Welcome again to Baden, Austria, for a crucial day three of the €8,000 PokerStars European Poker Tour event.

There's an argument to be made that all days in such a massive tournament are crucial, but today has special claims: we start with 40 players, we will end with eight. The player out first will go home with nothing; those who remain will win at least €60,000. And one of them will take €670,000 by the end of tomorrow night.

That means that today is not only bubble day, but also the day on which tomorrow's television stars and fortune holders are decided. In other words, today is a crucial day on the European Poker Tour.

So, who's in the running?

As usual, the field here has thinned to include an attractive smattering of big-name stars, wily veterans, young guns and online stars. Some players already fit into more than one category; others are busy making the transistion.

The hopes of Team PokerStars rest on the ample shoulders of Hevad "RaiNKhan" Khan, although he has some work to do. RaiNKhan has played an near-perfect tournament so far, but late last night had his jacks cracked by Julian Thew's 5-3, the Englishman hitting a straight on the river and knocking the Team PokerStars pro down to 21,300 in chips. It's not all over for the New Yorker, but he's looking up at 36 of the remaining 40.

Nearer the top of that pile is Michael Durrer, a PokerStars qualifier from Dusseldorf in Germany. Durrer was also close to the chip lead at the end of day one, but was circumspect when asked at the beginning of yesterday to relate the tale of his tournament. "The story happens on Wednesday," he said, referring to the day scheduled for the final table. Durrer might well feature prominently in that.

David Sonelin, a serial PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, is also in the top ten overnight. He survived a huge all in late in the day against Gunnar Rabe (who is, you guessed it, a PokerStars qualifier from Sweden) and finished with 115,500. Rabe is still alive himself, and has a healthy 81,300.

Among the rest of the field are Pascal Perrault and Andreas Hoivold, both previous EPT winners, Alan Smurfit, from Ireland, who won a bracelet at this year's WSOP, Surindar Sunar, the English professional, Alexander Kravchenko, who made the final table of the WSOP main event, and the aforementioned Julian Thew, another English professional and regular high-placed finisher on the EPT.

The featured table, which you can watch in any of six languages by clicking HERE, will begin with Sunar, Thew, Perrault, Smurfit and Durrer.

We'll have all the action from there and the outer tables here on PokerStars blog. Continue to check back for the remainder of the day.

It's crucial.

A reminder of the payouts:

1st - €670,800
2nd - €375,000
3rd - €225,000
4th - €160,820
5th - €132,900
6th - €105,000
7th - €83,600
8th - €60,000

9th-10th €38,600
11th-12th - €30,000
13th-14th - €25,700
15th-16th - €19,300
17th-24th - €12,860

The full chip counts for the 40 remaining players in Baden:

Anton Allemann (Switzerland) 140,000
Acar Mazlum (Switzerland) 136,000
Daniel Mangas (Spain) 134,500
Thomas Fuller (USA) 128,800
Vladimir Poleshchuk (Russia) 122,600
Michael Durrer (Germany) PokerStars qualifier 116,000
David Sonelin (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 115,500
Julian Thew (UK) 114,700
Victor Goossens (Holland) 108,900
Denes Tamas Kalo (Hungary) 102,200
Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) PokerStars player 97,400
Hans Vimmo Eskilsson (Sweden) 96,800
Pascal Perrault (France) 95,700
Gunnar Rabe (Sweden) PokerStars qualifier 81,300
Christophe Defforey (Germany) 81,200
Jiri Vacek (Czech Republic) 78,100
Hector Fuentes (Spain) 77,400
Heimo Krainer (Austria) 73,500
Thierry van den Berg (Holland) PokerStars qualifier 69,800
Roman Yitzhaki (USA) PokerStars player 69,800
Age Spets (Norway) 68,500
Peter Gould (UK) 65,800
Gyoergy Moger (Hungary) 56,500
Dennis Naci Hansen (Denmark) 54,400
Alan Peter Smurfit (Ireland) 49,700
Kalil Rahal (France) 48,900
Andreas Hoivold (Norway) 48,900
Manfred Hammer (Germany) 47,200
Matthew Tyler (UK) PokerStars qualifier 45,600
Christophe Benzimra (France) 37,500
Surinder Sunar (UK) 36,300
Alexander Kravchenko (Russia) 34,800
Harald Poeschl (Austria) 33,800
Johann Fest (Germany) 28,000
Edward Lawson (USA) 25,300
Soraya Homam (Germany) 25,000
Andreas Fluri (Switzerland) 23,300
Hevad Khan (USA) Team PokerStars Pro 21,300
Carlo Di Renzo (Italy) 16,200
Thor Hansen (Norway) 14,400

