Live updates from level 15 of EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 are brought to you by Chris Hall and Simon Young. Click refresh to see the latest updates here.

Blinds: 5,000-10,000 (ante: 1,000)

11.50pm: Rousso takes control

In the last hand of a level, a huge pot developed between Vanessa Rousso and Anthony Giuetti, the latter had bet around 125,000 on the turn of a [qc][ah][kd][6c] board. The Team PokerStars Pro thought long and hard before eventually moving in for another 150,000 on top. Giuetti sighed and said, "I have to call," flipping [kh][qd] and needing one of two outs against Rousso's [ac][qh], but the river was the [8d] and Rousso becomes the chip leader for the first time in the tournament.

11.40pm: Daniel Alaei eliminated in 11th place
It's a cruel game. Fork out €25,000 entry fee, flirt with the chip lead, have a healthy 330,000 at the last break, and now you leave with nothing.

Such was the sorry story for Daniel Alaei, who just went home with zilch, two places short of the money, when he shoved his last 100,000 or so with A-7 but walked into the A-K of chip leader Anthony Giuetti.

Soon after David Steicke survived his 130,000 all in when his A-2 held up against the John Kabbaj's K-Q suited.

The tournament staff have announced the two remaining tables of five and six players will play down to one table of nine, and then lose one more player so tomorrow's final table of eight is set.

11.30pm: Rousso straight-flushes
On a [ks][js][7s] board, Vanessa Rousso check-raises all-in against David Steicke's bet for a total of around 175,000, Steicke calls fairly quickly holding [kc][jc] but the Team PokerStars Pro flips [10s][9s], needing to avoid a king or a jack to avoid elimination. The turn is the [9h] helping neither and the river is the [8s] making an unneeded straight-flush. Rousso is up to around 350,000 while Steicke drops to around 150,000.

Meanwhile, ShootingStar Florian Langmann has been swinging from one extreme to another on the other table. Having raised pre-flop, he checked behind David Eldar on a [9d][6d][Qs] flop and when Eldar bet 30,000 on the turn, the German made it 70,000 only to fold when Eldar moved all-in.

11.15pm: Lev Myrmsky eliminated in 12th place
After being left short after the hand described a little earlier, Lev Myrmsky wasted no time in getting his remaining 80,000 into the middle with 4-5 offsuit. Tony G was waiting with A-8 and made the auto call. The J-8-K flop put him a mile ahead and the 3 turn and 5 river changed nothing. We're down to 11 - and Tony G has a menacing 500,000-plus stack.

It's not going so well for Daniel Alaei, who just lost a big pot to Anthony Giuetti, now the clear chip leader. Giutti's K-J was good on a 8-K-10-2-4 board. Alaei is now down to 130,000.

11.00pm: Refusing to die
There's still 12 players left in the high roller event, as the shorter stacks continue to survive, but only just. Randy Dorfman pushed preflop and Lev Myrmsky called behind with everyone else getting out of the way, Dorfman flipped [qs][qd] and Myrmsky showed [ac][qc] needing an ace to eliminate his foe. But the board came [3c][7s][5d][Jc][2h] Dorfman making it through and now Myrmsky is the short stack.

On the other table, David Steicke extracted 60,000 chips out of William Thorson after betting on the river of a [5h][Ad][7c][5c][6h] board. The Swede made the call and mucked when he was shown [9s][5s].

10.45pm: Langmann survives by the skin of his teeth
Florian Langmann, who had flirted with the chip lead at times today, was now down to his last 100,000 or so. In the big blind, he looked down at A-J, and when Lev Myrmsky raised from the small blind he shoved. Insta call:

Myrmsky: [as][kd]
Langmann: [ac][js]

Langmann needed a lot of help to keep his tournament alive. It was desperate on the 6-9-4-2 board. But would'nt you know it? The river slapped down a jack - and Langman doubles up to 205,000 to live another day. "Don't worry. It happens," said Myrmsky as he passed over a quarter of his stack.

10.40pm: Feldman is no felled-man
Andrew Feldman was having a torrid time over the last few minutes. First he raised to 27,500 and Randy Dorfman re-raised to 99,500 pushing him off a hand, the next hand he raised once more and this time Florian Langmann moved all-in, forcing Feldman off his hand. The third time needed to be the charm though, Feldman moved all-in for just under 200,000 but Dorfman pushed all-in behind him, everyone else folded and the cards were on their backs.

