6.01pm: Break time
The head-long rush to the exits can only mean one thing - that's the end of level 12 and players are off on a 15-minute break. -- SY

6pm: Cantu Can-do again
Brandon Cantu up to more than 400,000 after he eliminated PokerStars qualifier Julian Stuer. Stuer got his chips in with [ac][ks] with Cantu showing [jh][js]. The board ran [6c][3s][9d][td][4h] sending the chips to Cantu who now has a big stack in size and in value as we approach the end of the level. -- SB

5.59pm: Race lost for Pagano
Rumen Nanev was all in for 15,000 with A-K and got a willing caller in the shape of Luca Pagano with pocket sevens. But the Italian lost his one, with the board bringing an ace - and then a king for good measure. Pagano is down to 65,000. -- SY

5.58pm: Mattern back
Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern, who has had a rough day of it, finally won a decent pot and has got himself back up to 100,000. He was all-in with A-A against pocket queens, and in his words there was "no accident". -- SY

5.55pm: Oscar for Ascari
The Fabrizio Ascari show is still in full swing and will continue to be as long as he keeps hoovering up chips the way he is. His latest victim was Nikolay Evdakov who moved all-in for 22,600 from the SB when the action folded around to him. Cue the amateur dramatics from the Italian as he pondered the call and call he did after about 30 seconds with [ac][ah]! Evdakov burst out laughing and was soon on his way when his [qc][8s] failed to improve on the [4h][6s][6d][jc][7d] board. Ascario up to a mountainous 315,000 now. -- MC

5.50pm: A chip and a chair?

5.45pm: Cantu Can-do
Brandon Cantu is up to more than 300,000 after eliminating 2707. Cantu made a straight with [jd][th], moving in on the flop with a board reading [qd][9d][9h][3d][8c] by the end. The pot worth 200,000 sends Cantu up towards the chip lead. -- SB

5.43pm: The longest sweat
"That's the longest sweat I've ever had," said Antoinio Esfandiari to the PokerStars blog. Esfandiari was left staring at the felt for "at least five minutes" after shoving in from the big blind over the top of Michel Abecassis who had opened the pot to 7,100. The Frenchman was the player at risk and had gone deep into the tank before a clock was finally called. The floor man counted out the minute mark, the 30-second mark, the 20-second mark and then down from ten to one at which point Abecassis mucked his hand. It was a fitting end to the table which broke immediately after. -- RD

5.40pm: No lee-way from Lewis
On a board dealt to the turn, showing [th][8h][jd][9s], Filipa Cerqueira from Portugal, just one of two ladies still in this event (the other being Carolyn Gray from the United Kingdom) bet 22,000 from under-the-gun. Toby Lewis called with 70,000 or so already in the pot. The river came [as]. Cerqueira checked and Lewis bet another 28,300. Cerqueira tanked for a while but then called. Lewis had turned over his two red queens and was making room for his new chips before Cerqueira had even mucked. He's up to 270,000. -- SB

5.33pm: Lykov short
Max Lykov won last season's EPT Kyiv for €330,000 and went super deep at EPT Snowfest so he knows how to play these tournaments. At the moment he's having to use his short stack strategies rather than his usual big stack bullying. He just shoved for 34,000 from the cut-off to pick up 4,600 in blinds and antes, which he then used the next hand to open raise to 4,500 from the hi-jack to steal the blinds.

The Russian is up to 43,000 and his got himself a little breathing room. -- RD

5.25pm: Who needs two names?
Goncalves from France certainly doesn't but he does need two cards to win a hand. The two cards he used in a hand against EPT Tallinn finalist Nicolo Calia were [ad][kh]. They served him better than the Italian's [jd][jh]. Goncalves raised and then called Calia's three-bet to see a [3d][kc][5d] flop. Goncalves led for 8,500 and was called. Both players were happy to check through the [7h] turn and [2c] river before the Frenchman picked up the pot. Goncalves up to 78,000 whereas Calia down to 67,000. -- MC

5.20pm: Facts among all the confusion
As a point of dubious general interest Michel Abecassis is the last remaining player in the event from last year's final table. -- SB

5.15pm: Proudfoot kicks back
Jonathan Proudfoot and Toby Lewis have been trading some big blows with each other and this time it was Proudfoot who came out on top. Lewis opened from early position for 4,700 and Proudfoot, who was his only caller, entered the action from the small blind. Both players checked the [th][3s][7s] flop. Proudfoot checked the [jh] turn to Lewis who laid out a 6,300 bet. Enter the check-raise with a pot bumping a raise to 18,700. The move left Proudfoot with approximately 40,000 behind. Lewis made the call before both players checked the river.

Proudfoot opened [ac][jd] to the table. Top pair, top kicker was enough to take the pot and Proudfoot moved up to 88,000. -- RD

5.08pm: From Russia with love
Vyacheslav Goryachev is happily sitting on 125,000 chips after doubling through PokerStars qualifier Olivier Mallet. He was fortunate though as he held pocket queens on a queen high flop to Mallet's pocket kings. Mallet down to less than 20,000 as a result. -- MC

5.05pm: Mizzi floored
Two successive hands sent Sorel Mizzi to the rail. First, with the board showing [ad][5c][2c][9s], Mizzi bet 13,000 and EPT Monte Carlo winner Nicolas Chouity moved all in for 43,500 more. Mizzi thought for only a moment and made the call. But he was shown the bad news - Chouity had [5d][5s] for the flopped set. Mizzi had the small-by-comparison [ah][qs].

That left the Canadian with only 8,300, and when Patrick Carron open-raised to 4,600 on the next hand, Mizzi shoved his stack in.

Carron made the call, and his [ad][6d] was ahead of Mizzi's [kh][qc]. The board ran an ace-safe [jd][jc][7h][2h][jh] and Mizzi's Vilamoura adventure was over. -- SY

5pm: Chidwick keeping his foot down
Online crusher Stephen Chidwick has got a lot of chips and doesn't look like he's going to be shy in using them. I've twice seen him three-bet late position raises in the last couple of orbits. -- RD

4.55pm: Williams to the rail
Fabrizio Ascari continues to race towards the lead having just dispatched Team PokerStars Pro David Williams. Williams had tangled with the Italian earlier today, not with great joy, and now was given the ultimate send off.

Williams opened for 5,200 on the button which Ascari raised to 20,000 in the big blind. Williams then pushed for 45,200 sending Ascari into the tank. He came out calling, showing [ah][js] to Williams's [as][9c]. The board ran [jc][5c][jd][5s][qc]. Ascari up to 270,000 as Williams departs his first EPT as a Team PokerStars Pro. -- SB

4.53pm: Changing world
How things change. Within half an hour of the start today we were reporting on the plight of Antonio Esfandiari who lost three hands that took him from 130,000 to around 30,000 before he'd got comfortable in his chair. Well, Esfandiari has rallied somewhat, restoring his stack to a working 100k.

