It's difficult to write that Luca Pagano is leading EPT Deauville. He is and it should be easy; after all, we've written it countless times before. The trouble starts though when you try to be original, you just stare at the keyboard convinced you've cut and paste a previous article. In essence you have. So with this in mind I've given up all attempts to sound new. I'll just say it: Luca Pagano leads the last 24 players at EPT Deauville.

Pagano started today with 344,000 chips, some way behind the leader Sam Phomveha who had more than a million and who found himself on the rail (sent there largely by Pagano) before the close of the first level. Pagano first doubled ("It was a miracle hand"), then moved past the million mark, as players like Martins Adeniya and Mikhail Lakhitov, prominent in the earlier stages of the tournament, were forced into the pay-out line.

Luca Pagano

Soon it was two million, then, as the third level of the day ticked by Pagano made it 2,500,000. As the shock and awe of that began to sink in word came back that he was now up to 3 million. That count finished on 3,561,000. In short Pagano has some 893,000 ahead of the next guy, Olivier Rogez.

"I've been able to accumulate chips. I was up to two million with that hand (against Phomveha). When players see you can win those big pots they start getting afraid. Those times they didn't believe me I had very big hands. Let's say that in poker it's important to get luck but at the right time.

"Everyone knows I play very solid," he added. "But in this tournament I keep betting for value and they keep paying me. It probably means these guys don't read your blog."

Pagano powered to the lead halfway through the day

Pagano leads the field not just in EPT cashes (this is his 20th) or in EPT finals (he's reached six) but also in experience. Since the first ever EPT in Barcelona (in which Pagano finished third) all the way to now, the Team PokerStars Pro has amassed nearly $2 million in live tournament winnings. The next best player in that respect is Marc Inizan of France.

But it has never been about the money, or at least it isn't any more to the poker playing businessman. It's that first EPT title that matters to him, which, after seven and a half seasons of looking, remains difficult to find. It's a point not lost on Pagano but not something keeping him awake at night.

"I won an IPT this summer," said Pagano. "Let's say the drama is over. I will keep trying. It means a lot but it's not going to change my life. I wouldn't change any of my previous results with just one win. I'm happy on the way it went in the past. If it comes in Deauville I'll be happy but if it doesn't happen I'll keep trying next season and for the next 25 seasons."

Pagano eases into Day 5

Regardless of how things pan out this week Pagano has already returned to the top of the EPT Tournament Leader Board, having conceded the lead to Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, albeit temporarily. Back at the top and proud of that he may be, Pagano will want to celebrate that with a win.

"I'm in the right spot, in the right way, with the right style of game, so I just have to keep playing my game," said Pagano. "And getting good cards like today."

To do that the Italian still faces some tough opposition. Experienced as he is the field is littered with players also used to the business end of a main event.

A mascot stands guard next to Mick Graydon's chips

It was at an event organised by Pagano - EPT San Remo - that Yorane Kerignard made it known that he wanted a slice of the EPT cake. Back then his portion was nibbled by eventual winner Andrey Pateychuk and Kerignard departed in sixth. But watching him closely one could tell the Frenchman was not yet finished. It seems he intends to put that right in the next two days.

Yorane Kerignard

Then there is Chris Brammer.

Pagano has the live track record but Brammer has it online. Second on the Pocket Fives leader board (and formerly first), this is Brammer's career best live result and a hard-to-believe first EPT cash. With more than a million won on PokerStars he's a likely candidate to match that come Monday.

Chris Brammer

Those looking for the left field pick to win need look no further than Russian player Artem Litvinov.

A "seat of the pants" player, Litvinov has been known to flip coins to determine how he should act, as well as taking cigarette breaks when anyone else would be glued to their 50,000-chips-an-orbit seat.

Artem Litvinov

This time he became most notable for his reaction to winning a big hand, leaving his table, walking to the corner and performing a kind of boxing manoeuvre, like a man trying to beat up the voice in his head.

There are others, in-between the spectrum of weird and wonderful, who will think nothing of denying to Pagano what he has pursued for so long, details of all of them, and their chip counts, being available in our live coverage stream available here.

Julien Ehrhardt becomes one of the last to go to the rail on Day 4, sent there by Christian Togsverd

Now though we rest after what has been an unusually short day on the EPT, all thanks to an extra day in the schedule. There are still articles to read from this abbreviated Day 4, links to which are listed below.

