Play has entered the final level of day 1B; indeed it's the final level of two day ones during which two thirds of the 1,347 starters have departed into the Bahamian night.

Around this time yesterday, Felipe Ramos started his incredible charge to the chip lead. The PokerStars player from Brazil bagged up something like 360,000 in chips and he was comfortably out ahead.

The news from today is that no one has caught Ramos. In fact, no one has got anywhere near him. Today's field has its chip-leaders and its short-stacks, but the largest is probably either Chris Underwood's or Eric Liu's, both of whom have round about the 150,000 mark, less than half Ramos's total from yesterday.

We still have more than an hour to play and that can change very swiftly. And no one is making any grand declarations just yet.

While we wait for the final judgment on the day, here's a brief chat with Peter Eastgate on how he deals with playing poor players. Or "fish" to use the poker term.

Watch PCA 09: Eastgate's tips on playing with fish on PokerStars.tv

The PokerStars video blog team get to know the major players on the tour better than most. You should see them in action, lining up the prime contenders ahead of time to assess their expectations for the day ahead, hanging around the tables trying to get interesting mid-play tid-bits, then even chasing competitors out the door to record bust out interviews.

As ever, all their work is available on the peerless - and totally FREE! - PokerStars.tv, where you can also watch a massive archive of televised poker from all five seasons of the EPT, the World Cup of Poker, and much, much more.

Today, the crew have been catching up with the Team PokerStars Pro members out in the Bahamas, including Katja Thater, who is describes how her 2008 wasn't quite what she had hoped.

Watch PCA 09: Katja Thater on PokerStars.tv

Thater is still in this tournament, however, grinding away with a short stack but still afloat and well-equipped to move forward through the rest of the day. Chad Brown, unfortunately, is not. He departed yesterday and the title of his video blog: "Chad Brown on bad beats" might tell us all we need to know.

Watch PCA 09: Chad Brown on resolve after a beat on PokerStars.tv

So these are but two examples of all that video action. Be sure to check in to PokerStars.tv whenever you want.

Earlier today, my colleague Paul McGuire noticed a hand involving the new World Champion Peter Eastgate where an unknown player showed a huge bluff after Eastgate folded on the end. "That's what's gonna happen to you now," said Jean-Robert Bellande, also on the table. "Everyone's gonna be gunning for you."

Eastgate probably knew that's how his immediate future would pan out as the nine million dollar man. But he might have expected some impartiality on the part of the tournament officials. They didn't have to stack his table with all the stars of the game, at least not all the time.

But returning from the dinner break this evening, Eastgate was on a table with the former Wall Street trader turned bracelet winner Johnny Bax, the British internet sensation Lukas Schwartz, the heavily chipped Alex Longobardi (somewhere near the chip lead at about 120,000), the EPT tournament director turned player Thomas Kremser, and the Aussie Millions champion from 2008 Alexander Kostritsyn.

Immediately I arrived to the table, my radar twitched. "This would be a perfect table to focus on for the patented* PokerStars blog classic 'A round with...' post."

* Not actually patented.

And so here it is, the latest of an occasional series: A round with...Peter Eastgate.

Table line-up (with approximate counts):
Seat 1- Johnny Bax, 50,000
Seat 2 - Peter Eastgate, 65,000
Seat 3 - Joe McGowan, 11,000
Seat 4 - Lukas Schwartz, 35,000
Seat 5 - Jean-Robert Bellande, 12,000
Seat 6 - Unknown player, 30,000
Seat 7 - Alex Longobardi, 120,000
Seat 8 - Thomas Kremser, 32,000
Seat 9 - Alexander Kostritsyn, 55,000

Level six, blinds 400-800, 100 ante

Hand one, Eastgate in small blind
As the dealer shuffles, Bellande is talking to his friend on the rail. "I was up to 28,000. Down to 12,000 now. He [pointing at Lukas Schwartz] got me to fold ace-king. I've never folded ace-king in my life." "I had ace-jack," boasted Schwartz, with no small dollop of pride. Schwartz was first to enter the pot once the cards were out and he limped from under-the-gun. Eastgate, silently, raised it to 3,100 from the small blind and everyone else got out the way. A small pick up from the world champion.