"Please show me tens," begged Feldman turning over [ac][js] but Dorfman flipped over [kd][kh] instead. The flop came out [ah][9d][5d] and Feldman shouted, "Yes!" with a fist-pump and avoided a king on the [7h] turn and [6d] river. As Feldman celebrated, Roberto Romanello shouted from the rail, "Andrew, show some class," as he attempted to calm down the young English pro. Feldman is now up to about 400,000 while Dorfman has a little over 100,000.

10.30pm: Chip counts
Anthony Giuetti, 625,000
Lev Myrmsky, 450,000
Tony G, Lithuania, 366,000
David Steicke, 333,000
Daniel Alaei, USA, 330,000
David Eldar, USA, 330,000
William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro 320,000
Randy Dorfman, 245,000
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, 225,000
Andrew Feldman, UK, 220,000
John Kabbaj, UK, 165,000
Florian Langmann, Germany, PokerStars ShootingStar - 157,000

10.20pm: So close they can smell the money
From the 79 starters yesterday we are down to our last 12. Just four of these unfortunate soles will go home with nothing. We'll, minus €25,000 actually. They're settling back in their seats now after a ten minute break, during which the black 100 chips were raced off.

We're now scurrying around getting chip counts, and these will be posted here before you can say: "Where are the chip counts" (about 200 times).

Tony G still in the hunt

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Blinds: 4,000-8,000 (ante: 700)

10.10pm: Up and down
It has been an hour of mixed fortune for the Team PokerStars Pros, first off Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller was knocked out when he pushed his short stack in with [ac][7c] but found Anthony Giuetti behind him with [as][ah]. A board of [as][7h][3d][7d][kd] ensuring that ElkY would have always lost a big pot in this spot, no matter the stack sizes.

William Thorson bet 16,000 on a [5d][2d][Ah][3d] board and found Daniel Alaei raising to 54,000 behind. Both players checked the [7s] river and Thorson flipped over [4d][3h] for a flopped straight which was good enough as Alaei mucked.

Finally, on the last hand of the level David Steicke raised to 24,000 and Thorson flat-called from the small blind. Vanessa Rousso then re-raised all-in for 169,000, Steicke quickly gave up but Thorson really thought about it, checking out how much of his stack it would cost him. In the end though, he thought better of it and Rousso added a valuable 50,000 to her stack putting her back over the 200,000 mark.

9.45pm: Roberto Romanello eliminated in 14th place
The hand played itself, though that will not make Roberto Romanello feel any better since he's out six places short of the money.

After a bit of pre-flop argy-bargy between him and Daniel Alaei, the two saw a flop of [5s][2s][qh] - and all the money went in lightening quick. The reason?

Alaei: [qd][qc]
Romanello: [as][7s]

Nut flush draw needed to hit against the flopped set, but the tun [5d] and river [9h] blanked for the Welshman, and Alaei rebuilt to around 500,000.

Then a big pot brewed on the table next door between Team PokerStars Pros William Thorson and ElkY which left the bleach-haired Frenchman crippled.

First ElkY raised pre-flop to 18,000. Called by Anthony Giuetti, Thorson and Vanessa Rousso. The flop came [as][8h][ac], checked to ElkY who bet 38,000. Only Thorson called. The turn was [9s] and both checked. Then ElkY bet a hefty 55,000 on the [qh] river. After a bit of a count of his stack, Thorson made what turned out to be a brilliant call, as ElkY mucked without so much as waiting to see the Swede's cards, which turned out to be K-8.

Thorson is up to 320,000, but ElkY is down to 60,000 and in grave danger.

9.35pm: Alaei begins the comeback
Having been knocked down to a short stack earlier, Daniel Alaei has had to really fight to keep himself going in this tournament. A mid-position raise to 23,000 was met with an all-in from Roberto Romanello in the big blind, while a limp in second position behind Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso's limp saw John Kabbaj raising to 48,000 next to them taking the pot down.

Daniel Alaei

Eventually though, the American managed to find a good spot, Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson raised from the hijack to 21,000 and Alaei reraised all-in for around 100,000 more from the button. Thorson requested a count, but then made the call with [ad][qh], behind to Alaei's [kh][kd]. There were no surprises on the [10s][8c][5c][4c][10h] river and Alaei is back to around 250,000 while Thorson is down to about the same.

9.15pm: Tony G misses his bus
Tony G was ten minutes late back to his table after his slap-up Japanese dinner lasted a little longer than planned.

