PokerStars.com EPT Prague Live Updates

Francesco Cirianni shipped it with A♥ 8♥, but Andrew Chen made a quick call with the dominating A♦ Q♥.

Would it hold?

On a board of J♣ 5♠ 4♦ 6♦ 9♣ it does, and we lose the player who has been dubbed "a cross between The Incredible Hulk and Elton John."

Following his bust-out, he disappoints supporters by not turning green, ripping his shirt off his ample frame and bursting into a rendition of "I'm Still Standing!"

Instead, he leaves to collect his €166,000 from the cash desk for his fifth-place finish.

The game continues four-handed as we inch closer to crowning the champion here in Prague.

Following that elimination the players have been given a 15-minute break to regroup. We'll be back shortly.

An incredible hand just played out.

Salvatore rasied to $240,000 pre-flop, an incredibly large raise, only to see Konstandinos, the chip leader reraise all-in for not one, but two meeeeelion chips!

Konstantinos says, "I think you have ace-king!"

Salvatore considers this, wrapped up in his old-timer version of the Dario Minieri scarf, before ... passing!

Incredible pass given how much he put in pre-flop ... even more incredible when you consider he had A-K!

Konstantinos shows he completely pwned the Italian's soul, showing down A-Q and celebrating by grabbing two drinks from the rail, laughing heartily.

Meanwhile Salvatore looks like someone just kicked him in the unmentionables ... and the poker continues!

Alexiou Konstantinos raises to $80,000 and Massimo De Cicco moves all-in for his last $247,000 under the top. Action folds back to Konstantinos, who makes the call with a startling 8♠ 6♣ to De Cicco's A♣ 2♣. The flop is a good one for De Cicco, coming A♠ J♠ T♥ to give the boy top pair.

The turn is the K♦, giving Konstantinos outs to chop, but the river is the 9♠ and De Cicco doubles up to stay alive.

In a battle of the blinds, Salvatore Bonavena raises from the small blind and Alexiou Konstantinos puts him all-in in the big blind. Bonavena makes the call, tabling A♦ J♥, and finds himself a favorite against Konstantinos' K♦ T♦.

The flop once again brings the drama, coming J♦ 7♥ 6♦ to give Bonavena top pair and Konstantinos the diamond flush draw. The turn is the 3♥ and the river the 6♣ and Bonavena manages to dodge the diamonds to double up and stay alive.

Bond's archnemesis Fredrik Nygard saw Chen ship it in from the small blind, looked down at A♥ 8♠ and made the call for his stack.

Chen had the "hand-caught-in-cookie-jar" hand of Q♠ 2♥.

The worst hand has had a way of outdrawing the better hand today though and that pattern was evident again as the flop fell K♦ 3♠ 2♠ to bust Chen into the lead.

The T♦ 4♦ turn and river were no good to Nygard, meaning James Bond can sleep easy as Nygard bites the dust, winning €130,000.

Good game sir.

Nygard and Konstantinos go to a flop of K♠ 6♠ 6♣.

Nygard bets $85,000. Konstantinos calls.

TURN: J♣

Nygard bets $120,000. The Greek player again makes the call.

RIVER: 4♥

Nygard checks and now Konstantinos bets out $200,000. A confused-looking Nygard makes the call, only for Konstantinos to revel in his moment as he flips up 6-6 for quads!

"YEAHHHHHHHHH!" he shouts as Blofeld's head droops sadly.

Nygard now pretty short ....

Fredrik Nygard was now very short and propelled his stack into the middle with A-5, only for Chen to make what was one of the first few insta-calls of the final, with the dominant A-T.

Were we about to lose the final's only Bond villain?

FLOP: A♣ 6♦ 3♦

All good so far, Chen looked like he was about to deliver that knockout blow.

TURN: 7♣

Interesting. Gut-shot draw for Nygard. Four or five required to get him out of it ...

RIVER: 4♣!

Incredible! It's been a final chock-full of bad beats, and another one is delivered to keep the Finn in contention with a timely double-up.