Play begins tomorrow at 3 p.m.

And there we have it, day two is over.

We started with a field of 156 still afloat in the tournament and now we're down to 40. Some of the biggest names are still around; many others have gone. There's very little mercy shown during the course of one of these days, and this one has been particularly brutal.

It all started, I suppose, when Sander Lyloff, the overnight chip leader, lost two massive pots and was out: leader to loser in a matter of three levels. Then the deluge started: trotting up the stairs from press to poker rooms inevitaby meant passing someone on the way down announcing another big-name departure.

They fell like flies. Barny Boatman lost with a set of nines. Then the Team PokerStars Pros started taking the hits: Noah Boeken couldn't double his overnight short-stack; Dario Minieri's fours lost to queens; Luca Pagano departed; Barry Greenstein signed his book and left; Andre Akkari was on his way back to Brazil; Katja Thater, who'd clung on for hours, eventually also took the fall just before dinner.

By the end, only RaiNKhan of the Team PokerStars pros was still in the field, but he has a micro-stack, after Julian Thew rivered a straight in the final orbit of the day. We also lost both PokerStars qualifiers who had previously won EPTs: Mats Iremark and John Shipley were both eliminated in the early evening.

So where did all the chips go? Well, PokerStars players Sebastian Ruthenberg, from Germany, and Roman Yitzhaki, from the United States, still have plenty. As do PokerStars qualifiers Michael Durrer, Thierry van den Berg, David Sonelin, Matt Tyler and Gunnar Rabe.

Also in the field are Surindar Sunar, Age Spets, Julian Thew, Alexander Kravchenko and Alan Smurfit, among others. The full chip counts for the remaining 40 players will be here as soon as we know them.

In the meantime, here's a review of today's action:

Durrer doubles up -- The travails of a chip leader

Gunnar gunning: the emergence of Gunnar Rabe

Slicing through the field

Dinner break update

Brutal departures

Greenstein exits -- Other PokerStars notables

Day two begins -- Qualifiers or champions? -- Thierry van den Berg and Michael Durrer

Picture (c) Neil Stoddart

The day is definitely drawing to a close now, and were it not for a two-outer recently sending Michael Durrer, the PokerStars qualifier from Germany, to more than 100,000, we'd already be packing up and going home.

But, truth be told, I'm happy: when I spoke to Durrer earlier in the day, asking him for the story so far, he told me to check back later. It was too early for stories, he said. But, having noticed about 30 railbirds crowded around his table late on tonight, the notebook came out and recorded this, among th other scrawls, doodles and nonsense.

We were already past the turn and the board read: Ac-6c-6d-5d. The pot was already monstrous, and Philip Yeh, from Sweden, had put a bet of about 15,000 into it. Durrer, from Dusseldorf, was thinking. He was thinking hard. And then he said all-in, pushing his remaining 35,000 or so into the pot.


Massive pot goes to Michael Durrer

Yeh thought for a far shorter time and called. He had Durrer covered, but only just. However, he definitely had the better hand: his six-ten had made trips, while Durrer's ace-ten was two pair.

That was until the river, when one of the two aces remaining in the deck popped out, to send gasps around the rail and leave Philip punching the table and cursing his ill fortune.

