Card dead Karlsson

One of the weekend's most popular Fantasy Poker picks, Stefan Karlsson, is still alive in the Main Event but as the blinds increase another notch after a short break, the Swede is feeling the pressure.

Karlsson was named by 17 entrants to the free competition and though there are just 28 players between him and the cash places, a comeback will be required if he is to make the FP points.

A brief chat with the PP blog revealed his Day 2 had been devoid of any hands of note, with his 68,000 stack reduced to around 40,000 without so much as a big pot to report.

"It's really not going well at the moment," lamented Stefan at the interval, "I haven't had any hands today and the blinds and antes are really starting to hurt my stack."

Enjoying better fortunes is Pavlos Xanthopolous, as the Greek player attempts to climb out of his brother's shadow. Twin Christos won the London event back in 2010 and the brothers have been regulars on the tour ever since.

Pavlos, who had 160,000 chips to work with, insisted he had manoeuvred his way into a strong position when we caught up with him: "I haven't had many big hands but I've been stealing, re-stealing and winning a lot of small pots so I'm happy."