This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.

9.35pm: Kwaysser fakes the turn

Things almost couldn’t have worked out better for Valdemar Kwaysser there. Represent strength then feign weakness for a nice pay off on the river. A middle position raise to 800 had been called in three spots before it reached Kwaysser on the button. The Hungarian made a chunky is-it-genuine-or-is-it-a-squeeze raise to 4,000 which pushed out everyone but Marc Naalden. Kwaysser made the obligatory c-bet of 4,000 onto the high [ad][3d][qc] flop. Naalden called and both players checked the [8h] turn before Kwaysser made a 12,000 value bet on the [jc] river. Naalden called and was shown a flopped set of queens with [qh][qd]. Kwaysser is up to 55,000. — RD

9.32pm: Romanello crashes to a halt

Roberto Romanello is now out, as he walked past the media desk I asked him for some details on his exit hand. He told us that he flopped two pair holding [Ah][9h] on a [A]⁹[Qh] board but ran into Andrea Benelli’s Ace-Queen. Romanello turned the nut flush draw, but missed his outs on the river. —NW

9.30pm: Eight on the river-man

Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton has departed after losing a race. He got his short-stack in with ace-king pre-flop and found a caller with pocket eights. A eight fell on the river to make his opponent a set he didn’t need to make. —MC

9.20pm: Torment for Tureniec

Michael Tureniec is the latest Swede to be eliminated. There was a raise in front of him before he shoved for around 16,000. Fellow Swede Simon Persson smooth called behind and that was enough to scare off the original raiser. Tureniec tabled pocket eights and was racing Persson’s ace-king. All was looking good for Tureniec until a nasty looking ace fell on the river. —MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, 75 ante

9.15pm: Romanello in reverse

EPT regular Roberto Romanello has not had the best level, just now he was bet out of a pot by Iikka Tahkokallio. By the time they reached the turn on a [As] [5d][3d][8h] board there was roughly 14,000 in the pot. Romanello fired out a bet of 12,625, Tahkokallio asked the Welshman how much he had behind (about 24,000) and moved all-in, forcing a quick fold from Romanello. —NW

9.10pm: That’ll Lerner ya

Derek Lerner is up to 42,000 after winning a classic button versus BB battle with Greg Thompson. Lerner opened to 1,200 from the button and was called by Thompson to go to a [8h][9c][2s] flop where they both checked. Lerner found his betting gear on the [6c] but his 2,200 bet was called. The river fell [ah] and once again Thompson check-called a Lerner bet. The amount was 2,300 but Thompson soon mucked when Lerner revealed [ad][td]. —MC

9.05pm: It takes four (limps) to Tengo

Andrew Teng was fairly short stacked with around 15,000 so when four players, including Richard Ashby and Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Meulder, limped into the hand ahead of him the 3,750 nustling on top of the felt must have looked very appealing. So appealing in fact that he put his whole stack over the line. No-one decided to test him on his shoving range in this spot attractive spot and Teng stacked back up to 19,000. — RD

9pm: Sam likes the snowmen

I was alerted to a big pot that was in progress by one of the many railbirds watching the event. On the river Sam Iola had bet 26,000 into a pot that contained a little over 30,000.

Fabrizio Ascari was his lone opponent and was staring intently at a board of [8h][6h][9s][4c][6c]. Ascari eventually made the call but mucked when Iola showed [8d][8c], Ascari had just 125 left after the hand. —NW

8.45pm: More from Owston

Welshman Dan Owston is in a chirpy mood. Marc Naalden raised to 1,500 from under the gun, from the button, Owston made it 4,400 total, a bet Naalden called. The flop fell [3d][9d][10h], Naalden checked to Owston who fired a c-bet of 7,225 which was enough to force a fold from Naalden. —NW

8.45pm: Savelev saves himself

Aleksei Savelev is doing his best to pull himself back from the brink. Marc Naalden opened the pot for 1,500 and was called by Dan Owston in the small blind. Savelev made it 5,800 from the big blind leaving himself just 8,000 behind. It was a squeeze with intent and it did just enough to put both players off although Owston gave it some serious thought before telling the Russian that he was a ‘very lucky boy.’ — RD

8.40pm: Awards don’t guarantee success

Last season’s EPT Players’ Choice Award winner Kevin MacPhee has been eliminated. He was grinding a short stack for the two levels before dinner and soon moved all-in upon his return. He got it in very good too with ace-jack to a caller’s king-jack. A jack fell on the flop – no problem there. A king’s appearance on the turn however was not ideal at all. No ace on the river and he was out the door. —MC

8.30pm: Boberg is ice cool

I just watched Frederick Boberg win two pots in a row and in the process pass the 100,000 mark. In the first I joined the action pre-flop to see 25,000 in front of Boberg (button) and 11,300 in front of Jannick Wrang (small blind). Boberg sat impassively whilst Wrang tried to get a read (nothing) a twitch (nothing), Wrang waved a hand in front of Boberg’s face to try and get something but got, you guessd it, nothing, so he folded. The very next hand Boberg raised again, both Wrang and Richard Ashby put in 2,500 to call. On the flop of [Jh][As][10h] Boberg c-bet to the tune of 4,800 both his opponent’s folded. He’s currently on around 110,500. —NW

8.25pm: Long dinner break for some

Two players of note busted just before we went to dinner; Randall Flowers was one and the other was a certain ElkY. We don’t have the details of Randall’s exit but apparently the Team PokerStars Pro ran ace-jack into an opponent’s ace-queen. He’d been nursing a short stack for some time and his last 4,900 went in pre-flop and never returned. —MC

8.20pm: Heard the one about twelve guys in a lift?