Hand two, Eastgate on the button
It's folded to the Dane on the button and he needs no further invitation to raise, making it 2,200 to go. Joe McGowan in the small blind moves all in for his last 11,000 and Eastgate insta-calls. McGowan shows two red tens and they're way ahead of Eastgate's two black sixes. The better hand holds up and McGowan survives.

Hand three, Eastgate in the cut-off
Jean-Robert Bellande makes it 2,200 from early position and Alex Longobardi calls two places along. Lukas Schwartz also calls from the small blind and they see a flop of As-9h-4h. Bellande and Longobardi then get them all in - Bellande's final 8,000 or so - and it's A-9 for Bellande (top two) versus Qh-8h for Longobard (flush draw). The turn is a heart and that's that for Bellande as the draw gets there.

Hand four, Eastgate in hijack
Thomas Kremser, playing now without his hood but deep in conversation with his wife Marina, makes it 2,000 from early position. Everyone folds and Kremser continues to earn a lot of respect.

Hand five, Eastgate mid-position
It's folded to Eastgate, who makes it 2,200 to play. Longobardi is the only caller and they see a flop of 9s-7d-Js. After he hears his favourite word, "Check", Eastgate fires 3,000 at it, and that's good enough for another pick up.

Hand six, Eastgate mid-position
The new player to arrive in the seat vacated by Bellande is Shane "Shaniac" Schelger, who is carrying close to 70,000 in chips. Schleger is on the button and is involved straight away, calling Eastgate's now-standard bet of 2,200. The flop comes 3c-7h-2c and Eastgate bets 2,700, which Schleger calls. The turn is the Qh and Eastgate fires again, this time 4,200. Schleger calls. The river is 9h and Eastgate has another stab, this time two blue chips and one black, worth 11,100. Schelger looks as though he might fold, but then starts counting out the call and slides it in. As he does, Eastgate insta-mucks. Schleger does the same and a couple of players question whether he's allowed to do that. "Don't you have to show to win?" asks McGowan. The dealer says, "No," Schleger starts stacking the chips and tournament director extraordinaire Thomas Kremser, who will definitely know to the letter of the law what is the correct ruling, keeps schtum. He's on vacation.

Hand seven, Eastgate early position
Lukas Schwartz raises to 2,500 and everyone folds.

Hand eight, Eastgate early position
Eastgate raises to 2,200 - no surprise - and Joe McGowan makes it 5,000, which is enough to thin the field to nobody. He flips pocket queens and picks up the chips.

Hand nine, Eastgate in the big blind
It's fair to say that Eastgate has been busy in the round, as he has for most of the tournament, so when the unknown player in seat six enters the pot for the first time, raising to 2,000, Eastgate must fancy he's behind. He lets his big blind go.

And that's the round. There's was a good deal of stealing, an elimination, and then a hit to the world champion's stack courtesy of Shane Schleger. Players have now gone on the break at the end of level six.

Going into this evening's dinner break, at the first major pause on day 1B, the story is a familiar one of some players making hay, others crashing and burning, handfuls heading the leaderboard, hordes hitting the bars.

During the most recent sweep of the room conducted shortly before the interruption was called, a couple of new names and faces emerged who will be taking their nourishment with the particular relish. One is the PokerStars qualifier from New York Antonio Bueti, who grabbed the attention of the blog photographer Joe Giron by virtue of his huge and multicoloured stack.

Antonio Bueti

Counting them up, the closest estimate for Bueti puts him at around 130,000, and that just might be good for the chip lead.

The Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin needs no introduction to the poker-following world, nor to the top of the leaderboard. And in the final couple of levels before dinner, he rocketed to close to 90,000, which is high, high in contention.

Meanwhile far across the other side of the room sits the two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Mark Seif, who had amassed more than 100,000 at one point, before losing a few late on. Let's not forget, players started only five levels ago with 20,000 in chips. Multiplying that by five, or even four, is pretty good going in anyone's book.

Also happy at this point in proceedings are the PokerStars qualifier Ken Weiner (75,000) and his American countryman Greg Brooks (83,000). Meanwhile no one who watched Eric Liu's dominant performance at the final table of EPT London will be surprised at all to learn that he is sitting pretty with more than 55,000 right now. (That's something similar to Gus Hansen's total at this point too, whoever that world superstar may be.)

