7pm: Dinner (for some)
That’s the end of level 6. Half the field is now clearing off for a 75-minute break, while the other half gets a 15-minute breather before returning to play level 8. — SY

6.48pm: This story has ended for Sebastian
Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian Ruthenberg has been eliminated. He explained to the blog that he three-bet a raiser holding ace-deuce. The raiser called to see a [2][4][9] flop where the German shoved his last 11,000 into the 9,000 pot. His opponent called with pocket tens and that was that for the champion here two seasons ago. — MC

6.42pm: The Dan Ryan Express
Danny Ryan, in action again on the EPT, opened from the cut off for 1,025. Juha Lauttamus is sitting on his left and called from the button, as did the big blind for a 5♥ 6♣ J♠ flop.

The big blind checked, his last positive act in the hand, while Ryan bet 1,200. Lauttamus called sending the big blind to the muck. The turn came J♦ which Ryan checked, looking at Lauttamus form the corner of his eye through rimless glasses. Lauttamus, in monkey headphones, bet 2,700, which Ryan called.

Now the river card 10♥ . Both Ryan and Lauttamus checked, the Finn showing K♣ 8♣ to Ryan’s winning 8♦ 8♠ .

Ryan scooped the pot, taking his stack up to 41,000, while Lauttamus, still strong, slips to 52,000. – SB

6.40pm: Gazes doubles
The board was 10♣ 4♣ 5♥ 7♣ and Tristan Clemncon and Bill Gazes were both studying it intently. Clemencon was the man to come to a decision, and he placed a solitary 5,000 chip accross the line. The pot was now up to around 10,000. Gazes was a little concerned, he had 5♠ 5♣ for a set, but there was a flush and a straight to worry about. No matter, he re-raised to 10,000, leaving just 18,000 behind.

Now Clemencon was the man with a pained expression. He too was fearful of a flush and a straight, holding 4♦ 7♦ . Figuring he was still ahead he pushed all-in (he did have around 40,000 at this point), and Gazes made a reluctant looking call. “You have a flush?”, “You got a set?” they asked each other.

In the event, Gazes was ahead with his set, and the 10♥ on the river filled him up to a full house. He doubles to 40,000, while Clemencon slips to 20,000. — SY

6.35pm: One from @RealKidPoker
This just in from the Daniel Negreanu Twitter account: “Fun hand: I raise utg with 5-2 two calls. Flop AQ7 checked. Turn Q I bet 1600 and called. River A I bet 4200 guy shows Q and fold lol wow” — SY

6.32pm: Oh no, Nacho
Oh yes. Team PokerStars Pro Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero is no longer in his seat. Inquiries therein revealed he had indeed bust out a few minutes ago. — SY

6.30pm: Queen of chips
Well he’s not a queen but Johnny Lodden has probably taken the chip lead thanks to two queens in the hole. He raised to 950 from under-the-gun and was called by William Thorson and both blind players to go to the J♣ 3♠ 2♥ flop.

Lodden continued with a 1,750 bet and was only called by the SB. The turn came 2♣ and Lodden fired again for 5,550. Call. The river 4♣ didn’t slow Lodden down when it was checked to him for a third time and he emptied the clip with a 14,450 bet. The SB called but mucked upon seeing the Norwegian’s Q♥ Q♦ .

Lodden won a small pot before this one meaning he’s up to 135,000 as a result of the two. — MC

Lodden leaps into probable lead

6.25pm: Nordic buddies
Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden and William Thorson are sat at the same table together and enjoying lot’s of laughs in between and in some hands. The two are great friends and have faced-off many times over the last few years.

Lodden has the bigger stack of the two with 94k to Thorson’s 34k but it was the latter who won the last pot they played out. Lodden raised to 900 from mid-position and Thorson defended from the big blind to see the 8♣ 6♣ 7♣ flop. Both players checked to the 5♦ turn where Thorson led for the minimum 400 causing both players to laugh. Lodden called to see the 4♦ river where Thorson upped the ante with a 3,000 bet. Lodden folded and his good friend showed him 8♥ . — MC

6.21pm: King Bing, Maceiras nothing
Team PokerStars Pro Juan Maceiras will not be scoring a home victory. The Spaniard opened from middle position into Michael Binger’s big blind and was three-bet to 2,800. Maceiras came back over the top for 7,800 and Binger picked up his stack and moved all-in.

Maceiras called off his remaining 20,000 quickly but was slower actually shovelling the chips across the line because by this point Binger had turned over A♣ A♥ flattening Maceiras’ K♣ K♦ . The J♠ 10♠ 8♠ 4♦ 5♦ board blanked out and Binger was left to stack up 72,500. — RD

6.15pm: Romanello rolling
On a flop of 8♠ 8♦ 3♣ Roberto Romanello bet 500 from the small blind which Tim van der Zwet called for a 7♣ turn in the big. Seeing this Romanello checked before Van Der Zwet bet another 525. Romanello called for a Q♣ river.

Now Romanello checked again. It’s possible that the Welshman wanted to do more, but the massage therapist who had him pinned to the table was using her elbow to stem the blood supply to his left arm, which was now bloodless and lifeless, draped across the table his hole cards in a rigid carpal grip.