On the way back from the dinner break I squashed into a packed elevator alongside Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Muelder and Canadian Ryan Hall. ‘Twelve people in an elevatoir and not one is a woman. Poker sucks,’ joked de Meulder. ‘Yeah, at least we’re not playing Magic cards,’ replied Hall making reference to the much-maligned and more than a little geeky Magic: The Gathering card game. Fair points aplenty. Both players are now in their seats with a little more space than they had moments ago. — RD

8.15pm: Back from the troughs

The 90-minute dinner break is over – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun working through dinner? Anyway, we have three levels left to play today. Percia Bukara is currently our runaway chip leader with approaching 170,000. No-one else looks remotely close to that at the moment.

While we wait for play to get under way, when they’ll be nine-handed, why not take a look at the chip count page? Or, feast your eyes on this photo of a dealer, which I selected completely at random from Neil Stoddart’s fine collection today. A coincidence, honest…

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of times they have left the hotel): Nick Wright (3), Marc Convey (2), Rick Dacey (1), Simon Young (0)

This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.

11.30pm: Play concludes for the day

Day 1b is done and dusted. Our overnight and overall chip leader is Perica Bukara with a mighty 210,600. Full chips counts and a wrap of the day’s play will be up shortly. Play starts again tomorrow at 12pm. Goodnight from Tallinn. —MC

11.15pm: Stop the clock!

Tournament director Thomas Kremser has stopped the clock for the day and announced the last four hands. Chip counts, confirmation of the chip leaders and end of day wrap to come but it’s looking like Perica Buraka is goimg to be our Day 1B big stack. — RD

11.10pm: New Chip leader?

We might have a new sheriff in town in the shape of Mattias Jorstedt, who just took his stack past 170,000 after winning a pot of around 65,000 against Andrej Vinogrodskij. There’s about 15 minutes of play left today. —NW

11pm: Power poker from Perica

Perica Bukara has sat a top or near the top of the leaderboard for most of the day and he’s just added to his stack by putting his opponent to the ultimate test. On a [Kc][10h][2d] flop, Bukara check-raised Paul Pires-Trigo c-bet of 3,900 (into a pot of 7,000) to 10,500 total, Pires-Trigo called. On the [8s] turn, Bukara slid out a big stack of yellow, 5,000 demonination chips which more than covered Pires-Trigo, who had around 32,000 back. Eventually he opted to preserve that stack. Percia now has around 165,000.—NW

10.55pm: Markushevski rises

Vadim Markushevski, the Team PokerStars Pro from Belarus, has rocketed to 93,000 after busting Claudio Cecchi from Italy. All the money went in on a [qd][8h][6d] flop, with Cecchi on the flush draw with [kd][10d] and Markushevski with [ks][kc].

The kings held up on the [8c] turn and [6h] river, and Cecchi was out. — SY

10.50pm: Handy for Hakim

Jeffrey Hakim, a PokerStars qualifier from Canada, more or less tripled up to 60,000 in dramatic fashion. He was all in with pocket queens, and Gregory Bucci was also all-in with A-10. But it was Dmitry Bezlepkin who had them both covered and was in the box seat with pocket kings.

The flop was [7h][3d][9d], keeping the Russian ahead, but the [qd] turn sent Hakim into the lead. The [5d] river kept him with none of the three players holding a diamond. Bucci left room the penniless. — SY

10.45pm: Local guy doubles

Estonian Janar Kiivramees has more than doubled to 65,000 with pocket aces. Max Lykov opened the pot with a raise to 2,300 from the hijack before Kiivramees three-bet to 7,000 from the next seat and Antoine Amourette four-bet to 18,000 from the seat after that. Lykov folded but Kiivramees moved all-in for 30,600 and was called. Showdown:

Kiivramees: [ad][as]

Amourette: [ah][ks]

The board ran [9h][2s][th][ac][7s]. Kiivramees had to sweat his opponent’s flush draw and managed to do so. —MC

10.40pm: Thater on the up

Katja Thater news now via our German blogger Robin Scherr, the Team PokerStars pro is now on 73,000. The key hand was when she had kings and re-raised pre-flop against someone she said was tilting. On the raggy flop she set her opponent all-in for his last 18,000 and he called with pocket threes. —NW/RS

10.35pm: Chop it up

Francesco Labate and David Sonelin got it all-in on a [10s][6s][8d] flop.

