Live updates from day one, level two of the EPT London High Roller event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Blinds: 75-150

2.25pm: Take fifteen minutes
That's it for the level. Players are now on the first of the day's breaks.

2.20pm: Moneymaking
Moneymaker has some chips and is playing that way. When John Juanda made it 450 from under the gun plus one Moneymaker called from the big blind for a flop of [qs][5c][2h]. He checked and Juanda made it 575, forcing out the seat two player, who had also been along for the flop, but not Moneymaker who called for a [4h] on the turn. A check again. Juanda threw out 2,175 without looking how much and Moneymaker called without looking. An [ah] now on the river. Check-check. Moneymaker showed [qh][9h]. Juanda winced, folding slowly face down.

Chris Moneymaker

2.15pm: I'd like to be...Under the sea
Per Ummer and Humberto Brenes have developed something of a magnetic attraction over the years. Or, more precisely, an aquatic attraction. At the World Series this year, the self-styled "Shark" (Brenes) found his way through the plankton to sit himself next to the Swedish high-stakes player Ummer, nicknamed "Nemo", after the Disney/Pixar character, with whom he bears a, well, he looks a bit like. (Scroll to the bottom of this post from the WSOP to see the July meeting.)

Here at the High Roller event in London, they're neighbours again - and they're chattering merrily away, despite Ummer wisely putting some headphones in. Recently, Brenes tried to pinch his blind, raising to 425 from the button. Ummer bumped it past 1,000 and showed pocket tens after Brenes folded.

2pm: More news of Rousso's exit: she was killed off by Team PokerStars PRO colleague Chris Moneymaker. Rousso had K-K against pocket sixes.. "and I flopped a six", said a delighted Moneymaker.

1.50pm: Vanessa Rousso is out. The Team PokerStars Pro was last seen walking from the tournament room, her backpack on, unlikely to return today.

1.40pm: It's Chris Moneymaker and David Elder with a board already showing [kc][2c][ad][10h][6c]. Elder flung out 575 and Moneymaker raised the minimum, hoping that the pained expressions on Elder's faces, real contortions, are a sign of an imminent fold. They weren't, and could have been anything. Instead he called, shrugged and watched Moneymaker turn over [8s][9s]. Elder relaxed a little, showing [6h][6s]. "Tough call," joked Moneymaker, which everyone laughed at.

1.35pm: Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso bet out 500 on a [10c][4s][ah] flop, only for John Juanda to come over the top for a total of 2,700. Rousso did not look happy. She contemplated the call but came to the conclusion that doing so could lead to a world of pain on later streets. She open folded [ks][kh]... no wonder she was displeased. Juanda did not show, but muttered something about "a queen".

1.30pm:John Juanda picks a card from a tournament official who then leads him to his seat, the nine spot at his table with Chris Ferguson, Vanessa Rousso, Erik Seidel and Chris Moneymaker. Meanwhile Joe Hachem just won a pot without showing against Luke Schwartz. On a board of [ks][2d][jc] there had been betting and calling all the way to the river where Hachem persuaded Schwartz enough was enough.

1.20pm: As we enter the second level of the day, Phil Ivey remains our only elimination from a field that has now swelled to 66. In other news, those who trawl through the online poker message boards will no doubt be salivating at the prospect of Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Luke "FullFlush1" Schwarz meeting around the felt sometime this week. They're both playing in this event, but are currently on tables at either end of the room. Things can change though.

Here they are:

Play has started. Kind of. Or it would if enough of the 60 registered players were able to take their seats. When Tournament Director Thomas Kremser gave the order to start firing there were more players on the rail trying to find their seat than there were sitting down. The rule is you need three players to start dealing. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier has two, Vanessa Rousso two (and a camera in her face), Luca Pagano has three. Dennis Phillips has three. Humberto Brenes just arrived on ElkY's table, wearing his Costa Rica visor and smelling vaguely of chewing gum, to make it three there. Joe Hachem has five, and that's as good as a full table. One of them is Vicky Coren, who just twittered that hers wasn't exactly the easiest line up.

Proving it can be done the tournament dealers pack the only full table in the room

But there are no easy draws today. Barry Greenstein is on Pagano's table, Ivey sits next to Dennis Phillips, along with Benny Spindler. It's like an all-star game, spread out over eight tables. But there are still empty seats, surrounded by awkward looking players holding up a receipt in one hand, a drink in the other and a "help me!" expression on their face like it's the first day of school.

Some of them are dressed that way - bright polo shirts, jeans and scuffed trainers, not exactly looking good for twenty grand but here to high roll. While they wait tournament officials try to iron out the creases in the draw, but it's uphill work and the dealers keep calling the floor. Erik Seidel wanders around looking at the receipt in his hand and then at every empty seat in turn hoping one of them corresponds. Will Molson does the same and thinks he should be where Phil Ivey is, but gets the spot to Ivey's left instead.

"How many levels are we playing?" Ivey asked, but that seemed among the lesser concerns and no one answered. More players carrying receipts just arrived and they want to sit down. But they'll play till around 10pm with a one hour dinner break at 7pm and they'll be breaks every two levels. There are gaps on some tables but we're rolling.

Ivey's concern over the number of levels was soon to prove fruitless - within the first 50 minutes of play he busted after contriving to lose his entire 50,000 stack.

As early as the second hand of play he lost most of his chips when forced to fold on the river with the board showing 6-6-10-10-K. And then, down to his last 6,000 or so, he went all in and was called by Team PokerStars PRO: USA Dennis Phillips:

Phillips: [ad][qh]
Ivey: [ks][8c]

The board ran good for Phillips, [qd][3s][8s][2c][5h], and Phil Ivey's High Roller adventure came to an abrupt halt. Phillips moves up to 54,000.

You can tell a lot about the calibre of a rock band by looking at the support acts they attract. Back in the day, there were these awe-inspiring bills featuring the likes of the Rolling Stones jostling with The Beatles, Bob Dylan appearing with Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and the like.

Today in the Hilton Metropole hotel on the Edgware Road, we have the poker equivalent. Although the £5,000 Main Event of the EPT London Poker Festival does not begin until Friday, the curtain goes up in about 10 minutes on the warm up: a gentle £20,000 High Roller event. Three days, 50,000-chip starting stack, and a galaxy of shimmering stars to keep us entertained.

In truth, our gratification is not necessarily the stars' main concern. The field is likely to feature around 45 runners, and that's going to produce a first prize of something like £350,000. It could be a £100,000 either side, which says much about the dizzying heights at which these rollers roll: what's a few hundred grand between friends?

And many of them are friends, both of one another and of PokerStars. There's this year's November Niner Joe Cada for starters. Then there's last year's trio of Dennis Phillips, Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate. A couple more world champions, Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer are in the house, and the two-time WCOOP bracelet winner Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is here. Then there's Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri, Humberto Brenes and London's own Vicky Coren.

Doubtless Jason Mercier would be here to defend his title if he wasn't in the final 32 players left in the WSOP-E Main Event taking place down the road. That's where Daniel Negreanu and Andre Akkari are also to be found. No doubt they'll swing by if things go south in Leicester Square.

We also have Tom Dwan, Per Ummer and, oh my, there are too many. Stick right here, and check over on the chip count page. We'll be following the action all day and night.