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9.25pm: Over

A full chip count and a full wrap is on its way. Stand by.

9.20pm: Single Dutch

We have our final eight. Huub Verdonschot opened for a standard raise and Brent Wheeler three-bet to his left. Verdonschot shoved and Wheeler insta-called and showed [ac][kh], which was all over Verdonschot’s [ad][jd].

We were a jack away from our final eight, and although that changed to “a diamond away from the final eight” when the flop came [5s][9d][6c][kd], the [jh] on the end was no longer enough for the Dutchman. — HS

9.15pm: Professional side event player

As the Main Event plays down to its final eight, news reaches us that Martin Kabrhel, who has won three side events already on this season of the EPT, has (guess what) made the final two tables of the €2,000 side event. This is ridiculous. — HS

9.05pm: Strassmann lights a big stack fuse

Johannes Strassmann raises to 70,000 and is called by Allan Baekke before Brent Wheeler comes in with a squeeze to 200,000. Strassmann moves out of the way leaving Baekke with a question. His answer is to reraise to 515,000. Wheeler thinks for a minutes before mucking his hand. Baekke’s stack is a monstrous 4.6m. — RD

9.05pm: Wheeler on a roll

Brent Wheeler raises to 76,000 from middle position and scoops the blinds. He raises the following hand and wins the pot unopposed again. Easy game. The big stacks are slowly chipping away at the short stacks. — RD

9.00pm: Schroer feels the heat

Allan Baekke raises from the hijack to 65,000. Schroer calls in the big blind. Both players check the [8d][qh][7d] flop. Schroer check-calls 50,000 on the [2c] turn. Schroer checks the [3h] and Baekke bets 175,000. Schroer passes. — RD

8.55pm: Baekke and Wheeler clash

Allan Baekke raises to 65,000 and Brent Wheeler re-raises from the big blind to 237,000. Baekke passes. — RD

8.45pm: Early action

Baekke raises to 65,000 and is called by Medesan on the button. The Dane leads out the [5d][3s][2d] flop for 75,000 and Medesan elects to raise to 180,000. Baekke thinks for a long time before folding. It’s a handy boost for the Romanian.

Talking of Medesan, just take a look at the gloves he is wearing… — RD

8.35pm: Level up

We’re in to level 24 now. The blinds are 15,000-30,000 with a 3,000 ante.

8.25pm: Play resume

After the break for the redraw and set-up of the last table, we’re under way again. One player to go, folks.

8.02pm: Redraw

So with that we are down to one table. But it’s not the final table. Oh no. Instead it’s the last table of nine. Their seats have been drawn and now we play until one more player busts. Then, and only then, will we have our final table set for tomorrow. — SY

1. Russell Carson, PokerStars qualifier

2. Alain Medesan

3. Jonathan Schroer, PokerStars qualifier

4. Huub Verdonschot

5. Johannes Strassmann, Team PokerStars Pro

6. Lukas Baumann, PokerStars qualifier

7. Brent Wheeler, PokerStars player

8. Allan Baekke, PokerStars player

9. Daniel Van Kalkeren

8pm: Stop Debus, I want to get off

After losing that huge pot (see below) to Allan Baekke, Alexander Debus was knocked out the very next hand by Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann. But it was not a moment of tilt. Instead his genuine hand ran in to a really genuine hand.

Debus had opened with a raise and Strassmann re-raised to 126,000. Debus announced all in for 742,000 and Strassmann insta-called.

Debus: [ad][kh]

Strassmann: [ah][as]

The flop was certainly interesting, but it served only to extend Strassmann’s advantage, coming [3c][ac][kd]. The turn was [5c] and the river [10s] and Debus left in tenth place, €28,000 the richer. Interestingly he bubbled the final table in Warsaw this season as well, not something he want to make a habit of. — SY

7.55pm: Monster for Baekke

Allan Baekke stretched his lead by winning a huge pot off Alexander Debus. Baekke had opened with a 53,000 bet and Debus called. On the [3c][qs][3h] flop Baekke made it 60,000. Call. The turn was [ad] and now Baekke put on more pressure, betting 137,000. Again Debus called. Finally, on the [ks] river Baekke put out a monster 437,000 – and got the call he needed:

Baekke: [ah][3s] for the full house. Debus did not show. — SY

7.50pm: Holstege halted

Johannes Holstege is out, running into Brent Wheeler – and getting a little unlucky. Holstege opened to 51,000 from early position, the second time he’d done that in a couple of hands, and Wheeler had seen enough. Wheeler shoved for more than a million, covering Holstege’s 900,000. Holstege called. Big pot.