Artem Litvinov keeps on fighting

That's it from Deauville on a cold day in Deauville, except if your name is Pagano.

Sunset in Deauville

Until tomorrow it's goodnight from Normandy.

All photography © Neil Stoddart

Table one
1 Olivier Rogez 2,668,000
2 Vuong Than Trong 871,000
3 Andre Corredoira 1,310,000
4 Paul Guichard 1,700,000
5 Sergey Baburin 438,000
6 Antonio Guerrero 519,000
7 Christopher Brammer 1,262,000
8 Kevin Vandersmissen 737,000

Table two
1 Marc Inizan 481,000
2 Luca Pagano 3,561,000
3 Bruno Jais 970,000
4 Vadzim Kursevich 1,815,000
5 Patrick Nataf 360,000
6 Rob Stain 816,000
7 Christian Togsverd 1,271,000
8 Etienne Moudaress 650,000

Table three
1 Denis Cheremisin 1,117,000
2 Yorane Kerignard 1,124,000
3 Karim Lehoussine 382,000
4 Artem Litvinov 1,193,000
5 Nikolaus Teichert 471,000
6 Ignat Liviu 1,303,000
7 Rumen Nanev 1,052,000
8 Mick Graydon 723,000

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a live one. Artem Litvinov, who we yesterday compared to Illya Kuryakin, is up to 900,000 after making a call for the majority of his chips with [as][7s]. It wasn't the hand but the manner of celebration that left both spectators and the majority of his table looking confused, bemused, flummoxed and, if truth be told, a little concerned.

The Russian had opened the button for 55,000 and Yoni Journo had moved all-in from the small blind for around 350,000, which accounted for well over half of Litvinov's 550,000 stack. He didn't snap-call, nor did he snap-fold but as the time wore on it seemed more likely than not that he'd muck his hand. Head resting on his left hand, knuckles semi-jammed up his nostrils, Litvinov stared down at his stack. Journo seemed to relax a little, prematurely believing that his shove had got through. It didn't.

Litvinov stood up, let out a deep breath and said: "I call."

Litvinov: [as][7s]
Journo: [ks][jc]

Litvinov hit the [8s][ad][kh] flop running but Journo was far from dead and buried with five key outs. None of them came as the [8c] turn and [9d] river were flipped over.

"Come on!" shouted Litvinov, quickly shaking hands with Journo before tearing off to two symmetrically placed chairs a few yards away. The chairs were positioned five feet apart, both facing inwards. Litvinov put a foot on each and stretched his legs out like a jaundiced Jean Claude Van Damme. If it was painful Litvinov didn't show it. The adrenaline obviously had not yet run its course. He prised himself off the chairs and moved a further table away where he started shadow boxing some redundant table markers. His iPod fell out his pocket, somewhat diminishing the final kung-fu flourish, which he collected up into a bundle and stuck into his pocket before returning to the table having missed the next hand. Litvinov apologised for his excitement as if the show was unavoidable. This is the Russian's third EPT main event cash and by far his deepest run beating a 51st and 87th place finishes. Part of me wants Litvinov to win now, just to win what his reaction will be. Perhaps he'll try to karate chop through the middle of the final table.

News just through that we are now down to the final 24 players. Full wrap and chip counts to come.

We are down to the final four tables here at EPT Deauville with just eight more players to bust before play ends for the day, 32 down to 24. Table five, which housed Luca Pagano, Ignat Liviu, Kevin Vandersmissen, Marc Inizan, Paul Guichard and Bernhard Mossner was the table to break. Guichard had four-bet bluffed Pagano off a 90,000 three-bet the final hand of the table flashing the [5d] as he pulled in his 205,000 re-raise to chip up past 800,000. For current chip counts please click on the 'CHIP COUNTS' tab on the EPT Deauville landing page.

