the €1,700,000 first prize.

Looking for a winner, realistically it's hard to look beyond massive chip leader Nicolas Chouity, who has almost 3 times more chips than anyone else and has 40% of the chips in play.

If anyone can topple him though, perhaps Andrew Chen can. Many felt he was the best player on show when he made the final table at EPT Prague 2008 and ran bad to finish 3rd. He followed that result up by finishing runner-up for a bracelet at WSOP 2009.

Now may be his big chance for redemption; the opportunity to take down his first big title. Can he swoop in from behind Chouity and snatch the win?

There are 6 other players who will have their say before the day is done too and this is how they line-up.

Nicolas Chouity 10,130,000 Mesbah Guerfi 3,670,000 Andrew Chen 3,350,000 Dominykas Karmazinas 2,285,000 Aleh Plauski 1,695,000 Herve Costa 1,590,000 Josef Klinger 1,170,000 Roger Hairabedian 1,130,000

Stay with us as we let you know every twist and turn on the path to anoint the champion. There are a number of shortstacks so perhaps we will see them go for broke and try and chip up early.

We could have fireworks in the first few levels. Whatever happens glory and riches await.

Shuffle up and deal!

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

The Final Table!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Incredible stuff!

We are there; we have our final table participants as a result of yet another exciting level of play. This really has been one of the best tournaments in terms of excitement you will ever see, even if the many of the bigger names have succumbed before the latter stages.

Here's how it went.

Matt Finish For Perrins (10th)

Matt Perrins has halved the number of U.K. players still in with a shot of the EPT Grand Final by busting out to his nemesis, the enormous chip leader Nicolas Chouity.

Perrins lost a big pot having flopped two pair with seven-deuce, he fired all his chips into the middle on the ace turn, only to discover the ace had helped his opponent Mesbah Guerfi makes aces-up.

That proved a crucial pot as only a few hands later Perrins elected to three-bet shove all-in with ace-eight over the top of a Chouity raise, only for Chouity to snap him off with ace-queen.

Dominated and staring down the barrell of the gun, Perrins picked up an inside straight draw on the turn to at least give him and his supporters a river sweat but moments later, a brick appeared to scupper his hopes and end his tournament life.

Consoled by his english friends on the rail, Perrins was escorted to the cash desk to collect his €100,000 cheque for finishing 10th.

Ran out of run-good juice.

Corkell Left For Dead

Craig Corkell saw the short-stacked Herve Costa move all-in and moved in himself having Costa clearly covered.

Corkell must have felt confident with ace-queen but that confidence soured as Costa flipped ace-king.

Corkell very unlucky to find Costa right at the top of his range and when the board blanked out, he had doubled the Frenchman up and was left with half his stack.

Moments later he had the chance for redemption, moving all-in again over the top of a shortstack raise and again holding ace-queen.

This time he was ahead as opponent Aleh Plauski flipped up K♦ J♣.

Everything looked good for Corkell as he flopped top pair - the board coming Q♠ J♥ 3♣ 3♦. Only a rivered king or jack could prevent our final table being reached and McCorkell getting his double-up.

The river was...J♦!

Incredible stuff, Plauski takes it on the river and now Corkell was almost dead with just 80k.

The Final Nail (Corkell - 9th)

Corkell shipped his bowl of rice in with the first half decent hand he saw, and Chen isolated the hand - the pair going heads up to the flop:

Corkell: Q♥ 4♥

Chen: A♥ T♠

The board peeled off J♣ 6♠ 2♣ 7♥ 9♠ so no hearts, no queens and no fours means we lose Craig Corkell in 9th spot. He collects €100,000 - no small amount BUT we have our final table line-up!

The Final Table

Nicolas Chouity 10,130,000 Mesbah Guerfi 3,670,000 Andrew Chen 3,350,000 Dominykas Karmazinas 2,285,000 Aleh Plauski 1,695,000 Josef Klinger 1,170,000 Roger Hairabedian 1,130,000

And that is that!

We've had an incredible day today with excitement written on every page of the riveting script. Many of the major players departed, it is true, but the other players have torn into each other with relish and it has been a real battle from start to finish.

Tomorrow will see Nicolas Chouity return as a massive chip leader and he has to be a big favorite for the title but there are bound to be many twists and turns before the day is done.

Join us at 12 p.m. tomorrow local time for the conclusion. You won't want to miss it we promise you!

See you there people. Thanks for following.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Back From Dinner

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The last break was extended to a full one and a half hour dinner break but the players are back at the felt doing their stuff now having filled their hungry bellies up.

It's been fast and furious so far today so we may not have to wait long till our next bustout. For now we remain 11 handed though...no wait...there's been an exciting new development! Read on...

Breaking News: Salvation Deserts Salvatore (11th)

Salvatore Bonavena was regarded by some as a somewhat fortunate winner way back at EPT Prague 2009 but he has put together some good results since then and has run deep here at the tough-as-nails EPT final.

Ultimately though the Italian has fallen just short of picking up his second EPT title and here's how he met his demise.

Bonavena has successfully 3-bet shoved a couple of times already and the last time he did so, he sent a message to chipleader Nicolas Chouity by showing him ace-six.

Ultimately this proved his downfall though, as the next time he shoved over a Chouity raise, Chouity looked a little frustrated...then made the call with K♥ Q♥.

It was a fairly loose call given Bonavena's likely range and indeed it turned out Bonavena had waited for a hand before making his next shove - pocket jacks.

So the pair were flipping for a 2.5 million pot, but a flop of A♦ K♠ 4♦ left Chouity in charge and the A♠ turn and 9♣ did nothing to change the status quo.

So Salvatore Bonavena crashes out in 11th spot winning €80,000 and ending Italian interest in the tournament.