Andrew Chen raises to $71,000 and the action folds to Salvatore Bonavena, who makes it $135,000 on the button. The blinds get out and Chen matches the small reraise. We're heads-up to the flop, which comes K♦ T♠ 2♠.

Chen checks to Bonavena, who bets out $220,000 and is called by the young Canadian. The turn is the K♠ and again Chen checks. Bonavena checks behind and the river is the 8♦.

Both players check once more and Chen turns up K-J for trips. It's good and Chen takes the pot.

Di Cicco just shipped his stack into the middle and Blofeld lookey-likey Fredrik Nygard buried his head in his hands as he has done several times before prior to ... making the call!

Di Cicco: K♣ 9♣

Nygard: K♠ J♠

The Italian looks in bad shape, and we could have a quick post-dinner elimination on our hands!

The flop falls an incredible 9♠ 3♠ 3♥!

Once again the Italian player gets very lucky and hits top pair with his dominated hand, though Nygard has his flush draw and jack to fall back on.

The turn and river fall the 4♦ 5♥ though and Uncle Festa takes a big hit whilst the Italian rail shows signs of life, cheering their fortunate hero on as he doubles through.

The players are just reseating following the dinner break and the dealer is shuffling up.

It's back on!

Andrew Chen raises and Fredrik Nygard makes the call. The flop comes J♦ J♣ 8♣ and Chen bets out $80,000. Nygard gives the matter some thought before making the call and the turn is the A♦.

Now Chen, his consternation showing, bets out $200,000. Nygard tanks some more but ultimately releases his hand, and Chen takes the pot. He's now on over $1 million and climbing.

Andrew Chen raises to $48,000 and Nasr El Nasr moves all-in over the top for about $250,000 more. Action folds back to Chen, who makes a quick call and turns up T♠ T♥ to find himself racing El Nasr's K♦ J♦.

The flop brings the drama, coming T♦ 4♦ 2♣ to give Chen the set but El Nasr the diamond flush draw. The turn is the 7♠ and the river the 8♥ and El Nasr, one of the better players at the table today, can't spike a diamond and is thus eliminated.

He's out in seventh place and earns €99,500 for his time.

Nasr raises it up to $56,000 only for Konstantinos to wield his big stack successfully, reraising to $250k and being rewarded with a fold, which sends the Greek's stack soaring over the $2 million mark for the first time.

The cards are in the air as we proceed on Level 23.

Will the players slow down? Let's wait and see ...

The end of Level 22 is the cue for the players to take a break.

There has been a raft of interesting hands so far, with some questionable plays littering the proceedings.

We'll be back in 15 minutes. See you there!

Fredrik Nygard's sun is being eclipsed at the moment, the Blofeld look-alike paying off Konstantinos' thin value bet recently, and he has just continued his downward trend, losing another big chunk to Nasr El Nasr.

It opened with Nygard opening to $39,000, only for Nasr to ship it in for $263,000.

Nygard has shown a propensity to not fold so far, and after burying his head in his hands for a few moments he made the call with A-J, finding himself dominated by Nasr's A-K.

The board ran out K♠ J♥ T♥ 3♦ 6♠ for a handy double-through for Nasr, who is now up to $556k, whilst the Finn is in freefall right now.

Fredrik Nygard raises to $39,000 and Alexiou Konstantinos reraises to $229,000. Action folds back to Nygard, who makes the call, and the flop comes K♥ Q♠ 6♦. Nygard checks to Konstantinos, who checks behind, and the turn is the J♣. Again both players check.

The river is the 5♠ and Nygard checks again. Konstantinos makes as though to check before grabbing a random handful of chips and throwing it into the middle. It's worth $120,000 and Nygard, clearly befuddled, gives the matter some thought and then makes the call. 

Konstantinos turns up J♥ 7♦ for third pair and, amazingly, it's good to take the pot.