It's been a tough day for the Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater, who has struggled to get many more than her starting stack today, but remains in the field. That's already better, though, than the defending champion Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, who perished midway through level five. So too Noah Boeken, who has been missing in action for a while, presumed busted. It is his birthday today, so we can forgive him for looking to celebrate in more traditional style.

The two Brazilians Alexandre Gomes and Andre Akkari are both going strong; ditto Dario Minieri, Humberto Brenes, Isabelle Mercier and someone named Moneymaker. Also still flourishing is Maria Mayrinck, although Johnny Lodden and Gualter Salles have long since departed.

The break is 90 minutes long and there are 430 players who will be rushing back from their dinner reservations to rejoin the fun in the Imperial Ballroom.

As they eat, you can read. Here's what has happened so far today:

Once more with feeling
Profile of Ricky "FiveFingerz" Puleo
Random? Rigged, more like
FPP value: Brandon Schaefer and Bernard Lee
Poker camp
Early musings
Thomas Kremser: Post useless without photos
Akkari's $1m year
$36 buys a good story
The post-modern American dream revisited
The Ballad of Apestyles and Maridu
Monique
The defending champ speaks
Railbirds flock to Dario
Champ down

The latest approximate chip counts are on the chip counts page. And follow the latest from the World Cup of Poker on PokerStars blog or EPT Live.

We'll be back in an hour and a half.

The popular version of the oft-repeated Bonnie and Clyde story describes the exploits of a young male/female team of lovers/outlaws terrorising the southern states of America during the Great Depression of the early 20th century. They fight, they rob, they stick up banks and they assemble a gang of eager felons to join them, holing up in temporary accommodation across Texas and Louisiana as a base for their hugely profitable operations.

The anti-heroes became darlings of the national press, the nemeses of law enforcement officers across vast swathes of the country and latterly they became the subjects of poems, songs and a movie, which launched the careers of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.

Approximately 80 years later--and entirely within the law this time--the exploits of Jon Van Fleet and Maria Meyrinck bear some comparison with Bonnie and Clyde. Van Fleet, perhaps better known as "apestyles" online, had been tearing through the major online tournaments for years before last year he met Mayrinck, originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and better known perhaps as "maridu". Since then, they have become a formidable pair of poker outlaws.

Jon Van Fleet


Maria Meyrinck

Van Fleet had continued to plunder just about every game he's ever played, rising to the top of the online rankings and even releasing a book describing his exploits, while Mayrinck (who once occupied media row as the PokerStars blogger from Brazil) has hung up her press pass and is now a PokerStars sponsored player, appearing on the Latin America Poker Tour, the PCA and the EPT.

What's more, they now live together in a huge rented house in Austin, Texas, and they have taken in a lodger, a new member of the gang of outlaws. And similar to Bonnie and Clyde, they've found themselves one of the sharpest of all young sharp-shooters: it's Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick, the PokerStars Supernova Elite, originally from the United Kingdom.


Stephen Chidwick

Chidwick is that guy we have written a lot about on the EPT this year. At the tender age of 19, he had already become an absolute tyrant on PokerStars, winning MTTs and high stakes sit and goes for fun. He's the kid who won more than 100 satellites to the 2008 World Series Main Event (an approximate million bucks) and also takes down satellite tournaments to just about any major live tournament going.

"Ape and Stevie play about 12 hours a day and qualify for everything," said Mayrink moments ago, describing their recent domestic arrangements. And she went on to describe how the whole gang will be hitting the road again soon: "Stevie has been nominated for the best newcomer at the European Poker Awards, so we're going to that. Then we'll play EPT Deauville, San Remo and Monte Carlo before we'll all come back to Austin."

That will be the coming couple of months, but for now they've got to focus on the day at hand. Van Fleet made it comfortably through yesterday, shoving more than 100,000 into his swag bag before disappearing off into the Bahamian sunset.

Today, Chidwick and Meyrinck have returned to the scene of the crime, and each are still breathing as we enter level five. Chidwick took a bit of a hit before the most recent break and is down to about 7,000; Meyrinck is more comfortable with about 35,000.

