Who Dat? Dat SuperNova philivey0997, who picked up $133,620.23for taking down the Sunday Warm-Up on the biggest sporting night of the western hemisphere. While millions of people tuned into a little football game in Miami, 4,900 players tuned into PokerStars for the Sunday Warm-Up. The prize pool of $980,000 was nothing to sneeze at, and neither were the six-figure paydays that the last three standing at the final table locked up for themselves in a chip count chop.

Just as the big parties celebrating the New Orleans Saints' big victory kicked off, our final nine players locked in their seats at the final table, including a big-stacked SuperNova in philivey0997 and a repeat final table player from two weeks ago. The stacks looked like this when the final table kicked off -

Seat 1 - Gretko - $2,557,597
Seat 2 - philivey0997 - $10,153,220
Seat 3 - nofingclue11 - $3,506,632
Seat 4 - doulas12 - $3,105,256
Seat 5 - ehcaramba - $4,968,491
Seat 6 - B3st Move - $3,163,187
Seat 7 - trippkirk - $3,380,629
Seat 8 - vaderGZ - $8,245,010
Seat 9 - Vincent466 - $9,567,978

After losing a monster pot just before the first break of the final table, nfingclue11 got his last few chips in on the first hand back. After an opening raise from Vincent466, nofingclue11 called off the last of his chips preflop with [As]-[5c], and ehcaramba joined the fray to see the three-way flop of [4s]-[6c]-[2h]. Ehcaramba led out with a bet, Vincent466 got out of the way, and ehcaramba tabled [Ad]-[Qh], dominating nofingclue11. The turn and river ran out [Js]-[6h], and nfingclue11 was done in 9th place ($7,840.00).

The action continued on the very next hand, as B3st Move got coolered to send him packing in 8th place ($12,250.00). philivey0997 opened for a raise from under the gun, and B3st Move decided that his best move was to shove all his chips into the middle with [Qc]-[Qd]. Usually a pretty good move, but philivey0997 made the easy call with [Kc]-[Kd], and then flopped a set to leave B3st Move dead to running queens. The final board read [Kh]-[5c]-[5d]-[4d]-[Td], and then the action cooled off just a little with seven players remaining.

Two weeks ago, Gretko put on a show at the final table and finished the Sunday Warm-Up in 2nd place for well over $100K. He couldn't match that performance this week, but two final tables in three weeks is certainly nothing to sneeze at! Gretko lost a huge pot just before the final table and never got his traction back before busting in 7th place ($22,050) at the hands of mega-stacked philivey0997. All the money went in preflop, as Gretko shoved with [Ks]-[9s]. Philivey0997 called with [Ac]-[Td], and made top pair on the [Th]-[8d]-[3s] flop. Things didn't get any better for gretko as the turn and river came down [Jh]-[6s], and his run at another Sunday Warm-Up was over.

After coming into the final table second in chips, Vincent466 couldn't get anything going at the final table and finally finished up in 6th place ($31,850). Vincent opened for a raise preflop, and was called by vaderGZ in the big blind. Both players checked the [Kd]-[8c]-[2s] flop, then vaderGZ led out when the [9s] hit the turn. Vincent moved all in over the top with [Jh]-[9h], and vader quickly called with [Qh]-[Kc]. The [Qc] on the river made two pair for vaderGZ, and and exit cue for Vincent466.

Before Vincent466's seat was even cold, doulas12 was following him out the virtual door in 5th place ($41,650). All the money went in preflop as ehcaramba open-shoved with [7h]-[7d]. Doulas12 called with [As]-[Kc], and the race was on. The [Th]-[Qh]-[9h] flop gave doulas12 a Broadway draw to go with his overcards, but it also added a flush draw to ehcaramba's possibilities. Nothing changed on the [8s] turn, and when the river brought the [5h], ehcaramba's flush was good enough to bounce doulas in 5th place.