Labate: [As][9s]

Sonelin: [Kh][10h]

Turn: [9h]

River: [7h]

Labate missed his huge draw, but did spike a chop on the river. —NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1000, 100 ante

10.20pm: Break time

Level eight has come to an end and players are on a fifteen-minute break. Tournament staff are colouring up the green 25 denomination chips , blinds will be 500-1000, 100 ante when players return. —NW

10.15pm: Vaserfirer on fire

Oleksandr Vaserfirer has had a lot of deep runs at EPTs the last couple of years including a 3rd place finish at last season’s EPT Warsaw. He’s up to 120,000 now so he’s primed for another deep run. —MC

10.10pm: Scepi struck down

Raise, re-raise, all-in and call went the action between Fabio Scepi and Mattias Jorstedt, the former made it 2,400, Jorstedt made it 7,000, Scepi shoved for 23,550 total and Jorstedt called.

Jorstedt: [Jh][Jd]

Scepi: [6h][6c]

The board ran out [9c][5d][Ad][3s][7s]. —NW

10.05pm: Bevand binks on Benjo

Manuel Bevand has eliminated friend and fellow countryman Benjamin Gallen. Gallen opened to 1,900 from under-the-gun and the action folded all the way around to Bevand in the SB who bumped it up to 6,300. Gallen went all-in for 20,500 with pocket kings and Bevand snapped him off with ace-king. An ace fell on the river – good game Benjo. —MC



10pm: Matthias de Meulder and Richard Ashby eliminated in the same hand

Kestutis Slankauskas did the damage. He opened to 2,125 from the hi-jack, Ashby called from the cut-off before de Meulder moved all-in for 11,775 from the button. Slankauskas flat called the bet, only for Ashby to move all-in behind him for 21,100 total, Slankauskas made the call.

Slankauskas: [As][Ks]

De Meulder: [Qh][Js]

Ashby: [9h][9d]

Flop: [Kh][Jc][Qs]

Something for everyone

Turn: [Ah]

Something for Slankauskas

River: [4c]

A total blank, Slankauskas now has 165,000. —NW

9.50pm: A stack as big as him

Juha Lauttamus is a tall chap and relatively speaking his stack is getting to be nearly as tall as him. He just forced Thomas Peterson off a hand to move to 128,000. Peterson raised to 2,000 from the button and then called Lauttamus’ three-bet to 5,200. The flop came [ac][6d][jh] and Lauttmaus continued the aggressive line with a 5,700 bet. Call. The turn came [8h] and there was no stopping the Finn who fired out 10,325 which was half of Peterson’s remaining stack. The Swede tanked for about three minuted before letting his hand go. He then asked Lauttmanus to show one of his cards who obliged by flashing [2h]. —MC

9.45pm: Fearless Bukara

It may be possible to raise Percia Bukara off a hand but I’m yet to see it happen. It’s been an expensive lesson for Jeffrey Hakim who tried raising Bukara off a [7h][kd][jh] flop from 2,300 to 7,100. Bukara made the call then led 6,000 into the [9c]. Hakim decided to drop into chip preservation mode and passed. Bukara sits on 162,000. — RD

9.35pm: Kwaysser fakes the turn

Things almost couldn’t have worked out better for Valdemar Kwaysser there. Represent strength then feign weakness for a nice pay off on the river. A middle position raise to 800 had been called in three spots before it reached Kwaysser on the button. The Hungarian made a chunky is-it-genuine-or-is-it-a-squeeze raise to 4,000 which pushed out everyone but Marc Naalden. Kwaysser made the obligatory c-bet of 4,000 onto the high [ad][3d][qc] flop. Naalden called and both players checked the [8h] turn before Kwaysser made a 12,000 value bet on the [jc] river. Naalden called and was shown a flopped set of queens with [qh][qd]. Kwaysser is up to 55,000. — RD

9.32pm: Romanello crashes to a halt

Roberto Romanello is now out, as he walked past the media desk I asked him for some details on his exit hand. He told us that he flopped two pair holding [Ah][9h] on a [A]⁹[Qh] board but ran into Andrea Benelli’s Ace-Queen. Romanello turned the nut flush draw, but missed his outs on the river. —NW

9.30pm: Eight on the river-man

Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton has departed after losing a race. He got his short-stack in with ace-king pre-flop and found a caller with pocket eights. A eight fell on the river to make his opponent a set he didn’t need to make. —MC

9.20pm: Torment for Tureniec

Michael Tureniec is the latest Swede to be eliminated. There was a raise in front of him before he shoved for around 16,000. Fellow Swede Simon Persson smooth called behind and that was enough to scare off the original raiser. Tureniec tabled pocket eights and was racing Persson’s ace-king. All was looking good for Tureniec until a nasty looking ace fell on the river. —MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, 75 ante