Just to provide a nice contrast to that, our day two chip leader Leonid Bilokur has just 42,000 remaining after an active first three levels. At one stage it seemed he could do no wrong and was powerfully racking up a stack from a table unable to match him chip for chip. Not anymore. -- SB

4.50pm: Hungry for chips
Karolis Grybauskas has been eliminated by Hungarian player Andras Nemeth. Nemeth raised from early position and then quickly called the 28,000 all-in push from Grybauskas. Grybauskas opened [ts][td] to Nemeth's [kc][ks] and the board ran [kd][2c][5d][ad][qs]. The door card pretty much did it for the Lithuanian. --MC

4.45pm: Playing again
Cards are back in the air.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,000-2,000, ANTE 200

4.30pm: Break time
Players are on another break at the end of level 11.

4.25pm: Torque or talk of an Ascari?
In real life an Ascari is a six-speed 625 bhp British sports car (yes, at least one still exists) built in Oxfordshire, that can reach speeds of 60mph in less than three seconds and 100mph in less than six. At the EPT Vilamoura Ascari is a player with the first name Fabrizio, who can reach similar speeds with his mouth in less than two.

You don't have to see Ascari to know he's there so sitting next to him is an ordeal unique right now to PokerStars qualifier Fergal Nealon. Or at least it was before the Irishman walked into a trap, set by Ascari, which now finds Nealon on the rail.

On a flop of [3c][jc][jd] Ascari made it 1,600 from under-the-gun before Nealon, on his immediate right, raised to 8,100. Ascari then moved all-in and at that point the hand seemed at an end. Ascari had pushed for around 100,000, easily covering Nealon who held his cards just off the felt ready to fold. Or so it seemed.

Ascari held his hand out flat for Nealon to see, as if to suggest strength, no nerves, as he bounced to the music pumping through his earphones. Then he did something that changed everything. He openly congratulated Nealon on the fold he was about to make.

"Nice fold," said Ascari, holding his own cards outstretched, ready to pass un-shown to the dealer. Suddenly Nealon had lost face and, with his ego bumped, pulled back on his folding idea, which he seemed about to do, and began examining the alternatives. He turned around in his seat to look at the board - 130 players remained, still a good way from the money.

"Nice fold," said Ascari again, and Nealon shifted uneasily again, as it became clear he now didn't want to fold, at least not against this guy.

But if you hadn't already figured it out for yourself, that was Nealon's mistake. Suddenly he announced "call," then almost simultaneously announced that word American TV stations don't like very much, as he realised his [ac][5c] looked desperate against Ascari's [3h][3s].

The turn [qd] and river [8d] changed nothing for Nealon, who gathered his belongings as Ascari cheered his success.

"Very difficult," yelled Ascari. "The psychology," yelled Ascari. "Come on," yelled Ascari, before finally shaking Nealon's hand before the Irishman presumably sought treatment for Post-Traumatic shock.

A big hand for the Italian, who is now up to 220,000. -- SB

4.22pm: Lucky for Lewis
Jacks. They're frequently cited as a player's most difficult hand to play but maybe that's because people aren't playing them like Toby Lewis. He has a simple strategy; get 'em in and suckout. Lewis raised from middle position to 3,700 and the big blind, fellow Brit Jonathan Proudfoot, three-bet to 11,500. Lewis put the pressure back on with a raise to 23,600. Proudfoot then raised again to somewhere in the region of 35,000. Lewis shipped it in for 90,000 and Proudfoot made the call.

Lewis: [js][jd]
Proudfoot: [qs][qh]

It was not the board that Proudfoot was looking for. In fact it was pretty far from what he was hoping for. The [2h][jc][3c][6d][8d] board gifted Lewis top set and boosted him up to 180,000. See, playing jacks is easy. -- RD

4.15pm: Kelly finds the flush handle
JP Kelly must've had enough of the golf chat as he has eliminated James Dempsey to move up to 225,000. Dempsey raised, Kelly three-bet, Dempsey four-bet, Kelly five-bet jammed and Dempsey called all-in for a big showdown:

Dempsey: [ah][qh]
Kelly: [ad][kd]

The board ran [ac][2d][9s][8c][th]. Kelly said: "Unlucky," and Dempsey wished everyone good luck and made his exit. -- MC

4.06pm: Thang punishes limpers
Joao Oliveira limped from early position and got three callers. But when it got around to Denmark's Thomas Thang in the big blind, he moved all-in for 28,000 and all the limpers scarpered quickly. -- SY

4.02pm: Lykov all or nothing
EPT player of the year Max Lykov is tryng to make things happen to improve his 60,000 stack. The Russian opened for 3,500 and got calls from Dara O'Kearney and Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki in the big blind. On the [9c][jd][4s] flop, Lykov, who won EPT Kyiv last year, bet 5,600 but O'Kearney re-raised to 12,200. Horecki got out of the way, but Lykov then moved his remaining 50,000 into the middle. O'Kearney mucked in an instant. -- SY

3.58pm: Moving on
On a board of [kd][5h][3h][5s][9h], and a bundle of chips in the middle, William Thorson bet 11,600 with only JP Kelly left to take him on and the floor staff waiting to break the table. All eyes were on him. Call? Yes. Thorson showed [jd][5d] to win the hand as Kelly mucked. Thorson back up to 53,000 and on his way to a new table. -- SB

3.53pm: No Faulting Foltyn
Herve Lefevre moved all-in with pocket nines only to run into a pair of kings. He lost, but had just covered his caller, meaning he had to be called back from his walk to the door to play his last 500. Two hands later he through what was left of it into the middle.

Juan Barros immediately raised to 4,500 while Paul Foltyn did the same for a flop of [as][qd][9d]. Both checked for a turn card [ts]. Barros then bet 9,000 while Foltyn raised to 20,000 before Barros shoved all-in for a little more. Foltyn snap called and turned over what would be a victorious [kh][jh]. Barros showed [qs][qh] while Lefevre made his second walk to the exit of the day after showing [7c][8h]. Two more players gone. -- SB

3.49pm: Vicky Coren out
"I'm not even going to sit down," said Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren as she planted one knee upon her chair at her new table (already populated by the likes of Max Lykov, Antonio Esfandiari and Jonathan Weekes). Coren was lacking in ammo with just 11,900 left in her stack desperately searching for a good spot to get her chips in.

