Quick, quick, slow, quick.

We started the day wondering whether we'd still be here tomorrow waiting for this intriguing PokerStars.com EPT event to come to a close. Thirteen players came in from the Catalonian sun to chase the €1.1 million first prize. But before the clock even ticked around to 12.30am, we had a champion after one of the quickest final tables in the tour's history.

Sander Lylloff: winner

Sander Lylloff, from Copenhagen, Denmark, continued the Nordic domination of the EPT when he, first, edged onto the final table, then watched three of his adversaries fall in the opening two hours. Then Sander himself joined in the carnage, building his stack as he slayed three of his final five opponents, ending with the brief heads-up assassination of close friend and hotel room-mate Mark Teltscher, from the United Kingdom.

The Cristal champagne that Teltscher ordered for the friends to sup over their mano-a-mano battle hadn't even arrived before all the chips were in the middle. Teltscher was delighted: he'd found kings. Lylloff had a meagre looking J-10 but hit two jacks -- on flop and river -- to earn bragging rights and the cheque for €1,170,700.

But, begin at the beginning.

When we convened at 3.30pm, the chip leader was Nikolaus Jedlicka, a PokerStars Supernova from Austria. He had about 100,000 more chips than Mika Paasonen, from Finland, and the now-familiar Lylloff, Teltscher and Juan Maceiras, from Spain.

And while those four hung tough, the shorter stacks began a steady procession out the door, often bust by the young American PokerStars sensation Gregory Dyer.

First out was Voitto Rintala, from Finland, a Dyer victim. Then Philip Yeh was on his way back to Sweden, who slipped up on Davidi Kitai's big slick. But Kitai himself was soon on his way, the result of an unhappy clash of queens against Lylloff's aces.

Things slowed ... for a moment. After some to-ing and fro-ing involving Patrick Bruel, the French actor/singer/poker player and Teltscher, it was Mohamad Kowassie who lost his patience and shoved with Q-3. Gregory Dyer, silent smiling assassin, picked up another big slick and grinned Kowassie out of the tournament.

That brought us to the faux final table. There were nine players around it, which is one too many for the EPT television treatment. Something had to give and it was Juan Maceiras, the popular local, egged on by vociferous Spanish support, who got it in with A-6 but ran into another A-K of Dyer.

Out. Down to eight.

By the time the final eight got together, there had been a change at the top of the pile. Dyer's incredible run had taken him over the million mark, while Nikolaus had slipped down to fourth. The final table lined up like this:

1 - Gregory Dyer (USA) - 1,606,000
2 - Adam Junglen (USA) - 320,000
3 - Nikolaus Jedlicka (Austria) - 569,000
4 - Mika Paasonen (Finland) - 924,000
5 - Mark Teltscher (UK) - 676,000
6 - Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 502,000
7 - Trond Eidsvig (Norway) - 452,000
8 - Patrick Bruel (France) - 374,000

But no one was in the mood to hang around, it seemed, and three hands into the final we lost Bruel, who had a stab at an ace-high, all-heart flop with pocket 10s. Mark Teltscher had an ace, and a heart to boot, and it was the singer's swansong. C'est la vie.

Then Jedlicka bit the dust, and again it was Teltscher and again it was pocket 10s in the eliminated player's hands. Teltscher had ace-queen and both appeared on the board to win the race for the Englishman.

Six became five. Adam Junglen, the 19-year-old from Ohio, who won the PokerStars Sunday million in July, among countless major tournament results, was the next to perish. He threw it all in behind A-4 and Sander woke up with pocket eights. He made the call and knocked Junglen to the rail.

And, at the blink of an eye or the flip of a chip, we were down to four. Trond Eidsvig hadn't played a hand on the final table before he trap-checked a jack-high flop, but didn't get the expected bet from Mika Paasonen. Instead, Mika came out firing when a 10 came on the turn - with good reason, that had made him two pair, tens and nines, and Eidsvig had trapped himself.

Greg Dyer was the leader of the final four, with Sandor Lylloff the short stack. But an early double up for the Dane, through Dyer, started the comeback.

Meanwhile, Mark Teltscher was accounting for Mika Paasonen. A massive battle-of-the-blinds left the Finn crippled and Greg Dyer finished him off.

Down to three, and finally the action slowed. In fact, it was close to two hours, plus dinner break, before the final three could be parted. They exchanged chips, exchanged chip leads, levelled out, pulled away, levelled out again. But the rot had set in for Dyer, and despite surviving a number of gutsy all-ins, he ran into aces and couldn't wriggle out of that.

So, heads up. Lylloff versus Teltscher. They're friends and are even sharing a hotel room in Barcelona. For some, this might have been a battle for the EPT crown and a million odd euros. For them, it was all about who gets to sleep on the roll-out bed.

And it was quick. Mark found the kings, Sander had a speculative punt with his J-10. And sometimes in poker, fortune favours the brave. The jack on the flop looked dangerous, the second jack on the river looked decisive.

Teltscher, who could have become the first player to win two EPT crowns, was instead gracious in defeat and embraced his friend.

Party round theirs -- all welcome.