Wheeler: [ad][10d]

Holstege: [10c][10s]

Holstege clenched his fist and was delighted with the situation. But that only lasted as long as the flop, which came [as][js][7d] and the [3d] left him one out on the river. It wasn’t the [3c] and Holstege departs. — HS

7.45pm: First blood to Baekke

First hand back from dinner and Allan Baekke keeps up his pre-snack aggression. He made it 53,000 and got calls from Huub Verdonschot, Johannes Strassmann and Alexander Debus. On the [7s][2d][2c] flop Baekke bet 100,000 and everybody else ran for the hills mountains. SY

7.42pm: Snowball fight

Get a bunch of poker folks in a pile of snow and chaos is lilkely to follow. A bit like this…

7.40pm: Back

That was dinner. This is the resumption of level 23.

6.50pm: Dinner chips

The chip count page has been updated with the latest counts. But this will save you a click:

Allan Baekke Denmark PokerStars player 3,415,000

Russell Carson Canada PokerStars qualifier 3,203,000

Brent Wheeler USA PokerStars player 1,624,000

Johannes Strassmann Germany Team PokerStars Pro 1,500,000

Alexander Debus Germany 1,430,000

Jonathan Schroer USA PokerStars qualifier 1,291,000

Alain Medesan Romania 930,000

Johannes Holstege Germany PokerStars player 907,000

Huub Verdonschot Netherlands 906,000

Lukas Baumann Austria PokerStars qualifier 706,000

Daniel Van Kalkeren Netherlands 622,000

So Baekke still leads, but Carson is right on his back. Join us in about 50 minutes from now for the resumption. — HS

6.45pm: Debus to enjoy dinner

Allan Baekke is mortal, but you wouldn’t necessarily want to be all in against him, even if you were ahead. Alexander Debus just had a major sweat for his tournament life, but ended up doubling up on the last hand before the dinner break.

Baekke was on the button and Debus in the big blind. They got to the turn pretty quietly, and the four cards were [as][6d][5c][8h]. Debus bet 220,000 at it and Baekke announced that he was all in. Call from Debus!

Debus: [ad][2d] top pair

Baekke: [7c][5d] bottom pair and open-ended straight draw

Baekke had a few outs then but the [2h] was not one of them. Debus survives and doubles up to more than a million.

That’s the dinner break and we’re getting the full chip counts right now. Give us five. Or ten. — HS

6.15pm: Koller culled

Marcel Koller had realistic hopes of joining an exclusive club of back-to-back EPT final table-ists. But they have just been dashed. It all started innocuously enough, with Koller and Baekke getting to a flop of [7s][jc][8d] and Baekke betting 60,000. Koller raised here, making it 155,000 and Baekke called.

The turn was [10c] and then it all went off – including the sound on the live feed from the announcer’s microphone, so I’m not precisely sure how this all went in. Anyhow, it did and Koller’s last 724,000 was in the middle, called by Baekke.

Baekke had turned a straight with his [qc][9d] and Koller’s top pair, with [kd][jh], had been outdrawn. The [2h] on the river was irrelevant and Koller departs.

Baekke now has 4,185,000, more than the rest of the table combined.— HS

6pm: Baumann doubles through Holstege

I don’t understand mathematics and I don’t try. But I’m sure it had something to do with the way this hand played out.

Jonathan Schroer raised to 61,000 from under-the-gun and Johannes Holstege called from a seat to his left. It was folded around to Lukas Baumann in the big blind, who moved all in for 370,000 more.

Schroer folded without too much delay, but Holstege, who had Baumann well covered with a stack of about a million, dwelled for a while but then called.

Holstege: [5c][5s]

Baumann: [js][10s]

That’s a coin flip. I think. (Is it?) Anyway, it’s pretty close and on this occasion the gods favoured Baumann. The flop came [ks][8s][kd] and the turn of [3s] gave the flush. The river was neither a king nor a five (it was [4h]) and so Baumann won it.

He’s back to about 750,000. So, roughly speaking, is Holstege. — HS

5.45pm: Lykov out in 13th for €15,800

Former EPT winner Max Lykov has just been knocked out by Canadian Russell Carson in a top pair versus set tussle. Lykov raised from the cut-off to 55,000 and was called by Carson on the button. The flop ran out [ts][2s][7c] and Lykov continuation bet 68,000 into the pot. Carson, who had been very aggressive over the previous five hands winning three of them, counted out 195,000 and slid it into the middle. Lykov announced that he was all-in for his remaining 800,000 or so and was snap-called by Carson. The cards went on their backs:

Lykov: [qh][td] for top pair

Carson: [7h][7d] for middle set

The [9d] and [ad] made little difference as Lykov stood and shook hands with the table ending his chance to be the first double EPT champion. — RD

5.40pm: Cainelli caned

Straight after the break Luca Cainelli needed to shove with any two. It turned out he had a playable hand, [10c][js]. Unfortunately for him he was called by Allan Baekke who had the dominating [qc][jd]. The board ran [7h][3h][jh][5s][5c][jd] and the Italian was out in 14th for €15,800. We’re sure to see him at his home event of EPT San Remo next month. — SY

5.35pm: Fourteen for it

We’re down to our final 14 players, meaning we’re six away from a final table. The full, updated counts are now over there on the chip count page and a reminder of who has won what is still there on the prizewinners page.