Play continued a few moments four-handed until ehcaramba's luck ran out in 4th place ($55,370). It certainly wasn't the first time ehcaramba had moved all in preflop, but it was the last, as he open-shoved from the button with [Ac]-[8h]. Trippkirk called with [7s]-[7d], and the flop came down squarely in the camp of ehcaramba, falling [3d]-[Js]-[As]. His top pair held through the [5h] turn, but the [7h] river made a set for trippkirk and left only three survivors.

The three remaining players paused to discuss a deal, and after some discussion, settled on a chip count chop that left $10,000 on the table for the winner and guaranteed the following payouts - chip leader philivey0997 - $123,620.23, runner-up vaderGZ $110,548.90 and trippkirk locked up $104,152.27. Once those details were settled, Team PokerStars Pro host Greg Raymer pronounced it a deal and the three survivors settled in to play for the last $10,000.

The three survivors duked it out for a surprisingly long time before finally philivey0997's monster stack was too much for vaderGZ to overcome. All the money went in on a coin toss, as the players threw raises back and forth until vader's last few chips were in the middle with [9h]-[9c]. philivey0997 was slightly behind with [Kh]-[Jh], but the [5s]-[Jd]-[Qh] flop helped quite a bit. The[2h] on the turn gave him a flush draw to go with his jacks, but it turned out that jacks were enough as the [Ts] came on the river to send vaderGZ home in 3rd place. Thanks to the deal made when he was in 2nd place, he finished up with $110,548.90.

Heads up play only lasted a few hands, and it was a made hand against a monster draw that finally ended the suspense. Trippkirk raised from the button, and philivey0997 called. The [2d]-[8s]-[5d] flop set off the fireworks, as the players traded bets back and forth until all the money was in the middle. Trippkirk tabled [Qc]-[8h] for top pair, but philivey0997 showed [6d]-[7d] for the flush draw and the open-ended straight draw. The [Jd] on the turn made the flush for phil and left trippkirk drawing dead, and when the [6s] came on the river, the tournament was over, with trippkirk finishing in 2nd place for $104,152.27 and philivey0997 grabbing the extra $10K to bring his total win to $133,620.23.

Congratulations to all our final table players and everyone who took part in this week's Sunday Warm-Up. We'll see you next week for more monster paydays and crushed guarantees!

After two run-of-the-mill day one flights, the gloves were well and truly off day 1C of the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final at Sydney's Star City Casino.

Perhaps inspired by Danny Green's stunning first-round victory over Roy Jones jnr in the previous evening's IBO Cruiserweight title fight at nearby Acer Arena, there was carnage aplenty as the day 1C field was slashed from 206 to just 106.

That meant the total field was confirmed at 396 players, generating a prize pool of AUD $2,376,000. The top 48 players are guaranteed a minimum payout of AUD $9504, with the winner taking home AUD $594,000. A total of 226 players will be back tomorrow, including 59 PokerStars Qualifiers.

Players from the respective PokerStars.net Team Pros were left bloodied and bruised, with only Team Australia's Grant Levy and Team Asia's Raymond Wu (who chatted with the PokerStars.tv team earlier today) through to day two:

Watch APPT Sydney 09: Raymond Wu - Day 1C on PokerStars.tv

The casualties included Joe and Tony Hachem, Emad Tahtouh, Celina Lin, Jonathan Lin and 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate. Lee Nelson and Eric Assadourian won through to day two on day 1A.

The departure of ANZPT Player of the Year Tony Hachem was particularly cruel. In the final hands of the day, he lost the bulk of his chips with A-K against the pocket kings of Ben Delaney before being sent to the rail when he shoved with A-10 against the pocket jacks of Mark Vos.

Other big names to be sent to the rail on day 1C included current Aussie Millions champ Stewart Scott, four-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, Andrew Scott, David Saab, Warwick Mirzikinian, Bruno Portaro, Rayan Nathan, Con Tsapkounis, James Broom, Tim Horan, Steve Topakas and Jonathan Karamalikis.