Table one
1. Herve Halfon
2. Mick Graydon
3. Andre Corredoira
4. Paul Guichard
5. Bruno Jais
6. Chris Brammer
7. Mikael Guenni
8. Rob Stain

Table two
1. Kevin Vandersmissen
2. Patrick Nataf
3. Karim Lehoussine
4. Denis Cheremisin
5. Christian Togsverd
6. Etienne Moudaress
7. Marc Inizan
8. Julien Ehrhardt

Table three
1. Vadzim Kursevich
2. Antonio Guerrero
3. Rumen Nanev
4. Mikhail Lakhitov
5. Koen De Visscher
6. Vuong Than Trong
7. Balazs Botond
8. Luca Pagano

Table four
1. Artem Litvinov
2. Yoni Journo
3. Yorane Kerignard
4. Nikolaus Teichert
5. Olivier Rogez
6. Bernhard Mossner
7. Ignat Liviu
8. Sergey Baburin

The clock rests stubbornly on 36 players remaining, having not budged for some time now following the earlier surge that sent five players to the rail in just a few minutes.
The remaining 36 are a varied bunch, a mixture of old and new, experienced and not experienced, just like any other European Poker Tour event.

Of the 36, 18 of them are French including four who qualified on PokerStars.fr. Four others qualified on (regular) PokerStars.

Chip leader Luca Pagano has, naturally, the most cashes of any in the last 36 with 19 (this will be number 20), and also has the most final tables with six. Not only that he has the most career earnings of any of them with $1.9 million.

Top of the table: Luca Pagano

Behind Pagano, Mikhail Lahkitov has the next highest career earnings, some $800,000 less. Lahkitov has the second most cashes with four, as does Koen de Visscher.

Six of the 36 have reached finals as well as Pagano. Koen De Visscher (Snowfest, Season 7), Kevin Vandersmissen (Snowfest, Season 7), Yorane Kreignard (San Remo, Season 8), Vadzim Kursevich (Berlin, Season 7) and Marc Inizan (Prague, Season 8).

Of the 36, 21 of them are cashing in the EPT for the first time, including Chris Brammer who has earned more in live tournaments ($331,000) than any other player yet to cash.

Ten players have no cashes at all, from any live poker, including Olivier Rogez, Vuong Than Trang and Julien Ehrhardt who each have more than a million chips.

Only three players wear baseball caps.

At the first main event table you arrive at from the PokerStars press desk there was an empty chair. The absent player seemed to be doing pretty well, columns of grey 5,000 chips and a single tall red 25,000 stack contributing to a 1,700,000 stack. A couple of yards away stood an irritated Chris Brammer. There seemed to be a match. Brammer was serving the first half of an orbit-long penalty, annoyed as much about having to leave his chips in an unruly mess as to the ruling itself. A punitive one-orbit sit-out was a bit much for a simple mistake, he felt.

Brammer had just been moved to the table but hadn't had a chance to stack has chips as he'd like when Martins Adeniya had moved all-in from the button, pushing a stack of 204,000 across the line. The small blind called all-in and Brammer announced the call as well and tabled ace-king. As it turns out, Adeniya was not all-in, he had approximately 40,000 back and passed on the [as][3s][2d] which Brammer had smashed. Brammer won the pot, taking him up to 1,700,000, but also claimed a one-orbit penalty. He was not best pleased but rules are rules.

Toby Lewis wandered over from the High Roller to see what was going on expressing more than simply friendly interest - Brammer is Lewis' horse - and made a half-hearted attempt to relax him. Realising that Brammer actually wasn't in too much of a flap, or perhaps that his next hand in the €10,000 was about to be dealt, Lewis departed back to the other half of the tournament room.

It took in all twenty minutes for the penalty to be served at which point Brammer had to get himself seated in the small window of opportunity between the previous hand finishing - you're not allowed to be seated at the table while penalised - and the next hand being dealt. If you're not in your seat when the first card is dealt then your hand is declared dead. For a game that is primarily a cerebral pursuit this is the closest thing to a sprint finish you'll see.

Irishman Mick Graydon sat a few seats to the Englishman's right said with a grin: "Back with us? You going to be better behaved this time?"

Brammer decided to see the funny side and smiled back before quickly posting his blind and getting to work, stacking his chips as he likes them.

We picked out Brammer early on as a threat in this tournament. We could have just as easily spotted Graydon for you. A quiet Irishman, there's an oxymoron for you, Graydon goes about his business in a calm, controlled manner. His stack always neatly built into a tower guarded by his Alsatian card protector.

The Irish Supernova Ellite had the unpleasant situation of being seated to the right of Martins Adeniya yesterday when he was chipleader and Graydon significantly shorter stacked. He dealt with that situation well, doubling through with aces to Adeniya's flopped top pair to break the half-a-million mark and hasn't looked back since. Adeniya on the other hand is out.