The next man out will earn himself €15,800. But outlast 13 players and you’re getting €445,000.

This is Alain Medesan. He’s still looking strong:

PokerStars Blog reporting team in the Alps (thin on air, fat on hot dogs):Howard Swains, Rick Dacey and Simon Young

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.

5.15pm: Break time

That’s the end of level 22. We’re on a 15-minute break.

5.05pm: Strassmann takes out Haigh

Johannes Strassmann open-raised then faced an all-in bet from Robert Haigh, 331,000 total. The German Team PokerStars Pro wasted no time calling.

Haigh: [js][jh]

Strassmann: [ad][kh]

Strassmann needed to catch up – and he did that rather quickly and effectively on the [kd][qs][kc] flop. A jack would still save Haigh but the turn was [3s] and river [7h].

Haigh leaves in 15th place for €13,0000. — SY

5pm: Baekke takes bit pot, extends lead

Alexander Debus raised, Allan Baekke re-raised to 110,000, Debus re-re-raised to 245,000 and Baekke Called. Got that? OK. Both checked the [kd][ks][10s] flop, but on the [kc] turn Debus checked then folded when Baekke made it 180,000. A pot of 716,000 that took Baekke up to 3.3million. — SY

4.55pm: Introducing Jonathan Schroer and his mighty stack

Three things have characterised Jonathan Schroer’s tournament so far: impeccable manners, a big stack, and an onomatopoeic table posture, if such a thing is possible.

To explain: Schroer has been one of the most polite poker players I’ve ever seen, always chatting to his neighbour, always shaking hands, and always wishing his opponents all the best in every pot they play. It is all perfectly genuine too and he’s made a lot of friends.

That big stack has been with him throughout too. I remember asking him his name on day one when he was among the early leaders, and he’s never been far off all the way to the last 16.

The onomatopoeic table posture is harder to define, but if his name, Schroer, sounds like something supple and frequently moving, that’s exactly what Schroer is like. He stoops down impossibly low to peek at his cards and often slouches almost horizontally in his chair between hands. He looks wonderfully comfortable.

Anyhow, all this is introduction to the news that his big stack is now twice as big as Shroer has just doubled up through Johannes Holstege. Schroer raised to 51,000 from early position, Holstege made it 68,000 more, and Schroer dwelled a while before shoving all in for about 750,000. — HS

4.50pm: Koller’s pot

Marcel Koller opened with a 46,000 bet, Luca Cainelli called as did Robert Haigh in the big blind. All three checked the [3d][10d][jh] flop but on the [6c] turn Haigh bet 60,000 and only Koller called. Koller himelf then bet out on the [jc] river to take the pot. — SY

4.45pm: Florian Döhnert out in 16th

Florian Döhnert open shoves for around 300,000 but runs into a hand courtesy of Brent Wheeler who moves all-in from the button. When the cards are flipped Döhnert’s happy to see a flip.

Döhnert: [jc][qc]

Wheeler: [td] [tc]

The flop gives a juicy [ts][jh][kd] giving Wheeler a set and Döhnert a big draw… which never arrives. [8h] on the turn and [js] on the river. Döhnert collects €13,000 for his 16th place finish. — RD

4.40pm: Giving way

Luca Cainelli opened with a raise of 61,000, leaving just a few hundred thousand behind, but folded when Robert Haigh re-raised to 312,000. — SY

4.26: Redraw

With 16 players left there has been a redraw for the last two tables:

Outer table

1: Max Lykov – 980,000

2: Russell Carson – 2,010,000

3: Brent Wheeler – 1,254,000

4: Alain Medesan – 774,000

5: Lukas Baumann – 622,000

6: Jonathan Schroer – 805,000

7: Florian D̦hnert Р270,000

8: Johannes Holstege – 1,987,000

Featured table

1: Marcel Koller – 730,000

2: Alexander Debus – 1,159,000

3: Johannes Strassmann – 1,112,000

4: Daniel Van Kalkeren – 568,000

5: Luca Cainelli – 397,000

6: Allan Baekke – 2,696,000

7: Huub Verdonschot – 938,000

8: Robert Haigh – 334,000.

4.25pm: Sore Toth

Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth raises to 48,000 and Huub Verdonschot moves all-in for 449,000. Toth quickly makes the call for the vast majority of his stack.