9.15pm: Romanello in reverse

EPT regular Roberto Romanello has not had the best level, just now he was bet out of a pot by Iikka Tahkokallio. By the time they reached the turn on a [As] [5d][3d][8h] board there was roughly 14,000 in the pot. Romanello fired out a bet of 12,625, Tahkokallio asked the Welshman how much he had behind (about 24,000) and moved all-in, forcing a quick fold from Romanello. —NW

9.10pm: That’ll Lerner ya

Derek Lerner is up to 42,000 after winning a classic button versus BB battle with Greg Thompson. Lerner opened to 1,200 from the button and was called by Thompson to go to a [8h][9c][2s] flop where they both checked. Lerner found his betting gear on the [6c] but his 2,200 bet was called. The river fell [ah] and once again Thompson check-called a Lerner bet. The amount was 2,300 but Thompson soon mucked when Lerner revealed [ad][td]. —MC

9.05pm: It takes four (limps) to Tengo

Andrew Teng was fairly short stacked with around 15,000 so when four players, including Richard Ashby and Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Meulder, limped into the hand ahead of him the 3,750 nustling on top of the felt must have looked very appealing. So appealing in fact that he put his whole stack over the line. No-one decided to test him on his shoving range in this spot attractive spot and Teng stacked back up to 19,000. — RD

9pm: Sam likes the snowmen

I was alerted to a big pot that was in progress by one of the many railbirds watching the event. On the river Sam Iola had bet 26,000 into a pot that contained a little over 30,000.

Fabrizio Ascari was his lone opponent and was staring intently at a board of [8h][6h][9s][4c][6c]. Ascari eventually made the call but mucked when Iola showed [8d][8c], Ascari had just 125 left after the hand. —NW

8.45pm: More from Owston

Welshman Dan Owston is in a chirpy mood. Marc Naalden raised to 1,500 from under the gun, from the button, Owston made it 4,400 total, a bet Naalden called. The flop fell [3d][9d][10h], Naalden checked to Owston who fired a c-bet of 7,225 which was enough to force a fold from Naalden. —NW

8.45pm: Savelev saves himself

Aleksei Savelev is doing his best to pull himself back from the brink. Marc Naalden opened the pot for 1,500 and was called by Dan Owston in the small blind. Savelev made it 5,800 from the big blind leaving himself just 8,000 behind. It was a squeeze with intent and it did just enough to put both players off although Owston gave it some serious thought before telling the Russian that he was a ‘very lucky boy.’ — RD

8.40pm: Awards don’t guarantee success

Last season’s EPT Players’ Choice Award winner Kevin MacPhee has been eliminated. He was grinding a short stack for the two levels before dinner and soon moved all-in upon his return. He got it in very good too with ace-jack to a caller’s king-jack. A jack fell on the flop – no problem there. A king’s appearance on the turn however was not ideal at all. No ace on the river and he was out the door. —MC

8.30pm: Boberg is ice cool

I just watched Frederick Boberg win two pots in a row and in the process pass the 100,000 mark. In the first I joined the action pre-flop to see 25,000 in front of Boberg (button) and 11,300 in front of Jannick Wrang (small blind). Boberg sat impassively whilst Wrang tried to get a read (nothing) a twitch (nothing), Wrang waved a hand in front of Boberg’s face to try and get something but got, you guessd it, nothing, so he folded. The very next hand Boberg raised again, both Wrang and Richard Ashby put in 2,500 to call. On the flop of [Jh][As][10h] Boberg c-bet to the tune of 4,800 both his opponent’s folded. He’s currently on around 110,500. —NW

8.25pm: Long dinner break for some

Two players of note busted just before we went to dinner; Randall Flowers was one and the other was a certain ElkY. We don’t have the details of Randall’s exit but apparently the Team PokerStars Pro ran ace-jack into an opponent’s ace-queen. He’d been nursing a short stack for some time and his last 4,900 went in pre-flop and never returned. —MC

8.20pm: Heard the one about twelve guys in a lift?

On the way back from the dinner break I squashed into a packed elevator alongside Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Muelder and Canadian Ryan Hall. ‘Twelve people in an elevatoir and not one is a woman. Poker sucks,’ joked de Meulder. ‘Yeah, at least we’re not playing Magic cards,’ replied Hall making reference to the much-maligned and more than a little geeky Magic: The Gathering card game. Fair points aplenty. Both players are now in their seats with a little more space than they had moments ago. — RD

8.15pm: Back from the troughs

The 90-minute dinner break is over – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun working through dinner? Anyway, we have three levels left to play today. Percia Bukara is currently our runaway chip leader with approaching 170,000. No-one else looks remotely close to that at the moment.

While we wait for play to get under way, when they’ll be nine-handed, why not take a look at the chip count page? Or, feast your eyes on this photo of a dealer, which I selected completely at random from Neil Stoddart’s fine collection today. A coincidence, honest…

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of times they have left the hotel): Nick Wright (3), Marc Convey (2), Rick Dacey (1), Simon Young (0)

This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.