Just 10 players are left in contention now. Here are how they are stacked right now.

No EPT repeat for Bonavena.

The Top Five

That elimination just further cements Chouity's stranglehold at the top of the leaderboard.

Here are the top five stacks.

Nicholas Chouity 9,000,000 Matt Perrins 3,400,000 Andrew Chen 2,210,000 Dominykas Karmazinas 2,045,000 Roger Hairabedian 1,855,000

Just as an aside here's news from the other big tournament going on.

Across The Room: High Rollers Update

There's some interesting stacks taking charge at the High Roller €25k comp taking place on the other side of Le Sporting Casino, here in Monte Carlo.

Right now numbered amongst the chip leaders are none other than Luke Schwartz, Viktor Blom, Daniel Negreanu and Dario Minieri.

It seems highly likely that the winner of this tournament will be a marquee name and we'll be keeping our eyes on developments and bring any interesting confrontations to your door.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Bustout City!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The shocks and suprises just keep coming. We draw ever closer to the final table of the final tournament of the EPT season and it's stating the blindingly obvious but no one wants to be dumped out right now.

Despite the players natural reluctance to bust, it hasn't stopped the aggressive play that has been the hallmark of this EPT and we've just seen another swathe of players just thrown to the sharks.

Let's catch up with the news and stories from around the casino.

Antidote For 1$ickdi$ease (Eyster - 16th)

Kevin Eyster couldn't be stopped yesterday. He won pot after pot and was the runaway chip leader. What a difference a day makes.

The players have finally found out the cure for the Eyster pandemic sweeping the tournament and that was to "run better."

Eyster has faced a number of cooler situations/ doubling up shortstacks and perhaps slight misreads to see his stack chipped at and chopped down until he was left with very few chips.

Finally he used the remains of his stack to go all-in with ace-queen but his timing was off once again, Roger Hairabedian finding pocket queens.

Unable to spike, Eyster saw his equity in the pot gurgle down the plughole of variance and his tournament life simulaneously extinguished.

Eyster can take a small amount of comfort that his exit meant at least he jumped up one payslot, receiving $60k for his 16th place finish even though he will be disappointed not to have gone deeper.

Chip Count For Domenico? Ian-NONE. (15th)

Iannone has seen his tournament end moments ago. Matt Perrins removed him from the fray - after three-betting the Italian with pocket jacks. When the board came K-J-6, Perrins elected to slowplay his middle set, which proved highly effective as Iannone moved all-in on the six turn.

He could only turn up with tens and thus was drawing dead, meaning he busts in 15th spot.

Iannone's day is dusted.

Chen Loves An Italian (Rugini -14th)

Andrew Chen really has risen from an insignificant position to one where he has a shot at winning this tournament.

Most recently he sent Emanuele Rugini to the rail, finding pocket kings to take on Rugini's pocket eights. Rugini prayed for a snowman but Chen's cowboys weren't to be unseated and the flop, turn and river brought no surprises.

Wd Chen who is up to 2.4 million. GG Rugini who picks up €70k. Salvatore Bonavena now the sole remaining Italian.

Stuffed Olive (13th)

Short and finding an ace in the small blind, Laurent Olive raised with A♠ 5♦, only for the exotically-named Dominykas Karmazinas to set him all-in from the big blind.

A pot-odds committed Olive made the call, only to discover the bad news he was dominated - Karmazinas showing ace-ten.

Again the best hand held - sometimes there is justice in poker - and Olive was sent back home with €70k in his pocket, just short of the Monte Carlo final table.

McCorkell's Brave Call (Kelopuro - 12th)

Craig McCorkell just raised it up from the button, only for Sami Kelpuro to move his much-shortened, but still one million stack into the middle from the small blind.

McCorkell insta-called with A♣ 7♣, having clearly identified that he would be beating Kelopuro's range if he shoved.

It was a great call, Kelopuro turning up with A♦ 5♦ - a dominated hand.

The flop fell Q♣ 9♠ 4♣ - a terrible flop for Kelopuro and then the 3♣ turn to make McCorkell the nut flush was the final nail in his coffin.

Kelpuro goes out 12th, good for €80,000. No more LarsLuzak and we are close to the final table right now.

The Top Five

Nicolas Chouity 6,425,000 Craig McCorkell 3,685,000 Matt Perrins 2,800,000 Roger Hairabedian 2,424,000 Andrew Chen 2,380,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Field Of Broken Dreams

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We have lost another two players - the metronomic rate of attrition continuing here in Monte Carlo. The tournament here really has been characterized by some super-aggressive play. it's eben crazy aggressive all the way through and we've loved every minute of it.

Just 16 players remain as we speak, meaning there have been four eliminations. Well here they are!

Rugini Pulled From Under Saizu

Claudiu Saizu can't really complain about his luck today. He has sucked out twice on the river to stay in the competition - the second time performing a little dance in celebration at how good he was running.

Well he's not dancing now.

Instead it was Saizu's turn to run bad, playing out a big pot with Italian Emanuele Rugini. It's a great time for the Italians right now. They ahve a soccer team - Inter Milan - into the Champion's league final, Salvatore Bonavena just sucked out for a big double-up and now it was Rugini's turn to carry the sword of run-good.

Rugini held pocket queens versus the Romanian's pocket aces but a queen spiked on the turn to reverse his disadvantage and leave a shocked Saizu short and in need of redemption.

He would receive none. His nemesis from this hand finished the job soon after, taking his ace-seven on with the dominating ace-jack and holding sway as the dealer dealt out all five cards.

Saizu danced off to the rail.

Jelassi Come Home

Ramzi Jelassi is a popular figure and many feel he will one day take down a big title.

Today, however, will not be that day.

Jelassi's exit came after he moved his stack all-in from under the gun, trying to take down the blinds with Q♦ T♦.

