"Nobody is luckier than me today."

Those were Andy Black's words as he gazed across his chip stack, a virtual mountain range of multi-colored chips.

"How much do you have," asked a railbird?

He shrugged as if it didn't really matter and he really didn't know. Likely he knew this, though: He was the chip leader and didn't look to give up the spot. A quick look put Black 500,000 chip mark. He'd been pushing hard all day to catch up to Day 1 chip-leader Chad Brown and before the end of the night, he'd already passed him.



As for Brown, a bit of a cooler made him far easier to pass. Simon Johansson of Sweden flopped a set of tens to Brown's set of eights. All the money went in on the turn and Brown didn't catch his miracle. While he still had around 200,000 chips, he was surely thinking he was about to be a lot closer to 500,000. Instead, Simon Johansson is a lot more flush than he used to be.


Simon Johansson

Noah Boeken never recovered from his failed battle with jacks versus Joe Beevers' A9. He treaded water with his remaining 20,000 before finally running jacks into Simon Johnsson's aces. He had only one word for it as the day came to a close: "Sick."

How about some final words from Ed on how things wrapped up today?

The Ed Report

Harry Demetriou was crippled when on a low flop he got it all in and was called by pocket 9s. Just at the start of this level he was in the BB and had 3400 left back. An early pos raise to 5K was called by the button and Harry tried to make them fold by sticking the extra 400 in the pot. Surprisingly this did not get rid of the other two and the flop came down 7d-9s-Qc. Rather than check it down the early raiser made it 6500 to play which was called by the button. Turn was Jc and the initial raiser checked and found a bet of 19K coming towards him. He asked whether he had hit quads and no response. After a short pause he decided to jam all in himself effectively setting the button all in who had 24K left. An instant call from the button who had 99. QJ for the raiser and Harry had 5c7c and actually had some outs for the flush. The river was a Jack and we lost two players in one hand.

Gavin Griffin makes it 6K to go from the button and the SB raises to 19K total. Gavin calls and the flop is Ks-4s-2c. Checked to Gavin who bets 26K. The SB raises all in for another 75K on top and Gavin folds. The SB shows AQ for a risky bluff. Gavin is down to 150K. Immediately afterwards Mickey Wernick raises to 16K UTG(not sure why it was this much) and Gavin re-raises to 36K total. FrankieA10 on the SB pushes all in for 19K and Mickey folds(appapently 99). Gaving shows JJ and FrankieA10 has funnily enough has A-10. The board comes 3-4-3-3-10 and we have lost FrankieA10.

Dlopt raises to 8K from early position. David Sykes pushes all in from the BB. Dlopt takes a time to call and is elated when he sees David’s A9. Dlopt shows AQ and David is drawing pretty thin. The flop comes A-8-6 and then a 9 spikes the turn and a simultaneous strike on the table from both players for very different reasons. No miracle on the river and David doubles to just under 100K. dlopt down to 35K. A quick wander back to the floor and I find that dlopt was eliminated whilst I typed the above. Details of his exit are unknown.

AmbientIII raises to 6500 from UTG and it is folded round to David Sykes who calls in the BB. The flop is 6-5-3 rainbow and David checks. AmbientIII bets 8.5K and David raises to 25K which is good enough to take it down. David has 110K and AmbientIII 170K.

A raise to 8K from rkruok is bumped to 20K total by David Sykes on the button which rkruok calls. Flop comes 4d-10c-2h and rkruok moves in. David instantly calls and 88 for rk and AA for David. The turn is a 5 and then the 2 outer on the river hits when the 8c falls. David is back down to 75K and rkruok up to 100kish.

***

Day 3 play picks up at 2pm Monte Carlo time on Saturday. We now have fewer than 90 players left in the main event. As we approach the bubble, it's unlikely we'll lose a lot of players quickly. However, once we hit that 64 mark, look for the speed to pick up again. Full official chip counts will be up when we receive them from the tournament staff. Until then, check out the selected counts on the EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts page.

Night, all, from Monte Carlo.