6.40pm: Dinner time

Six levels down and time for a dinner break. We shall all be back in around 90 minutes or 8.15pm local time for the resumption.

6.37pm: Michael Piper is out

I saw him walking away from the table and he filled me in on the details. “Andrew Teng opened from the cut-off, I jammed 25 big blinds from the small blind with ace-eight and the big blind insta-called me with ace-jack.” He added: “It was the hand against Chufty (Richard Ashby) that killed me though.” (see Battle of the Brits post at 5.20pm) — NW

6.35pm:Not so Chufty

Frederik Oskar Boberg has taken a chunk out of Richard Ashby’s stack. Boberg raised to 1,100 from the cut-off before the player on the button three-bet to 3,550. Ashby smooth called in the big blind and so did Boberg. The flop came [qh][qc][4h] and all three checked to see the [th] turn. Boberg took the reigns with a 7,200 bet and only Ashby called to go to the [ks] river. Both players checked and Ashby tabled [7c][7h] but lost out to Boberg’s [ah][5h] for the nut flush. He’s down to 42,000. —MC

6.30pm: Chouity takes a hit

EPT Grand Final winner Nicolas Chouity has taken a hit Evgeny Serebryakov doing the damage. Chouity was the initial raiser, making it 1,025 to play from under the gun 2. From middle position Serebryakov raised to 3,000 total, a bet Chouity elected to call. The flop fell [As][8c][4c], Chouity check-called a bet of 3,500. The [10d] turn checked through. Chouity continued his cautious post-flop approach and checked the [3d] river. Serebryakov stuck out a bet of 5,425 and Chouity made the call, Serebryakov showed [Ah][Jd] to win the pot. After the hand Chouity has 33,000, Serebryakov sits on a stack of 53,750. — NW

6.15pm: New chip hero

We have a new chip leader and that’s one smartly dressed Percia Bukara who has a staggering 170,000 (this is being checked now as he was stacking chips while we were trying to count over his shoulder). Whatever his total he is certainly leading the pack at the moment and with three full levels left to play he has the chance to create a monstrous stack before the end of the day. If he walked out now and blinded out he’d still be in the top ten chips coming into day 2. — RD

6.05pm: Local lad doubles

Janar Kiivramees is one of 11 Estonian’s who started Day 1b and he’s just doubled up to stay in it. With about 9,000 in the pot by the time the flop came [3s][Js][8c] it was quite natural for Kiivramees to move his last 8,000 into the middle. His lone opponent Fabian Brenes looked him up.

Kiivramees: [Ah][Ac]

Brenes: [Ad][Jc]

The turn and river a harmless [5c][5h]. —NW

6pm: Wigg out

Anton Wigg has just been busted by Richard Ashby. It was a straight foot race with Ashby calling Wigg’s 7,300 three-bet jam with pocket nines. Wigg turned ace-queen but failed to hit the ⁵⁶⁷ flop and when Ashby, aka Chufty, caught an ⁸ on the turn it was all over (bar a two outer for the chop). A king fell on the river and that was it for Wigg who has returned to his second hobby of accidentally clouting people with his rucksack – it is crowded tournament floor in his defence. Wigg had lost a sizeable pot shortly before getting it all-in for a 45,000 pot with [a][t] againt [a]² before the flop. Ashby is now up to 57,000. — RD

5.55pm: Siefert makes kill on Saffari

Sebastian Saffari has been eliminated by German player, Erik Siefert. All the chips went in pre-flop with Saffari holding pocket tens to his opponent’s pocket queens. The board ran [k]⁸[q][k][j] to make Siefert a full-house by the turn. —MC

5.50pm: At it again

Laurence Houghton and Maxim Panyar have tussled a few times today, on this latest occasion the Russian got the better of the Brit. On the turn of a [Kc][8s][8h][10h] Panyar check-raised Houghton’s bet of 1,150 to 5,900 and Houghton called. Both players checked the [Js] river, Panyar turned over a full house showing [8d][10d], Houghton got away cheaply on the river, he has around 28,000, Paynar is up to 37,000. —NW

5.45pm: On their bikes

Here’s four players of note that have been eliminated in the past hour:

Team PokerStars Online Luca Moschitta

John Eames

Rasmus Nielsen

Marc Gork

5.35pm: ElkY death watch, ends well

There’s a side to this job that can best be described as ‘unpleasant’. When a well-known player is down to his last handful of chips, the diligent blogger will be lurking tableside waiting for the inevitable end. It’s a bit like a vulture waiting for some poor furry animal to expire in the desert.

Not that you can call ElkY a small furry animal, but so it was that I was standing behind the Team PokerStars Pro, who was down to his last 1,625 chips. It can be a long, tedious wait, although this one was made slightly more bearable by the sight of the striking (female) dealer.