The sight of Jean Francois Talbot also moving all-in to isolate him would not have thrilled Jelassi, although when Talbot flipped up ace-king, things could have been worse.

The flop of 9♠ 6♥ 4♦ looked innocuous enough, although Jelassi sunddenly looked in charge as he turned a the T♠ to move into the lead and looked set to double through.

BOOM! The A♥ appeared as the trend of crucial river cards appearing continued. No luck this time Jelassi - your time will come.

Nick Taken To Schul,man

Nick Schulman has faced a tough task today. He came into the day much fancied - despite his relative shortstack- and had a shot at picking up that mythical "triple crown" of WSOP, WPT and EPT titles.

His shot however has been dissolved by the re-invigorated Andrew Chen, who despatched him moments ago. Chen has worked magic with his shortstack and just now he took on Schulman with pocket tens and was well ahead when his opponent flipped up ace-nine.

No surprises and Chen picks up yet another pot - and is starting to create some breathing space.

Meanwhile Nick Schulman is out! Shocking.

WTF was that?!?

Talbot Shot Down

Jean Francois Talbot was just ejected from the tournament - his executioner Nicolas Chouity and he was not best pleased at the manner of his exit.

Chouity flatted a raise from Talbot and the board fell T-T-9.

Now the fireworks began - Talbot leading out, Chouity making a small raise and Talbot taking only a few seconds to move all-in.

SNAP-CALL!

Wow, big pot in the offing and Talbot nearly threw up when he saw the cards.

"So sick, look at this," he said as he flipped aces....to Chouity's ace-ten! He only had one out to re-draw versus Chouity's trips and when he missed, it was all over for him.

"After that I'm going to give up poker for a few months," he joked in the post-match interview.

The Top Five

Here's how today's play has affected proceedings as the final table approaches.

Craig McCorkell 3,100,000 Nicolas Chouity 2,745,000 Sami Kelopuro 2,575,000 Matt Perrins 2,206,000 Emanuele Rugini 1,922,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Busting High Rollers

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Another level, another couple of bustouts and we are inching closer to the men who will take their places at the PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo Final table.

The atmosphere out there is tense and weighty with every decision dripping with importance. Meanwhile there's the €25,000 High Roller competition going on - which is also proving an interesting comp packed with talent.

Here's what's happening at Le Sporting.

Goodbye - Hruby Rues Day

Martin Hruby is an unfortunate man. The last PokerStars pro standing - or seated - ran into the brick wall of run-good that is Salvatore Bonavena.

First off he had the Italian all-in with pocket kings versus Bonavena's ace-queen.

He looked good to bust him but Bonavena runs good and hit an ace to double through and leave Hruby short.

Then the Italian finished the job, picking off Hruby's desperation shove with ace-five with ace-ten and his dominance prevailed once the river had been dealt.

No more PokerStars pros as Hruby busts in 22nd place.

Sesso - crippled arm, crippled chip stack.

Time For Sesso To Go

David Sesso has evoked sympathy today, both for wandering around with his arm in plaster as a result of falling off a wall in San Remo and also because the "Humpty-Dumpty" of poker has been bullied and pushed around relentlessly on his table.

He's been three-bet again and again today and so when he finally pulled the trigger with his shortstack with pocket queens, most people were rooting for his hand to hold up against Andrew Chen, who had taken him on with ace-ten.

The dealer however failed to cooperate, dealing a board of A♠ 9♥ 8♠ K♦ 2♦, meaning Chen spiked and Sesso received yet more sympathetic looks as he trudged off to do his post-match interview.

Just twenty left now in the Main Event as the final table looms into view.

Across The Room: High Rollers Update

It's still early days in the high roller but the field is absolutely swimming with stellar talents and it is one of the young poker stars who is leading the way right now, Mike McDonald sitting pretty with close to 100k.

A bonanaza turnout of 120+, a huge field for a high roller, has plenty of players ready to overturn McDonald's current supremacy though.

Check out the impressive roster: Luke Shwartz, Vanessa Rousso, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, John Juanda, Sorel Mizzi, Tony G, Carlos Mortensen, Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu amongst others, are all bidding to take down the juicy first prize.

It should prove a fascinating competition.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

The Cusp Of Greatness

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Getting eliminated at this point of the EPT Grand Final must, to use common internet parlance, "suck."

The huge prizes and acclaim that the higher spots at the final table can unlock lie tantalisingly within reach and busting out now is the ultimate in so near and yet so far.

The players who bust out will still receive a healthy remuneration for their efforts but everything's relative in poker and whilst €50k is a lot of money to most people, with €1.7 million awaiting the winner, it seems like a pittance.

Here's news of the fast start so far, including some who have tasted the bitterness of defeat.

No Seven Heaven For Bevand

Winamax representative Manuel Bevand is OUT following an early attempt to chip up. Finding pocket sevens, he tangled with Laurent Olive, but when Olive turned up kings, it was Bevand, not Olive who was on a cocktail stick, and when the board ran out without any sevens, Olive had gobbled him up with a small cube of cheese and a sip of wine.

Good game sir.

No Double Dutch For Berande

Also out is Paul Berande, the Dutchman starting the day as the shortstack and never able to turn his fortunes round. Second hand he found queen-six and shipped it in in an unopened pot, only to run into Caludiu Saizu's dominating ace-queen.

An ace flopped and that was Berande's day finished. He was the highest finishing Dutchman in San Remo and he is the highest finishing Dutchman here in Monte Carlo. Holland - you can be proud of your curly haired warrior.

Hairabedian's chip stack just keeps getting bigger.

The Rise Of Roger

Roger Hai rabedian has a big physical presence at the table and his chip presence is starting to become more and more impressive as time passes.