"I missed my bus," he told the table. "I waited 15 minutes and it didn't turn up."

"Where did you eat?" asked David Saab from the rail.

"In the Japanese around the corner."

"You don't need a bus for that, it's five minutes walk," said Saab.

"Well I still wanted a bus," said Tony G. "I like the bus."

It's all very jovial on Tony G's table, although David Steicke, who had been a big stack earlier in the day but was now short, was very serious indeed. He faced a button raise from Florian Langmann big enough to set him all in. Call.

Steicke: [kd][qc]
Langmann: [jh][qd]

A double up looked likely - and was confirmed when Steicke made a straight on the turn, and a flush on the river for good measure.

On the other table, ElkY who had built a huge stack before being knocked back to 130,000 had been set all in by Vanessa Rousso on when the showed 2-J-8-7. ElkY thought only briefly before mucking.

9.00pm: Biggest pot of the night
Daniel Alaei has been knocked down to just 130,000 or so in a mammoth pot against Anthony Giuetti. Giuetti check-raised Alaei's 29,300 bet [10c][7c][3h] flop to 74,000 and got called. Both players then checked the [3c] turn before Giuetti moved all-in on the [7d] river, Alaei stared intently at his moment for a couple of minutes, counting out the chips but it looked like that he was going to fold. Suddenly he said quietly, "call," and Giuetti immediately flipped over [10s][7s] for the full house. Alaei counted out the stacks of yellow and blue chips and began to pass them across the table to Giuetti, the latter now becoming our new chip leader with over 500,000 having previously been a short stack for much of today.

8.45pm: Players back for final push
The surviving 14 high rollers are stepping through the crowds - the six-max €5,000 event has just started - to head back to their two tables, tucked away in one corner of the tournament room.

Our chip leader is still Daniel Alaei from the USA, who has been challenging at the top all day and now has 430,000. We'll be playing down to our final eight players tonight.

Daniel Alaei

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Blinds: 3,000-6,000 (ante: 500)

7.25pm: Dinner break chip counts
Daniel Alaei, USA, 430,000
Lev Myrmsky, 389,000
David Eldar, USA, 380,000
William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro 372,000
Tony G, Lithuania - 352,000
Florian Langmann, Germany, PokerStars ShootingStar - 343,000
Randy Dorfman, 303,000
Anthony Giuetti, 287,000
David Steicke, 235,000
Andrew Feldman, UK, 213,000
Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller, France, Team PokerStars Pro, 200,000
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, 206,000
John Kabbaj, UK, 160,000
Roberto Romanello, UK, 147,000

7.15pm: Dinner break
Players are on a 90-minute dinner break. We're now counting the stacks and will have them here shortly.

7.10pm: Ilari Sahamies out in 15th
Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies is gone, no doubt to cause some havoc on the online tables. He lost a chunk to team PokerStars Pro William Thorson, then the rest went the same way when his A-J was cracked by the Swede's K-Q. That put Thorson up to 370,000.

7.05pm: Ilari's turn to catch a card
Ilari Sahamies doubled up against ElkY holding [ks][jc] to the Frenchman's dominating [ac][jh] when the board ran out [8d][kh][6d][7c][qc], putting Ziigmund up to 260,000.

Andrew Feldman also doubled up through PokerStars ShootingStar Florian Langmann, hitting a set of tens on the 10-7-4 flop to crack the German's kings.

Not to be outdone, Lev Myrmsky completed a triplet of double ups, hitting at the right time when his [ad][9d] outpaced Daniel Alaei's [as][kd] on a handy [9h][tc][4h][ts][9c] board.

6.50pm: Brits move up
Roberto Romanello has doubled up with [ad][kc] through Ilari Sahamies who held [4d][4s] as they got it all in pre-flop with the board coming out [5c][3c][qd][ks][5s]. Romanello had re-raised the Finn's initial bet and eventually made the call after Sahamies revealed he had a small pair and wanted to know if Romanello would gamble. Sahamies now has about 120,000 left while Romanello is over 300,000.

John Kabbaj slow-played against PokerStars Pro Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller and was rewarded with a double up. Kabbaj check-raised the [Kc][9h][6h] flop before pushing the [2h] turn, ElkY shrugging and calling with [kh][8d] but needing to hit one of his hole cards when Kabbaj turned over [ah][as]. The river was the [ad] completing Kabbaj's double up to around 160,000. 15 players still remain.