ElkY managed to refrain from shoving for five hands – each time there had been a raise in front of him. Finally it was folded around to the Frenchman and in went the chips. He was called by Konstantin Bilyaver on the button, but then Antti Kärkkäinen re-raised to 7,000. Bilyaver called.

The flop was [9c][6c][6s] and Kärkkäinen bet 5,000, only for Bilyaver to move all in for around 40,000. Fold. So it was a showdown:

ElkY: [ah][7s]

Bilyaver: [qs][qd]

ElkY looked to be on his way. The turn was no help – [kc] – but the river was [as] giving him top pair. For reasons unknown to me he took a pot of around 9,700, which seemed a little high considering the betting action. — SY

5.30pm: Naalden chip leader?

A scout around the room reveals Dutchman Marc Naalden has the likely chip lead with 86,000. Was it a nice, steady climb? Naalden takes up the story: "I basically doubled up through Tobias Reinkemeier, and then won a couple of smaller pots. On the Tobias hand I had 3-4 and the flop was 3-3-8 so I had trips.

“Four of us had seen the flop, I check-raised and was called only by Tobias to go heads-up. I bet on the turn and river and he called me both times. He just didn’t believe me – he had A-8!”

So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth.— SY

5.25pm: Salmi keeps it cheap

Ville Salmi had raised preflop from early position and had been called by Katja Thater on the button. Salmi made a curious minimum bet of 300 on the [6h][ad][kd] flop and Thater, looking particularly suspicious, made the call. Both players checked the [qd] turn. Salmi then made another 300 bet on the [qs] river and Thater made the call.

Salmi: [js][jh]

Thater: [ah][jc]

That’s what we call small pot poker. — RD

5.20pm: Battle of the Brits

Michael Piper and Richard Ashby are sat at the same table and the two of them just played a big pot. Piper got the action started by raising to 750 from under the gun, Ashby – the hi-jack – was the only caller.

Flop: [5h][8d][7h]

Piper c-bet 1,400, Ashby called. Before the turn was dealt Piper asked to see how much Ashby was playing.

Turn: [Kc]

Piper fired a second barrel of 2,250, Ashby called.

River: [4d]

Piper emptied the clip firing a third barrel of 5,600, Ashby now went into deep thought, he cut out the amount to call then stretched and lent back in his seat and…raised to 14,000. ‘Sicko,’ said Piper. After a long think of perhaps two minutes or more during which Piper checked his stack to see what he’d have left should he call and lose, Piper made the call. Ashby showed [4c][4h] for a rivered set, ‘I wasn’t expecting that,’ said Piper. Ashby now has a stack of 56,000, Piper is down to 14,000. —NW

5.10pm: Facts and figures

Thomas Kremser just announced to the field the confirmed figures for EPT Tallin.

420 day 1 players

€1,596,000 prize pool

56 places pay

Min cash is €6,350

First place pays €400,000

That’s quite some first prize that’s waiting for for one of these players in just a few days time. — RD

5pm: Dario downed

Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri has just busted way quicker than he took to fold a short while ago. He called a button raise from Veli-Pekka Tapani whilst sat in the SB to see a [jd][7s][9d] flop. Here he moved all-in for around 4,700 and Tapani called after a minute-long tank. Dario tabled [kd][qc] for over-cards and a gutshot draw and his Finnish opponent showed [9c][tc] for second pair. The turn [8h] and river [jc] missed the diminutive Italian to send him on his way.

As he was leaving he asked his foe, Michal Polchlopek, if he’d like to reveal what he had before. The Pole just shook his head. —MC

4.50pm: Finn

Finnish player Eero Laivonen is out, Estonian Hanno Liiva his slayer. Laivonen moved all-in for 8,000 into a pot of 10,500 on a board of [10c][Jd][6s][10d][7c] and was called by Lilva.

Lilva: [9d][10s]

Laivonen: [As][Ah]

Lilva is one of 11 Estonians in the field today, there were only three on Day 1A. — NW

4.42pm: Longest Minieri fold in history

Dario Minieri is not known for slowing down a game of poker. In fact, he’s usually hyper-quick. But just now he dwelled for a full nine minutes when faced with the decision of a call that could cost his tournament life.

So long was his thinking that the rest of the room had left for their break – and started to sit down again – before he acted.The board read [qs][3c][kh][7c][7h] and Michal Polchlopek had tossed in two yellow, 5,000 chips. That was enough to set Minieri, left with only 6,200, all-in if he called.

He agonised for an eternity, studying every inch of Polchopek’s body trying to find a tell-tale sign of strength or weakness.

“You have pocket threes?” he asked. No answer.

He tried again: “Will you show if I fold?” Again, Polchopek did not bat an eyelid.

“You are not really breathing. That is why I am taking so long. Call the clock if you like,” Minieri said. Again, nothing.

Eventually the Team PokerStars Pro tossed his hands in the muck. He looked pleadingly at Polchopek, but he declined the request to show. — SY

4.40pm: Back from the break

The players are returning from the break albeit if they can squeeze past the crowd trying to watch a mammoth Dario Minieri hand.

