by Fred Leung

PokerStars Macau at Casino Grand Lisboa had 179 players entered Day 1B to bring the tournament total to 314 players making this the second largest Red Dragon event. The eventual winner will receive HKD $643,000 out of the total HKD $2,859,912 prize pool.

62 players remained from Saturday afternoon's session of Day 1B. Combined with the 41 survivors from 1A, the total entering the Day 2 night time session was 103 players.
PokerStars Macau Qualifier Ginger Keong from Macau leads the remaining 38 players going into the Day 3 Final with 235,000 chips. The local hero had a steady climb to the chip lead and feels confident heading into Sunday's final day.

"I always play well." said Keong, "I have been wanting to play these (PokerStars Macau) tournaments for a long time but am always too busy with work. I want to win and represent the local Macau (players)."

Keong won't have an easy ride to the final table as he begins Day 3 on the same table as Rathi Shashank who has 223,000 chips and was the outright chip leader for most of the tournament. Other notables making the final day include Macau Poker Cup Championship Main Event winner Devan Tang with 99,500, APPT Macau High Roller winner Nam Le with 28,500 and Day 1A chip leader Jason Coe with 146,500.

For Day 3 Seat Draws and Chip Counts please click here.

Notables busting from the main event include Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang, and former Red Dragon winners Kenichi Takarabe, Victor Chen and Zhenjian Lin. The Red Dragon trophy is assured of going to a first time winner and all 38 remaining players are in the money for no less than HKD17,200.

Red Dragon Day 3 Final begins on Sunday at 12:10 PM.

Follow Live Reporting of the Red Dragon event at PokerNews Asia.

12:50pm: Kroesen starts well

Strong start for Ricky Kroesen as he's just collected a nice pot from Nauv Kashyap. Catching the action on a flop of [9h][2c][8h], Kroesen fired out a bet of 65,00 which Kashyap called to see the [kd] hit the turn. Both players checked and the river brought the [3s]. Kroesen checked again and Kashyap fired 82,000. Kroesen snap-called and opened pocket tens, confident that they were good. He was right as Kashyap revealed [jc][8c]. Kroesen is now up to 880,000.

12:35pm: Double KO on first hand of the day!

Well that didn't take long. On the very first hand of play Dominic Coombe opened by moving all in from middle position. Play folded to Michael Spilkin who announced a call on the button, before Nauv Kashyap declared himself all in from the big blind! Spilkin gave the decision a moment of thought, but with 187,000 already committed, he tossed in the rest of his chips.

Coombe: [as][9s]
Spilkin: [ac][jh]
Kashyap: [qd][qh]

The flop brought a sweat as it arrived [5h][6s][7s] to give Coombe straight and flush outs. The turn was even juicier as the [4h] brought the possibility of a three-way chop with a straight on board. But it wasn't to be as the [7c] completed the board to provide a double KO on the very first hand!

The short-stacked Coombe takes 9th place for $16,145 while Spilkin will collect $21,525 for his 8th place. An amazing start for Kashyap as he's now up to 2 million in chips!

12:30pm: We're underway!

After the usual round of photographs and introductions, the nine players have taken their seats and the 2010 ANZPT Gold Coast final table is now underway.

We've wound back the clock and will be starting at Level 21 with the blinds at 8,000-16,000 with a 2,000-chip ante.

If the headline did not tip you off, the news of the day is the fact that SCOOP is, indeed, here.

A mere 49 hours from now, the 2010 Spring Championship of Online Poker will begin. On just the first day, PokerStars is guaranteeing nearly $7 million in prize money.

Across the globe, Red Bull sales have spiked. Snack food stores have been depleted such that Frito Lay has declared a state of emergency. No matter where you look over the next couple of weeks, you simply won't find bigger poker tournaments. It's going to be a hoot.

We here at the PokerStars Blog are all geared up and ready to go. We'll be recapping every final table (yes, there are 114 of them), so you can wake up in the morning and see who is wallowing around in life changing money.

So, get some rest over the next two nights, because it all begins Sunday. We'll see you there.