6.40pm: Rousso doubles, slows down ElkY
Vanessa Rousso moves to 200,000 after doubling through ElkY, halting the Frenchman's recent run up the leaderboard. On a flop of [2s][5d][5s] ElkY bet 15,000 and Rousso moved in over the top for 99,000. ElkY dwelled for a few seconds before reluctantly making the call with [8s][8d], only to be shown [ad][as].

Moments earlier, after his huge catch against Devilfish, ElkY had four-bet Robert Romanello, knocking the Welshman off the pot and leaving him on a short stack.

6.20pm: Devilfish caught out by the river
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot has been knocked out of the high roller event in 16th place. He pushed over Team PokerStars Pro Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller's UTG raise for his short stack and ElkY made the call.

Ulliot said: "Please show A-Q!" and ElkY flipped [as][jc] as the Englishman turned over [ah][kc]. As the dealer put out a [kd][6c][7h] flop, Ulliot stated: "I like those cards..." but then a [jd] caused a little intake of breath from the gathering crowd. Then to top it off, the river was the [js] and a loud groan could be heard as even ElkY winced at the outdraw leaving us with just 15 players remaining.

"That's how you win tournaments," Ulliot said, as he sloped away in disgust.

The Devilfish exit hand plays out

5.55pm: Take a break
The 16 left in the High Roller are stretching their legs before level 13 begins.

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Blinds: 2,000-4,000 (ante: 200)

5.50pm: Shak gone
David Eldar has doubled up, check-raising all-in on a [3d][9d][7d] board with [ad][qh] against Lev Mrymsky's [ks][kh], the turn was the [9s] but the river [8d] has literally made Eldar flush with chips. Myrmsky lost more chips doubling up Roberto Romanello when the Welshman's A-J outflopped the Russian's 8-8 for a 180,000 pot.

Dan Shak has just been eliminated pushing with A-J against Tony G's reraise with [ac][ks]. Neither hit the board though Andrew Feldman was a little upset he couldn't have stayed in the hand with 7-7 when the board came [4c][7s][Qs][2h][4s]. We are now down to just two tables and the chips are being coloured up.

5.40pm: Langmann SIX bets to win pre-flop
Just before we put up the chip counts below, Florian Langmann took a huge 240,000 pot without having to show a card, putting him on the 550,000 chip lead.

The German PokerStars Shooting Star raised pre-flop to 12,000, Ilari Sahamies made it 30,000, Langmann made it 67,000, Sahamies made it 120,000 - and Langmann pushed all in for 350,000.Sahamies folded.

"When he five bets there, it's 89% air," a chuffed Langmann told us.

Florian Langmann

Over on the next table we had a four bet. Elky raised from the button to 10,000 and Anthony Giuetti re-popped to 22,000. ElkY doesn't win these events by showing weakness - so he raised by another 100,000. Enough to put Giuetti back in his box.

Meawnhile, Randy Dorfman just found a handy double up against Tony G when his Q-Q outlasted A-K on a J-9-8-5-3 board, and Roberto Romanello managed the same trick to take him to near 250,000.

5.25pm: Chip count

Florian Langmann, Germany, PokerStars ShootingStar - 550,000
David Steicke, 415,000
Daniel Alaei, USA - 400,000
Lev Myrmsky, 380,000
Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller, France, Team PokerStars Pro - 288,000
Tony G, Lithuania - 270,000
Ilari 'Ziigmund' Sahamies, Finland, 210,000
Andrew Feldman, UK, 170,000
William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro 165,000
Anthony Giuetti, 150,000
Randy Dorfman, 140,000
Dan Shak, 140,000
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, 135,000
John Kabbaj, UK, 120,000
Roberto Romanello, UK, 114,000
David Eldar, USA, 110,000
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot, UK, 50,000

5.10pm: Haik's luck runs out, down to 17
Eric Haik, who had benefited from a couple of outdraws, could not muster a third and now stalks the rail. on a flop of [9s][4d][3h] he got in all in with [as][kd], but walked into the flopped set of Anthony Giuetti who held [9d][9h].

Tony G lost a small chunk of his 200,000 stack against Daniel Alaei. Alaei raised pre flop to 12,500 and they saw [2h][5c][6h]. Alaei check called 16,000. The turn was [8d]. Check, check. The river came [2s] and now Alaei bet, 24,000. Call.