As a whole, PokerStars has been well-represented here at the EPT Grand Final. More than 100 qualifiers and members of Team PokerStars began today. Many of them remain in the hunt as we near the 100 mark in remaining runners. Two of the more famous faces among them are Noah Boeken and Greg Raymer.

Boeken had been on a steady but slow climb most of the day, having worked himself up to around 75,000 in chips. I happened up on his table just as he got in a battle with Joe Beevers. Beevers was struggling on whether to call another 36,000--the rest of his chips.

"Pocket eights?" he asked Noah.

Noah chuckled a bit. "That's what you put me on? What? You have pocket nines?"

Beevers thought for a bit more and finally said, "Let's gamble." He called to see Noah's pocket jacks. Beever's was a decided dog, flipping over A9o. The flop came 235 rainbow, opening up four more outs for Beevers. The turn was another five. The river...an ace. Noah stood, threw his fist at nothing in particular, and then sat back down, incredulous.

"You called 36,000 more with A9?" he asked. If it was not a rhetorical question, it was treated as one. Noah is now on life support and looking for a quick double up.


Ace nine?

***

Raymer asked, also perhaps rhetorically, "Why am I so tight? People think I'm some loose-aggressive maniac."

It wasn't but a few hands later, play folded to his small blind and he made it 5400 to play. The big blind, Aussie Jason Melross, thought for a moment before making it another 10,000 to play. Raymer called.

The flop came out TT7 rainbow. Raymer didn't take but a second before anouncing 50,000. The bet was large...certainly larger than the pot. What's more, Raymer had just 10,000 behind. He was, in a word, committed.

Melross couldn't seem to figure out what he should do. To call, he would be putting all his chips in the middle. As he struggled to put Raymer on a hand, Raymer grabbed a fresh bottle of Evian and mixed it with a bright red drink mix.

What could that mean? If Greg were making himself a drink, did that mean he was sure Melross would fold? Or did it mean he didn't care whether Melross called, because he thought he had a sure winner. In the end, it didn't matter, Melross folded and Raymer re-positioned himself around 100,000.

"Cranberry," he said, holding up the bright bottle of red water.

At least it wasn't yellow like the last one.



Sadly, the cranberry seems to have been Greg's undoing. Actually, two bad beats and a chilly deck undid him more. In less than 30 minutes AQ lost to AJ, two pair lost to runner-runner straight, and pocket jacks couldn't outrun a shortstack's KK. Now, Greg's stack sits at 36,000. Should he make a comeback, as Greg puts it, "It'll be a better story."

***

Finally, how about a few words from Ed.

The Ed Report

Ross Boatman raises to 6K from mid position and dlopt re-raises to 29K total. Ross takes a time to fold and dlopt picks it up but is down at 60K. Apparently he got caught bluffing a couple of hands on the trot with a fellow PokerStars qualifier Palacedeano being the recipient of some of these. This may have explained the reluctance Ross seemed to have about folding.

"Schooled" by the Devilfish? Former Eastender Beppe DiMarco, less well known as his real life name of Michael Greco, raises to 6K and Devilfish makes it 23K to play. Michael folds and the both have a below average stack of 60K. For once Devilfish does not show his hand, so he may have had the goods.

Rkruok raises to 6K and is called by David Sykes, AmbientIII, dlopt on the button and Ross Boatman on the BB. The flop is 6c-7c-9s and David Sykes bets 15K at it. AmbientIII raises all in for about 85K total. There are some pretty much instantaneous folds back round to David who eventually calls. Top set for the AmbientIII against David’s nut flush draw and overs with AcQc. The turn is the Qh which does not help and David needs a club that does not come. 6s on the river and David is down to 40K.

The Beat has just eliminated a shortstack all in preflop with AJ vs 10-10. An ace hit the flop and the rest of the board blanked. The Beat is now at 190K

Johnathan Little who made the PCA final table has just doubled up. With 30K raising preflop he chucked in his remaining 55K which was called by the BB with 10-10. Johnathan turned over J-9 and looked to be in trouble until the flop came J-5-9. A 7 on the turn gave the BB some hope but a 5 on the river secured the double through. He is up to 140K.