Hand one: No dice for Coren as Esfandiari opened from early position to 3,100 picking up a solo caller in Jonathan Weekes from the big blind. Esfandiari's 5,300 continuation bet did enough to push Weekes off the [td][5d][9h] flop.

Hand two: The action folded to Coren in middle position and she quickly flung her 11,500 stack into the middle picking up two calls in the process - a good spot to treble up for the Season 3 EPT London winner . Per Martin Jacobson and Felix Alves checked the flop down to the [as][6s][ah][qd][4h] river at which point Jacobson bet 13,000. Alves passed and Coren knew she was in bad shape. Jacobsen tabled [kh][qs] for top two-pair as Coren said: "I was ahead on the flop," and flipped [6d][2h]. -- RD

3.42pm: Best of British
Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly, Toby Lewis (178,000) and James Dempsey (92,000) have all found their way to the same table and are in great spirits. Their chit-chat is consisting mostly of golf right now but the former of these ducked out of the conversation to win a pot from Jonathan Proudfoot, who also happens to be British.

The action folded to Proudfoot on the button who raised to 4,000 and was only called by Kelly in the SB. The flop came [js][qc][7h] and both checked to the [8h] turn. Kelly led for 7,000 and was called by his fellow Brit to go to the [5h] river. Once more Kelly led, this time for 14,000 only to face a raise to 42,000. Kelly counted his stack then counted the extra to call and threw the chips into the middle. Proudfoot mucked and Kelly scooped the pot without having to reveal his hand. He's up to 150,000. -- MC

3.35pm: More luck for bloggers!
Another email drops in to blog@pokerstars.com that has us scratching our heads. How can we get so much good fortune in one day? So far we've been promised around $3million, and now a lovely lady called Benita says she is looking for a handsome, god-fearing man to look after her.

We don't actually recall registering on a site called Arab Dating, but clearly we must have done because Benita says she found us there. We've just got to send her some pics, and then introductions will surely follow.

"May God bless you as I wait impatiently to read you," she says breathlessly. Wooohoooo! -- SY

3.30pm: All the ladies in the house
It's not all about the players. Spare a thought for the wives too, many of whom stand watching from a rail set up too far away for them to actually see anything, but are expected to be on hand to comfort and encourage when called for.

They do that up to that moment when their man (and it's rarely a man watching his girlfriend) is eliminated. As they curse and swear their way out of the tournament room their sweetheart follows hoping to be able to find the right words. The ones who've done this before know to say nothing.

We salute you, wives and girlfriends of players. -- SB

3.28pm: Kamutzki catching
"I was just saying to someone at the break that I'm doing a good job of grinding my stack down and then getting it in bad and winning," said Heinz Kamutzki. Very true, Herr Kamutzki. The German had squeezed over the top of a 3,600 button raise from Valdemar Kwaysser. Viktor Jensen had called in the small blind and Kamutzki had shoved 30,500 into the middle. Kwaysser called and Jensen passed.

Kwaysser: [kh][qd]
Kamutzki: [9h][js]

It was a good call from Kwaysser who must have known Kamutzki, a very active player, would be squeezing light but that didn't mean he'd be rewarded for it. The flop put the German ahead with [9d][8c][3s] and Kwaysser never caught up. Kamutzki is up to 64,000. -- RD

3.25pm: Boeree bashed up
Liv Boeree has Tweeted that she lost a 250k pot with eight-seven to an opponent with pocket queens on an [8][7][4] flop. Her opponent must have got there. She was down to 19,000 after this and news has just reached us she's busted and is off to the beach. --MC

3.20pm: This high-roller's stop rolling
PCA High-Roller champion Will Reynolds has been eliminated. He was down to his last 16,000 when he pushed from the button with king-ten when the action folded around to him. Janos Toth was sat in the SB and called with ace-eight and Reynolds failed to improve. --MC

3.15pm: And we're off again
Players are back from the break,. We're due to play another four levels or down to the money, whichever comes first. One man enjoying his break is Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver, up to 195,000. -- SY

3.05pm: More riches for bloggers
Following the 1.52pm update in our last post, where we described how an Elizabeth Johnson had kindly offered us millions to get a fortune out of her deceased father's African bank account, we're overjoyed to receive another email at blog@pokerstars.com offering us a $2million cut of a $10million fortune.

This time the very generous offer comes from Miss Finda Fallah from Nigeria, who is grieving the loss of her parents - but has recovered enough to try and get her hands on their fortune. She just needs the PokerStars bloggers' help, and as requested we've sent off our bank account details to her to get the ball rolling. We really are having a very lucky day. -- SY

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of hot curries consumed last night): Simon Young (lamb vindaloo), Marc Convey (chicken madras), Rick Dacey (chicken jalfrezi), Stephen Bartley (prawn biriyani)

3pm: End of the level
That's the end of level 10, the second of the day. We're on a 15-minute break, folks. -- SY

2.59pm: Kings into kings
Both Andreas Van De Venne and Pierre Mothes were starting to get short with less than 30,000 and so were equally happy to get it in with a premium hand. There had been one small under the gun raise before Van De Venne shoved and Mothes moved in behind him. Both tabled kings, Van De Venne with the red ones and Mothes with the black. The rainbow flop stalled the hopes of any improbable four flush. Chop. -- RD

2.58pm: Talkin' Italian
On a board of [2h][ah][4c][5s][3h] David Williams had bet 20,000. Still involved was Italian Fabrizio Ascari, a talkative player who makes noise to fill quiet parts of the day. He eventually called Williams for a split pot, both players playing the board, then began to suggest things to Williams in an Italian dialect even Luca Pagano, seated to the left of Williams, couldn't understand.

Williams instead busied himself by paying for the bottle of water that had been brought to him while Ascari continued in English-as-a-second-language poetry. Williams, still on around 70,000, tapped his head and said "smart," perhaps hoping it might end the conversation there. But I'm not sure the conversation ever ends for Ascari. -- SB

2.55pm: Mattern getting thumped
Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern is having a tough time of it. He tells us of a succession of hands that cut his stack in half to around 65,000. He called a short-stack all-in holding [k][10] and was up against [7][9], the shortie flopped two pair; he called a "maniac" with deuces but the other guy hit an eight on the river for the bigger pair; he got in a 50,000 pot race with [a][k] against sixes, but missed. "Awful day," he concluded. -- SY

2.50pm: Matias home in style
As mentioned below, last year's EPT Vilamoura champion Antonio Matias is out. But he'll get over it - I just spotted him in the car park getting into his gleaming Porsche to drive home. -- SY

2.42pm: Reigning champ out
Antonio Matias won EPT Vilamoura here last year but we've just seen him moving away from the tournament floor with his wife. It will be no double for Matias. -- RD

2.35pm: Ace high was good
Allan Baekke is a very happy chap right now as he's up to 130,000. He said his day took a turn for the better when he doubled-up to 100,000 with ace-high. He moved all-in on the turn on a board containing two spades and two diamonds. His opponent took five minutes to call and when he did the Dane said "nice hand," and tabled the drawing [as][ts]. But to his joy his opponent revealed [5s][6s]. -- MC

2.30pm: Stand-offs and eliminations
Stephen Chidwick opened for 2,600 which Marton Czuczor raised on the button to 7,600. If that was an irritation to Chidwick Konstantin Bucherl's re-raise to 14,500 ruined everything. Chidwick passed leaving them to it, but after a short but tense stand-off Czuczor folded.