Alaei: [6s][7s]

Enough for Tony G to muck with a knowing nod.

***
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5.00pm: Rousso rouses a recovery?
Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso has just doubled up to 80,000 pushing with [As][Ks] and finding Roberto Romanello willing to give her a spin with [ah][jc], nothing though helped either player on the [6c][3d][6h][4s][7s] board. It wasn't the first dent in the Welshman's stack either, just a minute or so previously, David Eldar had pushed for about 75,000 with Q-J and spiked a river queen against Romanello's J-J.

Michael Binger has been eliminated by Ilari Sahamies, Binger four-betting all-in with a pair of tens but Sahamies making the call with fours and spiking a set to bust the American.

4.20pm: Break time!
We're back for more madness. We'll have a chip count for you soon.

4.20pm: Break time!
The remaining 20 players are enjoying a short break. We've lost 17 so far in three levels - and these lot will be squabbling over the eight prize places, kicking in at €60,000. Not too shabby. Among them is Team PokerStars Pro ElkY, hoping to cash his second High Roller victory of the year, having won the event at the PokerStars PCA in January.

ElkY

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Blinds: 1,500-3,000 (ante: 300)

4.00pm: Thorson rivers a monster
Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson just joined the fortunate club. On a flop of [Qs][7s][2h] Andrew Lichtenberg bet and Thorson raised all in. Insta call.

Lichtenberg: [as][qh]
Thorson: [ks][7c]

The turn was [6d] and river the killer [7h], giving two pairs for the Swede who now soars to 180,000. Lichtenberg leaves the arena to lick his wounds. We're down to 20, with only eight of them getting paid.

William Thorson

4.00pm: 'Mig' downed
Juha Helppi raises to 8,500 from middle position, David Steicke re-raises to 25,500 out of the small blind before James "mig.com" Mackey makes it 83,000 from the big blind.

Helppi gets out of the way and the action goes back to the Australian. The two have similar-sized stacks but eventually Steicke declares "All-in," which is immediately followed by Mackey's "Call," and a flip of [Ah][Kc]. Steicke taps the table and shows [Ac][qd]. The board comes out [qc][8s][2s][2d][7s] and Steicke has Mackey just covered, eliminating him. Tony G says: "This hand, you should be ashamed of yourself. Steicke replied sheepishly: "I know."

3.40pm: Haike survives again
John Kabbaj found J-J and got Eric Haike to go all in for is last 25,000 with K-9. Haike, who recently outdrew Alexander Kuzmin to stay alive, repeated the trick when the board came 9-2-9-5-7. A small sigh from Kabbaj belied his inner grief, and Haike remains in his seat.

On the next table, the Finn Juha Helppi is his usual expressionless self. Yesterday he cut a dash in smart suit and crisp white shirt, but today he has gone for the more casual sports look. His mirror shades, however, have not left his head all week. From behind these glasses, Helppi stared at a [9d][3h][2h] flop, wondering just why his 30,200 bet had been re-raised by Daniel Alaei by enough to put the Finn all in.

Maybe a minute ticked by as Helppi chewed over his options. He checked his cards again, decided he did not like what he saw, and quietly mucked. Alaei continues to bully.

David "Devilfish" Ulliot just doubled to more than 150,000 with A-K on a Q-2-K-4-10. Some may question whether the veteran warrior is "cool", but his latest snack will certainly help keep his temperature down...

David Ulliot has a lot of lolly

3.35pm: 24 left. Redraw

Alexander Kuzmin gets his short stack all-in against Team PokerStars Pro ElkY and David Steicke, who check down a [ks][4h][7d][5d][Qs] board. Steicke shows [5h][4d], ElkY mucks and Kuzmin shows he got very unlucky with [ac][as].

With 24 players remaining, we're now having a redraw which looks as follows:

Table 28:

William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro
Eric Haik
Dave 'DevilFish' Ulliot, UK
Randy Dorfman
John Kabbaj, UK
Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller, France, Team PokerStars Pro
Anthony Giuetti
Andrew Lichtenberg

Table 29:

Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro
Dan Shak, USA
Daniel Alaei, USA
Juha Helppi, Finland
Tony G, Lithuania
David Steicke, Australia
James 'mig.com' Mackey, USA
Andrew Feldman, UK

Table 49:

David Eldar
Michael Binger, USA
Roberto Romanello, UK
Florian Langmann, PokerStars ShootingStar
Ilari 'Ziigmund' Sahamies, Finland
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro
Lev Myrmsky
Andras Bartha

3.20pm: Haike rivers to stay alive, Teltscher out
It's all go in the €25K High Roller. Alexander Kuzmin and Eric Haike, both short-stacked on ElkY and Tony G's table went to war with each other - all in pre flop. Kuzmin had Haike covered - just.