Toth: [ac][qd]

Verdonschot: [jh][qh]

The flop is a heartbreaking [9h][8c][tc] creating a huge suck out for Verdonschot. A [8d] on the turn and a [ts] on the river all but destroys Toth. The Hungarian is out a couple of hands later in 17th for €10,200. — RD

4.15pm: Baumann down’s Wheeler’s queens

Here’s a hand full of trickiness and deception that ended up in a double up for Lukas Baumann. Baumann, a PokerStars qualifier from Austria, was in the big blind on the

five handed table, but Max Lykov, in the cut off, asked him how many chipshe had before any bet had been made.

Baumann counted it out and told Lykov he had 320,000. Lykov frowned and folded. When it got to Brent Wheeler in the small blind, he limped and Baumann checked his option. That took them to a [7s][6h][4d] flop. Wheeler put out a speculative 28,000 bet and Baumann snapped into gear, raising all in. Wheeler insta-called, and here’s what they had:

Baumann: [7d][5d]

Wheeler: [qh][qs] – at least the third time today he has had pocket queens.

That was top pair and an up and down straight draw against an overpair. The turn was blank: [ks] but the river was one of those outs: [3h]. Baumann doubled up, and Wheeler’s queens were finally cracked. — HS

4.10pm: Medesan mounting his offensive

Alain Medesan has quietly moved through his tournament into the late stages but is now moving through the gears.

Hand 1: Richard Toth raises to 45,000 and Medesan 3-bets (not all-in) and shows [ac][kc] after getting a fold.

Hand 2: Medesan raises to 42,000 from the hijack of the six-handed table and is raised by Johannes Holstege on the button to 104,000. Medesan thinks for just a few seconds before moving the remainder of his 290,000 stack over the line. The move boosts his stack to over 430,000. — RD:

4pm: Collopy crushed

It’s the end of the road for Jim Collopy, who was in shove mode after running A-K into aces in the last level. He moved all in from the hijack and Max Lykov, on the button, asked for a count. Collopy had 358,000 and Lykov folded, but Brent Wheeler, in the big blind, snapped him off.

Wheeler showed [qd][qc] and Collopy showed [kc][jc]. “You’re unpatriotic, you know that,” said Collopy to his countryman Wheeler, all in good spirits. Collopy then requested that the dealer lay out a board of four aces and a deuce, but that wasn’t to be. She did, however, give Collopy a king on the flop – the [kh] – but there was also the [qs]. The [7h][5c][9c] completed it and Collopy was out in 19th. — HS

3.55pm: Playing again

Players are back and level 22 is up and running.

3.50pm: Chips

The full official counts from the end of the level are currently being input on the chip count page by a band of trained chimps. — HS

3.40pm: Level up

That’s it for level 21. We’re on a 15-minute break. Players will come back to blinds of 10,000-20,000 with a 2,000 ante. — SY

3.39pm: Bernhard Perner out in 19th for €10,200

Bernhard Perner has just had a horrible KO in the last hand before the break. Russell Carson raises to 42,000 from the hijack and is called by Bernhard Perner in the big blind. Perner checked the [td][js][2h] flop allowing Carson to bet 67,000 into the Austrian. Perner Hollywoods for a while before moving in for little over a minimum raise and Carson calls.

Perner: [th][ts] for middle set

Carson: [qh][9s]

Turn: [qh]

River: [8s]

Carson hits his open-ended straight to complete a heater that has seen him double with Aces versus Collopy’s ace-king and queens versus Wheelers ace-king. — RD

3.37pm: Collopy drums his way out of trouble

The action folds to short stack Lukas Baumann in the small blind and before he gets a chance to think about shoving Jim Collopy starts drumming the table in the big blind. Baumann folds with a smile. New fold-inducing technique from Collopy? — RD

3.36pm: Richard Toth

Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth talk about his event so far…

3.35pm: Strassmann stuck in raise-folding cycle

Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann’s attempts to boss the table are running into difficulties. Almost every time he raises someone shoves on him. He’s bound to snap someone off soon. Just not yet. — RD

3.30pm: Double up #2

This time it was Russell Carson who got the magical double up. Max Lykov had kicked it off by opening with a 38,000 raise. Carson made it 112,000 and then Brent Wheeler joined the fun by raising again, to 254,000! Lykov had seen enough and got out of the way. But after a short dwell Carson announced he was all-in and got an instant call from Wheeler.