The standard of play at this final table has been, to put it charitably, questionable. Very questionable. Take this last hand as an example:

Massimo Di Cicco min-raises preflop and Fredrik Nygard defends his big blind. The flop comes Q♠ 6♦ 3♣ and Di Cicco bets out $100,000 into an $86,000 pot. Nygard thinks for a minute or two before putting Di Cicco all-in for his last $211,000. Di Cicco folds rather quickly and Nygard takes the pot.

Chen hasn't slowed down since becoming the short stack, and again shipped in his stack of $224k, only for Bonavena to make the call.

Chen sighed as once again he was dominated with K♣ 9♣, Bonavena showing down K♦ Q♦.

Chen had already sucked out one time and this time his suck-out was even more dramatic, the board falling a conclusive A♦ 9♥ 9♠!

With only backdoor draws to get Bonavena out of the hole, the 4♣ ended any possibility of a resuck, and the Canadian grinned happily as fortune smiled on him once again and he doubled through to $460k or so.

Massimo Di Cicco is now the short stack and most likely to exit next ...

Nasr El Nasr just went for the blinds with a raise to $36,000, but the mission was aborted when Italian Francesco Cirianni repopped to a relatively small-looking $71,000.

Nasr was not interested in going any further in the hand, laying it down quickly and leaving the Italian to sweep up the pot gratefully.

As the short stack, Andrew Chen looked likely to be the next elimination, and when he shipped it in with Q-7, only to be looked up by Konstantinos' K-Q, the future looked bleak for the young Canadian.

He ran good this time though, spiking a seven on a 7♥ 3♦ 2♦ board and never relinquishing that advantage as the turn and river blanked out with the 9♣ and 4♥.

Back up to $260k, Chen still has some way to go before he is back in the reckoning for the top spots, but he will be buoyed by that double-up nonetheless ...

Chen has already laddered up one spot but was looking to increase his stock, raising to $30,000 pre-flop, only for Alexiou Konstantinos to call the additional $18,000 from the big blind.

The flop fell K♠ 8♠ 2♣ and both players checked the board.

The turn was the 9♣ and now Konstantinos led for $30,000.

Chen called ...

The river was the 6♦ and now Konstantinos made a big bet of purple $10,000 chips totaling $120,000. Anguish racked the Canadian's face, but he made the call, only for a jubilant Konstantinos to show down two pair in 9♥ 6♥, raising his arms in the air and cheering as Chen shook his head miserably, half his stack disappearing in one fell swoop.

We predicted a fast start and the players haven't disappointed!

Raul Mestre raised it up to $30,000, only for Blofeld look-alike Fredrik Nygard to reraise to $100,000.

Raul now shoved for his $311,000 stack!

Nygard looked pained and went into the tank, at one point looking like he might resurface stroking a furry cat, but instead he made what proved an inspired call with 9♦ 9♥, as Mestre could only table the comparatively weak A♣ 7♣!

The flop fell J♥ 8♠ 3♥ and it looked like bad news for the Spaniard, but then the A♥ spiked on the turn!

Relief spilled over Mestre's face as he hit his three-outer to take the lead.

He still had to fade a nine or heart on the river though, which fell ... the Q♥!

Incredible! Two hands in and we'd already witnessed the classic suck/resuck in effect, as Mestre was sent crashing to the rail and banished to the cash desk to collect his €71,800 consolation prize.

The players are seated and are currently being introduced. 

We will be starting shortly so here's a quick reminder of how the players are seated, along with their starting stacks.

Alexiou Konstandinos	$1,382,000	Seat 1
Nasr El Nasr	$376,000	Seat 2
Massimo Di Cicco	$429,000	Seat 3
Francesco Cirianni	$807,000	Seat 4
Raul Mestre	$313,000	Seat 5
Andrew Chen	$309,000	Seat 6
Fredrik Nygard	$666,000	Seat 7
Salvatore Bonavena	$1,402,000	Seat 8

Salvatore is an amateur player from Italy but is enjoying a spectacular roll on the European circuit right now. He came second in a Notte di Poker event in Venice three weeks ago for €100,000, and is now chip leader going into the final table of EPT Prague.