2010 Spring Championship of Online Poker

Sunday, 02 May 2010

13:00 ET
Event 01-L: $22 NL Hold'em [6-max], $250K guaranteed
Event 01-M: $215 NL Hold'em [6-max], $1M guaranteed
Event 01-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em [6-max], $1M guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 02-L: $22 NL Hold'em, $500K guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 02-M: $215 NL Hold'em, $2M guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 02-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em, $2M guaranteed (2-day event)

Monday, 03 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 03-L: $5.50 NL Hold'em [6-max, rebuys], $250K guaranteed
Event 03-M: $55 NL Hold'em [6-max, rebuys], $500K guaranteed
Event 03-H: $530 NL Hold'em [6-max, rebuys], $1M guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 04-L: $16.50 FL Badugi, $25K guaranteed
Event 04-M: $162 FL Badugi, $50K guaranteed
Event 04-H: $1,575 FL Badugi, $75K guaranteed

20:00 ET
Event 05-L: $11 PL Omaha [turbo, 1R1A], $50K guaranteed
Event 05-M: $109 PL Omaha [turbo, 1R1A], $100K guaranteed
Event 05-H: $1,050 PL Omaha [turbo, 1R1A], $150K guaranteed

Tuesday, 04 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 06-L: $11 PL 5-Card Draw, $25K guaranteed
Event 06-M: $109 PL 5-Card Draw, $50K guaranteed
Event 06-H: $1,050 PL 5-Card Draw, $75K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 07-L: $16.50 NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play], $100K guaranteed
Event 07-M: $162 NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play], $250K guaranteed
Event 07-H: $1,575 NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play], $500K guaranteed

20:00 ET
Event 08-L: $11 NL Hold'em, $100K guaranteed
Event 08-M: $109 NL Hold'em, $200K guaranteed
Event 08-H: $1,050 NL Hold'em, $500K guaranteed

Wednesday, 05 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 09-L: $22 Mixed Hold'em [6-max], $100K guaranteed
Event 09-M: $215 Mixed Hold'em [6-max], $200K guaranteed
Event 09-H: $2,100 Mixed Hold'em [6-max], $400K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 10-L: $33 7-Card Stud High, $25K guaranteed
Event 10-M: $320 7-Card Stud High, $50K guaranteed
Event 10-H: $3,150 7-Card Stud High, $100K guaranteed

Thursday, 06 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 11-L: $22 PL Omaha [Heads-Up Match Play], $25K guaranteed
Event 11-M: $215 PL Omaha [Heads-Up Match Play], $100K guaranteed
Event 11-H: $2,100 PL Omaha [Heads-Up Match Play], $200K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 12-L: $16.50 NL Hold'em (Ante up), $100K guaranteed
Event 12-M: $162 NL Hold'em (Ante up), $200K guaranteed
Event 12-H: $1,575 NL Hold'em (Ante up), $300K guaranteed

Friday, 07 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 13-L: $16.50 NL Hold'em [Ante Up!], $50K guaranteed
Event 13-M: $162 NL Hold'em [Ante Up!], $100K guaranteed
Event 13-H: $1,575 NL Hold'em [Ante Up!], $200K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 14-L: $55 FL Omaha Hi/Lo, $50K guaranteed
Event 14-M: $530 FL Omaha Hi/Lo, $150K guaranteed
Event 14-H: $5,200 FL Omaha Hi/Lo, $250K guaranteed

20:00 ET
Event 15-L: $16.50 NL Hold'em [2X Chance, turbo], $250K guaranteed
Event 15-M: $162 NL Hold'em [2X Chance, turbo], $500K guaranteed
Event 15-H: $1,575 NL Hold'em [2X Chance, turbo], $750K guaranteed

Saturday, 08 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 16-L: $22 NL Hold'em - Quadruple Shootout [10-max], $150K guaranteed
Event 16-M: $215 NL Hold'em - Triple Shootout [10-max], $150K guaranteed
Event 16-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em - Double Shootout [10-max], $200K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 17-L: $16.50 PL Omaha - (6-max rebuys), $100K guaranteed
Event 17-M: $162 PL Omaha - (6-max rebuys), $250K guaranteed
Event 17-H: $1,575 PL Omaha - (6-max rebuys), $500K guaranteed

20:00 ET
Event 18-L: $22 FL Hold'em (turbo), $25K guaranteed
Event 18-M: $215 FL Hold'em (turbo), $100K guaranteed
Event 18-H: $2,100 FL Hold'em (turbo), $150K guaranteed

Sunday, 09 May 2010

13:00 ET
Event 19-L: $22 NL Hold'em [big antes], $250K guaranteed
Event 19-M: $215 NL Hold'em [big antes], $750K guaranteed
Event 19-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em [big antes], $750K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 20-L: $22 NL Hold'em, $500K guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 20-M: $215 NL Hold'em, $2M guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 20-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em, $2M guaranteed (2-day event)