A table along it was curtains for Jose Severino. He moved in with ten-nine only to be called by Bruno Pedro Fonseca Pocas (he may be known by some shorter version) with ace-king. Predictability reigned on a blank board sending the Panamanian to the rail. -- SB

2.28pm: Boeree bashes the button
Jose Maria De Noronha limped from middle position and the action folded to Liv Boeree on the button who raised to 3,700. The limper called but quickly mucked to a 3,600 bet on the [qh][ad][6h] flop. Easy game. -- RD

2.25pm: Riding the wave
Fresh from busting Dario Minieri and claiming the chip lead, Grzegorz Cichocki has not slowed down one bit. He's taken a chunk out of Stephen Chidwick's stack to extend his lead with 285,000 chips. He opened the pot with a raise to 2,600 from first position and was called only by Chidwick from the next seat. The Pole then emptied the clip with a 3,800, 10,000 and 22,200 bet on each street and was called all the way.

The final board read [th][7c][7d][8s][qh] and Chidwick mucked upon seeing his opponent's [7s][5s]. Chidwick down to 85,000 chips as a result. -- MC

2.22pm: Team Pro up
Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver is on a roll and now up to 205,000. He open-raised under the gun with [qd][10d] and got two callers. The flop was a happy [kd][5d][3d] for the Dutchman, and he bet 4,500. But Barkat Matan* had flopped a set of fives and re-raised to 12,000, de Korver made it 27,000, all-in from the Greek, call. The flush held and sent de Korver among the leaders. -- SY

* Our apologies, Bartak Matan was earlier incorrectly identified as Alexios Zervos.

2.20pm: Team Pro down #2
This time it was the German Sebastian Ruthenberg making his exit. He was down to his last 14,000 and pushed from the cut-off with [kc][9c]. Unfortunately Johan Berg woke up on the button with [ah][kd] and moved all in. The blinds got out of the way and the board ran [ad][10d][8h][9h][as] to knock out the former EPT Barcelona champion. -- SY

2.17pm: Team Pro down #1
A little while ago Dario Minieri lost the majority of his stack to Grzegorz Cichocki - and now the rest of his chips have gone that way, too. Cichocki open-raised to 2,300 from the cut-off, and Minieri re-raised to 7,500 from the small blind. Cichocki then moved all-in, covering Minieri, and the Italian made the call:

Minieri: [10c][10d]
Cichocki: [2s][2c]

Minieri, with his 35,000 in the middle, was in great shape to double up. Even more so when the flop came [2h][8s][10s], giving him a set over set. But watch out for those spades - the turn was [as] and the river [6s], meaning Cichocki raced into the lead on the river with a flush. Ouch. - SY

2.14pm: Dempsey doubles
No details on this one yet, except to say James Dempsey doubled up to 95,000 thanks to flopping a set of eights, well ahead of Pedro Vieira's top pair. -- SY

2.10pm: Kelly's hero
JP Kelly just rivered a much needed double up against Alexandru Cezarescu to keep his tournament hopes alive. The Team PokerStars Pro made it 8,000 to go pre-flop from the small blind which Cezarescu raised to 19,000 from the big. Kelly moved all in and Cezarescu called showing [as][ks] to Kelly's [qs][ad].

The board ran [2h][4s][tc][8s][qc] to send the chips to Kelly. Cezarescu said nothing but looked unhappy. He's down to 22,000 while Kelly jumps to 130,000. -- SB

2.05pm: Ticking down
Two more names for the missing list. Paul Berende and Bryn Kenney have both been eliminated.

Elsewhere PCA High Roller winner William Reynolds is down to 33,000 after a bad hand against Janos Toth of Hungary. Reynolds opened for 3,000 which Toth called, as did Eliran Argelazi in the big blind.

On a flop of [ts][2d][6s] Reynolds bet 6,700 which Toth raised to 19,000, leaving Argelazi to fold. The action came back to Reynolds who sat thinking for a few moments, the only sound to be heard being the riffling of chips and Fabrizio Ascari on the other side of the room. Eventually Reynolds folded. For his efforts Toth is up to 115,000. -- SB

2.01pm: Round two
After doubling-up through William Thorson, Dominik Traeger has returned the favour. Thorson limped from under-the-gun and then called a 3,200 raise from the German to see a [ac][6s][5s] flop. He checked to face a 3,000 bet that he min-raised to 6,000. Traeger looked confused about what to do but eventually decided to put his opponent all-in. Call.

Traeger showed [kh][kd] but Thorson was all over it with his [as][7s]. It only got better for the Swede too as the board ran out [2s][7c] to put him back up to 35,000. -- MC

1.55pm: Trickett leading from the front
Sam Trickett is right up there with the chip leaders and doesn't look like he wants to stay out of the chase. Playing from the small blind Trickett led 6,700 into Tim Finne, who had opened from early position. Finne called. Trickett took some time before betting 11,600 into the [4h] turn. This time the American wanted no further part of it and passed. -- RD

1.52pm: Brilliant news... we're off!
It's our lucky day here in Vilamoura. An email has just arrived with PokerStars Blog from a nice lady called Elizabeth Johnson, offering us riches beyond our wildest dreams. It's actually a very sad story, as it seems poor Elizabeth, who lives in exile in Senegal, has recently lost her father to a tragic accident. Happily, though, he left her $5.5million in a secret finance company.

We're not sure why, but Elizabeth has sent an email to blog@pokerstars.com asking for our help in getting hold of the dosh, promising a huge cut in return. If Elizabeth saw how we wasted money on curry and beer, we're certain she would rethink.