Goodnight from Barcelona.

For a full list of tournament payouts, please click HERE.

12.25am: All over! Mark Teltscher manages to get Sander to push pre-flop holding just J-10, a perfect chance for the Brit to double up. He has kings, but Sander spikes a jack on the flop and another on the river and that's that. Sander Lylloff wins the PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona.

12.15am: Heads up chip counts:
Sander Lylloff (Denmark): 3,658,000
Mark Teltscher (UK): 1,765,00

(And a bottle of Cristal champagne - as requested by Mark Teltscher to be shared between the heads up players)

12.10am: Gregory Dyer is eliminated in third. He came over the top Sander's pre-flop raise and was justly fearful at the instant call from the Dane. Sander showed two red aces; Greg's K-8 never caught up and he's out, taking €388,800 for third.

12.05am: Big pot goes to Sander Lylloff. He manages to get paid off with two bigger pair than Mark Teltscher's (aces and tens versus jacks and nines) and he hits top spot.

12.00am: Latest chip counts, courtesy of the ever chipper Thomas Kremser:

Mark Teltscher (UK) - 2,500,330
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 2,299,000
Greg Dyer (USA) - 591,000

11.45pm: Greg Dyer doubles up again, this time coming over the top of Sander's pre-flop raise. Sander had to call for about 100,000 more, even with just 10-4. Greg had A-2, spiked two aces, and survived a backdoor straight draw to survive.

11pm: Greg Dyer doubles up with K-Q. Sander had to call. Not only was it just 300,000 to him, but he had A-5. The flop brought the king and it was a full house by the end after three sevens also came on the board.

10.50pm: Greg's downward spiral continues. This time he mucks in disgust after calling a 160,000 river bet from Mark Teltscher. Teltscher had shown a rivered two pair. Greg is all in for 360,000 on the next hand and... survives.

10.40pm: After some trading of chips between Sander and Mark, Greg decides to get involved, and probably wishes he hadn't. He ends up shoving 300,000 into the pot on the river, looking at a board of 9s-Jd-4s-7d-4c. When Sander calls, Greg is forced to show eight high (6-8) and Sander's pocket fives, backed up by a great call, take it for the Dane.

10.15pm: The players have just returned from their dinner break to begin the final stretch. One of these folk will be a millionaire by the end of the night:

Mark Teltscher (UK) - 2,128,000

Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 2,064,000

Gregory Dyer (USA) - 1,221,000


8.45pm: Mark Teltscher takes a sizeable pot off of Greg Dyer. They get about 100,000 each in pre-flop, then Greg check-calls Mark's 300,000 bet on the flop of 9s-3h-6h. Mark then moves in on the turn of 8h and Greg passes.

8.35pm: Sander Lylloff just doubled up through Mark Teltscher. They got it all in pre-flop with ace-queen (Mark) and ace-king (Sander). No queen and Teltscher is now third with about 1.6 million, Sander second with 1.8 million and Greg first with 2 million.

Final three counts:

Mark Teltscher (UK) - 2.7 million
Greg Dyer (USA) - 2 million
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 900,000

They're playing 12,000-24,000 blinds with a 3,000 ante.

8.25pm: Mika Paasonen is out. Greg Dyer opened the pot, Mika moved his last 60,000 into the middle and Sander Paasonen came along for the ride. They checked it all the way down to the end, where a king fell and Greg bet. Sander passed and Greg showed K-10 for the rivered top pair. Mika had A-7, which was not enough, and went home with €301,000.

8.15pm: Massive, massive pot goes to Mark Teltscher and leaves Mika Paasonen crippled. All the action happened after a flop of 8c-4c-Kh. Mika bet 200,000 and Mark called. The turn was a 5s and Mika checked. Mark bet 300,000 and Mika moved all in. Mark called instantly, showing K-4 for two pair. Mika, though, had K-Js for top pair, a flush draw, and loads of other outs. A jack or eight would also do it. But the river was 10c and Mika is left with about 70,000. Mark has close to 3 million.

8.05pm: Double up for Sander Lylloff. He bets on the button pre-flop and Greg Dyer comes over the top, all in, from the big blind. Sander calculates that it's 450,000 more (all his chips) to win about one million and makes the call. He shows A-9, Greg has K-10. The board brings an open-ended straight draw for Greg but it doesn't hit and Sander doubles up.

7.50pm:

The final four:

Greg Dyer (USA) - 2,138,000
Mika Paasonen (Finland) - 1,394,000
Mark Teltscher (UK) - 1,361,000
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 530,000

7.40pm: We're ripping through the field now, and this time it's Trond Eidsvig who's taken the fall. Mika Paasonen raised from the cut off and Trond called from the small blind. The flop came 6c-9d-Jc and both players checked. The turn brought a 10 and plenty of action. Trond bet and Mika moved all in. Trond called in an instant. The Norwegian player showed K-J for top pair (checked on the flop, remember) but Mika showed 10-9 for two pair. The river was another 10, making a full house for Mika and taking him near to the chip lead. Trond wins €250,800 for fifth.