Monday, 10 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 21-L: $16.50 PL Hold'em / PL Omaha, $75K guaranteed
Event 21-M: $162 PL Hold'em / PL Omaha, $200K guaranteed
Event 21-H: $1,575 PL Hold'em / PL Omaha, $300K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 22-L: $33 NL Hold'em [4-max], $150K guaranteed
Event 22-M: $320 NL Hold'em [4-max], $300K guaranteed
Event 22-H: $3,150 NL Hold'em [4-max], $500K guaranteed

20:00 ET
Event 23-L: $11 NL Hold'em [turbo, rebuys], $150K guaranteed
Event 23-M: $109 NL Hold'em [turbo, rebuys], $300K guaranteed
Event 23-H: $1,050 NL Hold'em [turbo, rebuys], $500K guaranteed

Tuesday, 11 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 24-L: $11 Triple Draw 2-7, $25K guaranteed
Event 24-M: $109 Triple Draw 2-7, $50K guaranteed
Event 24-H: $1,050 Triple Draw 2-7, $75K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 25-L: $22 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo, $50K guaranteed
Event 25-M: $215 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo, $100K guaranteed
Event 25-H: $2,100 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo, $150K guaranteed

20:00 ET
Event 26-L: $11 NL Hold'em, $100K guaranteed
Event 26-M: $109 NL Hold'em, $200K guaranteed
Event 26-H: $1,050 NL Hold'em, $500K guaranteed

Wednesday, 12 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 27-L: $22 Razz, $50K guaranteed
Event 27-M: $215 Razz, $100K guaranteed
Event 27-H: $2,100 Razz, $150K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 28-L: $11 NL Hold'em (rebuys), $200K guaranteed
Event 28-M: $109 NL Hold'em (rebuys), $400K guaranteed
Event 28-H: $1,050 NL Hold'em (rebuys), $600K guaranteed

Thursday, 13 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 29-L: $33 8-Game, $75K guaranteed
Event 29-M: $320 8-Game, $150K guaranteed
Event 29-H: $3,150 8-Game, $250K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 30-L: $11 PL Omaha Hi/Lo, $75K guaranteed
Event 30-M: $109 PL Omaha Hi/Lo, $150K guaranteed
Event 30-H: $1,050 PL Omaha Hi/Lo, $300K guaranteed

Friday, 14 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 31-L: $22 NL Hold'em [1 rebuy, 1 add-on], $250K guaranteed
Event 31-M: $215 NL Hold'em [1 rebuy, 1 add-on], $500K guaranteed
Event 31-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em [1 rebuy, 1 add-on], $1M guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 32-L: $55 FL Hold'em [6-max], $100K guaranteed
Event 32-M: $530 FL Hold'em [6-max], $200K guaranteed
Event 32-H: $5,200 FL Hold'em [6-max], $300K guaranteed

20:00 ET
Event 33-L: $22 NL Omaha Hi/Lo (turbo), $50K guaranteed
Event 33-M: $215 NL Omaha Hi/Lo (turbo), $100K guaranteed
Event 33-H: $2,100 NL Omaha Hi/Lo (turbo), $200K guaranteed

Saturday, 15 May 2010

14:00 ET
Event 34-L: $55 PL Omaha [6-max], $100K guaranteed
Event 34-M: $530 PL Omaha [6-max], $250K guaranteed
Event 34-H: $5,200 PL Omaha [6-max], $500K guaranteed

15:30 ET
Event 35-L: $270 NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play], $250K guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 35-M: $2,600 NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play], $500K guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 35-H: $25,500 NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play], $750K guaranteed (2-day event)

17:00 ET
Event 36-L: $22 HORSE, $50K guaranteed
Event 36-M: $215 HORSE, $100K guaranteed
Event 36-H: $2,100 HORSE, $150K guaranteed

Sunday, 16 May 2010

13:00 ET
Event 37-L: $22 NL Hold'em, $200K guaranteed
Event 37-M: $215 NL Hold'em, $750K guaranteed
Event 37-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em, $750K guaranteed

17:00 ET
Event 38-L: $109 NLHE Main Event - L, $1M guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 38-M: $1,050 NLHE Main Event - M, $3M guaranteed (2-day event)
Event 38-H: $10,300 NLHE Main Event - H, $5M guaranteed, $1M guaranteed to 1st, (2-day event)

TOTAL GUARANTEED PRIZE POOL: $45,000,000

It's final table day at EPT Copenhagen - and here's a little experiment in our coverage.