Anyway, we're now in deep discussions at Team PokerStars Blog HQ about how to spend our promised millions - cars, yachts, houses, the works. First we've got to send our bank details off to Elizabeth, which should not be a problem. Then we'll be off. We're sure you'll understand. -- SY

1.50pm: Another joke? Un ouef is un ouef
News from Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern during the break. Well, news of sorts. He tells us that two eggs were recently being fried in a pan. One said to the other: "Crikey, it's hot in here." The other egg replies: "My goodness - a talking egg!" Arnaud is here all week, folks, and taking stand-up routine requests. -- SY

1.48pm: On the rail
Two Team PokerStars Pros have been banished to the rail, both before the break. Alex Kravchenko was heading to the sidelines thanks to a set of sixes, while Joao Nunes followed him soon after. We're down to 175 players in the main event. -- SB

1.45pm: Back from break
The players are scurrying back from the horrid 30 degree Celsius heat of outside back into the tournament room. David Williams was the sole player wandering the floor during the break (he'd arrived late and had been unable to find where his stack had been moved to after his starting table had broken). -- RD

1.40pm: Leonid leading?
Leonid Bilokur left here last night as chip leader and now, a level into day two, he remains the chip leader. Or just about.

Typical of a man intent on cementing his lead, Bilokur is ruining it for everyone else at his table, raising every hand in a silent, white-rimmed-sunglasses-attack on the stacks around him.

He's taken pots from Christofer Williamsson, although in Williamsson's defence he's taken some back. He's also taken chips from Veldhuis in a hand before the break. On a flop of [ts][9c][6h] Velduis made it 3,200 from the small blind and Bilokur called. The checked the [2d] turn and Veldhuis did the same on the [9s] river, which Bilokur bet at to take the pot, moving up to around 170,000.

But wait, who's that breaching the 200k mark? It's Martin Jacobson of Sweden. It's always a Swede. He's the leader as players return for level two. -- SB

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200, ANTE 100

1.26pm: More bad news for Minieri
Today is just not going Dario Minieri's way. Not long after losing a huge pot with jacks into aces he has just had to fold a three-bet to a shove that came from the direction of Konstantin Bucherl. The German had opened from late position to 2,400 and Minieri had three-bet to 6,900. Burcherl moved all-in for 37,000 total and the aggressive Italian was forced to muck his hand.

That's the end of the level and the players, including PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo, have a 15-minute break. -- RD

1.22pm: Thorson feeling the cold
William Thorson is down to 11,000 chips after losing a cooler hand to his neighbour Dominik Traeger. The action folded around to the Swede in the SB who completed and then called Traeger's raise to 3,000. The flop came [jc][8c][qs] and Thorson check-called a 2,000 bet. The turn came [5c] and a series of bets and min-raises took the hand to a showdown with the German at risk. He wasn't worried though as he had his opponent drawing dead with his [ac][4c] to Thorson's [qc][2c]. -- MC

1.20pm: Lacay on the loose
Ludovic Lacay has doubled up. The Frenchman got his 15,500 chips in with [ac][8d] against the pocket tens of Daniel Moller of Sweden, and the board was kind to him, coming as it did [js][7s][as][ad][jc]. -- SB

1.15pm: Champ down
Kevin Stani, who won EPT Tallinn just a few weeks ago, will not be performing any back-to-back title heroics, he's just been seen leaving the tournament room. -- SY

1.14pm: Pagano quads!
Team PokerStars Pro Ruben Visser was down to just 10,000 and found a perfect spot to push with pocket eights. Unfortunately (for him) fellow Team Pro Luca Pagano was lurking a few seats along with pocket kings, which went on to make quads by the turn. Pagano up to 35,000 now, Visser off to the pool. -- SY

1.10pm: Mini-eri
Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri started the day in happy mood, sitting with 130,000 chips. But it all went wrong just now when he lost a huge hand to Grzegorz Cichocki. The man from Poland open-raised to 2,500 before Minieri made it 6,200. Cichocki was not done with that - bumping it up again to 17,000. This time the Italian called.

The flop came [10][5][4] and Cichocki continued his aggression with a c-bet of 22,000. Minieri, never one to shy away from that sort of thing, moved all-in and got an instant call.

Minieri: [J][J]
Cichocki: [A][A]

No help on the turn or river and Minieri doubled up Cichocki and fell to 38,000 in the process. -- SY

1.07pm: Pinho four-bets in your face
Henrique Pinho is a Portugese member of Team PokerStars Pro and will be desperately wanting to win this tournament (beyond the normal reasons of having bundles of Euros thrown at him). He's arrived today in full throttle. Julian Stuer opened to 2,200 from the cut-off and was three-bet by Sergio Coutinho on the button to 6,100. Pinho came over the top from the big blind making a large cold four-bet to 14,800. Both of his opponents had to have a long think before passing, but that they did.

Pinho also has Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly and PokerStars SportStars Fatima Moreira de Melo at his table. Pinho is up to 80,000. -- RD

1.05pm: Duthie downed
Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie has been downed in a battle of the blinds with Pedro Guedes. The turn was out and the board read [2c][4s][tc][6c] before Duthie moved all-in for another 19,600 after Guedes led out. Guedes talked to Duthie for a moment and then made the call.

"Have you got a pair?" asked Duthie and after seeing a nodding head he continued: "I'm in trouble then!"

He was indeed in trouble as his [qh][4h] was behind to the Portuguese's [6h][5d] and the [8d] on the river changed nothing. -- MC

1.02pm: Intensive Care
Ruben Visser opened for 2,200 before Daniel Carter raised to 5,400. Visser then moved all-in which Carter called in a flash, showing [kc][kd] to Visser's [tc][td]. The board ran [5s][6c][as][2c][2s], leaving Carter with close to 70,000 while the Team PokerStars Pro Visser is added to the critical list with just 11,000 chips remaining. -- SB

12.59pm: Weekes
Jonathan Weekes opened from the hijack to 2,400 and was called by Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki on the button. An anonymous [2s][3h][9c] flop was enough for Weekes to fire another 4,200. Horecki didn't like the spot enough to carry on and quickly passed his hand.