The day 1C, and overall chip leader, was Anton Blagov on 166,800. Fellow Australian Haibo Chu, who made the final table of the 2008 APPT Grand Final, finished day 1C with 151,300. Jarred Graham, who successfully defended his APPT Sydney High Roller title last night, was fifth in chips with 117,100.

Join us from 12.30pm local time tomorrow for the race to the money, with a maximum of six 75-minute levels set on day two of the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final.

Joe Hachem tasted success here in Sydney two years ago when he won the first APPT Tournament of Champions, earning his charity of choice the Shane Warne Foundation a $50,000 donation.

But it's otherwise been leaning pickings on home soil for the 2005 WSOP champion and PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro, and his hopes of a big win in the APPT Grand Final have been dashed for another year.

Struggling for chips, Hachem was eliminated at the hands of fellow Aussie Liem "Jimmy" Tran. The action folded around to Tran who raised to 1600 before the flop; another opponent called but Hachem re-raised all-in for just over 10,000 in total.

Tran four-bet, the other opponent quickly got out of the way and Hachem revealed [ad] [kh] but was off to the races against Tran's [qd] [qc]. The flop came down [10c] [ac] [3c] to give Hachem the lead but Tran the nut flush draw. No such luck with the turn of the [js], but Tran spiked the [4c] on the river, and Hachem was headed for the nearest exit.

Raymond Wu is the sole remaining PokerStars.net Team Asia Pro in the field after the elimination of Celina Lin at the hands of US PokerStars Player Michael Wong.

The action folded around to an opponent in middle position who raised to 2200 and Wong called from the cut-off before Lin re-raised all-in from the button, making it an additional 12,350 to go.

The middle position player folded and Wong thought about it for a couple of minutes before flicking three yellow 5000 chips over the line, tabling [5s] [5h] but was racing against Lin's [ad] [kh].

The [kd] appeared in the window, but the [5d], [9d] trailed behind to complete the flop, giving Wong bottom set but Lin some hope. The turn of the [10h] was no help, neither was the river [ah]. Diamonds are supposed to be a girl's best friend!

However PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro Grant Levy is seeing more chips coming his way. After moving his short stack into the middle with [ks] [kc] and found himself in the lead against an opponent's [as] [kd].

The board was spread [jh] [qs] [jd] [5s] [5c] and Levy's number one fan and wife Sharon is no longer having heart palpitations as Levy stacks up 47,000.

The peaceful ambience of chips, chat and the Star City Snap continues as we play out the final level of the day, sans the booming voice of David Saab. He was eliminated courtesy of Taiwan's Hung Tu Wang after he moved all in with [ad] [8h], only to be dominated by Wang's [ac] [qc] and never hit on a jack-high board.

Live updates from day three, level 19 of the EPT London Main Event event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains, Brad Willis and Simon Young.

Blinds: 5,000-10,000 (1,000 ante)

6pm: That's the end of that...
...level. There'll be another one along soon. About 15 minutes to be more precise.

6pm: Big stacks
Our free-rolling friend Michael Berry is one of three huge stacks on table Obrestad/Wu. The others are in front of those two: Obrestad has about 950,000; Wu has about 980,000 and Berry is not far behind.

5.55pm: Aces are a big Obst-acle to overcome
The pot opened with a Chris Ferguson raise to 25,000 before James Obst moved all in for 146,000 and PokerStars qualifier Eric Haik calmly flat called from the button. Ferguson went in to the tank but folded and it was a good decision too as Haik quickly tabled [ac][ad] to Obst's [kh][qd]. The board ran out [4c][5s][8s][td][kc] to bust the high stakes online player. Haik's stack is up to 915,000.

5:52pm: Maridu runs into Tran, set
Maria Mayrinck had established a pretty tight image today as she held onto her 200,000. Finally, in need of some blinds and antes, she raised under the gun with jack-ten and got a call from Theo Tran in the small blind. The flop came T-7-x. Tran checked, Mayrinck bet 40,000 and Tran called. When the six came on the turn, Mayrinck moved all-in and got the call from Tran's set of sevens.

