As the blinds go up and the players drop out this is the time for critical hands and bigger pots. It’ll be like this all the way through to the final but the latest example featured PokerStars qualifier William Fry and the player to his immediate left Ciprian Hrisca of Romania.

On first glance Hrisca is a relaxed, happy-go-lucky kind of player, leaning way back in his seat. Yesterday he and Danny Ryan sparred regularly in the blinds, each time the Romanian joking, suggesting something akin to both players moving all-in blind.

But today it’s the serious business of getting deeper into the EPT Budapest and he just did wonders for his chances.

Fry had raised pre-flop to 14,000 from the button with Hrisca calling in the small blind, Lukas Benkovic did the same in the big. “I need a good flop” said Fry.

It came 8s-3d-7s.

Hrisca raised now, 40,000 in total, which forced Benkovic out. Fry meanwhile asked how much, before announcing “I’m raising anyway” and pushing in another 110,000. He’d hardly finished the move before Hrisca announced all-in.

“Sick” said Fry, now left with a decision to make, one worth 93,000 of what was left of his stack. “You’ve either got me crushed or you have a big draw” said Fry before calling with a simple “good luck”.

Hrisca had him crushed. Pocket threes for a set against Fry’s Ad-8d with nothing but tumbleweed on the turn and river. Hrisca stacked up more than 400,000 whilst Fry now has just 75,000.

With Szabolcs Saskoy gone from the Kravchenko table his seat is filled by PokerStars sponsored player Johnny Lodden after his table is broken and it’s not long before the Norwegian is raising, 14,000 pre-flop from the button, getting called by Kravchenko.

On the Td-8c-Ad flop Lodden bets again, another 17,000 which Kravcehnko backs away from, with good reason it seems as Lodden showed his A-T.

The table is hardly a quiet one. Korotkov Oleg, a PokerStars qualifier from Russia moved all in from the big blind but got no takers and then a huge pot developed between Micha Hoedemaker and Marino Serenelli.

With the chips in the cards were turned, a good old fashioned aces versus kings collision with the young Dutchman with the bullets. When the wreckage cleared Hoedemaker was sat behind a stack of 280,000 whilst Serenelli prepared to nurse his remaining 35,000.

One of the more notable players for much of two days here in Budapest was the Italian Mauro Corsetti, who was an early chip leader on day 1b and was top of the pile when the fields merged for day 2. He was hauled back to the middle of the pack by the end of yesterday, but was still very much alive. He has been vocal throughout the tournament, engaging in strategy discussions with all of his opponents for the duration of his time around the tables.


Mauro Corsetti, left

This hasn't stopped even as he is now seated beside Albert Iversen, who has assumed Corsetti's former perch at the top of the chip ladder. Corsetti was recently engaged in a verbal joust with Dwayne Stacey, which ended with the equivalent of a fold from the British PokerStars qualifier. "OK, you played it right," said Stacey, with an air of resignation. "I played it ... wrong."

It's a lively table at the moment, with Pantelis Pavlis moving all in for about 60,000 pre-flop ("Have you been drinking too much Red Bull?" asked Brice Cournut), then Robert Firestone, the PokerStars qualifier from the United States pushing all in from the big blind on the next hand, scaring away four limpers.

They're all active tables today, this one included. We have already had five eliminations, which are listed on our payouts and prizewinners page.

The day three draw has provided its usual array of interesting match-ups, none more so than the positioning of the overnight chip leader Albert Iversen beside the overnight micro-stack George McKeever. And it all ended somewhat predictably for McKeever moments ago, when he founnd a hand in his shoving range and duly shoved pre-flop. Iversen, also fulfilling his pre-defined duty, reraised - making it 25,000, and isolating the all-in Irishman.


Albert Iversen

McKeever was in excellent shape when they flipped their cards. He had A-Jo against Iversen's J-Qc. And although the flop was benign - 4h-Kc-6d - the turn and river were cruel and then crueller: the 9s and 10d filling a straight for Iversen. McKeever shook hands with his adversary and wandered away to enjoy Budapest with his newly-acquired €6,384.