***

There is a bit of rumor (or rumour, if you're reading from somewhere other than the U.S.) that we may not play a full seven levels as planned tonight. The field has been cut down by 2/3 already today. We were schedule to play seven levels today and tomorrow. At the going rate, the tournament may be finished by that point, and our final table isn't scheduled until Monday. It still remains to be seen what TD Thomas Kremser will decide. Regardless, things are moving pretty quickly here.

Update: Only 90 minutes more to play tonight. Thanks, Thomas!

by Simon Young

I don't mean to start a debate about luck versus skill in poker tournaments, but in this instance there seems to be a distinct leaning towards the latter. You see, with the field here in Monte Carlo thinning all the time - we are now down to 128 of the 706 starters - the big-stackers are the ones with big reputations.

Okay, stacks can chop and change a fair bit, but some names have been near the summit all day. Among them in Monte Carlo are, and in no particular order, Spain's Carlos Mortenson (WSOP and WPT winner), Greg Raymer (WSOP winner) Andy Black of Ireland and Josh Arieh of the US (both WSOP final tablists), Chad Brown of the US (WPT final tablist), Ram Vaswani of England, and Johnny Lodden of Norway. Even David "Devilfish" Ulliot (WPT winner) is making a move after swimming in the shallows for most of the day.

It might be easy to say they have been lucky in a tournament this size to get so many chips, but let's face it, it's more than a little coincidental that they are the ones leading the charge into Day 3. Impressive stuff, so too is these boys' ability to use those huge stacks to their advantage, bullying others off pots to add yet more towers to their growing castles of chips. New counts will be up shortly.

It's the little differences, you know?

When the levels in the EPT Grand Final change, string orchestra music shoots from the speakers like a covey of quail. It's a light--but not whimsical--indication that it's time for the price of the game to edge up. Just after the dinner break, a side tournament kicked off. To help distinguish between the events, the tournament directors needed a different sound to indicate the changing of the levels. Their choice? Yello's "Oh Yeah." So, every 30 minutes, the clitter clatter of chips is broken up by a "bomp-bomp-chicka-chicka."

Andy Black, demure as ever, is on the move in more ways than one. Despite being on an upward chip trend, he's also been moved to a new table. That table now features Jonathan Little, Greg Raymer, and Black in a row (more on this in a moment). Still a long way to go, but should Black and Chad Brown make it to the final table, I call first dibs on the bad Black and Tan puns.



Last night, we featured doctorin2010's t-shirt ("I would check-raise my own Grandma") at the end of the day. As it turns out, he's been pretty serious today and moved up to a sizable stack as we enter the second half of play.


doctorin2010

Finally, a special moment shared by Andy Black and Greg Raymer. A few minutes ago, I noticed Greg stalking the room for a fresh bottle of Evian. He found one and returned to his table. Later, I came back and discovered the water had turned a conspicuous shade of yellow. Any number of jokes could've been made about the drink, and Black saw fit to take the most obvious route when addressing the crowd about Greg's drink choice and its bodily source. Not one to be outdone, Greg picked up the bottle and offered Black a drink.

"I'm feeling a bit sick," Black said.


Black eyes up Raymer's yellow drink

Turns out it was white tea. Go figure.

Bomp-bomp. Chicka-chicka.

When PokerStars created Battleship tournament events back at the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, it was clear that a phenomenon was in the offing. The popularity grew so fast over the past couple of years, I'd often thought to remark, "We're going to need a bigger boat."

This year at the EPT Grand Final, the organizers decided not to run a tournament per se, but rather offer players the option of playing single heads up tournaments for as little or as much money as they like. As such, there have been people playing in the PokerStars Battleship Harbor for as little as 5 euros. At the dinner break tonight, though, something else developed. Word spread quickly that a couple players had found that elusive bigger boat.

As I type, William Thorson and fishrus are playing a series of three heads-up matches for 25,000 a piece. At the moment, William is up one match on fishrus. We need to return to the main tournament area for the big event, but if you'd like to keep tabs on the matches, you can get on the PokerStars software, click EPT, and All, then look for the Battleship matches.


fishrus


William Thorson


Relaxed and playing for 25K a piece...three times

Players are headed out to their dinner break. We now have in the neighborhood of 165 players remaining in the event. EPT Monte Carlo Chip Counts have been updated at the end of Level 10. Players will be out for an hour while they dine.