By day, Salvatore – who is married with two sons – works for a housing association in Monza, but he plays a lot of recreational poker in cardrooms through Italy. This is his second EPT – he played San Remo last season but didn’t cash.

Despite playing cards for more than half of his 32 years, Fredrik Nygard is contesting his first EPT here in Prague - and is chip leader going to the final table. He plays any games he can find - blackjack, Caribbean stud, five-card stud, whatever - but is most profitable around the poker tables, where he is primarily a high-stakes, live cash player.

He has played on the WPT and at the Aussie Millions, focusing on the side action there, and enjoys traveling to play. Formerly a salesman for nine years, with his own sales consultancy business, Nygard now lives in Oslo, Norway, a short hop from his native Finland.

Andrew did two years of biochemistry at McMaster University in Hamilton (outside Toronto) before dropping out this year to play poker full time. His biggest live cash to date was in November when he came fifth at the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour event in San Jose, Costa Rica for $61,063.

He focuses on big-buy-in live tournaments that he can satellite into. He plays both cash games and live tournaments online.

Chen's path to the final table today has been a little nervy. Twice he was all-in in a coin-flip situation, and both times had to wait until the river to hit one of his overcards.

The explosion in poker in Spain owes a lot to Raul Mestre, a high-stakes cash player from Valencia who recently began to share his knowledge with a team of other professionals. Raul  trains, among others, the recent LAPT Punta del Este champion Jose Miguel Espinar and now finds himself at an EPT final table, the first of his career.

Although he does most of his playing, and winning, around the online tables, Raul has a couple of high finishes on the WPT to his name, as well as victory in the televised Late Night Poker Ace series in 2006. Mestre is one of the short stacks going into the final, but quite literally wrote the book on poker strategy and has all the skills necessary to make a charge.

Salesman Francesco has been playing Texas Hold’em for the last three years. He plays very little online poker and considers himself mainly a live player. This is his third EPT – he also played San Remo last season and Budapest in October.

He wrote, “I’m feeling more serene and happy than excited about the final table. This style of tournament is really suited to my game and getting this far is pay-back for all the losses I’ve suffered. I’m a solid player and only get knocked out because of bad beats.”

Massimo, who celebrated his 50th birthday on Thursday, is a medical dentist from Sant'Elia Fiumerapido near Frosinone in Lazio, central Italy. He has been playing Texas Hold’em for two years and started playing on PokerStars six months ago. This is only the second live tournament he has ever played; the first was a side event in Venice where he came third.

He said, “I feel very emotional about getting to the final table; I never thought I’d get to this point. It’s not enough to be good in a tournament like this – you also need a lot of luck to get to the final. The biggest emotion for me is telling my wife and children about it over the phone.”

Student Nasr is at the start of a big round-the-world trip and has kicked off his adventure in Prague – playing in his first EPT. The rest of his trip – which includes Cairo, Malaysia, Tokyo, Shanghai and New Delhi - will also involve some “poker stops” like the Aussie Millions and APPT Manila.

Nasr, 23, initially studied Islam and science but is now switching to International Business. He has lived in Germany since he was five but his parents originally come from the Middle East – his father from Libya and his mother from Syria. Nasr is well-known on the live poker circuit in Germany and is looking forward to the Prague final table – his biggest success in poker so far.

Alexiou studied mathematics at university but gave up on the subject after opening his own fitness club business. He’s currently living in the Greek capital Athens with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. He took up poker as a hobby three years ago, playing cash games in Greece and taking part in tournaments abroad. Although he’s not a full-time poker player, this is his third final table in just a few weeks. He won the last two and is going into tomorrow’s final with the second-largest chip stack.

And we're back!

The final eight players have spent last night tossing and turning with dreams of EPT success at the forefront of their minds.

Salvatore Bonavena leads the charge at the head of the chip counts.

Yesterday's play started fast and we've no reason to think that today will be any different as the players go at it hell for leather in pursuit of that juicy €774,000 first prize.

Here are the full payouts awaiting all our finalists.

Czech yourselves people, the game is on!