7.30pm: And then there were five. This time, Adam Junglen moves in for his last 280,000 and, after Mark Teltscher dwells for an age before folding, Sander Lylloff does make the call. Sander has 8-8, Adam A-4 and the K-K-Q-2-6 board helps no one. Adam takes €196,500 for sixth.

Final six counts:

Greg Dyer - 1,596,000
Mark Teltscher - 1,519,000
Mika Paasonen - 959,000
Sander Lylloff - 638,000
Trond Eidsvig - 443,000
Adam Junglen - 282,000

7.20pm: It's all over for Nikolaus Jedlicka. Mark Teltscher raised from early position, Nikolaus re-raised all in from the small blind. Teltscher called with A-Q and raced against Nikolaus's 10-10. Teltscher won: there was a queen on the flop, an ace on the turn and no 10. Jedlicka takes €154,700 for seventh.

7.15pm: But Teltscher soon has the chips back, calling a small pre-flop raise from Mika, then re-raising on a board of 2-3-9. Mark upped it to 240,000 after Mika bet 90,000. Mika passed. "I wish I'd have made a bad squeeze," said big blind Adam Junglen. "I had deuce-three."

7.10pm: Mark Teltscher is raising every pot, but was just caught at it when Sander Lylloff re-raised and got him to lay it down. A lot of chat, not much action.

7pm: Mika Paasonen just took a nice pot off Nikolaus Jedlicka, somewhere in the region of 200,000. It was a battle of the blinds and an all-club flop -- 9-3-J -- which Nikolaus bet. Mika called, as he did when Nikolaus also bet the turn, 7h. Nikolaus slowed down on the river of 3h, but Mika came out firing with a bet of 120,000. Nikolaus thought long enough that he seemed certain to pass, but instead slid out a stack of brown chips. He was shown 8-3 for the rivered trips and mucked.

6.55pm: Cagey, as expected. Greg Dyer raised from the button and was called by Nikolas Jedlicka in the big blind. They checked it all the way and Greg showed 10-7; Nikolaus announced queen high. The flop had hit Greg's seven and he took a small pot.

6.45pm: About three hands in, and we've lost our first player. It's Patrick Bruel, who moved in on an all-heart, ace-high flop. Mark Teltscher thought for a moment before calling and showing A-9, with the nine a heart. Bruel was on the steal. His 10-10, no heart, needed a lot of help and didn't get it. The fourth heart on the turn pushed Teltscher above a million and Bruel back to Paris.

The final table is about to begin, with the following players sitting in various states of nervousness or confidence around it.

1 - Gregory Dyer (USA) - 1,606,000
2 - Adam Junglen (USA) - 320,000
3 - Nikolaus Jedlicka (Austria) - 569,000
4 - Mika Paasonen (Finland) - 924,000
5 - Mark Teltscher (UK) - 676,000
6 - Sander Lylloff (Denmark) - 502,000
7 - Trond Eidsvig (Norway) - 452,000
8 - Patrick Bruel (France) - 374,000

A little bit about them all:

Seat 1: Greg Dyer, 20, Minneapolis - 1,606,000

Harvard statistics student Greg is too young to even play in a US casino - but he's clocked up some substantial successes online since taking up the game a few years ago. Last February he won a PokerStars $150 tournament for £21,000 and he has grown his $5 bankroll – borrowed from a friend - to some $150,000. Greg doesn't plan a fulltime poker career but admitted he has had "discussions" with his parents about his new pursuit. "Actually they weren't really worried until I starting winning a lot."

Seat 2: Adam Junglen, 19, Stow, Ohio, USA - 320,000

He may be just 19, but Adam Junglen has already made a real name for himself both online and on the live circuit. Playing as "AJunglen7" on PokerStars, he won the Sunday Million in July for close to $200,000 – adding to a string of impressive tournament results on the site. He also cashed in this year's Aussie Millions and came 5th in the pot limit event at the Johnny Chan Poker Classic in Canada. Things didn't start so well here in Barcelona - the airline lost his luggage - but Adam's fortunes have changed since then. He survived a table featuring Greg Raymer and Patrick Antonius on day 1B and has been soaring ever since. This is his first final table on the EPT.

Seat 3: Nikolaus Jedlicka, 20, Vienna, Austria - 569,000

Young Austrian Nikolaus is having a pretty good summer. In June, he won the Austrian Masters main event for €70,940 and he's also cashed in several other smaller events in Austria in the last year. Known as "RealAndyBeal" on PokerStars, Nikolaus is a Supernova player and cashed W-Dollars for buy-in to Barcelona. He's only been playing a couple of years and normally plays Omaha cash games.

Seat 4: Mika Paasonen, 29, Haamenlinna, Finland - 924,000

A former security guard in Helsinki, Mika Paasonen's life changed three years ago when he watched the poker movie "Rounders" with a few friends. They started a tiny-stakes home game which prompted Mika to begin playing online, and, after returning a steady month-on-month profit, he turned professional after just a year. Here in Barcelona, he's been playing a tight-aggressive game and has been among the chip leaders since Day 1.