Elsewhere, things just got a little tougher on Alex Kravchenko’s table, at least for his opponents. The Team PokerStars Pro began today with a little more than 114,000 but has just doubled that, calling the all in of Szabolcs Attila Saskoy of Hungary. Saskoy had pushed pre-flop for a little more than Kravchenko’s stack, leaving the Russian to think over a call. When he did he pushed his stack into the pot, flipping over As-Ks to Saskoy’s Ac-7c.


Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko

The board ran 2c-2h-7h-Kd-9d and after a minute to count and compare Saskoy was left with just 5,000.

This is the sharp end, crunch time. You can use whatever well worn phrase you like to describe today as long as it expresses that critical sense of urgency as the money begins to increase and the number of survivors does the opposite in the EPT Budapest.

Today we play down to a final eight players. No time frame, no schedule, just poker for as long as it takes and few have any doubts that we’re in for a long day.

Last night 42 players left the Las Vegas Casino ballroom with different sized reasons to return today. For Albert Iversen that meant the chip lead and a stack of 442,500, whilst Irishman George McKeever experienced almost the exact opposite, fully aware that his stack of just 23,500 needs some serious building work if his day four appearance is to last until the witching hour.

Yes it’s Halloween on the EPT but we’ll try to keep the ghoulish references under control. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t admit that there are some nightmare table draws for some today.

On table one the chip leader Albert Iversen will tower over his table mates, outnumbering their total chips combined, whilst in contrast on table two the big stacks have been drawn together. Spare a thought also for the Hungarian contingent. Of the four locals left, three of them face each other on table five and have Russian Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko to contend with.

Here’s how the day will start...

Table 1
Albert Iversen, Denmark, 442,500
Dave Hardy, UK, PokerStars qualifier, 101,500
Pantelis Pavlis, Greece, 59,000
Dwayne Stacey, UK, PokerStars qualifier, 86,500
Menno Antonius Bussinik, Netherlands, 79,000
Brice Cournut, France, 63,000
George Mckeever, UK, 23,500

Table 2
Casey Castle, USA, 264,500
William Fry, UK, PokerStars player, 257,000
Ciprian Hrisca, Romania, 280,000
Lukas Benkovic, Slovakia, PokerStars qualifier, 224,000
Rikard Englund, Sweden, 75,500
Christophe Wemelbeke, France, 80,000
Robin Keston, UK, 137,000

Table 3
Gino Alacqua, Italy, 89,500
Ivo Donev, Austria, 67,500
Severin Walser, Switzerland, 33,000
Martin Jacobson, Sweden, PokerStars qualifier, 365,000
Jari Pekka Juhola, Finland, 92,500
Janek Schleicher, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, 161,500
Simeon Tsonev, Bulgaria, 64,000

Table 4
Denis Volkov, Russia, 106,500
Ofer Golko, Israel, 39,500
Tibor Tolnai, Hungary, 50,000
Nicholas Maieritsch, USA, PokerStars qualifier, 49,000
Ofir Abramovivi, Israel, PokerStars qualifier, 163,000
Tommi Etelapera, Finland, PokerStars qualifier, 130,500
Christophe Haller, Germany, 142,000

Table 5
Zoltan Toth, Hungary, 175,000
Alexander Kravchenko, Russia, Team PokerStars Pro, 114,500
Korotkov Oleg, Russia, PokerStars qualifier, 45,000
Micha Hoedemaker, Holland, PokerStars player, 142,000
Milan Andrejkovics, Hungary, 75,500
Jecek Ladny, Poland, 33,000
Szabolcs Attila Saskoy, Hungary, 98,500

Table 6
Mauro Corsetti, Italy, 116,000
Pasquale Braco, Italy, 208,500
Marino Serenelli, Italy, 195,500
Robert Firestone, USA, PokerStars qualifier, 67,500
Nicolo Calia, Italy, 132,000
Sebastian Saffari, UK, PokerStars qualifier, 53,000
Johnny Lodden, Norway, Sponsored, 131,500

And here's how the video blog team see it as we approach the penultimate day:

Watch EPT Budapest 08: Introduction into Day 3 on PokerStars.tv

Typically day two of a major poker tournament is when the most moves are made, the chips fly in huge flocks from one player to another, and plenty of dreams die. Where there are winners, there must be losers, where there's fortune there's misfortune and where there are headline makers, there are inevitably footnotes. And while there is so much that is inevitable, there is also always something new. We have seen the patterns before but it is the variations on the theme that are most compelling.