Durrer, however, was smiling. His story is only just beginning.

* * * * *

Another chip lead dwindles

No sooner had the previous post found its way onto PokerStars blog, than Gunnar Rabe, its principal subject, was confirming its content. Chip leaders have really struggled here in Baden, suffering huge hits the minute they seem to accumulate a huge stack.

So it was again for Rabe, the PokerStars qualifier from Sweden. He ended up losing a pot of around 50,000 to fellow Swede and fellow PokerStars qualifier, David Sonelin. Rabe had 5-5, Sonelin A-K and it all went in on a board of 9d-9c-Kc.

There was no miracle five on turn or river and Gunnar was down to about 100,000. Sonelin, meanwhile, is up to about 60,000.

It's been a very bad day to be a chip leader. The minute after players have accumulated monster stacks, they've lost them, with the chip lead swinging from table to table.

Sander Lyloff kicked it all off when he imploded very early in the day, and was knocked out. More recently, Pascal Perrault and Julian Thew have taken hits, and Raul Mestre, from Spain, has also gone from hero to very-close-to-zero after a number of hands went against him.

The latest player hoping to make the title of chip leader stick is Gunnar Rabe, the PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, who just won a huge pot from Mestre. The board showed 7s-3s-9c when I arrived to the table a few moments ago and Rabe had just been re-raised. There was an initial bet of about 7,000 in the pot and Mestre had bumped it up to 18,000.


Gunnar Rabe: PokerStars qualifier heading the field

Rabe called and the turn was a dangerous 6s, potentially filling flushes or straights. Mestre agonised for about five minutes before checking and Rabe checked behind him.

Amateur observers might have been suspicious of Mestre's Hollywood-ing, but there was nothing restrained or covert about the thump of the table that followed this sequence, which unfolded in a flash: the river brought the As; Mestre checked; Rabe bet 20,000 and Mestre called. Rabe turned over Ks-7c for the now-nut flush, and Mestre was vlearly devastated.

He later confided to having hit the queen-high flush on the turn, but his trap-check backfired. The free card gave Rabe, who made the final table in Dortmund last year, the bigger flush and a chip lead of around about 160,000.

Meanwhile, we're down to 47 players, with Ram Vaswani among the latest big-name casualties.

The plan at the beginning of the day today -- day two, in case anyone was wondering -- was to play six levels or reduce the field to 40 players, whichever came soonest.

The media room usually nods appreciatively when such decisions are announced, silently certain that it'll mean the full six levels before they can fold up their laptops and head off for the day. Play tends to slow, short stacks double up, and it's another seven hours at the coal face.

But, and I'm hoping not to hex proceedings here, this might be different. We're already down to 62 players on a compact seven tables and not many are showing any signs of putting on the brakes.

Unfortunately, the cull around the dinner break included Katja Thater, the Team PokerStars Pro, who had been sliding towards short-stack status earlier in the day and wasn't able to arrest the decline. That leaves RaiNKhan as the lone surviving Team PokerStars Pro. The New Yorker has charmed his table and railbirds alike on the way to his current 40,000-odd stack.

That's around about the average, currently 46,000.

RainKhan is on today's unofficial PokerStars table, which also features Sebastian Ruthenberg, from Germany, and qualifier Gunnar Rabe. John Shipley and Matt Tyler, both English PokerStars qualifiers, were also on the same table as one another, before the former was seen heading to the door, his 50,000 stack from minutes before having vanished.