Carson: [ad][kd]

Wheeler: [qc][qd]

It was a close match up, but Carson took an instant lead when the board ran [10d][ah][7c][9c][3h]. He was all in for 809,000 and now has a sizeable stack. Wheeler is down to 600,000. — SY

3.20pm: Double up #1

A lucky one for Daniel Van Kalkeren of Holland. He open shoved for 198,000 with [qd][qh] and was called by Florian Dohnert with [kd][ks]. Kalkaren was at risk but the [9c][10d][jd] flop added a straight draw to his outs. The [8d] on the turn duly filled that straight and the river was [as]. Kalkeren on more than 400,000 now – and Dohnert falls to 250,000. — SY

3.10pm: Video time

Here’s how the video team set out the start of today…

3.05pm: Wintersberger chilled; Gaines gone

Two players were eliminated in short order, one from each of the outer tables. The first player to go was David Wintersberger who was all in with [ah][9s] against the [ks][kh] of Brent Wheeler.

The board ran [kd][qd][3c][7s][8h] and the day one leader Wintersberger was frozen out in 21st.

A couple of hands later, over on table one, the newly chipped Johannes Holstege raised to 32,000 from early position. Lee Gaines, a couple of seats to his left, re-popped, making it 86,000, and the decision made its way back round to Holstege.

He moved all in, comfortably covering Gaines’ last 500,000, but the American called for that, showing [ac][qd]. That was in trouble against Holstege’s [ad][kd] and the board ran [ks][6h][2c][10s][2h]. Only a jack on the river would have saved Gaines, but its absence meant he was out in 20th. — HS

3.15pm: Carson-Collopy car crash

Jim Collopy raised from early position to 39,000 and Russell Carson moved all-in for 411,000. It was a horrible set up for Collopy who made the call with [ad][kd]. Carson showed the bullets with [ah][ac] and the flop wasn’t great for Collopy; [qs][9h][4s]. The turn killed it with [7d] before the irrelevant [9c] dropped on the river. Carson doubled to 830,000. — RD

3.10pm: Other action

Richard Toth moves from table 2 to table 1 and Alexander Debus calls a 121,000 bluff from Florian Döhnert on the river of a [4h][7c][qs][6c][9c] board to win a 400,000 pot.

3.05pm: Major sweat for Koller

While it’s great to get it all-in with top-top and not to be shown two-pair or a set it’s not so hot to have your opponent free rolling. Koller and Alexander Debus got it all-in on the [jd][ts][2h] flop.

Koller: [ac][jh]

Debus: [as][js]

Turn: [3d]

River: [th]

Koller walks away from the table to pace out some nervous energy. — RD

3pm: Cyril killer

We’ve lost another player, and at this rate we’ll be skiing down the mountains in the bar in no time at all. Cyril Naim was the man to go, and my reading skills on this one were spot on (for a change). Naim open shoved for 248,000 and it was folded around to Jonathan Schroer in seat eight.

He clearly fancied a call and thought for about a minute, when suddenly Alain Medesan in seat nine called time on him. The floor said Schroer should be able to think a little longer before the clock was called – at which point Medesan began breathing very heavily.

“Medesan has aces,” I whispered to a media colleague.

Schroer then folded, and Medesan moved all in. Once everyone else folded they were on their backs, and wouldn’t you know it?

Naim: [ad][6d]

Medesan: [as][ac]

The board ran [9h][2d][qs][3s][ah] to make a set for Medesan, who took all of Naim’s chips and moved up to 530,000. — SY

2.55pm: Holstege beats the unbeatable

Is this the first chink in the armour of Allan Baekke? Well, he’s not exactly going to think he played it badly – the contrary, in fact, he played it perfectly – but he has just been massively outdrawn for certainly the first time I remember seeing in this tournament.

Baekke raised to 34,000 from the cut off and Johannes Holstege three-bet from the button, making it 79,000. It was folded back to Baekke, who four-bet, making it 157,000 and Holstege shoved.

This is clearly what Baekke was wanting as he insta-called, tabling [ad][ac]. Holstege was furious as he showed [4c][4s] and he was in dire straits for his tournament life.

But how about this flop, turn and river? It ran [7s][6d][6h][8s][5s] to fill a straight. He doubles up to about a million; Baekke takes a small hit. — HS

2.45pm: Husiaux hussled out in 23rd

Bertrand Husiaux is out, the latest victim of Johannes Strassmann. Husiaux was an overnight short stack and he’d shoved a couple of times already and got it through. But when he found [as][kc] that was plenty good enough to move in from early position again. But this time Strassmann re-raised all in from the small blind and showed [10h][10d].