"Poker is easy for some people," she quipped.

5.45pm: Cullen present and correct. Sunglasses not so much
"Can you let me know how Dominic Cullen is doing?" writes a correspondent named Ben to blog@pokerstars.com ."And if you see him - remind him that he needs to send me my sunglasses back!! (He forgot his!)."

I've got good news and bad news for you, Ben. Cullen is doing great. As I went by a moment ago, he was moving all in for about 200,000 on a flop of [js][2s][7c][qd] and getting a fold, picking up a bunch of chips and stacking up about 300,000, which is right around the average for the 42 remaining players.

Bad news I: On Cullen's right is the chip-leading stack of Benny Spindler - approximately 1.5m.
Bad news II: On Cullen's left is Kevin Schaffel, November Niner, who also has about 800,000.
Bad news III: There are no sign of any sunglasses anywhere near Cullen. Red hoodie? Yes. Sunglasses, nope. He can surely afford to buy you another pair though.

Keep your mails coming to blog@pokerstars.com.

5.40pm: Your new chip leader...
On a flop of [ad][kh][qh] Lawrie Inman made it 100,000. Benny Spindler, in a pot again, called for a [2d] turn. At this point Inman moved all-in getting a flash call from Spindler. The pot was huge, neither player had a stack anywhere close to short. Spindler turned over [ah][2h] to Inman's [ks][qc]. The river came [6s] and that was it. "Oh sh*t." Said Inman. He'd just arrived at the table and now he was gone. Spindler couldn't say anything. With the chips counted he was up to more than 1.5 million. That's the chip lead... by a long way.

5.34pm: Donev doubles
There was an under-the-gun raise from Aaron Gustavson that both blinds called to see a [4h][8c][9h] flop. The small blind led out for 25,000, Ivo Donev called from the next seat but Gustavson raised it up to 100,000. At this point Donev started to position his camera on the table next to his cards and chips and when the small blind folded he slowly moved his chips closer to the line and then started the recording function on his camera and moved all in for 190,000. Committed to the pot, Gustavson called with [jd][js] but was shown [4d][4c] by Donev for a set. "Was that a slow-roll?" asked Gustavson before the turn came [2h] and river [kd].

Dovev's play was slightly questionable during this hand but all that matters is that he is now the owner of a 450,000 stack now. Gustavson is down but still doing great on 510,000.

5.25pm: Bubble in moving pictures
Our intrepid video blogging team chatted to Team Pros about the feared tournament bubble, which popped here in the Hilton a little while ago...

5.22pm: J.C. Tran hits the road
Facing a bet that would put him all in on a [3s][Ts][5d][7s][Qh] board, J.C. Tran tanked for a minute before calling to see [As][Qs]. Since it's pretty damned hard to beat the nuts, Tran headed for the cash out table.

5.20pm: Thomas Dolezal eliminated

The PokerStars player from Austria, Thomas Dolezal has just been eliminated after betting all-in with [5c][3d] on a [8d][2s][3h] flop. Tobias Reinkemeier called with pocket tens. He begged for no suckouts, and none came.

5.14pm: Firestone sent into a Spin-dler
PokerStars qualifier Robert Firestone got the last of his chips in with [kh][7d] and found a willing customer in the shape of Benny Spindler holding [ts][th]. The board ran [5c][8d][9c][3h][7h] to bust Firestone. The extra chips puts Spindler up to around 700,000.

5.10pm: Smile Smires
Karim Bennani Smires is holding his head looking pained. But this is the good type. He just doubled up through Aaron Gustavson, the board reading [9c][qs][8s][6c][3s] alongside his upturned hand [as][ts]. Good to restore Smires's hopes to around 250,000.

5.07pm: Take off the scarf, the party is over
France's Jeremy Amsellem, the man who has been wearing a scarf around 80% of his face for the entire tournament, is now out after pushing his short stack in with [8s][9s] into Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli's [7s][7h] and missing.