Seat 5: Mark Teltscher, 27, London, UK - 676,000

Mark is already had enormous success at EPTs – he won EPT2 London for £280,000 and came 11 th at the Grand Final for €33,500. Sandwiched between those two successes was another huge win - the $5,000 NLHE tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada - for a further $374,965. As of 2007, he has made nearly a million dollars in live tournament winnings. Mark comes from a backgammon and bridge background – and was an Under 18 bridge champion.

Seat 6: Sander Lylloff, 25, Copenhagen, Denmark - 502,000

Sander Lylloff is better known for backgammon than poker – in fact, some consider him one of the best players in the world. He took up backgammon after failing to get into university, and before that he was a junior chess champion. He's no stranger to EPTs and won a side event at the Monte Carlo Grand Final in Season 2. He and fellow finalist Mark Teltscher are room-mates here in Barcelona but claim there won't be a fight if one of them ends up busting the one!

Seat 7: Trond Eidsvig, 22, Aalesund, Norway - 452,000

Making the final table of EPT Barcelona is Tronde's biggest success in his poker career to date. He turned professional 18 months and played at EPT Dortmund last season, getting knocked early in the second day.

Seat 8: Patrick Bruel, 47, France - 374,000

Patrick Bruel, 47, is known as the first Frenchman to win a WSOP bracelet (1999) and also hosts the French version of the WPT TV show. In his home country however, Patrick is extremely famous as an actor, singer and media personality with over 40 film credits, including Sabrina with Julia Ormand and Harrison Ford. His 2003 album Entre Deux sold over 2m copies. Although he has played many EPTs, this is Patrick's 1st EPT final table.

5.30pm: Local interest ends in Spain with the elimination in ninth place of Juan Maceiras. He got it all in -- about 280,000 -- against, guess who, Gregory Dyer. Maceiras had A-6, Dyer another big slick, and we now have a final table. We'll have accurate chip counts momentarily, but Dyer is clearly the chip leader with 1,400,000+

Maceiras takes €64,800 for ninth.

5.15pm:

Approximate chip counts:

Mika Paasonen - 940,000
Sander Lylloff - 530,000
Gregory Dyer - 1,100,000
Nikolaus Jedlicka - 660,000
Adam Junglen - 435,000
Mark Teltscher - 620,000
Juan Maceiras - 250,000
Tronde Eidsvig - 400,000
Patrick Bruel - 420,000

5pm: Mohamad Kowssarie becomes the latest victim of the one-man wrecking machine that is Gregory Dyer. Mohamad moved in for about 300,000 pre-flop and Greg called. It was Q-3 for Mohamad and A-K for Greg. The flop brought a king, but also an inside straight draw for Mohamad. It didn't hit and Kowassie is out in tenth for €64,800. The next man out with also get that amount before we reach the final table proper.

4.30pm: Mark Teltscher just doubled up. He raised from the button then called for all his chips when Juan Maceiras raised from the small blind. Teltscher showed tens; Maceiras ace-king. Despite vociferous local support for Juan, there was no help and the British player doubled up.

4.15pm: Patrick Bruel just doubled up through Mark Teltscher. They got all the chips in pre-flop. Patrick had A-J, Mark 4-4. The ace spiked on the turn.

4.05pm: And another one down. This time it's Davidi Kitai who gets it all in pre-flop, bolstered by queens in the hole. But Sandor Lylloff wakes up with aces and the board doesn't help Kitai. Down to ten.

3.45pm: Maybe it'll be quicker than we thought...?

Barely ten minutes into play today and we've lost two players.

Greg Dyer took two bites to eliminate Voitto Rintala, eventually finishing him off with an A-9 versus a 9-7. Voitto will take €33,450 back to Finland for his 13th place.

And a few hands later, Davidi Kitai took out Philip Yeh in 12th, who's ambitious push with 4-6 ran into a significantly more sizeable A-K. Yeh picks up €46,000 for 12th.

Dyer will have about 400,000 now, while Kitai is up to the mid 300s.

It's an early start for the final day of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour in Barcelona.

At the end of yesterday, day three, 13 players remained of the original 543 and this afternoon our first priority is to establish a final table of eight, then to name the winner.

But that's getting way ahead of ourselves. It'll probably take at least ten hours before we get anywhere near deciding the man who'll leave Catalonia as a Euro millionaire, and few spectators would be surprised if we don't end up trying to distract the security guards trying to close the place at 4am in order to cram in a few more hands.