As usual, you can watch the action live at EPTLive or follow all our superlative coverage at PokerStars Blog, where you'll find all the level-by-level action, with the best writing and photography.

Below you'll find a third option: this is a stripped down, hand-by-hand version of proceedings. There's nothing flashy about this at all, except that it's quick. Click on the panel below to launch the live event and follow the action - in the most basic way possible.

Who Dat? Dat SuperNova philivey0997, who picked up $133,620.23for taking down the Sunday Warm-Up on the biggest sporting night of the western hemisphere. While millions of people tuned into a little football game in Miami, 4,900 players tuned into PokerStars for the Sunday Warm-Up. The prize pool of $980,000 was nothing to sneeze at, and neither were the six-figure paydays that the last three standing at the final table locked up for themselves in a chip count chop.

Just as the big parties celebrating the New Orleans Saints' big victory kicked off, our final nine players locked in their seats at the final table, including a big-stacked SuperNova in philivey0997 and a repeat final table player from two weeks ago. The stacks looked like this when the final table kicked off -

Seat 1 - Gretko - $2,557,597
Seat 2 - philivey0997 - $10,153,220
Seat 3 - nofingclue11 - $3,506,632
Seat 4 - doulas12 - $3,105,256
Seat 5 - ehcaramba - $4,968,491
Seat 6 - B3st Move - $3,163,187
Seat 7 - trippkirk - $3,380,629
Seat 8 - vaderGZ - $8,245,010
Seat 9 - Vincent466 - $9,567,978

After losing a monster pot just before the first break of the final table, nfingclue11 got his last few chips in on the first hand back. After an opening raise from Vincent466, nofingclue11 called off the last of his chips preflop with [As]-[5c], and ehcaramba joined the fray to see the three-way flop of [4s]-[6c]-[2h]. Ehcaramba led out with a bet, Vincent466 got out of the way, and ehcaramba tabled [Ad]-[Qh], dominating nofingclue11. The turn and river ran out [Js]-[6h], and nfingclue11 was done in 9th place ($7,840.00).

The action continued on the very next hand, as B3st Move got coolered to send him packing in 8th place ($12,250.00). philivey0997 opened for a raise from under the gun, and B3st Move decided that his best move was to shove all his chips into the middle with [Qc]-[Qd]. Usually a pretty good move, but philivey0997 made the easy call with [Kc]-[Kd], and then flopped a set to leave B3st Move dead to running queens. The final board read [Kh]-[5c]-[5d]-[4d]-[Td], and then the action cooled off just a little with seven players remaining.

Two weeks ago, Gretko put on a show at the final table and finished the Sunday Warm-Up in 2nd place for well over $100K. He couldn't match that performance this week, but two final tables in three weeks is certainly nothing to sneeze at! Gretko lost a huge pot just before the final table and never got his traction back before busting in 7th place ($22,050) at the hands of mega-stacked philivey0997. All the money went in preflop, as Gretko shoved with [Ks]-[9s]. Philivey0997 called with [Ac]-[Td], and made top pair on the [Th]-[8d]-[3s] flop. Things didn't get any better for gretko as the turn and river came down [Jh]-[6s], and his run at another Sunday Warm-Up was over.

After coming into the final table second in chips, Vincent466 couldn't get anything going at the final table and finally finished up in 6th place ($31,850). Vincent opened for a raise preflop, and was called by vaderGZ in the big blind. Both players checked the [Kd]-[8c]-[2s] flop, then vaderGZ led out when the [9s] hit the turn. Vincent moved all in over the top with [Jh]-[9h], and vader quickly called with [Qh]-[Kc]. The [Qc] on the river made two pair for vaderGZ, and and exit cue for Vincent466.

Before Vincent466's seat was even cold, doulas12 was following him out the virtual door in 5th place ($41,650). All the money went in preflop as ehcaramba open-shoved with [7h]-[7d]. Doulas12 called with [As]-[Kc], and the race was on. The [Th]-[Qh]-[9h] flop gave doulas12 a Broadway draw to go with his overcards, but it also added a flush draw to ehcaramba's possibilities. Nothing changed on the [8s] turn, and when the river brought the [5h], ehcaramba's flush was good enough to bounce doulas in 5th place.