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of accuracy in guessing the size of the 410,500 population of Tallinn): Simon Young (432,000), Marc Convey (375,000), Nick Wright (461,500) and Rick Dacey (140,000)

This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.

4.30pm: De Melo is no more

Fatima Moreira De Melo is out, the hand she went out on extended well into the break. I only caught the river action but the board read [10d][3c][6h][5s][5c]. There was around 14,500 in the pot and the small blind, Antoine Amourette, had set De Melo all-in for her last 17,000, Amourette had about 40,000 in total. De Melo was tanking very hard. She riffled a stack of black 100 denomination chips as she pondered her move. After over two minutes thinking time she made the call. Amourette rolled over [6s][6c] De Melo nodded and mucked her hand before making a swift exit. —NW

4.25pm: Break time

The players are on a 15 minute break. Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo has just been eliminated 5 minutes into the break period. Details coming up.

4.25pm: Terrazas the terrible

Santiago Terrazas is building up some chip stack and is fast approaching 70,000 at this early juncture partly due to the following pot. Sebastian Saffari had opened to 675 and was called by Terrazas before Erik Siefert three-bet to 2,300. Both players called. All three players checked through to the [2h][7s][8h][6s] turn. Saffari bet 4,700 on the turn which was called by Terrazas. Saffari then check-called the [9c] river for 8,000. Terrazas showed [5c][5s] for the low end of the straight. You had the feeling that Saffari knew he was beat but just wanted to see how. — RD

4.22pm: Using position well

Former EPT champion Jens Kyllonen maneuvered Michal Polchlopek off hand to put himself up to 39,000. Salim Ghozali started a limp-fest by calling under-the-gun. Polchlopek looked to punish them all by raising to 1,800 from the BB. Kyllonen was the only player who hung around to see the [jh][qd][9d] flop where he called a 4,000 c-bet. The turn came [2d] and Polchlopek check-folded to a 7,500 bet from the Finn. —MC

4.20pm: Thater taking it easy

Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater has had a steady enough ride so far today. So relaxed is the German pro, that she’s currently enjoying a pint of the excellent Estonian beer Sake Kuld. PokerStars EPT photographer Neil Stoddart who’s been attending EPT’s since season two says it’s the first time he can remember her having a beer at the table. She’s also chowing down on some gummy bears. —NW

4.10pm: Not so mellow Melo

Fatima de Melo isn’t looking too happy with life at the moment. Each time we see her raise she seems to get three-bet and every time there’s action ahead of her she hasn’t got much to bring to the party. Everyone has a dry run in a tournament and this just happens to be hers. And to add to her woes Max Lykov has just sat down to her left. When you run bad, you can really run bad. — RD

4.05pm: Image issues

EPT Berlin runner-up Iikka Tahkokallio has seen his [ad][as] hold-up on a very scary looking board versus Benjamin Wilinofsky. The action had reached the turn and Tahkokallio check-called a 3,750 bet. The board at the river read [8d][6s][5d][2d][7s] and both players checked. “I have aces” said Tahkokallio and revealed his hand.

“It’s good” responded Wilinofsky and slid his cards to the dealer who flipped them up for some reason. Wilinofsky didn’t seem to mind that his [ks][qd] had been revealed. “My image can’t get much worse” he said. “You guys must know what I’m up to by now” he continued.

Even if they do know what he’s up to, the day’s going okay for him on the whole as he’s up to 56,000. Tahkokallio’s on 34,000 meanwhile. —MC

3.55pm: Gabrielsson survives

From the small blind Sadan Turker set Ferit Gabrielsson all-in for his last 3,750. Gabrielsson, who was receiving a massage at the time, put himself at risk and made the call.

Turker: [Kh][10d]

Gabrielsson: [Ah][7d]

He stayed in front all the way on a board of [6c][2d][Ad][6s][4c]. —NW

3.45pm: Movers and shakers

Team PokerStars Pro ElkY had fought his way back towards his starting stack but is now down to 10,000 after calling large bets and raises from a turn straight. EPT Player of the Year Max Lykov is going the way and is up to 57,000. Both are great players to watch. — RD

3.35pm: Flushed Finn

Juha Lauttamus is up to 33,000 after hitting a flush against an opponent and getting paid. He raised from under-the-gun and found one caller to go to a [jh][jc][7h] flop where he led for 750. Call. The turn came [qh] and this time he led for 4,200. Call. The river fell [ac] and there was no slowing down from the Finn as he bet 4,200 again and was called. Lauttamus tabled [6h][8h] for a turned flush and it was good as his opponent folded. —MC

3.30pm: Rehl rakes one

Six players saw a flop of [8d][7c][10d], a flop that you’d imagine had to have connected fairly solidly with someone. There was about 3,675 in the pot and first to bite was Alessandro Meoni who fired out a bet of 1,775. Ludovic Rehl decided to raise making it 4,100, everyone inbetween folded and it was back on Meoni, he elected to smooth call. The turn was certainly in the category marked ‘scare card’ as it was the [Ad]. Meoni checked, Rehl bet 6,200 (he had about another 9,700 back) and after eyeing up the bet and Rehl’s remaining stack Meoni folded. —NW



3.25pm:Ashby makes a good call

I arrived at the table to see a board of [Qd][7c][6d][Ac][8s] and around 10,000 in the pot. Richard Ashby had checked, from the small blind, to Jannick Wrang in the cut-off. Wrang fired out a bet of 8,100 and Ashby made a relatively quick call.