Any of the following players would be happy to spend the next full day of their lives sat around the table:

Nikolaus "RealAndyBeal" Jedlicka (Austria) 879,000 - PokerStars Supernova, cashed W-Dollars for buy-in to Barcelona


Mika Paasonen (Finland) 715,000


Sander Lylloff (Denmark) 646,000


Juan Maceiras (Spain) 585,000


Mark Teltscher (UK) 533,000


Adam "AJunglen7" Junglen (USA) 419,000 - cashed PokerStars W-Dollars for Barcelona buy-in



Tronde Eidsvig (Norway) 339,000


Mohamad Kowssarie (Sweden) 294,000


Patrick Bruel (France) 270,000


Voitto Rintala (Finland) 253,000


Davidi Kitai (Belgium) 219,000


Greg "FunkiMunki" Dyer (USA) 155,000 - cashed PokerStars W-Dollars for Barcelona buy-in




The payouts are as follows:

1 €1,170,700
2 €673,000
3 €388,800
4 €301,000
5 €250,800
6 €196,500
7 €154,700
8 €104,500
9-10 €64,800
11-12 €46,000
13-14 €33,450

It all ends tomorrow (Saturday) and here are the men in with a shout:

Nikolaus Jedlicka (Austria) 879,000
Mika Paasonen (Finland) 715,000
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) 646,000
Juan Maceiras (Spain) 585,000
Mark Teltscher (UK) 533,000
Adam Junglen (USA) 419,000
Tronde Eidsvig (Norway) 339,000
Mohamad Kowssarie (Sweden) 294,000
Patrick Bruel (France) 270,000
Voitto Rintala (Finland) 253,000
Davidi Kitai (Belgium) 219,000
Greg Dyer (USA) 155,000
Philip Yeh (Sweden) 116,000

Full coverage begins at 3.30pm central European time.

The lights have gone out around the poker tables; the bar is buzzing with bad beats. Day three of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour season opener in Barcelona is a wrap.

We tried to get down to eight players. We did. We really tried. But tomorrow, 13 contenders will return at 3.30pm central European time, to contest the big money.

Top of the ladder is Nikolaus Jedlicka, a PokerStars SuperNova from Austria, who bought his seat here using W-Dollars. And he's been busy turning that fantasy money into something significantly more tangible, bludgeoning his way to close to a million chips.

In his wake, with not much between any of them, are Mika Paasonen, from Finland; Adam Junglen, a PokerStars player from the United States; Mark Teltscher, EPT London champion; Tronde Eidsvig, from Norway; Mohamad Kowssarie, from Sweden, Sander Lylloff, from Denmark, and Juan Maceiras, a local favourite.

Also returning are: Voitto Rintala, Greg Dyer, Philip Yeh, Patrick Bruel and Davidi Kitai.

However, Dutch player Kees Alblas didn't manage to cling on. He was knocked off the outer table on the final hand of the night, getting his short-ish stack all in with 10-6. He was called by A-9 and a nine flopped. Out.

Full chip counts will be here when we know them and we'll be back with full coverage tomorrow. In the meantime, here's what happened today:

All goes wrong for Wong

Bruel takes a beat

Katja Thater hits the rail

Early casualties

TV table arrives

3.10am: Greg Raymer, the former World Champions and current PokerStars ambassador, has just passed on the news that play will end for the night at the end of this level. That's in about 15 minutes.

2.50am: On the outside table, there are also some sizeable stacks. This sizeable, in fact:

Mohamad Kowssarie -- 360,000
Voitto Rintala -- 380,000
Nikolaus Jedlicka -- 730,000
Greg Dyer -- 241,000
Philip Yeh -- 85,000
Sander Lylloff -- 505,000

2.40am: Massive pot to Adam Junglen, who made a great call for all his chips with A-10 against Tronde's pre-flop bluff push with Q-J. The flop brought an ace and the young American, who bought in here with PokerStars W-Dollars catapulted to the chip lead. He has 636,000.

-----

There are 90 minutes left until the Gran Casino Barcelona closes its doors for the night. The original plan here was to play until the final table of eight, but the grumbling and groaning from press row betrays a confident yet disheartened belief that that number will not be reached.

In the past hour or so, we have lost one player: the young PokerStars qualifier Aditya Agarwal, from India, pushed in behind pocket 10s and was pushed over and out by Nikolaus Jedlicka's queens.

On the television table, there's an interesting battle brewing between Tronde Eidsvig, the dominant chip leader from Norway, and pretty much every other player, all of whom are looking to double through the monster stack.

At last count, they were sitting beneath the lights with the following:

Tronde Eidsvig -- 904,000
Mark Teltscher -- 568,000
Juan Maceiras -- 467,000
Mika Paasonen -- 381,000
Adam Junglen -- 299,000
Patrick Bruel -- 269,000
Davidi Kitai -- 186,000

Proving once and for all that live poker is rigged, Pete Giordano just bit the dust when he got it all in pre-flop with pocket kings but was blasted out of Barcelona by Tronde Eisvig's pocket rockets. Eisvig, from Norway, is tearing through the field and is the first player to pass 1,000,000.

Elsewhere, Mark Teltscher eliminated Javed Abrahams from the TV table: tens against A-J, no improvement.

The current chip counts -- out of date by the time I finish typing them, of course -- are as follows:

Aditya Agarwal - 350,000
Adam Junglen - 390,000
Voitto Rintala - 260,000
Greg Dyer - 305,000
Mohamad Kowssarie - 360,000
Mika Paasonen - 263,000
Juan Maceiras - 420,000
Tronde Eisvig - 1,000,000+
Patrick Bruel - 245,000
Christophe Ulsrud - OUT - busted by Sander Lylloff
Sander Lylloff - 350,000
Kees Alblas - 110,000
Alessio Isaia -- OUT -- a missed flush draw; knocked out by Mark Teltscher
Mark Teltscher -- 600,000
Davidi Kitai -- 140,000
Philip Yeh -- 305,000
Niklaus Jedlicka -- 980,000

Update: As expected, things happened while I was typing all that, and we're now down to 15 players and a redraw is imminent.