Tonight, as they bag up chips for day three tomorrow, we have a new name right at the top of the tree. It's Albert Iversen, from Denmark, who went on a charge in the closing couple of levels to end with 425,000. This next sentence, on the other hand, has been written plenty of times before: PokerStars qualifiers are right up there too. But these players are both new names to reporters and spectators alike: there's the inevitable Scandinavian Martin Jacobson, from Sweden (365,000) but there's also a Slovak, Lukas Benkovic (224,000).


Martin Jacobson

Lukas Benkovic

In the hometown hero category, there's Zoltan Toth (175,000). And filling the shoes of the high profile players going into the penultimate day are the Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko (114,000) and the sponsored player Johnny Lodden (131,000).

Notable by their absence from the the final shakedown are two of the tournament's most dominant forces, who were once peering down from the top of the day one counts, but left without a pay-cheque. Neither Annette Obrestad nor Arnaud Mattern could make it into the money, and they were joined on the rail by Praz Bansi, Fintan Gavin, Luca Pagano and William Thorson before anyone started getting paid.

The last player to walk into the Budapest night with nothing was Thomas Vestergaard, who became today's most celebrated yet most unfortunate elimination as he burst the cash bubble.

As the spectators gathered, Vestergaard had the same hand as Christophe Wemelbeke, but Wemelbeke's A-K was suited in clubs and three flopped, which was definitive.

The rash of eliminations that inevitably followed the resounding pop included Sorel Mizzi, Kara Scott and Danny Ryan. And at the end of the day, there were 41 players remaining, who are already guaranteed €6,384 but will be playing tomorrow to get down to the final table and closer to the first prize of €595,839.

The full, official, end of day chip count is available now, by clicking anywhere along this line.

Of course, PokerStars blog will be with the action right until the end, and you can also read it in Hungarian, German and Swedish, if you're into that kind of thing. You can always check out PokerStars.tv for your video blogging needs, or you can look back on the day's play with all these shiny hyperlinks to the previous coverage.

Preparing for a new adventure
Thorson watch
Speaing volumes
There's a gambler in town
Around the tables
What is, what could have been
The state of play
National pride
Attacking the leader
Major movements
From all corners
A hundred grand not what it used to me
All ins and eliminations
Prague champion departs
Photo dump
Kravchenko in on the action
Bubble time
It all goes in
The first of the cash fallers

And to round it out, how about the excitement and agony of day two of EPT Budapest in two photographs, modeled by the PokerStars sponsored player Kara Scott.

Good night.

The bursting of the bubble always precipitates one of the maddest phases of play. Those people who have just clung on long enough to reach the money now want to double up their micro stacks or get themselves into the side event - or to the bar.

It genuinely is ridiculous: an attempt to walk across the room to congratulate Kara Scott on her cash ran into at least three all ins. In one particularly notable hand, Brice Cournut doubled up through Stefano Fiore when the Frenchman rivered a straight. It was a classic A-Q v J-J all-in pre-flop encounter, but the straight came when a jack fell on the end, giving trips for Fiore but that broadway straight for Cournut.

Then, when I arrived to Scott's table, she was all in, shoving for her last 25,000 over the top of Lukas Benkovic's pre-flop raise. Everyone got out of her way - perhaps fearing the mightily-stacked Slovak behind them - but he also folded and Scott took down the pot.

"Congratulations," I said.
"I wanted to double up," insisted Scott.