5.03pm: Maria sandwich

Team PokerStars Pro Maria "maridu" Mayrinck is hanging around with 200,000 and is unfortunately sandwiched between Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and James Obst. Maria has just learned that the love of Ferguson's life also happens to be from Brazil. "So, we have something to bond over," she said.

5.00pm: The room just started to smell better

...due in large part to the fact the EPT Ladies event just kicked off.

4.55pm: Video blog time

4.45pm: And on another table...
As we wait for players to return for level 19 Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier is currently chipped up at the final table of the £2,500 no-limit hold'em side event a few tables away. First prize in that one is £115,800, a nice haul that would go well with his WSOPE fourth place finish a few days ago.

Annette Obrestad, one of the chip leaders going into level 19

The $320 buy-in Event #29 combined the two flop games -- hold'em and Omaha -- with the pot-limit betting format ensuring many flops would be seen. A total of 1,407 entrants came out for this one. That meant a total prize pool of $422,100 (thus beating the $400K guarantee), with the top 216 spots paying and $69,245.51 due to the winner.

After four hours and 20 minutes, 400 players remained, and jacksup enjoyed the lead with 78,559, followed by Danfra and TIJO. At the six-and-a-half hour mark, the cash bubble had burst and just 200 were alive, with alfito775 out front with 160,634, larrytur in second and kisgali in third. At that point Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden had built a stack and was closing in on the top ten.

As play continued, a couple of other Team PokerStars Pros would depart -- William Thorson (in 163rd) and Marcin "Goral" Horecki (in 158th). Lodden continued to thrive, however, and would still have chips with 100 players left, sitting in 37th. Meanwhile Lodden's fellow Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari had pushed past him into 26th. At that point we saw a familiar name atop the leaderboard -- g0lfa, winner of 2009 WCOOP Event #18 ($320 8-game mix), was in front with 172,000, with pocket22s and RonaldKosh close behind.

Lodden would soon see his stack start to dwindle, and finally the Norwegian would commit all of his chips in a hold'em hand with pocket queens only to run into Mazinho1977's pocket kings. The kings held up, and Lodden was out in 70th place. That hand started a rush that pushed Mazinho1977 into first place with nearly half a million chips.

Meanwhile Akkari's stack would start to slide below 100,000. Then came a PLO hand (blinds 2,000/4,000) in which Comandr_Cool opened with a raise to 10,000 from under the gun, then Akkari reraised to 36,000. The table folded around and Comandr_Cool reraised the pot, and Akkari called with his remaining 41,312. Comandr_Cool showed [Kd][Kh][Js][4d] and Akkari [Ah][Ac][Td][7d]. A king flopped, the turn paired the board giving Comandr_Cool a boat, and no ace came to save Akkari who went out in 46th place.

As the tourney crossed the nine-hour mark, 40 players remained, with Mazinho1977 still near the chip lead with over 500,000, trailing DarthFisumus and Comandr_Cool. It would take another three hours for the field to be trimmed to eleven, during which time g0lfa would move back out in front with more than 1.5 million. Mazinho1977's tourney finally ended in 11th place, and when g0lfa next took out SpaceyFCB in 10th the final table was set:

Seat 1: spassewr -- 254,631
Seat 2: alfito775 -- 1,113,761
Seat 3: Guldgraveren -- 606,233
Seat 4: Comandr_Cool -- 1,026,200
Seat 5: groengras -- 575,027
Seat 6: g0lfa -- 1,936,388
Seat 7: MrCoco -- 759,265
Seat 8: Monam1 -- 310,868
Seat 9: DarthFisumus -- 452,627

g0lfa's good run continued as the final table began. Players had only made it through one orbit of pot-limit hold'em when a hand arose in which Guldgraveren and g0lfa commenced a preflop raising war that ended with all of Guldgraveren's chips in the middle. Guldgraveren had picked up a big hand -- [Qd][Qh] -- but g0lfa's was bigger -- [Ad][Ac]. The flop came [3d][Ah][2d], giving g0lfa a set, and the [2c] on the turn meant Guldgraveren was drawing dead. g0lfa claimed the 1.14 million-chip pot, and Guldgraveren hit the rail in ninth.