Haike: [as][3c]
Kuzmin: [ah][qd]

Kuzmin urged the dealer not to produce a 3 - but while doing so failed to spot the more unlikely danger when the board ran:

[4s][9h][5d][6h] and then crucially [7c] for Haike's rivered straight.

Haike raked in the 40K pot, leaving Kuzmin reeling on just 5,000.

A few hands later and he got it all in blind in a three-way pot with Tony G and David Steicke. Both of them checked down on the 4-10-7-8-9-Q board. Tony G had A-K for ace high, Steicke mucked. It was down to Kuzmin to look at his cards - one at a time to see if he was still alive. The first one? An 8 was good enough - and the second, a Q, was an unecessary bonus. A triple up, then, for our short-stack, who now has 14,000 - or less than five big blinds.

No such luck for the UK's Mark Teltscher, who found a bad time to have K-2 on a 9-Q-K flop - his opponent had K-K and the former EPT London winner heads off into the Monaco sunshine.

3.15pm: Chip Counts

Lev Myrmsky, 377,500
Florian Langmann, Germany, PokerStars ShootingStar - 325,000
Roberto Romanello, UK, 300,000
Daniel Alaei, USA - 263,000
Ilari 'Ziigmund' Sahamies, Finland, 246,500
Tony G, Lithuania - 224,000
James 'mig.com' Mackey, USA, 215,000
Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller, France, Team PokerStars Pro - 205,000
Juha Helppi, Finland, 183,000
Andrew Feldman, UK, 180,000
Dan Shak, 160,500
David Steicke, 148,000
Andrew Lichtenberg, 124,000
John Kabbaj, UK, 121,000
Anthony Giuetti, 120,000
William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro 102,500
Andras Bartha, 90,800
David Eldar, USA, 86,000
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, 75,600
Randy Dorfman, 65,000
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot, UK, 60,000
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro, 57,000
Alexander Kuzmin, 44,900
Michael Binger, USA, 43,000
Mark Teltscher, UK, 35,000
Eric Haik, 32,000

3.00pm: Break time
We're on a short break and are gathering the latest chip counts for you.

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Blinds: 1,000-2,000 (ante: 200)

2.58pm: Jesus has left the building
Chris Ferguson, crippled a short while ago by ElkY, has bust in 28th place. His exit was one of those simple and quick affair - all in with his last 30,000 with [7h][7s] he rain into Johan 'Busto_Soon' Van Til's [8s][8c]. No miracle on the board, and Jesus slopes off, his time in Monte Carlo over.

2.45pm: Double for Lichtenberg. Binger can't get past Langmann

Dave Ulliot raises to 7,000 from late position and Andrew Lichtenberg reraises all-in for 55,500, Ulliot gives it a good couple of minutes before making the call with [Ac][Qh]. Lichtenberg shows [6s][6c]. The board comes out [3s][3c][4h][6h][6d] and by the river Devilfish says, "Keep dealing, you might find another six in there..."

On the board of [2d][10s][6d][9s][3d] Michael Binger bets 18,000 but is quickly called by PokerStars ShootingStar Florian Langmann. Binger shows [ks][qs] for a missed draw but Langmann turns over [ac][jc] for ace-high which just good enough.

2.35pm: ElkY doubles through Jesus
There'd clearly been some monster action on Team PokerStars Pro ElkY's table. When we got there, he was putting his last 13,600 in the middle on a board of [ad][jh][3c][qs][2h]. The pot was already more than 100,000, and Chris Ferguson, expressionless beneath his cowboy hat, called. [ah][jc] for ElkY was enough to double him up to more than 140,000. Ferguson mucked, down to his last 30,000. All in next hand, he got no takers.

Meanwhile Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso, on about 70,000, took a 6,000 stab at a flop but got re-raised chip leader Daniel Alaei. She got out of the way and lives to fight another day.

Just five minutes remain of the level - we're on 28 players and expect to play down to the final eight tonight. We could be here some time.