That was a flip, but there was another ten on the flop, and Strassmann faded runner-runner straight outs. Husiaux leaves in 23rd – and can now attend the birth of his child, due this week. Good luck, Bertrand. — HS

2.40pm: Lykov bossing the early action on table 2

Max Lykov is the player showing the most preflop aggression, in terms of opening pots anyway. Lykov must be winning close to half the pots with a simple raise and with the blinds at 8,000/16,000/2,000 ante that’s a nice pick up each time. Bernhard Perner has probably opened the second largest amount but things haven’t worked quite as well. Why? Well, he’s got less chips for one. Perner raises into Wheeler’s big blind for 37,000 and the American responds by moving all-in. Perner folds. His stack is definitely going the wrong direction. — RD

2.35pm: A spoonful of luck helps the Medesan go up

Alain Medesan had 138,000 sitting in front of him, looked down at his cards, saw [ah][7d] and announced: “I am all in.” It was folded around to Cyril Naim in the big blind who wasted no time in calling with [qs][qc]. Naim had Medesan covered, and it looked like we were heading for our second bust out of the day.

But wait, the flop worked a treat for the Romanian, coming [3c][4s][as]. “Yes!” Medesan said. Then he turned to the dealer: “No spade! Keep it low!” And that’s exactly what happened, with the [2h] turn and [jd] river. Medesan up to 280,000; Naim down to 240,000. — SY

2.30pm: Wintersberger pushes Perner

Bernhard Perner raises from the small blind into David Wintersberger who makes the call. Perner check-calls 22,000 on a [2d][qs][9d] flop before folding to Wintersberger’s second barrel of 44,000. — RD

2.25pm: Donhert builds

Florian Donhert made it 37,000 and was called by Marcel Koller on the button and Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann on the big blind. On the [4h][4c][2c] flop Strassmann checked, Donhert made it 50,000 and only Koller called. The turn was [ac] and now Donhert checked. Koller made his move with a 100,000 bet – but Donhert check-raised all in. That forced Koller to lay it down. — SY

2.20pm: Wintersberger all-in

Jim Collopy raises to 27,000 and Day 1 chip leader David Wintersberger moves all-in from the big blind. Collopy wastes no time in passing his hand. — RD

2.17pm: The rich get richer; Nasr El Nasr out first hand

Allan Baekke and Nasr El Nasr have been jousting for the best part of two days but their fight has come to an end on the opening hand of day four.

El Nasr opened from early position, making it 26,000. Baekke three-bet to 71,000 and when it was folded around to El Nasr, he announced that he was all in – for his overnight total of 546,000. Baekke had a quick double check of his cards and called.

Baekke: [ad][kd]

El Nasr: [ac][7c]

The board ran out: [10c][10h][2s][10s][4d] and El Nasr, one of the most hotly tipped prospects in any event is out in 24th. Baekke gets massively richer, and removes one of his toughest opponents. — HS

1.30pm: Preparing for day four

There was something of a “last day of school” atmosphere this morning at the bottom of the ski slope nearest to the Alpine Palace hotel. Apparently the snow is rapidly becoming slushy and a band of skiers had given up their downhill ambitions and had taken to pelting cable car bubbles with snowballs instead. Come on, it’s fun.

A similar atmosphere has descended inside the EPT tournament room, where the deadly seriousness of a major tournament’s closing stages are complemented by a real sense excitement and anticipation. We have an absolutely top notch last 24 here at the inaugural Snowfest, and although today we will lose 16 of them, it is going to be a thriller.

The seat draw was published last night, but it’s also worth reprinting here in full. Just take a look at this line up:

Table one

1 – Nasr El Nasr Germany 546,000

2 – Allan Baekke Denmark 2,687,000

3 – Johannes Holstege Germany 683,000

4 – Cyril Naim France 380,000

5 – Lee Gaines USA 594,000

6 – Huub Verdonschot Netherlands 769,000

7 – Jonathan Schroer USA 685,000

8 – Alain Medesan Romania 166,000

Table two

1 – Max Lykov Russia 1,205,000

2 – Russell Carson Canada 495,000

3 – Brent Wheeler USA 1,361,000

4 – Richard Toth Hungary 414,000

5 – Lukas Baumann Austria 615,000

6 – Jim Collopy USA 758,000

7 – Bernhard Perner Austria 279,000

8 – David Wintersberger Germany 229,000

Table three

1 – Marcel Koller Switzerland 752,000

2 – Alexander Debus Germany 908,000

3 – Johannes Strassmann Germany 1,001,000

4 – Daniel Van Kalkeren Netherlands 281,000

5 – Luca Cainelli Italy 542,000

6 РFlorian D̦hnert Germany 602,000

7 – Bertrand Husiaux France 235,000

8 – Robert Haigh Germany 435,000

Johannes Strassmann, the Team PokerStars Pro, will take centre stage on the television table, under the gaze of EPT Live. There will be a lot of moving around though, and we’ll probably see pretty much everyone at some point. Stay tuned.

You can check them out in order of chips on the chip count page. And you can see how they all got there with yesterday’s wrap. All these other fellows have also made some money here this week.

Yesterday’s play ended right at the end of level 20, meaning we’re starting in level 21 today, give or take a couple of hands. Play is due to start at 2pm local time. That’s not long.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Austria: Rick Dacey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

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.