He's had an outstanding opening level, four-betting on several occasions, the most succesful being cold-four betting Laurent Olive who had re-raised Salvatore Bonavena.

Bonavena folded and Olive tanked before making the call with pocket queens. "Nit-rolling" is what some players might refer to taking his time before calling with queens here, but his caution proved understandable as Hairabedian turned up pocket kings.

With a 1.4 million pot in the making, Hairabedian had a minor scare as the flop came all hearts with Olive holding the only heart, but the turn and river blanked out leaving Hairabedian as a big stack now with over 1.4 million.

The Top Five

Kevin Eyster 2,768,000 Nicolas Chouity 2,537,000 Matt Perrins 2,518,000 Jean Francois Talbot 2,427,000 Aleh Plauski 1,638,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Grand Final - The Final Table Approaches

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Well, we saw incredible scenes yesterday here at Le Sporting Casino. Someone turned the heat up under the EPT Grand Final as it was transformed from interesting occasion to riveting spectacle.

Wave after wave of player was sent crashing to the rail, many of them at the hands of the end-of-day chip leader Kevin Eyser.

Eyser, aka online pwner 1$ickdi$ease, is ranked as high as number 9 on the much-respected pocketfives leaderboard right now and was unstoppable yesterday. He was in imperious form, hammering away at his table relentlessly until he stood atop the whole tournament when they bagged and tagged them at the end.

It is unlikely to be one way traffic for "$ick" though as he has U.K. player Matt Perrins just behind him. Perrins has had plenty of success online but this has begun to translate into some big scores live too, as shown by his E150,000 win in the Italian Poker Tour Venice leg last year.

He has a penchant for fast cars and will be looking to put his foot on the gas and slipstream past Eyser at some point today.

Both looked locked on to make the final although there is plenty of talent lurking further down the leaderboard, perhaps most notably Nick Schulman who, with a WPT and WSOP title already in the bag, has a shot at being only the third man to win the elusive "Triple Crown" of poker.

It should be a fantastic day's poker ahead of us so hold tight as we bring you all the thrills and spills in the run in to the final table.

Good luck all!

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Day 3 Draws To A Close

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

And that, as they say, is that!

Needing three more bustouts to complete the day, we got exactly that in the last 30 minutes and with no further ado let's bring you news of those late eliminations.

Coren Hits Brick Wall

It has been a struggle for Vicky Coren over the last few levels but she has battled hard to fight through to her second EPT title.

Ultimately it has proved beyond her as she busted in 27th spot with Q♣ 9♣ on a K♣ J♣ 2♥ board versus Herve Costa's kings-up.

She had lots of outs to save her but a brick turn and brick river spelt the end of her endeavours.

Good game Ms Coren.

Kick In Diaz

Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro is a tough nut to crack. The high stakes Finn is a difficult player to read - you never know what he might have - so when Gilbert Diaz turned a pair of queens with Q-8, it was no surprise he went with it committing his stack.

This time however Kelopuro had it, his ace-queen comfortably outkicking Diaz and with no salvational eight on the river to bail him out, Diaz' day was done in 26th spot and LarsLuzak had padded his stack nicely.

Santos came close to glory.

San-toast!

The final elimination of the day saw Andre Santos get his chips in with A♥ J♥ on a T♠ 8♥ 2♥ board.

He had two overs and the nut flush draw - but when his opponent in the hand - Jean Francois Talbot - turned over T♣ T♦ for top set, some of his outs evaporated immediately.

By the time the heartless river had been dealt they had all evaporated and Andre Santos was the final man to taste elimination on what has been a firecracker of a day.

And that brought the day to a close!

It's been an invigorating day of awesome, adrenaline-fuelled poker full of intrigue and we've seen all sorts of names rise and fall as the day has progressed. We'll be posting up the official chip counts shortly but we think that Kevin Eyster aka 1$ickdi$ease will be shown to be the chip leader when they arrive with us.

For now thanks for following us as we moved one step closer to crowning the EPT champion. We'll be back tomorrow at 12 p.m. sharp local time to bring you to the final table so join us then. See you later guys.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

The Gates of Destiny

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The last level has seen the earlier incendiary pace slow somewhat. The players are actually relatively deep at this point and do have the time and space to avoid getting all-in preflop if they play a more careful style.

Of course there are some who will always want to play the fast and loose style but right now the majority of players look to have semi-locked down so they can come back tomorrow and gun for that lucrative final table. Just 27 remain with the day set to finish once we reach 24.

Here's how it's been going.

Winners and Luthers

The man who shares his name with Superman's nemesis, Lex Veldhuis, has seen his stock rise over the last few years, culminating in a recent appearance on high-stakes poker.

The popular Dutchman has shown he is an excellent poker player here once again, but unfortunately for his supporters he crashed out moments ago, running into his own form of kryptonite.

Shortstacked, he went for broke with A♦ J♣ and was looked up for his stack.

A five club board gave him the fourth nut flush but his opponent had him locked up, holding the big slick with the A♣.

Goodbye Lex.

From The Felt

"I thought you said you were a gambler? If you fold a pair you aren't a gambler," a chipped-up Ramzi Jelassi tells tablemate Claudiu Saizu after he lays down pocket threes to a 3 bet.

The man with the stylish hat is no longer with us.

Bustout Roundup

Some other big names to have hit the rails in recent times include EPT Deauville 2009 winner Moritz Kranich and Winamax player Nicholas Levi, who always sports a hat tilted at a jaunty angle.

Both will be missed.

Trigger-Happy Coren

Vicky Coren is currently one of the shorter stacks but she is refusing to blind away to oblivion, pulling the trigger with her 400k stack on regular occasions.