Apologies for the lack of colour -- and for the "u" in that word, American blog readers -- but we're reaching the business end here in Barcelona and I expect more people are interested in cold, hard chip counts rather than life histories. (And on the "u" point, I'm English.)

So, here's the skinny: Twenty-two players remain, playing blinds of 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante. They's spread across three tables and they're sitting with, approximately:

Table A

Greg Dyer -- 205,000
Mohamad Kowssarie -- 475,000
Mika Paasonen -- 480,000
Voitto Rintala -- 185,000
Adam Junglen -- 370,000
Other -- 190,000

Table B

Aditya Agarwal -- 320,000
Peter Giordino -- 135,000
Patrick Bruel -- 250,000
Borge Dypuik -- 70,000
Christophe Ulsrud -- 260,000
Sander Lylloff -- 260,000
Tronde Eidsvig -- 440,000

Table C (TV table)

Sylvester Geoghegan -- 160,000
Alessio Isaia -- 170,000
Mark Teltscher -- 240,000
Davidi Kitai -- 131,000
Philip Yeh -- 108,000
Niklaus Jedlicka -- 297,000
Javed Abrahams -- 120,000

Those recent eliminations:

25 - Daan Ruiter (Holland) €16,700
26 - Henrik Jensen (Denmark) €16,700
27 - Ole Holgersen (Norway) €16,700
28 - Michael Greco (UK) €16,700
29 - Michael Wong (USA) €16,700 (PokerStars qualifier)
30 - Ian Woodley (UK) €16,700
31 - Martin Wendt (Denmark) €16,700
32 - Thomas Fjelleheim (Norway) €16,700
33 - Ryan Jones (USA) €14,650
34 - Eric Hardt (USA) €14,650 (PokerStars qualifier)
35 - Bjorn Erik Glenne (Norway) €14,650
36 - Giovanni Spadavecchia (Italy) €14,650
37 - Henrik Sorensen (Denmark) €14,650
38 - Nikolas Panopoulos (Greece) €14,650
39 - Fabrice Soulier (France) €14,650

Update: We've also just lost Sylvester Geoghegan (the mysterious "Vesty" from the overnight list) who got it all in pre-flop with A-Q but ran into Nicholas Jedlicka's A-K. Dag Mikkelsen also perished. He lost a chunk with K-Q against A-K and shoved the rest in with something very meagre and was busted.

As the players take another 15 minute break, we get a chance to dance around the railbirds and check a few chips.

There are 24 players remaining -- we play down to eight tonight, remember -- and among them are the following stacks:

Niklaus Jedlicka - 170,000
Adam Junglen -- 325,000
Sander Lylloff -- 310,000
Dag Mikkelsen -- 215,000
Mark Teltscher -- 250,000
Mohamad Kowssarie -- 345,000
Alessio Isaia -- 240,000
Peter Giordano -- 245,000
Mika Paasonen -- 490,000
Patrick Bruel -- 310,000
Greg Dyer -- 110,000
Aditya Agarwal -- 250,000
Javed Abrahams -- 100,000
Sylvester Geoghegan -- 240,000

Definitely out of the tournament are:

Martin Wendt
Fabrice Soulier
Eric Hardt
Ryan Jones
Ian Woodley

The players are back from their day three dinner break. Same old buffet, but more to go around.

There are 34 of them left chasing that million-plus top spot, and they're posting blinds of 2,000 and 4,000 with a 400 ante.

Among those challenging:

Greg Dyer - 145,000
Patrick Bruel - 168,000
Aditya Agarwal - 55,000
Bjorn Erik Glenne - 90,000
Mika Paasonen - 360,000
Pete Giordano - 355,000
Borge Dypuik - 170,000
Michael Greco - 120,000
Mark Teltscher - 365,000
Mohamad Kowssarie - 155,000
Michael Wong - 31,000
Ryan Jones - 31,000
Dag Mikkelsen - 110,000
Martin Wendt - 125,000
Nicklaus Jedlicka - 99,000
Philip Yeh - 80,000
Adam Junglen 290,000

They're being swatted out of this tournament like drunken flies. Here are the fallers so far:

41 - Stefan Mattsson (Sweden) €12,550
42 - Andrey Zaichenko (Russia) €12,550 (PokerStars Qualifier)
43 - Tutev Yovor (Bulgaria) €12,550
44 - Mika Puro (Finland) €12,550
45 - Daniel Dodet (Belgium) €12,550
46 - James Higgins (UK) €12,550
47 - Katja Thater (Germany ) €12,550 (Team PokerStars)
48 - Mark Vos (Australia) €12,550
49 - Massimiliano Rosa (Italy) €10,500
50 - Jean Paul Pasqualini (France) €10,500
51 - Alexander Philip Roumeliotis (Sweden) €10,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
52 - Cort Kibler-Melby (Germany) €10,500 (PokerStars qualifier)
53 - Jerome Ferron (France) €10,500
54 - Jesus Garde (Spain) €10,500
55 - Phil Starrs (UK) €10,500
56 - Daniel Stern (USA ) €10,500

Michael Wong is smiling. But really, after what's happened to him today, few could blame him for being crouched in the corner, head in hands, cheeks moistened by torrents of tears and a mutilated effigy of the poker gods kicked into the trash.