Whether they're apprehended and shot down in a hail of bullets, or whether they made good their escape back to Texas with the chest full of treasure, these modern-day outlaws will continue to hog the headlines and capture the imagination for many years to come.

Here's what Mayrinck told the video blog team yesterday about her preparation for today's action:

Watch PCA 09: Maria Mayrinck on PokerStars.tv

In the fictional poker award ceremony just invented in my head, the winner of the "Best Dressed Man in Poker" for the past 15 years has been Thomas Kremser, tournament director of the EPT.

It's really been a walkover for the Austrian TD. Ever since he first came to public consciousness as the man presiding over Late Night Poker on Channel Four in Great Britain, Kremser has been synonymous with two things. Firstly, his impeccable tournament direction: Kremser issues rulings that are invariably considered, firm and fair, and there are diamond-encrusted watches produced by Rolex that run less smoothly than a Kremser poker tournament.

Secondly, his dress sense. Kremser has the finest tailor in Europe and his wardrobe is full to bursting of hundreds of perfectly pressed suits, with silk ties, handkerchiefs and shirts to complete a consistently flawless appearance. His shoes are not actually made from mirrors, but the shine from them serves the same purpose. He is the very picture of sartorial excellence.


Thomas Kremser, in his natural habitat

Kremser is in the Bahamas this week, but there's a difference. A big difference. Here, Kremser is a player: he's taking a well-earned break from tournament direction and has instead joined the assembled ranks around the tables, vying for a shot at the big time.

And when you're a player rather than a tournament director, the rules change over your appearance as well. This, folks, is Thomas Kremser poker player. It's nothing we have ever seen before.


Thomas Kremser, poker player

"I'm relaxed," he told me at the start of play. "I'm looking forward to it." Kremser has also been joining the players in their predilection for prop bets. His assistant tournament director on the EPT is the equally well-attired Gerard Serra, a native of Catalonia and a passionate supporter of Barcelona FC.

For the non-soccer fan, it's important to know just how hostile is the rivalry between Barcelona and their arch nemeses Real Madrid in Spain. It's Red Sox versus Yankees and then some: no friendly joshing this, it's all out hatred.

Serra won't even wear white shirts as that's the colour that Real Madrid play in. He sometimes asks hotels to change the towels in his room because their whiteness reminds him of Real.

Kremser has, however, sealed a prop bet with Serra that should he make the final table of the PCA, Serra will fly here from Spain and rail the final nine wearing a Real Madrid shirt emblazoned with the name of Luis Figo, the most hated man in Catalonia after he was traded to Madrid from Barcelona.

It's all happy enough at the moment, but this could get ugly. Not usually a word associated with Kremser.

Some players around a single poker table this afternoon: Johnny Lodden, ElkY, Victor Ramdin, Dario Minieri. And around another one: Andre Akkari, Gualter Salles, Thierry Van Den Berg. And another one: Hevad Khan, Gus Hansen, Layne Flack and Orel Hirshiser.

And then there's Boris Becker and Chris Moneymaker on another.


Boris Becker and Chris Moneymaker

And how about: Phil Ivey and Brandon Adams. Then there's Ivan Demidov, Andrew Li and Redmond Lee.

And when the first table broke, Minieri joined Noah Boeken and Alexandre Gomes in his new home.


Dario Minieri and Alexandre Gomes

Lodden, meanwhile, skipped off to join Eli Elezra and Joe Sebok. Elsewhere the EPT Prague champion Salvatore Bonavena sits a couple of seats away from EPT London final table player Eric Liu.

The "random" table draw seems to be anything but at the PCA today, but with such a star-studded field, these things were always likely to occur. As tables break and players are eliminated, expect the concentration of talent to become even more extreme.

As yet, the big guns seem to have been steering wisely clear of one another - the odd Minieri v Gomes clash notwithstanding. (That one went to Minieri with a strong bet on an ace-high flop after some pre-flop jousting.)

We have just entered level two after the first 15-minute break of the day. We also still haven't yet seen the World Champion Peter Eastgate, although his chair on Carter Gill's table remains. It's difficult to know whether his future table-mates know who is coming to join them, but at the moment are simply enjoying picking off the undefended blinds.