Chad Brown continues to dominate the field, but Carlos Mortensen and Andy Black are creeping up on him. Still a very long way to go in this event. That said, we're 100 players away from the money. So, it's not nearly as far as it was.

Now, to dinner. Back with more in an hour or so.

by Simon Young

Phil Hellmuth is out and, as is customary for the "Poker Brat", he is not a happy bunny. The damage, when it came, was unfortunate as his K-K ran into A-A. So he had a right to feel a little aggrieved, but he did not stop there.

As he paced the floor he told me: "Welcome to Monte Carlo. I run circles around these guys for two days. I had kings twice and queens once and ran into aces each time. But I dodged the bullets and still had chips in front of me, that's how well I was playing. Then I had to go and get K-K that last time when the aces were out and I am now out of the tournament. It's unbelievable."

In fairness, Phil had played well to still be alive, after indeed dodging several bullets that could have taken him down long ago. He had built up to 40,000 at one stage today before getting all-in pre-flop on that last, fateful hand.

The room will be a quieter place without him.

Update: This post, though written not too long ago is now dated. Phil Hellmuth, in fact, did not dodge the latest bullets. More to come, but suffice it to say, The Poker Brat is out.

Devilfish was stretching. Earlier, I'd heard him call for cameras to record a chopped pot, one in which he was favored to win, and one which he described using an unprintable expletive. Now, he was exercising his deltoids and exorcising the demons. He wandered to Phil Hellmuth's table and they chatted for a bit. As Devislfish walked away, he muttered dryly, "I figured it must be going okay for you. It's been quiet over here."

As if it were a cue from a TV director, Hellmuth's voice rose a few decibels as he followed the 'Fish back to his table. "It's not been that quiet he said." He went on to describe a few hands, bluffs, and laydowns. "Dodging bullets, baby," he said, reprising one of his more infamous comments from WSOP television. "That's what I..." he paused slightly, then finished, "try to do."



That's what everyone in this room is attempting. THe weather outside shifts from sun to sprinkles every few hours, and players' moods are changing with the sunshine. With approximately 206 players remaining after two levels of play today, there is some suspicion that the event is moving faster than planned. Badgirl Pham, who survived a three-way all-in with pocket queens versus AK and AK, predicts otherwise.

"Now it will slow down," she said.

If a change in inertia doesn't do the trick, player attitudes might. During a stop at Emad Tahtouh's table, I saw a bunch of limpers and the action was headed toward Emad. Gearing up to raise, he balked as the player to his right threw out a bunch of chips. "I love this guy," Emad said, throwing a thumb in his tablemate's direction. "I was going to have to raise and he saved me."



As I type, I see that John Gale is making his way toward the rail. The one-time PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion had been nursing a short stack all day long. As we spoke earlier, he confessed, "I'm getting impatient." He knew, as I suspected, that it wouldn't be long before he either doubled up or went home.

Seconds later, we've learned that Katja Thater has also made an exit. Though tenacious with her short stack, it appears Katja could not find her double-up hand.

For the moment, here at the beginning of the 600/1200/100 level, the room has grown ever-so-slightly more quiet. The table chat is a bit quieter. The rail is not as thick. That may be because, as reports from The Outside are telling us, there is mayhem in the lobby, where the eliminated players are lining up to get into today's side event.

Breaking news: Barry Greenstein, Bill Chen, Vicky Coren have all been eliminated

More than one hundred of the players who started the day have now found their way back to their hotel rooms or, more suitably, a bar to lament their finish. We now sit under the 230 mark, causing blogger Simon Young to remark quietly, "It's a cull."

The rough run today is causing no small amount of tension in the room. Neil Stoddard told me a quick tale earlier about a hand involving Emad Tahtouh, Joe Hachem's big mate. Apparently, Emad - currently sitting on more than 140,000 - came in for a raise and one of his tablemates said something about Emad's poor table image. As it happened, there was still a player left in the hand. Said player had just arrived and knew nothing of Emad's image--good or bad. Regardless, right after the comment, the new player pushed all his chips in. Emad was, in a word, nonplussed.