The PokerStars qualifier from San Diego, California, hit a flop on the second hand of today. He hit it pretty good. He had 3-4, that flop was 5-6-7 and there was nothing wrong with getting it all in there. Problem: his opponent had limped to the same flop with 8-9, otherwise known as the nuts.

"I lost three quarters of my stack," Wong confided. "I'm the short stack now."

It's merciful that he had such a lot of chips to begin today. He was the top-ranked PokerStars qualifier overnight with 193,000. Now he's down to about 50,000.

But, by his own admission, he went on a rush yesterday to get himself near the chip lead, and there's still every chance something similar could happen again.

Update: And if a picture is worth a thousand words, here's "War and Peace" courtesy of Neil Stoddart, peerless PokerStars photographer, who captured it all going wrong for Wong.

A monstrous pot just went the way of Mika Paasonen on the feature table.

Patrick Bruel was the victim of the coldest of decks and, holding A-10, must have thought he was ahead on a flop of Q-10-10.

Patrick Bruel in happier times

But there was some very suspicious checking and flat-calling through the streets, before Mika pushed and Patrick called on a blank turn. Paasonen had been exceptionally crafty with pocket queens for queens full and Bruel shipped towers of chips to the Finn.

On the outer tables, Mark Teltscher, the nemesis of Katja Thater, has continued to build. Meanwhile Cort Kibler Melby, an early leader in Barcelona, is out.

Updated chip counts will follow.

And so it ends for Team PokerStars in Barcelona.

Katja Thater, who had clung on and clung on late yesterday to end the night as the only Team PokerStars player to make the money, was always going to have to make a move early today.

Katja Thater stands and prepares to leave

But she must have been delighted when Mark Teltscher, the British player who triumphed in season two's EPT London, put in a button raise when Thater had glanced down at pocket kings. She tossed in whatever extra she had and Teltscher showed queens.

You guessed it, though. I don't even need to write it. Thater is on the rail.

Vultures and reporters share a lot in common -- it would be difficult to contest that they're not pretty much the same thing -- and an innate attraction to carnage and carrion is probably their most pronounced similarity.

So it was that I, and nine or ten others, gathered around Ryan Jones's table as the cards hit the air for the first time this morning. The United States player, who cashed in W-Dollars on PokerStars to buy his seat here, had the lowest chip stack of everyone, and was shaping up for a fairly certain first-round push.

And push he did when it was folded to him on the button. Ole Brandborg, in the big blind, insta-called. Brandborg has 10-10, Jones showed K-8 and there was much sharpening of talons and pencils.

But, behold, not only a king on the flop, but also an eight, leaving Brandborg looking for one of the two remaining tens to send Jones out. Neither materialised, and Jones lived to fight another few hands, at least.

Daniel Stern, another W-Dollars player, was not so fortunate. Despite holding the chip lead after day two, the American was also short-stacked coming into today and shoved from the big blind, over the top of a middle position raiser. Stern had K-Q, his opponent 8-8 and there was no help for the overcards. Stern was first out today.

Following him hastily to the rail was Phil Starrs, from Scotland. The PokerStars player won his seat here when he took down an APAT event on the site. But his A-9d was beaten by the J-8d of Bjorn-Erik Glenne. All this was on TV as well.

So, within the first half hour, it's two down, 48 to go until the final table. We'll have all the details here.

Welcome back to the Gran Casino Barcelona for day three of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour.

There's one thing on everyone's minds today: money. And while it's fair to say that the subject hasn't exactly been too far from most minds for the preceding three days, this time it's not a case of "what if" but rather "how much?"

The cash bubble burst late last night, meaning all 56 players who return today are already guaranteed a return on their investment, somewhere between €10,500 (for the first eight out), up to €1,170,700 for the last man, or woman, standing.

Ryan Jones, from the United States, is likely to be happy with anything. He's bottom of the chip pile going into today. Meanwhile, Mohamad Kowssarie, from Sweden, is eyeing millionaire status. He starts today with 332,200 and the chip lead.

Everyone and anyone in the middle also has a significant chance to become a star. The television feature table has been assembled overnight and one table of players, of the remaining eight, will have their every move scrutinised by the millions in their living rooms.

There's also a live webcast of the feature table, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Starting under the studio lights when play gets under way in the coming moments, is table seven, which features three PokerStars qualifiers -- Phil Starrs, from Scotland, Adity Agarwal, from India, and Andriy Zaichenko, from Russia -- as well as Patrick Bruel, the French actor/singer/poker player, and Bjorn Erik Glenne, who won this event last year.