Here is the seat draw for day four of EPT Snowfest. 24 players remain.

1 1 Nasr El Nasr, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, 546,000

1 2 Allan Baekke, Denmark, PokerStars player, 2,687,000

1 3 Johannes Holstege, Germany, PokerStars player, 683,000

1 4 Cyril Naim, France, 380,000

1 5 Lee Gaines, USA, 594,000

1 6 Huub Verdonschot, Netherlands, 769,000

1 7 Jonathan Schroer, USA, PokerStars qualifier, 685,000

1 8 Alain Medesan, Romania, 166,000

2 1 Max Lykov, Russia, PokerStars player, 1,205,000

2 2 Russell Carson, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 495,000

2 3 Brent Wheeler, USA, PokerStars player, 1,361,000

2 4 Richard Toth, Hungary, Team PokerStars Pro, 414,000

2 5 Lukas Baumann, Austria, PokerStars qualifier, 615,000

2 6 Jim Collopy, USA, PokerStars player , 758,000

2 7 Bernhard Perner, Austria, 279,000

2 8 David Wintersberger, Germany, 229,000

3 1 Marcel Koller, Switzerland, 752,000

3 2 Alexander Debus, Germany , 908,000

3 3 Johannes Strassmann, Germany, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,001,000

3 4 Daniel Van Kalkeren, Netherlands, 281,000

3 5 Luca Cainelli, Italy, 542,000

3 6 Florian Döhnert, Germany, 602,000

3 7 Bertrand Husiaux, France, 235,000

3 8 Robert Haigh, Germany, 435,000

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.

8.50pm: Level done

With that we’re on a break to celebrate the end of level 19. We’re also down to just four tables. — SY

8.45pm: Wheeler keeps on turning

Brent Wheeler opened for 25,500 and Sven Mol re-raised to 58,000. Wheeler announced all-in – call!

Wheeler: [jh][jd]

Mol: [9h][9d]

Mol, a PokerStars qualifier from Holland, had 380,000 and was the man at risk. His prospects went out of the window instantly when the board ran [js][ac][kh][10c][7s]. Wheeler is now up to 900,000. — SY

8.35pm: Nice one, Cyril. Nice one, son…

… Nice one Cyril, let’s have another one. So says Jim Collopy* who doubled to 620,000 at the expense of Cyril Naim. We did not see the action, but Collopy had [as][jd] and that was good against Cyril Naim’s [K][J] on a [4d][8d][2s][10s][4c] board.

*Collopy did not say this — SY

8.30pm: Dirty Schroer

American Jonathan Schroer just won a considerable pot when Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Steindl folded his 92,000 check-raise squeeze in a 3-way pot on a [7c][ah][2s] flop. Schroer then regaled the table with quotes from the famous Dirty Harry scene. You know the one, ‘Do you feel lucky punk?’ — RD

8.25pm: Lerner on Lerner

The Lerner twins both had deep runs in the tournament but it was down to Aaron (not Derek) to make the money and, quite frankly, he could have easily gone further than he did. Allan Baekke raised under the gun to 23,000 and Lerner moved his entire stack across the line, 208,000 according to his brother. Baekke mulled over whether to pass or call but eventually chose the latter with AJ off. Lerner showed AQ – also unsuited – and the two went to showdown. A jack on the flop all but killed Lerner and with no miraculous backdoor straight arriving Lerner has to watch the 420,000 pot he felt was his slide to the opposite side of the table.

‘You said something like this was going to happen,’ pointed out Derek at the cash desk. ‘I know! I said that some Northern European fish would call me with A9 in a 400,000 pot!’ replied Aaron. It’s a tough break but I’m sure they’ll be back. — RD

8.20pm: Bullies

The liberties you can take with a big stack, huh. Johannes Strassmann (with about 1.1 million) raised to 25,000 from the button, but Lukas Sasky was a non-believer and shoved all in for 95,000 more from the small blind.

Strassmann asked the dealer for a precise count and then seemed to go through a world of mathematics to come up with the call. Strassmann showed [kc][6c] and remarkably he was ahead of Sasky’s [qc][8s].

The board ran [10h][5c][ks][qd][kd] and that was enough to knock out Sasky. “Wunderbar call,” muttered someone, but Jim Collopy was wholly approving. “You had to call no matter what you had,” Collopy said. “You’re getting ten to one. And with that stack.”

On the neighbouring table, and almost concurrently, Allan Baekke was wielding his might pile with similar acumen. Russell Carson made it 24,000 from under-the-gun and Baekke called in the big blind. The two of them went to a [qd][8c][qc] flop and checked it.