Eventually she may get looked up but for now she is hanging in there. This is her take from her twitter account,

"AGONIZING SLOWNESS. We're down to 27 players. I've got 400k. It's not enough but IT'S NOT NONE!"

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Closing In On Glory!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

There's just 36 left now, so we are moving toward resolution for today at least. The day will end with just 24 combatants left and it's anyone's guess who those could be. There are some big stacks who should be safe, but with the way the players are gunning for 1st spot out there, who knows what the immediate future holds.

Here's all the excitement from the last level.

Be Chen-tle With Me

Andrew Chen has no intention of doing any such thing. Although he has nursed a shortstack for much of today, moments ago he managed to double his paltry 200k into 400k and could turn out yet to be a big force here.

The hand saw him shippity-ship his king-ten on the button only to get a call from the blinds with a pair of eights.

Flipping good Chen was, his king-ten was best by the river and he's back in the game.

From the Felt

"Hey Nick, you should be wearing a Yankees cap, not an Orioles cap!" - nearby player critiques Nick Schulman's choice of baseball cap, before Schulman points out the logo is not Orioles.

No Cure for Sick Disease

Right now Kevin Eyster is making sure there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide at his table, pounding away at it and refusing to let anyone pick up some easy chips.

He's looking like a massive threat to win this title right now.

Big Mac

Craig McCorkell however will surely give the American a run for his money if the two meet up anytime soon, which is looking more and more of a likelihood as the numbers dwindle.

McCorkell has a whopping 2.2 million now, three-betting his outchipped opponents regularly and generally showing the aggression and skills it might take to crown him the winner here.

His latest coup saw Sami Kelopuro three-bet McCorkell's opening 38k raise to 98k.

McCorkell took a few moments thinking about it before picking up a giant stack of 10k chips - about 350k - easily enough to set in the Finn which he then placed over the line.

The Finn sighed and leaned back in his chair, tanking for some time. Eventually he made the conservative decision and decided now was not the time, folding his hand and leaving McCorkell to sweep up another very useful coup.

Coren hanging in there.

Swelling Crowds

As the temperature is ratcheted up a few notches, the rail just seems to grow thicker and thicker, the human carpet encircling the playing arena increasing layers level by level.

The rail is a mix of young women, players sweating their friends and percentages, eagle-eyed media, burly security and waiting staff cutting through regularly with fresh refreshments.

The Turning Point - Matt Perrins

People talk about players' tournaments hinging on one key pot and for Perrins, he just played out a crucial one. Facing off against Kenny Hallert, Perrins was pretty stoked to get some great action with his pocket kings and eventually the two of them got their chips into the middle.

This is where things looked bad for Perrins.

His kings were the second nuts, but he was staring down the barrell of defeat as Hallert had the bullets - the actual nuts!

Harsh deal perhaps, though not as harsh as the king that spiked to send him the pot (it was a one outer as a king had been folded in the hand.)

Fortunes swing on such moments and in this case fortune favoured Perrins as he knocked out Hallert and moved up to 2,800,000. Sick, sick, sick.

The Top Five

As we close in on the last few levels of the day, here's how the head of the leaderboard is standing right now. The U.K. players are sandwiching 1s$ckd$sease at the top.

Matt Perrins 2,400,000 Kevin Eyster 2,210,000 Craig McCorkell 1,800,000 Nicolas Chouity 1,496,000 Aleh Plauski 1,240,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Making The Moves

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

No time to catch our breath here. Every moment we see another few busts, or a big hand play out. The players are relentless, the pace is relentless and the acton is riveting.

Read on for details of the action.

Time to Thia-go

Having chips in the latter stages is no guarantee that you will go on to taste tournament success and this has proven the case for Thiago Nishijima, the unlikely named Brazilian player.

Forced to make a move with a relatively short stack he stuck it in with jack-ten and was called by fours.

One unsuccessful flip later, the exotically-named Nishijima was on the rail. GG.

Kev-OUT McPhee

Also out is EPT Germany winner Kevin Macphee, who left his run-good mojo back in Berlin, busting earlier in the day just before the really interesting part of the tournament.

Hey, at least we haven't been raided here Kevin!

Spanish Civil War

Oscar Blanco just received short shrift at the hands of his compatriot Juan Manuel Pastor, Pastor racing his ace-jack against Blanco's pocket nines.

It was the latter who was covered, so needing to hit just a single ace or jack, Pastor's overkill flop of A-A-T-J-5 giving him the nut full house was more than sufficient to banish Blanco back to the homeland.

Klinger beginning to crush.

Bad Read Costa Peters Dear

Herve Costa just saw to it that American David Peters won't be challenging any further today.

Peters had led out on a queen-high flop only for Costa to raise a probably committing amount of chips.

Peters tanked awhile before moving all-in and Costa made a quick call with ace-queen for "top,top."

We only caught a glimpse of Peters cards as he mucked them just before exiting to the cash desk, but it looked like he had tens and was mightily annoyed with himself.

Another one down...

The Top Five

Here are the big chips as we move ever closer to the magic number of 24 that will signal the end of today.

Kevin Eyster 2,033,000 Craig McCorkell 1,600,000 Josef Klinger 1,414,000 Matt Perrins 1,302,000 Kenny Hallaert 1,200,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

The British Attack

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The last level had a particularly percussive impact on the British contingent at the felt. Several Brits faced the bitter taste of elimination whilst several are battling on with thoughts of success still burning in the front of their temples.

Here we go with the latest.

The Golden Goose Is Dead

Neil Channing's wonderful golden shoes won't be tapdancing up to the final table of EPT Monte Carlo after his chip stack took a tumble for the worse.

His final hand saw him ship ace-queen over the top of an under-the-gun raise.

He was called by ace-jack which was great news for him, but then a jack spiked on the turn to dash the feel-good coursing through his veins and send him spiralling out of contention.