Play continued a few moments four-handed until ehcaramba's luck ran out in 4th place ($55,370). It certainly wasn't the first time ehcaramba had moved all in preflop, but it was the last, as he open-shoved from the button with [Ac]-[8h]. Trippkirk called with [7s]-[7d], and the flop came down squarely in the camp of ehcaramba, falling [3d]-[Js]-[As]. His top pair held through the [5h] turn, but the [7h] river made a set for trippkirk and left only three survivors.

The three remaining players paused to discuss a deal, and after some discussion, settled on a chip count chop that left $10,000 on the table for the winner and guaranteed the following payouts - chip leader philivey0997 - $123,620.23, runner-up vaderGZ $110,548.90 and trippkirk locked up $104,152.27. Once those details were settled, Team PokerStars Pro host Greg Raymer pronounced it a deal and the three survivors settled in to play for the last $10,000.

The three survivors duked it out for a surprisingly long time before finally philivey0997's monster stack was too much for vaderGZ to overcome. All the money went in on a coin toss, as the players threw raises back and forth until vader's last few chips were in the middle with [9h]-[9c]. philivey0997 was slightly behind with [Kh]-[Jh], but the [5s]-[Jd]-[Qh] flop helped quite a bit. The[2h] on the turn gave him a flush draw to go with his jacks, but it turned out that jacks were enough as the [Ts] came on the river to send vaderGZ home in 3rd place. Thanks to the deal made when he was in 2nd place, he finished up with $110,548.90.

Heads up play only lasted a few hands, and it was a made hand against a monster draw that finally ended the suspense. Trippkirk raised from the button, and philivey0997 called. The [2d]-[8s]-[5d] flop set off the fireworks, as the players traded bets back and forth until all the money was in the middle. Trippkirk tabled [Qc]-[8h] for top pair, but philivey0997 showed [6d]-[7d] for the flush draw and the open-ended straight draw. The [Jd] on the turn made the flush for phil and left trippkirk drawing dead, and when the [6s] came on the river, the tournament was over, with trippkirk finishing in 2nd place for $104,152.27 and philivey0997 grabbing the extra $10K to bring his total win to $133,620.23.

Congratulations to all our final table players and everyone who took part in this week's Sunday Warm-Up. We'll see you next week for more monster paydays and crushed guarantees!

After two run-of-the-mill day one flights, the gloves were well and truly off day 1C of the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final at Sydney's Star City Casino.

Perhaps inspired by Danny Green's stunning first-round victory over Roy Jones jnr in the previous evening's IBO Cruiserweight title fight at nearby Acer Arena, there was carnage aplenty as the day 1C field was slashed from 206 to just 106.

That meant the total field was confirmed at 396 players, generating a prize pool of AUD $2,376,000. The top 48 players are guaranteed a minimum payout of AUD $9504, with the winner taking home AUD $594,000. A total of 226 players will be back tomorrow, including 59 PokerStars Qualifiers.

Players from the respective PokerStars.net Team Pros were left bloodied and bruised, with only Team Australia's Grant Levy and Team Asia's Raymond Wu (who chatted with the PokerStars.tv team earlier today) through to day two:

Watch APPT Sydney 09: Raymond Wu - Day 1C on PokerStars.tv

The casualties included Joe and Tony Hachem, Emad Tahtouh, Celina Lin, Jonathan Lin and 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate. Lee Nelson and Eric Assadourian won through to day two on day 1A.

The departure of ANZPT Player of the Year Tony Hachem was particularly cruel. In the final hands of the day, he lost the bulk of his chips with A-K against the pocket kings of Ben Delaney before being sent to the rail when he shoved with A-10 against the pocket jacks of Mark Vos.

Other big names to be sent to the rail on day 1C included current Aussie Millions champ Stewart Scott, four-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, Andrew Scott, David Saab, Warwick Mirzikinian, Bruno Portaro, Rayan Nathan, Con Tsapkounis, James Broom, Tim Horan, Steve Topakas and Jonathan Karamalikis.

The day 1C, and overall chip leader, was Anton Blagov on 166,800. Fellow Australian Haibo Chu, who made the final table of the 2008 APPT Grand Final, finished day 1C with 151,300. Jarred Graham, who successfully defended his APPT Sydney High Roller title last night, was fifth in chips with 117,100.