But using what energy he could, Romanello threw in a raise to 4,575. Zwet tilted his head to one side for a fresh look at the board and decided he’d seen enough to call. Romanello showed K♣ 5♣ to take the pot when Zwet mucked. The Welshman up to 90,000 now. – SB

6.05pm: Nacho’s missing chip
Nacho Barbero was looking under his chair and the table. “I’ve lost a chip,” he said. “Not a 5,000 chip?” I asked, concerned. “No! A 100 chip… but it’s five per cent of my stack.” Sure enough the Team PokerStars Pro had little over 5,000 left. “Can I get another one?” he asked a member of the tournament floor, only half joking.

Now he had players on a neighbouring table sniffing around as well – and then there it was, nestled under the chair of seat two on the table behind. With that, everyone got back to the job in hand. — SY

5.54pm: Pagano’s personal paparazzi
Luca Pagano just made a ‘great call’ to chip up to 60,000, according to EPT snapper Neil Stoddart. With searing detail Stoddart recalled: ‘I’m not sure who bet the flop or if anyone bet the turn but Luca had to call an 11,500 bet on the river. I think it was something like two, two, eight, eight and then something I can’t remember.’

Luca, it transpires, had pocket sevens when he called down the large ace-king river bluff. Luckily for Stoddart digital cameras have plenty of memory so he doesn’t need to use his own very often.– RD

EPT legend Luca Pagano

5.45pm; MacPhee trips up
EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee is down to just over 80k after helping to more than double-up his neighbour (who refused to play ball and give us his name).

These two and one other player made it to a 10♦ 10♣ K♥ flop where a 1,850 continuation bet from the player in the hijack was called by our mystery man on the button and MacPhee in the small blind. The turn brought the Q♣ and MacPhee led for 6,625 which forced the hijack out but not our mystery man. He moved all-in for 12,200. Call.

MacPhee tabled 10♠ 7♠ but lost out to A♠ 10♥ after the river fell as the 6♦ . He’s still going along very nicely though and really wants a deep run as the second half of 2010 hasn’t been nearly as fruitful (live) as the first half of the year. — MC

5.35pm: Kicker misses the Markushevski
Niklas Toorell played his first live tournament this summer in the WSOP main event and he didn’t fair too badly – coming 68th for $114k. He’s playing here today and his stack is touching 50k after coming out on top in a hand versus Team PokerStars Pro Vadim Markushevski.

Toorell opened the pot with a raise to 800 from the button only to face a three-bet to 2,500 from Markushevski in the big blind. The Swede called to see the 5♦ 3♠ J♠ flop where he called a 2,700 c-bet from the Belarusian. The turn came K♠ and this time it was Toorell as the aggressor with a 4,800 bet when the action was checked to him. Markushevski called before both players checked the 4♥ river.

Markushevski tabled J♦ 8♦ but lost on kicker issues to Toorell’s J♥ 9♥ . Markushevski is down to 22,000 as a result. — MC

5.25pm: Baumstein broken as Kanit can
Scott Baumstein was walking around the perimeter of his table. He looked like everything he’d ever known in the world had turned out to be wrong. He’d just endured the type of hand that can ruin a good man.

The board was out, showing A♣ 3♦ Q♥ 5♣ 7♥ . Baumstein was looking at an all-in bet from Mustapha Kanit sitting on his immediate right and he was in agony. He had A♦ 5♦ and needed to decide whether or not to call.

Scott Baumstein thinks things over

“If I fold, will you show the bluff?” he asked, a sentiment to which Jude Ainsworth sitting opposite agreed was only fair. Baumstein also added that showing a bluff might well put him on tilt for the rest of his life.

Mustapha Kanit

With the clock called and time ticking down, Baumstein folded his two pair. Kanit showed 10♣ 3♣ , the bluff, as requested.

Baumstein in trouble

When I left the action Baumstein was still out of his chair. He may never stop walking up and down. – SB

5.15pm: It’s all gone quiet over there
That’ll be because the Italian Fabrizio Ascari is out. According to Maria Maceiras (who we don’t need much of an excuse to go and talk to), the human foghorn, described in the 3.25pm Art of Noise post here, blasted off his remaining 12,000 chips with A-2 but was behind to another player’s better ace on an ace-high flop. — SY

Fabrizio Ascari

5.11pm: Lucky Luske
Marcel Luske has had a couple of run-ins with Clement Thumy today, earlier laying down a pair of pocket kings on the river of a ten-high board. It was the Dutchman that was on the receiving end this time.

A late position raise of 600 had been called by Thumy in the cut-off and Luske on the big blind. Thumy stabbed 600 into the K♦ 9♥ 9♣ flop losing nobody in the process. The seemingly blank 3♥ was checked all around before Luske tossed out 2,500 into the 2♠ river. Thumy was the player left with a decision. He didn’t seem to be thinking about raising but calling definitely seemed an option. He called. Luske showed a turned full house with 3♠ 3♠ and raked in the pot chipping up to over 60,000. — RD

5.05pm: Video update
With four levels gone, here’s the mid-term update from Daniel Negreanu and the Blog’s Simon Young…

5pm: Level five begins
We are fast approaching the halfway point of today’s play. EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee seems to be leading the way on 95,000. Those we have loved and lost include Anton Wigg, Team PokerStars Pros Theo Jorgensen, Dario Mineri, John Duthie and Salvatore Bonavena. There are still plenty on big names left to keep us all entertained for the remainder of the day.

ElkY going strong at EPT Barcelona

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Barcelona (in order of the level of comfort being on camera): Rick Dacey (loves it), Simon Young (cajoled into it) Stephen Bartley (only for charity) and Marc Convey (prefers radio)

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