Bad Times For Blighty

Another U.K. hopeful, James Mitchell, has had an astounding time of it recently, winning the Irish Open just a few weeks ago.

He's made a good run here but ultimately couldn't conquer the latter stages - Mitchell doubling up two shortstacks to find himself short before shoving 5♦ 4♦ and running into his opponent's A♠ T♣ which held.

The Brits Fight Back!

It's not all doom and gloom for the British contingent still battling it out though, as Matt Perrins is currently smashing up his table, winning pot after pot.

Moments ago, we joined him betting 105k into a board of 7♥ 6♦ 4♣ 9♥ 5♦ and a puzzled looking Roger Hairabedian was staring carefully at the board.

Eventually, after removing his glasses and holding the chips behind the line unsure of whether to call or not, he pushed them over.

Perrins showed down pocket eights for the straight and shaking his head, Hairabedian turned up pocket aces. Perrins shoots straight to the top of the leaderboard following that hand.

He is joined there by fellow Brit Craig McCorkell, who has ascended to 3rd spot.

Loves a good tweet!

Coren Fights On

Vicky Coren is shortish, but still fighting on. It's hard to be more accurate than the very words from the lady herself so here is Vicky Coren's twitter update for you.

"Down to 56 players and money up to €30k. The next level's make or break for me, but if it's break I'll be perfectly satisfied with that sum."

Bustout Updates

Other names to have succumbed over the last level include Nikita Nikolaev. Melanie Weisman was never able to recover from her big failed bluff earlier and she too has joined the growing crowds on the rail who can but dream of EPT glory.

The Top Five

Matt Perrins 1,195,000 Kevin Eyster 1,172,000 Craig McCorkell 1,100,000 Ramzi Jelassi 930,000 Jean Francois Talbot 927,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Chips And Change

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Another level of carnage has seen the field thinned to just 71 players.

We're due to play down to 24 today and if this incredible rate continues, we'll be finishing up early. here's the story of the felt.

It's Weis To Beware The Min Raise

Melanie Weisner has suprised many with her plucky run to reach these stages. She has been fearless and aggressive (as this hand shows) but moments ago her big stack was dealt a big blow and it will be interesting to see how well Weisner copes with this setback.

Heads-up to a J♠ J♣ 7♦ flop with Frenchman Roger Hairabedian, Weisman led out for 23k after her opponent checked, only for Hairabedian to make it 46k.

"You min-raised?" asked an incredulous Weisner before throwing out the call.

The turn was the 7♠ and Hairabedian checked again. Weisner watched him for some moments before also checking behind.

The river fell the K♦ and Hairabedian now bet out 60k.

"How much do you have back?" she asked and was told around 125k.

"I'm all in," she said emphatically, sweeping her hands outwards to confirm - only for Hairabedian to insta-call.

Even before he had time to table his K-J for a massive full house, she said, glumly, "You've got it" and threw her hand forward face down.

She was asked to show her cards and revealed she had run a big bluff with pocket deuces - brave move. After losing nearly 250k that hand, Weisner had been brought back to 180k ot so, whilst her opponent had close to 500k.

S$ck D$sease Spreading

Kevin Eyster aka online player 1s$ckd$sease appears to be the chip leader right now with over a million chips. His rise came courtesy of a tablemate, who committed all his chips on the turn of an A-Q-6-J board with jack-queen for two pair, only for Eyster to show him aces-up in A-6, which held to the river.

Ranked 9th in the pocket fives rankings, Eyster is showing he has some well-developed live skills too and he has now opened up a huge lead in first place.

Moneymaker heading the wrong way right now.

Nothing To Crowe About

Owen Crowe is another casualty of the whirlwind start, committing himself with a frosty pair of snowmen which were promptly melted by American David Paredes red-hot sizzling bullets.

Bowey: Fours To Be Reckoned With

James Bowey has hauled himself back from the brink - his most recent escapade involving him doubling up versus American Anthony Guetti with pocket fours.

Guetti tabled Ace-nine but lost out on the flip.

The Top Five

Here are the men leading the way right now. Eyster has lost some chips since we had him at 1.2 million so has slipped back out of the chip lead.

Nick Schulman 1,010,000 Ramzi Jelassi 930,000 Josef Klinger 803,000 Kevin Eyster 785,000 David Sesso 760,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Feeling The Power

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Rampant! That's one of the few words to describe the players this morning. There's no messing around, we have seen a veritable whirlwind of activity out there with players doubling up, others busting, all sorts of commotion and an incredible tournament playing out.

Here's what we've been privy to:

Breaking News - Jetten Peters Out

Peter Jetten was many people's pick to come through and win here in Monaco but the Canadian sensation has shattered those ambitions, busting out in the first level of the day.

His demise came following a 15k raise from late position, which David Sesso then called on the button.

The board was A♦ Q♣ 7♣ and when Jetten checked his ace-ten and Sesso led for 56k, he felt ready to put his tournament on the line, check-raising all-in for 200k.

Unfortunately for him Sesso was going nowhere with ace-king and made the call. His hand held to the river and Jetten was ejected from proceedings.

Meanwhile that 450k+ pot moved David Sesso into a top 5 spot in the chip counts.

The Man With The Golden Shoes

Neil Channing may be amongst the shorter stacks left in contention but he is drawing inspiration from a pair of golden shoes he has been sporting all week.

"Did you make them yourself?" PokerListings asked Channing.

"No I certainly didn't," an offended Channing responded. "These are my lucky Hugo Boss shoes! But I'm not having a Devilfish-style crisis," he added quickly.

"Anytime I'm about to buy something, I ask myself, "Is this something Devilfish would buy?" If the answer's yes...I don't buy it."