The turn was [kh] and Baekke bet 26,000, which Carson called. They then saw a [8d] turn. Baekke bet 82,500 which looked suspicious to Carson. The Canadian said: “Do you want a call?”

Baekke stone-walled him and Carson counted out the required amount and moved it across the line. Baekke showed [8s][9s] and Carson mucked. I guess he did want that call.

Baekke has about 1.5 million now and Strassmann 1.2 million. Only Max Lykov has anywhere near that amount and if those three make it to the final table, this is going to be probably the best EPT closing stages ever. — HS

8.10pm: De Meulder doubles

Team PokerStars Pro Christophe De Meulder doubled up through Max Lykov. The Russian had made it 20,000 when De Meulder pushed for 121,000. A quick call and they were on their backs:

De Meulder: [ad][10s]

Lykov: [ks][qs]

The man from Belgium was in good shape and the [9s][8h][6d] flop kept him there. The [js] was a distinct worry, adding a flush draw and gutshot straight draw for Lykov, but the [9c] was enough to keep De Meulder in the tournament. – SY

8.07pm: Fedor Los

The PokerStars qualifier from Holland is still going strong on about 500,000. He tells the video team about his tournament so far…

8.05pm: Lukas v Lukas

Lukas Sasky raised it up and Lukas Baumann shoved for 235,000. Call! Sasky had [ah][10c] and was in a race with Baumann’s [7h][7d]. The board ran [8c][kh][2h][7s][4c] and Baumann got the key double with his set, leaving Sasky on just 43,000. — SY

8pm: More for Gaines

On a [4c][3h][9c][7h][kc] board Lee Gaines bet 107,000 and got a call from Richard Toth. Toth mucked as soon as he was shown [7c][7s], and is down to 380,000. — SY

7.55pm: Collopy climbing again

Jim Collopy has returned from the dinner break and walked straight into a double up. His [9s][9d] flopped a set on the [jc][4s][9h] board and all his chips were somehow in the middle by the turn: [10c] and river: [3h]. Lukas Sasky’s [as][10s] was no good. Collopy now back beyond 400,000. — HS

7.50pm: Marcel Buissink spins up and out

Dutchman Buissink was super short stacked with just 15,500 when he shoved under the gun with [kd][qd] and consequently cracked Aces. That was step 1 of his spin up. After folding his big blind in the following hand Buissink took the opportunity to shove 36,000 into Strassmann’s big blind the hand after. The German eventually called figuring he was getting the odds against any two cards and showed [3c][5s]. Buissink’s [4d][7d] suddenly looked okay – especially when he flopped a flush.

The rush of blood to his head was just too much and he couldn’t contain himself getting it in again when Team PokerStars Pro Vadim Markushevski raised over the top of Simon Ehne’s 23,500 open. Buissink showed [ad][qh] to Markushevski’s [kd][kh] and with no Ace on the board the Dutchman’s electric revival had come to an end. Buissink finishes in 41st for €6,700. — RD

7.45pm: Stressed Strassmann

’I’m never going to fold there. What part of my opening range do you think I’m going to fold?!?’ spat out Strassmann to Evgeniy Zaytsev. The Russian has moved all-in for 58,500 over the top of Strassmann’s 22,500 open and duly sucked out with [9s][8h] over [qh][qc]. Strassmann was incredulous that Zaytsev thought it was a valid shove. — RD

7.40pm: Cainelli’s nines unkind to Vitkind

As we were hanging around waiting for Ivo Donev to shove his two big blinds in the pot, Dmitry Vitkind beat him out the door. Vitkind raised from under-the-gun, making it 24,000 and Donev, to his left, folded. Luca Cainelli, however, asked Vitkind for a count before raising to 90,000 from late position.

Vitkind moved all in, for 170,000 more, and Cainelli dwelled for a while but then called. Cainelli, who went very deep in Berlin a fortnight ago, tabled [9d][9h] and was flipping against Vitkind’s [ac][kc].

The board, however, was totally dry, sending Vitkind to the cash desk and Cainelli beyond half a million. — HS

7.35pm: Donev down to the felt

Ivo Donev has been crippled by Marcel Koller. Donev had “Ace dame,” he told a German reporter (ace queen, in English) and Koller had [10c][10s]. The board ran [kd][8s][4h][5d][jh] and Donev was left with a mere 20,000 – two big blinds. — HS

7.25pm: And we’re off

Players are back from dinner, and now we’re trying to reduce the remaining 42 down to 24. Once that’s done it’s a wrap for the day.

Who is the big daddy at the moment? That will be Max Lykov on 1.45million, some way ahead of second-placed Allan Baekke, who has 1.1million. And who’s the baby? That’s Marcel Buissink from Holland on just 19,000, who has a bit of work to do. All the latest chip counts are on the chip count page. Go on, click it.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in the Alps: Rick Dacey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

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.