Join us from 12.30pm local time tomorrow for the race to the money, with a maximum of six 75-minute levels set on day two of the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final.

Joe Hachem tasted success here in Sydney two years ago when he won the first APPT Tournament of Champions, earning his charity of choice the Shane Warne Foundation a $50,000 donation.

But it's otherwise been leaning pickings on home soil for the 2005 WSOP champion and PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro, and his hopes of a big win in the APPT Grand Final have been dashed for another year.

Struggling for chips, Hachem was eliminated at the hands of fellow Aussie Liem "Jimmy" Tran. The action folded around to Tran who raised to 1600 before the flop; another opponent called but Hachem re-raised all-in for just over 10,000 in total.

Tran four-bet, the other opponent quickly got out of the way and Hachem revealed [ad] [kh] but was off to the races against Tran's [qd] [qc]. The flop came down [10c] [ac] [3c] to give Hachem the lead but Tran the nut flush draw. No such luck with the turn of the [js], but Tran spiked the [4c] on the river, and Hachem was headed for the nearest exit.

Raymond Wu is the sole remaining PokerStars.net Team Asia Pro in the field after the elimination of Celina Lin at the hands of US PokerStars Player Michael Wong.

The action folded around to an opponent in middle position who raised to 2200 and Wong called from the cut-off before Lin re-raised all-in from the button, making it an additional 12,350 to go.

The middle position player folded and Wong thought about it for a couple of minutes before flicking three yellow 5000 chips over the line, tabling [5s] [5h] but was racing against Lin's [ad] [kh].

The [kd] appeared in the window, but the [5d], [9d] trailed behind to complete the flop, giving Wong bottom set but Lin some hope. The turn of the [10h] was no help, neither was the river [ah]. Diamonds are supposed to be a girl's best friend!

However PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro Grant Levy is seeing more chips coming his way. After moving his short stack into the middle with [ks] [kc] and found himself in the lead against an opponent's [as] [kd].

The board was spread [jh] [qs] [jd] [5s] [5c] and Levy's number one fan and wife Sharon is no longer having heart palpitations as Levy stacks up 47,000.

The peaceful ambience of chips, chat and the Star City Snap continues as we play out the final level of the day, sans the booming voice of David Saab. He was eliminated courtesy of Taiwan's Hung Tu Wang after he moved all in with [ad] [8h], only to be dominated by Wang's [ac] [qc] and never hit on a jack-high board.

Live updates from day three, level 19 of the EPT London Main Event event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains, Brad Willis and Simon Young.

Click refresh to see the latest updates below. Click here for EPT London Chip Counts.

Look back on the tournament so far with wraps from:

Day 1a | Day 1b | Day 2

And today's action so far in the Level 16 | Level 17 | Level 18 updates posts.

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

6pm: That's the end of that...
...level. There'll be another one along soon. About 15 minutes to be more precise.

6pm: Big stacks
Our free-rolling friend Michael Berry is one of three huge stacks on table Obrestad/Wu. The others are in front of those two: Obrestad has about 950,000; Wu has about 980,000 and Berry is not far behind.

5.55pm: Aces are a big Obst-acle to overcome
The pot opened with a Chris Ferguson raise to 25,000 before James Obst moved all in for 146,000 and PokerStars qualifier Eric Haik calmly flat called from the button. Ferguson went in to the tank but folded and it was a good decision too as Haik quickly tabled [ac][ad] to Obst's [kh][qd]. The board ran out [4c][5s][8s][td][kc] to bust the high stakes online player. Haik's stack is up to 915,000.

5:52pm: Maridu runs into Tran, set
Maria Mayrinck had established a pretty tight image today as she held onto her 200,000. Finally, in need of some blinds and antes, she raised under the gun with jack-ten and got a call from Theo Tran in the small blind. The flop came T-7-x. Tran checked, Mayrinck bet 40,000 and Tran called. When the six came on the turn, Mayrinck moved all-in and got the call from Tran's set of sevens.

"Poker is easy for some people," she quipped.

5.45pm: Cullen present and correct. Sunglasses not so much
"Can you let me know how Dominic Cullen is doing?" writes a correspondent named Ben to blog@pokerstars.com ."And if you see him - remind him that he needs to send me my sunglasses back!! (He forgot his!)."