The game switched to PLO, and soon after a short-stacked spassewr opened by raising pot to 87,500 from the hijack seat, only to see Comandr_Cool reraise pot behind in the cutoff. It folded back around and spassewr pushed in the 92,131 remaining, turning over [Ac][Qh][Js][3d] to Comandr_Cool's [Ah][Ks][Ts][5h]. The board came [As][2s][2h][2d][Qc], meaning Comandr_Cool's hand was best (his king kicker played), and spassewr was out in eighth.

The players then took their next scheduled break, and soon after returning alfito775 opened a PLO hand with a pot-sized raise to 105,000 from the cutoff, then Comandr_Cool reraised to 285,000 from the button. The blinds got out, and alfito775 pushed all in for 647,164 total and Comandr_Cool called. alfito775 showed [Ad][Ks][Kh][2s] and Comandr_Cool [Ac][Qh][Jc][Js]. alfito775 was okay through the flop and turn -- [Tc][9d][6h][6c] -- but the [7c] on the river gave Comandr_Cool the flush and the hand, knocking out alftio775 in seventh.

With six remaining, g0lfa and Comandr_Cool had begun to take control of the table, together owning about two-thirds of the chips in play. g0lfa led with over 2.7 million, Comandr_Cool had 1.96 million, and their nearest foe, groengras, was best among the other four with 712,527.

The blinds increased to 25,000/50,000, and g0lfa had pushed out past 3 million when opening a PLH hand with a preflop raise to 121,500 from the button. It folded to Monam1 who called from the big blind, leaving just 102,974 behind. The flop came [3s][Kc][Tc], and Monam1 bet 100,000. g0lfa quickly raised, and Monam1 called with what was left, showing [9c][Qs] for a gutshot draw. g0lfa tabled [Th][8s] for tens. The turn was the [9h], giving Monam1 a pair, but the river was the [4s] and Monam1 was gone in sixth.

The game was still PLH when groengras opened from the cutoff with a raise to 125,000. MrCoco then reraised to 400,000 from the button. DarthFisumus folded in the small blind, then Comandr_Cool reraised again to 1.35 million from the big blind. groengras decided to skedaddle, and MrCoco called all in for 338,433. Comandr_Cool showed [Jd][Jc], well ahead of MrCoco's [7d][7h]. The board went [6d][4s][As][4h][3s], and MrCoco was gone in fifth.

With four left, g0lfa stepped up the pressure even further, building a stack of 4.9 million while the other three all were south of a million. g0lfa raised to 135,600 from UTG and Comandr_Cool reraised almost all in for 466,800 from the small blind. g0lfa reraised again and Comandr_Cool put the rest in, showing [As][7h]. g0lfa turned over [Th][Td]. The board came [5h][6c][5c][2c][4h], and Comandr_Cool was gone in fourth.

The next scheduled break arrived, but after 14-plus hours of play all three players were ready to push on through.

g0lfa: can we skip break?
groengras: skippppp
GavinGriffin (TeamPro): if everyone agrees
groengras: i do i do i do
DarthFisumus: ok
DarthFisumus: let's rock :)
GavinGriffin (TeamPro): k, skipping
GavinGriffin (TeamPro): gl
DarthFisumus: gimme aces
DarthFisumus: gavin??
GavinGriffin (TeamPro): that I can't do

On the very first hand after play resumed, DarthFisumus raised the pot from the button. groengras reraised pot from the small blind, and DarthFisumus called with his remaining chips. groengras showed [Ah][8h]. DarthFisumus didn't have the aces, but his [Js][Tc] meant his cards were live. But the board came [3c][4c][9c][5h][9h], and they were down to two.