Weekes proved to be a tough competitor at the recent EPT Tallinn where he made the final table. Don't be surprised if he goes deep again. -- RD

12.58pm: Tothed out
Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth has been tossed out of the tournament. He started the day with 51,000. -- RD

12.55pm: Losing the Magic
Antonio Esfandiari arrived this morning to a stack of 127,800. Now, just half an hour into the day, he has lost all but 30,000 of it after a succession of hands went the way of his opponent. The latest was against Felix Alves, who moved all-in behind a raise from Esfandiari, showing pocket jacks to Esfandiari's pocket tens. Curses for the American, who now faces the immediate future as a short stack. -- SB

12.50pm: Keep out of my way
Nikita Malinovskiy open-raised and then watched with interest as Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver re-popped to 6,600. Malinovskiy was interested enough to fire again for 12,500. De Korver called. The flop was [4d][3d][3s], De Korver checked and Malinovskiy gently pushed two yellow 5,000 chips over the line. De Korver jumped into action, putting a stack of yellows worth 50,000 into play. That was enough to put the Russian all in, and he elected to fold and wait for a better spot. -- SY

12.47pm: Didn't get any merrier for Mairer
PokerStars qualifier Manuel Mairer came back as one of today's short stacks but now he has no stack. He moved all-in for less than 20,000 from late position with [kh][th] but ran straight into the [ah][ad] of Pedro Vieira in the BB. The board came [8d][9d][ts][8h][ks] to seal his fate. -- MC

12.43pm: Early exits
Even though every player knows that a tournament is a flowing organism that seamlessly moves from hand to hand and level to level there is still a temptation to rock up at the end of any given day. This also means that there is often a sudden splurge of knockouts at the beginning of a day's play and that certainly happened today.

Among those that couldn't enjoy a magic morning resurrection were Michael Hull, John Strzemp, Michael Friedrich, Anthony Wright, Mickey Petersen, Dario Majone, Florian Lehmann and Luis Guerreiro. -- RD

12.40pm: Magic fading
Marcin Horecki has doubled up through Antonio Esfandiari. The Team PokerStars Pro found aces and moved in on a flop of [2d][4s][6s] against Esfandiari's [th][tc]. The turn came [jh] while the river was [ad]. Horecki up, Esfandiari down again. -- SB

12.35pm: One gone
In other news Iranian Mani Rezaei is out, having lost his day two starting stack of 2,500. -- SB

12.30pm: Magician and the king
Antonio Esfandiari's stack just took a dent in a hand against Ronny Kaiser. On a flop of [5s][2c][td] Esfandiari made it 5,100 from the cut off. Kaiser was in the small blind and called, while Guillermo Garcia in the big blind got out of their way. The turn came [5h] which both players checked for a [7c] on the river. This time Kaiser led the betting, 10,800 in total which Esfandiari called. Kaiser turned over [ac][th]. Esfandiari looked at his cards again, a sure sign of defeat, and mucked. -- SB

12.22pm: More from the action table
Eddie Tasbas opened for 2,500 from middle position and Sorel Mizzi three-bet to 7,200 from the hijack. The action folded past Toby Lewis on the button and back to Tasbas who calmly slid his chips across the line in two tall stacks. Mizzi didn't look interested and tossed his hand away. Tasbas is up to 53,000. -- RD

12.15pm: Tough table
Day 2 has thrown up some interesting table draws but the toughest by far (in our opinion) is table 28. Toby Lewis, David Williams, Erik Van Den Berg, Eddie Tasbas, Sorel Mizzi and Ludovic Lacay all have to find some way of extracting chips from each other. Good lucks guys.

Toby Lewis has the best draw in terms of table position and he just used it against Sorel Mizzi to win an early pot. The board was [kd][kh][4d][ad] and Lewis piled on the pressure with a 17,700 bet in to a 23,000 pot. The Canadian thought for a while but open folded pocket queens. -- MC

12.10pm: Cards are in the air
After only a slight delay play has begin on day two.

11.50am: Welcome back to day two
Suspended 200 feet over the ocean, two people flew along the Algarve coast line this morning, attached to each other in para-sailing bliss. Hundreds more beneath them sunned themselves on the golden beaches of the Crown Plaza compound while others splashed around in the pool. Yet more cast a sneaky eye on the pirate ship climbing frame in the Crown Plaza's luxury grounds, wondering whether anyone would really notice a quick run around.

All of that, and more, was available to you this morning provided you were not among the 221 players returning for day two of EPT Vilamoura.

In which case you had a day at the tables to plan for. If your name is Leonid Bilokur that day is a lot easier to plan than most. As chip leader Bilokur's plan is simple - carry on as he left off yesterday. Not that it's as simple as that, for the likes of Andre Coimbra of Team PokerStars Online, and a bunch of others not far off Bilokur's stack of 161,200, as the chip count page will demonstrate.

The exact opposite of Bilokur is not Dinoel Rukolib, but Mani Razaei, from Iran, who returns today with 2,500, and a plan A - win more chips. There's no real time for plan B.

And so to it. Day two of EPT Vilamoura is about to start, with five levels scheduled, each running for 75 minutes. There may yet be time to jump onboard a para-sail after all.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at EPT Vilamoura (in order of average speed this morning): Marc Convey (all ahead full), Simon Young (advancing with caution), Stephen Bartley (slow crawl) and Rick Dacey (dead in the water). Photos by Neil Stoddart.

If you've been following the blog and consider yourself an observant sort then you may have realised that there have been no in situ images of players at the felt, or of Carlos Mortensen's chip stack. The reason that all of our photos here have been taken outside is not because the players are dashing out to get a burst of sunshine each break, a ludicrous suggestion of course, nor is it because our photographer has developed claustrophobia. Due to stringent casino regulations in Portugal no photographs or video recording is permitted inside our host venue, Casino Vilamoura . On the upside this same tightness of legislation has kept this a well structured tournament with the gaming floor clear of random poker fans and railers who otherwise bump and bash into the back of players' chairs.

Let us paint you the picture instead. The tournament floor here is tiered across three levels with the bottom level, which sits in front of the press-covered stage, holding nine tables with each higher level holding the capacity for a couple more tables. The shiny brass railings separate each layer from the next and as the day wears on the players and chip stacks have trickled down from higher to lower leaving fourteen tables come end the day. The player that was the biggest recipient of that trickledown effect was PokerStars qualifierLeonid Bilokur who finished the day on 161,200. The Russian, who emerged towards the end of the sixth level of the day (of eight played) as a big stack, hasn't had EPT main event success before but has got a first place score in a €2,000 side event at EPT Berlin for €174,000. He will certainly be a danger tomorrow.

Not that Bilokur is out at the top alone. Some 203 players bought, satellited and hussled their way into the action this morning (making 384 total) and obviously many were going to get washed away. Some player names that you might, just might, recognise include Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Matthias and Christophe de Meulder, Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier and Noah Boeken. Former WSOP World Champion Carlos Mortensen, Jeff Sarwer and Andy Black were but three other players that couldn't keep their grip on their chips. The players that did manage to get keep their footing and kept pace with Bilokur were Danny Neess (139,000), Sorel Mizzi (132,200), Brandon Cantu (122,400), Ronny Kaiser (107,200), Stephen Chidwick (103,000), Sam Trickett (132,600) and Nic Heather (140,800).