Yesterday morning I'd seen Graydon tearing away from the tournament floor towards the exit and naturally assumed that he had bust the first hand. He had not. He was racing back to his hotel to pick up ID.

"I got here early and was eating a ham and cheese sandwich fifteen minutes before play began but they wouldn't let me sit down. I had to run back, get my passport and then get a new wristband," explained Graydon pointing at the green bit of plastic hanging off his wrist that we all get branded with once or twice a month.

It was now Graydon's turn to sprint back to his chair to avoid missing out his hand. He also got there in time. Graydon plays on with close to 900,000. The Irishman had a deep run at EPT Tallinn but was brutally unlucky to bust in 24th in the first orbit of Day 4 having run his top ten stack into Ronny Kaiser's chip leading stack with kings failing to hold against ace-king. Had he won that he would have had the chip lead and likely made the final table. He has a golden opportunity to remedy that situation here in Deauville.

The tournament area is dominated not by the seven tables in action, but by a French camera team, whose tripod mounted camera is causing gridlock in the middle of the playing area. It's not the only camera in action, two more float around, not to mention that belonging to Artem Litvinov, a phone camera, which he has placed in front of him to film, well, his face as he plays each hand, or did have until Luca Pagano, possibly freaked out, reminded Litvinov (whose previous antics have included tossing a coin to determine every decision) that cameras were not allowed on the table.

The players are by and large quiet, the only chatter coming from those watching on the rail, including Lucien Cohen, in a red puffy jacket, and a small group railing Jean-Jacque Mars.

Mars quite literally cuts an impressive jib in the main event, or at least Edward Sexton did. Mars wears a plaid suit cut by Sexton ("I wear nothing else," said Mars), who, with Tommy Nutter, became one of the pioneers of Saville Row in London, dressing icons of the 60s and 70s such as Mick Jagger and The Beatles in his trademark suits featuring a waisted jacket with unmistakable wide lapels.

It's all in the lapels: Jean-Jacques Mars

If that wasn't enough to make Mars conspicuous, he also chews a large Cohiba cigar, occasionally pausing to peel off a layer that has come loose. He also smiles a lot. Mars is a man enjoying his poker, even to the extent that he breaks the accepted norm for some sections of the poker crowd by apologising to the dealer after arriving back at his table late from a chat on the rail, missing the hand. He apologised. We don't see that enough.

One player not apologising is Mikael Guenni a table along, who after letting out a whoop of sharp edged joy was cautioned by tournament director Thomas Lamatsch who suggested he keep the noise down next time; if there was a next time.

Guenni had already shown flashes of ill-temper, raising all-in a few hands prior and tossing two red tens at a player who was the last to fold what became an uncontested hand. Now he refused to let Lamatsch get a word in, defending his histrionics and sitting down as if Lamatsch was not even there.

At Guenni's table is Martins Adeniya. Adeniya had led this time yesterday and looked about to do the same at the close last night. Now though he's down to around the 600,000 mark.

"Bad start," he said, stretching his legs between hands. "It's all good. Still above average. It happens."

It's a spirit which may help to keep Adeniya alive for some time yet. At the very least Adeniya believes in his capacity to recover. At least one other player, Frenchman Etienne Moudaress, shared a similar confidence, stepping away from his chair to make a brief phone call which featured the words "yeah baby!"

We're down to 47.

Luca Pagano starts Day 4 of EPT Deauville in a position he's well accustomed: in the money, with his sights set on the final table and at the top of the EPT Tournament Leaderboard. The Italian Team PokerStars Pro sat down this afternoon with 344,000, some way below average, having lost a large pot last night of around 550,000 when his pocket nines were cracked by a raggy aggressive ace.

He's already got off to a solid start here today recouping those losses but whatever position Pagano finishes in he will have accrued sufficient points to overtake team mate Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier at the top of the EPT Tournament Leaderboard having scored a record 20th cash. His closest rival for that is ElkY who is tied alongside Nicolo Calia, Joao Barbosa and Pierre Neuville with 11 apiece.

We tend to use terms such as 'a regular face' or 'old hand' to describe the players that have been frequenting the EPT for the last few seasons but with Pagano that simply wouldn't do him justice. He's been here since the very start, since EPT Barcelona in 2004, and has cashed in every single season along the way. He is the EPT.