When heads-up play began, g0lfa had 5,703,914 and groengras 1,331,086. A few gestures were made toward possibly making a deal, but nothing was settled by the time groengras had opened with a raise in a PLO hand, g0lfa reraised to 450,000, groengras came back over the top all in, and g0lfa called. g0lfa showed [Ac][Qs][Td][2h] and groengras [Ah][Kh][Ts][7h]. The community cards came [4d][4h][5c][2h][Qc], giving g0lfa two pair and a second WCOOP bracelet!

WCOOP Event #29 ($320 PLH/PLO) Results
1. g0lfa (United States) -- $69,245.51
2. groengras (Netherlands) -- $50,652.01
3. DarthFisumus (Finland) -- $37,989.01
4. Comandr_Cool (United States) -- $28,280.71
5. MrCoco (United Kingdom) -- $20,049.76
6. Monam1 (Norway) -- $15,828.76
7. alfito775 (Spain) -- $11.607.76
8. spassewr (Sweden) -- $7,386.76
9. Guldgraveren (Denmark) -- $4,221.01

If you're looking for more coverage of the largest online poker tournament series ever, go check out the WCOOP site for all of the latest results as well as records dating back to the series 2002 debut. You can also find information there about entering remaining events. Many winners have also been profiled in interviews on the PokerStars blog -- check them out, too. And also be sure to look in on the 2009 WCOOP on PokerStars TV, too.

Live updates from day three, level 20 of EPT Barcelona brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Rick Dacey, Marc Convey and Howard Swains.

Blinds: 6,000-12,000 (1,000 ante)

1.42pm: Greco has a sweat
Michael Greco has just doubled through Santiago Terrazas to 300,000 with pocket aces against [ad] [ks]. A whiff of panic appeared on the turn when the board delivered a [qd] [8d] [2s] [9d] flush draw but the Brit survived a potentially horrific outdraw when the [8s] river blanked out. --RD

1.40pm: Outer table shenanigans
Santiago Terrazas and Joram Voelklein got involved in a battle of the blinds. It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but after Terrazas made up the big blind, they saw a flop of [3c][4d][jc] and Terrazas checked. Voelklein bet 30,000, called. The turn was [3s] and Terrazas checked. Voelklein bet 80,000. Called. The river was [js] and now they both checked. Terrazas's [5s][4s] beat Voelklein's [7d][9d].

1.36pm: Flushed with chips
Adam Markovits and Georgios Kapalas saw a [9h][5c][ac] flop before Markovits checked-raised all in and was called. Markovits tabled [as][qc] and Kapalas revealed [9c][8c]. The turn came [4s] and river[7c] to make the flush for the Greek and eliminated the Hungarian. Kapals has over 2million chips now. --MC

1.33pm: Nuijten takes on the bully
Patrick Bueno raises 27,000 and takes the blinds. The big stack is using his weight to elbow his way through the blinds what seems like every hand. The Frenchman has had to show down AQ already, which must be helping his cause. And he raises again, 33,000 this time but Julien Nuijten calls from the cut-off. Toni Ojala calls on the button. The flop delivers a top heavy [ac] [ks] [5d] flop and Bueno counts out a large 68,000 bet. Nuijten calls while Ojala passes. A [10d] on the turn stops Bueno who checks. Nuijten bets out 150,000 committing himself to the hand. Bueno passes and the young Dutchman scoops the 241,000 pot. --RD

1.30pm: Three million pot!
Matt Lapossie raised it up to 26,000 from the cut off and was called by Mark Goodwin in the big blind before a [3c][3s][4h] flop came down. Then it all went a bit crazy with raises back and forth that saw both players all in creating a monster of a pot. Goodwin tabled [th][3h] and Lapossie [qh][3d]. Goodwin was in big trouble but sneaked out of it through the [ad] turn and [ac] river. How pivotal could that chop be for both players? Time will tell. --MC

1.23pm: Table 2 jostling
The action on table 2 has been a little more reserved than elsewhere. There's been a couple of pre-flop raises that have gone clean through from Adam Markovits and Ari Kolpanitzki. The big tussle so far has been between Roland de Wolfe and Jan Boubli - but that was between their chair legs and a TV monitor. --RD

1.20pm: McDonald shoving
Mike McDonald isn't letting Adam Markovits get away with anything. The Canadian raised to 29,000 from mid position and Markovits called. The flop came [7h][8c][3h] and McDonald bet 45,000. Markovits attempted to min-raise, but only made it 70,000, so was forced to put another three yellow chips into the middle. McDonald was having none of that and moved all in for about 320,000 more, and Markovits folded.

