Espensen on the up as rivals falter

Our final break has now passed and as we head into the Day 1 final straight, Tour League leader Ronnie Espensen looks in good shape to add to his lead.

The Dane is now wielding 40,000 chips, comfortably ahead of the average despite losing a big hand not long before the interval, while fellow Fantasy Poker picks Gøkmen Cetin, Carlos Oliveira and Marek Viscak all cling to their tournament lives.

The trio are all below 10k and while they still have more than the warning flag 10bbs, short stack poker is on the agenda in the effort to double up or bust before the new day.

Lukasz Gebica (30k) is maintaining a steady growth in chips despite his famously aggressive style, while the ever-dependable Toni Merivuori has around 20k at his disposal.

Robert Haigh is also making good progress on 44,000 chips as he bids for a second consecutive final table appearance, but fellow German Heiko Wendt was card dead with 14k in chips at the last check.

All of the above are better off than the likes of Christian Schulz and Fernando Martin Blanco, however, as both players made their exits earlier tonight.

Blanco was actually among Espensen's victims, having tried to bluff his way out of bad spot against the Dane, only for Ronnie to make a hero call with pocket threes.

UPDATE - Carlos Oliveira succumbed to the short stack as we reach the 100-player mark.