From The Felt

"Are you terrorising people?" - a new player joining Lex Veldhuis' table asks Veldhuis if he is bullying with his big stack.

"He's been a pain," replies the player to his immediate right. "Especially since he doubled up."

Schulman still top of the heap.

Bust-a-licious

It's been fast and furious from the start with over 20 busts in the first level. Several others have succumbed including the U.K.'s Toby Lewis who re-shoved twenty big blinds with ace-queen, only to receive the bad news his opponent had ace-king.

One quick flop later and Lewis had joined the growing throngs on the rail.

The Top Five

With the tournament starting to shape up, here are the men leading the pack as we speak.

Nick Schulman 850,000 Matt Perrins 769,000 Sergey Lebedev 760,000 Ramzi Jelassi 750,000 David Sesso 725,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

EPT Grand Final: Day 3 Commences

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

It takes some time for a story to develop but here at Monte Carlo, the major players are coming into focus and a new page is being written in the EPT history books as we speak.

Whoever wins will have the spotlight of the poker world thrown upon them, but there are one or two names who would rock the poker world to its very foundations should they win.

There are two men who spring immediately to mind.

The first is Nick Schulman who currently holds the chip lead. Schulman collected a bracelet during the 2009 WSOP and having picked up a WPT title, he just needs to add an EPT to his impressive C.V. to complete the fabled "Triple Crown" of poker.

The second man poised to create his own slice of history is Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion. Moneymaker is the symbol of the rise of popularity of poker, the man who epitomised the breaking down of barriers showing that any player could rise up and win the biggest prizes of all.

Since his epic win, he has experienced a lean time in terms of results but is handily placed to make a run at his second super-title, currently sitting tenth out of our remaining players.

There are all kinds of other interesting players and angles to look at the tournament from, many of which we will explore as we go through the day, but for now let's join the action so we can catch all the developments of what promises to be an epic day.

Good luck all!

Remember you can check the start of day chip counts of all the players in contention by clicking the tab just above the updates here.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Pop! - The Bubble Bursts; Day 2 Ends

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

It should probably come as no surprise that we weren't faced with a protracted bubble period, given the abrasive nature of this tournament. We only had about 15 minutes of the slow, drawn-out hand for hand period before it was all over.

Here's how it played out, just prior to the end of play.

Olsson's Ake-y-Breaky Heart

The man to miss out on a payday by just a hair's breadth was Ake Olsson, the Swedish player shipping it in with Q♦ J♥ and finding Giles Haddad forced to make a pot-odds call with the weak looking T♠ 6♥.

Favorite for the pot, his fortunes were reversed as the board peeled off with both a ten and a six and Olsson was facing painful elimination.

A queen on the turn briefly gave him hope but a blank river consigned him to the dustbin of history and 118 players cheered whilst a disconsolate Olsson trudged off to drown his sorrows and listen to some Billy Ray Cyrus music (which just made him sadder.)

And that pretty much was that.

There was another 25 minutes or so to play our before the end of play, and several mini-stacks who had been on successful bubble-dodging duty managed to explode their few chips into dust.

It's hard to say exactly who is leading right now until we get official confirmation but we are going to stick out necks out and say that Nick Schulman's large stack of 750k looks like it might be out in the lead right now.

Schulman is one of the few players capable of winning the fabled "Triple Crown" - consisting of a WPT win, and EPT win and a WSOP win.

So far only Gavin Griffin and Roland de Wolfe have achieved this but the laid-back, cool-as-a-cucumber Schulman would love to be the third man to do so.

Also in contention are Chris Moneymaker with 450k or so and Melanie Weisman with just under 400k. We'll post up the official counts once we receive them but for now thanks for following and make sure you hook up with us tomorrow for the run-in to the final.

It's been a lot of fun. See you tomorrow.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Hand-for-Hand!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Well, if Neil Channing wasnt happy with the pace of events earlier, we hate to think how much he is steaming right now as the actual bubble is in effect and we are hand-for-hand right now!

Just 119 players remain with 118 paid. Sadly for us media-types that means we have been evacuated from the central playing arena meaning we aren't privy to much of the action apart from the outer circumference.

Here's the state of play right now as we speak.

The Magic Is Gathering

A geeky reference perhaps but accurate given the tension and the stakes are getting bigger and bigger every minute.

There's a hushed sense of awe in the casino right now. Everyone knows that we are the first of many critical junctures of the tournament.

The next player to make a mistake, get his chips in bad or just get a plain old bad beat will return from the principality of Monaco empty-handed and for some of the online qualifiers that will represent a pretty sick beat.

It could burst quickly or it could take a while...but there will be some nails bitten in the meantime...

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

The Bubble Approaches!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Amazingly, we are already closing in on the bubble period. It seemed unlikely we would get to this point so quickly but the players have been tearing shreds out of one another and here we are!

Just 141 remain locked on to riches and glory and with 118 paid, it will be getting very tense out there for some.

Let's catch up with the latest from the felt because there's lots going on.

Weis Move by Melanie

The young lady seems to be growing in confidence and ability as her chip stack grows. Could we have a second consecutive female EPT champion on our hands?

Moments ago she added yet another pot to her stack, raising it up pre-flop and picking up one caller.

The flop fell 8♦ 7♦ 2♦ and both players checked.

The turn fell the 7♠ and watched intently by Weisner, her opponent led out for 16k.

Weisner made the call.

The river was the K♠ and her opponent - watched like a hawk by the deceptive Weisner - now bet out a chunky 40k. Weisner considered for a few moments before raising to 100k. It didn't take long before she was rewarded with a fold, her stack rising to roughly 400k to put her close to the chip lead.

Extermi-Thater

Fans of the German player Katja Thater will be disappointed to hear she busted out just before dinner.