Chad Brown, who started the day with a big chip lead, now has, er, an even bigger chip lead. He's up to over 300,000, with two new fresh scalps attached to his belt. One was a biggie - Sweden's William Thorson. Thorson and another player moved all in on a flop of K-Q-9, bets matched by Chad. The first had A-Q, bettered by Thorson's 9-9 for the set. Chad, perhaps worried one had 10-J for the straight, happily turned over his Q-Q for a higher set.

Missing, and presumed out, is Finland's Patrik Antonius. He had been yo-yoing dramatically for two days, and appears to have made one move too many here. Details when we can get them. The UK's Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham is enjoying herself. Short-ish late last night, she finished the day up a bit on 20,000. Now, she sits on a stack of more than 90,000 after trebling up with Q-Q against two A-K hands.

Team PokerStars' Katja Thater, fresh off her final table performance in Warsaw, is managing to hang in there, despite the mass blood-letting. Her stack is a bit short, but she seems to be able to afford some patience at the moment.



Other Team PokerStars' members aren't faring as well. Roving Report Ed Ramshaw has set himself up to watch the players as they are led away.

The Ed Report

Some quick fire news as players seem to be dropping like flies.

Bill Chen went out at the end of the last level. The chips went in the middle on a flop of J-10-9. Bill had J-10 and his opponent QQ. His opponent hit a straight to send Bill to the rail.

Emad Tahtouh is up to around 100K having eliminated a player with AK against KJ.
Roy "The Boy" Brindley has been eliminated. With the flop showing K-10-4 Roy bet 4K and was minimum raised by the player to his left. Roy moved in and hiss opponent instantly called. Roy was drawing pretty thin when he showed AK against his opponent's 10-10. Thin turned into dead when the case 10 hit the turn to give quads.

Victoria Coren has also left the building. She moved all in from the button with A6. The SB called and BB folded. Vicky turned A6 and the SB pocket rockets. The flop gave her some hope for a gutshot draw with K-J-10 and a 6 on the turn increased her outs but the river was a 5 and we say goodbye to the EPT London Champion.

Barry Greenstein is also OUT. He raised to 3K, Andy Black re-raised to 10K, and Barry pushed in. AK for Barry and AA for Andy. No miracle outdraw for Barry and Andy moves up to 150K.

Fortunately Greg Raymer is still going strong. I saw him take a slight setback when he raised to 2400 from the cut off and was called by the button. The flop was 6c-Ah-6h and a bet of 3500 was called by the button. 10c on the turn and 9d on the river were checked by both and the button shows 88 for the pot. He moved all in soon after when a player re-raised him on the flop. A long dwell later, and Greg took it down, taking him back up to 75,000.

Finally, lukefromb13 has been eliminated. Facing an early position raise and three callers, lukefromb13 pushed with AK from the big blind, got called by JT, and was outdrawn.

From TLB to EPT

by Ali Lightman

"I am speechless, it's unbelievable" said Tyler 'tnetter' Netter, as he prepared to sit down in the biggest poker tournament of his young life.

"I am chasing my dream."

Even though he's only 20 years old, Tyler, from Gainsville, Florida, is no ingenue at the table. He estimates his winnings to date at $400,000.



"It's a beautiful game, the best game in the world," he said. "Everyone gets two cards and anyone can win. There's no other sport like it. Maybe it's my turn now."

Winning the PokerStars' Tournament Leader Board guaranteed Tyler's entry to the Monte Carlo EPT Season Three Grand Final.

He's sharing his first adventure in Monte Carlo with his cousin, Rick.

Rick was on the rail cheering for Tyler during the EPT events in London and Barcelona. So is Rick your lucky charm, I wondered? "No, I got knocked out on bad beats both times. I always do when he's around, but I bring him with me anyway."

I was feeling slightly nervous about the Rick Effect when I went to check up
on Tyler.

Where's Rick? I asked. "By the pool," Tyler replied.

Perhaps he should stay there.