Check back here for your words and watch the broadcast over there. Then scatter some sand around your feet and turn the central heating up and it'll be practically as though you're here.

And that's it, the bubble has burst. The unfortunate player is also nameless: after seeing his move with Q-8 picked off by Martin Wendt's A-K, he disappeared into the Barcelona night. It would have been imprudent to follow him, notebook poised.

Cameras and chaos follows the announcement of "All-in, called!"


The bubble-boy makes his departure
So there we have it. The end of day two.

By my reckoning, Mohamed Kowssarie is the chip leader, with Mark Teltscher and Adam Junglen in pursuit. Katja Thater is the lone Team PokerStars member who made it, continuing her fine form from Vegas this year.

Cort Kibler-Melbey is in the mix, as are fellow qualifiers Michael Wong, Aditya Agarwal, Andrey Zaichenko and Phil Starrs. I'm confident there are more, and the official list, out as soon as we have it, will no doubt confirm it.

Alas, we lost Noah Boeken, Sverre Sundbo, ElkY and Daniel Negreanu. High rollers Johnny Chan and Patrick Antonius also went home empty handed. Joris Jaspers, who began the day with great promise, took a succession of bad beats and hit the rail before anyone started writing cheques.

We'll have that official list posted here in the morning, when you'll also be able to tune in to full coverage of day three, both here on the blog and via the EPT live feed. More details of that tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's what happened today:

Prodding at the bubble

Katja Thater catches a lifeline

The money nears

KidPoker hits the rail

The railbirds move in

The chaos continues

Ups and downs, ins and outs

Qualifiers waiting to pounce

Day two starting stacks

It's bubble time in Barcelona. Fifty-seven players remain, 56 will get paid. As ever, vultures are circling above the poker room as we await the most unfortunate cadaver.

Thomas Wahlroos, from Finland, was out in 58th. He pushed with 10-7c and was called by 9-9. The flop gave hope: J-Q-K but neither the ace nor nine came and he was gone.

For the record, we have a new chip leader in Mohamad Kowssarie, from Sweden. He's been silent all day, but must have just taken a massive pot from Fabrice Soulier because the Frenchman is down to about 40,000 while Kowssarie peers over 350,000.

Also near the top is Adam Junglen, from Stow, Ohio, who cashed in his W-dollars on PokerStars and has crept up to 235,000. Mark Teltscher, EPT winner in season two, has about 290,000.

Among the others:

Michael Wong (PokerStars qualifier) -- 165,000
Aditya Agarwal (PokerStars qualifier) -- 68,000
Daniel Stern -- 35,000
Martin Wendt -- 96,000
Mika Puro -- 25,000
Christopher Ulsrud -- 160,000
Katja Thater (Team PokerStars) -- 25,000
Cort Kibler-Melby (PokerStars qualifier) -- 45,000
Phil Starrs (PokerStars qualifier) -- 45,000
Michael Greco -- 55,000
Andrey Zaichenko (PokerStars qualifier) -- 90,000
Mark Vos -- 18,000

News of the unlucky bubble boy will be here soon.

Already we're down to 67 since the last update, and chips are flying in, out, left and right.

One of those profiting from this free-for-all is Katja Thater, with the distinct help of the dealer, it must be said.

Katja Thater
The Team PokerStars star, a bracelet winner at this year's World Series, got all her chips in pre-flop and found two callers. The flop was all diamonds, ace, nine, blank, and Michael Greco moved his remaining 20,000 or so into the middle.

The other player had enough behind that he could afford to pass and, after squeezing his cards proud enough to flash me a nine, did indeed let them go. Katja showed 5-4 of spades for low pair, no kicker. Greco tabled queens.

"Come on, give me a four," Thater implored, and there was a minimum of hesitation before a four did indeed pop out on the turn, leaving Greco punching the table in frustration.

The ace on the river was seemingly irrelevant, but the other player who had folded his nines, wheeled away in disgust, presumably at the sight of the card that would have given him a larger two pair than Thater.

But that was that. Greco took the side pot, containing only his chips anyway, and Thater was left to stack somewhere in the region of 40,000, which is a definite lifeline.

Other chip counts:

Phil Starrs (PokerStars qualifier) -- 65,000
Nikolaus Jedlicka -- 100,000
Paul Wasicka -- 45,000
Michael Keiner -- 85,000
Patrick Bruel -- 140,000
Fabrice Soulier -- 200,000+
Ryan Nathan -- OUT - ran aces into Soulier's set of tens
Pete Giordano -- 200,000
Thomas Wahlroos -- 30,000
Michael Wong (PokerStars qualifier) -- 138,000
Bryn Kenney -- 20,000
Aditya Agarwal (PokerStars qualifier) -- 68,000
Mika Puro -- 44,000
Mark Teltscher -- 240,000
Mark Vos -- 30,000
Katja Thater (Team PokerStars) -- 40,000+
Philip Yeh -- 79,000
Cort Kibler-Melby (PokerStars qualifier) -- 55,000
Michael Greco -- 18,000
Julian Thew -- 45,000
Bjorn-Erik Glenne -- 79,000