Every tournament starts differently and this one began with an early downpour in two places. At one table the heavens opened pouring chips all over Jonathan Weekes. In the first level of the day the Brit, who final tabled EPT Tallinn two weeks ago, felted not one but two players taking himself up to 90,000 before some players had barely sat down. And that takes us neatly to the second downfall of the day, which was the less beneficial tipping over of a PokerStars marketing stand that almost pole-axed Carter Phillips. Phillips arrived late and left early courtesy of aces into a set but given the crashing stand it was certainly probably the best exit he could hope for.

Phillips won EPT Barcelona Season 6 for €850,000 and while he may be one of the youngest champions on this tour he's certainly not been the only one here today. Last year's EPT Vilamoura winner Antonio Matias has been joined by the most recent winner Kevin Stani, who just took EPT Tallinn, Rob Hollink, Noah Boeken, Liv Boeree, Max Lykov and ElkY to name a few. Some have slipped but Boeree (79,300) and Matias (86,600) are doing particularly well, Lykov (47,200) and Stani (35,600) have shown they can always be a threat and will come back tomorrow with renewed focus. Jonathan Weekes, who got off to that fantastic start, ended the day on a very respectable 81,100. Another player who got through the day with a healthy looking stack was David Williams. The Team PokerStars Pro was making his EPT debut as part of the PokerStars stable and he has kept himself in the hunt with a 86,100 stack.

We come back tomorrow as the Day 1A and 1B streams converge bringing 221 players back into the chase for this second title of Season 7 of the European Poker Tour. Play begins at 12pm and is set to cover five 75-minute levels.

To catch up with all of the day's events click on the links below and if you'd like to see what happened on Day 1A then click here instead. If you've just clambered over this end of day summary with the aid of a (insert your language here)-to-English dictionary then you may be interested in knowing that you can read EPT Vilamoura updates in Parasol Portugese, Beach Towel German, Tanning Oil Italian and Beer Cooler Dutch.

You can also check the chip counts here and the payout page here.

Levels 1 & 2
Levels 3 & 4
Levels 5 & 6
Levels 7 & 8

All photos are copyright of Neil Stoddart and should be used courtesy of his name.

9.10pm: Play over
That's your lot, folks. Remaining players have bagged up their loot and headed off into the clear Algarve night. By our reckoning, Russian PokerStars qualifier Leonid Bilokur is overnight chip leader with 161,200. We'll have a full wrap with you shortly, and all counts will be up on the chip count page just as soon as we have them. -- SY

8.52pm: Stop the clock
The clock has stopped and tournament staff have announced that three more hands will be played this evening, then players will bag up their chips for the night. Stand by for a full wrap up of the days events. -- SB

8.50pm: Stani under pressure
Three players saw a flop [8d][th][as]. Ruben Visser was first to act, checking to William Thorson who bet 2,800. Kevin Stani was next and called it while Visser got out of their way before the [jh][ turn. Thorson was ready with a bet again, making it 5,500. Stani called for a [qh] on the river. Thorson tried again, 10,300 this time which sent Stani into the tank. Just as he had in the hand against Visser earlier Stani had the chips required to call in his hand, but he was in no rush, taking minutes before deciding to call.

Thorson flipped ver [8c][8h] for a set. Stani mucked, leaving Thorson to move up to 67,000 chips, while the EPT Tallinn champion falls back to 39,000. -- SB

8.45pm: Champ clipped
Reigning EPT champion Kevin Stani is down to 55,000 after failing to shift Lothar Meier off his pocket queens. Meier opened with an under-the-gun raise and then called Stani's late position three-bet to see a [kc][9h][9d] flop. Both players checked to the [3s] turn where Meier check-called a 3,200 bet. The river came [jc] and Stani took one more stab at it with a 7,800 bet. Meier called and Stani mucked. --MC

8.35pm: Name of the game
You meet all sorts on the circuit with names that you're never come across anywhere else. How about a big shout out for Yapawadee, one of our dealers here today. -- SY

8.30pm: Stani and deliver
On a flop of [th][ac][2c] Kevin Stani was in action again, this time against Italian Luca Cainelli. Stani, under the gun, bet 3,400. Cainelli raised it up to 8,000, leaving himself 24,000 behind and sending Stani into the tank. Stani's response was to raise again, 37,000 in total which easily covered Cainelli who agonised for a few minutes before folding, showing [ah]. -- SB

8.27: A load of (basket) balls
Here's our two Team PokerStars Pros from Portugal showing off their basketball skills...

8.25pm: Lovely, lovely, oh crikey
Jonathan Proudfoot, a PokerStars qualifier from the UK, made it 5,000 from the small blind and Team PokerStars Pro Christophe de Muelder moved all in for 11,550 more from the big. Call. De Muelder had [kd][qs] and was behind the Brit's [ac][6c]. The flop came [9h][jd][qd], shooting the Team Pro into the lead, and the turn was [ks] giving him two pair. But wait, the river was [10s], filling Proudfoot's straight and sending De Muelder to the rail. -- SY

8.20pm: More for Mizzi
Sorel Mizzi has won another pot to move up to 170,000. He was sat in the BB and called a button raise from Thorsten Schafer to see a [ad][5d][7d] flop where he check-called a 3,500 bet. The turn came [6s] and this time Mizzi check-called a 9,200 from the German. The river came [2d] and the action went check-check. Schafer opened [as]5s] for two-pair but Mizzi got there on the river with [ad][7s]. -- MC

8.12pm: Right on the Visser
Ruben Visser has now arrived on William Thorson's table, where Nuno Coelho and Kevin Stani are still playing. It's Stani that Visser just tangled with.

On a flop of [kd][5d][9c] Stani checked in the small blind and Visser bet 2,200. Stani called for a [7s] on the turn. Both checked that for a [4h] river. Stani checked to the Team PokerStars Pro who let 5,800 fall into the middle. Stani thought for a while, holding the chip to call with in his hand, eventually dropping them in. Visser quickly flipped over [td][kh] that that was that. Stani mucked, down to 55,000, while Visser moves up to 34,000 chips. -- SB

8.06pm: Three in a row
Imagine, three former EPT champions sitting side by side. Christophe Benzimra (EPT Warsaw), Rob Hollink (EPT Monte Carlo) and defending Vilamoura champ Antonio Matias sit next to each other, on the road to a second EPT title. Two of them were just in action.