That first EPT had 229 runners buying in for €1,000 each, a far cry from the main events of today. Pagano finished in 3rd there for a princely sum of €20,000, a piffling amount compared to final table payouts that players receive today. A lot has changed, for instance players 27th through to 19th received their buy-in back, but Pagano has moved with the game cashing in every single season along the way to score a record 20 main event cashes. Despite making six final tables the personable Pagano has failed to cross that final hurdle - he's yet to make it to heads up. In terms of finishing position he's yet to beat that third-place finish in the inaugural EPT main event. But it's certainly not for the lack of trying.

We caught up with him to see what it feels like to be back on top of the EPT Tournament Leaderboard.

"You know that ElkY is a very good friend of mine but to get the TLB here in France is like a treat," Pagano rubs his fingers together as if to savour the flavour. "But he's going to have a chance to get it back in Italy in Campione."

Ever the businessman, Pagano takes the option to push EPT Campione (March 26-31), which his company Pagano Events is helping promote. Alongside his cashing record the Italian has also notched up the most final tables, an incredible six. What are the chances of Pagano making that seven here in Deauville?

"I think that I'll need to catch some good cards and double up two or three times. We're going to play down to 24 players and even though I'm below the average I still have some room to play," he said, typically optimistic.

Pagano started today with 334,000, which equates to almost 28 big blinds, and is already up to 770,000 having won two key pots without showdown. Let's face it, he was unlikely to punt them off with a gutshot. A player on the tighter side of the game, but certainly not as much of a rock as many would suggest, Pagano really loves the game as a poker purist. To say that he wasn't a fan of the way his opponent played his raggy ace late last night would be an understatement.

"It's not just that I missed out a million stack but it's the way that players sometimes play their hands. He pushed four-bet from the big blind with ace-seven," said Pagano, his face clearly showing his disapproval.

"I was in the small blind. The button raised to 22,000, I re-raised to 58,000 from the small blind and the guy in the big blind decided to push for 250,000. Honestly if he was going to make that move with a hand like queen-jack or jack-ten then I would have understood it a little bit better. If you do that kind of move with ace-seven and you get called, which is very likely, at least it is if you've noticed how I'm playing, then you're running three outs.

"He told me that he'd won and lost lots of big pots including a six-bet all-in with a pair of eights. He probably has more chance to win the tournament playing llike that but in the long run I think he'd probably get in trouble," said Pagano.

He's back above average and quite frankly you'd be a fool betting against him making the cut for the final 24. Final table number seven, here he comes.

Key facts
Career live tournament winnings: $1,910,705
Number of EPT cashes: 20
EPT final tables: 6
Place on the all-time leaderboard: 1

EPT Tournament Leaderboard (before EPT Deauville)
ElkY 5,112
Pagano 5,003
Minimum points Pagano will finish the event with: 5,210

Moments after posting this article Pagano's tear continued as he rocketed into the chip lead with 2,239,000. Another instance of the PokerStars Blog golden touch.

It's another beautiful day in Deauville today. The sun shines and locals wear sunglasses, the sun casting shadows along the boulevards. So much so that you almost miss the ice on the pavements which nearly sent at least one of us flying this morning.

The ice forms curious leaf patterns on the concrete, as though leaves had fallen from the trees and turned to ice where they fell. Still no snow though, which, according to the weather column in The Times of London, is owing to the lack of moisture in the air. See, you've learnt at least one thing today.

Deauville (albeit in the evening)

So it goes without saying that we're better off indoors for now, where the remaining 54 players are returning for what could be a brief sojourn into the tournament room. Today we play from 54 to 24, the shortest daily requirement I can remember on the European Poker Tour, before play shifts to the casino ballroom for the penultimate day's play tomorrow.

Chip leader is Sam Phomveha, or should I say Samphane Phomveha. Those reading last night will have noted his SuperNova Elite status as well as word of his career high win in London. This was all incorrect and was in fact the bounty of his brother's career. His brother is also called Sam (Samlane), who was eliminated earlier in the week, hence the confusion. Apologies for the confusion.

Right now there is a crowd of more than 20 dealers, (a deck of dealers? A shuffle of dealers?) waiting for their orders; the bags of chips are ready and the players are filtering in.

Play starts at noon and stops at 24.