It was a harsh exit too, getting her chips in preflop with pocket cowboys, only for a player with pocket eights to make the call, spike an eight and send her spinning to the rail.

GG Katja.

Frustration setting in for 'Bad Beat' Channing.

From the Felt

"I'm on the table of death!" - Channing complains about the slow pace of his table - including Paul Berende, raising his eyebrows.

"We've played two hands in 15 minutes."

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Back From The Break

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Apologies for the delay, the dinner break was in fact 90 minutes long. The players are back at the felt now though so expect fireworks, carnage and excitement as we draw increasingly closer to crowning the latest player to taste EPT glory here at Monte Carlo.

There's gonna be some noise.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Dinner Break!

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

The end of level 14 means the players can take a well earned break for dinner. They will recess for an hour and pour into Monaco to grab some nourishment as will we, so join us back then for the resumption.

Just before we go though, we just want to bring a few notable big stacks to your attention.

First off, Portuguese player Andre Santos is, likely in the top three chip stacks with a whopping 300k.

Next up, we have Kevin Eyster, perhaps better known as 1$ickDisea$E online. He has a formidable record there and his 260k here stands him in good stead.

Finally one of the last remaining ladies is Melanie Weisner. Weisner shipped the ladies tournament in Prague and with 260k here, she is a force to be reckoned with.

We'll be back in sixty minutes to follow these and all the other player's progress so join us then.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Clash Of The Titans

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

Just 183 left? The 2nd day of the EPT Grand Final really has flown by, with players busting regularly. THe high attrition rate seems indicative of the new face of poker these days. The new breed of super aggressive players have been honed online to squeeze every last drop of fold equity and value out of their stacks.

Four, five or even six bet shoves with marginal hands have not been uncommon, any edge being exploited to the max by the cream of the poker world playing here in Monaco.

We still have scores of top class players in the mix, a blend of new and old school looking to seize their shot at the huge first prize. Many of course have had their dreams crushed.

Here's the big news from the last level.

Getting Sadder for Cada

Joe Cada had some fortune during the WSOP final table so he probably can't complain too much that he has run bad here.

The beat he took saw him shipped on for his stack holding pocket aces. He made the call as you do and was ready to put his opponent's pocket nines in their place, when his world collapsed.

The flop was fine but a nine on the turn left him hanging by a thread and a blank river severed any connection he had with the tournament.

One WSOP champ down.

Levi's Lovely Ladies

Nicholas Levi is now vying for the chip lead following a massive coup where he became entangled with two foes - both of whom he covered - preflop, holding pocket queens.

His opponents could only table the inferior eights and ace-queen and when neither a bullet or a snowman spiked to puncture his dreams, both were sent railwards whilst Levi shot up to around 400k...and looked most pleased about it.

The everyman of poker.

Player Spotlight: Chris Moneymaker

Many put the rise of poker's popularity almost exclusively down to this man. Chris Moneymaker came from nowhere to scoop the Main Event Title for $2,500,000 and became the inspiration for millions of other poker players to do the same.

Since then, Moneymaker has failed to replicate his success but has been a good ambassador for the sport and has added another $500k in cashes to his resume as well as showing some form in last year's WCOOP on 'Stars, collecting $137k in the Main Event for a creditable final table finish.

Opinion is divided on Moneymaker's real poker talents. Many claim he got lucky to win the Main Event whilst others say that Moneymaker's contribution to poker is unparalelled in its importance.

Whichever side of the fence you are on, right now he is amongst the chip-leaders and he is in with a shout of his second big title. If he takes down Monte Carlo EPT, he will come close to eclipsing his biggest live score and will do much to silence the doubters of his skills.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Deeply Dippy Day Two

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

We're approaching the end of the level and the rapid rate of attrition that sees just 224 of the starting 473 players remaining.

Over half the field have now been cut from the start of today and it's unlikely to be a long day if the players keep this up.

Here's what we've seen going on over the last level.

Bok or Charm?

The double-bracelet winner and bustified JP Kelly just wandered over to Vicky Coren for a chat when she chose that moment to get her rather shortstack into the middle.

"Will you be a bok or a charm?" she asked Kelly laughing.

She was looked up by ace-jack but her pocket queens were well ahead and a double-up looked on the cards.

A board of Q-K-3-5-A only threatened her dominance for a moment, before she swept up a well-merited double-up to 45k.

"You'd have lost a friend if a ten had rolled in," we told a relieved Kelly, who agreed.

Blom Shell

Viktor Blom - be he Isildur or not - is no longer in the competition, we beleive courtesy of Leo Magret, whose stack is now just over 120k.

No big score for Isildur to get him back into the game against durrrr just yet.

Liz Lieu-ses

Liz Lieu hasn't been able to take her stack through to day three, falling foul of that dreaded coin-flip scenario, her nines failing to hold as a cruel ace rivered to leave her opponent's ace-king in pole position and Liz on the rail.

Rosen and fallin' on the waves of variance.

Chronic Variance for Rosen

We just spoke to Jamie "Chronic420" Rosen, who tells us his stack has been fluctuating rapidly over the last few levels.

"I was up to 150k, but then pulled a 4-bet shove with king-queen into my opponent's 100k stack...and he called with ace-ten!"

It was a sick call and Rosen wasn't able to turn round his slim equity deficit in this hand. Instead he was left with 50k, but he managed to spin that round with a double up to 100k soon after - his middle pair holding versus an opponent's two overcards.

Lewis Lays Smackdown

What a year it's been for Toby Lewis. He won a major title, picking up EPT Deauville and since then has continued to run well, picking up score after score online.

He now finds himself amongst the chip leaders here in Monte Carlo with 240k or so and is looking ready to take on whatever the poker world can throw at him.

We're keeping a close eye on the young Englishmen as he bids for his second EPT title of the season.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com