2.29pm: Feldman, Giuetti move up

Double up for Anthony Giuetti. Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson had raised to 5,500, Daniel Alaei re-raises to 25,000 next to him and Giuetti moved in for about 48,000 total. Thorson folded and Alaei shrugged and called with 5-5 but could not catch the much needed set against Giuetti's Q-Q.

Dave 'Devilflish' Ulliot is looking for change for a €500 note, Chris Ferguson casually threw 500 in black 100 chips his way but Ulliot decided to not to accept the generous offer.

Andrew Feldman has doubled up to about 140,000 after four-betting all-in with Q-Q against Andrew Lichtenberg's re-raise. Lichtenberg called with K-K but the young Brit managed to make quads by the river. Lichtenberg is down to about 40,000 or so.

Roberto Romanello made a big call on the river of a [qs][js][8h][7h][4c] for 100,000 with just [5s][4s] which was good after Juha Helppi could only show him [As][10d]

2.05pm: Chip Count

Table 28:

Randy Dorfman, 63,200
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro, 79,000
Florian Langmann, Germany, PokerStars ShootingStar - 350,000
Michael Binger, USA, 107,200
Mark Teltscher, UK, 40,500
Lev Myrmsky, 297,500
James 'mig.com' Mackey, USA, 186,400

Table 29:

Andras Bartha, 122,700
Dan Shak, 174,500
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, 69,700
William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro 158,100
Daniel Alaei, USA, 315,000
Ilari 'Ziigmund' Sahamies, Finland, 146,800
Anthony Giuetti, 50,000

Table 49:

Alexander Kuzmin, 60,000
Johan 'Busto_Soon' Van Til, Holland, PokerStars Sponsored Player, 37,100
Betrand 'ElkY' Grospieller, France, Team PokerStars Pro 75,300
Chris Ferguson, USA, 94,200
Eric Haik, 69,700
David Steicke, Australia, 96,000
Tony G, Lithuania - 187,000

Table 50:
Roberto Romanello, UK, 200,000
Andrew Lichtenberg, 102,300
Juha Helppi, Finland, 288,400
John Kabbaj, UK, 133,000
David Eldar, USA, 107,800
Andrew Feldman, UK, 96,200
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot, UK, 110,000

1.50pm: Langmann on a charge
Florian Langmann, the PokerStars ShootingStar from Germany, took a huge pot off the UK's Mark Teltscher. Langmann had raised from the button pre-flop. Call from the big blind. The flop came [2c][2s][10d], check from Teltscher, bet of 6,000 from Langmann and Teltscher re-raised to 16,000. Call

The turn was [as] and this time Teltscher, after staring quietly at his stack, put 30,200 in the middle. Langmann called. The river was [kc], and after staring at his stack for a little while longer, Teltscher reached down for a pile of blue 5,000 chips and, curiously two 100 black ones for a 30,200 bet. Insta call from Langman:

Teltscher: [kh][10s] for two pair
Langmann: [ad][4c] for better two pair

Langmann now up to more than 250,000 while Teltscher falls to 35,000.

1.45pm: Two more out
We're down to 28. First out was Mark Dickstein when his A-8 was no good against David Eldar's A-10. Then Ruben Visser followed him out of the door when his [6d][qd] ran into Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies with [5c][4c] on a straightening [6c][3c][jd][2s][6s] board.

1.35pm: Back from the break
The remaining 30 high rollers are settling back in their seats. We'll have cards in the air again very shortly. Buckle up, this could be a bumpy ride.

Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein is one of the latest casualties in high roller event. He was all-in with [ah][qh] against [kc][7d] but was outdrawn when the first card was a king.

Luke 'FullFlush1' Schwartz has also been eliminated, Dave Ulliot raising UTG to 5,300 and Schwartz reraising all-in for a total of 36,400. As Ulliot mulled the decision, Schwartz asked: "Have you got sevens?" But the older of the two Englishmen made the call and Schwartz looked frustrated, turning over [8d][4c] saying: "I thought you were weak." Ulliot turned over [ad][qs] which won out on the [kd][9s][3d][ah][6h] board.

Thomas Wahlroos has also been dismissed, failing to win the coinflip with [tc][td] against Lev Myrmsky's [ac][qh] which leaves Ilari Sahamies and Juha Helppi as the last Finns in the competition.

Daniel Alaei

Daniel Alaei is the man they're all chasing - he's still the chip leader with just over 300,000 though Helppi and PokerStars ShootingStar Florian Langmann are not too far behind.