1.18pm: Manole bueno also
Mihai Manole takes on Patrick Bueno from the button, making it 32,000 pre-flop. Bueno is in the big blind and calls for a [3s][2h][6d] flop. Bueno checked to Manole who made it 37,000. Bueno called. Both checked the [4h] on the turn and the [9d] on the river. [ac][qc] for the Frenchman but [8c][6h] for Manole; good enough.

1.16pm: Goodwin makes a big call
Matt Lapossie raises under the gun to 27,000 and is called in 3 spots; Marc Goodwin in the hijack, Joram Voelklein on the button and David Robinson in the small blind. The four players check the [5c] [5d] [10c] flop so the 128,000 remains up for grabs on the turn. A [kc] on the turn is checked round to Voelklein who bets 51,000. He shrugs off Robinson but Lapossie and Goodwin stand firm. The [8d] surely changes little and the action is checked round to the turn aggressor Voelklein who bets 130,000. Lapossei thinks for a short while and makes the call putting Goodwin in a dilemma, 'I think I've got the second best hand now, but I'm not sure to which of you.' He doesn't take long before dropping a stack of 13 blue 10,000 chips over the line and his call with AK is good. Lapossie shows pocket threes and Voelklein pocket Queens. Goodwin scoops the 518,000 pot and is now up to 1,900,000. --RD

1.12pm: Bueno bueno
Two hands raised pre-flop from Patrick Bueno and two hands folded to the raiser.

1.10pm: From where he left off...
Matt Lapossie continues where he left off last night by raising, 26,000 from early position, getting calls from Santiago Terrazas in the button and David Robinson in the big blind. On the%

Live updates from day 1a, level 4 of EPT Barcelona brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Rick Dacey.

Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip counts can be found by clicking right here. Blinds 150-300-25

5.48pm: Deeb cracks Aces
Freddy Deeb has been waiting patiently for good spots and he eventually found one. A four-way pot brought a [Js] [ks] [7h] flop and the small blind, who had raised pre-flop, fired 2,650 into the 4k pot. Deeb stalled, studied and finally shot a hefty 23,000 into the middle raising the small blind all-in who grimaced and groaned and then called his tournament life away with Aces. Deeb tabled KJ and the board held pumping Deeb up to a very healthy 54,000.

5.45pm: King Swissy
Claudio Rinaldi has just doubled up to 41,000. His pocket kings found two more buddies along the way to make quad kings! Easy game this sometimes.

5.35pm: Shock news-Mercier runs bad in Europe
Team PokerStars USA Jason Mercier has been eliminated. He opened the pot with a raise from the high-jack and was called by both blinds. The small blind led out for 1,400 on the [9s][7h][3d] flop before the big blind raised to 4,200. Mercier then jammed for 24,000 and was snapped off by the small blind. The big blind folded ace-six as he realized it must be behind. He was right too as Mercier had top two-pair and the small blind had pocket fours for bottom set. The board ran out blank and we're a team member down.

5.22pm: Robinson folds quads (kind of)
A huge hand in the making just fizzled into a chopped pot when PokerStars qualifiers Jose Vazquez Ortega and David Robinson got involved in some big pot poker with Johnny Lodden. Robinson made a very tough fold by passing Queens pre-flop convinced one of the other two had Aces but both showed Big Slick. Robinson was hugely relieved when the dealer's window card was a King, but relief quickly switched to dismay as the rest of the flop came running Queens. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a tournament changing hand that never was.