Meanwhile, here are a few others still battling:

Alan Smurfit - Ireland - 40,000
Thor Hansen - Denmark - 38,000
David Sonelin - Sweden - PokerStars qualifier - 58,000
Richard Ashby - England - 24,000
Janne Juutilainen - Finland - PokerStars player - 33,000
Ram Vaswani - England - 32,000
Philip Yeh - Sweden - 18,000
Daniel Mangas - Spain - 105,000
Roman Yitzhaki - USA - PokerStars player - 80,000
Julian Thew - England - 120,000
Thierry van den Berg - Holland - PokerStars player - 26,000
Surindar Sunar - England - 39,000
Age Spets - Norway - 91,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg - PokerStars player - Germany - 85,000
Gunnar Rabe - PokerStars qualifier - Sweden - 52,000
Matt Tyler - PokerStars qualifier - England - 14,000
Acar Mazlum - Switzerland - 134,000
Michael Durrer - PokerStars qualifier - Germany - 38,000
Pascal Perrault - France - 115,000
Andreas Hoivold - Norway - 88,000
Alexander Kravchenko - Russia - 22,000
Anton Allemann - Switzerland - 96,000

They're playing with blinds of 600-1,200 and a 100 ante.

As the players prepare for the dinner break, there are a couple of eliminations to report. First, Mads Anderson, EPT Copenhagen winner during season two, perished at the hands of Age Spets, king-queen unable to overtake ace-queen.

Then PokerStars qualifier Matt Tyler accounted for Paul Testud. This time Tyler's queen-jack was able to outdraw Testud's ace-eight. Both players had fairly short stacks and were pretty much obliged to make the all in play.

Also playing all-in poker is Katja Thater, the Team PokerStars Pro. She's been nursing a short stack for some time, and is just abot managing to pick up a few blinds and antes by shoving it in. It'll be double up or out very soon.


Katja Thater: waiting for a double up

So, there are 72 players remaining going to the break. The average stack is about 38,000 and they'll be playing level ten on their return.

It's been a brutal past hour in Baden, particularly for Team PokerStars Pros. Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano and Andre Akkari have all perished, leaving Katja Thater and RaiNKhan carrying the hopes.


Andre Akkari in happier times

Sebastian Ruthenberg, a PokerStars player from Germany, is still involved, however, while PokerStars qualifiers Thierry van den Berg, John Shipley and Mats Iremark are still comfortable.

The first player through the 100,000 mark seems to be Acar Mazlum, who was on Patrik Antonius's table. Antonius is no longer there, but Mazlum was seen stacking chips as Antonius headed out. It was a nut flush versus top pair encounter, according to other media reporters.


Acar Mazlum

Meanwhile, former EPT champions Pascal Perrault and Andreas Hoivold have found their way next to one another. Each has around about 80,000 in chips -- and a lot of conversation.


Pascal Perrault, left, and Andreas Hoivold

There are many ways to earn a seat at an EPT event, only one of which involves delving under the mattress, hauling out a bundle of used bank-notes and plonking them onto the cashier's desk in any one of these spectacular locations across the continent.

Every serious poker player knows that the most efficient route into many of the top tournaments is via an online satellite. Ever since Chris Moneymaker, then Greg Raymer, won their seats to the World Series on PokerStars, and then won the whole thing, players have been battling it out in cyberspace for the right to battle it out in "real" space and take home a fortune.

Last week, Joseph Mouawab, from Lebanon, won the London leg of the EPT after qualifying online at PokerStars, following in the footsteps of Gavin Griffin and Brandon Schaefer, among others, who had previously trod the same path to a pot of gold.

And it has recently become even easier, and even cheaper, to take a stab at this kind of success.

PokerStars recently launched $8.80 rebuy satellite tournaments to EPT events, guaranteeing at least one seat in the €8,000 buy-in "live" tournaments. The first such tournament was so popular that two seats were generated, earned by some of the most frugal players in the entire event.

chrisrokx, from Munich, Germany, won a $13,350 package to EPT Dublin for a grand total of that original $8.80. He neither rebought nor added on, but ended in the top two to earn his seat. Phoenician88, of Portland, Oregon, didn't rebuy either, although he did take an add-on to bring his total spend to $16.80.

Both of these PokerStars players will take their seat in Dublin at the end of this month, where there's likely to be a first prize in the region of €500,000.

PokerStars are intending to run these satellites every Thursday and Friday, so keep an eye out. It might well be the best $8.80 ever spent.