On a flop of [kh][kd][ts] both checked for a [6c] turn, Hollink in the cut off, Matias on the button. On the [6c] turn though Hollink came out firing, making it 2,300 which forced a fold form Matias. He's down to 66,000 while Hollink moves up to 31,000 chips. -- SB

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, ANTE 75

7.58pm: Still the chief
Max Lykov has recently tried to reassert himself as table captain (current POY you know) but Ronny Kaiser has firmly put him back in his box. Lykov won one hand but then lost a much bigger one back.

Lykov, Kaiser and Fatima Moreira De Melo saw a [qd][qs][3d] flop but only Kaiser hung around after Lykov bet 1,625. Both players checked the [8c] turn before the Russian led for 6,200 on the [qh] river. Kaiser took so long to make a decision that third party at the table called the clock and this promoted him to fold.

A few hands later Lykov and Kaiser saw another flop. It's texture was [as][kd][ad] this time and Lykov led for 2,300 and was called. The turn came [6d] and Lykov let the diminutive Swiss pick up the betting reigns and he duly obliged with a 5,800 bet. Call. The river came [8h] and Lykov checked again but this time had to face a 22,200 bet. This sent the Russian into his own tank and he came out of it a few minutes later with a call. Kaiser tabled [6s][6c] for a full house which was good as Lykov mucked. Kaiser up to 130,000 chips whereas Lykov is down to 22,000. -- MC

7.54pm: English punch up
Liv Boeree was recently seated to the right of Stephen Chidwick, aka stevie444, and has got straight into it in a battle of the blinds. Boeree in the small and, of course, Chidwick in the big. Boeree checked the [2c][qh][9d] flop to Chidwick who dutifully bet 4,250. Boeree took some time weighing up her options before announcing... "Is it on me?" Yes, it was. Boeree then raised to 9,000 and Chidwick mucked his hand. Chidwick is up to 100,000 while Boeree is still keeping her head above water with 40,000. -- RD

7.50pm: Veldhuis up to 70,000
Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis had a horrid start to the day, but he's now turned his lowly 10,000 into 70,000 over the course of a few levels. He just raised to 1,500 with big slick, Sorel Mizzi re-raised to 4,200 and Jan Skampa - who final tabled here last year - moved all-in for 16,000 with A-2. Veldhuis shoved in behind, Mizzi folded A-K and the board ran a swingtastic J-8-7-2... K! -- SY

7.45pm: Sebastian Ruthlessberg
Sebastian Ruthenberg is now in the seat once occupied by Daniel Negreanu. He opened for 1,400 in middle position before the action reached Richard Toth in the cut off. He raised to 3,500 which Ruthenberg went on to call.

The flop came [4h][jh][6s]. After a long pause Ruthenberg bet 9,800. This was good enough to put Toth off continuing. He folded, and Ruthenberg moves up to 45,000 chips. That became more like 48,000 on the next hand when he pushed Andreas Berggren off a hand. -- SB

7.40pm: Romanello struck by a boat
Roberto Romanello opened for 1,325 and Ireland's John O'Shea called from the big blind. Both checked the [3d][7s][10d] flop, and on the [9s] turn Romanello called O'Shea's 3,000 bet. On the [10s] river, O'Shea made it 7,000. After asking for a count of O'Shea's remaining stack, the Welshman called. He wish he hadn't as O'Shea turned over [10c][7d] for a full house. That sent Romanello down to 34,000 and O'Shea up to 27,000. -- SY

7.35pm: Stani keeping the pressure on
Kevin Stani is here hot off the back of his EPT Tallinn success buuthasn't had the best of table draws with William Thorson, Nuno Coelho and co seated around him. This obviously hasn't stopped him from getting involved and he's twice taken down small pots preflop with three-bets in the last few minutes. Surely it can't be that long until two of these name players get tangled up. -- RD

7.25pm: Lykov loading up
On a flop of [ks][4h][4s] Max Lykov in the big blind checked to Dominik Traeger under the gun. Traeger made it 1,750 which Lykov called for a [5d] on the turn. Again Lykov checked leaving it to Traeger to do the betting, 1,700 this time. Lykov called once more for an [as] on the river. Now he took the lead, betting 4,600 on the end, enough to persuade Traeger to fold his hand. Lykov showed [qs][9s] for the flush, getting a nod of approval from Traeger. Lykov up to around 50,000. -- SB

7.18pm: Bilokur big stack
Leonid Bilokur has emerged as one of the chip leaders pushing through into the last couple of levels of the day. Apart from the fact that he won a €2,000 side event at EPT Berlin in March for €174,000 I don't know much about the online qualifier so thought a quick railing session was in order. If these two hands are anything to go by then I think I know how he got his chips today and it's all been done by being table captain. Bilokur raised from early position to 1,500 and was called in the big blind. A swift 1,500 on the [jd][5h][ac] flop took the pot down.

Next hand: another 1,500 open, this time from under the gun, and again the action folded around to the big blind who called. This time Bilokur waited until the turn to pull the trigger. It was two from two for the Russian and from my vantage point on the stage, which overlooks the tournament floor, I can see him raking in yet another pot. -- RD

7.10pm: Who's the chief at this table?
We know Ronny Kaiser from his deep run at last season's EPT San Remo (20th place) and the young Swiss impressed with his fearless style of play. This aggressive style is probably a lot to do with why he's up to 109,000 chips, the most at his table that includes Fatima Moreira De Melo and Maxim Lykov.

The latter just lost a small pot to Kaiser too after calling his 1,450 raise whilst sat on the button. The BB came along to see the [ac][qh][6d] where all three checked. The turn came [7d] and a 2,300 bet from Kaiser took the pot down. --MC

7.05pm: Negreanu done
Daniel Negreanu's day has come to an end. It took place over two hands, the first of which involved his king-ten against the queen-jack of Richard Toth, which made a straight on the turn, leaving Negreanu with just 7,000. Then a hand later he opened for 1,325 from under the gun. Ivo Donev raised to 7,000 and Negreanu tossed in the last of his chips, turning over [9c][9d]. Donev turned over [js][jh]. The board ran [tc][ks][6h][th][5h] sending the Team PokerStars Pro to the rail.

"All right," said Negreanu. "Good luck guys."

7pm: And back they come
That was the last 15-minute break of the day. Players are now returning for the final two levels and then we're done for the night.

Leading the way right now appears to be Leonid Bilokur, a PokerStars qualifier from Russia, on around 140,000. He's followed by Sam Trickett from the UK with 129,000 and Danny Neess on around 120,000.

Still in, and just above his starting stack with 35,150, is Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Why mention him? Well, I wanted to use his picture, of course... --SY

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of least pretentious car): Rick Dacey (does not drive), Stephen Bartley (Citroen Picasso), Marc Convey (BMW 325ci), Simon Young (Jaguar XK8)