Wrang: [10d][Jh]

Ashby: [Qs][Jc]

Ashby now has around 52,000, Wrang, who earlier eliminated Juha Helppi, still has a healthy stack with around 46,000. —NW

3.17pm: Bluffed or good fold?

Roberto Romanello is down to 22,000 after taking an age to fold on the river of a [3c][4c][4d][2s][3d] board. There was 9,000 already in the middle before PokerStars qualifier Benjamin Wilinofsky led for 8,500 from the BB. Romanello went to call instantly but paused and then went into the tank. At one point he said he had a full-house, indicating he had a three in his hand most probably. Eventually he let it go and Derek Lerner, also sat at the table, commented: “Nice bluff buddy”. —MC

3.12pm: Jens Thorson busts

The young Swede is out. Gustav Ekerot made it 500, Thorson bumped it up to 2,000, leaving only 1,600 behind. Ekerot put in 4,000 to set Thorson all-in and he made the call:

Thorson: [kc][jh]

Ekerot: [ah][qd]

The board ran [5d][6s][3d][8d][2d] to make Ekerot an unnecessary flush, and Thorson was heading to the rail. — SY

3.08pm: Deeb does what Deeb does

On a 7-4-6-8-7 board, Shaun Deeb bet 1,300 and got a call from Simao Barbosa. The man from Portugal had pocket nines, but Deeb had rivered trips with 7-10. Deeb up to 36,000. — SY

3.05pm: Quack Quack Quack

From small raises, spring big pots, is something a poker philosopher once said, I imagine. Anyway that’s what happened in this hand. Erik Siefert raised to 500 from under the gun 1 and was flat called by Aleksey Timashkov from the hi-jack. Tadas Pelkaitis then raised to 1,800 from the cut-off.

Both Siefert and Timashkov decided to call creating a meaty pot of 5,800 before the flop of [Ac][6c][2s]. Action checked to the raiser and Pelkatis bet 2,700. Siefert check-raised to 8,100 total Timashkov got out the way but Pelkatis decided to stick around and flat called.

The turn bought the [Kc] and both players checked and the [3h] arrived on the river. Siefert decided to lead out with a small bet of 5,600 and Pelkatis decided the price was right and made the call. Siefert showed [2c][2d] to claim the pot. —NW

3pm: Little Thorson on a downward spiral

Jens Thorson, younger brother to William, is having a bad day at the office. His stack has been going down in chunks and it’s just gone down another chunk. The action had reached the river where the board read [6h][jc][ac][as][th]. Thorson led for 1,250 into two players. The first one folded but Vallo Maidla tank-called from the BB. Thorson tabled [kh][ks] but lost out to the Estonian’s [ad][qh]. —MC

2.50pm: Regular as clockwork

Santiago Terrazas made the final table of EPT Barcelona last year (not making friends with Marc Goodwin in the process after a wayward clock call). He is busy raising and making c-bets but we’ve not seen any controversial decsions from him yet. — RD

2.45pm: Missing Minieri

Dario Minieri has not reappeared from the break yet. Where he should be sat there is an empty chair and a small stack worth 16,000. The Team PokerStars Pro didn’t look entirely happy with how things were going when he went for the fifteen-minute break. — RD

2.40pm: Greco on the up

Michael Greco is up to 36,000 after wining a hand without having to showdown. There was an early position raise that he and two others called. All four checked through the [7c][7s][jh] flop to go to the [jh] turn. Grigory Torosyan was in the BB and led out for 1,600 and only Greco called. The river came [8h] and the Russian led out again, to the value of 4,100. Greco dwelled before raising to 12,000 prompting a fold from his opponent. —MC

2.30pm: Must-read news *

Swissotel balcony report: The sun is now shining (around 22 degrees), four large passenger ferries are in the port, a small plane is circling overhead, the good people of Tallinn are going about their shopping duties. — SY

* I have to justify the time spent having a crafty cigarette



2.25pm: Back

Players are taking their seats and preparing for the next stage of battle. Blinds are now 100-200.

Make sure you keep an eye on our selected players on the chip count page, which is being updated at a hyper-turbo rate with the aid of an iPad. Although we do spend a lot of time having to show it off to players rather than actually update the counts. — SY

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of appearance at breakfast): Rick Dacey (10.25am), Simon Young (10.35am), Marc Convey (11am), Nick Wright (11.10am)

This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.