I've got good news and bad news for you, Ben. Cullen is doing great. As I went by a moment ago, he was moving all in for about 200,000 on a flop of [js][2s][7c][qd] and getting a fold, picking up a bunch of chips and stacking up about 300,000, which is right around the average for the 42 remaining players.

Bad news I: On Cullen's right is the chip-leading stack of Benny Spindler - approximately 1.5m.
Bad news II: On Cullen's left is Kevin Schaffel, November Niner, who also has about 800,000.
Bad news III: There are no sign of any sunglasses anywhere near Cullen. Red hoodie? Yes. Sunglasses, nope. He can surely afford to buy you another pair though.

Keep your mails coming to blog@pokerstars.com.

5.40pm: Your new chip leader...
On a flop of [ad][kh][qh] Lawrie Inman made it 100,000. Benny Spindler, in a pot again, called for a [2d] turn. At this point Inman moved all-in getting a flash call from Spindler. The pot was huge, neither player had a stack anywhere close to short. Spindler turned over [ah][2h] to Inman's [ks][qc]. The river came [6s] and that was it. "Oh sh*t." Said Inman. He'd just arrived at the table and now he was gone. Spindler couldn't say anything. With the chips counted he was up to more than 1.5 million. That's the chip lead... by a long way.

5.34pm: Donev doubles
There was an under-the-gun raise from Aaron Gustavson that both blinds called to see a [4h][8c][9h] flop. The small blind led out for 25,000, Ivo Donev called from the next seat but Gustavson raised it up to 100,000. At this point Donev started to position his camera on the table next to his cards and chips and when the small blind folded he slowly moved his chips closer to the line and then started the recording function on his camera and moved all in for 190,000. Committed to the pot, Gustavson called with [jd][js] but was shown [4d][4c] by Donev for a set. "Was that a slow-roll?" asked Gustavson before the turn came [2h] and river [kd].

Dovev's play was slightly questionable during this hand but all that matters is that he is now the owner of a 450,000 stack now. Gustavson is down but still doing great on 510,000.

5.25pm: Bubble in moving pictures
Our intrepid video blogging team chatted to Team Pros about the feared tournament bubble, which popped here in the Hilton a little while ago...

Watch EPT 6 London Day 3: Popping the bubble on PokerStars.tv

5.22pm: J.C. Tran hits the road
Facing a bet that would put him all in on a [3s][Ts][5d][7s][Qh] board, J.C. Tran tanked for a minute before calling to see [As][Qs]. Since it's pretty damned hard to beat the nuts, Tran headed for the cash out table.

5.20pm: Thomas Dolezal eliminated

The PokerStars player from Austria, Thomas Dolezal has just been eliminated after betting all-in with [5c][3d] on a [8d][2s][3h] flop. Tobias Reinkemeier called with pocket tens. He begged for no suckouts, and none came.

5.14pm: Firestone sent into a Spin-dler
PokerStars qualifier Robert Firestone got the last of his chips in with [kh][7d] and found a willing customer in the shape of Benny Spindler holding [ts][th]. The board ran [5c][8d][9c][3h][7h] to bust Firestone. The extra chips puts Spindler up to around 700,000.

5.10pm: Smile Smires
Karim Bennani Smires is holding his head looking pained. But this is the good type. He just doubled up through Aaron Gustavson, the board reading [9c][qs][8s][6c][3s] alongside his upturned hand [as][ts]. Good to restore Smires's hopes to around 250,000.

5.07pm: Take off the scarf, the party is over
France's Jeremy Amsellem, the man who has been wearing a scarf around 80% of his face for the entire tournament, is now out after pushing his short stack in with [8s][9s] into Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli's [7s][7h] and missing.

5.03pm: Maria sandwich

Team PokerStars Pro Maria "maridu" Mayrinck is hanging around with 200,000 and is unfortunately sandwiched between Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and James Obst. Maria has just learned that the love of Ferguson's life also happens to be from Brazil. "So, we have something to bond over," she said.

5.00pm: The room just started to smell better

...due in large part to the fact the EPT Ladies event just kicked off.

4.55pm: Video blog time

Watch EPT 6 London Day 3: Hand strength challenge on PokerStars.tv

4.45pm: And on another table...
As we wait for players to return for level 19 Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier is currently chipped up at the final table of the £2,500 no-limit hold'em side event a few tables away. First prize in that one is £115,800, a nice haul that would go well with his WSOPE fourth place finish a few days ago.

Annette Obrestad, one of the chip leaders going into level 19